Keep the Sabbath Holy
The Sabbath in the Old Testament
The Sabbath was given to man as a Blessing
The Sabbath was given for man to imitate God’s rest
The Sabbath was given to man as a sign of the Old Covenant
The Sabbath was given for man to imitate God’s Mercy
The Sabbath in the Gospels
Jesus Corrects the Sabbath interpretation of the Pharisees
God is working on the Sabbath
The Sabbath in the Epistles
Jesus Fulfills the Sabbath
Honoring the Sabbath today?
Rest in Christ
Rest from Routine
Gather in Worship
Show Mercy to others
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Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
Out of all the commands of God, the application of this command under the New Testament goes from one end of the spectrum to another.
There are some today who believe that this command must still be followed according to the letter of the law. These followers of the New Testament will still meet on Saturdays to worship the Lord, they will do no work and no play.
There are others who think that the Sabbath commandment applies, but Sunday is the new Sabbath. They meet on Sundays to worship the Lord and they too will do no work and no play, only moving the required day to Sunday.
There are others who think that the Sabbath commandment has no application whatsoever to Christians since it is the only commandment of the 10 that finds no New Testament Support.
So which is it? What does this command mean for those who are part of the ne w Covenant through Christ?
Well, today we are going to learn about the Sabbath.
We are going to learn about why God gave it.
We are going to see what Jesus has to say about the Sabbath in the Gospels
Then we are going to see what we can learn about the Sabbath from the Epistles and see if there are any principles that we should apply that we might Honor the Spirit of the Sabbath under the New Covenant.
So, Turn with me to Exodus 20.
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I want to start this morning then, by reading the 4th commandment as found here and look at the reasons that God gives this command and then move on to other reasons we learn about in the Old Testament about why this command is given.
Exodus 20:8-11
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Ok, so God tells the Israelites to remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy, set it apart from the other days by refraining from work, because God made the heavens and the earth in 6 days and rested from his creative work on the seventh day.
Now, this is not the first time we hear about the Sabbath.
Manna
The first time “Sabbath” is spoken of is back a few chapters right after the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, out of slavery, and they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground while the Egyptians perished, and even as they continued to complain about lack of water and food, God said He would provide bread from heaven for them. And He provided just enough for each day. If they collected more than they needed it would rot, except on the 6th day, when they were to collect what they would need for 2 days.
Listen to what is says in Exodus 16 and is where we find the very first mention of the Sabbath in the Bible.
Exodus 16:21-23
21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much--two omers for each person--and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: ’Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’"
Now imagine this for a moment.
You have been in a land of slavery where you are making bricks every day, all day, no days off, no rest.
Now God gives you a day of rest every 7 days. What a blessing.
And that is the first thing we need to know about what the Old Testament teaches us about the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was given to the Israelites… as a Blessing
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It is not given to be a burden to man, it is given to be a blessing, something that is a joy.
God brought Israel out of slavery, out of working every day and said, I am giving you a day off. That is a great blessing.
We see this confirmed in the New Testament when Jesus says in Mark 2:27 that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
So the Sabbath was given to man as a blessing, but also,
The Sabbath was given to the Israelites…
to Imitate God’s Rest
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God said you for the Israelites to complete their work in 6 days and rest on the seventh
And the reason He gives in Exodus 20:11 is because “in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.”
God rested on the seventh day and made it holy, so the Israelites would glorify the Lord and Worship Him by imitating what He did and keeping the day holy by setting it apart from the routine of the other 6 days.
This day would be different. It is set apart from the other. It would be a day of rest and worship to the Lord.
That this day was supposed to be a day of rest and worship is seen in Leviticus.
Leviticus23:3
3 "’There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.
So on the Sabbath, the Israelites were supposed to assemble together to worship the Lord as well.
As we move along in the Old Testament, we find other reasons and purposes for the Sabbath.
We find that
The Sabbath was given to the Israelites…as a Sign of the Old Covenant
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Exodus 31:12-13, 16-17
12 Then the LORD said to Moses, 13 "Say to the Israelites, ’You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy…16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.’"
This Commandment was the sign of the Old Covenant between God and the Israelites.
As they rested each week on this last day of the week, it would be a reminder to them of who God was, what He did and of the covenant that was established at Mt. Sinai and it would also be a reminder to them of their obligations under this covenant.
So it was given to be a sign to the Israelites.
Now as we continue through the Old Testament learning about the Sabbath, we find something interesting when we read the 10 commandments in Deuteronomy 5 as well. Turn over to Deuteronomy 5:12 if you would.
Now, we find the 10 commandments 2 times in the Bible.
First, in Exodus as the people came out of Egypt. But the people rebelled against God and were not able to enter the Promised Land until that whole generation died 40 years later.
Then, we find them again in Deuteronomy 5 right before the next generation is going to enter the Promised Land.
And while every other commandment is nearly identical, word for word, to what we find in Exodus, there are a couple differences in the in the 4th commandment.
In the Deuteronomy passage we are going to find that the Sabbath was also give to the Israelites
…to Imitate God’s Mercy
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Here is what Deuteronomy 5 says
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
12 "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
First, it says observe the Sabbath instead of Remember the Sabbath. There is something more active about how the Lord wants the Israelites to keep the Sabbath holy versus just remembering and imitating God’s rest after creation.
Then we see that the reason for observing the Sabbath is different from that given in Exodus about remembering God’s creative work and His rest and imitating that.
Instead, we find God telling them they are to observe the Sabbath not just for themselves, but emphasizes that they need to honor the Sabbath by giving rest to those they have influence over because they were once slaves and God freed them and showed them mercy and compassion and gave them rest, so the Israelites are to observe the Sabbath by imitating God’s mercy and give those they are over rest and freedom from labor.
Now, understand that God did not change the commandment.
The commandment is to keep the Sabbath holy.
God has however been expanding his teaching in how to keep the Sabbath Holy.
So, the Sabbath was to be a blessing and a sign of the Covenant to the Israelites. They were honor the Sabbath by resting and gathering together in worship to the God who created everything in six days and rested on the seventh. And they were also to keep it holy by showing mercy and compassion to those they were in position to show that mercy to, namely their servants.
Now, let’s move on to the Gospels.
The Sabbath in the Gospels
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By the time Jesus arrives on the scene, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees have corrupted the Sabbath that it is no longer a blessing to the Israelites. It has become a burden to try and keep the Sabbath according to their teaching. In their practice of the Sabbath, they have come up with 39 different general activities that you cannot do on the Sabbath to keep it holy.
But as we read the Gospels, we find that
Jesus Corrects the Sabbath interpretation of the Pharisees
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Turn with me to Matthew 12:1-8.
This is the first mention of the Sabbath in the New Testament and a place where we find Jesus correcting the Pharisees in regards to what it means to keep the Sabbath Holy.
Matthew 12:1-8
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. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3 He answered, "Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 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. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ’I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Ok, let’s notice a couple of things.
First notice that Jesus does not dispute the charge that the Disciples were technically breaking the Law, but he does call His disciples innocent (v.7), just like David and the priest in the examples he brings up.
He says David technically broke the law by eating what was only lawful for the priests.
He says the priests in the temple “work” on the Sabbath and technically break the letter of the law as well.
Jesus tells them that, even though the letter of the law might be broken technically, these men are innocent.
How can that be?
God has given us all commands for a reason, not just because He can.
And He has given us commands to be a help to us, not a burden.
The Pharisees had taken that which was supposed to be a blessing and benefit to man and turned it into a burden for man.
They do that by focusing on rules instead of relationship.
They did this with many other things as well.
Listen to this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees in Mark 7 concerning some of the cleanliness traditions.
Mark 7:5-13
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ’unclean’ hands?"
6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
"’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, ’Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ’Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ’Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
Jesus is saying you are disobeying the spirit of the meaning of the commands you have been given you and perverted them. You are creating rules that will make you appear holy.
Following rules will never make you holy. Following God will make you holy.
Jesus said Be holy as I am holy (1 Peter 1:16)
We need to understand that the greater principles of the commands God will guide us in the precepts of God.
Listen to what Jesus said to the Pharisees concerning their tithing.
Matthew 23:23
23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
The law was not intended to be followed outside of being in relationship with the Lord.
Back to our text in Matthew where Jesus was correctly teaching about the Sabbath, He quotes a passage of Scripture that says ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice” meaning that resting on the Sabbath was never intended to prohibit you from showing mercy and doing good.
In Mark’s account of this event, Jesus says, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)
The Sabbath was made for man to be a blessing to man, not the other way around.
In the verses immediately following this account in Matthew, Jesus specifically teaches that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
Matthew 12:9-12
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
11 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? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
We see this throughout the gospels. Jesus Challenges the thinking and teaching of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law because they had corrupted it by following only the letter and not the spirit of the law.
As you read through the gospels, you see that this “Sabbath breaking” was a major part of the interactions between the Pharisees and Jesus and the Disciples.
In fact, we find something else that is interesting in the Gospels.
We find that Jesus says that
God is Working on the Sabbath
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In the gospel of John, as Jesus faces persecution for healing and “doing work” on the Sabbath, He says something quite profound. He says
"My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." (John 5:17)
While God rested in His creative work on the seventh day, when sin entered the world, He was back to work making a way for the redemption of mankind.
And Jesus came to this earth to do the work of the Father, which was to do the work of providing salvation by living a perfect life and dying on the cross.
And that is what He did. His final words on the cross were “it is finished.”
The work he had come to do, the work that God had been doing since sin entered the world, was finished.
Throughout the gospels, we see this Sabbath controversy pop up all the time. I believe it is because Jesus, as the Lord of the Sabbath, has come fulfill the Old Covenant and establish the New Covenant.
The Sabbath in the Epistles
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In fact, when we come to the epistles, the letters written by the apostles, clarifying and teaching the principles that Jesus taught while here on earth, the silence on the topic of the Sabbath is deafening.
All of the conflict and confrontation over the Sabbath that we see in the gospels is gone there is virtually no mention at all, of the Sabbath.
That is because Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant, so too, we find that
Jesus fulfills the Sabbath
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Paul writes in
Colossians 2:16-17
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Paul tells the Colossians that the Sabbath was a shadow of what was to come. It was a type that would ultimately find fulfillment in Christ.
The Author of Hebrews says the same thing about the whole law
Hebrews 10:1
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming-not the realities themselves.
Jesus is the Sabbath fulfilled. He is the law fulfilled.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 - "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
He is the fulfillment of the law and of the Sabbath.
In Him, we can find the rest that we long for.
In Matthew 11:28-30, immediately before the controversy on the Sabbath begins in the gospels, Jesus says this.
Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
We find our rest in Him!
Hebrews 4 is the only other place in the Epistles where we find the word Sabbath used.
The author of Hebrews talks about the Israelites dying in the wilderness and not being able to enter the rest of the Promised land because of their unbelief.
He goes on to say that even as Joshua led the next generation into the promised land, they did not experience true rest.
Then He says
Hebrew 4:8-11
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
When we enter a relationship with Christ we rest from our own efforts and work to find salvation.
The Sabbath today
To Keep the Sabbath Holy today means we need to
Rest in Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath
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He is our Sabbath rest. We honor the Sabbath and keep it holy by first trusting in Him and finding our rest in Him.
Just as he said in Matthew 11:28-30, we need to come to him and find rest in Him.
We do that by receiving Him as Savior, by entering into relationship with Him through believing in Him.
John 1:12 - to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
So we honor the Sabbath by receiving Christ and resting in Him.
But perhaps, you have received Christ and entered into that saving relationship, but are not feeling very rested in Him. Why is that?
The moment we receive Christ as Savior, is the moment we begin to experience our eternal life. However, we will not experience the fullness of that eternal life until we get to heaven.
The same is true for our Sabbath rest. We can begin to experience our rest in Christ the moment we receive Him as our Savior, but we won’t experience the fullness of that rest until we get to heaven.
So, it is imperative that we stay closely connected and in relationship with Jesus so we can better experience the rest we have in Him.
That means though that we have to apply some of the principles of the Sabbath as we walk with Jesus.
While we are still in this world, still in these bodies, we do need to
Rest from Work
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Do we need to do this on Saturday or Sunday? I will state emphatically Sunday is not the new Sabbath day under the New Testament.
Jesus did not come to change the day of the Sabbath.
Paul tells us in Romans 14:5 that whether you consider one day more sacred than another or every day alike is a disputable matter.
But while Jesus is the fulfillment of the Sabbath we still need to rest physically, so the principle of resting a day each week still applies. It just doesn’t matter which day you do that.
Now while it doesn’t matter which day we take our physical rest on, we still need to understand that one of the purposes of that day of rest is to worship the Lord.
In the Old Testament we saw that that is one of the reasons that God gave them that day off, so they could gather together and worship Him.
In fact, when you go back to why God was bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, we hear Moses tell Pharaoh repeatedly that the Lord says, “Let my people go, so that they me worship me.” (Exodus 8:1). To worship God appropriately means we have to have time to do that.
God wanted to free them so they could have time to worship Him.
If we are going to experience the rest that is available in Christ while on this earth, we need to not only rest from work, but
Rejoice in Corporate Worship
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Worship can be done alone, but we can only truly worship by ourselves when we are also worshiping corporately with the body of Christ.
When we stop worshiping with the body, we begin losing our close connection with Christ.
And while we don’t lose our salvation, we do lose our ability to experience rest in Him.
The author of Hebrews stresses the importance of gathering together in Hebrews 10:25
“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Now this can be any day of the week in theory. Practically it becomes harder because churches gather at specific times, mostly on the weekends because that is when most people in our culture have off.
But whether a church has a Saturday night service or a Thursday night service and that is when you gather to worship with other believers, then honor the Sabbath principle of gathering together and rejoicing in worship so you can better experience your rest in Christ.
The final thing we should remember to honor the principles of the Sabbath as we stay closely connected to Christ is to
Reflect God’s Mercy to others
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We need to use our time away from work not only to rest our bodies, but to show mercy and do good to others.
We need to remember that the Lord desires mercy and not sacrifice (Matthew 12:7)
So often today, people are filling days off from work with so many other activities that there is no time to gather together in worship, no time to really rest, no time to reflect God’s mercy to others. Our life becomes all about us and our family and our activities.
Go to this event.
Race home and eat or grab something in the car.
Go to this other activity.
Go veg in front of the TV.
Yes we want to rest physically, but don’t use that as an excuse not to do good.
As I spoke a few weeks ago, we need to keep Christ at the center of our lives and He will direct us appropriately in the things we should be doing and when.
The prophet Micah summed up what God required of his people
Micah 6:-8
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Walk humbly with your God. That is relationship.
Jesus again said the 2 greatest commandments are to "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)
Are you loving God?
Are you walking with Christ?
Are you finding your rest in Him?
Or are you looking for rest in front of the TV, or rest “just doing other things other than you occupation” and finding yourself anything but rested?
You need to come to Christ and find your rest in Him.
Use the time you have off to gather in worship and to love your neighbor by doing good and showing mercy.
God has shown us great mercy by sending His son to die for us.
I am going to ask the worship team to come up and lead us in a closing song.
(Worship team come up)
During this song, I want you to truly worship the Lord and give yourself over to him and find your rest in Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.
Stand and worship the Lord.
