What To Do On Sunday
Preaching
What Jesus Did:
The Answer To WWJD
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
-- Matthew 12:9-14 (NIV)
It is interesting to see how many of the healings performed by Jesus occurred on the Sabbath. You would think that this would be no big deal, but we have to remember how important the Sabbath was to the Jews. The Sabbath was instituted by God through Moses on Mount Sinai. The Sabbath mandated by the fourth commandment traces its roots back to creation. Sabbath means rest and it was to be a day of rest. The Sabbath celebrates the seventh day of creation when God rested from all his works.
Seven is a significant number in the Bible. Every seventh year is a sabbatical year. The land and people were commanded to rest during that year. After every seven sabbatical years (49 years) came the fiftieth year which was the year of Jubilee. In the year of Jubilee, all debts were canceled, all land was returned to the original owners, and all slaves were to be freed. The Jews were somewhat inconsistent in their observance of the Sabbath Day and there is no record of their observing any Sabbath year or Jubilee year. According to the prophets, one of the primary reasons Israel was exiled to Babylon was their failure to observe the Sabbath day, the Sabbath year, and the year of Jubilee. Jeremiah and Ezekiel are especially scathing in their rebuke of Israel for desecrating the Sabbaths.
• What would you do if you had a whole year off?
The exile and its lessons caused the Jews to become fanatical about the Sabbath Day. The rabbis produced hundreds of rules, laws, and regulations about what did or did not constitute work on the Sabbath. These laws were so detailed that they even specified the amount of steps and the distance you could walk on the Sabbath. Even today in Israel, the Sabbath is fastidiously observed by the more conservative Jews. Tourists are not allowed in certain quarters of Jerusalem on the Sabbath and are cautioned to avoid places where they may encounter trouble. These regulations from the rabbis even covered the treatment of sickness and injury. If an illness or injury was not life threatening, treatment should be postponed until the next day, so that you would not work on the Sabbath.
• What kinds of things will you NOT do on a Sunday?
When Jesus heals on the Sabbath, it creates a huge controversy and conflict. To the Jewish leaders, Jesus was breaking the fourth commandment as interpreted by their rabbinical tradition. They did not want to go into exile again. As far as they were concerned, healing on the Sabbath was certain to incur God's wrath. It was also their litmus test for who truly followed God. Since Jesus didn't follow their traditions about the Sabbath, he could not possibly be from God. If you want a reminder of just how serious this issue was, notice that after this healing, the Jews go out to plot how to kill Jesus.
The teaching of the Jews is obviously flawed. Jesus thought so. He challenges their blind, single-minded devotion to their traditions about the Sabbath while they ignore the larger issues of compassion, mercy, and the value of human life. In the mind of the Jews, this healing could wait. This man's life was not in danger. In Jesus' mind, this man has suffered for some time. Why wait any longer?
• If you could try to convince the Pharisees that healing was permissible on the Sabbath, what would you say?
Each knew what the other was thinking. The Jews begin, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Jesus responds by showing them how they act on the Sabbath. If one of their farm animals were in danger, they would work to rescue it. Human life is far more valuable, which makes healing on the Sabbath totally within God's will.
As we think about this Sabbath Day miracle, we need to ask ourselves as Christians: How do we treat the Sabbath? The Sabbath is still the seventh day of the week, Saturday. In many ways, the tradition of the Sabbath has been kept in our society as a day of no work. It is a day of rest for most people. For those who need to work on Saturday, we retain the practice of a day off on some other day of the week, for rest and recharging ourselves. The importance of the Sabbath has not been canceled in the New Testament. Jesus made a habit of keeping the Sabbath by going to the synagogue and worshiping. Hebrews 4:9 mentions our gaining a Sabbath rest with God.
• How do you spend your Saturday, or day off?
What should we do with our Saturdays? If we really should do no work, then I guess that church work days need to be rescheduled to other days of the week as well. I think most of us understand that we need a day to refresh, recharge, be with the family, and get certain things accomplished that we don't otherwise have the time for. It should be a day for doing good. It should be a day for recouping from the stresses of the workday week.
We also need to look at what we do with our Lord's Day. Very early in the history of the church, because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, the day of Christian worship switched from Saturday to Sunday. We need to ask what we should do with our Sundays. If Saturday is our primary day for rest, relaxation, family, and projects, then Sunday needs to be the day where we focus on Jesus in worship, teaching, learning, praise, and prayer. One large problem in our society is that Sunday has become too much of a clone of Saturday. Too often, people are too willing to sacrifice the spiritual significance of Sunday in order to have another Saturday.
• What do you do with your Sundays after church?
The observance of the Sabbath made the Israelites distinct and unique from the nations around them. The nations around Israel did not observe a weekly rest and worship day. It became part of the Israelite witness to the goodness and grace of God. The observance of the Lord's Day is one thing that makes Christians unique and distinct from the other religions and practices of the world. It is the Lord's Day. It is the day Jesus rose from the dead. It should be different from every other day of the week. We should focus ourselves on our spiritual lives and our need and duty to worship God and hear his Word and sing his praises. Faithful participation in church has always been the top priority of committed Christians.
So we find ourselves in church on the Lord's Day, after a whole day of rest, relaxation, projects, family, and fun. While others may not be in church, we have chosen to gather ourselves in worship, praise, and reflection before God. We use this time to examine ourselves as to our conduct on the Sabbath and the Lord's Day to see where we might improve. We also examine to see where we need to confess and repent of our sins. We come to church to say to Jesus, "We love you and we thank you for the salvation of our souls."
WWJD -- Evaluate your use of time on your day off. What changes do you need to make? Evaluate your use of time on Sunday. What changes do you need to make?
-- Matthew 12:9-14 (NIV)
It is interesting to see how many of the healings performed by Jesus occurred on the Sabbath. You would think that this would be no big deal, but we have to remember how important the Sabbath was to the Jews. The Sabbath was instituted by God through Moses on Mount Sinai. The Sabbath mandated by the fourth commandment traces its roots back to creation. Sabbath means rest and it was to be a day of rest. The Sabbath celebrates the seventh day of creation when God rested from all his works.
Seven is a significant number in the Bible. Every seventh year is a sabbatical year. The land and people were commanded to rest during that year. After every seven sabbatical years (49 years) came the fiftieth year which was the year of Jubilee. In the year of Jubilee, all debts were canceled, all land was returned to the original owners, and all slaves were to be freed. The Jews were somewhat inconsistent in their observance of the Sabbath Day and there is no record of their observing any Sabbath year or Jubilee year. According to the prophets, one of the primary reasons Israel was exiled to Babylon was their failure to observe the Sabbath day, the Sabbath year, and the year of Jubilee. Jeremiah and Ezekiel are especially scathing in their rebuke of Israel for desecrating the Sabbaths.
• What would you do if you had a whole year off?
The exile and its lessons caused the Jews to become fanatical about the Sabbath Day. The rabbis produced hundreds of rules, laws, and regulations about what did or did not constitute work on the Sabbath. These laws were so detailed that they even specified the amount of steps and the distance you could walk on the Sabbath. Even today in Israel, the Sabbath is fastidiously observed by the more conservative Jews. Tourists are not allowed in certain quarters of Jerusalem on the Sabbath and are cautioned to avoid places where they may encounter trouble. These regulations from the rabbis even covered the treatment of sickness and injury. If an illness or injury was not life threatening, treatment should be postponed until the next day, so that you would not work on the Sabbath.
• What kinds of things will you NOT do on a Sunday?
When Jesus heals on the Sabbath, it creates a huge controversy and conflict. To the Jewish leaders, Jesus was breaking the fourth commandment as interpreted by their rabbinical tradition. They did not want to go into exile again. As far as they were concerned, healing on the Sabbath was certain to incur God's wrath. It was also their litmus test for who truly followed God. Since Jesus didn't follow their traditions about the Sabbath, he could not possibly be from God. If you want a reminder of just how serious this issue was, notice that after this healing, the Jews go out to plot how to kill Jesus.
The teaching of the Jews is obviously flawed. Jesus thought so. He challenges their blind, single-minded devotion to their traditions about the Sabbath while they ignore the larger issues of compassion, mercy, and the value of human life. In the mind of the Jews, this healing could wait. This man's life was not in danger. In Jesus' mind, this man has suffered for some time. Why wait any longer?
• If you could try to convince the Pharisees that healing was permissible on the Sabbath, what would you say?
Each knew what the other was thinking. The Jews begin, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Jesus responds by showing them how they act on the Sabbath. If one of their farm animals were in danger, they would work to rescue it. Human life is far more valuable, which makes healing on the Sabbath totally within God's will.
As we think about this Sabbath Day miracle, we need to ask ourselves as Christians: How do we treat the Sabbath? The Sabbath is still the seventh day of the week, Saturday. In many ways, the tradition of the Sabbath has been kept in our society as a day of no work. It is a day of rest for most people. For those who need to work on Saturday, we retain the practice of a day off on some other day of the week, for rest and recharging ourselves. The importance of the Sabbath has not been canceled in the New Testament. Jesus made a habit of keeping the Sabbath by going to the synagogue and worshiping. Hebrews 4:9 mentions our gaining a Sabbath rest with God.
• How do you spend your Saturday, or day off?
What should we do with our Saturdays? If we really should do no work, then I guess that church work days need to be rescheduled to other days of the week as well. I think most of us understand that we need a day to refresh, recharge, be with the family, and get certain things accomplished that we don't otherwise have the time for. It should be a day for doing good. It should be a day for recouping from the stresses of the workday week.
We also need to look at what we do with our Lord's Day. Very early in the history of the church, because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, the day of Christian worship switched from Saturday to Sunday. We need to ask what we should do with our Sundays. If Saturday is our primary day for rest, relaxation, family, and projects, then Sunday needs to be the day where we focus on Jesus in worship, teaching, learning, praise, and prayer. One large problem in our society is that Sunday has become too much of a clone of Saturday. Too often, people are too willing to sacrifice the spiritual significance of Sunday in order to have another Saturday.
• What do you do with your Sundays after church?
The observance of the Sabbath made the Israelites distinct and unique from the nations around them. The nations around Israel did not observe a weekly rest and worship day. It became part of the Israelite witness to the goodness and grace of God. The observance of the Lord's Day is one thing that makes Christians unique and distinct from the other religions and practices of the world. It is the Lord's Day. It is the day Jesus rose from the dead. It should be different from every other day of the week. We should focus ourselves on our spiritual lives and our need and duty to worship God and hear his Word and sing his praises. Faithful participation in church has always been the top priority of committed Christians.
So we find ourselves in church on the Lord's Day, after a whole day of rest, relaxation, projects, family, and fun. While others may not be in church, we have chosen to gather ourselves in worship, praise, and reflection before God. We use this time to examine ourselves as to our conduct on the Sabbath and the Lord's Day to see where we might improve. We also examine to see where we need to confess and repent of our sins. We come to church to say to Jesus, "We love you and we thank you for the salvation of our souls."
WWJD -- Evaluate your use of time on your day off. What changes do you need to make? Evaluate your use of time on Sunday. What changes do you need to make?
