Word → The Sabbath
I’ve always been one to question foregone conclusions. It’s just in my nature I suppose. Over years of church attendance I’ve listened to many claims by various pastors and teachers. One that stands out is the claim that, “They’re the 10 commandments, not the 10 suggestions.” It sounds very definitive and makes for a wonderful sound bite.
Fortunately most of the 10 commandments are fairly easy to accept as truth. Don’t kill, don’t worship idols, and so on. Included in the commandments is the 4th which is, “remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” What’s that? Am I remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy?
From years of attending church I’ve seen talk of the Sabbath shuffled around in a variety of contexts. Often I’ve heard that Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath by dying on the cross. He was Lord of the Sabbath after all. And then there’s the fact that ever since the Pentecost we have the Holy Spirit living in us so we don’t need to bother with keeping the Sabbath holy anymore. Among the sincerest of Christians, most honor the “Sabbath” in some fashion or another. Their responses are almost comical. “My Sabbath is on Friday night for 2 hours.”, “My Sabbath is if I make it to church.” And another, “My Sabbath is when I go for a walk.”
The Sabbath was an integral part of God’s decree to the Israelites. It was one of the highest laws of the land, which came with the promise of blessings to those who honored it. So did Christ cancel or fulfill our obligation to it when he died and rose again?
I’ll confess, my interest in the Sabbath arose not from saintly curiosity, but because I was tired, exhausted, and worn down. A busy pace of life and constantly being on the go had taken it’s toll. I found myself hesitant to commit to church or ministries as it’s so easy to get sucked into an overwhelming schedule of bible studies, prayer groups, outreaches and so on. How is one to faithfully pursue God without being constantly fatigued by the many obligations and events? In a sense my land was taking it’s Sabbaths. The ones I didn’t give it.
I went about the business of reading the Bible to see exactly what is said on the subject. Any logical person will say that you need to take breaks, but perhaps there was something that was missed or forgotten over the years. Maybe this Sabbath thing wasn’t so antiquated and outdated as it was made out to be.
There are over 150 references to the word “Sabbath” in the Bible. The Sabbath as the Israelites knew it lasted 24 hours, beginning at sundown on Friday and continuing until sundown on Saturday. It was to be a day of complete rest, where they weren’t even supposed to light a fire in the house. One’s thoughts were to be focused on God, and not on one’s own affairs, nor idle chatter. There was to be no buying or selling, nor causing others to work on the Sabbath as well. My favorite description of the Old Testament Sabbath is from
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
The arguments still trickle in for and against the need to honor the Sabbath. Here’s a lengthy article addressing why it’s no longer in effect, which I very much enjoyed. Arguments in favor of the persistence of the Sabbath can be found at Sabbath-Truth.org and Sabbathtruth.com
After reading through the varying discussions of why some say the Sabbath is or isn’t in effect, I decided to take a practical approach to the issue. I attempted to honor my first Sabbath. Friday at sundown I stopped work. For the next 24 hours I attempted to do nothing but worship, read the Bible and pray. Here’s a couple of observations. First of all, a full day of focusing on God blows any measly morning quiet time out of the water. The time spent in prayer and worship can lead to a much more meaningful and deep connection with God. Second, the effect of the Sabbath lasted longer than a simple church attendance or prayer session. In making decisions during the week I was more apt to consider them through the lens of God’s perspective. Third, the fact that I was observing the Sabbath created numerous Biblical discussions among friends. These friends were already Christian but like all of us, in need of Godly reminders to be faithful and to have faith in God. I’m sure that if I was just enjoying a Saturday doing whatever I pleased, the conversation wouldn’t have shifted to Spiritual topics.
My conclusion based upon a couple Sabbaths is that I think they’re a good thing. I tend to think that we aren’t under obligation to follow them anymore, but are welcome to if we choose. 1 Cor 10:23 reminds us that all things are permissible, but just not necessarily beneficial. Jesus’ speaks about the Sabbath in Mark 2:27-28, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath is a gift from God to man. In my brief experience, it has been. Not in a religious legalistic way, but in helping to align my will and spirit into obedience to God’s. It’s also been nice in allowing me a period of rest to completely let go of all earthly pursuits.
One more observation about the Sabbath is that God may not have been accidental with the timing. An honest look at my life and those of other Christian friends is that the weekend is a time where Christians tend to be lax in their piety. The movies that are watched, the company that’s kept, the locale of the gatherings- these all seem to push the limit of what might be considered wholesome. Of course being a moral perfectionist isn’t healthy either.
16 Do not be overrighteous,
neither be overwise—
why destroy yourself?
But taking too many freedoms often leads to losing one’s interest in following Christ. Perhaps setting Friday night and all of Saturday aside to worship the Lord is God’s practical design to keeping His followers in line.
I’d encourage anyone to attempt a Sabbath. It’s such an unpopular and uncommon ideology, but perhaps one that shouldn’t have been so quickly abandoned. If nothing else, you’ll likely enjoy the best quiet time with the Lord in quite a while.
