Exodus 20:8-11 – The Sabbath
Here’s a fun question: when do pastors take a Sabbath? I thought it might be a little self-serving to explore this in our main service, but the blog might be a better forum to wrestle with it.
Contrary to popular belief, pastors do not only work one day a week! (Good pastors, anyway.) And Sundays are certainly not a day off, or even a day of rest for us. Many times, besides the teaching and preaching that takes place on a Sunday morning, we have meetings, counseling appointments, visitations, Life Groups, and a host of other things that day. This is why many pastors take off on Monday – Sunday wears them out!
Hardly a day of rest.
I’ve wrestled with this question, and suspect I’ll continue to wrestle with it. Many would say, “Just take Monday as your Sabbath,” or Saturday, or whatever. And that’s fine for the “rest” part, but part of the function of Sabbath is to gather to celebrate God and worship Him with the other saints.
In other words, when we just view Monday as a Sabbath instead of Sunday, I think we miss the community aspect of the command to “keep it holy.”
There seemed to be some debate about this in the early church. Paul says in Romans 14:5, “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” (ESV). So there were two positions. Position #1 was the guy who esteemed one day as better than the other – he kept a Sabbath separate from other days of the week. Position #2 was the guy who esteemed all days alike. Notice the second position isn’t saying he treated all days as equally non-sacred, but he esteems all days as equal, meaning that he treats them all as holy Sabbaths. Perhaps this stems from the concept of our rest ultimately and spiritually being in Christ (i.e. Matthew 11:28 – “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”).
Paul’s conclusion is that each man should be fully convinced in his own mind. Paul doesn’t give a clear cut decision on one position over the other. Our conscience and wisdom should help us determine how to treat our week.
Colossians 2:16 adds to this discussion. Paul writes, “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.” Festivals and new moons are referring to other Jewish holidays. Again, this passage indicates that there was some question about how and whether to keep certain Jewish rituals, like the Sabbath.
But ultimately, though Sabbath is under the old covenant and Law, which came to an end in Christ and therefore we are no longer bound to it in the same way as the Israelites, it is a creational command, rooted in tradition before the Law existed. Therefore, we continue to follow the Sabbath in spirit, though not by the letter of the Law. This is partly why Christians eventually shifted their Sabbath from Saturday to resurrection Sunday.
But back to the question: what about pastors?
The unique position of pastors causes them to have to “work” on their Sabbath. This should not be a drudgery for them, but it’s still work.
So for pragmatic reasons, I do believe there is something to say about a pastor taking a different day other than Sunday as his Sabbath. He still gets the benefit of worshiping with the community on his day of work, and this is one of the many joys of ministry. But taking a separate day to be with his family, to rest and rejuvenate his mind, body and spirit, and to spend special time with God is necessary. Because of our release from the Law, we have the freedom to determine what day that is taken.
I personally try to take my Sabbath on Saturday. I’m not a big fan of Mondays as days off, mainly because I find myself most tired after a day’s work on Sunday. If Monday ends up being my main day off, my family consistently gets the most tired version of Dad all week. I prefer to spend that day doing some study and less-draining activity in the office (when everyone thinks I’m off!).
But the bottom line is, everyone needs to observe the Sabbath principle – layperson and pastor alike. And if Sunday is a wearying day of work, then another day it should be.
Whew! That blog was tiring. I’m going to take a day off…
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