Time to reconsider the Sabbath?

‘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?