‘Remember
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour 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, neither you, nor your son or
daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner
residing in your towns. 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.’
I have
noticed a massive decline in observance of the Sabbath by evangelicals in the
last 20 years. I think this is a great tragedy. I want to encourage Christians
to rediscover the Sabbath and be blessed in doing so. Let’s be straight.
Observing the Sabbath is not one of those peripheral topics like baptism or
styles of worship where the scripture is unclear and we therefore have some
latitude in how we practice it. Nor is it like the sacrificial laws which have
been fulfilled in Christ. It’s right there in the Ten Commandments. Whilst the
ceremonial law had a limited life-span the Ten Commandments, containing God’s
blueprint for our relationship with him and with our fellow human beings, are
the permanent, eternal and immutable will of God. God will remain as opposed to
idolatry, adultery and murder in eternity as he did at the beginning of time,
because the Ten Commandments express the very essence of God’s nature. We would
surely agree that the command not to murder, for example, is absolute - so why
do we not view the Sabbath in the same way?
But let’s
not take on a negative view of the Sabbath because it is a commandment. The
Sabbath is God’s gift to us – he instituted it for our blessing. Here are some
positive reasons to observe the Sabbath:
·
By
observing the Sabbath we are replicating the behaviour of God himself. The
Sabbath gets right to the heart of God; it is all about creating and enjoying,
about meaningful activity, about working and resting, about balance, about joy
·
God
also gave it as a blessing to all who fall under our protection – our children,
our employees, even our animals!
·
The
Sabbath is good for your body! It’s a time when you can set aside work without
feeling guilty, switch off completely from the responsibilities and stresses of
work, travelling or physical labour and be refreshed.
·
The
Sabbath is good for your soul! Do you complain that you don’t have enough time
to read the Bible, to pray, to study Christian books or to deepen your
relationship with God? God has given you a whole day a week to do those things.
If you really set your mind to using the Sabbath in that way, you will be
abundantly blessed by it.
·
The
Sabbath is good for families. In today’s frantic, 24 hour society there can be
precious few opportunities to be together as a family. Sunday gives us chance
to worship, eat and relax together. More of this in a later post.
·
The
Sabbath is good for others, a time for giving hospitality – especially to
lonely or needy people who may not have families of their own to be with on a
Sunday. Not only will you bless them, but you may be blessed too! ‘Do not
forget to entertain strangers because by so doing some have entertained angels
unawares.’ Hebrews 13:2
Are we tired
and stressed? Is our spiritual life lacklustre? Does our family feel like a lot
of strangers living in the same house? Could it be that perhaps this is because
we are neglecting God’s generous gift to us for our refreshment, spiritual
growth and building up of communities and families?
