Exodus 20:8-11: Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord you God; you shall not do any work... For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.I recently had a heated discussion with someone about the importance of observing the sabbath— to rest physically, to renew spiritually and to revive mentally. This individual accused me of being "legalistic" like the Jews in the Bible. I left that discussion very frustrated because I really do think that the sabbath is important... not because it's a day to be lazy and watch television, but because it's a day to look forward to for purposeful rest and renewal. And I do not believe this day should be eliminated for the sake of doing more work (even if it is ministry). How can I be effective if I'm burned out? Besides, God didn't need to rest, but He did it anyway. Shouldn't we?
Deuteronomy 5:12,15: Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you... Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Mark 2:27: Then [Jesus] said to them, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind of the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."
Any thoughts out there about this topic? Am I totally off here?
I'm sorry I cannot disclose full details and context of the aforementioned discussion because I don't want anyone to figure out with whom I was talking.
The cartoon is a little irrelevant, but I thought it was funny
7 comments:
On the contrary, you are totally 'on'. I wish more young people are as serious about God's Words as you are. God said what He said and He meant what He said, peroid. You are NOT being legalistic. You are just using your God-given common sense to interpret what God meant. That's that.
Linda
Lets refresh the definition of Sabbath...
The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word meaning day of rest. The Sabbath day commemorates God's day of rest after he finished the Creation. We read in the book of Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time, which he called days: "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it" (Genesis 2:2-3).
Jesus taught that the Sabbath day was made for our benefit (see Mark 2:27). The purpose of the Sabbath is to give us a certain day of the week on which to direct our thoughts and actions toward God. It is not a day merely to rest from work. It is a sacred day to be spent in worship and reverence. As we rest from our usual daily activities, our minds are freed to ponder spiritual matters. On this day we should renew our covenants with the Lord and feed our souls on the things of the Spirit.
Until the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he and his disciples honored the seventh day as the Sabbath. After his resurrection, Sunday was held sacred as the Lord's day in remembrance of his resurrection on that day (see Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). From that time on, his followers appointed the first day as their Sabbath. In both cases there were six days of labor and one for rest and devotion.
I've been resting and reflecting on God's sabbath day. I realize that there are deeper spiritual revelations and truths that Gods speaks to me that day. I think it is important to keep the sabbath in a time of rest. We need to constantly remind ourselves our thankful and appreciation having Jesus in our aside from our daily activities
you're not being legalistic. being legalistic is adding to the law, just as the pharisees were doing. observing and obeying the law is not legalism.
You are being legalistic. I just wanted to say that :P
If you want to be defensive on the other side, you should talk to the 7th Day Adventists, one whose license plate said "Saturday is still God's Sabbath."
I think Jesus said it best when he said Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. We have to accept it as a gift, not a burden or duty (although some would say that's OK). If your friend can't see it as much needed gift, than there's no use in trying to convince them.
I like the cartoon.
And I agree with the above comment. =D
When we rest, we give up being queens/kings of our lives....the DISCIPLINE of Sabbath is an exercise for us to relinquish the 'authority' we have (seemingly).
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