More About the Sabbath

Introduction

My Family Christian Bookstore story about being open on Sundays…

Since the Sabbath is still so misunderstood and debated about among Christians, I felt that it would be wise to continue talking about it tonight.

Turn to Mark 2:23-28

Body

Verses 23-24

This incident shows up in Matthew, Mark and Luke, with minor variances in each.

Remind them why the variances…

When the Pharisees accuse them of doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath, they aren’t referring to what God said was unlawful, but what their rules and regulations said was not lawful.

The religious leaders had drawn up a catalogue of thirty-nine principle works, subsequently subdivided into six minor categories under each of these thirty-nine, all of which were forbidden on the Sabbath.

i.e. by plucking the heads, the disciples were reaping in the eyes of the religious leaders.

But for them, they were even more upset that their teacher, Jesus, was not doing anything to stop them!

Once again, their own interpretations of the law got in the way of the heart of the law.

Verses 25-26

“Have you never read what David did…”

This is more “in-your-face” talk from Jesus.

These guys were supposed to be the experts in the OT, however they didn’t even recognize that the OT speaks against their rules and regulations.

The OT story Jesus is referring to is in 1 Samuel 21:1-9 (read)

The showbread:

The showbread consisted of twelve loaves places on a table three feet in length, one and a half feet wide, and two feet, three inches high. The table was overlaid with pure gold, surrounded by a molding of gold, and equipped with four rings of gold, a ring at each corner, through which poles were passed, so that the table could be carried.

The twelve loaves represented Israel’s twelve tribes and symbolized the constant fellowship of the people with their God.

Every Sabbath the old loaves were exchanged for fresh ones. The old loaves were eaten by the priests. They were for the priests not everyone.

Here we saw that David and his men ate bread that was not for them.

Jesus point is that David had the right to ignore the divinely ordained ceremonial provision when necessity demanded it.

If David could do this, Jesus, God’s Anointed must have at least a similar right, especially since he was setting aside a totally unwarranted, man-made Sabbath regulation.

This is, once again, Jesus showing his divine authority…and it will get even clearer in a second…

Verses 27-28

The Sabbath was instituted to be a blessing for man:

To keep him healthy, (rest)

To render him holy, (worship)

To respond to God’s deliverance, (worship)

And to look forward to the ultimate Sabbath rest in Heaven. (surrender)

However, the religious leaders were turning the Sabbath into a tyrant and the people into slaves of the tyrant.

It was the Lord who laid down the principles for Sabbath observance. And since all authority has been given to Jesus, it is Jesus who truly can define proper Sabbath observance, not the religious leaders.

What does all this mean for us?

Jesus did not do away with the concept of Sabbath rest.

On the contrary, Jesus observed the Sabbath as a day of worship in the synagogues and by teaching (Luke 4:16 & Mark 6:2)

However, he did not comply with the minute restrictions, which brought him into conflict with the religious leaders (Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Luke 13:10-17; John 5:1-18).

So, we need to still see Sabbath rest as important and needed.

We need to focus on resting, worshipping and surrendering.

Much is made about when the proper time for Sabbath rest.

For Israel, Saturday was the Sabbath.

The early church observed the Sabbath on Saturday, and usually used the opportunity to proclaim Christ in the synagogues.

However, they also met on Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the new life in Him.

Many ask the question: Did Emperor Constantine, at the instance of the Bishop of Rome, change the day from Saturday to Sunday?

No. He enacted that the first day of the week should be a public holiday. Before that, neither Saturday nor Sunday was a holiday for Gentiles (whether Christians or pagans) throughout the Empire.

For generations before Constantine, Christians had come together for worship on the first day of the week, meeting early in the morning before they went to work or late in the evening after their work was done.

So the issue is not the day, but the heart.

However, corporate worship is still important…

In the Sabbath, we acknowledge that God is central to our lives.

By setting aside a day for worship for God was (and still is) a way to acknowledge that the whole week is God’s anyway, just as setting aside a tithe is an acknowledgement that our entire income is His.

We can go further with this comparison as we consider that whether it be money and property or our time, the essence of the giving lies in its being spontaneous and cheerful, not reluctant or constrained.