Some folks have recently asked about the Sabbath. The following are my sermon notes from years ago when I preached Exodus that address the issue

"…those who followed ancient customs [the Jews] have come to a new hope, no longer celebrating the Sabbath but observing the Lord's Day, the day on which our life sprang up through Christ."

-Ignatius of Antioch, early in the second century



The Fourth Commandment is a bridge between the first three that relate to our worship of God, and the last six that relate to our worship of God as demonstrated by loving others. The Fourth Serves as this bridge by being a commandment that fuses both our theological relationship with God and our social/ethical relationship with others.

The Fourth Commandment paradoxically commands that we both work and not work. We find that God desires our life to have a rhythm and each week seasons of labor and rest. So, for six days we are to labor as an act of worship to Him. In the New Testament the necessity of God's people working is stated so strongly that anyone able yet unwilling to work should not be fed (2 Thess. 3:10). Also, the commandment to rest is stated with equal strength. In Exodus 31:12-18 the Sabbath penalty dictates that anyone working on that day is to be cut off from the nation, and anyone desecrating it was to be put to death. The issue of rest is so imperative to God that anyone who refuses to rest has refused to worship God by doing nothing in an act of recognizing that all of our labors are ultimately dependant solely upon His hand. Therefore, the Sabbath is not merely resting from work, but also resting from the curse (Gen. 3:17-20) and recognizing that we, like God, are invited to pause to enjoy our labors.
The Purposes of the Sabbath

In regards to the purpose of the Sabbath it does indeed have benefits for all people. Workers and animals are permitted to rest as an act of justice and compassion to ensure the dignity of God's creation. In this way, both rich and poor are invited to stand in equality for one day as they rest from their labors under the grace of God. But, the primary purpose of the Sabbath is not the benefit of God's people, but rather the furtherance of God's kingdom. By resting for an entire day, Christians serve as a sign pointing to God that we labor to provide sustenance for our lives as we toil under the curse, but we are also freed from the myth that the only way things get done is by the labor of our hands. Instead, we are free to rest knowing that our sovereign God is on our side and is able to hold the universe and our lives together even when we rest and sleep.
Resolving the Day of the Sabbath

In regards to the day of the Sabbath, some have maintained that it should be celebrated on Saturday as the Hebrews did, the final day of their week. However, the early church abruptly changed the day of worship to Sunday to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus from death (Matt. 28:1; Mk. 16:1-2; Lk. 24:1; Jn. 20:1) on that first day of the new week (Acts 20:7; I Cor. 16:2). In this way, Jews looked forward to the coming of Jesus the Messiah as an occasion for them to rest from sacrifices and ceremonies as they finally came to and end in Christ. Conversely, Christians look backward to the resurrection of Jesus as the act by which new life was given on the first day of the new week. In the early church, Sunday was a work day, consequently they would have had to gather for worship either in the morning or evening. Sunday remained a work day in the early church until Emperor Constantine instituted it as an official day of rest in A.D. 321. So, for the early church Sunday was a day devoted primarily for worship and not rest
Errors To Avoid In Relation to the Sabbath

A debate has long raged between Christian scholars. On one side, some say that the Sabbath was instituted by God in creation and is therefore binding upon Christians. Others believe that the Sabbath was instituted by God in the Law of Moses and was therefore fulfilled in Jesus and no longer binding upon Christians. I would support this second understanding, since the Sabbath is not mentioned for God's people until Exodus 16:5, or mandated for them until Exodus 20:8-11. Also, each of the Ten Commandments is reiterated in the Gospels, except for the Fourth Commandment. In fact, the Fourth Commandment is absent from the entire New Testament. This seems to indicate that nine of the Commandments were moral in nature (and therefore binding for all people in all ages), and the Sabbath was ceremonial in nature (and therefore binding only upon God's people until it was fulfilled in Christ). In addition, if we intend to keep the Sabbath as a binding law upon Christians, it seem only consistent that we also enforce the other Sabbaths, such as the seventh year Sabbath to rest the land, and the fiftieth year Sabbath when prisoners are freed and debts are cancelled. However, it seems that while not binding upon Christians as a matter of law, the concept of gathering together one day a week to rest from our labors to pray, grow friendships, attend church, take communion, and hear the Bible preached is simply good common sense and a practice of the early church (Acts 2:42-47, Heb. 10:25). Therefore, the Sabbath is not a law for believers to obey, but instead a grace to enjoy.

Many legalistic attempts have been made to rob the Sabbath of its worship and joy by carefully mandating what can and cannot be done and Jesus seemed to have intentionally lived in public view to serve as a contrary model of the Sabbath than that given by other legalistic teachers. For example, Jesus healed on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-14, John 9:1-17), taught on the Sabbath (Mark 6:1-2), and promoted evangelism on the Sabbath (John 7:21-24). Jesus demonstrated that the Sabbath was not to be enforced legalistically, but existed for worshipful fun and rest.

Paul spoke clearly on this issue and promoted both the concept of a Sabbath and a freedom from its enforcement as a binding law of duty in Romans 14. He states that the day of our worship is a debatable matter that we should not pass judgment upon, since the significant issues are if we worship, and who we worship, rather than when we worship. Paul then promotes peace, mutual edification, and a life motivated solely by faith.
Jesus As Our Sabbath

Since Jesus taught that all of the Old Testament existed to reveal Him (Luke 24:13-49; John 5:39; Heb. 1:1-2), and Paul taught that all of the Law was a shadow pointing to Jesus (Col. 2:16-17), we must now turn to consider how the New Testament relates the Sabbath to Jesus.

Matthew 12:1-14 & Mark 2:27 Jesus is traveling with His disciples on the Sabbath who begin to pick grain to feed their hunger. The legalistic teachers confront Jesus, while Jesus responds by telling the stories of OT occasions when God's people set aside particular human laws for the greater purposes of God and declared that He alone was Lord of the Sabbath with authority to determine it's practice. Jesus then healed on that Sabbath and taught that the purpose of the Sabbath was to do good, and that the Sabbath exists to serve men, rather than men existing to serve it.

Romans 4:5 Paul here teaches that our salvation comes not in our labors to achieve it, but instead in our resting in Jesus by faith. In this way, the Sabbath is a time of remembering the truth of the gospel.

Colossians 2:16-17 In discussing Christians freedom from human regulations, Paul states that we should not allow anyone to look down upon us for such things as the Sabbath because they are shadows of a new reality that has come in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the purpose of the Sabbath was to simply point us to the rest given us in Jesus.

Hebrews 3:12-19 In this Sabbath discussion the author of Hebrews says that God had Moses and the people wander in the desert for forty years because He was angered by their lack of faith. This unbelief led to their lack of rest/Sabbath and the connection is made that if anyone does not come to God by faith then they shall never have rest/Sabbath in this life or the life to come.

Hebrews 4:1-13 Here the author of Hebrews pleads with us to be careful that we do not fall short of salvation by failing to respond to the preaching of the gospel with faith and thereby miss out on rest in this life and the life to come. Our resting in this life, therefore, comes in our security in Christ confirmed by our faith, as we eagerly await that great day of rest when the entire plan of God for all of human history is completed and He again makes all things new.
Being Intentional About the Sabbath

Therefore, we fulfill the law when rest from their own works (attempting to earn our salvation) and rest in Christ's work on our behalf and become part of His new creation, made new by His grace and awaiting the new creation in which all of their longings, struggles, toils and pains will fade into rest in His presence. In the meantime, we worship God by learning to rest both in our labors each day, and rest from our labors each week to be refreshed by worshipping God. In setting aside a day, we are showing that we are a set aside people (holy) who rest in Jesus and worshipping is our primary objective around which our weeks are purposefully ordered.

Remember. In remembering, we pause from our labors to remember that our salvation was obtained not by the work of our hands, but instead by the death and resurrection of Jesus our God in payment for our sin.

Recall. In recalling we call the past into the present and live as the forgiven, loved and freed children of God given the Spirit for our joy and strength. We also recall the revealed future into the present to remind us of the King and Kingdom that are coming for us as we seek to live under His loving rule as we await that day when we, like Jesus, raise in newness of life as part of God's new creation.

Recollect. In recollecting we take the acts of remembering what God has done for us in Jesus, and recalling His resurrection and it's implications into our present lives and collect our time, talents, and treasures to ensure they are appropriately given in an intentional and purposeful life of worship whereby all that we have and all that we are lives in remembrance of Jesus past resurrection, current presence in our lives, and coming when we shall see Him face to face and breathe the deepest breath of rest we have ever known.

Just prior to Jesus declaration that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, He invites everyone who is weary and burdened by the sin and toil of this life, and vain attempts to achieve the demands of God's laws to come to Him for rest/Sabbath (Matt. 11:28-30). He then invites us to join our lives with His and learn from Him, allowing Him to carry our lives and redemption in His unparalleled humility so that we can find ultimate rest for our soul and discover that our life becomes light when united with His. Therefore, every time we come to Jesus we have our Sabbath.