Dr. Ron Sumners
February 29, 2004
The Martian student, swooping dangerously low over the United States in his flying saucer, scribbled furiously. He had chosen an ideal moment for taking notes, a fine summer Sunday, with all the natives coming out of their houses and engaging in activity for his observation. He was in a hurry because it was only a week until his report of life on earth was due. He was worried that he couldn’t gather enough data on the life and activity of humans in time.
As it turned out, he had no need to worry. The report he wrote was brilliant and won the highest honors in his anthropology class. In fact, it became a standard that was read to all new students.
The report read: Like so many primitive life forms, the creatures of the third planet are sun worshippers. One day in seven is set apart for the adoration of their deity. Their rituals vary, as each apparently involves a special form of dress; but all are conducted in the open air, and most seem to require the collection of enormous crowds. Some creatures gather in vast arenas, to watch strangely garbed priests perform elaborate ceremonies involving a ball and variously shaped instruments of wood. Others worship in groups of two or four and address a much smaller ball with long clubs. They wander over lush green fields. These fields do not seem to support any kind of animal life, but seem to be like a huge outdoor worship center for these devotees.
Some of these sun worshippers strip themselves almost naked and go to the seashore in large groups. They participate in strange rites, often hurling themselves into the waves with frenzied cries. After this ceremonial immersion, devotees have been observed to anoint themselves with holy oil and stretch themselves out full length with eyes closed, in order to surrender themselves entirely to silent communication with their deity.
There exists a small sect of dissenters or heretics that does not practice sun worship. They may be identified by their habit of clothing themselves more soberly and completely than the sun worshippers. They too gather in groups, but only to hide from the sun in certain buildings of doubtful use, usually with windows of glass colored to keep out the light. It is not clear whether these creatures are simply unbelievers or whether they are excommunicated from sun worship for some offense. We have not been able to discover what goes on inside these buildings, which may perhaps be places of punishment. It is noteworthy that their faces and gestures show none of the religious frenzy of the sun worshippers. In fact, they usually appear relaxed and even placid, thus indicating minds that are blank of thought or emotion.
Was the Martian right or wrong?
According to a Greek legend, an ancient Athens man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing games with some children. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity.
Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening the string, and placing it on the ground. He said to the critical Athenian, “Tell me what the unstrung bow implies?”
The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make. Aesop explained, “If you keep the bow always bent, it will eventually break; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it.”
People are also like that. That’s why we all need to take time to rest. God showed us how. We all need to loosen the bow.
Sabbath time is not just rest; it is sacred rest. It can be a holy day. In the Jewish tradition it was the seventh day. In our Christian tradition it is The Lord’s Day, the first day of the week. In addition to a Sabbath day, we can have a Sabbath time, consisting of a Sabbath afternoon or even a Sabbath hour. It is a time when you connect with God. It can be a walk through the woods, or an early morning cup of coffee.
Sabbath is not just time off from work. It is not a time when we do all the stuff we couldn’t get done during the week. It is not a time to run to Wal-Mart, pick up the dry-cleaning, shop for little Bobby’s birthday party, cut the grass, change the oil in the car, clean the cat’s litter box, and all our other errands. Sabbath is not a time you take off from work to do more work.
Ecclesiastes 3 tells us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” There is a time for work and a time for Sabbath rest!
We push ourselves so hard that we become weary. Moses led the people through the desert and, at one point, God tells him, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Jesus told His disciples, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.” Rest is a part of our commitment to God.
When we think about Jesus and what He did during His life here on earth, what comes to mind is His teaching and healing. But He would often disappear. He would go off by Himself for a time of Sabbath rest.
Jesus didn’t wait until everyone was healed. He didn’t leave an associate in charge. Jesus knew when it was time to rest and He just stopped what He was doing, went off and entered His “Sabbath time.” He wasn’t going to run some errands! He was going to commune with God.
In preparation for this sermon, I asked myself the question, “How thin can I spread myself before I’m no longer there?” I took a Sabbath rest this week and I was refreshed.
We are not the “Energizer Bunny.” We can’t just keep going and going and going. Even out times that we call rest- vacations, are jam-packed, filled to the brim with events that are so hectic that we need to get back to work to rest from our vacation. All of our energy is gone and we are weary.
Do you remember the story of Jesus walking through the crowd and a woman touches the hem of His garment? He felt the power go out of Him. This is important. Throughout our day we have many encounters with many people, all requiring energy. We don’t think about the energy usage because we assume we will always have plenty of energy to spare. We don’t think about how each phone call, each meeting, and each little task, drains energy from us. At what cost? There will come a day when, due to our pushing, going, striving, we burn out, we go down in flames. It could be a stroke, a heart attack, or nervous breakdown. Then our Sabbath comes in the form of illness. Sabbath is a time to stop. We need to stop working, stop making money, stop rushing here and there. Stop and listen to your life. Stop and listen for the still, small voice of God.
Stopping is something that can’t be bought. You just have to stop!
In our society, we don’t value “stop”, we don’t value the Sabbath. We brag about work and our business, as if this proves our worth and value.
Society tells us that if we are not doing something you are wasting time. Get back to work! Make yourself useful!
God consecrated Sabbath time as a special time. Sabbath is a time when we stop and remember what is really important in our lives.
We experience Sabbath in different ways. We can experience Sabbath every Sunday here in the House of God. Meadow Brook Baptist Church is the House of God. We can also experience Sabbath at different times, places or ways throughout the week. Sabbath is when you encounter God, when your focus shifts from worldly things to the presence of the awesome God. When you are willing to stop, you realize that God is right there beside you.
When you look at it that way, our workaholic patterns smack of a kind of blasphemy. Rest may be good enough for God, but I’m above all of that. In some cases, our unwillingness to take a Sabbath is evidence of our feeling indispensable. The universe may survive God taking a rest, but it will fall apart if we do so! For others it is an absence of trust. We’re sure that if we don’t work seven days a week, we won’t survive economically.
How do we make a day holy? By stopping work, that is, stopping all pursuits we engage in for necessity not for rest. We acknowledge that the world is good.
It is very hard to tell the church what to do with the Sabbath. It is much easier to tell them what not to do. That is the reason that most all our instruction about the Sabbath has been prohibitions; things not to do!
We can’t force or terrify people into church attendance. A forced churchgoer has no religion, a terrified churchgoer has no Christianity, and a bribed churchgoer has no morals. We don’t want people to come to church because the golf course is closed or the weather is too bad to go to the beach. We want people who prefer God to golf, the beach or the lake. We want people who desire to observe the Sabbath with fellow Christians in the House of God!
Most of the ordinary people who lose their faith are not overthrown by philosophical argument; they lose faith because they are disillusioned by the church members they meet. One sanctimonious hypocrite makes a hundred unbelievers. One little bit of gossip tearing a neighbor’s reputation apart, spoken on the church steps smashes the Sabbath to pieces. If we are to observe the Sabbath we must show the rest of the world that a Christian gets something worth having out of worship. If we would turn others to Christ, we must set an example. Church members should behave like Christians seven days a week. If we would do that, respect for the Sabbath would take care of itself.
How do we make a day holy? We do so by making all of life holy. We experience Sabbath by setting aside time to commune with God.
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