What Pastors Get Wrong About Sabbath

At The Table with Tony and Cedrick is a podcast for pastors, leaders, and anyone serving in the local church. Each episode brings real conversations about ministry, leadership, and life—full of insight, laughter, and honest moments.

Check out this excerpt from episode 2:

Cedrick Brown: It’s still necessary to land on a day when you step away. The last thing I’ll say in this part of the conversation is that there’s something about stepping away from the Body, in a rhythm and a consistent manner, that keeps your fond affection for God’s people. If you just keep going and going, I like to say you stop missing the Bride.

Josh Ott: Yeah.

Cedrick: When you step away, it keeps your heart longing to be with the Bride. You see this in Paul’s writings—how often he expresses his longing to be with God’s people.

Tony Balsamo: We’ve had good conversations about this subject. I think we’re wired to not want to take time, and that’s connected to the control bone. We think we’re really needed—that things can’t go on without us. It’s similar to giving. God doesn’t need our money, but He calls us to give as a reminder that we are stewards, not owners. That protects us from greed. The same principle applies to rest and Sabbath. When I don’t take time off, I’m acting as if I’m too necessary in God’s kingdom. But when I obey the Lord’s command to rest, I’m reminded that He is the one doing the work.

Cedrick: Yeah.

Tony: And here’s the paradox: God often accomplishes more through us when we give Him our time, just like when we give Him our financial treasure. God provides for our needs. These principles communicate that truth.

Josh: We all know a lot of pastors. I wouldn’t say we’re very good at this part. The pastors I know who are good at resting are very intentional about it. Which means they had to work really hard to become better at it. Why do you think we struggle so much?

Tony: I think we connect who we are to what we do.

Cedrick: We talk about dependence on God, we preach about dependence on God, but we live like it all depends on us. Many times we act as though we’re the head of the Church. We may not say it out loud, but when we step away and the church still functions without us, we’re reminded: I’m only a piece of this, not the whole. That’s a healthy reminder. Sabbath teaches us that again and again.

Tony: Here’s the challenge. Someone listening might think, “Yeah, that sounds good. But they don’t do it as well as I do.” And you know what? They probably don’t.

Josh: But neither did you—before someone gave you an opportunity.

Tony: Exactly. We need to give people room to grow. Do we really believe ministry is a work of the Spirit or not? If we believe others can’t do ministry because we’re the best at it, what we’re doing is elevating our own ability and devaluing what the Spirit can do through anyone.

Josh: I just had a leader thank me for giving them room to fail. And honestly, I could only do that because people gave me that same room. We all look back at our first sermons and think, “Please bury those cassette tapes or CDs!” But that’s how we grow—because someone trusted us enough to let us try, and even fail.

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