Staying Spiritually Focused & Energized In 2022

As we begin a new year, barring our death this year, you might say God has deposited another 8,760 hours in our 2022 bank account. Those hours really are the measure of our lives; when the bank account hits zero, the race marked out for us is over. And we do not have the option of stopping time. Everyday as the globe turns on its axis, twenty-four hours are spent, leading Moses to pray, “Lord teach us to number our days that we might gain wisdom” (Ps 90:12). What is the best strategy to ensure that we spend those hours wisely? The days flash by us relentlessly and I don’t know any Christian man who wants to aimlessly watch life go by. No one wants to waste his life. This episode examines two biblical principles to prevent that from happening in 2022, which, sadly, are not followed by many believers.

The first principle for NOT wasting our lives is TO BE INTENTIONAL about directing them. That means not adlibbing, vacating the driver’s seat of our lives, or expending the precious hours of our lives aimlessly. Biblical discipleship is about intentionality.

When I attended seminary, I discovered that Bible-believing scholars who study Christian history make a distinction between what they call “nominal Christians,” and those who have gone through “conversion to the Christian faith,” requiring repentance and faith. Nominal Christians might be called “cultural Christians.” They have been shaped by Christian values, might go to a church and perhaps even assent to belief in the resurrection. But, without repenting and putting their personal trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, the NT teaching is that they are not true believers. So, when you stop and think about it, the difference between a nominal Christian and a real, born of the Spirit Christian is intentionality. Even believers raised in Christian homes who can’t point to a specific date, at some point made a decision to trust Christ for salvation, to make him their Lord, to become Christ-followers.

The Christian life not only begins with an intentional decision to follow Christ, it continues through intentionality. As we say on this podcast, we have said, “yes” to Jesus’ call to love him, to seek to be like him, and to embrace Jesus’ cause of spreading his kingdom of righteousness over earth. Living this way does not happen randomly. It takes intentionality. It takes staying focused. For example, listen to the way Jesus closed this famous Sermon on the Mount with a focus upon seeking to put into practice what he had just taught.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (7:24-27).

“I don’t just want hearers of the Word” says Jesus, “I want you to be intentional about applying my teaching in your life.” Earlier in this chapter, when addressing the need for his followers to get the help they need from God, Jesus said “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (7:7-8) "Your intentional, deliberate pursuits of my kingdom life will be rewarded," says Jesus. Deciding to follow me is not a one and done experience. It requires steering your life in a specific direction, aiming at something, avoiding distractions, pursuing goals, staying focused. Successful businesses usually follow a business plan. Successful football teams execute the game plan. Successful Christmas shopping usually takes writing out a list. Successfully stretching the dollars to pay the bills usually requires a financial plan, called a budget. Successful essay answers require taking a few minutes initially to think through the question and plan your answer. Even the carpenter’s rule of thumb, measure twice, cut once emphasizes planning. It is ironic that most Christians have a plan, whether written or in their heads, for accomplishing nearly every part of our lives, except answering Christ’s call to discipleship.

Several years ago, I read No Easy Day, about Seal Team Six’s mission to deliver justice to Osama Bin Laden. It was enlightening to hear how much planning was done in preparation for this mission. In fact, part of that planning was the building of a mock-up of Bin Laden’s compound that sat on a five-foot-by-five-foot plywood base. Mark Owens writes,  The model showed Bin Laden’s house in amazing detail. Right down to the small trees in the courtyard and cars in the driveway and on the road that ran along the north side of the compound. It also had the location of the compound’s gates and doors, water tanks on the roof, and even concertina wire running along the top of the wall. Grass covered the main courtyard. Even the neighbor’s houses and fields were rendered in almost exact detail. 

Our nation’s special forces are notorious for planning and training for their missions in excruciating detail. Is the mission that each one of us was created for before time began less important? Or more easily accomplished? Our mission as Christ-followers to seek first the kingdom of God, i.e. following Christ’s agenda for our heart loyalties, for our heart attitudes, and in our role as husband, father, employee/employer, neighbor, church member, steward of resources, ambassador of the kingdom—cannot be accomplished without devoting time to formulating that mission plan.

It is true that we do not see Peter, James, John, or Andrew with a notebook planning how to love their neighbor as Jesus taught or making notes about the respectful way Jesus treated women. They didn’t have to plan their mission; they were connected to Jesus constantly as they did life together. They probably became like Jesus somewhat by just being with him so much. Furthermore, they were accompanying Jesus on HIS mission as he spread restoration over Palestine in his healing and teaching. But, Jesus was PHYSICALLY PRESENT WITH THEM. He is NOT with us. To shape OUR lives according to Jesus’ teaching for US means shutting out the crazy busy physical world, getting alone with GOD, processing our calling, thinking about Jesus’ teaching, noticing where we don’t measure up, and adjusting our lives. We need time alone with our Commander-In-Chief looking into His Book with Him looking over our shoulder to encourage us when we actually do something right, and to stir our loyalty to him to fight harder and form a better strategy for next time. It is true that Seal Team Six members say, “Nothing ever goes according to plan.” But those same Seal Team Six members would never try to accomplish their mission without a plan. Too many lives might be lost. Their success is based on the adage, If you fail to plan, plan to fail. The first biblical principle for not wasting our lives is recognizing that faithful allegiance to Jesus as his disciple requires intentionality through and through. It is not accidental, random, or unplanned. But in our hectic, exhausting  lives, where can we possibly find any more time to try to meet with our Commander-In-Chief to reflect upon the upcoming weekly mission he has laid out for us? Maybe it’s in plain sight.

God’s Maintenance Plan to Renew, Refresh and Reenergize Us

The owner of a limousine service was interviewed about his costs in keeping his limos on the road. When asked how many miles he expected to get from the most recent limo he’d purchased, he answered, “I expect to get 400,000 miles out of this engine without major repairs. I got 400,000 out of the last one and I think this is a better car to begin with. The interviewer asked, “Well how do you get all those miles out of your vehicles? The limo owner answered in one word: “Maintenance,” and began to explain his whole schedule of maintenance for his vehicles.

From creation, God has had a maintenance plan for his people—to keep them physically refreshed and spiritually renewed. In fact, it is one of the ten commandments given in Exodus 20. 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. Sadly, this fabulous renewal principle that God built into creation has been largely lost for one of two reasons. Either it is ignored, because Christians cast it off as only an OT pattern or Christians become horribly legalistic about it, turning it into a tyrant who demands that they be extremely careful in what they do on Sunday lest they offend a Holy God. Let’s try to extricate this glorious sabbath principle from the morass of legalism and neglect.

God’s Development of the Sabbath Principle in History

A. The Creation Sabbath. After God completes his work of creation, we read, 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 (Gen 2:1-3).

The rhythm of six days of work and 1 day of rest is given to us to keep our emotional, physical, and spiritual systems working well. This is a creation ordinance, established by God for mankind’s well-being. It is a pattern of work and rest that God himself modeled. God didn’t need to rest; he doesn’t run out of energy. Rather he was establishing a pattern for mankind. Written into the fabric of the universe is the pattern established by our maker of working six then resting one. Can you imagine what life would be like if we had to get up and go to work or school every single day? We take for granted the glorious design of the universe. During the French Revolution, the government experimented with a ten-day workweek. But they found that their machinery started breaking down!  The phrase, “make it holy” implies that in some way it is to be set apart for a special purpose that involves God. On the Sabbath, the sovereign Lord invites Adam and Eve and all their posterity to join him in a special day of celebration. It was a day set apart to enjoy God and his creation.

B. The Exodus Sabbath.  (Exodus 20—the Ten Commandments) 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 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.

Part of the complexity in understanding how to apply the 4th commandment is that it is partly ceremonial law, which Hebrews tells us it was already fulfilled in Christ, partly civil law—from a theocracy where breaking the Sabbath was punishable by death and keeping the sabbath, like circumcision, was a sign of the covenant (Ex 31:12-17), and partly from the moral law. The fourth commandment is found alongside, You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, which continues into the NT era. A whole nation resting on the Sabbath was one thing in the OT theocracy. But in the NT God’s people are commanded to go out into the nations of the world, and given a new sign, baptism, which does not connote being Abraham’s physical descendant but spiritual descendant.  

C. The Deuteronomy Sabbath. Forty years after giving the Ten Commandments in Exodus, Moses repeats them as Israel is about to enter the promised land. Here, to the fourth commandment are added the words, You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day (Deut 5:15). The enslavement of Gods covenant people in Egypt and rescue by Joshua is a type, a physical picture of the spiritual reality that Jesus (whose name was Joshua) redeems us from slavery to sin. We now REST in Christ. We don’t work for our salvation. So here, the Sabbath Day becomes a day not just to celebrate creation, but redemption. The author of Hebrews builds on this concept saying, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his (Heb 4:10).

D. The Corrupted Sabbath. When Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and took the best and brightest of Jerusalem’s inhabitants to Babylon, the Jewish leaders understood through the prophets that this captivity was God’s judgement on them. Author Bruce Ray explains, “The just shall live by faith” is an Old Testament saying (Habakkuk 2:4), but many Jews began to believe that they could save themselves by keeping God’s Law. After all, they reasoned, they lived in exile because they had broken the law. Now, if they only kept the law, they could save themselves. They didn’t need God’s grace. (Bruce Ray, Celebrating the Sabbath).

The effects of this kind of thinking on the Sabbath were tragic. Keeping the Sabbath became one of the works that people must do to be saved. Therefore, the elders and rabbis became obsessed with telling people what they could and could not do on the Sabbath. The spirit and intent of the law became lost in a sea of legalistic technicalities. The contributions of these religious exile leaders constituted the oral tradition that became the Talmud. Ray continues, The tractate entitled Shabbath in the Talmud lists thirty-nine categories of work that are prohibited on the Sabbath. Each one of these categories is further subdivided into thirty-nine sections, making over 1,500 rules that must keep….On this twisted and distorted Sabbath it was forbidden to unfasten a button, cut your toenails, or carry anything heavier than a dried fig. A man could not wear false teeth, because if they fell out he would have to carry them, and that would be work. A tailor could not carry a needle in his pocket because that was one of the tools of his trade, so carrying it would be work (Ibid).   

E. Jesus’ Liberation of the Sabbath. Following the Talmud, the spiritual leaders of Jesus day turned the Sabbath day, which God had appointed as a blessing for mankind, a day of rest, worship, joy, celebration, and spiritual renewal into an oppressive, restrictive, tyranny. That is what Satan does with all God’s commands, which are four our benefit. In at least six different NT settings, Jesus or his disciples defy the Scribal teachings about keeping the Sabbath. Jesus understood, as he taught, The sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mk 2:27).

F. The NT Sabbath—the Day of Resurrection becomes the Lord’s Day. The NT church changed the day of worship to Sunday the first day of the week to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection. There is great significance in this decision. We begin our work week by resting in what Christ has already done for us. And his resurrection does not just have significance for us when we die. The same resurrection power by which Christ defeated Satan, sin, and death is available to us in our battle with sin. Paul says this power is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places (Eph 1:19-20). In the first century the first day of the week was a workday, like our Monday. So, the early church gathered before or after work for worship (Acts 20:7). They did not interpret the 4th commandment as prohibiting work on the Lord’s Day—there is no historical evidence of a Christian revolt against working on the first day of the week. It was not until Constantine that the first day of the week, Sunday became a day off from work.

The Sabbath Principle: God’s Renewal Plan For Today’s Christians

One Flawed Man’s Thoughts

The Creation Principle of Renewal:

• I take one day off from work in seven. I may adjust which day it is but out of conviction I don’t work for our ministry seven days in a row.
• When God follows his six days of work with “rest” and wants us to do the same “resting” seems to indicate enjoying his creation with him. So, recreational activities even on Sunday seem more than appropriate.
• But so is extra time with God to enjoy him and talking about my work within his creation of exercising dominion—of accomplishing my mission. For over 40 years it has been my habit to devote an hour or an afternoon to my personal spiritual growth (sharpening the saw) and focusing on my mission.

Setting the Lord’s Day Apart. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy

• I believe it honors Christ by setting apart the Lord’s stay as special, in honor of his resurrection. I believe this was the real intent of the 4th commandment—making one day in one special—to the Lord.
• So, I normally try to get my chores done on Saturday. But I do not believe this commandment creates any absolute prohibition of work, if a boss schedules a Sunday meeting.
• Believers should not forsake the assembling of themselves on the Day of Resurrection. When I am traveling or for some reason can’t attend a worship service, I still try to “set apart” to make special the Lord’s Day.
• Being the Day of Resurrection, it seems like an ideal day to think about how we can employ the resurrection power of Christ in our mission to spread Christ’s agenda of righteousness.

For Further Prayerful Thought: 

1. How would you answer the question, “Why is intentionality such a big part of Christian discipleship?”
2. How have you been intentional this past year about accomplishing Christ’s mission for you? How might the Lord be leading you to be more intentional?
3. What did you learn about the fourth commandment and how it has been applied and misapplied in the church over the years?