My Thoughts On Sabbath Keeping.

 

My Thoughts On Sabbath Keeping.

 

God tells us- NOT man says- but GOD says…

 

Exo 20:8  Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

Exo 20:9  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 

Exo 20:10  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

 

We are to REMEMBER - meaning we are NOT to forget the Sabbath day.

We are to KEEP IT HOLY- meaning God has sanctified the Sabbath, and by His presence in the Sabbath it becomes holy- He alone constitutes holiness.

 

When we are told to be holy as He is holy (1 Pet 1:15,16) we are being told as our God is, to honor His ways.

 

Keeping the Sabbath holy is keeping it God's day, it is special, a day set aside, a day different from all the other six days that make up a week. It MUSTN'T be considered just another day as if it is not God's holy day. In attitude, in action, in all the observance of the entire day we must comprehend the day has the presence of God in it, as no other day of the week does. This makes the day holy and we keep it holy.

 

We are to HAVE six other days to do our workings WHATEVER they may be. We have six other days to do the ordinary tasks that make up our lives.  AND we are NOT to make anyone else do our work, or work on that day.

 

We are to keep in mind the reason for this weekly day of remembrance in which we set aside all ordinary tasks. The reason is to honor God as our creator who MADE it a day of rest- that HE chose to rest this day - not because He needed rest, but because He CHOSE to rest from all His work of creation by creating a rest. 

 

We are to know the seventh day is a day blessed and made holy by God.

 

Keeping the Sabbath day HOLY, SPECIAL, SET ASIDE, BLESSED, in ALL WE DO- allows us to REMEMBER forever our creature status, created by a beloved Creator who wants us to NEVER forget HIM as our CREATOR.

 

People dishonor the day when they use it as any other day to go about the day as if it has absolutely no significance.

 

It's not enough to take an hour or two of the Sabbath to remember God as creator- in doing so we minimize what God meant to be maximized. An entire day of rest in God.

 

Does this mean we are NOT to do anything on this day but live in a state of suspended animation directed towards God?

 

We look to our greatest example for the answer and that greatest example is JESUS who broke NO law and remained SINLESS His entire life.

 

Jesus honored the Sabbath by worshiping in the temples and synagogues as all the Jewish people of His day did. He was found teaching God's word on the Sabbath day, He was found fellowshipping on the Sabbath day. He was found eating on the Sabbath day and being fine with His disciples taking a food source readily available to eat from. He walked casually on the Sabbath day. He helped others on the Sabbath, going so far as to do what leaders of the Jewish people considered work by making a simple mud paste to heal the eyes of a blind man. Jesus taught that the Sabbath was a holy day- He was never accused of not keeping the Sabbath day entirely but that some of His actions were breaking traditions the Jewish hierarchy had built up around the basic Sabbath commandment. He wanted us to realize that the Sabbath wasn't meant to be bound up so tightly we could not live on that day without fear of taking a wrong step.  (Matt. 12:1-14, Mark 6:1-6, Luke 4:16,31)

 

Yes, the day before the Sabbath remained a day to prepare for the Sabbath- to do all the things you could do prior to the Sabbath so it wasn't a day of endless work tasks for anyone, but a day for all to equally rest and keep holy in constant remembrance of our God, our Creator, our Redeemer. (Luke 23:54-56)

 

To do just any old thing on the Sabbath day because we are bored, anxious, tired of not doing our ordinary things, is not what Jesus was telling us to do. To do God's work on the Sabbath day with God as our focus without making it a day of self-centeredness where we insist on pleasing ourselves in pursuits that take our mind from God, this is what we must do.

 

We need to prepare BEFORE the Sabbath so the Sabbath can be geared towards God. We aren't to get to the Sabbath day unprepared and expect to be able to keep the Sabbath day holy as God is holy. 

 

We need to structure our Sabbath time- ahead of time if we are prone to giving in and mindlessly entertaining ourselves with things that aren't God focused, God centered.  If we are likely to get bored make sure you have a variety of things to choose from that you can do.

 

Prayer groups- reading prayer requests of others and making a real, deliberate effort to pray for people.

Study- have a subject you can do an in-depth study of from the Bible using all sorts of Biblical resources.

Elderly outreach-  bake several loaves of bread prior to the Sabbath and take them to a nursing home or two.  Gather a few bouquets of flowers and separate them as you please to distribute a flower to an elderly person.

Family- make a special effort to communicate with family members you might not have an opportunity to talk with during the week.

 

The thing is… pray about it and God will open the heart and mind to the things He would have us do so we may do HIS will and not our own.

 

If something is questionable that you think to do on the Sabbath- then you need to pray about it, take it to God's word, and ultimately for conscience sake err on the side of caution if you are not given direct confirmation for your actions.

 

We must call the Sabbath a delight- because in it we seek to do God's will not our own. We seek ways that honor our Creator.  Our Creator KNEW that we'd want to disobey the Sabbath commandment, that our human flesh following, spirit denying self, would seek to solely please self on that day as any other day. This is why it is so incredibly important for us to KEEP the day holy THROUGH Him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, CHOOSING to DENY SELF, to take up our CROSS with HIM- it's all a part of living for God, with Christ in US our hope!

 

If you are going to do something you're just not sure is acceptable on this holy, blessed day- lay it out in all truth before God as something you are going to do and while doing it honor Him, remember Him, keep Him right there with you in your thoughts the whole time you are undertaking the questionable.  If a serious doubt remains as you continue your actions you must inquire in prayer whether or not that IS the conviction of the Holy Spirit pressing right and wrong upon you. We do NOT want to deny the convictions of the Holy Spirit- as mentioned above, it's much better to err on the side of caution. We don't want to push the Holy Spirit away because ultimately that leads us to being spiritually blinded- deceived and among those who Christ will say He never knew. In truth if we follow the spirit of evil rather than the Holy Spirit we can't be known of Christ because we aren't His followers. We can be deceived into thinking we are Christ's when we aren't, we must PRAY that we aren't among those so deceived.

 

May we seek to do God's will fully, wholly, completely as we are shown His will, led to His will, guided towards His will and His will alone.

 

Forgive us, Father, forgive us - and give us all we need in our will, in our lives, in our actions, in our thoughts, in all of our lives to be Yours, wholly Yours now and forever!   All through our Savior, Jesus Christ! Amen.