Modern Sabbath Rhythms and The Gospel
Why do most Christians treat the biblical commands for observing the Sabbath as a suggestion? Could this be why we live such frantic, stressful lives? Not a great witness for our neighbors!
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, we discuss the often neglected, but super-important practice of creating a rhythm of sabbath rest. Discover how Sabbath goes beyond a day off work—restoring trust in God and reconnecting your heart with His.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- God created us to work from rest–not the other way around.
- What a modern-day Sabbath might look like.
- How resting restores us relationally with God.
- Practical ways to incorporate Sabbath rest into modern life.
From this episode:
“Your sabbath times should be fun, restorative, and a “reset” button for your heart and life. If it’s been a while, or you’ve lost the rhythm of rest/work from God’s perspective, you can begin again.“
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Discipleship As a Lifestyle Workshop on-demand training
Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living
Transcript
My heart wants to go, man, I got more to do.
Caesar Kalinowski:I got more to do.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if I kind of get enough done, because there's never not something to do, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:There's always more.
Caesar Kalinowski:If I get enough done, then I kind of feel like, yeah, you know, I can rest a little bit.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if I'm being honest, when I get my stuff done, when the to do list gets more finished, I feel somehow much better about myself.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I feel a little bit like, especially if it's like spiritual work or church work or whatever, I kind of feel like, hey, I got all that done.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think, I would never say it, but I think, God's probably a little more happier with me.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know Like, I feel a little closer to God, you know, like I approach God a little more boldly because guess what?
Caesar Kalinowski:I got all that done.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, you know what I'm saying?
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't sit there with a checklist, like, don't pray until you do these things because then God will have to answer them.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, it's not that blatantly creepy, but that's what's behind the Sabbath.
Caesar Kalinowski:So the Sabbath for today, absolutely, because does God want the perfect relationship between us that he always created us to have with him?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:and does he want us to believe he's for us, not because of what we do, but because of who he created us to be in him and now recreated in Christ?
Caesar Kalinowski:Absolutely.
Heath Hollensbe:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Heath Hollensbe:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Heath Hollensbe:This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Heath Hollensbe:And now, here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Caesar Kalinowski:Heath, what's going on today, my friend?
Heath Hollensbe:Man, we've got some fun stuff to talk about.
Heath Hollensbe:Sabbath rest.
Caesar Kalinowski:Is Ozzy Osbourne still alive?
Caesar Kalinowski:That guy's old, bro.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's really old.
Caesar Kalinowski:I didn't know you listened to that.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're a
Caesar Kalinowski:Christian, man.
Caesar Kalinowski:You gotta
Caesar Kalinowski:burn that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Break those records.
Heath Hollensbe:I used to have to, when I was in high school, they had us smash CDs.
Heath Hollensbe:This is a side note, but you would smash CDs and the amount of shatter would represent how much demonic influence was in that particular.
Caesar Kalinowski:Are you kidding?
Heath Hollensbe:Not joking.
Caesar Kalinowski:So it used to be easy to break like a record, you know, but then I could smash like a CD on the ground with a hammer and it just bounces like, I can't get it to break.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's get a fire, you know,
Heath Hollensbe:I didn't have any of the really, really bad ones when I was,
Caesar Kalinowski:yeah, when I was a young Christian and sort of influenced by the times I took my really awesome seventies, eighties record collection of everything in the world and got rid of it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Cause you're supposed to.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now it's all I listen to in Spotify, you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:You're like, I wish I would have kept those.
Caesar Kalinowski:Anyway, sorry about the Sabbath rabbit show.
Heath Hollensbe:No man, let's jump in.
Heath Hollensbe:So we hear a lot about Sabbath and we know that it's one of the Ten Commandments, number four.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah, it's something that we pretty blatantly ignore.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, why is that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, we take it as a suggestion, you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:It's actually mentioned in connection to the Ten Commandments twice.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's kind of like in there, and then after the Ten Commandments are given, then God says to Moses, Oh, yeah, like when he's heading back down the mountain.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, yeah, and don't forget to keep Sabbath if you've got time.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:No kidding.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then in the law, Like the law global, the Sabbaths brought up more than anything in the world, like in the whole law.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so what I've always wondered is why do we take that one though as more of a suggestion?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah,
Caesar Kalinowski:like you already mentioned like we're cool with the others, like don't murder, like we would never go like that murder thing I gotta get a handle on that, you know, like I suck at murdering people, but like I can just say right now I suck at taking Sabbaths.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean I take time quote off of work But as we're going to talk about today, that's really different.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just not working and vegging out in front of like, you know, Seinfeld Marathon or something, you know, like a, you know, whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's, that's not Sabbathing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so, I don't know why it is that we take it as that, but I think we're going to talk about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:because I've studied this a lot and tried to really get a handle on this for our communities and my own family.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I, I, I still ain't great at it, but I'm starting to understand why God was so awesome about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Why he was really all about, hey, you need to pray.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so what does this modern day Sabbath look like?
Caesar Kalinowski:Is it, don't move your ox, you know, and if someone falls in a, in a, in a crack in the side of the road, you see an accident, like, sorry, it's Saturday, or it's, hey, sorry, it's Sunday or whatever day.
Caesar Kalinowski:you think the Sabbath was supposed to be.
Caesar Kalinowski:No moving your ox, your oxen on Sundays.
Caesar Kalinowski:I did notice that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I was going to, just a little bit of accountability between brothers.
Caesar Kalinowski:I did, I was driving past your house the other day and I did see you out cutting the grass on Sunday, bro.
Caesar Kalinowski:I know.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, like with an ox.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that was really the weird part.
Caesar Kalinowski:I was actually talking about the word.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm still being sanctified.
Caesar Kalinowski:Why are you using an ox and like
Caesar Kalinowski:an
Caesar Kalinowski:oxen?
Heath Hollensbe:Plural.
Heath Hollensbe:So is, you just mentioned this concept of a modern day Sabbath.
Heath Hollensbe:Uh, first question is, Is the Sabbath just like this really old school Bible command that we, was back in Exodus that we're not supposed to pay much attention to?
Heath Hollensbe:Or is it something that God still desires for us to have as a natural rhythm of our life even today?
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, so yeah, it is still for today, but it was just like all the other law.
Caesar Kalinowski:It all pointed to like the reality of when Christ comes and makes it all right again, and sorts it out in our hearts and gets our motivations right.
Caesar Kalinowski:The law was like to kind of give us like, here's the list, like set in stone, literally, you know, like I'm going to carve it in a rock with my finger and then you're going to carry that around.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's really heavy.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so the Sabbath was always connected to who God is.
Caesar Kalinowski:and who he created us to be and what kind of relationship he intended for us to have.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we always want to beat up on the Pharisees, whatever, you know, but it wasn't just them, but sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, they, they, so, oh, well there it is, you know, like there again, like your oxen can't move it around, you know, something falls in a crack or someone has need or you can't eat because you had to pick, you had to pick that grain to eat it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh my God, you know, well, it wasn't in the bowl anymore, you know, whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was never about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was always about, and everything is, who is God?
Caesar Kalinowski:What's he about?
Caesar Kalinowski:Who did he create us to be?
Caesar Kalinowski:And what kind of relationship is he desiring?
Caesar Kalinowski:So, so Sabbath is a cool one because check this out right in the creational order Adam and Eve are created on which day?
Caesar Kalinowski:Sixth.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sixth.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then the seventh day was what?
Caesar Kalinowski:The rest.
Caesar Kalinowski:Day of rest.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, so Adam and Eve are created on the sixth day.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then God said, this is amazing.
Caesar Kalinowski:He looked at everything and said, this is really good.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then he took a day off and he kind of said, and this is going to be a day of rest for all of my creation.
Caesar Kalinowski:So then we hear though about the whole creation story, but then God, like he shared his authority and gave Adam and Eve like control and authority over all of it, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:The garden, the earth, the animals, the plants, he got to name the animals.
Caesar Kalinowski:But notice, like, they, their first day on the job was the day off, and then they worked.
Caesar Kalinowski:And in the, in the Jewish calendar, the Sabbath day was always the first day of the week.
Caesar Kalinowski:And kind of ours is too, you know, we look at Sunday, it's the first day of the week.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:But really we go like, man, I'm working all week, and then working for the weekend, TGIF man, you know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, we're
Heath Hollensbe:working for that day.
Heath Hollensbe:So
Caesar Kalinowski:we rest from work, but God's creational order was that you work from rest.
Caesar Kalinowski:Think about how different that really is.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now why did he set it up that way?
Caesar Kalinowski:Because he wants, and this is sort of how like our faith fits into all of life, God wanted us to know, you don't have to do anything to be mine.
Caesar Kalinowski:You don't have to do to be.
Caesar Kalinowski:You don't have to perform for me to love you, or give you authority, or share my life with you.
Caesar Kalinowski:Day of rest, and from your rest you will work.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because now you can rest not trying to earn, or perform, or stress, or freak for status, or priority.
Caesar Kalinowski:Status, and I mean even like, image bearers, put in charge of everything.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know?
Caesar Kalinowski:Naked and unashamed, gonna live forever, what else do you need?
Caesar Kalinowski:And so there's this creational order of, Okay, God wants a relationship where you rest in Him, and He knew we would forget that.
Caesar Kalinowski:He knew that the way the world would be, and our own sinful hearts get after this, where we want to do, we want to work hard to be.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so that's why it's in the law, it's in the Ten Commandments.
Caesar Kalinowski:God reminds us, hey, and don't forget to take a Sabbath, because our kind of creepy sinful hearts, we always want to flip it backwards.
Caesar Kalinowski:And just think of, you work for a church, I've done that for years, still, you know, full time ministry.
Caesar Kalinowski:My heart wants to go, man, I got more to do.
Caesar Kalinowski:I got more to do.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if I kind of get enough done, cause there's never not something due, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:There's always more.
Caesar Kalinowski:If I get enough done, then I kind of feel like, yeah, you know, I can rest a little bit.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if I'm being honest, when I get my stuff done, when the to do list gets more finished, I feel somehow much better about myself.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I feel a little bit like, especially if it's like spiritual work or church work or whatever, I kind of feel like, Hey, I got all that done.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think I would never say it, but I think.
Caesar Kalinowski:God's probably a little more happier with me.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know like, I feel a little closer to God, you know, like, like, I'm gonna approach God a little more boldly, because guess what, I got all that done.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, you know what I'm saying?
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't sit there with a checklist, like, don't pray until you do these things, because then God will have to answer them.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, it's not that blatantly creepy, but, There's this underlying, like, yeah, absolutely.
Caesar Kalinowski:But that's what's behind the Sabbath, so is Sabbath for today?
Caesar Kalinowski:Absolutely, because Does God want the perfect relationship between us that he always created us to have with him?
Caesar Kalinowski:And does he want us to believe he's for us?
Caesar Kalinowski:Not because of what we do, but because of who he created us to be in him and now recreated in Christ.
Caesar Kalinowski:Absolutely.
Caesar Kalinowski:I remember when Jesus came, he said, I didn't come to get rid of the law.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah,
Caesar Kalinowski:I came to fill it full.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, yeah, fulfill, fill full the law.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, so that thing you were trying to accomplish by, like, too bad your ox cart fell on the thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, someone's gonna steal it this weekend or whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, you remember that?
Caesar Kalinowski:That was never the point.
Caesar Kalinowski:The point was, can you take time to reset your heart and be reminded of, by resting, Hey, God's got this.
Caesar Kalinowski:Years ago, this, you know, all the, you know, the corny church signs, you know, like we're to step out on the side of the road and you're like, Oh, geez.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks for the help.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And a lot of our listeners are going, our church has that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I love that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sorry, please stop.
Caesar Kalinowski:There was a church magnets and all that stuff too.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, the Christian magnets go on your fridge, but a friend of mine had one and it is corny, but I never forgot it.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I think you put your name in it or something like that.
Caesar Kalinowski:So like it says, good morning, Caesar.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'll be handling everything today and I won't be needing your help, God, you know what I mean?
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah,
Caesar Kalinowski:and it's kind of like Sabbath's a little bit about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like, I got this and you show that you trust me when you take some time to rest and reconnect your heart to me.
Caesar Kalinowski:That shows me that you're believing.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't require you to perform for me.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah.
Heath Hollensbe:Let's press into that a little bit.
Heath Hollensbe:Cause you just mentioned this concept of rest and it's really easy for us to make even Sabbath law, right?
Heath Hollensbe:In the sense of like, well, does that mean you can't be on your cell phone?
Heath Hollensbe:Does that mean you can't, you know, plan a trip with your family?
Heath Hollensbe:Cause that's work and driving to get to the, wherever destination you're going is work.
Heath Hollensbe:What does a healthy theology of rest look like, but also how do you keep yourself from falling into the trap of trying to over legislate your own Sabbath?
Heath Hollensbe:Like what, you know, my wife's like, well, get off your phone.
Heath Hollensbe:This is a family day.
Heath Hollensbe:And I go, well, can I respond to texts with my friends?
Heath Hollensbe:Can I, how would you put parameters over what rest looks like?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Good question, man.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think maybe I just kind of gave us a bit of the theology end of it because it's, it's about who God is and he's our creator and what he desires from us in a relationship.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what all the law was about.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's what Sabbath is about is that he desires for us a close relationship.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he knows that if we never take a break, that we will forget about him, that we will start to think.
Caesar Kalinowski:And there's scripture that backs all this up, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:It is by my hands that I have created all these things.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we start to forget, no, no, it's like you put a dead seed in dirt that you didn't create and then I rained on it and, you know, flooded it with sunshine.
Caesar Kalinowski:And nine weeks later, you're eating like a feast.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so we don't, maybe aren't all farmers these days, but it's the same principle.
Caesar Kalinowski:So the theology is.
Caesar Kalinowski:Who do we think God is?
Caesar Kalinowski:Who does he believe we are?
Caesar Kalinowski:And what does the relationship look like?
Caesar Kalinowski:What does he want us to be?
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and do we believe him?
Caesar Kalinowski:Do we trust him enough on the front end to say, if he created us and day one was like, okay, day of rest, and then from there we'll work, do we believe him that we weren't actually created to manage 7 7 7 7
Heath Hollensbe:7,
Caesar Kalinowski:or did he create us to be like, no, you're actually wired for One off, six on.
Caesar Kalinowski:One off, six on.
Caesar Kalinowski:And not
Heath Hollensbe:one partial off, it's.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, and there again, that's where we, right, your second part of your question, we can get into the weird, like, rigid, like, managing of that.
Caesar Kalinowski:The concept and the understanding of Sabbath for us, I believe, in Christ, isn't that, you know, like, you set your timer, And you can't do any work from like midnight to midnight or noon to noon.
Caesar Kalinowski:T and I were on a cruise ship once with a couple, uh, and they were, they were Jewish and pretty serious about it, but they tried to keep Torah, you know, they tried to keep Shabbat, which is Sabbath for them.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so they could do no work.
Caesar Kalinowski:on the Sabbath, which in their understanding was Saturday, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Which is actually traditional accurate.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so even check this out on the cruise ship, because their door to their cabin was electric and they, they couldn't use electricity on Sabbath in their mind, they couldn't swipe their card to get the door open.
Caesar Kalinowski:So they had to leave the door open all day.
Caesar Kalinowski:to their stateroom.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I said, why don't you just have the person open it?
Caesar Kalinowski:And like, well, but then we're asking our servant, quote unquote, to outwork on a Sabbath.
Caesar Kalinowski:So you see what I'm saying?
Caesar Kalinowski:So it was super rigid about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, and when I asked him about what about the other 342 laws, you know, like, yeah, we're not so good at keeping those, but we try hard on this one, you know, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we can make everything rigid.
Caesar Kalinowski:So is it, is it, I think, is it good to have like a whole day where you try to set aside a day?
Caesar Kalinowski:Absolutely.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:God did it.
Caesar Kalinowski:And he said, but, but his concept wasn't about like, now run the clock.
Caesar Kalinowski:And as soon as it's over, get back to stressing and freaking.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's really about do we trust God and are we setting aside time, like intentionally, not like my schedule often where I take it as a suggestion, but are we saying, God, you're, you're God.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're right.
Caesar Kalinowski:You love us.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you've said, I created you this way.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like you're going to get fried.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're going to get frazzled without it.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you're going to forget about my goodness and love.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you're going to easily slip into thinking you have to earn my love and affection.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so it's not about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I think how we, I think how we.
Caesar Kalinowski:Keep it from getting that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep.
Caesar Kalinowski:He is that Sabbath should be fun Yeah When we were started putting some stuff together in early Selma communities days one of our rhythms was recreate and it's this idea of rest And create out of our rest we create now sometimes we say out of our rest We were right sure, but we almost called that rhythm of life It was just meant to be Sabbath.
Caesar Kalinowski:We almost called it play.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's cool.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because, think about it, if God is really God and He's got us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep.
Caesar Kalinowski:And He's our provider, doesn't matter what we work and how hard we work, but He says, I got you, you're my kids.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Then, when we would take time off to be reminded of that and His goodness and reconnect our hearts to Him, it should be super fun.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so, Keep that in mind.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you're going like, that's it kids, put all the games away, and you're just sitting there like around, you know, like the table and the couch and your kids are like, I hate this.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hate God because of this.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hate Sabbath.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, like, can we listen to some Sabbath?
Caesar Kalinowski:So it's not about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's about what are you doing that is restorative?
Caesar Kalinowski:What are you doing that reconnects you back to like trust?
Caesar Kalinowski:Right, and are you demonstrating that
Heath Hollensbe:trust?
Heath Hollensbe:You know, we tend to take on such an individualistic approach to even spirituality, especially here in America.
Heath Hollensbe:Even spirituality?
Heath Hollensbe:You mean especially?
Heath Hollensbe:Especially, probably, yeah.
Heath Hollensbe:But it is, uh, that's an interesting reminder, something I've never thought of was finding that rhythm that fits your family need.
Heath Hollensbe:I mean that's something, talk to your wife too, like what does a Sabbath look like for us?
Heath Hollensbe:Maybe it's not, You have to put your emails down.
Heath Hollensbe:Maybe it's, Hey, we're going to agree as a family that we don't do this together on these days.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, so what if one day you're going like, Hey, we've got some goals for this and we really want to start protecting them because we believe God created us a certain way.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're actually gonna be healthier, happier, more connected to him and his heart and his mission, which is going to make us closer and less stressful.
Caesar Kalinowski:We believe that.
Caesar Kalinowski:So some of the stress we're feeling, some of the conflict maybe in our relationships between, you know, dad and our kids or husband and wife.
Caesar Kalinowski:Could it be because we're actually.
Caesar Kalinowski:Trying to recreate creational order every week.
Caesar Kalinowski:So what if it's like, hey, the reality is we do communicate through certain devices now and different things happen.
Caesar Kalinowski:But we're gonna say on this one day, we're just gonna say, this is when we'll do it.
Caesar Kalinowski:We'll do it early and we'll trust God, we'll put it away.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we'll check it again later, you know, it's, it's okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:But we'll, we'll just agree to that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, so it's not like we're gonna like forsake the reality of a culture.
Caesar Kalinowski:We live in like, hey, it's dark I can't flip on a light switch.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure gotta go out and get a you know, I don't light a candle Well, that's what's the difference to me really?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, so it's not about that But could we begin to create healthy rhythms where we go?
Caesar Kalinowski:We're gonna have some fun.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm hmm and a little bit I'm gonna talk about how I've tried to get at that and try to order some of that stuff Yeah, but but I want to also say Heath like I think that You know, it's kind of like trying to mandate, hey, it's, it's family devotional.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like, oh boy, but I'm not having devotions, you know, I'm not spending time in the Word or in prayer with God, but I'm going to mandate it out of my family or whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think when it comes to Sabbathing, especially maybe as dads, I don't know, I'm just, you know, speaking to us as dads here for a second.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think we have to be making sure we're carving out that time.
Caesar Kalinowski:So what if like, hey, Saturday or I don't know, whatever it is, is your Sabbath day with your family.
Caesar Kalinowski:Do you get up and do you have some Sabbath yourself first?
Caesar Kalinowski:You know what, every Saturday, so my heart's right with God, and I'm, man, I'm kind of anchored back in that trust.
Caesar Kalinowski:Then I enter in the rest of the day with my family, and I can actually lead them into Sabbath.
Heath Hollensbe:Mm
Caesar Kalinowski:hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Instead of like, give me 10 more minutes.
Caesar Kalinowski:I just got a little bit more work to do, and we're gonna Sabbath.
Caesar Kalinowski:What if you just go like, no, I'm gonna go ahead and trust God.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm gonna get up that extra hour early, going for a walk every Saturday morning, rain or shine, it doesn't matter, and I'm just gonna get connected.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm gonna like notice some beauty, and I'm gonna count some blessings, and I'm gonna thank God for each of my kids and my wife.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and I'm sure there's stuff that could change and get fixed and could be better and all that, but I'm going to thank him and I'm going to say, wow, you are the provider.
Caesar Kalinowski:You, you have shown your love this whole week and then I'm going to go into the day and maybe, you know, maybe it's not the whole day.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe you're going to say like it's Sabbath afternoon, you know, or it's, you know, it's Sabbath Saturday morning.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so what we're going to do is we're gonna do some stuff that's really fun and we're going to do it together and we're going to intentionally reconnect our hearts to God and his goodness.
Caesar Kalinowski:So it's a time of sort of counting our blessings.
Caesar Kalinowski:And maybe it's a time of just telling them, Hey, cause, cause, you know, even looking at like old school law, Sabbath was a time of rest and worship and what's worship to me, we have to sit around, sing songs.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, we could, but worship, you know, the core of that word is worth ship.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's giving God his worth.
Caesar Kalinowski:So in my mind, that's kind of like looking over my whole life and going, God, you did that.
Caesar Kalinowski:God, you gave us that.
Caesar Kalinowski:God, I wouldn't have this relationship.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, with Tina or with Kathleen, if I, if I, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have these beautiful kids that are going to honor you and bring a wonderful legacy.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's all from your hand.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's really good.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so I think about it, how many days or weeks have you ever gone like, I never thought about all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I sort of take all that for granted.
Caesar Kalinowski:Not only do I take the people, the gifts for granted, but kind of even creepier, I take the giver for granted.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's what Sabbath's all about, man.
Caesar Kalinowski:So what if you have to have an hour of Sabbath and then maybe a half a day of Sabbath and what if you get eventually to go, this is so valuable.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're getting better at sabbathing.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know what I mean?
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah, I read this article the other day by Christine Organ in Relevant Magazine.
Heath Hollensbe:She was talking about a modern day sabbath and what that looks like.
Heath Hollensbe:A question that she brings up, I'd love to get your thoughts on, is She mentions that one of the most challenging parts of observing the sabbath in today's day and age is that it's overcoming a dependence on instant gratification and distraction.
Heath Hollensbe:What other benefits Oh, oh, oh, wow.
Heath Hollensbe:That's Yeah.
Heath Hollensbe:Stop there.
Heath Hollensbe:That's a pretty heavy hitter, yeah.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay, thanks for tuning in.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Heath Hollensbe:What other benefits do you think there are to
Caesar Kalinowski:resting well?
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow, that's a whole other episode in a sense because that kind of leads to what's consumerism really all about and my Consumeristic nature is gimme gimme gimme gimme make me feel a certain way in the moment So like I observe myself and I observe my kids and others we're watching a movie like yeah I totally want to watch this movie queued up done, you know Yeah, and then we're all watching the movie quote unquote enjoying it whilst also Having to check Facebook and a little Pinterest feeds or whatever it would be Yeah And I'm like, that's not enough.
Caesar Kalinowski:I need a little of this.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I think she's absolutely right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Thanks, Christine, for that.
Caesar Kalinowski:But see, this is the human heart.
Caesar Kalinowski:Part of the distraction, say, like back in the agricultural days and maybe for Israel is, I just can't be overcome with, but the sheep were fed yesterday.
Caesar Kalinowski:And what if they're out of food?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, or the goats are bad.
Caesar Kalinowski:They want, they want more.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like, they'll be cool till tomorrow.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, my instant gratification would be go feed them because I want to get a little plumper.
Caesar Kalinowski:So when I take them to market in three months, I'm gonna get a little more per pound and blah, blah, blah.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's really no different.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like, what does my heart want?
Caesar Kalinowski:And can I provide it in the moment?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, and we're becoming increasingly addicted to instant input, non stop gratification.
Caesar Kalinowski:In fact, we should do an episode on Uh, you know, are we addicted to approval, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's, yeah, we are.
Caesar Kalinowski:Human approval is one thing, but we don't get as much as we kind of want and think we deserve, so now we get it through everything else, and so I think she's absolutely right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, to the second part of your question, what are other benefits other than resting well?
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, physical?
Heath Hollensbe:I
Caesar Kalinowski:mean, oh my gosh.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're the most overweight nation, I think, in the planet, and the wealthiest.
Caesar Kalinowski:And part of being overweight is we've just got too much time on our hands, and we're looking for instant gratification, and stress adds to weight, and freaking about it, all that stuff we know about, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm not trying to shame anybody, or hammer that, and I've got a few pounds to lose, and all that, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Part of it is that God created us in a certain way.
Caesar Kalinowski:Does He know?
Caesar Kalinowski:Not only do your hearts get weird and spun around, but it also starts to deteriorate your body because you, you were created for one off, six on, one off, six on, and you've chosen to go mostly seven, seven, seven, a little time off here, seven, seven, a week off, seven, seven, you know, and it's like, we're not created for that.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, I think there's relational benefits to when we get our hearts right.
Caesar Kalinowski:I know for some people, part of their Sabbath is, they connect deeply with another believer or believing couple or family, and together they get their hearts and their focus right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And they might do, like, they might do something.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hey, we're going to plant a garden together today.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, that's work.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's not the point.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's not the point is, can we be having fun and playing and creating in ways They give God glory because we're resting in Him.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because I believe there's other stuff that could be done, but God is sovereign over it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep.
Caesar Kalinowski:And He's my provider.
Caesar Kalinowski:Can I play with the kids?
Caesar Kalinowski:Can I have fun?
Caesar Kalinowski:Can we plant a garden together?
Caesar Kalinowski:And it doesn't have to be done by three, because the game's on.
Caesar Kalinowski:Could it just be
Heath Hollensbe:It's there done.
Heath Hollensbe:Yeah, you know that makes me think too about we're gonna get here into the big three in just a second but one of the other benefits that I've noticed in my life is the opportunity to invite my neighbors and Friends into the Sabbath as well where we pack up and we go.
Heath Hollensbe:Hey Saturday's our day off.
Heath Hollensbe:We're gonna go camping together We're gonna go for a hike together and actually inviting those in your influence your circle of influence to participate in a Sabbath as well.
Heath Hollensbe:Like, hey, we're going to shut our phones off, go see nature, go explore.
Heath Hollensbe:So it's a great opportunity for us to invite others into Sabbath with us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, let me say one other thing before we get into the big three.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sure.
Caesar Kalinowski:Again, I have to just say, I pretty much suck at Sabbathing.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't rest very well.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:I tend to like veg or stop working, but I kind of forget the important part of that, and that's to reconnect my own heart.
Caesar Kalinowski:So there's some conviction dropping on me even as we record this again.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm getting away this weekend with my family.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, uh, it's going to be, we won't be working at all, but it won't necessarily be Sabbathing in there.
Caesar Kalinowski:But now I'm going to have some new intentionality.
Caesar Kalinowski:I need my community, and I'm going to probably have my, you know, my family as well, which are part of that community in Oikos, I'm going to ask them to say, Hey, let's help each other to rest and reconnect, you know, this weekend in a true way.
Caesar Kalinowski:Here's another thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Tina and I, in the last few years, have really tried to sort of meta Sabbath, I'll say, by planning out our year of rest before we plan out our year of work.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, that's cool.
Caesar Kalinowski:So like we actually, we're, we're in that process right now cause we're just starting to look at next year in life, but come fall, we will plan out all of our vacations and time off and family stuff the best we can.
Caesar Kalinowski:First.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:First.
Caesar Kalinowski:Before we say, okay, I'm going to go to this conference or I'm going to speak here or let's go ahead and jam that giant project or, you know, I'm going to write a new book in the fall or whatever, you know, it's like you can't write it then cause we're going to be on vacation or we can't write it then because we've just taken a week off.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:to rest and reconnect our hearts.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so, we're trying to, we're trying to work from rest.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, that's the meta, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:And we're getting better at that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, we're on, like, I think year three of doing that, and it's feeling better.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's feeling like, hey, we're prioritizing what God said we need to, and that's rest.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's starting to trickle into other areas of life, like I was just having this conversation, Friday's supposed to be a day off for me, and I take other time off, but it's supposed to be a day off, but it's not been a Sabbath rest, and I, I generally cheat it, and I just jam lots of work in there, and kind of feel guilty about what I'm not getting done, and feel guilty about I should be resting, you know, at the same time, so.
Caesar Kalinowski:I just want to share with our friends here that I'm not great at this, not everybody's great at it, but we can, and in the big three, I'll give you some tips on how to get going.
Heath Hollensbe:Okay, so the big three, this is something we do with every episode.
Heath Hollensbe:It's basically three things that people can take away right now.
Heath Hollensbe:Uh, in light of today's discussion, and you can get this download for free by going to everydaydisciple.
Heath Hollensbe:com forward slash big three.
Heath Hollensbe:You can do it now when you pull over your car.
Heath Hollensbe:Caesar, what are the big three for this week?
Caesar Kalinowski:So, first one, know that you were created to work from rest, not rest from work.
Caesar Kalinowski:Know that.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's a fact.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's the creational order.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's how God's wired you.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the reason we're so often living these freaked out, frazzled lives is because we are not designed to sustain the pressures of non stop work without resting our minds and our bodies and souls.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just got to know that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we still get to like freak out and overwork, but just know you're not wired for it.
Caesar Kalinowski:So that car that you want to super overload with stuff and put on the fake hitch and drag a giant trailer, You'll get by with it for a while.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're going to burn that tranny out.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's going to happen.
Caesar Kalinowski:Secondly, believe that Christ has done all the most important work on your behalf already.
Caesar Kalinowski:And when I say all the most important work, I mean, he has taken your sin upon himself.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're forgiven.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're restored to dad.
Caesar Kalinowski:That relationship is wide open now, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:So that's the most important work was done on the cross.
Caesar Kalinowski:He's already done it.
Caesar Kalinowski:You do not have to work to be your own provision, or to gain his acceptance, to gain the Father's love, or to have value in his eyes.
Heath Hollensbe:Hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just got to believe that.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's great.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:That's hard, but that's the center of the gospel.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then third, so the hands part of it, begin to set aside a time each week to do no work.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's kind of how I get it around my head.
Caesar Kalinowski:Do no work that's part of your normal job.
Caesar Kalinowski:So for me, the beginning of starting to get a Sabbath time is like, since I tend to work a lot of line and write, And you check out our, you know, podcast site and all this stuff and work on tweaking all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I won't do any of that on a Sabbath day.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just like I might be working in the yard a little bit or, you know, whatever, but I'm not going to touch my work.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's not physical activity that we're necessarily to sustain.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's not the point.
Caesar Kalinowski:So maybe start with a few hours on your day off, spend time having fun, doing restorative activities.
Caesar Kalinowski:And again, vegging out in front of your TV or binge watching Seinfeld marathons, not a good Sabbath rest.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's the not working part, but it's not the reconnecting to trust part.
Caesar Kalinowski:Be sure to intentionally spend some time with God alone each week.
Caesar Kalinowski:And guess what?
Caesar Kalinowski:He's really waiting to be with you.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's so good, man.
Heath Hollensbe:Next week, we have a really fun episode.
Heath Hollensbe:Is missional still a thing and why it still scares pastors to death?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, everybody's trying to define it, and I know it's not new for some people, but I'm surprised at how many people it still is.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, missional, you mean like getting your kids ready to go overseas for summer camp in Mexico, or, you know, or in Europe, or whatever, I guess.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mexico's not overseas.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, what is missional?
Caesar Kalinowski:I want to redefine that next week.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then, uh, yeah, why it's so freaking scary.
Heath Hollensbe:We need some like a dun dun dun sound effects.
Heath Hollensbe:Maybe we'll get some sound effects next week.
Heath Hollensbe:Thanks for joining us today.
Heath Hollensbe:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit EverydayDisciple.
Heath Hollensbe:com.
Heath Hollensbe:And remember, you really can live with the spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.