Are Christians required to keep the Sabbath? No, I will tell you why..

A common error in the Sabbath-keeping debate is the concept that the Sabbath was the day of worship.

The Sabbath was given to us as a day of rest not a day set aside to worship, we should worship

God everyday, no day is more important than the other. The Sabbath was not created for God,

it was created for us. The Sabbath serves as a weekly reminder of God's creation and God the

Creator. It was set as a pattern for mankind that each week man needed a day of rest to be

healthy. Christians are not required to take a day of rest but God is telling us that because of

the design of our bodies, we need at least one day of rest to remain healthy. The Sabbath was

never intended to be a work to make God happy, it was intended to be a blessing to mankind

and it points us to the message of Jesus Christ. It points to the spiritual rest we get when we

receive Jesus Christ. We cannot earn God's happiness, it has already been done on the cross

through Jesus Christ. This doesn't mean God doesn't want us to be obedient but we must get

a better understanding so that we know without confusion what the truth is. The command to

keep the Sabbath is never given in the New Testament.

This concept goes back to the truth that Christians are not under the law. The law was never

meant to save us but to lead us to the one that will. The Law will never get you to the promised

land, it leads to bondage. If you want to get into the promised land, guess who has to get you

there??-"JOSHUA" that translates to "YESHUA"- "JESUS"!!!!!!!

God knows how we are, some of us would work 7 days a week if we could. God used the

Sabbath to tell us to slow down. He knows our mindset, that is why he wants to assure us

that we need rest. God didn't make the Sabbath for himself, he is God, he doesn't need

rest.

According to the Sabbath Law, you not only have to take the 7th day off but also you have

to take every 7th year off. Do you know anyone who takes every entire 7th year off of work??

Lighting a fire on the Sabbath is not permitted.

Do Not Make (or allow) Others Work

Carrying anything out of a "domain" is prohibited (your house or community)

Preparation and cooking of food prohibited- planting,gathering,reaping,threshing/extracting

A lot of the Sabbath rules were created by MEN, the pharacies.

There are many things involved with Sabbath law, do you follow them all??? Of course not.

The Bible says the reason we do not keep the Sabbath is because the Sabbath being a

picture of Jesus Christ was FULFILLED by Jesus Christ.

16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. (Colossians 2: 16-17)

Whatever you take from this, please understand this, God is a God of mercy and grace, not a

God of legalism and rules. If you follow God and you receive Jesus Christ that fulfilled the law and

if you believe what Jesus stated was the greatest commandment of all:

 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.(Matthew 22:36-40)

Doing these things are fulfillment of the law..

Notice Jesus says "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Which

means if you love him, you will obey him. That one commandment of Love is a loaded

statement, if we obey this, we automatically become obedient, it comes with the territory.

This DOES NOT mean we can pick a choose what we want to obey, it means we are not

under bondage and that we have accepted Christ and that with our growing faith in him, we

will have the desire to be obedient to God and his teachings.

Does this mean it is wrong to worship on the Sabbath?? Absolutely NOT!! We should

worship God every day!!  If you want to worship God on the Sabbath, that is awesome. Just as

long as we understand we are not under or binded by these misunderstood laws....

DD