Confessions of a Church: The Sabbath

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.

Deuteronomy 5: 1-21 Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,  ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ‘You shall have no other gods before Me. ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. ‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day. ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you. ‘You shall not murder. ‘You shall not commit adultery.  ‘You shall not steal. ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

In relation to the fourth commandment, there are many who say that the practice of keeping the Sabbath is no longer a commandment that is binding upon the believer. They will cite scripture such as Romans 6:14 and abuse the meaning of the word grace as a way to set aside the Law of God, so that they can reign as lord of the Sabbath, rather than the Son of Man, Christ, Who declared Himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. On the other end of the spectrum are those that say “Yes the Fourth Commandment is binding, so why do you heretics worship on Sunday and not Saturday?” Some say that God has indeed ordained a day of rest for His people, but their Christian liberty gives them license to practice the command how they see fit. Therefore, since Sunday is when the football gods demand worship, they go to church on Saturday night.
 The command to “Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy” is a perpetually binding command, as we can see from the account of creation in Genesis 2: 1-3.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
In Exodus 16:22-30 we see clearly that prior to the giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai, the people of God kept the Sabbath:
 Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, [23] then he said to them, "This is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning." [24] So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. [25] Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. [26] Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none." [27] It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. [28] Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions? [29] See, the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." [30] So the people rested on the seventh day.
In the New testament we see Jesus observing the Sabbath, and instructing us on the purposes of it.
Matthew 12:1-12 NASB
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. [2] But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath." [3] But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, [4] how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? [5] Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? [6] But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. [7] But if you had known what this means, 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the innocent. [8] For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." [9] Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. [10] And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"-so that they might accuse Him. [11] And He said to them, "What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? [12] How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
God has consecrated a day of Sabbath for mankind as a day of rest from our labors, as He rested from His works of creation. He has set aside this day as an opportunity for us to set our minds on the things above and worship Him, and reflect upon all the wonderful things He has wrought in our lives, from rescuing us out of bondage, to all of the provision He has given us. It is a day in which mercy and compassion, loving your neighbor, are to be practiced, not in contradiction of the fourth commandment, but as a fulfillment of it.  In reading the entirety of God’s Word, there can be no doubt that the command to observe the Sabbath day as a day of rest, reflection, meditation, worship, and mercy, is still a binding command upon the Christian. The question remains however, why Sunday and not Saturday? Why the first day of the week, and not the last?
The London Baptist Confession Chapter 22 has this to say regarding the Sabbath day:
As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God’s appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.
The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe a holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.
 
1 Corinthians 16:1-2 NASB
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also.  On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.
 
Acts 20:7 NASB
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.
 
Revelation 1:9-10 NASB
I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,
 
We can clearly see from these scripture proofs that the day Christians are to observe the Sabbath has changed from the last day of the week, to the first. Jesus Christ rose from the grave on the first day of the week, He has sat down from His finished work on the cross, and is making His enemies a footstool. The imperative for us to observe the Sabbath was given in creation, observed before the Law was given, revealed to us directly from God at Mt. Sinai, was practiced and affirmed by Christ, and remains a binding command for us today. Brothers and sisters, as is with all of God’s commands, this one is not meant to keep you from the good things in life. This command is not meant to tie you up in knots and limit your joy. On the contrary, it is meant for your good.
 
Isaiah 58:13-14 NASB
"If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, [14] Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
 
The Sabbath is given to us that we might set aside our ways, and delight in the Lord. It is given to us that we might cease in seeking after the perishable comforts and pleasures of this world, to instead seek that which is imperishable. The result of this is delight in the Lord, and blessing from the hand of our Father.
 
If you are able, please kneel as we confess how we fail to honor Jesus as Lord when we break the Sabbath.
 
Heavenly Father, your Son Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, yet far too often we seek to dethrone Him in our pursuit of the things of this world. You give us six days in which to labor, and promise to meet all of our provisions, yet we often doubt Your promises and dishonor You on the Lord’s day. We are so very busy, and seem incapable of being still and knowing that You are God, even on the day You have given us to do so. Father, please forgive us for not delighting in You on the Sabbath. Please forgive us for not trusting You to provide for us. Father, please forgive us for pursuing after that which is perishable, rather than the good that comes to us from Your hand. Please be merciful towards us O Lord, and fill us with Your Spirit, that we may walk in newness of life, delighting in all of Your commands which are meant for our good. It’s in the Name of Your Son Jesus that we pray, Amen.
 
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

Titus 3:5-7 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,  whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 5/5/19 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)