The Affect of
Tradition on My Life
(The Tradition of The Sabbath)
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures used in the article are from the NIV)
Carolyn Evans
Sometimes
we make things hard instead of listening to God who makes everything easy. The definition of the Sabbath according to
Webster, “the 7th day of the week observed from Friday evening to
Saturday evening as a day of rest and worship by Jews and some
Christians.” What does God say about the
Sabbath?
Gen 2:2-3
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had
been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested
from all the work of creating that he had done.
When
God was creating the world a day always began in the evening.
God
called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night."
And there was evening, and there was morning-- the first day.
So
what have we established? The Sabbath is
the seventh day of the week beginning Friday night sun down until Saturday
night sun down. What did God do on the
seventh day of the week? He blessed it
and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creation that he
had done.
You
may be wondering why I’m writing about this.
In the 80’s I started reading the bible straight through instead of
studying different topics. Of course
when you do this, you start thinking you know a lot more than you really
do. In the church we were attending at
the time, the pastor made the comment we were worshiping on the Sabbath. I knew this was wrong because it was Sunday,
the first day of the week. So I started
thinking you can worship any day, or every day of the week, but you should
really worship on the true Sabbath. We
started visiting different churches and synagogues. We always felt welcomed at the different
places of worship, but we always came back to worshiping on Sunday.
Deep
down I still felt I should be worshiping on the Sabbath, so I made a list of
things I should do on the Sabbath. Some
examples were: read the word, pray, no
TV, no shopping, etc… So now I’ve put myself under bondage. We continued to go to church on Sunday and I
couldn’t live up to the rules and regulations I set up for myself (especially
the shopping).
The
other day, (this is over 20 years later) the thought came into my mind about
what God did on the Sabbath. Since I had
not been thinking about the Sabbath, I knew God had put it there. So, I started searching all the scriptures
concerning the Sabbath. I knew that God rested on the seventh day and didn’t go
to a church or synagogue, because there were no churches or synagogues.
The
Ten Commandants state:
Exod 20:8-11
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not
do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or
maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all
that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed
the Sabbath day and made it holy.
God
said nothing about going to church or the synagogue. I know Jesus went to the synagogue on the
Sabbath:
Luke
4:16 He went to
The
word also states:
Exod 31:16
16 "'Observe the
Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to
death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people.
In
our day, we can go along with the custom of going to church or synagogue on the
Sabbath, but putting someone to death for desecrating the Sabbath is out of the
question.
Jesus
also did miracles on the Sabbath which was considered work.
Matt 12:1-8
1 At that
time Jesus went through the grainfields on the
Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and
eat them.
2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples
are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."\
3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his
companions were hungry?
4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the
consecrated bread-- which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the
priests.
5 Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the
temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?
6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,'
you would not have condemned the innocent.
8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Luke 16:1-4
1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat
in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.
2 There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy.
3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to
heal on the Sabbath or not?"
4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and
sent him away.
Jesus
picked grain for his disciples to eat and he healed the sick. Both of these things are considered
work.
The
main thing Jesus said is found in Mark:
Mark 2:27-28
27 Then he said to them, "The
Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
It’s
hard to study the word and not let some form of tradition have an affect on what you believe, whether it’s Christian tradition
or some form of the laws of Moses. Just
because God tells one person, or group of people to do something, it doesn’t
mean he is telling all of his children to do the same thing.
Years
ago God told me to start doing something in my Christian walk. I thought since God told me to do it, it must
be for all Christians. I shared it with
friends and got very concerned when my friends were not doing what God had told
me to do. Isn’t this what has happened
and is happening in the church today.
God tells a church leader to do something and he writes a book about it
and all Christians believe if God told this person to do something it must be
for everyone. It’s NOT. God has placed each one of us on this earth
and He has a specific plan for our lives.
Jer 18:1-6
1 This is the word that came to
Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my
message."
3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.
4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the
potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
6 "O house of
Rom 9:20-21
20 But who are you, O man, to talk
back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you
make me like this?'"
21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay
some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
When
you really think about it, it’s an awesome thing that God made you. You are the only one He made like you. You are a unique individual with a specific
calling of God. You are the only one God
has called to complete the task He has set forth in your life.
Read
the Word and let the Holy Spirit teach you.
Do what God has called you to do.
Don’t get caught up in old traditions or try to live your life according
to what God has told someone else to do.
Listen and God will guide you in all phases of your life.
We,
as Christians, are blessed to have grace, don’t give it up and go under
bondage. The Sabbath may not be your
bondage, but if there is something in your Christian life that you don’t feel
right about, ask God. He wants your
complete attention and love at all times.
He wants that close relationship of a child and a father. God is always the answer.