HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, Q&A 103: Q. What does God require in the fourth Commandment? A. In the first place, God wills that the ministry of the Gospel and schools be maintained, and that I, especially on the day of rest, diligently attend church to learn the Word of God, to use the Holy Sacraments, to call publicly upon the Lord, and to give Christian alms. In the second place, that all the days of my life I rest from my evil works, allow the Lord to work in me by His Spirit, and thus begin in this life the everlasting Sabbath. Scripture references: Titus 1:5; I Timothy 3:14,15; 4:13,14; 5:17; I Corinthians 9:11,13,14; 2 Timothy 2:2,15; Psalm 40:10,11; 68:26; Acts 2:42,46; I Corinthians 14:19,29,31; I Corinthians 11:33; I Timothy 2:1,2, 8-10; I Corinthians 14:16; I Corinthians 16:2; Isaiah 66:23; Galatians 6:6; Acts 20:7; Hebrews 4:9,10. My comments: All the pastoral epistle references above (Titus and Timothy) are exhortations from Paul to Timothy and others for the maintenance of well-organized local churches, with ordained elders and deacons, structure, etc. When I read these references, Im reminded of a well-known quote from C.S. Lewis, in which he wrote that if one was looking for a religion that makes him comfortable, he certainly would *not* recommend Christianity! I remember the affect it had on me the first time I read it, almost 30 years ago too, only, now I want to alter it a little and apply it to what I hear so many say today, that they do not like *organized* religion! Well, they are already saying that Christianity is not for them. But, why do they suppose that, just because something is organized that it cannot at the same time be deeply spiritual, mystical, and profound?- and I dont hesitate to say, that the holy Faith of Christ is more spiritual (in truth) than any religion on the face of the earth! But God is not a God of confusion, and that means *organized!* What do they want? A disorganized, chaotic religion, where they can be their own gods and godesses? Thats exactly where they are! They begin with themselves and so they are condemned to end with the same- themselves, in their fallen state, without the true God of revelation. Included in this organized system of worship in the Christian faith, the Sabbath question has always been very important. The setting apart of the seventh day of each week for ceasing from our worldly professions, work, and self-pursuits, was well established in the *Jewish* Sabbath, ordained of God, through Moses, to Israel as a nation. It is the one sign that marked Israel off from all other nations (Heb. goyim), as THE special sign between God and His people forever! Exodus 31:13-17, from the NASB, reads: But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed. Since we know that Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, did not come to abolish the Law of God, through Moses, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17-19), we know He did not come to abolish the Sabbath, but to fulfill it as well! And it seems that here, the agreement among many Christians comes to an end! We *all* seem to agree that Jesus fulfills the Sabbath. But the question is, How? It is indeed, as God told Moses, a sign between [God] and the sons of Israel forever. A major part of this question has been whether Sunday has re-placed Saturday as the Sabbath Day, since Jesus, according to how the vast majority of the Church has understood the New Testament narrative, to record that Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week. And it would take nothing less than the magnitude of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on the first day of the Creation week, rather than the seventh, to fulfill the true theological significance of the Sabbath rest for the people of God. God rested *from work.* We, because of the work of Christ Himself, work, from rest! We first enter into the rest Christ provided so that we can then work the rest of the time, from that rest! We enter not into *our* rest, after having worked, but into *His* rest, after He has worked, on our behalf! There are Christian groups who strongly disagree. They argue that the seventh day, Saturday Sabbath, is still for us today! This would include the Seventh Day Adventists, the Seventh Day Baptists, and innumerable sects that have split off of these groups, and continue to splinter into ever new groups, and Messianic Jewish groups, some very legalistic and insistent upon the Saturday sabbath, arguing that this is not the Jewish sabbaths because God called them My Sabbaths. Well, no one disputes that. The Sabbath is Gods regardless of which day on which we celebrate it! Then, there are yet other groups which argue that Sunday, the Lords Day, has *replaced* the Old Testament, Saturday sabbath, and should not be identified with the Sabbath at all! It is a completely new order of worship, its roots not even being in the Sabbath in the Old Testament. Such groups would be several Churches of Christ groups, and others, restorationist groups. The Adventists insist that we must maintain the old, Saturday sabbath, because Jesus taught the Ten Commandments to the New Testament disciples, and the fourth is concerning a ritualistic, ceremonial aspect, and therefore we cannot confuse the Sabbath with the rest of the ceremonial Law that *has* been abolished, and since the fourth commandment is rooted in the Creation mandate, *before* the Law given through Moses. And then, there is yet another school of thought! That the New Testament is not binding us to any day at all! The Sabbath, according to them, is purely theological and spiritual, the rest we have in the grace of God for salvation, and has nothing, really, to do with any special observance of any special day at all. Yet, many of them do, indeed, keep a weekly pattern of gathering together, on a particular day of the week for worship! There are yet other views, but space simply doesnt permit me to discuss them here. Every Christian must study the issue for him/herself, diligently, from the Scriptures, and not stray from their conscience, which is not safe! My own views have been in transition, and I can only lay out my views here and hope some will find them helpful if they do not already have a conviction about this issue. One thing is clear. This subject is vast and very controversial, and I for one, am sensitive to anyone who holds a view different than my own. Even within the Reformed faith, certain groups/denominations/individuals hold a stronger view than do others about the strict observance of Sunday as both the Lords Day and the Sabbath. The Scottish Presbyterians are the most well known in restoring a very robust, yet strict observance of Sunday, of ceasing from all activity except Lords Day worship, singing of hymns and songs, home devotionals and Scripture reading and prayer, and even to this day, abstaining from any activity not associated with worship of God and meditation on the Word and prayer. You need not expect these brothers and sisters to join you at a local resaurant after church worship service, but they may well invite you over for their lunch time, which was prepared the night before! And you can expect to be greatly blessed with their admirable love for the things of God, and the seriousness with which they set apart one day exclusively to our God, and set their own interests aside, finding in the Sabbath a true rest and delight indeed!. I will leave this part for now and start another post, to expand some of my thoughts on the whole Sabbath issue, How was Jesus the fulfillment of the Sabbath, that eternal principle established by God as a sign forever?
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 03:25:59 +0000