Sabbath 4

Ex 20:8-11 ““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and 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.”

Last class on Sabbath

today we ask the question - should we still do this?

two different mindsets on OT law.

#1 - God’s law is not binding unless the NT expressly says that it is.

#2 - God’s law IS binding unless the NT shows that it has changed.

Now, if we look at the NT, we see the pattern of the second being instructed.

Paul’s teaching on circumcision.

the cloth descending in Peter’s vision about animals permissable to eat.

In Hebrews - the instruction on sacrifices and Jesus.

Jesus made it clear that the standard was that “none of God’s law would pass away”

SO THEN - the question becomes has the NT taught that we should set aside the sabbath?

there are some passages we should look at.

Col 2:16-17 “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

This one is fun.

Heb 10:1 “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.”

So in Hebrews 10 the “shadows” are talking about sacrifices.

Then he talks about food and drink.

Ezek 45:17 “It shall be the prince’s duty to furnish the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings, at the feasts, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, to make atonement on behalf of the house of Israel.”

food and drink.... sacrifices.

then he says “festival, new moon, sabbath”

if you read Numbers 28 - he talks about the weekly Sabbath, the new moon, and the festivals - in light of their SACRIFICES.

AND the whole contenxt of Colossians is a rebuttal against the Jewish and Jedaizer aestheticism.

they wanted the new church to participate in Jewish circumcisions and sacrifices

and Paul has taught exaustively, no, we don’t do that.

Colossians 2 isn’t about what we think its about on the surface, it’s about sacrifices and celebrating the Lord properly.

Paul is saying - ignore the Judaizers - don’t let anyone pass judgement on you because you dno’t participate in these sacrifices anymore.

He’s not saying - don’t celebrate the Sabbath.

Rom 14:5 “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”

Note - he doesn’t expressly mention the Sabbath - and the Jewish calendar had a lot of special days.

Second - paul is using extremes as a rhetorical device, and he’s not endorsing one view over the other.

HE IS however consistently applying his teaching on the conscience. “each must be fully convinced in his own mind.”

Third - the NT does endorse some distinction of days.

Rev 1:10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet”

Acts 20:7 “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.”

1 Cor 16:1-2 “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.”

I don’t think we can regard John as a weaker brother… or Paul as schyzophrenic.

Lastly - if anything - Paul’s teaching in Colossians gives the church warrant to establish the first day of the week as the Sabbath, and to be fully convinced about it.

Gal 4:8-10 “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years!”

Remember the context - Judaizers - circumcision - and submission to OT laws in their unfulfilled sense.

First - Paul isn’t talking about the Sabbath. When did the Sabbath show up?

it was BEFORE the law of Moses.

Second - he’s talking about the entirity of the Jewish OT calendar. not just one piece of it.

So, we are free - free from all the OT fulfilled laws - and free to rest.

So how do we do it?

Well, for starters, in order to reclaim our Sabbaths I think we need to reclaim our Saturdays.

In our culture, Saturday is the day we do all our celebrating and resting and fun stuff.

soccer games and music festivals, birthday parties, etc. etc.

and as a result, we’re out until … idk. Late.

Tired for the next day, the Lord’s day, and then we have work left undone that now we feel like we have to attack before the work and school week starts again.

I think we’ve gotta fix that. Make some adjustments.

I’m not saying never party on a Saturday, there are of course exceptions.

but six days you shall work. you and all your household.

and on the seventh you shall rest.

And we want to make sure we’re getting that pattern into our kids hearts too.

Now, to that end, in the Jewish culture the Sabbath started when.... sunset on the day before. and ended when? Sunset.

now we’ve got daylight savings time, so I’d probably just pick a time and keep it.

BUT I’D ALSO ADD

There is a great tradition spinning through some churches that might be worthwhile for us to consider, and that is a Sabbath feast.

Saturday night, a gathering with friends and family for a dinner, a good meal, bread, meat, and wine, that looks forward to Sunday.

It helps set your pace, your calendar, and it focuses on the Lord’s day gathering together.