There are two questions that people ask in regard to setting a day every week apart for rest. One is theological and the other is practical:
“Isn’t Sabbath keeping one of the laws of the Old Covenant? Aren’t we under a new and better Covenant now that overrides the old one?”
“How can I possibly set aside a day for rest when I already don’t have enough time in my week to do all that I have to do? It doesn’t compute that if I give a day away, I’ll have more time in the six days that are left!”
Those are both good questions that deserve consideration. I’ll look at the first one in this article. First of all, it is true that keeping a Sabbath day was one of the Ten Commandments of Moses.
“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. (Exodus 20:8-11 ESV)
The Sabbath Law was #4 out of the big 10! It had two sides to it; work six days (we sometimes forget this part) and rest one day. For the Jews of that day, their Sabbath day began at 6 pm on Friday and ended at 6 pm on Saturday. No work was to be done. The author of Hebrews and the Apostle Paul both commented on the Old Covenant (Old Testame nt) as it relates to Christians today.
“For he finds fault with them when he says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.’” (Hebrews 8:8-10 ESV)
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God…But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:4, 6 ESV)
So it’s true that we no longer live under the Old Testament law. We now live by a law written on our hearts. Jesus lives inside us and we live in him. Through his Spirit we are directed on how to live, not by the law of Moses. There are principles and laws that precede and supersede Moses. For example, the principle of tithing is in Moses’s law, but because it was introduced first to Abraham who is the Father of Christians, it stands as a principle for today. When we pay our tithes God still “rebukes the devourer and still opens the windows of heaven to pour out a blessing”.
“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:29 ESV)
It’s the same with the Sabbath. God introduced the Principle of Rest to Adam before the fall and before the Law of Moses.
“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:2, 3 ESV)
Jesus began his ministry and shocked the legalists when he said that “we were not under the control of the sabbath, rather the sabbath was made for us”. After the resurrection, the Apostles chose, in their new freedom, to make Resurrection Day, which is Sunday, their Sabbath. They called it the “Lord’s Day”.
“On the first day of every week (Sunday), 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.” (1 Corinthians 16:2 ESV)
“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.” (Acts 20:7 ESV)
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” (Revelation 1:10 ESV)
The word Sabbath does not mean Saturday, as some may think, rather it means “to desist; to stop”. Our Sabbath Day is a gift to us from our Creator, Jesus. We should stop our daily routines, desist from our regular work, and rest. We are not bound by the Old Covenant law that said exactly when it should be and what we can and cannot do on the Sabbath. We are free in Christ, who is our rest, to stop our work one day every week. For me, Sunday is a very tiring workday, so I set Monday as my Sabbath Day.
“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.” (Colossians 2:16, 17 ESV)
“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:9-11 ESV)
Sabbath rest is about re-centering our lives, refocusing the eyes of our heart, retuning our spiritual ears to the sound of Jesus’ voice, resetting our compass to point to God.
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:1, 2 ESV)
Now the question remains, “How can I do that? I’m much too busy to spend a day resting!” I’ll write about that tomorrow.
Life on Purpose 