More Than Bread

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Over the course of these episodes and even more the course of the years, I have had multiple people ask me, so what should I do on the Sabbath? How is it  different from any other day? What's the purpose? At some point the thought came to me, "The Sabbath was meant to be a little taste of heaven. The Sabbath is one day a week meant to give us a little taste of heaven on earth.  I'll be honest, the first time those words came out of my mouth, I thought "Oh... that's good. Way to go Dan. I've never read that, never heard anyone say that. Good job." Of course, I wasn't even close to the first with that thought. I found that the Jewish midrash written  over 1000 yrs ago, contained the same idea. 

So what would it look like to bring an element of heaven into your Sabbath? What if that was God's intent all along...a taste test of heaven?

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What if I only had one day, one day to live, one day to give, or just one day to do whatever my heart desired to do? What would you do with one day to do whatever you wanted to do?

The average lifespan in the United States is 29,200 days (give or take). My mother-in-law recently celebrated her 32,872nd day. My mom and dad are both over 30,000 days old. In a few weeks, I will celebrate my 23,376th day! In Psalm 84, David says that one day in God's presence is worth a 1000 anywhere else. 
One day in God's presence is better than 1000 of my best days anywhere else. Which causes me to pause and ask, "Would I give my life for 23+ days in God's presence? Or let me make it more immediate and practical. Would I give God an hour of my day today, if I thought it was that good?

Psalm 84 is an encouraging and convicting Psalm that causes me to ask the question, "What would I do if I only had one day?"

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What would you think if I told you that I believe "play" is in the very heart of Father God. I love how the prophet Isaiah describes this play-full God in Isaiah 29:13-14:
"The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder." Did you catch that? God is bummed because people's hearts are all bricked up and their worship is filled with dry rules.  There's no joy, no fun. So what does God decide to do? "Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder..."

I'm gonna blow their minds, knock their socks off, I'm gonna bring a smile to their faces, if it's the last thing I do. Let me ask you... when is the last time you let God astound you?

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We are going to talk about the spiritual practice of play. U knew this was coming, but still you’re tempted to ask, "Did he say play or pray?" Play? Why would we talk about play on the sabbath? Play is not really a spiritual practice is it? Good question! That a Christian should be a great worker, a blessing to every boss is easily defensible. That a follower of Jesus should be willing to sacrifice, even suffer for their faith. I've said that, more than once. That a Christian should be known for their love. Of course...almost goes without saying. 

How about no one in the world should be known for their playfulness like followers of Christ? How does that sit with you? In this episode I'll start to make the case that the Kingdom of God is for kids who love to play and there's no better time to play, than on God's stop-day!

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God made "stop-day" (the sabbath) a rule, because  He loves delight. He loves to delight us. I think I could even say, He loves to have fun.  Sabbath is God saying, hey what I have made for you is so cool, I'm gonna insist that you enjoy it."  Remember how we described sabbath in the last episode?  Basically God has said, "Once a week I will carve out a day for you. I'm going to remove it from the curse; call it holy so that Satan can't mess with it and I'm going to fill it with blessings. Primarily the blessing of me. And I am so good, you don't want to miss this day. It'll be like the old days, back in the garden."

So practically speaking how do we do it? How do I have a "be-with-God" day?

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When it comes to keeping the sabbath, basically God has said, "Once a week I'm gonna to carve out a day for you. I'm gonna remove it from the curse; call it holy so that Satan can't mess with it and I'm going to fill it with blessings. Primarily the blessing of me. And I'm good. I'm so good. You won't regret this day. It'll be like the old days, back in the garden. It's gonna be a day where I can remind you that I love you and I actually want to spend time with you. You are my delight."

What if that was what the Sabbath was all about? And if that’s what it’s all about…would you really want to miss it? Wouldn't it be your best day of the week?

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Far too often, I come to God to get something from God. But what the gifts of the giver, keep me from embracing the greatest gift? See there is nothing greater than Christ. Christ is the treasure of Christianity. Listen, I don't know why you go to church, why you listen to this podcast, but if it's not ultimately because you want more of Christ, then chances are good that you're going to miss everything. Listen to me, there is a hunger and a thirst deep inside of you that nothing will touch, nothing will satisfy, except Christ...

So here's the question I end with in this episode, "Are you willing to stop feeding at banquet tables where the main course is not Christ.  If it's necessary will you let go of the good to go after God? Are you thirsty for the gift of God?"  

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The sabbath is a way of saying, "God it's not just a matter of time, if I had all the  time in the world, I still wouldn't be able to finish. I need help. I'm limited." I think one reason we don't sabbath well is because we haven't accepted our limitations. We need to develop a theology of limitations.

The sabbath call in Psalm 46 is "Be still and know that I am God." Usually when we think of the word stillness, we think of quiet. Stillness is a lack of noise and sometimes we desperately need times of solitude and silence. But God is not
saying, "Be quiet and know that I am God."  The Hebrew word means stop or simply cease. Cease striving. Hands up. Give up. Let Him be God!

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We are starting the second mini-series of spiritual practices that bring God's gracious hand upon us. For the next 8-10 episodes we're going talk about keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath is God's stop-day. And let's be honest, it's so hard. And if you ask why is it so hard to slow down? Isn't the most common answer, well 24/7 living and 24/7 work is what it takes to get ahead. I mean there is so much to
do. It's like, "God, if you want to take a day off, that's your business, but you can see that I just don't have time to stop."

But here's my question, the sabbath question. What if getting ahead is the wrong race?  What if getting ahead is really falling behind and we have to stop in order to catch up with the life that really matters? What if getting ahead is the wrong race?

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Remain. Mostly what I want to talk about, in this last episode of the series, is that word "remain." In Biblical Greek, it’s the word meno.  It means to take a stand against difficult circumstances. But it was also used to refer to relationships, close personal relationships.  So maybe the sense of the word meno in John 15 is "to stick close even when it's difficult."

Stick close to me and I will stick close to you. Regardless of how hard life is, let my words stick close. Stick close to my love. If you stick close, you will live a life that thrives, so stick close. See, if want to breakthrough to a life that thrives, we need to remain!