REST FOR YOUR SOUL
A Look At Sabbath, Sunday and Church

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.  If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. 

1 Corinthians 12:13-20

The spark behind this article is a hand-made “Pastor Appreciation” card hanging in my office. It was given to me by one of our grammar school students when I attended their pastor appreciation day last month. Megan Lavery who is 9 years old took each of the six letters in P A S T O R  to say (P)rayer – (A)wesome Speaker – (S)uper – (T)he Cross – (O)f Jesus – (R)emember the Sabbath. How sweet of this child to say such things. But my attention was particularly drawn to the last entry and I wondered what Megan knew about the Sabbath. Then I wondered what the average person in the congregation thought about the Sabbath. My conclusion is that the great bulk of our people think of Sunday as the Sabbath, because that is the day they have set aside to worship God and that is the day that has generally been accepted as a day of rest. And that is fine as far as it goes. To refer to whatever day it is that you worship God and rest from your labor as your Sabbath is not wrong. But Biblically the word refers to the Jewish day of 24 hours beginning at sundown on Friday and ending at sundown on Saturday. As far as the idea of “Rest” is concerned, both Sabbath and Sunday are the same. But in all other aspects, they must be contrasted.

The first occurrence of Sabbath in the Bible is at Exodus 16:23-24 where it is listed as part of the strict observance of the covenant. But the idea behind the Sabbath is clearly shown in Genesis 2:2-3. The “Rest” of God was always held to be a special day of blessing. God rested, not from “doing”, but from His work of creating. Also, while the Sabbath of Israel began with Moses (and ended with Christ), the idea of rest is in the spirit of man both before and after the Ten Commandments.

When you assemble all the pieces of Scripture together, you must conclude that the giving of the Sabbath was a means of binding the chosen people more closely to each other and keeping them apart from the world. To stop labor and come together gave man mental and spiritual exercise and quickened his soul and strengthened his spirit. This may also be why so many other ancient cultures had a day of rest in some form. It seems to be a natural institution observed by many pagans quite independent of the Jews.

Nehemiah 8:9-12 gives us the real intention of the Sabbath. It was a holy day of joy. Freedom for some social enjoyment at the realization that it is the gift of God that was meant to contribute to man’s happiness and to foreshadow the eternal rest in heaven. So what happened? Well, if you pay close attention you will see that the religious leaders began to impose a yoke of bondage on the day by making the Sabbath an end in itself instead of a means to the true end which was that men would rejoice and worship God. It was against such abuses that our Lord protested so strongly. In fact, one could say that Jesus relegated the Sabbath to the Moral Law only, indicating that it was to give man the required time to rest, i.e. to take time off from labor to worship God and to refresh himself and those around him.

Saint Mark tells us about Jesus and his disciples walking through corn fields on the Sabbath day. They begin to pick and eat of the grain. The Pharisees see this as an unlawful deed and they murmur about violation of the Sabbath. The answer Jesus gives is instructive. He does not ridicule the idea of a Sabbath rest, but gives an illustration to show that men are more important than religious regulations. David’s men were hungry and needed food on the Sabbath. They went to the Temple and ate of the sacred bread. From this our Lord concludes that the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath because the Sabbath was made for Man rather than the other way around.  Mark 2:23-28.

We may say that Jesus did not consider the Sabbath on a par with the great “underlying moral principles” of the Kingdom of God which are unchangeable. One interesting fact is that although He pushed the moral precepts in the Sermon on the Mount to include the inner realm of thought and desire, thus making the Spiritual requirements more difficult and the Spiritual Law more exacting, He simultaneously fought for a more liberal and lenient interpretation of the law of the Sabbath.

Do we as Christians have a Sabbath to remember? The early Christians kept the 7^th day much the same way that the Jews did. But gradually the 1^st day of the week, Sunday came to be recognized as the day on which the followers of Jesus would meet for worship. When the Gentiles first began to join the Church, the question came up as to the degree that they were required to adhere to the Law of Moses. Paul fought for and won liberty for the new Christians, and it is quite amazing that the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 makes no mention of the Sabbath among the requirements expected of Gentiles. Christian liberty as Paul proclaimed it included every day and all seasons. Romans 14:5 says that One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. And in Colossians 2:16 ff, Paul frees the Gentiles from dietary laws, feast days and new moons in addition to Sabbaths. The early Christians therefore seem to have included in their own day, the best of the Jewish Sabbath without its burdensome restrictions.

The question for the Christian today is the same one asked in the first century; “Do we as Christians owe 1/7^th of our time to the Lord?” And if we do, then we must also ask “Can we claim the blessings which God has pronounced upon those who keep a day holy?”  I think the answer to both questions is yes. The Christian Church keeps the first day of the week. This day celebrates the close of Spiritual creation even as the Jewish Sabbath celebrated the Physical creation. But does the Bible warrant the change? You must decide.

1. Christ arose on the first day of the week.
2. Christ appeared to His disciples before His ascension.
3. The Spirit was poured out on this day. (Traditionally)
4. Paul preached at Traos where they were gathered together on this day.
5. Paul instructs the Corinthians to “lay up” offering for the poor on this day.
6. John sees the Door to Heaven open on the first day of the week.

If we take seriously the Apostle’s expression of liberty that “One man esteems one day above another, another man esteems every day the same” then we will certainly see the necessity of giving either one day or every day to the Lord. The idea of “Esteeming No Day to the Lord” is not an option. Most of us have recognized Sunday as one day that we give to the Lord. And some esteem more than one day to the Lord.

The Sabbath means rest from ordinary labor, it does not necessarily mean inactivity. We want you to rest from your secular labor and join us in worshipping God. We also want you to come “lively” to share the fellowship of the seventh day.

Before we move on to how we are to use our special day for the Lord. We want to speak for a moment about those who insist that Christians are required to celebrate the Sabbath of Israel, the seventh day, Saturday. Most of us are aware that strict Seventh Day Adventists often equate the failure to celebrate the seventh day with the mark of the beast in Revelation. Their stance has often caused unnecessary separation among God’s people. We must object, not to their choosing to celebrate the Saturday Sabbath, which is their God given right to do, but we must object to their harsh insistence that we must follow their commandments in order to be right with God. In effect, these folks are doing just what the Judaizers were trying to do to Paul’s Gentile converts in Galatia. Paul advised the people in Galatians 5:1 to Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. I would say the same to you dear reader. But I would also say what Paul offered in verse 13 of that same book and chapter: Ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.  This leads us directly into the next phase of our study; How we use this wonderful day of rest that God Himself has granted us.

Once we have concluded that we are justified in celebrating a Sunday Sabbath, or as we like to say a “Lord’s Day”, then how should we spend that day? My answer actually ends up as a discussion of “Church Membership”. One of the primary reasons for a day of rest as I said above was to give busy people a certain time to stop their daily routine, gather together as the Body of Christ and give themselves to building one another up. We come aside from the burdens of the world to fellowship with the saints of God. This must mean that we should all be joined to some expression of the Body of Christ and be available to offer our spiritual gifts for the good of all.

According to the clear teaching of both the Old and New Testaments, this “joining” also puts us in submission to this same Body. One thing that is clear in our day is that many Christians do not want to be held accountable by the Body of Christ and its delegated authorities. Jesus left an organism called the Church, which has definite leadership. Among the many responsibilities of that leadership is the duty to discipline wayward members. How do we discipline Christians who do not submit to a particular Body of believers? The answer is you don’t.

I did not always think this way. Rather I should say that I never really thought it through since I have always been faithful to whatever Body I was associated with at any given time. It is now time to not just think about it, but to express my thoughts to our people. There is a slow but steady shift in attitudes towards Church attendance and membership. I will attempt to explain the connection.

The Bible presents the EKKLESIA, “The Called out Ones”, the Church as more like a military organization than a business or a social club. Once you enlist you are bound and committed until you are discharged. Our discharge comes when we either die or get raptured. Until that time we must obey what the Bible lays down just as surely as the military must obey “The Uniform Code Of Military Justice”. Committing crimes or going AWOL (Absent WithOut Leave), dressing improperly or failing to conduct yourself properly all have a consequence in the military. There are such things as Captain’s Mass, Court Martial, Inquiries, reprimands etc. that are designed to fix problems within the organization and hopefully restore the person involved to their proper place. The point is that no one can simply “Opt Out” and still enjoy the benefits of membership. The Church has entirely too many who have opted out as far as responsibility and accountability are concerned.

            [In this analogy between the military and the church, I think it would be
            correct for us to view the uncommitted, irresponsible, unaccountable as
            wanabees being wooed by the recruiter than as solid enlisted members.]

We do have such a thing as the “Inactive Reserves” in military parlance. In the Church, these must be the departed saints standing by with God in heaven waiting for the Lord to lead them to victory at His second coming. They are NOT people on a so-called “Inactive Membership Roll” which is as much an oxymoron as “A Deafening Silence”.

This failure to be either in or out of the Body of Christ has had a serious effect upon Churches that have lost so many members that they are having difficulty keeping up with the cost of the facilities and staff to keep operating. To understand the problem we face now and which we - along with many more -  will face in the near future, we must first have a grip on what the Church is and what it is not. We all know that the Church of Jesus Christ is not the buildings, but the people. But given that fact, what about the buildings, fuel, lights, staff, etc.? Who is responsible for these items?

For some reason it is very difficult for Christians to recognize who they are. Biblically, they are the Church, the Body of Christ, The Temple of God, The House of God, and they remain that if they have a building to meet in or not. Whether they have a gym and a Sunday School building or not, because these things are physical, and cannot be considered part of the Church. Membership in a local Body of Christ makes you responsible to share in the upkeep and support of the facilities that we use for the purpose of carrying out the will of God for this Body. No one is obligated to do any more than they are willing to do. But the obligation is there, whether you do it or not.

(Go to http://svbc.org/trumpeter/archive/0207.htm for a Biblical definition of the Church)

If you are a Christian, then you are part of the Body of Christ, and you have some function to perform in that Body. If you are the little toe, so be it, function as the little toe. You cannot refrain from functioning simply because you do not like your status. In a similar way, the hand cannot boast over the little toe and say “We do not need you”. Any missing part makes the Body handicapped or defective to some degree.

If what I just said is true, then membership in the Church is not optional (From the Latin optare “to have a choice”) and every true Christian is in whether they like it and realize it or not. But some are not acting like members and others who do act as members (which is far better) have not physically joined. These things should not be.

But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body,
as it hath pleased him.

Join and support the Body to which God has assigned you!