Keeping the Sabbath

In this series, we will look at some of the submissions from all of you and respond to 2 or 3 each week in either a mini-sermon or a dedicated lesson. Let’s see what we got in store this week...

Live for More than Regulation

Submission: Sabbatarianism-how do we determine how to observe the sabbath, what is good in God’s eyes, when we do everything in the Sabbath that we aren’t supposed to do? I don’t know how to make the distinction: go out to lunch/don’t go out to lunch, shop/don’t shop. Are we breaking God’s commandment to keep the sabbath holy when we do whatever we want?

Two Views on Church Behavior...

Regulative Principles: It is acceptable only if the Bible addresses it.

Normative Principles: It is acceptable so long as the Bible doesn’t forbid it.

Both problematic as extremes, but consider the logical problems with both...

Regulative —> Bible written for different culture, different national/regulative environment, many contemporary worldly mechanisms didn’t exist then.

Normative —> Introduces the “slippery slope” if you “aren’t honest with yourself”.

The NORMATIVE APPROACH seems much more manageable through discipline and discernment.

Individuals who believe in observing the Sabbath are running into this REGULATIVE TRAP; The Old Testament says it, so we have to do it, RIGHT?!

Matthew 12:1–8 CSB

1 At that time Jesus passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick and eat some heads of grain. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry: 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the bread of the Presence—which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests? 5 Or haven’t you read in the law that on Sabbath days the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Did Jesus violate the Sabbath?

But Jesus says… (Matthew 12:8) “8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”” What does that even mean?!

What IS Sabbath?

Genesis 2:1–3 CSB

1 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. 2 On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.

John 19:28–30 CSB

28 After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

So the Sabbath is not “a day”; it is the completion of God’s work. This is why the Sabbath is holy; because it is the completion of God’s Will.

What we see is that the Sabbath is so much more than a day… it is the satisfaction of God.

Therefore, if we want to hold the Sabbath as holy, what we should really be asking is if we living in a way that reflects the satisfaction of Christ’s victory over sin.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read about Christ working on the Sabbath in Matthew 12:1-8 and note in the last verse how Christ says “the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Did you grow up around people who believed in Sunday as being a particularly “holy day”? How did they exhibit their belief? Was it in a way that reflected Christ’s teachings or would you say it was more cultural? Some people struggle to understand that Christ is the satisfaction of “the law” in the Old Testament, so they seek to create Old-Testament-looking rules for their Christian life. What are some rules traditional Christians seem to hold each other to as proof they’re “acting religious enough”? What are some rules, unspoken or otherwise, that contemporary or modern Christians seem to hold each other to? What do you think is the difference between a teaching on behavior in the Bible vs a “religious law”?

The Law of Shadow

Paul warns against putting too much emphasis on “the law”, especially the laws of the Pharisees and early-church “Jewish Christians”.

Colossians 2:16–23 CSB

16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is Christ. 18 Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm. Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind. 19 They don’t hold on to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with growth from God. 20 If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: 21 “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. 23 Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.

THE CONNECTION… Verse 20 (Colossians 2:20) “20 If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations:”

Ascetic Practices —> Self-Denial to “feel holy”

Ineffective —> Verse 23 “[...] they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.”

The real issue with this line of thinking is that it simply doesn’t work; you can not “religion” your way into righteousness.

Hebrews 10:1 CSB

1 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.

It’s reasonable to wonder why we do religion at all...

Hebrews 10:24–25 CSB

24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Our religion is not one of regulation, but of reflection of the love, mercy, and unity we hold in Christ.

Therefore we...

Eat together

Worship together

Grow together

Whatever religion we engage in is intended to glorify the body of Christ, not the body of observants.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Read Paul’s words about legalistic religion in Colossians 2:16-23. The Bible calls for us to gather, pray, worship, and study together (read Hebrews 10:24-25), but the focus is not on being “religious enough”; it’s on dwelling in Christ’s glory. What is the focus of religion when it’s consumed with rules and compliance requirements? How does a religion focused on relationship with Christ look different? Is it possible for two churches to “do the same things”, yet one of them be driven by legalism and the other by passion to pursue Christ? What would be the biggest difference in how those churches influence their members?

The Sabbath is About God’s Satisfaction

The Sabbath is about satisfaction of God’s plan.

It makes sense that Christ says He is “Lord of the Sabbath” and also says He came to fulfill the law.

When we look at do’s and don’ts in the Bible, we have to remember WHY those lessons are there.

It’s not about being good enough or earning our way into heaven.

It is about helping us recognize the symptoms of a heart and mind which are being recreated in the image of God.