Are you a task-oriented person? Do you make to-do lists? On those to-do lists, do you add a few things that you have already done just to check them off? Have you ever had "make a to-do list" on a to-do list? To-do lists aren't the only sign of a task-oriented person, but they are a good sign.
I am definitely a task-oriented person. Tasks are wonderful. With a task, there is a "finished" condition. "Do these steps", the task says, "and you never have to work on me again!" Every time a task is finished, there is a sense of accomplishment...a sense that I am one step closer to completing the overall goal, whatever that may be. With accomplishment comes "happy chemicals." Everyone likes chemicals.
Not only are they great for chemicals, they also give a person a clear path to victory. You sit down, think up everything that needs to be accomplished for whatever the ultimate goal is, and make tasks. Now there is no longer the feeling, "When will I ever finish!?" Instead, you can look at the tasks and say, "Just five tasks left until finishing!"
Learning more about by task-oriented nature, I have begun to structure my life around tasks. But a recent conversation made me discover something: my task-oriented nature hinders true rest.
The Sabbath I've Never Taken
One evening my wife and I were discussing what to do next. I told her that we should find a hobby that we can do together and brings a sense of accomplishment. Board games, I explained, often just feel like a waste of time. We can play one hundred games of Bananagrams and be no closer to finishing Bananagrams! I like to do things that are completable. Reading is completable: each time I read I am a certain percent further in the book. Video games are completable for the same reason. TV shows are completable. These are all fun things, but they fulfull my desires for completing tasks.
After I explained this, a thought popped into my head: "I wonder if this is what the Sabbath is all about?" I've heard about "taking a Sabbath." It was imperitave for the Israelites to take a Sabbath once a week. But because of Jesus' death on the cross, we as believers no longer have to. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath.
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Colossians 2:16-17 (ESV)
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
Romans 14:5 (ESV)
So I've just assumed Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath, and I can mostly ignore it now. And I've left it at that. But because of this conversation with Michelle, I started digging deeper into the Sabbath than I ever had before.
The Work Beneath the Work
A conversation with a co-worker led me to a sermon by Timothy Keller. Timothy Keller taught on "the work beneath the work." To explain, lets look at sleep. If you were to sleep for one hour, then wake up, wait a while, sleep another hour, and repeat until you have slept 8 hours, would you feel rested? Maybe, but what if you did it for a week? By then, your body would be exhausted. Why? When we sleep for long periods of time, we get REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. This is where the deep rest happens. We have to truly shut down completely, otherwise we are not really resting.
What if work is the same way? We can stop "working" at our job, but what if that is really not enough to stop working? There is still a "work" going on deeper into us that is much harder to stop.
Through my conversation with Michelle, I discovered this to be true about myself. I keep wanting to accomplish things. I want to finish my book. I want to beat my game. I want to finish the program I'm working on. I can't go fly a kite! What a waste of time! We can't "comoplete" flying a kite!
There are far-reaching effects that I have previously noticed, but I've never really dug into their roots until this understanding. Sometimes I don't want to spend time hanging out with people because I could be "getting things accomplished." While praying, I start getting ancy thinking of how much further I could be getting on projects. I don't want to enjoy a day outdoors flying a kite with my wife because I could be making progress elsewhere.
It Is Finished!
When Tim Keller spoke to this, he explained the first Sabbath rest - God's. God created the heavens and the earth. After each day He says, "It is good." On the sixth day, He says, "It is very good." On the seventh, He rests. Why does He rest? Is God tired? Isaiah 40 would say otherwise!
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31 (ESV)
So why does He rest? Tim Keller explains that God is satisfied with His work. "It is very good." God claims. He does not need to do anymore. He is satisfied in the work already done and is free to rest.
The Sabbath is meant for us to rest in the same way. It is a day to remember to be satisfied in the work finished and recognize that we have no need to contribute. But why can we rest? What peace can we have when there is so much to do!?
We look, as always, to Christ on the cross. "When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." (John 19:30, ESV). Our Savior's final cry was "It is finished." How can we rest? Because we can be satisfied with Jesus' finished work on the cross! God does not need our work; "He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." Instead of day after day, never resting, always looking to make progress, we can take rest! Jesus has finished it!
Now, when I struggle - should I hang out with a friend or make progress on whatever? I can think: "It is finished!" When I am in prayer and remember that I wanted to finish something on my web app I am making, I can rest, for "it is finished." When Michelle asks me to fly a kite or play a board game, I can remember, "It is finished."
We no longer observe a day out of the week for the Sabbath because we should perpetually be observing the Sabbath! Our lives should be lived in recognition that Jesus' finished work on the cross is "very good." We can do nothing to add to it; we can only rest in it.
Conclusion
There is so much depth I could go into on this topic. I have thought about it for a few weeks now. The Sabbath, once an old, dead tradition, has now been made alive in my life. As Jesus said, He did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it. I now understand how the Sabbath has been fulfilled and what that means for me as a believer.
I hope this has caused you to think deeper on the Sabbath and examine how it can impact your life. And I hope that we better understand the rest that Jesus offers us:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-29 (ESV)
Thanks for reading! See you next time!
Tim Keller sermon that I referenced: Work and Rest. It's worth the listen if this sparked any interest in you.