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Sabbath – Weekly Practice – Leviticus 23:3

On the Sabbath we are commanded by God to cease, rest, rejoice, and worship. We are told not to go our own way or fulfill our own desires, but to rest in the knowledge that God Himself provides for us. The Sabbath is a reminder that we are the Messiah’s covenant people-His bride-and He desires for us to experience an intimate time with Him weekly. While the Christian church has from the time of Constantine to today had its day of worship "changed" for political and financial reasons, the 7th day and the 7 day week has remained a constant "witness" of the reality of God's establishment of the 7 days of Creation and God's own rest on the 7th day. The French tried a 10 day week once, and it failed miserably; however, no matter what calendar mankind has been on, it has always consisted of a 7 day week.

Our Messiah provided His personal example through obedience to the Father and observed a 7th day Sabbath. His disciples observed a 7th day Sabbath, and although many well meaning and sincere believers observe (or at least 50 years ago or so used to observe) a Sabbath on the 1st day, the Word of God simply does not support such a change in the Sabbath day. The 7th day is still the same 7th day and the 1st day is still the 1st day of the week (from Creation week to today), according to every passage of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation; therefore, it is this community's desire to be obedient to the Word of God even though this does conflict with the traditions of men in the current Christian church.

Please let me be clear, there is nothing wrong or sinful about going to church on Sunday; however, going to church on Sunday does not equate biblically to observance of God's command regarding the Sabbath. Paul himself met with the community of The Way at the going out of the Sabbath in Acts 20:7f (f means "and following"). This means the only text that people use to justify a supposed vague change of the Sabbath day fails to place this verse in its context, which means Paul met with the community in the traditional manner at the concluding hours of the Sabbath for a time of worship, "oneg" (which means delight and is the word used for what we would today call a pot luck dinner), and teaching.

That means Paul, who is about to travel, rested on the Sabbath, met with the congregation at the concluding hours of the Sabbath (Saturday evening) and he continued to talk until mid-night knowing he was planning to leave Sunday morning and very likely wanted to have a full 6 days to travel before he would need to stop and rest on the following Sabbath. Not to mention, if God was going to make such a drastic change in His system of doing things, one would suspect their would be much more clear and convincing evidence of such a change. The Lord, Jesus (Yeshua) rising and appearing on Sunday morning is not sufficient evidence of a change as well as this simply places Him symbolically as the First of the First Fruits offering that would be given that day, the day following the Sabbath following Passover.

The Sabbath is also a commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt, which is a proto-type of what the Messiah did for us in redeeming us from our sins (bondage and slavery to sin) by becoming the Passover lamb in our place when he died on the cross (execution stake) to save us from our sins. This day of rest signifies that we are no longer slaves; and in reality, only free men can take a day off! The Sabbath reminds us that there is no labor that needs to yet be accomplished in order to enter into God’s presence. The seventh day is our weekly time of intimacy with the Father, twenty-four uninterrupted hours of freedom from the hectic world, and a time in which families draw close together and spend quality time as well as quantity time each week. Mostly, the Sabbath teaches us patience and dependence by reminding us who our Provider truly is. Ask yourself, do you really trust God enough to offer Him one 24 hour period of your life each week? In my mind, anything I might have to sacrifice in order to commit this time to the Lord is a small price to pay (and in truth no price at all as I always receive more than I give) in comparison to the price Jesus paid to redeem me and the eternity we will spend with Him.

The Sabbath is a true gift of grace to man and a demonstration of God’s love.

Below are the “10 Commandments” of Sabbath:

But before we begin, remember, just like it is reasonable to speed when rushing someone to the hospital in an emergency, the law of “chesed” or mercy or lovingkindess may require a relaxing of a certain nuance or law under certain circumstances. Human need always overrides nuances of statues because the statute itself was given for the purpose of the Love and Mercy of God toward man. In other words, we should not needlessly or carelessly break commands of God; however, if your "donkey gets caught in a ditch" so to speak, it is not a violation to pull him out even though such acts could in some cases cause one to violate a nuance of the command regarding the Sabbath.

Therefore, going to the doctor if you are sick on a Sabbath day or the emergency room is NOT a violation of the Torah. Fire Fighters, Police, Doctors and other support personnel in my view are likened to the priests of old who do work and violate the Sabbath, but in that work they are blameless, because they are serving the Lord and saving lives. However, for men like my husband who works in the Commercial Real Estate field, there is rarely if ever a case in which his working would qualify as life saving or an observance of the law of “chesed” (mercy/lovingkindness).

But, for those just coming into an understanding of the reality of God's eternal Word and eternal commandments, give yourself grace, you do need to feed your family, so I am not suggesting anyone go out and quit their job (unless the Holy Spirit tells you to specifically), but you should consider bringing the issue before the Lord in prayer, let him know of your desire to be obedient in this area of His Sabbath, and I am confident in time he will provide a way for you to keep His commands. Just make sure you don't reject the opportunities He sends your way.

1. Remember and Observe the Sabbath: Exd 20:8; 31:13, Duet 5:12

2. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt [we were all slaves to sin and a cruel task master before we surrendered ourselves to Yeshua (Jesus)!]: Duet 5:15

3. Celebrate the Sabbath as a perpetual covenant: Exd 31:16-17

4. Call the Sabbath a ‘delight’ and ‘honorable:’ Isa 58:13-14 [By this God does not mean we just "say" that it is a "delight" to us or "honorable" for us, but we let our actions do the "saying" for us and let our hearts learn to take joy in entering the physical rest of God that we in reality have spiritually already received in Christ (Messiah)]

5. Do not pursue your own desires on Sabbath: Isa 58:13 [This day is our opportunity to stop seeking or pursuing our own interests financially or personally, and use this "free time" that God has established for us to be disciples of Christ, to minister to others (first within our own families but also to friends and neighbors), to engage in deliberate acts of evangelism, and be those hands and feet for God. Let's face it, we have busy lives in American culture and try as the "church" may, it is often too busy to see or meet the needs of people right around them who desperately need a Savior because we never stop long enough to hear God's voice and open our schedules for the possibility to visit those in need nor bring them to our homes and feed them.]

6. Do not work on the Sabbath: Exd 20:9-10 [While there are various ideas throughout history as to what exactly constitutes "work" and what does not, most all people can agree that if you are gaining sustenance or income from an activity than it is classified as work, beyond that definition, each individual must decide what activities maintain the spirit of the day and which should be avoided. As you observe the Sabbath and eat of the fruit that comes from observing it, the Holy Spirit will begin to teach you what HE considers work and what HE wants you to do or not do on this day. HE will teach you how to guard this time and set it apart to God]

7. Do not cook on the Sabbath (yippy, mom gets a break too!): Exd 16:23 [Cooking back in the biblical days was an all day affair, use your best judgment and give yourself grace in this areas like anything else. The idea is to set this time apart and give yourself a break from what you would otherwise do the rest of the week]

8. Do not kindle a fire [with the exception of life saving activity of course such as staying warm in winter, the intent here is related to work and lighting a fire with express purpose of using it to engage in work. Again use your best judgment and don't needlessly light fires on the Sabbath, but if you need to warm your house in the winter for example, than in my personal opinion I don't think this is necessarily what God intended to limit in this command, so I don't see something like that a violation. This is a vague command and it is difficult to understand exactly what the entire context was surrounding it so that we can apply it to our lives today; therefore, do what the Spirit leads you to do with regard to this and any other command]: Exd 35:3

9. Do not participate in commerce (i.e. don’t be the cause of someone else working): Neh 10:31; Jer 17:21-22 [When we spend money we are complicit in the sin of others who are working to sell us their goods on the Sabbath. Even though they may be non-believers, we need not condemn them, but we need not participate with them either.

10. Do good on the Sabbath: Matt 12:10
Study these verses for yourself, and begin to make healthy, Godly, Biblical boundaries to guard your Sabbath time. Some helpful questions and things to consider as you do your best to adjust your life to God's Word and begin to honor God’s Sabbath might be:

Recall that building and creating the tabernacle (the house of God) was not even to be done on the Sabbath, considering the importance of that “house” and the “institution,” what will our actions be on that day in light of this precedent.
The Messiah in all His authority and humanity kept and honored the Sabbath. What Would Yeshua (Jesus) Do? Ask yourself in truth, not just WWJD, but what DID Jesus do, because that is our example, we are to imitate Him? Would Jesus work on the Sabbath? No. Would Jesus go shopping on the Sabbath? No. What would Jesus do? The Bible says it was His regular practice to teach the Word of God on the Sabbath (is there a family member, friend, neighbor or co-worker whom I can share Christ with by inviting them to my home for an Eve of the Sabbath, i.e. Friday night, meal?), he healed people on the Sabbath (who can I help? or who do I know who is sick whom I might take a meal to, or visit someone who is elderly or in the hospital), he dinned with friends on the Sabbath (who can I invite to my home and feed?) etc.

The Five S’s of Sabbath:
1. Submission: God is sovereign! Exd 20
2. Security: Participation in God’s will! Isa 58:13-14
3. Success: I will prosper you abundantly! Deut 30:8-11
4. Sanctity: Make them joyful in My House! Isa 56:3-7
5. Safety: Now choose Life! Deut 30:19-20

Remember also the words of Paul who states in Romans 8:6-8, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Torah (Law) of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

If setting our mind on the flesh means rejecting and not subjecting ourselves to God's Law (Torah commands); than setting our mind on the Spirit means subjecting our will and lives to God's Law (Torah). BUT we do so from a position of "faith" this is wholly different from a non-believing Jew whom Paul teaches seeks to obey the Law in their flesh, meaning apart from faith which only ends in condemnation because they are sinning by lacking faith and thus they know what they should do and yet are not capable of doing it in their hearts even if they look or have the appearance of piety/holiness with their feet/outward observances or actions.

Only God can truly judge the heart of a man and know which Israelite (including us grafted in gentiles) are bringing Him an offering from a position of faith. The human priests had to simply accept all offerings brought to them, and as the writer of Hebrews notes, he could not reject that person's offering because he could not know which man was bringing the offering with a heart of faith and which was bringing it with false motives. However, OUR HIGH PRIEST, Yeshua (Jesus) CAN SEE THE HEARTS OF MEN and He will reject some who seek to offer service to Him false motives.

God rested on the seventh day. We are to be Holy (set apart) as He is Holy. Paul exhorts us to be imitators of God and our Messiah Yeshua!

The verses above are guidelines, but I believe God left the specifics purposefully vague because it then REQUIRES US to have the HOLY SPIRIT to implement properly. It's NOT just a matter of "following the rules" it is a matter of the HEART, a HEART submitted to the Father just as the heart of Jesus (Yeshua) was submitted to the Father. Let us all seek to obey God according to all of His commandments for His commandments are not burdensome as many have been told, but rather, through our obedience the world will see our good works (the light of Christ) and praise our Father in heaven!

In other words, subjecting oneself to the Torah (Law) of God is setting one’s mind on the Spirit, because the Words of God are His the express will and wisdom that comes from His Spirit. In doing so, our actions are well pleasing to God and bring honor and glory to His name.


Sabbath: