The Christian Sabbath? (Podcast Episode # 20)

Hello, in this podcast, I'd like to address the issue of the Sabbath day and speak briefly about the Lord's Day and this whole idea of the Christian Sabbath. Are these three totally different things? Are they the same?

We'll look at that. But the reason I'm doing this podcast is, number one, this is an important subject for Christians to be aware of. And number two, it's basically to respond to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and those who keep messaging and emailing me about how Christians must keep the Sabbath.

And of course, for them, that means we must go to church on Saturday and do no labor on Saturday. I'll start out by saying that in a sense, I can appreciate the zeal of the Seventh-day Adventist when compared to the lackadaisical attitude of many evangelicals that treat the Christian day of worship like it's just any other day.

So to some extent, I admire their commitment. However, like anything, just because one group is doing something wrong, not everyone's doing something wrong, but just because one group might be wrong, it doesn't automatically mean this other group is right.

And we must always ask, what does the Bible teach? Well, the Sabbath day, according to scripture, is the seventh day of the week. We call this Saturday. That's true. And yes, the Bible does teach. People should observe the Sabbath.

But if you look at it in context, you need to rightly handle the Word of God. If you look at it in context, you will see that the Sabbath command was given to Israel at Mount Sinai as part of the Old Covenant.

Exodus 20, verses 8 -11, God speaking to Moses says, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. So I hate to point out the obvious, but the laws given at Mount Sinai were for the nation.

Of Israel.

And the church is not the nation of Israel. And we are not under the Old Covenant, we are under the New Covenant. Now on the other hand, just because we are under a New Covenant, that doesn't automatically nullify everything taught in the Old Testament Scriptures, far from it.

So this is where people get mixed up. There are people who think that everything should be carried over into the New Testament unless stated otherwise. There are some people who think nothing should be carried over, but it's really not that simple, one or the other.

We believe the commandments against murder, adultery, and lying are in effect. That's true. Everyone knows that. So why wouldn't the fourth commandment be in effect to observe the Sabbath day? So you know, it's a logical question.

Why do you carry over this but not that? So to figure this out, we must rightly handle the Word of God. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 .15, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Okay, so this is not that difficult to understand. The ten commandments were given to Israel as part of the Old Covenant. Nine out of the ten are reaffirmed in the New Testament, but the Sabbath is not reaffirmed.

Jesus is our Sabbath rest. We would say Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath day. You can watch my other video titled Christ is our Sabbath from Hebrews 4, and I explain.

All of that.

So we do not observe the Sabbath, basically for the same reason we do not offer animal sacrifices and as Christians, we do not celebrate the Jewish feast days. Paul told the Christians in Romans 6 .14 that they're not under the law.

They're under grace. And we can say that for us. We are not under the law. We are not under the Old Covenant. We are under the New Covenant, which is characterized by grace. So the apostle said that in Romans 6 .14 and Colossians 2 .16 and 17, he said, let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths.

Paul said, these are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. So now that we have Christ, we are not going backwards to these types and foreshadows. So when the Seventh-day Adventists or anyone else for that matter, try to tell you that as New Testament Christians, you must, we must keep the Jewish Sabbath, the dietary laws and all of the rest.

They're trying to put us under the law. The term for this is legalism. Today, most people misuse that term legalism. Anything they don't like, that's legalism, you know, well, no legal refers to the law and the context of scripture.

We're talking about the law of Moses. So legalism is teaching that salvation comes through the law. Salvation comes through law keeping. And I've had many Seventh-day Adventists tell me that. And they've told me that I am lost.

I am not saved because I'm not keeping the law because I go to church on Sunday and some of the more extreme Seventh-day Adventists will say that Sunday worship is the mark.

Of the beast.

My friends, this is legalism. And Seventh-day Adventist churches that teach this false doctrine, they're cultic. They're not handling the word of God correctly. Instead, they're following their false prophetess named Ellen G. White.

Now in fairness, there are Seventh-day Adventists who do not go that far. They are not seeking to damn people just because they worship on Sunday, but they're still being legalistic when they try and bind the conscience with rules that God never gave.

To us.

There's no evidence that any human being ever kept the Sabbath before the time of Moses. And God certainly did not tell Gentile Christians under the new covenant to keep the Sabbath. So we have to understand that.

And people say, well, but it's commanded in the Bible.

Yeah.

And animal sacrifices are commanded in the Bible too. But that was back then for them, not today for us. It's not that hard. What we see in scripture and what we have seen for the past 2000 years of church history is that New Testament Christians assemble on Sunday, the first day of the week.

And this is biblical. Why do we gather on Sunday in honor of Christ rising from the dead, appearing to his disciples who were gathered in John chapter 20 on the first day of the week. We also see this in Acts chapter 20, verse seven, they assembled on the first day, first Corinthians 16, verse two.

And in revelation 110, the apostle John specifically uses the term the Lord's day. So I think this is a clear issue, which is why nearly all Christians agreed and have agreed on this for 2000 years. So do Christians observe the Sabbath?

Well, in a sense we do. We observe it by trusting in Christ who is our Sabbath rest. He did the work to purchase our salvation. We rest by trusting in him. So we are not bound by the Sabbath commandment.

We observe instead the Lord's day, Sunday, the first day of the week, Hebrews 10, 25. You say, well, what does that look like? We read about what the Jews are supposed to do for the Sabbath. What are New Testament Christians supposed to do for the Lord's day?

Hebrews 10, 25 talks about believers in Christ assembling, right? Do not forsake the assembly. So how do we treat the day? We gather on Sunday morning, again, in honor of Christ rising from the dead on Sunday morning.

Is that all that we do? Just go to church for an hour or three, and that's how we do it. You could call it the Lord's hour if that were the case, but no, it's the Lord's day. I personally believe, and for 1900 plus years of church history, it would bear this out, that Christians should not only assemble on Sunday, Christians should not go to work on Sunday.

Now, I know I'm going to lose a few people on this, but it's because this is what you were taught sometime in the past 30 to 40 years, but that's not the way Christians understood it historically. This is a day, the Lord's day, Sunday, is a day set apart to God.

Not just an hour set apart, but a day. So we go to church. This is a day Christians spend time with family. We focus on the good gifts that God has given us, and I'll just say it. We should not go into our place of employment on Sunday.

Someone will say, yeah, but what about pastors? They work on Sunday. You work on Sunday.

Right. Yeah.

And the priests also ministered on the Sabbath. They were not violating the Sabbath. So the ministry is a totally separate thing. And I realize most Christians today, again, have been taught the opposite, that church, you know, gets out at whatever time and it's totally okay for you to rush off to work or to rush home to watch the NFL.

You know, you're watching your football game. This is just the way, this is Christian liberty. You can do whatever you want. And some churches will say, you know, you don't even have to come on Sunday.

It's no big deal. So I want to be sensitive that some people were taught this, this idea of the Lord's.

Day.

It's a day set apart. This is kind of new for some people, but you just have to understand this is a modernist attitude and it's a sign of the times. Just crack a history book, church history. This was not the practice of Christians for 1900 years.

For 1900 years, we observed the day as a day set apart for God. Again, the Lord's day. Now you either have to figure that Christians for 1950 years, basically right up until the 1960s, 1970s, that for almost 2000 years, all Christians were wrong.

And it's just this generation or two that we have it right.

That's a hard sell.

You know, when scripture calls it the Lord's day, I just make this point once again, it's his day. It's not your day. It's not my day. It's his day. Now, with that said, I think we do need to be careful about making up a bunch of rules about what we can and cannot do on Sunday.

I mean, this is where the Jews got into trouble. So I would say, be informed by the word of God, follow your conscience. Generally speaking from week to week, just to share with you how I see it and what I'm convinced of and the way I practice it.

Our family, we do not engage, try not to engage in business or do anything like shopping on.

Sunday.

I didn't allow my children to miss church because they had cheerleading practice or a sports practice or some other secular event. You know, Sunday is the Lord's day and that's the way it is. I wouldn't say those things are necessarily commandments set in stone, but rather we're trying to honor Christ on his day.

So we think it should be set apart and that's going to look differently for everyone.

Okay.

So before we close, what about this term, the Christian Sabbath? I prefer Lord's day because it's a biblical term. If you want to use Christian Sabbath for Sunday, that's up to you. Usually we're talking about the same thing.

I think, tend to think that Christian Sabbath lends to confusion because the Lord's day and the Sabbath are not the same thing. There are similarities, but there are differences. So use Christian Sabbath if you want.

I think it's a fine term, but I prefer Lord's day. So in conclusion, going back to Paul in Colossians two and how we have freedom in Christ, do not let anyone judge you concerning these matters of the Sabbath.

Do what you feel is right before God. But just remember the day does belong to him. As far as the Lord's day, it's his. So one last thing, people like to bring up Romans 14 verse five, how this argument one person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike.

So let each be fully convinced in his own mind and people conclude from that, that, well, you don't have to get together with Christians on Sunday. You can just worship God on your own on Tuesday. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.

I think that's taking it out of context. I believe Paul in Romans 14, that would apply more to observing special days like Christmas or Good Friday, things that are not prescribed in scripture. So that's my take on that.

But thanks for watching. Until next time, may the Lord be with you. Have a great day.