The Right Harvest

Have you ever read a familiar Scripture and suddenly realized you’ve never really paid attention to it before? That happened to me this week with 2 Corinthians 9:10 (ESV):

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.”

In the context of the chapter, it’s easy to focus on the ideas of giving and tithing and to overlook the last few words. One commentary notes, “Righteousness shall be itself the reward, even as it is the thing rewarded.” Do we really believe that righteousness is a desirable reward, or are we interested only in more tangible rewards? Are we working to cultivate righteousness? The prophet Hosea wrote, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12). Righteousness does not grow where it is not cultivated.

As I think about some of the challenges of life in the world today, perhaps we’ve been asking the wrong questions at times.

• Not “what is legal,” but “what would contribute to righteousness?”
• Not “how can we protect our children,” but “how can we teach them to love righteousness?”
• Not “how can I avoid sin,” but “how can I develop a greater desire for righteousness?”

If the pursuit of righteousness were our first priority, how might that influence our daily choices? I’m always convicted when I read Psalm 101:3a, “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” There are plenty of worthless things all around us. We could resolve not to look at any form of media, but avoidance is not necessarily the same as seeking righteousness and holiness. (Here’s an article that differentiates these two similar terms.) We can also do all kinds of religious activities without having any real interest in righteousness. I fear that the modern church often contributes to religiosity and self-righteousness without relationship to God.

If I’m honest, most days I’m more concerned with doing my job to the best of my ability and simply surviving another day or week or year. If someone asked, “What are we here for?” I would probably say something about glorifying God, but I wouldn’t even think about cultivating righteousness. And yet Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). I suspect most of us are more interested in “all these things” than we are in the kingdom of God and His righteousness. For many people, the image of eternal life is more about our own hobbies and pleasures than it is about the promise of “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:12).

The Apostle John reminded his readers, “Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous… Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God” (1 John 3:7, 10). Thankfully, the practice of righteousness does not depend on our perfect obedience to the law, because we are incapable of doing that. We receive the righteousness of Christ (imputed righteousness), and we live it out by the power of the Holy Spirit (progressive righteousness). John Piper said,

“[We] can’t make any progress in practical, lived-out righteousness until we are accepted by God, forgiven for our sins, and declared to be perfectly righteous with the imputed righteousness of God in Christ. That’s tremendously important to see because it means that the effort that we make by faith through the Holy Spirit to put to death sins and become more and more practically righteous is not the basis of our right standing with God. It is the consequence or effect of our right standing with God.

How do we pursue righteousness? It’s not by trying harder to avoid sin, but by nurturing our relationship with God. The more we get to know and love Him, the more we will desire to please Him. We will seek His power to overcome temptation, and we’ll become more sensitive to the Spirit’s leading in our lives. None of that can happen apart from the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, and involvement with the Body of Christ. We become Christians by simply accepting what Christ has done for us, but it takes a lifelong process to be transformed by the renewal of the mind and to be conformed to the image of Christ (see Romans 8:29 and 12:1-2).

May we never be satisfied with a faith that doesn’t cause us to change and grow, but may we seek a harvest of righteousness for the glory of God.  

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Not Just the Facts

James Clear wrote, “In many circumstances, social connection is actually more helpful to your daily life than understanding the truth of a particular fact or idea… We don't always believe things because they are correct. Sometimes we believe things because they make us look good to the people we care about… The way to change people’s minds is to become friends with them, to integrate them into your tribe, to bring them into your circle. Now, they can change their beliefs without the risk of being abandoned socially.”

Whether he intended so or not, his observations have profound implications for the Church. How often have we heard, “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care”? And yet we often don’t practice what we preach. We think that people will be won to our point of view simply because we rehearse the facts with increasing frequency and volume. For some people, this seems to be their only purpose for using social media. (Those are the ones I hide from my Facebook feed.) It doesn’t matter if the subject is politics, education, abortion, or the gospel, we’ve forgotten that relationships trump truth almost every time.

Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 12:37-40 ESV). He didn’t say, “Love God and preach the truth.” As important as the truth of God is, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18-20) is subordinate to loving others. Making disciples has to flow from a heart of love for others. The Apostle Paul wrote, “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thess. 2:8).

If we were to focus more effort on loving others well, more people might be drawn to believe what we believe. That’s not to say that we never state the truth, but that there’s rarely anything to be gained by hammering someone over the head with it. More hearts are changed by walking alongside others than by getting in their faces. Recently I was reading part of Jesus’ teaching, and it made a big difference when I imagined it not as a lecture, but as a friend drawing close and giving counsel to His friends. A lecture is either information that can be ignored or condemnation that puts us on the defensive. But loving counsel is something to be seriously considered and heeded.

Rosaria Butterfield has shared in her books and this video how it was “radically ordinary hospitality” from a Christian couple that led her to leave the LGBT community and become a Christian. “They didn’t see me as a project, but they saw me as a neighbor… It’s God who saves. It’s not about us being perfect, or our words being perfect. But show up, we must, in the lives of unbelievers… Hospitality, biblically speaking, takes strangers and makes them neighbors. It takes neighbors and makes them family of God.”

I think churches tend to overestimate their friendliness and underestimate the amount of time it takes to build strong relationships with people. If young adults truly felt loved and valued in their churches, they wouldn’t be nearly so quick to drift away. It really was different when the church was the center of the community and everyone knew their neighbors because they saw each other almost every day. Those relationships were a natural outgrowth of time spent together. Today we spend an hour together once or twice a week and think that is sufficient to build a strong community bond. We settle for “friending” people on Facebook rather than loving them as our neighbors, and then we wonder why no one wants to become a Christian or to join the church. Have they truly experienced the love of God through us? Have we offered them our very lives, or just the facts?

“By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Keep Eternity in View

I was listening to a Family Life Today podcast the other day in which a speaker said, “I want you to introduce yourselves; but you can’t say what you’ve done, who you’re married to, or accomplishments that you’ve had in your life.” How hard would that be for some of us? We tend to define ourselves by our relationships and our activities. In a different setting, the question was asked, “What is one thing you couldn’t live without?” The answers given tended to be a spouse or parent. We’re on shaky ground if we define ourselves or weigh our lives by any temporal thing. Jobs will end, family members will die, health will fail, and abilities will fade. How might our lives look different if we clung to what is eternally true instead of what is passing away?

If we keep an eternal perspective, we won’t expect people to be something they’re not. No spouse can meet all our needs for love and support. No child can fulfill all our dreams for them. No pastor or teacher has perfect wisdom and counsel. No friend can be available at all times. Only God is perfectly loving, wise, powerful, and present. “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16 ESV).

If we keep an eternal perspective, we won’t expect earthly pursuits to satisfy us. No job feels enjoyable and purposeful every day. No entertainment can give us lasting pleasure. “And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil… and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Eccl. 2:10-11).

If we keep an eternal perspective, we won’t be crushed by life’s losses. Death, pain, unemployment, divorce, and disease all lose their sting when viewed from eternity. They may hurt for a time, but “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4), and nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39).

If we keep an eternal perspective, we need not worry about the things of this life. Our greatest needs have been met in Christ. The judgments are man are meaningless when we are accepted by God. The risks of death are minor compared to eternal life. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? …But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:25, 33)

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Our purpose is to glorify God. We don’t have to look to a spouse, children, a career, or even a specific ministry to give us purpose. We can glorify Him through the seemingly mundane things of life as we seek His will and follow Him day by day. As God’s beloved children, we know we have eternal security, hope, purpose, and joy in Christ alone.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:1-3).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Man Overboard

The Christian news lately has been filled with commentary on the “departure” of Josh Harris and Marty Sampson from the faith. (Good articles can be found here and here.) These have made the news because they are fairly well known names, but they are not unique. The fact is that such “de-conversions” happen every day in churches around the country. Some studies have said as many as 60-80% of Christian youth disengage with their faith when they head to college. We’ve probably all seen faithful attenders disappear from the pews. There are numerous reasons why people may abandon the faith they once proclaimed. Some may include:

• Inadequate training in the foundations of faith that can’t stand up to scrutiny in the public square.
• Lack of ongoing meaningful relationships with older Christians in the church.
• Perceived hypocrisy in the church such as leadership failures, church splits, misuse of authority, and exclusivism.
• Lack of application and a perceived conflict between faith and real world issues.
• Believing that there’s no hope for sinners to really be reconciled with God, thus failing to understand the true gospel.

Most churches probably could do better in terms of teaching and training people and fostering deeper relationships. No church is perfect, and every church member has their faults. Ultimately, though, each departure from the faith is a failure of belief—a decision that the god that I think I know is not worth dedicating my life to. That may happen as a fairly quick abandonment of the faith, or as a slow growth of apathy. In His parable of the sower (Matthew 13), Jesus indicated four conditions: the seed may get snatched away before it can root; it may grow shallow roots and immediately fall away; it may start to grow but get choked out by the cares of the world and be unfruitful; or it may take deep root and grow powerfully. The seed is the same in each case, but the soil conditions make the difference.

While I believe from Romans 8:28-30 and other passages that the true believer can never lose their salvation, I also believe that there are those who think they are Christians who are putting their faith in other gods. Some may believe that God promises health and peace and positive answers to every prayer, and when they get disappointed they lose what faith they had. Some may believe that God shouldn’t judge people for doing what gives them pleasure, and they can’t accept that God is holy and just and righteous. Some may believe they are Christians because they assent to the faith of family members but never really investigate or embrace it for themselves.

If someone’s beliefs about God are false, they need to abandon that faith and get to know the one true God. We should pray that many will do just that. However, I fear that some of the big name de-conversions will instead lead people to edit their Bibles and write a “choose-your-own-god” faith. Let’s remove everything about rules and sin and judgment, and have a god of love who supports the marginalized, empowers the weak, and accepts everyone into a paradise of personal pleasure forever. We’ll keep the baby in the manger, but forget about the coming King.

That may sound good, but has some major problems—one being that it defeats its own purpose. If our faith is solely about love and acceptance, what is to be done with people who are more interested in committing murder and rape and theft? If some people are to be judged for their actions, who sets the bar? Can we really trust humanity to establish morality when we can’t even agree on who should run our country? Removing universal truth results in anarchy, not love.

I too had a time of questioning my faith. The church was not being a good witness; I had no faithful friend to talk me through things; and I didn’t much like God’s standards of holiness when the world’s ways seemed more appealing. I questioned whether I wanted to keep following Him. But in the end I had to say “You’re God and I’m not.” My ways may seem more enjoyable for a time, but they will not bring ultimate fulfillment, satisfaction, and peace.

As John Owen wrote in Overcoming Sin and Temptation (in 1675!):

 “False opinions are the work of the flesh. From the vanity and darkness of the minds of men, with a mixture more or less of corrupt affections, do they mostly proceed. The apostle was jealous over his Corinthians in this matter. He was afraid lest their minds ‘should by any means be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ’ (2 Cor. 11:2-3); which he knew would be attended by a decay and declension in faith, love, and obedience… We have seen some who, after they have received a sweet taste of the love of God in Christ, of the excellency of pardoning mercy, and have walked humbly with God for many years in the faith and apprehension of the truth, have, by the corruption of their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ, by false and foolish opinions, despised all their own experiences, and rejected all the efficacy of truth, as to the furtherance of their obedience… 

“We have innumerable instances hereof in the days wherein we live. How many are there who, not many years since, put an unspeakable value on the pardon of sin in the blood of Christ—who delighted in gospel discoveries of spiritual things, and walked in obedience to God on the account of them—who, being beguiled and turned aside from the truth as it is in Jesus, do despise these springs of their own former obedience! …And this is one way whereby indwelling sin produces this pernicious effect of drawing men off from the power, purity, and fruitfulness attending their first conversion and engagements unto God… There is not anything we ought to be more watchful against, if we intend effectually to deal with this powerful and subtle enemy” (378-379).

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it… How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard” (Hebrews 2:1, 3 ESV).

“By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Timothy 1:19b).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Diversions

You may have heard the quote from Robert Murray M’Cheyne, “I have discovered that the seed to every known sin dwells within my heart.” Have you ever considered that in your own life? And if you recognize that to be true, as I believe it is of every human being, have you considered the great grace and mercy of God that we don’t act on every seed of sin that we could? Just prior to God’s judgment of the world in the Flood we read, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5 ESV). Although the Flood destroyed many evil people, it did not remove evil from the earth. Two chapters later, although God promised not to send another such judgment, He still said, “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (8:21). It is only by God’s sovereign control over mankind that sin is restrained at all.

John Owen, in Overcoming Sin and Temptation, lists some of the Scriptural examples of God preventing sin from being carried out:

• Pharaoh’s army was wiped out by the sea as they tried to overtake the Israelites (Exodus 14).
• Sennacherib’s army was destroyed by an angel of the Lord so that Jerusalem would be delivered from him (1 Kings 18-21).
• The people of Babel were made unable to understand one another’s language so they could not complete their act of pride (Genesis 11).
• The men of Sodom were struck blind so that they could not seize Lot (Genesis 19).
• Joseph’s brothers intended to let him die, but God arranged for him to be sent into Egypt instead, where he eventually was able to save their lives (Genesis 37-46).
• Peter was delivered from prison and from Herod’s revenge by an angel (Acts 12).

We could add Jonah, David and Nabal (1 Samuel 25), Abimelech and Sarah (Genesis 20), and many others. Psalms 57 through 59 reveal some of the ways God intervenes to control evil, by letting people fall into their own traps (57:6), breaking their teeth and blunting their arrows (58:6-7), trapping them in their pride and consuming them (59:12-13). Though people often ask why God allows evil, the fact is that He prevents evil more often than not. Owen writes,

“If we will look to our own concerns, they will in a special manner enforce us to adore the wisdom and efficacy of the providence of God in stopping the progress of conceived sin. That we are at peace in our homes, at rest in our beds, that we have any quiet in our enjoyments, is from [God] alone. Whose person would not be defiled or destroyed—whose habitation would not be ruined—whose blood almost would not be shed—if wicked men had power to perpetrate all their conceived sin?” (349).

Not only does God restrain evil in the unconverted world around us, but He restrains it within our own hearts and lives.

“When you have conceived sin, has God weakened your power for sin, or denied you opportunity, or taken away the object of your lusts, or diverted your thoughts by new providences? Know assuredly that you have received mercy thereby. Though God deal not these providences always in a subserviency to the covenant of grace, yet there is always mercy in them, always a call in them to consider the author of them” (351).

God may send an arrow of conviction to the conscience. He may remind us of His love and mercy and kindness. He may bring to mind the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. He may reveal the shame and reproach of sin. His methods of working in us are unlimited. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). 

But still we may not always pay attention. We may perhaps ignore His Word and forget His grace. We may choose to submit again to our old slave-master sin. Yet for the believer, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1), because “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

My Way, Your Way, God's Way

Christians disagree with whether there is a specific spiritual gift of evangelism somehow distinct from the office of evangelist or apostle (Ephesians 4:11). (Here’s one such article.) Regardless of one’s interpretation, it is certain that all Christians are called to be witnesses for Christ and to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8). However, each of us have different ways and means of sharing our faith with others. Chuck Smith wrote in Why Grace Changes Everything:

“There are people who are thrilled to talk to strangers. They get bored just sitting at home and they can’t wait to strike up conversations with people they’ve never met. That is their nature. It’s natural for them—and that is the key… Not everybody in the body is the mouth, however, and the mouth couldn’t operate effectively unless there was a brain behind it and feet to carry it where it needed to go. We should not feel guilty because we do not have the same ministry or effectiveness as others. The body works as a unit, and God is the one who has assigned each of us our place in the body…

“When you are doing what you love to do, it is not a work. You are not in a shop. You are not laboring in a factory. Your activity is the fruit of relationship. When the love of God fills your heart, all you want to do is talk about Him: His Word, His goodness, His love. You don’t go around looking for brownie points just because you have been doing what you like to do. You don’t look to be rewarded for what is natural to you (even though God will reward you for the fruit that comes forth from your life). You do it because you want to do it, because it is your nature to do it, because God has put it in your heart to do it. The fact is, you feel as if you would die if you didn’t do it…” (ch. 6).

I found that to be an encouraging word. I’m not one itching to go out and talk to strangers, but I must write my blogs, and I live and love to share my faith and the truths of Scripture in this way. Other people would rather do anything but write.

Evangelism can become burdensome if we think it has to be done a certain way or we have to meet certain goals. We may get discouraged if we find ourselves unable to do it the “right way” or fail to say what we think we should. Or conversely some people may become proud if they find great success and wonder why others struggle so much with it. Despite repeated reminders of God’s grace toward us, I think we all are inclined to drift back into legalism when it comes to any of the spiritual disciplines. In his book Seculosity, David Zahl wrote:

“The law classifies and categorizes. It tells us clearly and confidently where we stand… [A] religion of law promises functional salvation to those who live up to its demands, expressed more often than not in the should’s and ought’s we infer from our shared ideals… There’s a fundamental problem with all religions of law, in whatever form we encounter them. The problem does not reside in the content of the law itself. The problem resides in the human heart: knowing what we should do or be does not give us the ability to do or be those things… The law never has and never will inspire what it commands, at least not in any comprehensive or lasting sense” (164-165).

“What makes Christianity a religion of grace, ultimately, is its essential revelation: of a God who meets us in both our individual and collective sin with a love that knows no bounds, the kind of love that lays down its life for its enemies. It is not a roadmap to engineering spiritual enoughness but the glorious proclamation that on account of Christ, you and I are enough—right now, right here, before we do or say anything. That is to say, Christianity at its sustaining core is not a religion of good people getting better, but of real people coping with their failure to be good” (176).

Christ has already met all the demands of the law for us. There is nothing we must do to gain His approval. If our motivation for evangelism is a desire to measure up to some standard, whether our own or someone else’s, it will not last long and probably won’t bear any real fruit. Bob George commented in Classic Christianity,

“After having led hundreds of people to Christ as a businessman, I found myself losing interest in talking to people about the Lord… [When] you have lost the joy of your salvation and have begun sharing Christ out of habit, competition, or just plain duty, there is no relish in it and not much to keep you going. After all, what can you say? ‘Become a Christian and be miserable like me’? …What was once the overflow of my experience of God’s love had become just an external performance. I was totally committed to God’s plan, true—but I had strayed from the God of the plan… Well, I was tired of it… I’m no longer trying to change the world or anything else. I am content to let God work through me to produce whatever results He pleases” (27-28).

Our church has had some helpful training on evangelism this summer, but some people like me may be feeling a false sense of guilt for what we’re not doing and perhaps don’t desire to do. The good news is that God loves us and will continue to love us even if we never say another word. Our role as branches is simply to abide in the Vine (John 15). We don’t have to work at producing fruit, but if we are abiding in Him the fruit will come as He works in and through us. (However, if there is no fruit and no desire to produce fruit, one should question whether they are actually attached to the Vine at all.)

He doesn’t call any of us to be Billy Graham or Charles Spurgeon. He already worked through them. He calls me to be me, and you to be you, each of us with our unique personalities and gifts. I share my faith in the ways that are most natural and enjoyable to me. My way is not your way and my words are not your words. Saving faith is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t need any of us to work for Him, but He will produce fruit through all who truly belong to Him.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5 ESV).

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

24 / 6

During our regional Family Camp last week, we had a class discussing Matthew Sleeth’s book 24/6: A Prescription for Healthier, Happier Life, regarding our need for a regular Sabbath rest. It was interesting to hear the different perspectives on the feasibility of resting one day each week. Most of us in the world of employment, whether secular or church, find it hard to stop for a day each week. We spend 40+ hours in the office and the remainder of our time is spent catching up on the chores of home and family. But that was not God’s plan for us.

“The Ten Commandments were not a curse; rather, they gave freedom to those who possessed them. They defined the borders of the Hebrew world. Within those borders there was freedom—freedom under the law. We have a tendency to circumvent the intent of good laws, resulting in more rules being added. Sabbath was meant to protect the worker and to set the stage for a celebration of God. If our day of rest becomes a set of rules, then the celebration and the joy are easily subtracted” (39).

As I was thinking about our modern loss of Sabbath rest, I observed a few things from Scripture, some of which were mentioned in Sleeth’s book. God set the pattern for the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2) and reiterated it in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:11). He did not rest because He was tired but because He is holy. In the wilderness God sent manna only six days a week (Exodus 16:23-29). God provided for His people so that they could rest on the seventh day. God hasn’t changed. Will He not provide for us as well?

In the New Testament Jesus declared, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28 ESV). Although Jesus ignored the Pharisaical additions to the law, He did not ignore the Sabbath. “As was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day” (Luke 4:16). Even many non-Christians will agree that Jesus was a good person and moral example, and yet those who are called by His name are often quick to ignore His example when it comes to the Sabbath.

But what came to mind and convicted me were a couple Scriptures from the early church:

“And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-45).

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God” (2 Corinthians 9:10-12).

Like most people probably do, I had always thought about these verses in terms of financial support and physical resources, but what if we expand it to include the resource of time? We each have 168 hours in every week, but how we use those hours varies tremendously from person to person. Some are frantically rushing from task to task, while others enjoy a leisurely pace. We may all be familiar with the 90/10 rule in churches and other organizations—that 90% of the work is done by 10% of the people. If Christians are all members of one body and “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7ff), then shouldn’t we each be contributing our fair share of time? (Note that I did not say “equally,” because each member is unique.) If I have more flexibility in my time, are there ways I can help someone else who is struggling to keep up? Conversely, if I am falling behind in my commitments, who can I ask for help? What tasks am I doing that I’m not gifted for?

I’ve talked with people who work in their church’s nursery out of a sense of obligation, not joy, and it makes them miserable. I’ve also talked to pastors whose church members get offended if they aren’t present for every life event or if they try to share the load with their deacons or elders. It seems to me that if the Body of Christ were functioning as it is supposed to, we would all be able to take a weekly Sabbath rest. We’ve fallen into the trap of believing that ministry is the job of a few paid people, that what I do outside of the church building is my own business, and that my time is my own to do with as I please. We are all ministers (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). We are to love one another (Romans 12:10-11), serve one another (Galatians 5:13-14), and bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). We are to be good stewards of the short time God has placed us on this earth, and He’s the one who told us that Sabbath rest is not only good but holy. How can we work together to make that possible for every member of our local body?

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:10-11a).

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.