Well-Being Retreat

August 15-17, 2016

Montreat Conference Center

Montreat, North Carolina

Keeping the Sabbath

Raymond Bonwell

Scripture

Genesis 2:2

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been

doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all of his work.”

Exodus 20:8-11 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days

shall you labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is

a sabbath to the Lord your God.”

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the

Lord your God has commanded you.”

What’s Worth a Thousand Words?

Relevant For Christians?

Westminster Confession of Faith (6.119)

This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when

[people], after a due preparing of their hearts, and

ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only

observe an holy rest all the day from their own works,

words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and

recreations; but also are taken up the whole time in the

public and private exercises of his worship, and in the

duties of necessity and mercy.

Relevant For Christians? (cont.)

Q. 117. How is the Sabbath or Lord’s Day to be

sanctified? (7.227)

A. The Sabbath, or Lord’s Day, is to be sanctified by an holy

resting all that day, not only from such works as are at all times

sinful, but even from such worldly employments and recreations

as are on other days lawful; and making it our delight to spend

the whole time (except so much of it as is to be taken up in

works of necessity and mercy) in the public and private exercise

of God’s worship. And, to that end, we are to prepare our hearts,

and with such foresight, diligence, and moderation, to dispose,

and seasonably to dispatch our worldly business, that we may

be the more free and fit for the duties of the day.

Luther Has A Helpful Perspective

Treatise on Good Works

Now follows the Third Commandment: "Thou shalt hallow

the day of rest." In the First Commandment is prescribed

our heart's attitude toward God in thoughts, in the

Second, that of our mouth in words, in this Third is

prescribed our attitude toward God in works

Bolded italics added for emphasis

Relevant For Christians? (cont.)

“Should Christians Observe the Sabbath” Robert G. Rayburn, Covenant Seminary Review

“While I am willing to grant the absence of clear and precise

teaching in the New Testament making the first day of the

week the Christian Sabbath to be kept holy unto Him, I

believe it is possible by clear, logical inferences from the

New Testament record to establish the fact that

contemporary Christians are required”

Relevant for Christians? (cont.)

• Sabbath is rest from earthly labor for Divine,

heavenly labor

• Christ observed the Sabbath Himself, used it as a

special day of corporate worship

• Christ used the Sabbath for works of mercy

• Christ used the Sabbath for doing good

Per Rayburn

Bigger Points

Genesis 2:3a

“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.”

It’s more than “good.”

The Sabbath was actually the first entity in

Scripture to be described as holy – not a mountain,

not an altar, but this time.

Bigger Points (cont.)

Sabbath As Pinnacle of Creation

• Jewish creation story unique in discussion, emphasis on

rest

– Sabbath is God’s “signature”

– Some theologians strongly emphasize this focus on

Sabbath by suggesting it was true pinnacle of creation, not

humanity

– Sabbath rest was the final act of creation; Sabbath, with its

tranquility and peace, was actually the culmination of God’s

handiwork

• Humanity’s first day was the Sabbath

Bigger Points (cont.)

• XXIII. As if this were not enough, He has given us a

powerful, strong example of it, His only, dear Son,

Jesus Christ, our Lord, who on the Sabbath [Saturday]

lay in the tomb the entire day of rest, free from all His

works, and was the first to fulfill this Commandment

Luther’s Treatise on Good Works

Sabbath Keeping in Scripture

Call to renewed Sabbath observance became instrument to

call the people back to a faithful relationship with God

13 If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own

interests on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight and the holy

day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways,

serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; 14 then you

shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights

of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for

the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 58:13-14:

Sabbath Breaking in Scripture

Amos 8 describes God’s confrontation of children of Israel

for disobedience in not keeping the Sabbath

4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of

the land, 5 saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell

grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”—

skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with

dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair

of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

• Though they stopped labor, were still mentally at work longing

to reopen businesses

• Even worse, schemed to profit from those in need – even

cheating them

Barth

Church Dogmatics

Considers Sabbath under the rubric of "Jesus, Lord of

Time” in III/2

“… time of man begins... on the basis of the work God has done

before his time and not with reference to any work still ahead of

him. The time of man begins, therefore, with a day of rest and

not a day of work; with freedom and not with obligation; with a

holiday and not with a task; with joy and not with labor and toil;

under the Gospel and not under the Law."

Bragging Rights?

Dorothy Bass

• Observed colleagues taking

perverse pride in violating

Sabbath rest

• Could not image they would

brag about plans to violate

other commandments

Robert Rayburn

• Observed some took

delight in viewing “the

Lord’s Day as being just

like every other day”

• Same people would feel

insulted by suggestion

they steal, lie, commit

adultery also in

Decalogue

Other Professions Recognize Rest

ACA Code of Ethics

• Notes counselor’s

responsibility for self-care

• “Counselors engage in self-

care activities to maintain

and promote their own

emotional physical, mental,

an spiritual well-being to

best meet their professional

responsibilities” (ACA Code,

2014, p. 8

APA Code of Ethics

• Less specific about self-care,

but intimates it

• “[p]sychologists strive to be

aware of the possible effect

of their own physical and

mental health on their

ability to help those with

whom they work” (APA

Code, 2010, General

Principles, Principle A)

Ignore At Your Own Risk

Chinese characters for “busyness” include:

“heart” and “killing” or “death”

Busyness could be “heart annihilation”

The Commandments Show A Way

Exodus “Remember” “Internal”

Deuteronomy “Observe” “External”

“Rest as Virtue”

“Results showed that those who identified themselves as Sabbath-

keepers [from a Judeo-Christian worldview] were significantly more

satisfied with the amount and quality of their rest than those who

did not identify as Sabbath keepers.”

Internal and External

• “… two dimensions of rest will be explored: the

inward attitudinal rest, a setting apart in mind and

heart as well as the ceasing of work and liberation;

and second, the intentional actions that create restful

life space.”

• Barth notes that in the proclamation of God's Word,

Church ministers "communicate their own inner and

outer life," and even here, despite dependence on

received revelation, they "are limited by their own

historical circumstances" (CD, I/2:798).

Barth Simplified

Our concern rests with the "inner life" of the

theologian—with the question Barth poses:

"How are things with your heart?" (Evangelical Theology: An Introduction: 83)

Internal and External (cont.)

If theological work begins with the misery of the human

condition, it will most likely end there. The theologian

caught in this vicious circle will remain "a gloomy visitor

upon this earth of darkness, an unpleasant instructor of his

brethren," one who neither breathes fresh air nor allows

others to do so (The Humanity of God:89-90).

Should this happen, Barth urges theologians to interrupt

their work and celebrate a "Sabbath day"—a turning to God

as the source of their own faith understanding.

Sabbath Is a Dual Challenge

Society challenges Sabbath, but at the same time,

Sabbath challenges society

“Rest requires planning, intentionality, diligence, and surrender. The

paradox is that we have to work to make virtuous rest happen in our

lives—both by creating a Sabbath heart and intentionally setting aside

time to rest, even when internal and external pressures loom. Sabbath-

keeping has always required diligence and surrender. Even in the

wilderness, the Israelites were commanded to gather extra manna for

the sixth day in preparation to enjoy the seventh day (i.e.. Sabbath)”

“Rest as Virtue”

Re-Creation

• Christ promises to make “all things new” (and, thank

heavens, not “all new things”).

• Might Sabbath, and recreation, lead to this

re-creation?

Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me.

Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how

to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I

do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything

heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll

learn to live freely and lightly.”

Well-Being Retreat | August 15-17, 2016 | Montreat Conference Center | Montreat, NC

Thank You for Joining Us!

Corporate Secretary

Board of Pensions

P: 800-PRESPLAN, ext. 7496

E: rbonwell@pensions.org

Raymond Bonwell