American culture is the most medicated and therapeutic on
the face of the earth. Stress is killing us physically, emotionally, and
spiritually. As God’s people, it does not have to and should not be this way. If
we will look to God’s Word, we will discover a pattern for living-in any area
of our lives- that God has prescribed to set his people free from stressful
lifestyles. It is not possible for
any of us to find the strength to carry out life on our own. The Lord never
intended us to do so. He wants to be
our strength for living.
So, the ?, do you consider your life to be stressful?...Does
the idea of a stress-free lifestyle seem realistic?.... Lk. 24:49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my
Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on
high.” I think it is very significant that after 3 years of walking alongside
our Lord, and witnessing His atoning work on the cross and His resurrection,
Jesus say’s you are still not ready so “stay” until I return in power. I
believe this should cause us to ask, in what ways is Jesus still instructing us
to do this today.
But, it’s hard, someone wrote a song once called the waiting
is the hardest part. But in Isaiah 40:31, a personal favorite piece of
scripture for me,
but they who wait for
the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
What is most difficult for you? In what area of life is it
most difficult to wait for The Lord? Are you praying about it, are you laying
it before the feet of our Lord?
This is not so much a message on the Sabbath, “God’s Sabbath
Rest”, as it is a message about Renewal and Refreshing for the long haul ahead.
But, what has the Sabbath meant to you in your walk with Christ. In what ways
do you observe it or keep it? It is an often misunderstood word, but in Mark
2:27, Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Here
is a clue, the key, to understanding the Sabbath.
Hitting the Pause
Button
Maybe you remember playing Red Light, Green Light as a
child. The game as you might remember is a combination of running, stopping,
moving, and freezing. To win, you must listen closely to whoever is calling out
the commands for stopping or going. ….And in the Body today, I truly believe we
are seeing a renewed obedience to our Jesus’ command to Go! Green light …..But,
Jesus’ last words when he appeared to the disciples after the resurrection were
“Wait (stop) in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” ….Red
Light!
So here in the middle of this series I want to reflect on
the much neglected doctrine of “The Red Light” and its aspect of missional
living. It is imperative that we take time to focus on the habit of pausing,
refreshing and renewing ourselves in the Lord!
Why is this so difficult? Because ours is a culture that
values production to such a degree that the idea of “wasting time” for just
about any reason is considered a curse. ….But if we want to truly spend time
with God, we must intentionally, make a concentrated and regular effort to
create space for God….. But everyone and everything around us wants to fill up
every bit of the space in our lives and then make us an occupied people, more
than that a preoccupied people. This has a negative effect on our time with
God. We approach it as simply a task to be completed. So we try and make our
time with God useful, we view it from kind of a what will this do for me
perspective. What wisdom can I get? Will I feel God’s presence? What answer
will God give to my questions? Then it becomes a chore.
The world says if you are not making good use of your time,
you are useless. Jesus says hey, come spend some useless time with me. See, if we can separate ourselves from the
idea of “the usefulness” of spending time with God and “the results” of
spending time with God, it frees us to “Waste” a precious hour or two with God.
Then gradually, we may find, our useless time will transform us, and then
everything in our life will be different. See, our Sabbath, spending time in
God’s Rest, is our being unbusy, instead of being busy with other things. …To
not be useful is to remind ourselves that if anything important or even
fruitful happens through time spent with God, it is God who achieves the
result. ….So when we go into the day, we go with the conviction that God is the
one who brings forth fruit in my work, and I don’t have to act as though I’m in
control of things. I have to work hard, I have to do my job, I have to offer my
best. But I can let go of the illusion of control and be detached from the
result. At the end of the day I can prayerfully say that if something good has
happened, God Be praised, God be glorified!
So as we set aside time for God to share His inward thoughts with us, we open
our ears and minds and the doors of our heart to receive His most intimate affection and dreams for our lives and for those
with whom we are in relationships with. We hope in the Lord and He will renew
our strength!
We Sabbath!
So, correctly understood, our Sabbath becomes both a joy and a gift from God to us. It becomes
something we get to enjoy instead of a have to endure. Why because, “The
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”
I read that 37% of Americans take fewer than seven days off
per year. Only 14% of Americans take vacations of more than two weeks. Americans
take the shortest paid vacations in the world, and 20% of those who take
vacation stay in direct contact with the office or those on the job. So I guess
I’m trying to help us become a little less American. Because to Sabbath, to
spend time in God’s rest means to schedule time to do nothing but rest in God.
It has been written, so many times by so many that I think
people think it’s a verse, that “The purpose of man is to glorify God and to
enjoy him forever.” I think this is true
and an accurate reflection of God’s eternal plan. … Well, for the Christian
…forever has begun. Forever is here and now.
Our God is more than capable of keeping this universe going
without us helping him for a few hours a day. And for a day a week, to be spent
in His rest! Again our time with God, should be a daily and weekly event we
look forward to with anticipation. And on
your Day of rest, …What brings you joy? What gives you delight? If it’s reading
a book, then kick back and do it. If it’s playing with your children, do it, if
it’s loving on your spouse, then do it. Whatever you do, remember it’s not a time
to get things done, it is for joy and delight!
Our Daily Office
Let me share this with you as I close, the word Office comes
from the Latin word opus or work. For the early church, the daily office was
always the work of God. Nothing was to interfere with that priority. The basic
goal of the daily office is to maintain a conscious connection with the Lord
throughout our day. The Monk St. Benedict structured eight prayer times called
offices for monks. Every three hours the monks of the Benedictine order, even
to this day stop everything they are doing, this includes sleeping, and observe
the office.
Well, few people other than monks observe offices today.
Most ‘office’ so to speak three or four times a day with very small doses of
prayer, reading a psalm or proverb maybe. A devotion or small amount of
scripture. But the wisest man in the world at the time he lived, Solomon wrote
a proverb we know it as Proverbs 4:23, Above
all things, guard your heart, for everything flows from it” He believed
everything concerning our life comes from our heart, so the best thing we can
do is to keep proper maintenance on our inner life. So attending to our heart,
our attitudes, and a listening ear is essential as we move in missional ways.
Good works will quickly become dead works if we are not drawing both our wisdom
and strength from the power of the Holy Spirit on a very frequent basis.
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