The Sabbath? Who needs that?

Friends,


If you’re like me you might think the same thing. For the longest time I never understood what the big deal about this day was. Even after being saved I never really knew what this Commandment was all about. Like a lot of folks I always thought that you couldn’t work on that day and you also had to spend all day in Church. Well my friends today I have a different opinion of this day.

According to Wikipedia “A Shabbat or Sabbath is generally a weekly day of rest and/or time of worship that is observed in several faiths. The term derives from the Hebrew Shabbat , "to cease", which was first used in the Biblical account of the seventh day of Creation.

In the Old Testament the Sabbath was observed on the seventh day, which of course was Saturday. During those times the Jewish leaders added over 1,500 rules dictating what you could and could not do on this day. They even questioned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. But Jesus had the perfect answer. Mark 2:27/28 (ESV) And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”, “So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” So there you have it, Jesus said “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” and he also said he was “lord even of the Sabbath”

The Sabbath is a gift from God. It is something that God thought was so important that he included it the Ten Commandments. It is something that God instructed us to do for our own good. Now it was the Pharisees who decided to add conditions to this Holy day and it was Constantine who officially changed the day to Sunday.Now I know a lot of us will say that the Sabbath is part of the “Laws” of the Old Testament and that we have been freed from these laws by Grace, there is even scripture that could back that up.

Galatians 3:22-26 (ESV) tells us “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

Yes it is true there are a lot of the “Laws” from the OT that we are free from like Circumcision and observing the Sabbath but we have to ask ourselves do these Laws really help or hinder us. In the case of the Sabbath I believe it could only do us good.

The internetmonk (who has a really good blog site) wrote “Christians can greatly benefit from Sabbath keeping as a personal discipline, but it isn’t a new covenant command. We should always be careful when using any OT practice. It can be done, but only with the Gospel as the controlling principle” he also said “But it’s not a command to keep Sunday as the Christian Sabbath. It’s a worthy imitation of the old covenant to honor the Sabbath as Jesus did by honoring God as the God of Sabbath whenever we take it”.

So now that we are free from this law do we still need it? I say yes. We all need a break from the daily grind. No one can work for any long period of time with out taking some kind of break. God even rested on the seventh day, even though he didn’t need it. He did so to set an example for us to follow. So here are some of my own thoughts and some I borrowed from J. Johns book “Ten”

So the question is when do we take this day? Well Sunday would be perfect and you could start off by worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What should we do on this day? Well I just mentioned one but J. Johns says we should spend time with our families and other believers and fellowship. We should sleep in, watch a movie, take a walk in the park, and have a picnic, any kind of recreation that doesn’t require work and stress. “But I have so much to do, I am so far behind on my house work” Well I say take care of that stuff during the week. Do a load of laundry every night, clean as you go! How about getting your grass cut, your clothes ready for the following week and vacuum your house on Saturday? We need to make the time! Prioritize! Cut off the branches in our life that doesn’t bare fruit

It’s up to you to organize your time so you can enjoy this day. I tried this last week and have really benefited from this day. I felt very refreshed mentally and physically and was ready to start the work week. Plus I got to have a great day of worship with out stressing about things I needed to get done. How many times have we had the Monday morning blues? A lot if you’re the average person but this is because we don’t give ourselves a break. We all need the Sabbath!

Father God thank you so much for giving us the Command to take a day of rest and spend it worshipping your Son and enjoying the things you have created for us. Father please show us ways to make the most of this day and keep our lives free of stress and distractions. We love you Lord and thank you for your many blessings its in Jesus name we pray. Amen