I have spent a lot of time thinking about Sabbath for the past week. I get to preach on Luke 6 tonight where Jesus talks about being Lord of the Sabbath, so that has spurred my thoughts. I struggle with Sabbath and how to keep it holy. One the one hand, as a I read about the Jewish customs of Shabbat, I am struck by the rhythm and power of such practices. The rules regarding work seem extreme (such as not turning off and on lights or driving cars) but the attention to detail and focus on making that day separate and special from the rest of the week is beautiful. My life needs more Sabbath. In Deuteronomy 5 God tells his people to keep the Sabbath and he emphasizes the ideas of remembering and observing on the Sabbath.
In remembering who we are, what God has done for us, and where God has brought us, we are thrust back into a place of worship and devotion. Throughout the hectic days of our lives we lose a sense of who we are. It is easy at work, school or home to lose the sense of what it means to be a Child of God. We can become worn down, distracted, and forgetful of the marvelous love of God that has transformed us. We lose that piece of ourselves too often. So stopping to remember and celebrate are important activities for the rhythms of our lives.
In observing the Sabbath we reorient our lives to match up with the reality of being the people of God. Whatever is out of place, dishonoring to God, and destructive must be realigned or removed so that we can honor God. Taking time each week to reflect and act upon our need for reorientation and realignment is a crucial piece to our continued spiritual growth.
But how do we do this? How can we actually practice Sabbath without making Sabbath the lord over our lives as the Pharisees did? It has to start with the big things and work its way down to the details. Hard choices must be made to create Sabbath. We may have to work less, shop less, travel less, play less sports, watch less TV. We may need to reorganize our lives to allow for long stretches of time that are complicated by work or school. We must prioritize the act of Sabbath in a world that has no patience for or prioritization of such time. If we do this, we will stand out. We will be different. We will live radically different lives than the rest of the culture. Isn’t that a wonderful idea!
So may you reorient your life to have Sabbath. I don’t think the day of the week is the important part of Sabbath. I think it is the intentionality of Sabbath that is transformative. May you say no more often. May you have silence and reflection. May worship fill you with awe and wonder that confounds you. And may God come and fill the space of our lives, thrusting aside the distractions and insignificant banter of triviality that leave us with no room for a Lord. Learn the gift of Sabbath and may it become the rhythm of your life.
January 30, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Hey Greg,
“Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Romans 10:4
Christ ended the law…We are not under any of the law’s requirements, including the Sabbath.
In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul writes that we are not to be judged by the observing of the Sabbath because the Sabbath is just a shadow of Christ…”Such regulations indeed have an apearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Colossians 2:23)
“You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” (Galatians 4:10-11)
In Acts 15, the Jerusalem council did not impose the observance of the Sabbath on gentile believers.
The New Testament never commands the observance of the Sabbath.
The early church fathers taught that the Sabbath requirements of the law have been abolished.
The New Testament shows that the early church met on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7) to “break bread” and to hear the Word of God.
Hebrews 4:9-11 talks about the Sabbath rest that remains for believers, which is a rest resulting from a person’s faith in Jesus Christ whereby their own efforts/work in gaining salvation are ceased. This is our only Sabbath for today (and it is everyday)…
Other than that, we no longer have a special Sabbath day.
As Paul says in Galatians, “…how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved to them all over again?” (Galatians 4:9)
January 30, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Thanks for the words.
Steve.
http://newpsalms.wordpress.com/
January 31, 2007 at 2:34 am
I absolutely have a special Sabbath–each and every day of the new life Christ has given me. Thank You, thank You, thank You! I can’t say it enough. May I continue to remember to cease during all my days to worship my God above.
Shabbat Shalom!
January 31, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Paul,
Thought you had left us, good to hear from you. But your post confused me. I reread what I wrote several times and i don’t hear myself advocating for the observance of Sabbath laws anywhere. What I actually do is explore the idea of Sabbath, trying to find God’s intention behind it and apply it to our lives as redeemed believers in Jesus Christ.
I would also challenge the hermeneutic you are using to understand Old Testament law. If you read through good Evangelical scholarship such as The Hermeneutical Spiral by Grant Osbourne or Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by Blomberg, Kline, and Hubbard you will find that there are really 3 different criteria for understanding OT Law.
The 1st category is for those laws that were fulfilled in the coming of Christ. This is what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 5. The laws regarding the sacrificial system, dietary laws, and yes Sabbath laws are fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah.
The 2nd Category is for laws that the NT reaffirms are still applicable to us as Christians. This would include the 2 greatest commandments, to love the LORD our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The 3rd Category is for the laws that Jesus addresses, teaches and reapplies to our lives. You will especially find these throughout the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus takes many of the 10 Commandments and teaches us the true intent of the laws and the binding nature that they have on our lives.
Regardless of which category the laws fall under what we can always hold onto is that the laws of God reflect the heart of God. Behind each of them we can an intent and a desire of God that we should be very mindful of. So while the rabbinic laws of the Sabbath are certainly not binding for us, God’s command in the Ten Commandments to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy should have a bearing on our lives. We should hear the voice of God calling us to remember him and honor him with our lives and to make room for him. Jesus doesn’t abolish the Sabbath, he participates in it with his followers and declares his Lordship over it. In Mark 2 Jesus declares that the Sabbath was made for people not people for the Sabbath. Sabbath is a gift from God. We are thankful that as Christians it is a gift we can experience daily and forever.
January 31, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Having read your post again I would also disagree with your interpreation of the Galatians passages. While Paul has an extensive discussion of the law in Galatians he is far more concerned about circumcision than anything else. When he writes about the former life they were enslaved to and the forces that they worshiped he is most likely refering to their status as pagan who worshipped idols, not the law.
There is some debate as to the special days and months and seasons Paul is talking about, but a good number of scholars do think this is a reference to Jewish practices of Sabbath and the festivals and not special days of the empire or the local culture. If they were practicing these it was most likely the influence of the Judaizers who were also pushing circumcision.
But, while Paul clearly thought the requirements of the law, such as cirmcumcision were fulfilled by Christ, he had high regard for God’s law and the role it played in preparing the coming of Christ and teaching about sin. He obviously argues for its lack of power in redeeming or making righteous its adherents, but it did have value.
January 31, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Hey Greg,
I didn’t leave…I just had nothing to offer on the subject of best rock album ever.
I trust that you and your family had a good Christmas and a happy New Year!
Please tell your Mom and Dad that Heather and I (Austin and Eliza too) said, “Hello”. Thank you.
Among much said you stated, “I struggle with the Sabbath and how to keep it holy…making that day separate and special from the rest of the week is beautiful. In observing the Sabbath we reorient our lives to match up with the reality of being the people of God…I think it is the intentionality of the Sabbath that is transformative.”
The point I was attempting to make was the point Dr. John MacArthur made in saying: “It is believed that the Old Testament regulations governing the Sabbath observances are ceremonial, not moral, aspects of the law. As such, they are no longer in force, but have passed away along with the sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, and all other aspects of Moses’ law that prefigured Christ.”
As the New Testament never commands Christians to observe the Sabbath (in fact, just the opposite – Colossians 2:16-17, Galatians 4:10, which specifically refers to not observing “special days”), early church fathers (Ignatius, Augustine and etc.) Reformers (Calvin and etc.) and Evangelicals (D.A. Carson, MacArthur, Geisler, Dr. Wallace Webster and etc.) all held/hold that the Sabbath was no longer observed but that the Church met on the first day of the week to break bread and to hear the Word of God (Acts 20:7, I Corinthians 16:2)
I Galatians 3:25, Paul says that because of faith in Jesus Christ “we are no longer under the supervision of the law”. It is no longer our tutor or task-master.
As Hebrews 4:9-11 references, the New Testament believer’s Sabbath is now an everyday event marked in faith in Jesus Christ which eliminates the need to work for salvation. This is our Sabbath rest and it is ongoing.
Turning back to observance of special days is called “weak and miserable principles” by the Apostle Paul.
In regard to the hermeneutic I am using, I believe that I am sound and in good company (see above-mentioned names). (I have read through Virkler’s book on the subject and I also just had a Men with a Mission class on this very subject.)
I also think that the Apostle Paul offers important Holy Spirit inspired insight on this subject in saying, “One man considers one day more sacred than any other; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.” (Romans 14:5&6) (By the way, which man is the weak in faith and which man is the strong in faith?)
Have a good one.
Paul
January 31, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Are you really contending that we have no benefit spiritually from praciting Sabbath? Since we are no longer subject to the laws of Sabbath we shouldn’t carry the idea of Sabbath into our pursuit of God? Rest, ceasing from work, worship, family centered times of reflection and celebration of the story of God; these don’t have value for us?
January 31, 2007 at 8:55 pm
I am saying that every day is alike…
Every day is an equal pursuit of God in which we have the Sabbath rest of Hebrews 4 and we should be, continually, offering ourselves as living sacrifices being constantly transformed with the renewing of our minds (via study of Scripture).
The Apostle Paul preached in the synagogues something like eighty-four Sabbaths in a row…Where was his rest?
I am also saying that New Testament believers are not commanded to keep the Sabbath holy (as proposed).
January 31, 2007 at 9:52 pm
If you look at rest, and how it interacts with humanity on a purely scientific level, you begin to see how important it is to a balanced life, the body needs time to recover. It is as if there is this innate need built into us by our creator and expanded in the teachings of the Bible.
It is cool when you look at the other needs of our bodies and cross reference them in the Bible: Food, shelter, sex, to love and be loved…
January 31, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Paul, to a person with less theological insight it would seem like you have debunked a ten commandment??? But in reading your writing over the last couple months, I know that couldn’t be farther from the truth. How does the Old Testament interact with your faith? Is it all obsolete in your eyes? Is it a some but not all type of thing? Or a literal translation…interested…