Part 5 – How does the church benefit from a pastoral sabbatical?

In part one, I posed these questions when considering the crux of sabbath: Will we trust God? Will we trust Him to keep His own covenant, His integrity? Will we trust Him to keep His promise to provide, to uphold and sustain our lives and all that is important and vital?

Herein is the crux of a pastoral sabbatical: You get to trust God! Since He is trustworthy, He is going to provide, uphold, and sustain Redeemer Fellowship and all that is important and vital. As I wrote in part three, you and I both are both being given an opportunity to speak of and spread God’s fame and glory! You and I both get to receive this goodness! You will benefit from my sabbatical. 

Much of the joy I anticipate having at the end of my sabbatical is when I learn from you the many benefits received that I could never imagine. But for now, I have thought of some ways you will get to trust God, receive His goodness, and glorify Him. And those are benefits, privileges to cherish.

First, trust Him to establish your rhythms of life and routine of rest. The recent sermon series and written pieces are meant to serve you, equipping you with Scriptural principles so that in your joy and for love of Jesus Christ, you will observe all that He commands (Mt. 28:18-20; John 14:15, 21). The Glockles absence from Redeemer Fellowship, in part, should be seen as a grace of God, the benefit of a weekly reminder that He has commanded us to rest. Our absence is a pointer to Jesus. He is the reason you gather for worship. He is your Sabbath. He invites you to come to Him and find rest.

It is my hope and prayer that one of the things I will boast about you is that you have become more thoughtful, more zealous, more intentional in receiving the goodness of rest and practicing it. I will be eager to hear how God has been training you to cease from one kind of work and to take up another. Why? It means you are being transformed into the same image of Christ, from one degree of glory to another. It means you are trusting God and in trusting God there is always great benefit.

Second, receive His goodness. Yes, God provides daily bread, but you do not live by bread alone (Lk. 4:4). We emphasize the primacy of God’s Word, whether it is the public or private teaching of it. When God speaks, He does things only He can do (Ps. 72:18; Is. 55:11). It is my hope and prayer that your habits and faithfulness to gather will only increase more and more. It is God’s voice you are listening for and His voice you are eager to hear and respond to (1 Sam. 3:9). 

God has blessed Redeemer Fellowship with elders who are faithful stewards (1 Cor. 4:1-2). I am jealous for you and the benefit of being under more of their preaching and teaching. They are my fellow workers, you are God’s field, God’s building; they take care how they build upon the foundation that is Christ (1 Cor. 3:9-11). They are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and skilled at handling God’s Word. They desire the office of elder and the work of shepherding; they desire to feed you and equip you to do the work of the ministry (1 Tim. 3:1; Eph. 4:12; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).

I think there are two significant implications of trusting God and receiving His goodness as it relates to how you, Christ’s church will benefit from this sabbatical. The first implication is that my absence, in some ways highlights and in other ways exposes significant, ongoing opportunities of service: the field is white for harvest and laborers are needed (Jn. 5:35). The second implication is the elders must be undistracted by and untangled from the normal cares of this world (Acts 6:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:4). They must be well-supported by your prayers, your respect and esteem, as well as by your giving (2 Thess. 3:1; 1 Thess. 5:12-13; 1 Tim. 5:18 & Gal. 6:6).

Aaron has expressed and publicly voiced a desire to labor among the flock full-time moving forward, beyond my sabbatical. It has been a desire stirring in his soul for some time. Jordan will also be taking on a greater load of work. Both men willingly and joyfully desire the work. Both men are worthy of your prayer, respect and esteem, as well as your generosity. You will benefit greatly by continuing to consider the outcome of their way of life and imitating their faith (Heb. 13:7).

But for the elders to faithfully fulfill their calling, you must be eager to see them undistracted and untangled from the normal cares of this world. In your joy, examine your way of life. Examine how you use time, spend money, steward gifts, skills, and interests and ask: Does my way of life show I am giving myself first to our Lord? Am I begging to give myself to relieve others?” (2 Cor. 8:3-5). If you are offering yourself first to God, then there will be grace to offer yourself to others. 

God will stretch you and strengthen you and it will require you to trust Him. One of the things pastors love to hear from members of the flock is: “What can I do to serve?” Help is needed from our members on the security, sound, financial, technology, building and grounds maintenance teams. Remember, ceasing the work from which you are employed means taking up another kind of work—it is rest. So, pray, then offer your bodies to God as a willing sacrifice which is your spiritual worship (Rom. 12:1-2). Trust God to stretch and strengthen your body and soul.

Our Mercy Ministries include Willing Workers because much needs to happen for all things in our corporate gatherings to be done decently and in order. We aim to be hospitable so that all may enjoy and treasure Jesus in corporate worship. It is likely some of you are truly unable to serve our Lord within the Willing Workers ministry for various reasons. Others of you think you are unable to serve or believe you are not equipped to serve for various reasons. All things are possible with God (Matt. 19:26). 

Lastly, with the Spirit’s help, all of this can be done to the glory of God by following the path and pace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus worked long, hard days but was never in a hurry. The benefit of following His path and pace is that you will learn to live an unhurried life with Him, while working long, hard days. 

Yet, at the same time, Jesus lived His time in the flesh with divine urgency. Divine urgency prioritizes the will of God. Divine urgency does not lead to hurry, but to prayer. Prayer has a way of slowing us down so that we truly wait upon God and keep Jesus our Sabbath. 

So, if this all sounds like hard work, it is. But remember, keep coming to Jesus when you feel physically drained, emotionally depleted, and devoid of resources, and you will find rest for your souls. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength…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 (Isa. 40:29, 31).

In other words, they receive the benefit and spread God’s fame. Will you?