this one cut straight to my core.
Regarding the Sabbath: “It’s hard to preach about a commandment The Church doesn’t keep.”
— Dr. Matthew Sleeth
this one cut straight to my core.
Regarding the Sabbath: “It’s hard to preach about a commandment The Church doesn’t keep.”
— Dr. Matthew Sleeth
Comments
8 responses to “Weekend Thought: DANG!!!!!!!”
(I responded immediately via twitter but I love this subject.)
Our pastor has taught on this subject over and over again.
Example conversation:
Dude: What are you doing on Tuesday?
Dood: I am planning to rest and do nothing.
Dude: AWESOME! We should do a lunch meeting.
Dood: Didn’t you just hear me? I am going to do nothing.
Point 1: How is it we Gentiles can easily follow the other 9 Commandments but the Sabbath is totally optional.
Point 2: The only commandment that is to be kept holy.
Point 3: You observing the Sabbath is a testament of your belief that God did indeed created this world in 6 days because He, being God and all, rested on the 7th day.
Point 4: God created a day of rest for humans. Like Jesus pointed out, He did not create humans for a day of rest.
Work you butt off for 6 days. Do nothing on the 7th. Holla at your God.
I wondered these same things way back in 1990. I did quite a bit of research and our family began observing Shabbat since 1996. It has been a huge blessing. Right now I can smell the challot fresh from the oven and we’re planning on doing nothing! :D I like what the earlier commenter said: “Work your butt off for 6 days. Do nothing on the 7th.” That’s exactly what we do. I also discovered that I have Jewish ancestry on both my mother and my father’s side, so perhaps my passion for so many years was fueled by some hereditary memory of it despite it being hidden.
All the Christians that have visited us on Shabbat have fallen in love with the practice and we end up having many guests every Friday. The Church is missing out on a HUGE blessing, but we’re introducing those people who live near us a little at a time. Our youth pastor now has taken up the practice.
I love this topic. I especially love reading books about it. I stink at keeping it.
right on.
It’s so hard to just stop everything for the day. There’s always something else that could be done.
powerful.
I have the hardest time with wanting to fulfill the expectations I perceive that others have for me to be more and more and more productive. In letting myself fall into that, I never do allow myself the freedom to just rest, even if I physically slow down, my mind and heart are always racing. You’re right, Jarrod, there is always something else to do.
The excuse of, “But I work on Sunday…FOR God.” doesn’t cut it if I’m not ever taking a day to be WITH Him.
I need this challenge!
So annoyed as I lost my comment in outerspace cuz I lost the wifi connection, so to sum it up —
I always wonder, when we talk of keeping the “big 10” — don’t we do it with a new, New Covenant understanding? That we keep them now by keeping what Jesus said is the “greatest” commandment — to love the Lord with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves?
I often wonder when I hear preaching or comments about the specific 10, and there is no mention of the full-circle summary provided by Jesus.
Not that they aren’t a good way to live :-) I guess our whole current judeo/christian moral code is based on these. And I know the Word says that all of it is written for our example. But even Jesus got the pharisees in a twit for not keeping the Sabbath, because he healed a man – did “work.” :-)
some random thoughts.
Hi, my name is Dustin and I work with a Christian environmental organization called Christians in Conservation: A Rocha USA. I saw your post with the quote by Dr. Matthew Sleeth, and I thought that you might like to know that our organization sponsors him as a “creation care evangelist.” We would love for you to check us out at our website, en.arocha.org/usa. You might also be interested the website for Dr. Sleeth’s book “Serve God, Save the Planet,” which can be found at http://www.servegodsavetheplanet.org.