The Sabbath Blessing (Part 2)

Riding your bike on Sunday.

Going out to eat.

Mowing the lawn.

Do these actions cause the hairs on the back of your neck to rise a little when you think about them being done on Sunday?

What actions on Sunday do you think are wrong? Let’s be frank: we all have them. We all have stipulations that we put on people on whether they are Sabbath-keepers or not. Be honest with yourself. We ALL judge SOMEONE on Sunday, watching what they are doing, elevating ourselves thinking “at least WE don’t do THAT on Sunday.”

It sounds harsh. It sounds so legalistic. And it’s because it is. Yet I would dare say, every single one of us falls into that scenario above. So who are we to be so quick to judge?

When God created the Sabbath, He created it for US. As a GIFT to us. He knew that we would need it. He knew that 6 days out of the week we would be busy going from here to there, busy doing this or that. How did He know? Because He lived it when He created our world. He created a pattern that He wanted us to follow.

Somewhere along the lines, we decided that the Sabbath was about all the do’s and don’ts. Somewhere along the lines, we decided that the Sabbath is about legalistic activity.
Somewhere along the lines, we lost our focus on what the Sabbath should be.

God calls us to purity and holiness. Holiness and humbleness at the foot of the cross. The same ground we are ALL at. The same level we are ALL at. When we look up from the foot of the cross, we see a Savior who freed us from the burden of sin. From the burden of what we could not bear ourselves. Yet what do we find ourselves constantly doing? Putting that burden back on our neighbor. Putting that burden back on the person who is sitting next to us at the foot of the cross.

We use the Sabbath – the very thing God gave to FREE us – as a burden and judgmental day – the day where honestly, probably the MOST judgment happens. The day we judge the style of music. What people wear to church. What they look like. How the pastor preaches. What that person is doing on the Sabbath. We watch with both eyes, making sure everyone else is following OUR views of the Sabbath. This is NOT the way God intended our Sabbath rest to be.

No where in the Bible does it say what we can’t do on Sunday – what it does say is what we CAN do – and that is rest. If resting means going out on the boat fishing, then rest. If resting means sharing a meal with friends at a restaurant, then rest in that way. If resting means mowing your lawn on Sunday, then rest. Dan used to mow our lawn on Sunday afternoons. Mowing a lawn on .15 of an acre, was time for him to just “be.” Get away from all the craziness of life. It was rest. Now living on a larger piece of property where push-mowing takes an hour and a half, that my friend, is not rest to him. Finding rest in Christ and rest from life, is between you, your family, and God – but ultimately God.

What if we started to see the Sabbath as a time to think about what God has freed us from? He has freed us from the burden of sin. He has freed us from the burden of judgment. He has freed us from the burden of work. He has given us freedom to REST. Lets stop using Sunday as our reason to judge others. Lets stop looking at other’s lives and judging their Sabbath rest. We don’t have a clue what others do during the week, but then all of a sudden on Sunday, we care about every exact move. Lets stop looking at the outward and start looking at the inward.

Stop and rest. Rest IN the gift God has given us (salvation) and rest ON the gift God has given us (Sabbath).