Learning...

We had lunch today with a couple from our church. They are homeless. Later, as I walked by a convention of men in suits getting out I was feeling the need to compare myself to them. So I thought, I've sat in meetings with Michael Dell and the likes. Then I realized that what I learned from them was not nearly as valuable as what I've learned from this homeless couple.

A Sabbath of Salvation

Works are to Salvation what the work week is to the Sabbath. I know, that sounds too much like the SAT or GRE, but….

I have wrestled often with the notion of the Sabbath and with the concept of “rest” in Scripture. Jesus says, “Come to me all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…” (Matt. 11:28). But what does “rest” mean? Likewise, what does “rest” on the Sabbath mean? Is it just doing nothing? Does it involve sleep? Is it something else?

I have had a couple of breakthrough thoughts on the Sabbath. The first was realizing that works of mercy are not only permissible, but commanded to be done on the Sabbath. The second involved a realization that Sundays are a time when we can (and should) turn our own attention and the attention of our families and neighbors to the undivided worship of God. That means that on Sunday I put into practice those family devotionals and prayer times that I keep intending to do the rest of the week. On Sunday, those things really take priority. Then the rest of the week starts to follow suit.

But this week I have been having a third realization about the Sabbath. This week I have been thinking about what it means to find rest in Jesus, as he commands us to do. Now for some, this means working fewer hours and spending more time in prayer and Bible study. That may be appropriate. For others, this means taking a nap on Sunday and finding refreshment from a physically weary workweek. But it seems that the rest Jesus is speaking about is the salvation offered freely by God in the person and work of Jesus. You see, good works are a necessary part of life – to keep one’s job, to provide for one’s family, to love others. But good works are never in Scripture added into the equation of salvation. Salvation is spoken of in terms not of “works”, but of “rest”. This is why Jesus can say, “come to me… and I will give you rest” and go on to speak of his yoke being “easy and [his] burden light”. It is light for us because Jesus has done all the work.

Now a fourth thought just occurred to me while typing; that is that before Jesus came the Sabbath was observed at the end of the work week, on Saturday. But as Christians we observe the Sabbath at the beginning of the week, on Sunday. How appropriate that the believers of the Old Testament would also find their ultimate rest/salvation at the end of their life’s work – in Jesus’ work. While believers on this side of the cross find their accomplished rest/salvation before their life even begins.