Jesus life was one of service and in His life we see joy, strength, and vision. These should be the characteristics of our life as Servant-Leaders, those who Jesus disciples and serve “for the sake of others.”
When we look at Jesus’ teaching his disciples there is no mistaking that Jesus intended his Church to have the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:19 ESV)
We also know that as a disciple, a student of Jesus, we will stand before Jesus and we will be telling Him what we have done with His gift of love, with the life He has given us. In my own tradition of Anglicanism, Judgment is the theme of this Second Sunday in Advent. What have we done with the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
The keys to the kingdom are not to lock the treasures of heaven away, but to unlock the door so that you might enter in and enjoy, that you might share in the life of the Blessed Trinity of the Godhead. And these keys are not only for entering the kingdom, but that what we gain access to in His kingdom will flow into “on earth as it is in heaven.” And we are to used the keys to allow others to enter into the kingdom.
Jesus’ gives us the keys that we might find joy, strength, and vision in our serving. What God has done for you and has given to you is to flow into our families, our friends, and our ministry “on behalf of others.” Jesus came to open the Kingdom. Jesus came to change the outcome of our lives that we might not have them end in death, but so that we might share in His abundant life.
So what are these keys that open joy, strength, and vision as Servant-Leaders? What are the practical things that we can do as disciples of Jesus, as students of the one who came to serve? If we are to have joy, strength, and vision it rests in the Biblical understanding of Sabbath. This is especially true for those of us who love puns.
What did Jesus teach about the Sabbath?
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27 ESV)
The Sabbath was not just a command to be kept, it was God’s gift to mankind that we might enter into God’s rest. Dallas Willard explains the Sabbath as a way of life.
It sets us free from bondage to our own efforts. Only in this way can we come to the power and joy of a radiant life in ministry and work, a blessing to all we touch. (Dallas Willard)
So what is this Biblical Sabbath? Turning to the book of Exodus,
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work… For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11 ESV)
Rabbi Yisroel said to me last month, “I love the Sabbath because I get to turn off my cell phone.” I am thankful we don’t have to interpret work down to flipping a switch, but what does Sabbath mean for us as Christians today. If the Sabbath was made for us, how are we entering into the rest that belongs to God?
I really struggle with keeping Sabbath. How am I to enter into God’s rest and make it my resting with God? Keeping Sabbath is setting aside the things of my everyday life so that I can be with God. In the Sabbath it was as if God to a step back to look and enjoy what he had made—and it was very good.
Sabbath lives that are too busy, too full, or too overwhelming. God made it for you to enter into His rest. Stepping back to be with God and his family, to get a perspective of what God is doing. It is a challenging spiritual discipline. I have to tell you that I let the things, the troubles and the worries, crowd into my Sabbath, but God wants that rest for me. God wants that rest for you—to be with him.
As Anglicans we sacramentally, we take the outward and visible things we can see and touch and look for God to give them a greater spiritual reality. Our Sunday worship of the Eucharist, the Thanksgiving, is about taking a step back with our Lord Jesus. We take “our work”, the people and troubles of our lives, and we place them upon the altar. We are to get a God perspective these people and troubles of life. God wants us to sit down with him and see how it looks from the perspective of his love and his eternity. I need to see what things look like when they are in Jesus’ hands.
The Sabbath is God’s gift to you. In entering into His rest, God can bring His joy, His strength, and His vision into what we are doing the other six days of our week. It isn’t about keeping Sabbath rules of no work. It is something much greater that Jesus wants for our lives.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1-3 ESV)
Entering God’s rest we can then use the keys to find joy, strength, and vision in our serving.