Recently a friend asked me why Christians do not “keep the Sabbath” anymore. He comes from a Seventh Day Adventist background whose people observe a strict Saturday Sabbath that mirrors the Jewish practice. His question was sincere and non-judgmental. As a Christian, he wanted to live obediently before God.
Most people realize that many of the Torah regulations were dispensed with by God for Christians when Jesus set us free from the Law as basis for salvation, but some remind us that Sabbath observance is one of the Ten Commandments which we are still required to obey. So should we not still continue to observe the Sabbath? And if so, when and how?
First, we must remember that the Sabbath observance predates the Ten Commandments and goes back to the Garden. God rested on the seventh day and sanctified it for our use as well.
Gen 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. NASB
The people of Israel were already observing the Sabbath before Moses gave them the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Earlier in Exodus 16 when the people are gathering manna daily, Moses instructs them to gather twice as much on the sixth day because they are not to gather any on the Sabbath. When the people disobey, they find out that no manna is provided on the Sabbath and God sternly rebukes them for violating the Sabbath, before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses.
Ex 16:22-30 Now it came about on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 then he said to them, “This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.” 24 So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul, nor was there any worm in it. 25 And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.” 27 And it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions? 29 “See, the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore, He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
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The Sabbath commandment is given in very clear and straightforward language. It cannot be misunderstood or glossed over for interpretative purposes.
Ex 20:8-11 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
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God rested on the seventh day and set it aside (made it holy) that we also might rest on the seventh day. Every man, woman and child, slave or free, was to cease from labor and rest, observing the Sabbath of the Lord. Interestingly enough, this same commandment
requires that we labor six days. Apparently, weekends are not made for Michelob ?.
Our national identity of prosperity, ingenuity and creativity was built on the back of the “Protestant work ethic.” Our forefathers labored diligently six days as unto the Lord. Today we seem to focus on how little we can work and get away with it. Exhausting toil is a curse of the fall, but work is holy unto the Lord and we are called to it. Work can include our job, the maintenance of our property and our service in the community, but we are called to work heartily.
Gen 1:27-28 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” NASB
Col 3:23-25 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. 25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality. NASB
We see then that work is holy and God-given and so is Sabbath rest. So if we are to observe Sabbath, how is that to be done? When Jesus came, the people of Israel had a long history of attempting to define their relationship with God in terms of ritual, legalism and religion. The prophets had challenged them frequently and severely for substituting ritual and religion for a genuine intimate relationship with God. A solid translation of Malachi 1:6-14 would be God saying,
“I wish that someone would lock the “dadgum” doors of the church,
because you people are making Me puke with your relationless religion, your loveless offerings and your wearisome rituals.”
(God sounds a lot like Bobby Bowden here ?.)
What God wants from us is a right relationship. Too often we also want to substitute religious behavior for a right relationship with God. The term the Bible uses for right relationship is righteousness. Righteousness does not mean sinless or holy. When the Bible wants to talk about someone who is sinless or holy, it refers to them as — sinless or holy.
Jesus had a similar reaction as the one in Malachi to the religious practices and mindless rituals of His day. He turned over the money changers tables to cleanse the temple. He told them that only he who was without sin was free to carry out the law of stoning another sinner. And He has a lot to say about keeping the Sabbath, but what exactly did He mean by “Sabbath?”
Remember that while God gave us his Torah to observe for all time, the way Torah is interpreted is often man-made. So while I am obligated to obey God’s Torah, I am NOT obligated to obey man-made interpretations of it. Jesus certainly did not. And He openly and frequently taught that we should not.
How about a couple of examples? God said, “Thou shalt not murder;” i.e., the Sixth Commandment. Man says if we refrain from rendering anyone dead, we have kept this commandment. Jesus tells us that if we call our brother a fool we have broken this commandment.
God said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery;” i.e., the Seventh Commandment. Man says if we do not have sexual intercourse with a married person or while we ourselves are married, we have kept this commandment. (A while back one of our Presidents interpreted it this way on national TV.) Jesus tells us that if we even look at a woman with lust, we have broken this commandment.
God said, Thou shalt not covet;” i.e., the Tenth Commandment. Man says it hurts no one if I want and/or buy anything I like as long as I have room for it on my credit card. Most of the marketing we see on TV depends on us coveting. Jesus tells us that we should be content with what we have and thankful to God for what we have been given to steward (since it all belongs to Him).
Notice what is going on here. Man is focused on what activities we must refrain from
in order to keep the commandments. Jesus is focused totally on relationship. It is my relationship with my brother that determines whether or not I am murderous, not just my actions. It is my relationship with my sister, that determines whether or not I am adulterous, not just my actions. All salvation is based in relationship and Jesus came to tell us that. He did not come to tighten up our religious observances.
So it is with Sabbath. We are meant to observe the Sabbath, for sure, but not as man observes it. Rather we are to observe it as God does and as Jesus showed us. In Matthew 12, the Pharisees rebuked Jesus because his disciples worked (picked a bit of grain) to feed themselves on the Sabbath. Jesus rebuked their hypocrisy and pointed out that many people even under their system must work on the Sabbath and were considered guiltless. Then He says something very revealing.
Matt 12:5-8 “Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent? 6 “But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here. 7 “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” NASB
Jesus tells us that He will interpret for His people what is Sabbath observance. He is Lord (Master) of the Sabbath. Jesus obeys His Father in all things and God desires compassion over sacrifice, placing relationship (to God and to neighbor) over ritual. Jesus quotes Hosea to tell them there is a higher over-riding law over the Law.
Hos 6:6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. NASB
Jesus asked them if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. They had frequently accused Him of sin (behind His back) for healing on the Sabbath, but they would not accuse Him face to face. Jesus rebuked them, saying they had a stronger relationship with their sheep than with their fellow man.
Matt 12:9-14 And departing from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they questioned Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” — in order that they might accuse Him. 11 And He said to them, “What man shall there be among you, who shall have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it, and lift it out? 12 “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” And he stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. NASB
Luke 14:1-6 And it came about when He went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching Him closely. 2 And there, in front of Him was a certain man suffering from dropsy. 3 And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4 But they kept silent. And He took hold of him, and healed him, and sent him away. 5 And He said to them, “Which one of you shall have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” 6 And they could make no reply to this. NASB
At another point He tells them that the Sabbath was made as benefit for mankind,
and not vice versa. Mankind was not made as a slave to the Sabbath (Mk 2:27). In Mark 3:1-6 Jesus teaches that keeping the Sabbath is not about what you do on any day, but about whether you “Love God and Love People.”
Mark 3:1-6 And He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there with a withered hand. 2 And they were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man with the withered hand, “Rise and come forward!” 4 And He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And after looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 And the Pharisees went out and immediately began taking counsel with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. NASB
When The Pharisees rebuked Jesus for healing a woman on the Sabbath (she had been crippled for 18 years), He once again told them that they had a better relationship with their stable animals than with their fellow man (Lk 13:10-17).
Luke 13:10-17 And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. 12 And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” 13 And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God. 14 And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him? 16 “And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him. NASB
In John 7:22-24, Jesus tells them that we are not to judge people based on what we do on a particular day, but we will be judged on how we relate to our neighbor and to God. Sabbath is not about a day, it is about a relationship. Sabbath is not about what we do on any particular day. It is about entering into God’s rest.
John 7:22-24 “On this account Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23 “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? 24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” NASB
So if we are not to define Sabbath as an observance of a day, but Sabbath is, nonetheless, a requirement for us for all time, how do we keep the Sabbath? The answer is found again in Jesus’ central message, the message that God tried to teach us from the beginning: All salvation is based in relationship and all relationship is based in trust (faith).
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. He was saved through his trust-based relationship with God. Noah trusted God and built a boat on a mountain in a world that had never seen rain and it saved him, his family and all mankind. Joseph trusted God in captivity and his relationship was steady even when it did not seem plausible. He believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he, his family, all of Egypt and the known world were saved.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without a trust-based relationship with God, we cannot please him. The chapter gives us the stories of countless men and women who were saved through their faith and relationship with God.
Heb 11:6-7 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is (implies relationship), and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (trusts that God is good). NASB
The Hebrew word for Sabbath (shabat) means rest. Pure and simple, to keep the Sabbath is to enter into God’s rest, any day, every day, in every situation. The book of Hebrews defines Sabbath for Christians this way.
Heb 4:9-11 There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. NASB
Before we came to know Christ, we were under the Law and subject to its requirements. Now that we have entered into relationship with Jesus, while we remain accountable for the spirit of the Law, we no longer observe it in its pre-salvation formats. There does indeed, “remain Sabbath rest for the people of God,” but it is manifested in our relationships with God and neighbor, not in the observance of days and rules concerning activity.
For instance, our call to not commit murder requires us to be rightly related even to our enemies, not reviling them or calling them fools. Our call to not committing adultery requires us to be rightly related to our neighbors, not demeaning them in our minds as sexual playthings. Our call to not covet our neighbor’s goods requires us to be rightly related to our possessions, grateful for what we have and content with what God has given us to steward.
And our call to keep the Sabbath requires us to be rightly related to God through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, to cease striving to save ourselves, to cease from our labors in trying to control every situation and to trust that God is good all the time and in all circumstances.
Simply put, Sabbath is the cessation of labor, from worry, from striving, from trying to save ourselves, sanctify ourselves and secure ourselves from harm. Sabbath is about trusting God and we are called to it, even required to observe it if we are to please Him.
If I go to church all day Sunday but worry and fret about life’s threats and issues, I have violated the Sabbath. If I pray and fast from sundown on Friday night to sundown on Saturday night but worry and fret about my needs and aspirations, I have violated the Sabbath. If I work my tail off trying to be good, to save or sanctify myself 365 days of the year, I have violated the Sabbath.
Once we give our life to Jesus, we need to trust Him with it. We need to enter in to God’s rest. Let us return to that scripture in Hebrews.
Heb 4:1-2 Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, …
We who have entered into a relationship with Jesus are promised that God has got everything under control. We should not then grab the responsibility back out of fear that God may not be able to handle it. That is faithless, lacking in trust. It is impossible to please God if we do not trust Him.
Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. NASB
Return to text: Heb 4: 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest, “although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
We who have believed have entered into God’s rest. Conversely, if we have not entered into that rest, we have not really believed. God swore that unbelievers would not be able to find salvation, even very religious unbelievers. Trust comes from and is the cause of relationship. He who trusts is at rest. We trust who or what we know. To know God as a friend is better than to sacrifice to Him as a deity.
James 2:23″And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. NASB
Return to text: Heb 4:6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,
Hebrews tells us that those who formerly had the “good news” (Israel) failed to enter into the rest of God because of their disobedience. They failed to obey Him because they failed to trust Him, and they quit having a relationship with Him as a friend. When we substitute ritual for relationship in marriage, parenting, business or friendship, we lose that relationship, and peace (rest) will go out of our homes, our families our businesses and our friendships.
Faith in God is a major key that unlocks a miraculous peace that comes to us in the midst of our worst trials. When we fail to trust God and His goodness in difficult times, we short circuit one of the main miracles that are part of the inheritance of all those who truly believe. If we trust that God is good all the time and all the time God is good, we will praise Him in both good times and bad. We will trust that He has our back in both good times and bad times. We will believe that He works all things (both good and bad) to our good (Rom 8:28). We will forego anxiety and dwell in His peace, a peace that surpasses all comprehension.
Phil 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. NASB
Return to text: Heb 4:7-8 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. NASB
So what about a Sabbath Day; i.e., Sunday or Saturday, etc.? Under our covenantal saving relationship with God through Jesus, every day is a Sabbath Day. Today all day is Sabbath day (v.7 above). We are not just to have relationship and trust with God one day each week. We are meant to live in that relationship
and trust every day of every week.
We all need some down time of focus and refreshing, but when should it be? The day is a function of the relationship, not the other way around. Do I need a day of rest, a time to be with my family, a time to spend time with God? Absolutely, but does it have to be Sunday?
Preachers and many other people work every Sunday and must take their day off on another day. In the middle of a crisis, we may go 10 days in a row without a day of rest, but we should not live in the crisis mode all of the time. On what day should we love our parents? Everyday! When should we be fond of our spouse? Everyday! When should we be diligent at work? Today and everyday as long as it is today. Is one day holier than another? According to Paul, that is between each man and God, and we are not to judge one another on this.
Rom 14:4-6 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, NASB
The early church almost immediately switched their Sabbath observance to Sunday, the first day of the Jewish week. (Ac 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2). Sunday was the day the Lord rose from the dead. It became known as the Lord’s Day. Most early Christians were also practicing Jews and many attended Saturday Sabbath services. Truth was, they were gathering often throughout the week for teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and mutual support.
Sunday was not fixed as the official day of worship until the 4th century when Constantine organized the church as the official religion of the empire. He was a pagan follower of Sol Invictus, the unconquered Sun, so he mandated that “Sunday” would be the official day of religion. By that time religion and ritual had replaced relationship with God in many, if not most, people’s hearts anyway.
Returning to Saturday Sabbath has been done over time by certain groups who have also emphasized other aspects of keeping the Jewish Law in an Old Testament fashion. Others find this to be a re-embracing of salvation through the Law and a denial of the blood of Jesus on the cross. As Paul said, let every man do as he feels God has led him to do and let us not judge one another.