Sabbath reflections

Von Gruff

KNIFE MAKER
On my facebook page every Sabbath morning I post a reflective picture or message as a sort of ministry to those few who follow me and thought that I would continue the practice here as the christian members of the forum may also get a blessing from them as I do from posting.30729547_1639122062874424_7239876581447130663_n.jpg
 
Merely curious, and no disrespect intended.....are you Jewish? Or do you recognize/celebrate the Sabbath as a Christian? Again....just wondering. Thank you.
 
Definately from a Christian perspective John. Am just away to the city for the day so will give a full answer this evening
 
My christian childhood was in the presbyterian church and then there was a gap in my teens untill I came to a place where I asked God to show me and I would follow. There were a progression of churches as I moved around but I kept finding fault with some of the non biblical teaching that was being offered by the various ministers/pastors etc. I studied a great deal about and came to the conclusion that there was a difference between saturay and sunday and have kept the Biblical Sabbath ever since.
I have a communion service here on Sabbath morning after we listen to a sermon from this preacher https://www.sermonaudio.com/search....rrSection=sermonssource&keyword=copperfieldbc
My communion service lays out clearly as we worship WHY we hold to the Biblical Sabbath so it may be expedient to C&P the service. Why I speak about the bread ingredients is because of the difference between the various recipies that the churches use with most adopting a small crisp wafer of some sort but at the last supper it was the flat bread and so I make our offering bread as a small bun that is broken for the service. and it has leven for the reasons spoken of in the service.

Sabbath prayer and Blessing of Bread and Wine



Open with prayer



John 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Genesis 2

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.



Our Gracious Father has set this day of the week aside for us to gather together in His Presence and reinforced its importance for us with a reverence for it in the everlasting 10 Commandments as

Exodus chapter 20 tells us to

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.



So from the first Sabbath day of Creation week, this day has been sanctified and set asside by God as the Holy day of rest and communion with him. As it has always been, so will it always be, on into the future when God will remake the heaven and earth after the end of days as we read in the Revelation of Jesus.

Revelation 21

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Isiah 66 tells us,

22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.



And further in the book of

Malachi 1

11 For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.



And so on this Holy day we come to worship and to celebrate this pure offering of Jesus Christ’s redemptive sacrifice when He gave his body and blood for our sins that we may come before God clothed in Christ’s righteousness and are now adopted into his family as it tells us in

Galations 3

26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.



When Jesus was teaching in various places during His ministry, he was often asked to clarify his teaching or a point of scripture as shown in

John 6

28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Further to that we are told plainly in the book of

Acts 4

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

And in

John 1

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:



As we read in the book of Malachi, there would be a pure offering given, that the gentiles may be reconciled to God, and today we give thanks that we can celebrate Gods offering of His only son, with Christs body and blood represented by the bread and wine of this communion service as we remember that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed took bread

1 Corrinthians 11

24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

And so this bread we share is special above all other bread as it reminds us that we are like the coarse grain that Christ will refine like pure flour.

The oil tells us of the Holy Spirit who is our comforter and teacher.

The water is like that which God made flow in the wilderness to sustain life.

The salt reminds us to be a flavour to all those arround us.

The milk and honey is in rememberence of the promise of abundance to Abraham.

The work of the yeast shows us how the sin that entered in at the garden has risen through all mankind and then that Christ Jesus, sacrificing himself unto death to redeem us from that sin, of himself rose to Glory from the sleep of death, as the firstfruits of the resurection to life everlasting that he holds for us who believe.





1Corinthians 10 tells us that

16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?



And so we pray

Heavenly Father we are thankfull you have given us this Sanctified and Blessed day that we may come before you in Holy Communion with Christ Jesus.

We ask that you Bless those that do eat and drink in memory of your redeeming sacrifice for us.

We pray that our worship may be exceptable in your sight as our prayers rise with the incense, that your word would always be the guiding light of our life as we come to you at the foot of the cross that you bore for us.

Straighten our footsteps Lord and guard our faith as we wait upon your sure and certain return very soon, when your sovereignty will be established forever among all mankind.

We pray this in Jesus Holy Name.

Amen.






The facts are that the Sabbath day was kept by all christians untill Constantine made it a legal duty to observe the sunday worship in 321 AD. and it was the persecution of those who would not that bought about the early saying that when in Rome, do as the romans do but it quickly spread throughout the whole empire and as christianity spread sunday worship became entrenched but there is nowhere in scripture that shows there was or is a change. We each worship as our spiritual understanding urges us and we are all at our own individual place in our walk so I would offer a blessing to all those who would study this question.
 
One of the contemporary defenses of Sunday worship is that Pentecost happened on Sunday...and that the early church in Jerusalem met on Sunday....

I'm not sure that the day that Pentecost happened has any bearing on the Sabbath. I also personally believe that the early believers, being Jewish, were most likely attending Synagogue to hear the scriptures being read and then meeting on Sunday to have a "bible study and communion"...they could discuss what they had heard from the word the day before. So then the question would be does the actual day matter?

Colossians 2:16-19 (KJV)
16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

So it might be that Paul(Holy Spirit speaking through him) is giving us gentiles some leeway as to which days we can worship? But...I think a bigger issue (here in the US at least...) is how we define the purpose of the Sabbath. It is one of the ten commandments...(for all nations), not ceremonial law. Thus it is to be observed today in the spirit of what the Lord intended.

The disclaimer I hear so often is a paraphrase of what Jesus told the pharisees followers when being asked about collecting food (gleaning) on the Sabbath...He said that the Sabbath was created for man and not man for the Sabbath...this is used in my country, alarmingly, as a "I get to do whatever I darn well please on the Sabbath" ticket. This is NOT what Jesus meant...He was giving grace to be able to deal with the uncertainties of life that happen on the Sabbath. As he told the pharisees..."which of you don't pull your cow out of the ditch when it falls in on the Sabbath...."

I believe the Sabbath was made as a gift to man for us to actually spend an entire day with the Lord singing to Him, reading His word, praying, Fellow-shipping with like minded believers. I do NOT believe it meant sitting around watching sports and over eating, etc....after an obligatory worship service that lasts and hour or so long....but hey...who cares what Ted thinks? What does the word say? LOL!

Isaiah 58:13-14 (KJV)
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

yeah...the mouth of the LORD has spoken it....and it is only acceptable to HIM as worship if we are doing the REST of Isaiah 58.

I think if our conscience dictates to us that one day is more biblical than another...we should do exactly that!
But...definitely the small pittance most of us offer as Sabbath worship should be repented of for the insult that it is...

I believe that the reason the Lord is so strict with HIS command to follow the Sabbath is that our hearts are so wayward...His gift of the Sabbath will help us to stay close to HIM if we obey (which the Jews did not do to well...)

My family has recently started doing a private Sabbath on Saturday...and then doing Church on Sunday...we are not perfect in this and it is hard to do at times...when we do it it is an absolute delight. It has actually changed some of my understanding of who God is...which is always needed with this ol' lunkhead...

Contemporary man needs more of GOD not less of Him...and the current trend is less.

Please don't anyone take anything I have said as condemnation of how you are walking out your faith...this is the path I am on (imperfectly) to know God better. It's his universe, I'm His property, and I have an obligation to obey Him....and know Him.

I still haven't been able to determine if Saturday worship matters or not...I DO KNOW that how we honor God with our one day IS very important.

This is important stuff to consider.

There is a day coming soon when knives won't matter.....
 
As Ted has said, there is no intention to critisize anyone elses day of worship as we all walk our walk at the pace of understanding that the Holy Spirit gives us.

I have a picture on my wall to remind me that our walk is WITH GOD and toward God. I have been guilty of walking a roundabout route at times and even going off the highway onto side roads but it was always with the intent to come closer. I guess at times we shut off our hearing and miss what the Holy Spirit is telling us.
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Like Ted has said this is no reflection on anyone elses walk but just how I came to believe as I do.
With that being said I should point out that I was a sunday observer untill about 30 years ago when the local pastor was giving a sermon with Genesis as a base and someone asked him if the days of creation were actual days or thousand year time periods and the pastor said it didn't matter what you believed in that regard. He was trying to allow for time to include evolution for those who could not except Gods Word for the truth it is. I left the church and was at home praying and told God I could not attend a church where The Word was disparaged like that and if He wanted me to continue with a walk toward him, then he would have to show me where and how to worship with His Word as the center stone of any worship. On the monday morning I contnued praying as I was working (in my shed) and when I can down to the house for a cup of tea, I noticed a booklet in the mailbox and when I got it and started to read it was a revelation in that it talked about the day of worship and so I sat for a very long time digesting and checking what was being said with my bible. This was a turning point for me and I have kept the Biblical Sabbath day every since with sunday as the start of the working week.

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. I also personally believe that the early believers, being Jewish, were most likely attending Synagogue to hear the scriptures being read and then meeting on Sunday to have a "bible study and communion"...they could discuss what they had heard from the word the day before. So then the question would be does the actual day matter?

Can you expound on this Ted as to where the Bible shows this happening
 
Ideally, all 7 days of the week should be full of praise and worship for our Lord. And I agree that one should worship as one is led by the spirit.

It is important however to note the key distinctions that God so carefully laid out in his word between Israel (Jews, clinging to the law) and the church (the body and bride of Christ, clinging to grace). God is careful to separate and never mingle the two, as we should be.

The day of Pentecost was the official start of the calling of the church. It was a dispensational change in the way God dealt with and related to men. Further Christ was resurrected on a Sunday, which being the absolute key to Christianity, is the reason Christians celebrate and worship on Sunday. We celebrate a living, risen saviour.....the conquering of death being absolutely crucial to forgiveness of sins and thus, eternal life.

The mass of the Jews, sadly, believe none of that and still await their messiah while clinging to their traditions and rituals and laws.
 
Can you expound on this Ted as to where the Bible shows this happening
I can't....I'm merely giving a nod to church tradition. When they came together and broke bread (as you have shown above in Acts)has been kind of implied historically that they were setting precedent...which perhaps they were just meeting for expediency's sake and broke bread together. I know that the Jerusalem church would have still been keeping the sabbath (whether privately as a group of Christian Jews or if they were allowed to still attend synagogue, I do not know) otherwise Paul would not have needed clarification at the Jerusalem council as to how much of Jewish law would apply to his gentile church plants.

While practicing the Jewish ceremonial law gave the Jerusalem Church a rich understanding of all the prophetic signs that Jesus fullfilled, they were not mandating this for salvation...they understood grace. The Judaizers that dogged paul throughout his church planting were not sent by Church leaders. They were zealous lawkeepers that did not fully understand the Gospel....they recognized Christ as the Messiah...but not the full extent of the atonement. (Which many believers today do not...seems we swing wildly between licentiousness and legalism...nothing new under the sun...lol)

I truly do not know if Constantine helped Christianity or gave the church at Rome way too much power....I do think the Nicean council was blessed by God...but I think much of Constantines motivation was political....
 
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