Christian Answers for the New Age

Why Sabbath Teaching is An Issue

John Mark Comer and many other Contemplatives teach what they call “Sabbathing” or just “Sabbath.” Comer has a series of videos on the alleged  spiritual discipline of Sabbathing. There are some observations to make before discussing the videos.

First, observing the Sabbath as it was given in the Old Testament was for Israel only. Secondly, the Sabbath is Saturday and it is not taught as a day to observe in the New Testament. Christians met and worshiped on Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection, not Saturday. Thirdly, the book of Hebrews, written primarily to Jewish believers, tells us that Jesus is our rest (see chapter 4).

The issue is not choosing to treat Sunday as a day of rest or selecting a weekly day for rest and withdrawal from activities. This article is not about that.

The issue is that this teaching on Sabbath is part of Contemplative teachings and Spiritual Disciplines, and these teachings do not have biblical support as I have shown in many articles on this website, as well as discussing the topic in online interviews. The so-called discipline of Sabbath, like the other disciplines, tends to take over and dominate what Scripture teaches on living the Christian life. But “Sabbath” sounds so biblical, therefore, people assume any teaching about it must be good. However, this article will attempt to demonstrate why the teaching in these videos is not based on the Bible.

VIDEO 1, Stop

The Rule of Life and the Trellis

At the very beginning of the first video called “Stop,” Comer refers to the “Rule of Life.” This “Rule of Life” comes directly from Benedict of Nursia, known as “the father of Western monasticism,” and it is also called the Rule of Benedict. It was formulated for monks for life in the monastery.

“Written in the early 6th century by Benedict, abbot of Monte Cassino (Italy), the Rule is a spiritual and practical guide for living the Gospel. It is the foundational text for Western Christian monasticism.” Source

This Rule of life is also taught by other contemplative teachers like Tyler Staton, Peter Scazzero, Ruth Haley Barton, and others.  In an article discussing how to use the Rule today, it states:

“Like the morning glories hooked to the porch trellis, The Rule of Benedict is a spiritual trellis that you and I can cling to that will guide our growth as people of God, helping to bring out the beauty within each of us. The Benedictine trellis can support our relationship with God and others.  This strong trellis can shape how our spirit unfolds through good works, prayer, worship, and a balanced way of living.  The Benedictine trellis connects deeply to God, and so can foster a meaningful and fulfilling life.”

A Christian is to cling to the Rule of Benedict, formulated by a mere man, and it will “support” one’s relationship with God? This is saying that the Holy Spirit and God’s word are not enough for the relationship with God. And the “Benedictine trellis connects deeply to God?” This is an astounding claim. What evidence is there for this trellis’s deep connection with God? I would argue it is not connected to God at all.

The term “trellis” is a common way of referring to this Rule and Comer uses this term in his book, Practicing the Way:

“Comer references Jesus speaking of being the vine and his followers the branches, then claims that early ‘teachers of the Way’ (he does not name them) used a word picture of a trellis to take Jesus’ metaphor of the vine “to its logical conclusion” (160). As a support for the vine, the trellis lifted the vine up so that it could grow in the right direction and bear fruit. Comer concludes:

‘In the same way, for an apprentice of Jesus to abide in the vine and bear much fruit, we also need a trellis – a support structure to make space for life with God.’” From CANA article on Practicing the Way

In my article, I commented on this idea:

“The trellis is support for the vine, but Jesus is the vine and does not need any support. And if the Christian is in Christ, he does not need a trellis. The trellis is superfluous to Jesus and to Christians. This trellis, asserts Comer, is the ‘rule of life.’ Comer maintains that Paul was referring to this in First Corinthians 4:17 and this is this is the Rule of Life that Benedict came up with for monastic life.”

First Corinthians 4:17 makes no mention of anything close to this idea of a trellis:

“For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.”

Paul is making a defense of his apostleship to the Corinthian Christians who were looking down on him due to the “super-apostles” who had been winning over the Corinthians. This commentary gives verse 17 its proper context.

This idea from Comer cannot be supported by Scripture and, in fact, is contrary to Scripture. Where does God give any hint of the need for a rule or way of life that is a “trellis” to support Jesus as the vine or us as the branches? Is not Jesus sufficient without a trellis?

Either the New Testament instructions to the church give sufficient information to the church on how to live as a Christian or they do not. Either the Holy Spirit is sufficient to empower the Christian to live the Christian life or he is not. If a so-called trellis is needed, then the answer is that the Bible and the Holy Spirit are not sufficient.

Sabbathing is “Essential”

The woman in the video states at the beginning that they are going to discuss

“an ancient practice from the way of Jesus…”

Is it an “ancient practice” from Jesus? As a Jew, Jesus did observe the Sabbath. Observing the Sabbath was part of the conditional covenant between God and Israel and is not commanded in the New Testament. Comer and company are using the word to indicate a time of rest that one takes purposefully. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, yet it is held up as an essential:

“The best stuff comes when we’re rested…Rest is essential to apprenticeship of Jesus.”

The problem here is what is meant by “rest.” Contemplative teachings use ordinary words or words from the Bible but have layers of other meaning hidden in them. It is not just a matter of resting, but involves making this a “practice” – another word with layers of meaning. Translating Contemplative teachings is like peeling an onion and sometimes the layers seem to never end but only lead to other onion-like words with their multi-layers of meaning. The reader will see by the end of this article that what is involved in observing this Sabbath practice is, ironically, quite burdensome.

False claims are made, such as stating that this “rest” is “essential” for being “an apprentice” (Comer does not like the word “disciple” although a disciple and an apparentice are quite different). Comer’s main teachings are that a Christian needs to live like Jesus in order to be a follower of Jesus, which is not the Gospel. Moreover, Comer adds things to what Jesus did or misinterprets them from Scripture, so that they are not what Jesus really did. From all I have read and heard of Comer, he does not teach what lies outside the gospels unless he is misusing it to support his points (such as the misuse of 1 Cor. 4:17 and many others).

This article is not written about having a day of rest. Physically and mentally, it is needed for most people. But Comer ties it to being an apprentice of Jesus and claims it is essential for a relationship with God.

Jesus Has a Way vs. Jesus Is the Way

Comer states that he likes Eugene Peterson’s rendering of Matt. 11:28-30:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Peterson was another contemplative, so it is not surprising that Comer likes his paraphrase of this passage. Please note how Peterson has made an important change in the meaning of these verses.

Instead of leaving it the way Jesus said it, which is to come to him for rest, Peterson adds that Jesus will show you how to rest. One needs to walk with Jesus and “work” with him to learn this and to learn about the “unforced rhythms of grace.” Most of this passage contains additional words from Peterson. The word “rhythm” is a big word in Contemplative teachings, used especially by Ruth Haley Barton. Everything is about finding a “rhythm” that matches God’s “rhythm” such as the Sabbath rest. Barton wrote a book titled Sacred Rhythms, in fact. But now the word is almost ubiquitous in these teachings.

This rendering from Peterson is not only not what the text states, but it changes the fact that Jesus IS the rest! Jesus doesn’t show us how to rest, Jesus is the rest! (See Hebrews 4). This is another example of how scripture is misused by Comer. Contrary to Comer, Christians do not need Sabbath-ing precisely because Christians have Jesus.

Sabbath, Video 2, Rest (and Resistance)

In the first minutes, the woman declares that “information” is not enough for transformation. One must practice

“the way of Jesus to get Jesus’ teaching from our minds to our muscles’ memory for it to become second nature.”

The same points as made in the first video are made about how busy our lives are, how we are tired, distracted, busy, ad nauseum. After giving statistics to back up how tired and busy people are, Comer dramatically states that practicing the Sabbath is “resistance.”

Comer claims that practicing the Sabbath is “standing against what the apostle Paul called the principalities and powers.” Comer identifies some of these powers as “systemic racism, sexism, greed, political corruption.” However, that interpretation is an anachronism and does not fit the text. These forces, states Comer, are “anti-Sabbath and anti-God.”

Really? It is hard to believe that these “dark powers” of  “racism, sexism, and greed” (which are not the meaning of the text anyway) are concerned with anyone observing the Sabbath. But for Comer, because he emphasizes observing the Sabbath as “essential” (and he goes to great lengths to make it seem that way), then these dark forces would of course oppose it.

By the practice of Sabbath, the video claims, “we defy these powers.” Comer emphasizes how “counter-cultural” this is.

However, I would think that perhaps sharing the gospel in a spiritually dark place would get the attention any “dark powers” over practicing a Sabbath rest. And one might be persecuted for sharing Christ in some places, but it is highly unlikely persecution will come for unplugging your phone and laptop.

To label observing the Sabbath as “resistance” against dark “powers” obscures the fact that it is the spread of the gospel that the enemy hates, not observing the Sabbath. At the very least, Comer takes what is secondary and places it above the primary; this is one of the central problems of his teachings.

Exercises

Exercises are always given at the end of these videos. For this one, they are

1. 1. Prepare for the day (the Sabbath) since in the Bible that is what they did in the Old Testament: This includes
      1. Preparing the Sabbath meal
      2. Go grocery shopping
      3. Clean or tidy your home
      4. Run errands
      5. Pay bills
      6. Answers texts/emails
      7. Make plans with family and friends
      8. Plan fun activities
   2. Prepare for external forces against you doing Sabbath by resisting these forces, such as chores, your boss, the internet, social obligations etc.
   3. Prepare for internal resistance: the woman gives what I would call a psychological self-evaluation of feelings, Give this to God and wait for God to speak to you.

To me it seems like there is a lot of onerous work going in order to “Sabbath.”

VIDEO 3, Delight

In the third video, Comer refers again to the Matthew 11 verse and adds to it, by saying that

“this is the invitation of Jesus, to come and find rest for your souls, to follow his 6 and 1 rhythm and rest for your souls…”

This is not what Jesus says or is referring to when he speaks in Matthew 11. Comer has effectively completely twisted the words of Jesus by adding the contemplative term “rhythm” to the text.

Rituals

At the end of the video, the man and woman recommend performing a ritual to start and end the Sabbath. They also suggest 12 practices that go with the Sabbath:

Lighting the candles

Blessing children

Eating a Sabbath meal

Gratitude

Singing

Worshiping with your community

Walking

Napping

Making love to your spouse

Reading, especially the Bible

Spending time alone with God

Spending time with family and friends

They offer even more recommendations, including a guide on the Sabbath by Dan Allender (this is done in other videos and Allender is also quoted in them). Allender, a professor at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, is an enthusiast about the false New Age Enneagram, was a guest on Enneagram teacher and Perennial Wisdom follower Ian Cron’s Typology podcast, and also had Cron on his program (Cron is a crony of heretic Richard Rohr and has taught at Rohr’s school).

Allender also embraces the Jungian “shadow self,” a concept that came into the church via the Enneagram from Richard Rohr, who is a fan of Carl Jung.

It struck me as Comer was speaking about how we can find joy and delight in the Sabbath by feasting, having sex, playing, etc. and while he was quoting Contemplative Richard Foster and Enneagram-deluded Dan Allender, how Comer is making the Sabbath itself a god, or how keeping the Sabbath the way Comer teaches it can become a god.

Ironically, such an elaborate focus on the Sabbath, given with extra-biblical and unbiblical ideas, strikes me as idolatry.

VIDEO 4 – Worship

Intercessory Prayer Forbidden?

Suggested actions in the fourth video include fixed hours for prayer…but it can’t be intercessory prayer, because that was forbidden as work, claims the Comer team. The man in the video explicitly states that intercessory prayer is work (around 24 minutes). He comments that this view may seem harsh but the “intent is right.”

Nothing in the Bible forbids intercessory prayer on the Sabbath. Orthodox Judaism forbids it because they consider it “work.” That is a manmade view and rule, not God’s view. But the video states it as though it is from God and does not point out that it is not in Scripture. This is at the very least neglectful or ignorant and, at worst, deliberately misleading (this is a transcript of directives given at the end of the video).

These videos refer to or quote some people with troubling views such as Contemplatives Eugene Peterson, Richard Foster, Dan Allender, Ruth Haley Barton, and Gary Thomas (who endorses Contemplative Prayer wrote a confusing book on 9 spiritual pathways that everyone supposedly fits).

The Wrong Purpose and Rationale

Comer is not teaching the Sabbath practice as a way to just have rest, but as essential for being a Christian. Comer also gives wrong rationales and misuses Scripture to support this teaching.

So in those two ways – the purpose of the Sabbath and the misuse of Scripture – Comer’s teaching on this topic fails and misleads.

What Next?

Despite pointing out clearly in several articles on Comer how Comer misuses and abuses Scripture, his materials and teachings continue to make the rounds of churches. Either Christians do not care that Comer does this, or they are unaware of it, which means either they do not investigate him or they are not discerning enough to see the issues.

What does this mean about the church? It means that whoever comes down the pike and into the churches next will probably have worse teachings. Ignorance and apathy beget more of the same; deception paves the way for more deception. It is always a downward spiral.

It is worthwhile to end with these words from Scripture:

“For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” 

Acts 20:27-31

Even so, come Lord Jesus! 

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