Saturday, February 1, 2014

#20 - The Sabbath, Part 1

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made" (Genesis 2:1-3).

This morning in church, our pastor based his sermon on Daniel 9, which records the prayer that the prophet made on behalf of his people and Jerusalem. Having this blog post in mind, I immediately traced Daniel's words to the purpose of the Sabbath. Why do I "squander" an entire 24-hour period to engage in religious activity? Why do I do it on a day that no one else does it? Why do I need the whole 24 hours anyway -- is not three enough (you know, church service, Sabbath School, and fellowship lunch)? What is so much more special about my day versus yours?

Let's begin with the origin of the Sabbath. Contrary to popular belief, the Sabbath is not a Jewish holy day in the way that Boxing Day is Canadian and Memorial Day is American. Jesus declared to the haughty Pharisees when they questioned the lawfulness of His disciples on Sabbath, "The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath."[1] Three beautiful points come from that one point:
  • The Sabbath was not made for Jews only, but for man. All the sons and daughters of Adam have the privilege of weekly rest.[2]
  • God did not make Sabbath and say, "Ha, Ha, Ha -- now keep it!!" The Sabbath is not about law-keeping, but rather about communion with and communication about God; about restoration both physically and spiritually. (We're coming to that...)
  • The Sabbath is the Lord's day: the day is made for man, but it belongs to God. Therefore, since eternity past through eternity future, the Sabbath has been God's institution.[3]
So the day is the Lord's; He made it for humanity; and He made it for man's enjoyment, not their drudgery. Why is it so important to God that we keep the Sabbath? For that, let us soak in Daniel 9:19 --
"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O My God: for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name" (Daniel 9:19).
We bear the name of God and therefore represent His character to the world. Others are watching our actions, and what we do will influence their choice for or against God. One of the special things about being a Christian is that we are called by God's name in three ways: By creation,[4] by redemption,[5] and by victory in Jesus.[6] So keeping Sabbath is our small part of showing the world the loveliness of God as played out personally in our lives. Imagine people asking you, "Who is your God that you would give up Saturday for Him? How much do you love your God that you give up that for Him?"

But when we fail to exemplify the life of our Master, we are like women who feel "we don't need a man" to get along in life.[7] But Christ said that without Him, we can do nothing.[8] Using this analogy, we can see that Sabbath-keeping is also about redemption. We cannot save ourselves or overcome by ourselves, just as surely as we did not create ourselves. Paul told the church at Philippi, "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."[9] Again, in Hebrews 4, he paints this imagery that exercising faith is a spiritual rest.

And I would argue that taking off from work, losing homework / study time (and in some countries, class or even exam time), and missing good sales (stewardship, right?) all require immense amounts of faith in God. But when we take of the rest which God so freely offers,[10] the joy and blessing is unexplainable and unmatched. My life and the lives of many others are testimonies that the Malachi promise for tithing applies to Sabbath-keeping also.[11]

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Click for Part 2 of this post: "What is the Sabbath a Day of?"
  1.  Mark 2:27-28; Isaiah 56:6-7
  2. Genesis 5:1-2; Zechariah 8:23
  3. Isaiah 66:23; Isaiah 58:13; Isaiah 46:1
  4. Genesis 1:27
  5. Acts 11:26
  6. Revelation 3:12; Revelation 7:3; Revelation 21:7
  7. Isaiah 4:1; Jeremiah 31:22
  8. John 15:4-5
  9. Philippians 1:6
  10. Matthew 11:28-30
  11. Malachi 3:8-12

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