How are we to keep the Sabbath in today's society?
Posted : 23 Jan, 2012 01:20 PM
How are we to keep the Sabbath in today's society?
Within the Christian church there are three leading options for answering your question.
Some Christians believe that the Sabbath was an Old Testament ordinance and has no application to the New Testament church. No less a giant than Saint Augustine took the position that the Sabbath was not carried over into the New Testament community and therefore has been fulfilled and was done away with through the work of Christ. There are Christians who feel that there is no particular significance to Sabbath keeping today, although they make up a very small minority.
For the most part, Christian people, while they may disagree as to what day is the Sabbath�the sixth or the seventh day and all that�and how we observe it, still maintain that the Sabbath is to be observed somehow in the Christian community. God ordained the Sabbath, not at Mt. Sinai with Moses and the people of Israel, but at Creation. The later books of the Law certainly filled out the concept of the Sabbath in terms of its specifics and how it was to be observed in Israel, but the Sabbath existed long before the Ten Commandments and other laws were given. This would indicate that as long as Creation is in effect, Sabbath is in effect. In the covenant God made with Israel he says, �This is my Sabbath unto all generations.� The fact that it�s a Creation ordinance is strong evidence that there is still a Sabbath observation requirement for Christians�in fact, not only for Christians, because the Sabbath was part of God�s design for humanity from the beginning. That�s one of the reasons states have had blue laws. Sabbath keeping was not even seen as a violation of the separation of church and state; everybody was required to have a Sabbath whether they were Christian, Jew, Muslim, or whatever.
In the New Testament the church comes together on the Lord�s Day, which is the first day of the week, for corporate worship. We have a clear mandate in the New Testament not to forsake the assembling of the saints (Heb. 10:25). In other words, the New Testament�s simple language says that Christians are supposed to be in corporate worship on the Lord�s Day. That means we�re supposed to go to church. That is usually seen as one of the ways in which the Sabbath is to be observed. All Christians I know of who believe that the Sabbath is still in effect agree that on the Sabbath we should be worshiping, and also that on one day in seven there should be rest from unnecessary commerce and labor. There are still provisions for commerce that must go on�hospital work, pharmacies, and such. But commerce just for the sake of merchandising ought to cease on the Sabbath.
This group of Christians who believe the Sabbath should be observed actually splits into two groups. One holds what we call the Continental view: Recreation is permitted on the Sabbath. The other holds the Puritan view: Recreation is forbidden on the Sabbath. I take the position that recreation is a legitimate form of rest on the Sabbath
How are we to keep the Sabbath in today's society?
Posted : 24 Jan, 2012 05:37 PM
"You Sabbath Day for rest and wrshipping the Lord can be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, it doesn;t matter just as long as you spend that day in quality time with the Lord."
What?
G-d rested on the Sabbath and blessed it from the very beginning -- the Sabbath rest existed before Noah, Avraham and Moshe -- it was given to Adam. (Gen 2:1-3). "The Sabbath of YHVH." (Lev 23:3).
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work."
Note that only the seventh day Shabbat was given to us as a day of rest -- we are commanded to work the other six days -- Sunday is a work day! G-d rested on the seventh day -- this is an unchangeable fact -- it was the seventh day He blessed and sanctified. G-d did not rest on the first day of the week so our weekly Shabbat (which commemorates His rest) can never be changed to Sunday. G-d worked on Sunday, the first day -- as he commands us also. The only Sabbath recognized in Scripture was the seventh day -- Sunday was always referred to as the first day of the week in Scripture -- it was never called a Sabbath *or* the L-rd's Day. The concept of making Sunday or any day into a replacement for the seventh day Shabbat comes from manmade traditions that lack any Scriptural support.
"Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down." Acts 13:14
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." Acts 13:42-44
"And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13
"And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures," Acts 17:2
"And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4
Notice in the above passages that some Gentiles/Greeks were *also* observing the Sabbath and attending synogogue.
"I am YHVH your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am YHVH your God." Ezekiel 20:19,20
How are we to keep the Sabbath in today's society?
Posted : 24 Jan, 2012 06:56 PM
Yt we must not forget that Jesus made it very clear that ceremonial and ritual laws were done away when He came, and He fulfilled these laws thorugh His borht, ministry, death, and resurrection.
Remember, what he told the Phraisees in Mark chapter 2, that the Sabbath day was made for the benefit of man, and that man's needs must comes first over the law of the Sabbath. If work on Saturday, and attend worship service at at church on Wednesday, and spend my time on Wednesday doing things for others and resting, have I forgotten to keep a holy day set aside for the Lord? No, I therefore, when I say, the sabbath is any day a person sets asides to worship and rest is not disobeying keeping a day holy for the Lord fo Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath this would mean that any day I set aside to wroship Him, God still get the glory, and I have taken a day of rest in the Lord.
Matthew 12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, �Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.� He answered, �Haven�t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread�which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven�t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, �I desire mercy, not sacrifice,� you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.�
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, �Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?� He said to them, �If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.�
13 Then he said to the man, �Stretch out your hand.� So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Mark 2: 27 Then he said to them, �The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.�
How are we to keep the Sabbath in today's society?
Posted : 24 Jan, 2012 07:04 PM
Remember, the laws of the Ten Commandment are to POINT US to our sins, so that we might through the power of the Holy Spirit love as we should before God.
The Jews couldn't obey the Teb Commandments, and neither can we as believers BUT through the authority of the Holy Spirit when we surrender to His perfect will are we able to see our sins and follow His leadership in obedience.
Therefre, with Christ as out High Priest, keeping the Sabbath Day is based on setting aside a day to keep Holy beofre God and not based on whether its on the seventh day of the week or the first day, to the thrid or ffifth day of the week, just as long as we keep one day, well, many belivers keep everyday doing God's work, but as lpng as one dya is set aside for the Lord, is our responsibility.
After Christ was resurrected on the first day of the week Christians started setting the first day of the week as the day for Chritians's holy day.
How are we to keep the Sabbath in today's society?
Posted : 25 Jan, 2012 01:12 PM
One day of the Week devoted to Worshiping Jesus Christ.
A person touched by the Spirit of God says, " Now I see who Jesus is!". This is the source of devotion.
The secret of a Disciple's life is Devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristics of that life are; its seeming insignificance and its meekness everyday.
How are we to keep the Sabbath in today's society?
Posted : 25 Jan, 2012 07:55 PM
To angel
I believe you dropped this on the sidewalk.
angel
One day of the Week devoted to Worshiping Jesus Christ.
A person touched by the Spirit of God says, " Now I see who Jesus is!". This is the source of devotion.
The secret of a Disciple's life is Devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristics of that life are; its seeming insignificance and its meekness everyday.
