Charlene Wrote,
"One interesting thought though is that in Luke 14:1-6 it says"And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things." and in James2:10 it says, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."
I think that though it was very serious in Moses time to break the sabbath day, it is also important to do what needs done on the sabbath. Jesus healed people and others collected food when they were hungry. If we try to follow the law completely we will always fall short but if we obey the new commandment in John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." then I believe that we will know how to honour the sabbath as we should. Jesus did not stop doing good or showing His love for others because it was the sabbath, even if that meant to work.Personally I take a day of rest if I can as a gift from God for myself as I rejeuvanate for my week. Just as God himself took a day of rest from creating the universe not because He had to but because he wanted to rest. Just my thoughts on the subject. "
Char,
I wholeheartedly agree with you. We are not bound by the law because we have been freed through Christ's blood. My reasoning for posting this scripture was to show just how important the Sabbath is to the Lord. I believe that this man's sin was not in collecting wood but that it was breaking the law in general, he was too lazy to collect extra wood the day before. If we can organize our lives so that we are able to do all that we can in the week to enable us to fully rest on the sabbath, I think this would greatly honour our God. This is something that I am working toward and I look forward to seeing what it does for our family and fellowship!
Thanks for your comment!
3 comments:
Titus 3:4-"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us,not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless!!"
I just was stating my thoughts, not trying to undermind you at all Sirena! I love you girl.
I think it's important not to take too lightly any of the 10 commandments...I think that there's a good reason that they were written in stone.
Certainly Jesus didn't intend for us to become legalistic and put the law above practicalities, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sake of the Sabbath. I don't think that anyone would argue against doctors or police officers working on the Sabbath.
However, I think as Christians, we can often become swayed by society and change our interpretation of the bible because of it. When I was a kid...before all you young whippersnappers were born hahaha...When the stores started to open on Sundays, there was an outcry from all of the Christians in Terrace. Now, you can find half the church buying their groceries on a Sunday. So, what happened? Had people been starving because they were unable to get groceries on Sunday? Was this a necessary change?
I completely agree with John 13:34 'A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you', but I feel that by supporting things like shopping or going to a restaurant on the Sabbath that I'm not showing love to those who are required to work rather than being able to spend time with their families. If I'm running around and cleaning my house on that day, I'm depriving my husband and children of my companionship.
Although I constantly fall short of the letter of the law, I can't ignore the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:19 "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven..."
A slight change in society can affect Christians so quickly too. If Christians have honoured the Sabbath from the time of Christ until a mere 30 years ago, I don't think I'd want to make the change too lightly or to teach my children to either. I'm glad that you brought it up, it's a good subject to think about.
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