They say a change is as good as a holiday. Well biblically, that statement is up the creek.Anyone who one who offers you a change rather a holiday should be shot. Have you seen those adds on TV where you get your house loan through a certain company you get a holiday. Can you imagine if they changed the advertising to Get your house loan through us and you get a change. It wouldn’t work would it. It is ludicrous yet for most of us we ignore the need for true rest and relaxation.
We have this work ethic that says if we aren’t permanently tired we mustn’t be working hard enough.
Yet while this is perceived to be an honourable trait – it is not biblical. Yet neither is being a slacker or as the King James states in proverbs a sloth.
Lets have a look.
Right at the outset of scripture we see God sets us some principals to live by.
GE 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
The seventh day is set apart (Holy means set apart) from the first six because God “sanctified” it. (Sanctification also means to be set apart) Sanctification is the process of becoming holy. We become holy by being set apart by God. Notice that on this day God does not “speak,” nor does he “work” as he had on the previous days. On this day he “blessed” and “sanctified” (NIV, “made it holy”), but he did not “work.” The reader is left with a somber and repetitive reminder of only one fact: God did not work on the seventh day. While little else is recounted, it is repeated a couple of times, emphasizing God’s “rest.” If the purpose of pointing to the “likeness” between humans and their Creator was to call on the reader to be more like God, then the seventh day stresses the very thing that they elsewhere are called on to do: “rest” on the seventh day.
Now lets be realistic here. Sunday is not the Sabbath. Never has been and never will be. Sunday is the first day of the week. We celebrate Jesus resurrection on Sunday because He rose on a Sunday morning. Saturday is the Sabbath. It is interesting to note that the reason we have a weekend is religious min nature. Back in history there were Jews and Christians living in the same community. Saturday the Jews celebrated the Sabbath, Sunday the Christians celebrated the Lord’s day. We ended up with a weekend. In essence the weekend is rest and celebration of God.
The celebration of Jesus resurrection took over as the main emphasis with the spread of Christianity. Then it became referred to as the Sabbath. This is incorrect from a biblical viewpoint. There is no where in scripture that says God changed he Sabbath to Sunday – it is a tradition and that is all. But it is still good to meet together of Sunday – and still valid, we just shouldn’t call it the Sabbath.
Does it make any difference? Well I will give you a couple of options.
- We replace the sabbath concept to Sunday. Rest on Sunday instead of Saturday. This has been the model in most Baptist Churches over the years, and of course it was much stronger years ago. I was not allowed to play sport on Sunday as it was “The Sabbath” (My dad and I have discussed this for years) When I was very young I wasn’t allowed to watch TV on Sunday.
- We have church on Saturday. Hey it’s been done and is still being done by the Seventh Day Adventists. And for Good reason. They are biblically correct in this point – the Sabbath is Saturday. Take the bible totally literally. It is an option.
- We take the sabbatical principle and plan rest / celebration into our week. One way of interpreting scripture is to take the principles and apply them to aspects of life. Rather than a total literal interpretation we take what is called the “sense of the scripture.” In other words apply the ideas and principles.
- Not think about it.
So where do we go? Well we have as a movement of people done number one mostly. Replacement Sabbath.
Literal interpretation of the bible will lead us down a different path. Then we need to change. But as I alluded to last week. To do so would also mean meeting before
Sunrise, completely restructuring the way we do things as a church and in church. Is that change valid???
Taking the Sabbatical principle has bigger implications. And I believe this to be the closest to the intent of the bible.To take the principles of rest in Genesis 1 leads us to look at the bibles understanding of rest in other areas.
Rest meant not working. Even in the desert. 23 He said to them, “This is what the LORD commanded: `Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ “ EX 16:24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” EX 16:27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
See God made it that they had rest and if they didn’t it had consequences. No manna on the Sabbath, and it didn’t go off.God was and I believe is adamant that we take our rest.He even tells us to make it part of our structure.
EX 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
You structure your own life, the life of your family and event hose who work for you, even your animals to have a rest. Even the fields get a rest. Look at this
Lev 25:2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.
Now, you guys know a lot more about how this works than me, but how do we interpret this?? How literally do we follow what God says.
Well look at what Jesus did on the Sabbath.
MT 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
MT 12:3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread–which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, `I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Does this put a different perspective on it? Let me tell you of an experience I had as a kid.My Pastor as a kid was John Buckle. A great teacher and pastor. He interpreted this Sabbath idea as “The Lord is my rest” Or “the Lord is my Sabbath”I think He was preaching from Hebrews at the time.
His idea was that Sunday becomes a day of ministry. That we didn’t need a Sabbath because of our relationship to the Lord. Well, I agree that Sunday s a day of ministry. But I tell you, I need a rest regularly.My pastor’s comments made such a stink. It was a real point of argument for months. But He didn’t have days off. The church certainly got value for their money but he wore out.
On the same token – Jesus worked miracles on the Sabbath, He taught on the Sabbath – when did He get His rest.
Here we have an important concept. Jesus did take a break. Just as God took a break when He created the world., Jesus did too.Matt 14:2323 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
We are told to have a rest.
Hebrews 4: 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Funny, but the word translated Sabbath rest is sabbatismos which gives us the idea that the rest is kind of like a heaven type rest. An ultimate rest. Or at least a rest like we will get in heaven maybe a precursor to that rest. So where does all this leave us???? In need of a break. Finding balance in life is about finding time to do it all. We need to structure breaks. Now, I don’t mind if Saturday is not your Sabbath, I don’t mind if Sunday is your Sabbath – but I do know, we all need a break. And it all needs to be systematic. This system of God’s is there for a reason. Regular breaks to keeps us fresh
ANDRegular breaks to keep us Focussed on God.
Notice how clever the system is.
- Rest for us
- Reminder of God in our lives.
Sabbath and gathering go together. IN the Old Testament it was the day of going to the temple and making sacrificesIN the New Testament they went to the temple AND met on the first day of the week to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection.
So keeping the principle of the Sabbath is good for us physically and spiritually.
Actually what I like about the way God puts it in the 10 commandments.EX 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Remember holy means set apart. God is saying remember to set apart the Sabbath. Set apart some rest. Set apart some time for Him.
That’s the basis of balance.
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