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Some folks within the
sabbatarian community (where I used to primarily reside) have been fond of admonishing others
outside their group to examine
and sometimes set aside preconceived notions gleaned from religious
tradition. Now I am using that same approach in asking both sides who debate
over the sabbath issue to stop long enough to step out of their own
preconceived notions of orthodoxy and hear yet another voice on this
important topic. Dare to think outside the box and still be true to the
Scriptures.
When we approach the
subject of the sabbath as if it were a piece of the puzzle of
life, we miss its profound significance.
Indeed when presented as something “instituted” at creation,
or “commanded” at Sinai, what the sabbath symbolizes becomes merely
a part of the whole and is thereby unintentionally minimized or
trivialized. So let’s
start from a different position; that is, that the sabbath symbolizes the
foundational reality of God. Seen
as the whole itself—as the reality—God raises our
enlightenment of his purposes.
Although God created
the physical universe as we know it in six days, that creation turns out
to be only the stage on which his spiritual reality is played out.
When he sanctified that seventh day (with no recorded “evening
and morning”) he was weaving his spiritual reality of REST into the
very fabric of the created order. Put
another way, that which was sanctified and blessed (the greater) was
superimposed over the result of his labor (the lessor).
The rest of God focuses our attention on God as Creator
only secondarily. Primarily
it brings a God who rests into view.
Rest is the main thing; it is his reality for you and me—the
basis for our relationship with him.
Physical creation, as wondrous as it is in declaring the majesty
of God, is external. Rest
is internal—indicated by its sanctification and its spiritually
metaphorical link to our belief system (Hebrews, chapter 4).
In this reality of
rest, God saw, and we saw, our nakedness.
Yet neither he nor we were ashamed of it. We were created imperfect (wow! first time you’ve heard
that I’ll bet)—incapable of perfectly sound moral or ethical
behavior, and that was okay. We
did not fall from a perfect condition to an imperfect condition
upon eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as has been
generally taught within classical Christianity for over 1,000 years
(even longer in most other world religions).
Rather, we fell from God’s reality of rest (the dwelling place
of imperfect children who are secure in God’s unmeritable love and
acceptance) to what became our own false reality of performance or
works. We were deceived
into a relationship promising that we could become like God through the
knowledge and proper implementation of right and wrong, rather than by
knowing he who IS the Good.
It was when we
perceived ourselves from that vantage point that we became
internally and toxically
ashamed.
When attempting to value ourselves on the basis of God’s
perfect spiritual law of love, we fell far short.
Far more than feeling guilty for what we had done, we
became shamed for what we were.
But understand—God never was ashamed of our nakedness! “Who
told you that you were naked?” he asked.
Our divine Parent knew that no child, especially a fragile infant
just brought into the world, could possibly start out from such a place.
Perception however, created reality (as it often does), and in this case
self-condemnation was the fruit. A relationship with God based on works instead of rest is
counter-productive and produces weeds.
It frustrates the grace of God, which is inherent in the rest
relationship that exists between him and his children.
Still, God is so
powerful and wise that he has been able to work within our
self-inflicted false reality throughout revealed history.
As he has always known would be the case, mankind has failed to
achieve what was sought after, that is, becoming like God through the
knowledge of right and wrong and its proper implementation.
What Satan promised us would be life, became death to us.
Though this seemed reasonable and logical, we were not created
with the ability to grow in that manner.
Instead, we became locked into sin and it’s penalty of death.
But thankfully at the predetermined time, God sent his Son to satisfy
the penalty for sins committed under this self-inflicted reality of
performance. At the same
time, in this single moment of time when Christ was on the cross, our
loving Parent began calling us back to his own reality of rest and
grace, which has never really ceased except in our own collective
perception.
All of this is not
really that difficult to understand if we bring it down to a more
practical human level. Fathers
especially need to understand these concepts, which generally are
intuitively understood by mothers already.
Let me explain what I mean.
When a child is
born, it is the parents’ intention to love and accept that infant
without regard to merit. As
parents, it is our eyes, face, voice, and gestures that all work
together as a mirror reflecting to the child his or her value and
love-ability. No new parent
would ever think to condition love and acceptance on behavior.
No parent in their right mind would knowingly or intentionally
make knowledge of right and wrong and its proper implementation the
foundation of the relationship with son or daughter.
At least, that’s the initial plan.
Unfortunately, and to the profoundly negative impact on humanity,
plans quickly give way to other forces handed down for generations.
Children quickly learn from their parents first, then society,
and finally even the religious establishment of their culture, that to
be accepted and loved they must become human doings
instead of human beings.
Nevertheless, the more secure a child feels with who they are
despite their imperfections, the more capable they will be to love and
be loved throughout their adult lives. God, who is love, created us in his image.
Thus we possess the central need and desire to love and be loved.
Fathers, I now get blunt and very personal (since I’m a
father also). We are the
major cause for the destructive nature of the present world we live in!
It has been our way starting with Adam (based on Satan’s
original deception), to create a family environment based on obedience
to “laws”—our rigid behavior expectations born out of misguided
perfectionist notions. This has caused shame in our children.
No healthy relationship can be based on this approach.
It will and has produced children who grow up into adults who are
constantly demanding a love from others that they cannot give to
themselves. This behavior is called sin and manifests itself in many
ways such as anger, jealousy, envy, covetousness, and more.
It can also lead to addictions of various kinds, and even war.
Beware!! If we do not
change this approach it will mean the destruction of all humanity.
Utter annihilation of the human species can only be averted if we
change this approach beginning on a conscious level with a few, and then
through teaching and example, guide the rest of the world.
Don’t get me
wrong. I’m not saying
that parents shouldn’t teach ethics or morals.
What I’m saying is that it cannot be the basis for
healthy parent/child relationships and therefore ultimately, the
formation of morally sound individuals.
As fathers we must absolutely and unmistakably create an
atmosphere of “rest” in this relationship.
Unfortunately, our
religions (including Christianity in the main) have been part of the
problem—blinding us to the truth and blocking our way of escape from
sin through false doctrine. The
generally held teaching that God created man perfect (morally/ethically)
and that we then fell into imperfection, is quite frankly, Satanic in
origin. God has been given
a bum rap here! Instead,
and to his eternal credit, God entered our false reality and showed us
how utterly we would fail to attain his ideal for us using this
knowledge/performance method. Then within that same reality through Jesus, he proclaimed
his reality of rest and continues to call us back to it. But can we go where we’ve never been?! Only by faith in Jesus and what he has proclaimed and done.
I know this is going to be a hard pill to swallow
for some or many, but it subverts the meaning of the
seventh-day rest of the post-creation account by continuing to use the ten commandments as
justification for a mandatory weekly observance.
And an “instituted at creation” argument also falls short,
since obviously God did not institute it at that time.
We must guide this performance-driven world back to the
relationship of REST as originally intended.
Everything else is subordinate to the principle behind this rest.
To say it one more time; a relationship with our Creator/Parent
based on works (performance or law-system) leads to a cycle of sin directly.
A relationship based on rest leads to a cycle of his righteousness.
The seventh-day could be used by a new covenant sabbatarian
community as a powerful tool to proclaim the
rest of God, and to accent the difference between a
knowledge/performance driven society, and a grace/faith (rest) one.
It could remind all of mankind that the primary tension between God and
mankind is Rest vs. Works, not obedience vs. disobedience.
A condition of spiritual rest leads to obedience, and spiritual
works leads to disobedience.
Let me be
clear once again how it is that a relationship based on Rest
leads to greater and greater obedience of God’s spiritual Law, while a
relationship based on its opposite, Works, leads to greater and
greater disobedience to God’s spiritual Law.
This statement at first may appear to be backwards from what one
would think, but it is a matter pertaining to how God made our hearts
and minds to operate. It
has to do with a grace approach in the relationship over against a
law-based one.
A child must be
aware that he or she is loved and accepted just as they are.
Our Father’s intention was always to instill within us a sense
of our innate and inherent value and love-ability.
It depended not on behavior that would flow out of the human
limitations and moral/ethical imperfections we were created with.
Indeed, our Dad looked forward to our growth; expecting only
sincerity, openness, and honesty in the relationship with each of his
children. It is in this
kind of environment, where there is grace-induced security for internal
value and worth, despite the limitations of youth, that obedience of
faith can develop.
However, if a child
somehow thinks that he or she is loved and accepted only when knowledge
and performance attain certain levels, then that child will have a sense
of diminished worth, value, and love-ability.
Internal shame will develop and this little person will begin to
demand love from others that he or she cannot seem to give himself or
herself. As the person
grows into an adult, an over emphasis on the self develops where the
individual is attempting, by whatever means becomes most convenient, to
acquire from others this sense of value.
In the process, negative (actually sinful) behaviors come from
the heart, such as envy, bitterness, jealousy, hatred, and more.
It is actually an attitude of “get” that develops, rather
than one of “give”. This relationship that was perceived to start out as based on
“Works”, has in the end actually led to greater and greater
disobedience.
In the human realm,
God says that every man and woman is accountable for their own sins, not
the fathers or the mothers, etc. It
is the responsibility of each person to examine their heart, see the
depth of their sins, and repent. Nevertheless,
parents are also accountable for their parental actions. The problem is that this previously described “Works”
scenario that produces destructive shame in children has been repeating
itself down through the generations since Adam.
It is a pernicious cycle. What
we need to do is to make an attempt to break that cycle in our
generation. But to begin
this process of change we absolutely must understand and accept that the
basis for sin in this world is the deception of Satan to perceive,
accept, and pursue a relationship with the Father based on
external obedience to spiritual laws.
This lie, as I have said, is also responsible for the widely held
religious belief that humans were created perfect and then fell into
imperfection. It is
actually the basis for the religions of this world, and unfortunately,
Christianity has bought into it as well.
This belief in turn has played a major part in holding this world
captive to sin.
Our Father, through
the example of his Son and the power of the Holy Spirit, gives us the
ability to know the truth and the strength to be set free from the
chains of sin that bind us. It
begins with our families, and it begins with our fathers.
And I believe the sabbatarian community could be a leader in this
Christian effort. I pray that God will give someone within the
sabbatarian community the understanding and courage to proclaim and
teach this awesome truth to my brethren there. The true sabbath
heart is one that is at rest in the grace of God, and has forsaken the
performance system of this current world order.
Note: For some good
Bible studies on the topic of the sabbath, 1) read "The Law, the
Sabbath, and New Testament Christianity", by Anthony Buzzard,
by clicking on the Restoration Fellowship link on our Related Links
page, and then clicking on their
"articles" link; 2) read "Is the Sabbath Part of the
New Covenant", by Juan Baixeras, by clicking on the Jesus
Messiah link on our Related Links page.
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