Healing time

McDonald and the rigid time.

There’s a story about a young boy and his family taking a trip up north. The year is 1976 and the family were midway into their trip up where they stayed overnight at a motel. Early that morning the family were busy packing up to continue their trip. Check out time for the motel was at 9AM and they got out just in time and continued their journey north.

The young boy with his fussy voice said he was hungry and that he wanted breakfast and was really hungry. The family had been driving on the freeway for about an 1 hour and 10 minutes and realised that they haven’t had anything to eat as they were too focused on packing and getting back onto the road.

They saw a sign for McDonalds and they explained to the young boy that they will stop at McDonalds, as it would be the next stop. They asked the young boy what he wanted from McDonalds and he told them that he wanted a nice warm McMuffin, hashbrown and a small orange juice. He said that he really craved it and that will make his day.

They arrive at McDonald at 10:29, and arrived at the front counter at 10:31 where they made their order for the McMuffin, hashbrown and the small orange juice. But, there was just one problem. What’s wrong?

Breakfast finishes at 10:30, so the young boy won’t be served his breakfast but will need to choose the lunch menus instead. The young boy was upset because he was really looking to having a McMuffin, hashbrown and a small orange juice (which he can still have).

How do you think the family felt when they made the order and they were told that those items weren’t available? How do you think the father would have felt? Or the mother? But, how do you think the young boy would have felt?

I am not here to promote McDonalds, but I want to share to you about story of rigidness, so I hope that after this talk you don’t go out and buy yourself a McDonald meal.

The Rigid Sabbath.

My focus is my journey in learning about the Sabbath and what it meant for me growing up in the church. You see, when I was growing up, my idea of the Sabbath was seeing the example of others and how rigid the Sabbath was.

It felt like a day of greater rules where you couldn’t do this, and you couldn’t do that. Doing anything that you liked or enjoyed on the Sabbath a sin.

Obviously, I don’t think that now, but growing up with that mentality regarding the Sabbath, how would that make you feel? How would that make you feel if you just learnt about the Sabbath?

The Sabbath was meant to be a delight, a time where we enjoyed with God and with His people. The Sabbath was meant to be a time for healing and restoration. But, I saw Sabbath as a rigid rule and a burden.

Sabbath; growing up, became torture, I didn’t understand it and I don’t think my mum understood it either, so my family when we got home just did whatever we wanted.

Three things to have a healing Sabbath.

But what changed for me to see Sabbath differently? There are 3 things that made me view Sabbath differently and how we can have that healing time with God and spend quality time with Jesus a way for us to make the Sabbath a delight.

Maturity and relationship with Jesus (crucial).

Enjoy Sabbath in fellowship.

Serving others on the Sabbath.

Maturity and Relationship with Jesus

Growing up, I was more concerned with He-man, Astroboy, and many other cartoon characters that I didn’t care less about Jesus. Coming to church felt like a thing that all people did, except mine was on Saturday and all of my friends went on Sunday.

Church to me was just another thing in the family that we did, it was something that was normal and a part of life. Just like many people who say they are Christians/Catholics but only go to church because it is just something that they had to do, but that wasn’t the problem, the real problem was that I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus.

That is the real problem, it doesn’t matter about church, it doesn’t matter about which day, because if I don’t have that relationship with Jesus then church and Sabbath doesn’t matter. It’s just another activity that I had to do in life.

It’s like my nephews, I have two nephews, Noah and Amiel and it was Amiel’s birthday. We were celebrating his birthday in a park with all of Amiel’s friends. How do you think Noah felt? He didn’t know anyone there except for his family? So, for Noah, it was boring for him because the attention was towards his brother and not on him.

You see what I mean, if Noah had a friendship relationship with Amiel’s friends (or even with his own brother), then Noah would have enjoyed the day and celebrated the day with his brother and his friends. But, because he didn’t have that relationship he kept to himself and did whatever he wanted.

That’s what I needed, I needed to have that relationship, I needed to mature in my relationship with Jesus in order for me to fully understand and grasp the Sabbath and God had his way of doing things in my life to get my attention.

The incident.

On the 17 August, 1991, a Sabbath afternoon at 3PM, after my mum finished choir practise at Strathfield Chinese church, we would usually head towards Strathfield Plaza to do a bit of shopping. All I remember was that we were driving towards on the Boulevarde towards Strathfield Plaza but for some reason, my mum changed her mind and decided to go home instead.

When we got home, my natural thing that I would like to do is turn the TV on to watch whatever is on. Guess what we saw on TV? Headline news, a massacre at Strathfield Plaza, eight people dead (including the shooter) and six wounded. Now, as a 9 year old, I still wouldn’t get it, but this would be the start where God would grab my attention because as time progressed, certain situations would help me realise how personal Jesus was in my life.

Now, I am not saying that Jesus had eight people die and six people get wounded just to get my attention, I don’t think God works that way and my prayer goes out to those families that suffered during that event. But, sometimes in the bad times, God will grab our attention to help us see Him.

That is what happened with me, God grabbed my attention through a series of events in my life and it is there that my relationship and faith began its first step into maturity.

Since then, the concept of the Sabbath made more sense as I got to know more about Jesus. Only in Jesus, did I grasp the concept of resting and spending time with Him. No longer did I keep the Sabbath as rules of dos and don’ts but I keep the Sabbath for Him because I love Him and want to have that relationship with Him.

Rainy days

It’s like rainy days, and you might be saying, “WHAT!!!”, well before I got married, rainy days were boring and sad. However, after I got married, rainy days are a reminder of my marriage to God’s gift to me and I delight to look to rainy days.

The Sabbath, means nothing if you don’t know who Jesus is. That’s why the Pharisees just kept the day because God told them to, it became for the Jews a dos and don’t rather than a relationship with their Creator and Saviour.

So, when it comes to the idea of the Sabbath, what is the day to you? Why do you keep the Sabbath? How do you make the Sabbath day a blessing?

Enjoy Sabbath in Fellowship.

Hebrews 10:24–25 NLT

24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Sabbath fellowship is important when it comes to having that healing and relational time with Jesus. You can be spiritually and mentally recharged on the day and be truly blessed.

The Sabbath is made for us (Mark 2:27), it is there for us to fellowship together as Christ would fellowship with us. It is there to help uplift us and help us bond.

Commandments.

Look back the commandments:

Exodus 20:8–11 NLT

8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

The Sabbath day was a day God set aside to rest from His works, now He didn’t need to rest, He didn’t need to create a day just for us. But He did, because He knew that we we’re going to be busy and He wanted to spend time with us so we can recognise Him as our Creator. But, that doesn’t stop there!

Deuteronomy 5:12–15 NLT

12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. 15 Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.

The Sabbath day is a reminder who we were before and what God has done in our life. Not only do we recognise God as our Creator, but we recognise God as our Redeemer and Saviour as He freed us from our sin and made us rest from our iniquities.

This is why we have fellowship with each other, it’s to to praise God for the great and marvellous things Christ has done in our lives. It’s where we spend time in worship and praise talking about the things God has done for us.

John 14:15 NLT

15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.

When we have that relationship with Jesus, keeping the Sabbath day becomes a real blessing because you’re having that loving relationship with Him.

However, once you use the Sabbath day as any other day, and use the Sabbath to share gossip and etc. then the day isn’t enjoyable, it becomes ordinary and going to church and fellowshipping with others becomes a chore.

When you start criticising or bad mouthing others, or when you treat Sabbath like any other day where you go shopping, do other world activities then church and Sabbath becomes a social club and Christ is no longer the centre of the day.

This is why having a mature loving relationship with Jesus is essential, because when you do, you don’t have to bad mouth someone, you don’t have to criticse others either, the Sabbath is not seen like any other day. But you learn to encourage one another, build each other up, the Sabbath becomes separate and holy.

The Sabbath should be a time for us to heal; heal a loving relationship with Jesus and with others. So, what is it that you talk about or do each Sabbath?

Serving others on the Sabbath.

Isaiah 58:13 NLT

13 “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.

This verse in Isaiah 58, does anyone know what this chapter is talking about?

In Isaiah 58, it’s talking about the true and false ways of fasting and the rewards of fasting correctly. You see, the way the people fasted back then was afflict themselves so that they can get God’s attention and at the same time please themselves in their fasting. Showing how devout and holy they are; it was all for show.

But God’s idea for fasting wasn’t about the idea of self affliction, but in the service of others during your fast and not make a public display of it.

To help those that are afflicted and to feed those that are hungry. To clothe those that are naked and to house those that are homeless, this was the fast that God was looking to (Isaiah 58:6).

Then when it comes to Isaiah 58:13 what do you think that means about ourselves?

The Sabbath was made for man, meaning it was made for humanity, and that means the service of helping others; in doing GOOD ON THE SABBATH.

We shouldn’t be pew warmers when it comes to Sabbath, we shouldn’t be the ones being satisified by the message and fellowship and be served, but, we should on the Sabbath be the one that serves! (Isa 58:13).

You see, there are many in our churches that think keeping the Sabbath just to be spiritually fed is all that is needed on the Sabbath. But, how have you made the blessing of the Sabbath a blessing for others? Whether Adventists or non-Adventists?

Who have you served on the Sabbath day? Is there a limit to how many people you should serve on the day?

How have you made the Sabbath a delight for others instead of yourself?

Conclusion

It is through these three things that helped me delight in the Sabbath, a day the Lord set apart and made Holy, a day that is sanctified. That includes both Summer Sabbaths (very long days) and Winter Sabbaths. No matter, what will you do this Sabbath? Will you build that relationship with your Saviour and Friend? Will you enjoy the Sabbath in fellowship with others? Will you serve others and help them to delight in the Sabbath day?

When we keep the Sabbath, we rest in Jesus and we rest in fellowship in service to others.