It is Saturday again, and this morning I am at home trying to prepare the seminar topic for the Friday night MBF next week. I still have not really started because my head is still in pain from last night’s evangelistic meetings. Vivian and I have been struggling to keep the Sabbath for a while. It ain’t funny. But going back to the first principle – why are we keeping it today? What defines as work and what is not? What should we do when there is too much work and we might need to sacrifice our Sabbath?
In Briefing issue 293, pastor Joshua Ng wrote an article on the Sabbath Rest. Overall, it is a good idea to keep one day in a week special, and have rest on that day, because…
- God rested on the 7th day of his creation.
- God gave us the Sabbath for our good.
- we do look forward to the real rest in heaven.
A Christian usually would devote one day in a week to God and his church, i.e. Sunday, and therefore people often take another day off from work and ministry, i.e. Saturday. At the same time, we try to avoid being legalistic about it, i.e. keeping it does not win our way to God. However, I do sense that in FOCUS, “not keeping the Sabbath” might label you as a “unfaithful Christian“. Maybe not in the legalistic sense, but people started questioning you – aren’t you trusting God enough? Aren’t you appreciating God’s gift of 1 day rest in 7? The problem of keeping the Sabbath starts rolling in…
The problem is, it is not that workaholic-ism here that makes people like me finding difficult to keep the Sabbath. It is not that I am still doing the income generating activities on Saturday. I do enjoy what I am doing from Monday to Friday at “work”. In fact, many full-time working Christians lay people that I met in Club-5 treat their Monday to Friday work as “rest”, because it is far less stressful than ministry work on Sunday. Yes, in fact that many people have to do their full-time work during the weekdays and do the ministry work during week nights and weekends. The harvest is here, but the workers are few – so the workers go overtime to try to get the harvest done.
Vivian and I myself have been “questioned” (might not be an appropriate word) about our Saturday activities, and whether we do have some rest on this day. Some rest – definitely yes. I don’t feel that stressful today as I do have the whole day to prepare what I am going to do next week. Keeping the Sabbath – probably not, as I still have some “tasks” to do today. Even though these “tasks” are not the kind of “work” that puts bread on the table, but I won’t argue that they are not work thus I am keeping the Sabbath. But the fact is, I do want to take some rest but at the same time there are still a lot of ministry work to do. Especially for this session, which has just started, that we have lots of contacts from new students who are interested in finding out Christianity. Moreover, Mandarin Bible Fellowship have this new bi-weekly event every Friday night that I sometimes need to give seminars and talks. Shall I mention that there are always people from church want me to fix up their broken Windoze PeeCee, which I am pretty sure many guys doing CompEng or CompSci will be able to help?
The problem is also on the resources we have. As I said previous that the harvest is here but few is the worker (actually, Jesus too said that in Matthews 9:37), that simply adds more work on already limited resources. Besides, everyone wants to have Saturday off, but then who will be preparing for the Sunday will come straight after?
What then can be the solution?
- Continue as it is now, and do as much ministry as you can on Saturdays and Sundays. Even the Apostle Paul works every Sabbath in the synagogues persuading both Jews and Gentiles in Acts 18:4! To be gospel minded? Continue doing ministry on Saturdays and Sundays!
- Pros: The work is done. Your fellowship will be happy, and the number increases. People become mature in their faith, and they become your pride and joy in heavenly reward.
- Cons: You don’t have rest, and are burnt out after 6 months – either end up in the hospital or unexcited about ministry anymore. You are also criticised of not trusting God enough.
- Take a whole day rest on Saturday. You trusted that God will provide enough good workmanship amongst your fellowship, and you trusted that it is God who can change people’s heart – your work on Saturday cannot. Moreover, Sabbath is given by God as a pattern of rest in heaven, and we should appreciate it.
- Pros: You become refreshed after your rest on Saturday, and you can now minister more effectively on Sunday. And your family are happy because you spend more time with them.
- Cons: Quite possibly that when you turn up on Sunday, the Bible study is not prepared properly, some people do not turn on because of lack of follow up, and people still critise you of being lazy.
See the dilemma here? Maybe a mix and match might help a bit, but maybe I really do not trust God enough, it is likely that I will take the first approach.
Off to write the seminar now.
Update 8 March 2003 @ 12:27 PM: Just thought of something. What should we do when someone refuse to help out in ministry because he/she wants to “keep the Sabbath”? How should I respond to this kind of reasons? Or is it just I myself trying to justify doing ministry work on Saturdays? Confused.
Hi Scott,
which one is more important, ministry work or your rest? In a way it doesn’t matter which one you do if you really trust God (if you rest, you trust that God will work in ppl heart regardless your preparation (or lack of it) of the bible study, if you work, you trust that God will provide some rest for you) < does that make sense?
about ppl criticising you, there gonna be some who will always do it, regardless of what you do, ‘coz you just can’t satisfy everyone
if someone wants to keep the sabbath, you can’t force them to do otherwise
Sui,
It is a bit more than whether a person trusts God when he/she decides to keep (or not to keep) his/her Sabbath rest. See my pros/cons list – it does have a wider effect on whether a certain task is done, and how other Christians in the same fellowship relate to you. Your argument makes sense, but I hope it is that simple :)
And of the criticism, what about if your action seems to be in contradiction with the teachings on Sunday, even though you know that it is still theologically sound? I have to say that Joshua’s preaching on Sabbath is a bit simplified. He is looking though the role of a full-time worker, or a full-time minister, or a full-time student. What about full-time worker doing part-time ministry? What about a part-time worker doing ministry at near-full-time capacity? What about people who work, serve in the church, and have family to take care of as well? Which part of “life” is work and which part is not? Do I still “keep the Sabbath” legalistically if I stress myself out on Saturday with non-income-generating work? Then, why do we focus on keeping the Sabbath as a virtue of a godly Christian?
Nah. I am not criticising anyone but somehow life just gets a bit more complicated. Moreover, it is past 11pm and I am about to sign off for the day…
Hi Scott,
have you talked to Joshua about it? give him some feedback so next time when he preaches on Sabbath, he can make it applicable to other people as well
Hi Scott!
It seems to me that thers’s too much confusion about the do’s and don’ts of keeping the Sabbath – like the Pharisees with keeping the letter of the law!
The Sabbath was designed by God for our pleasure and well being. It is a day when one can put aside all the cares and perplexities of life and focus on walking with and communing with God. The Sabbath is a sign between me and my God that I am on the path of sanctification where he has full permission to work in my life and renew my mind according to his principles. It is a day when rather than a physical rest, I am able to truly rest from my own works –> my self-survival strategies and I can remain connected to Him and learn to trust Him –> rest in His love –> be fully dependent on Him. For me it is a day without distraction, when I can practise that “abiding” in Him of John 15. It,s a time when I can study His Word; meet with others to worship Him; share His love with others who do not know him; a time when I can more readily hear his voce without the clutter of everyday things in my mind.
For some reason that I do not fully understand, God asks me to keep the Sabbath on the seventh day, Saturday, which I am delighted to do.
May the Lord, our Creator and Re-creator, be with you always,
Louise
Hi Louise,
Yes. I try not to be a Pharisee in the way I keep my Sabbath, and I don’t want to see it as a ‘rule’ that we ought to take Saturday off. However…
1. Sometimes it is not what other people thinks. The fact that they “CAN” keep the Sabbath does not imply everyone else can, as each person is unique and each one has his/her problem. In my case, some of my church friends have questioned me that why I do not rest on the Sabbath. It can be a pressure sometimes.
2. Should you keep the Sabbath when you still have loads of work to do? Not talking about my Monday to Friday work here, but mostly chruch stuff. Otherwise am I not like the Pharisees criticised by Jesus in Mark 7, who obey the rule to avoid the real responsibility?
And surely I would like to have some rest.
Hi Scott,
Your problem is a tough one, and one that many Christians have to deal with (myself included). I hope that my response is in some way helpful…
1. I don’t think that the Sabbath (as a strict 24 hour period) is a biblical rule that has to be obeyed by all Christians. But that’s a matter of exegesis (ask me more on this if you like)
2. Still, I think that all Christians should at least have some time off to do what relaxes them. For some this might be a 24 hour period, it might be more, it might be less. Remember that we’re not all that same, and we need to cater for that.
3. A big part of growing up (I don’t know you so I don’t know your age) is understanding your limitations. This means knowing how much Christian stuff you can and can not do. Hard decisions have to be made.
4. Your relationship with God is important. Sometimes it feels like you’re too busy doing Christian stuff that you’re loosing touch with God. That’s a problem! Not least because one who isn’t growing in their relationship with God will find it difficult to help others.
5. This is where trust comes in. You simply won’t be able to do everything that you want to. You need to know your limitations, and work within those. Everything else you will need to leave in God’s hands.
Does this help? Let me know. I’m constantly dealing with this myself…