I am not a Sabbatarian, nor do I teach a requirement to tithe. Despite that, I mostly live in line with these positions- but as a matter of wise rhythm, not rigid rule.
So to step back, the Sabbatarian position, which was the mainstream Christian position across denominations until the mid-20th century, is that keeping a day of rest and worship (the Sabbath) is in the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:8-11), and is therefore part of the enduring moral law. While Christians are not saved by keeping the moral law, we are saved in order to live a godly life, so Christians should keep one day free from work, and use that day to gather to worship. (One small change is that Christians mostly use the Sunday as the Sabbath not the Saturday of the original command.)
The Old Testament also has a command to tithe, to give one tenth of all farm produce to God via the priests at the tabernacle. In the prophets, failure to pay this tithe is seen as failing to put God first and lack of faith (Malachi 3). This principle then gets applied by some to Christians- they too should give one tenth of their income to God via giving to church (and perhaps including missions and mercy ministries).
I am not persuaded of either of those positions as law, as something Christians are morally obliged to keep or they are sinning. I don’t see the New Testament applying these as rigid rules. Paul can say “Sabbath days … are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17) Paul does not command a tenth but generous giving according to ability, willingly and cheerfully given (2 Corinthians 8:8, 11-12, 9:7). These are not rigid rules.
But they are helpful guidelines for normal life, helpful rhythms to generally live by. I have aimed to make it my practice to have one day fully off work (including during exam seasons), and to gather each Sunday with God’s people to worship God together. I have aimed to give at least 10% of my income even when income has gone down or money feels tight. And, I have found that God blesses me in that. Weeks without a day of rest lead to weariness and emotional stress. In giving to God as a priority when money comes into the account, we have found God providing what we need.
So I don’t teach or live these as rigid rules never to be broken without sin. There may be weeks when a day off is impossible because of responsibilities (e.g. a doctor covering a sick colleague). There may be such great financial need that all income needs to go to paying basic bills and debts. I don’t want to burden those facing situations of need with guilt about sin that I don’t believe the New Testament teaches.
But there is a problem I have to face as I do that. The alternatives are not only rigid rules and wise rhythms. Often, when we leave the rigid rules, we slip into selfishness or chaos. And these are both real problems. You don’t have to have a rigid rule that you will give 10% of your salary by standing order the moment it comes into your bank account. But if you wait till the end of the month to see what is left, you will give far less to charity and church. You will have spent more money on yourself. You don’t need to have a rigid rule that you will spend 30 minutes every day cleaning the house, with different rooms each day. But if you don’t have a rule, one possibility is that you keep forgetting to clean and the house ends up messy and filthy. The chaos invades very easily, and can make a place unhygienic, unwelcoming, and hard to work or rest in. And once in that state, it take far more than 30minutes to push back the chaos and restore order. One reason many people are rigid rule followers is because they see how easily they could become chaotic without rules.
And I think we don’t fear chaos enough. Since the 60s, the drumbeat of Western culture has been throwing off the rules, not being constrained, pursuing freedom. It worked for a time because there was so much structure in place, so many people keeping things going, and because to some extent the previous generation really had been too rigid in their rules. But the freedom has not led to happiness. It has led to chaos in many cases- especially in family life. If the chaos undoes society, we will all suffer. So many people are now trying to rebuild life with rules that will make life work- rules for diet, exercise, finance and more.
So what should we do? I believe that Jesus gives us a better way than either rigid rules or chaos. He sets us free from rigid rules to live wisely with God in his way of love, and that good way includes wise rhythms and patterns for life. Not done to earn God’s approval. Not absolute rules that can never be broken. (Some rules are absolute- but these areas of rest and money are not.) But wisdom, rhythms that we normally keep, but can occasionally lay aside when loving well in a situation requires it. We can be good Samaritans occasionally, even if it means not having a day off.
But when we are teaching new Christians, we probably need to sound closer to the rigid rules than we sometimes do. Not- gathering with God’s people every Sunday is good if you want to. But, Christians gather every Sunday to worship God, and as part of putting Jesus first you need to arrange your life so that you do that. In general, wisdom in applying exceptions seems more likely to be reached after establishing the habit, the rhythm.
I also want to suggest that we don’t automatically call those who are more rigid in following the rules around Sabbath and tithe legalists. They are not necessarily keeping the law in order to earn God’s approval. Rather they are trying to live the good way God has laid out. And those who are rigid in rule keeping are often people who find the complexity of the world overwhelming, and perhaps are aware of how quickly they personally spiral into chaos without rules. They keep the rules more strictly for themselves because they suspect they would not end up with wise rhythms but with chaos without the rules.
And for those like me who don’t treat Sabbath and tithes and other things as rigid rules, we probably need to examine ourselves periodically. Has my flexibility really been to love others well, really a wise exception because of circumstances? Or is it really laziness and self indulgence? With young children, there were stages where I gave up reading heavy books (outside of work hours), and sometimes stopped exercise. That was the wise and loving thing at that time- family needed energy, and if I tried reading heavy books I would find I had not remembered anything from the previous page’s reading so it was pointless. But as I regained time and energy, I probably spent too long watching fun films before getting back to the meatier books and other productive activities. It’s natural for a mum of new baby to go to a simple and short daily Bible time, and to step back from some ways of helping others for a few months. But as energy is regained, is there a return to the bible being read deeply, and spare energy being used to serve others at home and beyond? I want to be wise and kindly in not putting burdens on people when circumstances make some things hard. But then I need to be self-critical and check whether I use that flexibility well. I also need to recognise that rebuilding good rhythms after a break is hard work, and be willing to do it. The theoretically right position (wise rhythms) may in practice be less helpful than the rigid rules if I don’t take care to establish and return the rhythms as well as allow for the flexibility.
Does the rules-rhythm-chaos spectrum apply to other aspects of (the Christian) life? Is there a dimension I am missing?
Jots and Scribbles 