Church-board meetings on Sabbath and Sabbath Blessings

Koot van Wyk (Dlitt et Phil; Thd) Visiting Professor, Department of Liberal Education, Kyungpook National University, Sangju Campus, South Korea, Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College, Australia.

Saturday belongs to God since it is the seventh-day and always has been. So I thought. God was not tired after Creation week but ended with a good 24 hours of rest. Why? For our example. We are to rest as He did. Do we?

That is where the blessing comes in. When you rest as He did. Well how did He rest? Were there imaginations of some extra flowers He wished to place in the church garden? No. It was all done. Unless you want to be a theistic evolutionist. That will change the ball-game totally. It will mean that you do not care about Sabbath since it was one million years. One million years Sabbath? What does that mean. Nevertheless, the ones who cling to this thought do so red in the face and angry if you cross them. Pity they do not read properly. But that is what happens if you are blind and do not even see it.

So what exactly is the blessing of the Sabbath. If it is God’s day what is there in it that He wants to happen? He is not forcing anything to happen but it becomes His day not ours. So how do you keep it God’s day instead of your own? When you keep your foot from not going where you want to go and doing what you want to do on My holy day, then you are keeping the Sabbath and blessings are promised.

What about techno-sabbath? Technology Sabbath is when you refuse to use your i-phone on the Sabbath. You refrain to use the i-phone or computer in any way related to what you have been doing the day or week before. Even if you were writing a Devotional commentary, Sabbath is not your day to continue that practice. So it seems. It is the clear cut with own affairs and plans and openness for the Spirit’s plans and affairs.

So what are the affairs of the Spirit? It is the Revelation of God or Bible. That is the domain of the Spirit of God and God. If our actions are through that revelation net of God we are safe. And that is primary. Any other action that is remote from that net but secondary, is own affairs and not Spirit affairs.

What about church-board meetings discussing church budgets and church picnics?

Answer this question: Do you think that discussing money amounts with a pro- and con- vote-count is about the net or Revelation of God or Scripture? Say it is a pro- and con- argument about Scripture in a Sabbath-School lesson. Is that confrontation biblical and Spirit controlled? Affirmative. The Spirit promises that He will help them understand and come to a better picture about many issues and doctrines of the Bible. So what about business or church business? How much money should be allocated to whatever notice-board to be painted by a secular organization for the church outside advertising it? Is this still a Spirit affair? Is there room for the Spirit of God to lead that $100 should be allocated for that and not $200 as the con-party in the meeting is opting for? Is this decision cognitively going through the Bible network or Revelation of God? Is there room for the Spirit to help the con-party to gain a better spiritual understanding of $100 rather than $200?

Blessing is Holy Spirit originating and directing. It comes from the Spirit and flows through the faithful to experience it. $100 rather than $200 is void and null of that experience. It is as empty as the heathen who come to his stone god to learn theology from him: five meters tall, gold plated, skew smile, outstretched hands, motionless, permanent motionless, unchanging, non-verbal, non-communicative. The end. He walks away with a deeper understanding of theology of his god? I hardly can see it. It is a $100 or $200 cognitive decision. Yes or no and over. No growth, no understanding unwinding or spiraling. No perspective change. Dead facts since the god and money are dead.

So the Sabbath calls for primary affairs of the Spirit where the Spirit is active in His own terms not my terms, His way not our way even if it is about church affairs, picnic, trip to a meeting, cooking, flowers, bulletin printing.

See it this way: with a Sabbath-school lesson the Spirit of God is running between one faithful member’s talking and another one hearing or vice versa or He is in both and actively switch on and off what is good and guard against bad in their arguments. Their perspectives change. They want to study more. They will go home and read more about the issue. It was pleasant even disagreeing. They had a good time. With a $100 or $200 bulletin board to be painted outside the church decision, the Spirit had to do nothing. Not before, not during and not afterwards. It is about money and that is as far as it goes. Choosing $200 will not make it more sinful than choosing $100 but these are human affairs depending how luxury orientated they are and willing to work on their human image to other humans. The Spirit will not help them working on their imaging concerns.

Did this answer the question of church-boards on Sabbath? I hope it did.