Moses previously relayed the Ten Commandments to the congregation of Israel but in Deuteronomy 5 he preaches a fresh sermon on them to the new generation which is soon to enter the promised land. We have spent the past two days studying his sermon and we pick up today with verse 12. "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 5:12-14a)
The Lord doesn't ask more of us than we can give. Out of every six days He only asks that we dedicate one to Him. In the New Testament it appears Christians are not required to observe the Sabbath in the same way the Israelites were instructed to observe it in the Old Testament (Colossians 2:16-17, Galatians 4:9-11), but because the Holy Spirit indwells us we are, in a sense, obligated to observe the Sabbath every minute of every day in our hearts. In addition, I believe we are obligated to gather together with fellow believers in religious services when possible, for we are told it was Jesus' custom to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath. (Luke 4:16) If the holy and perfect Son of God felt He should be in the house of worship on the Sabbath, certainly you and I are not exempt from it unless our health or other circumstances prevent it. The Apostle Paul, who was formerly a very religiously observant Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin council, also felt it was necessary (after his conversion to Christianity) to gather together with other believers in an attitude of worship whenever possible. He said we should not neglect meeting together but that we should come together to encourage each other in the faith. We can tell from a study of the New Testament that the members of the early Christian church met together for worship on more occasions than just the Sabbath, so if anything we ought to be in the house of God or gathered together with other believers more often than just on the Sabbath if possible.
In these modern times many people have jobs that require them to work on the Sabbath. I believe the Lord understands this. Not only that, but the Lord expects us to do good on the Sabbath even if that means we are performing something that could be considered labor, for when Jesus was criticized for healing on the Sabbath, He said, "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 person than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." (Matthew 12:11-12) And He said, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" (Mark 3:4) We are not breaking the Sabbath if we are doing what is needful for the wellbeing of our fellow man. (This might take the form of working to provide for our family on the Sabbath as required by our jobs or working in a field where we are rendering aid to others on the Sabbath, such as in the medical field.) A person would not allow his animal to be in distress on the Sabbath; he would render aid to it because its services were valuable to him. But the life and the soul of a human being is even more valuable and we are required to render aid even if that aid is needed on the Sabbath. In Jesus' day there were people who were observing the Sabbath so strictly that they were actually breaking the law in order to keep the law, for in refusing to render aid on the Sabbath they were breaking the law which commands them to love their neighbors as themselves.
Another way in which a person could break the Sabbath spiritually while observing it physically was to force someone else to work on the Sabbath. "On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day." (Deuteronomy 5:14b-15)
It was a day of rest for all. If the Lord had not commanded this, it would have been legal to make people work seven days a week every week of the year without ever giving them a day off. Most people would not have treated their servants like this but there are bad apples in every bushel, as the saying goes. There are people in every culture so greedy for gain that they consider their workers expendable. The Lord tells the Israelites to recall how they were treated in Egypt. The Egyptians didn't care about their physical or spiritual welfare. It was not only a human rights violation to make the Israelites work seven days a week, but it also prevented them from having a day off in which to observe their religion. The Israelites must not treat anyone the way they were treated in Egypt. They must allow everyone a day off from work and a day in which to commune with the Lord, for to do otherwise would be to hinder the faith and spiritual growth of those over which they had authority.
The thing for Christians to remember in regard to the Sabbath is that we must set aside time for the Lord as regularly as possible and that we are to meet together with other Christians, but this does not have to be done on any particular day of the week. We are to do good in the name of Christ every day of our lives, not because works save us (we are saved by faith) but because if we love the Lord we will naturally do the things the Lord would do. The Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath, as the Lord Jesus pointed out in Mark 2:27. It was created so man could have a day of physical rest and a day of spiritual renewal. It was not created so we could become so legalistic in its observation that we actually break the laws of love and refuse to help our fellow man by saying, "Sorry, it's the Sabbath. I can't do anything for you until tomorrow." We are to observe a Sabbath of the heart every day of our lives by loving the Lord and loving our fellow man. We are to think on the Lord every day, commune with the Lord every day, and honor the Lord every day. We cannot honor the Lord if we don't stretch out hands of mercy to others, even if that means doing good works on the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus was in the house of worship in the Sabbath but He also did good works on the Sabbath. I know of no greater example than the one He set for us.
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