The Sabbath, Part 2

The Bible is so rich and deep. There is so much to study and learn from it. I wish I had more time, but I’m glad for the time I have, and I’m also glad for my family and the other responsibilities that God had blessed me with. After all, we can’t study ALL the time, or there would be no time to put it into practice, right?

So last time I was here looking at the Sabbath and saw that in Romans 14 and Colossians 2, Paul warns us not to judge other believers on their keeping of days. That would cause division and stumbling.

The World Mission Society Church of God wants us to believe that if we don’t keep the Saturday Sabbath, then we are not saved, not going to heaven. But if we are not to judge each other on the keeping of days, doesn’t that mean our salvation is not linked to keeping the Sabbath (on Saturday or any other day)? How do we gain salvation anyway?

This takes us back to whether it is faith or works that saves us. And as I’ve shown before, we are saved by grace through faith, not by any works that we do. (Eph. 2:8-9)

The WMSCOG says that God commanded the Sabbath to be kept on Saturday, and so Sunday worship is a “rule of men,” from Matt. 15:9, “They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

But if you look at what was happening in Matthew 15, you see that Jesus was criticizing the Pharisees for imposing their own rules and traditions on the people, making them additional requirements to be acceptable to God.

Sunday worship is NOT a requirement earn salvation or be acceptable to God. It is NOT a “rule of men” in this way like the WMSCOG would have us believe.

We do not keep Sunday worship because we are obligated to, under the law upon pain of death (like the Sabbath laws). There is NO command in the New Testament to keep ANY special day, Sunday or Saturday or any other. We keep Sunday worship because we LOVE to worship our Lord Jesus and remember His resurrection. The principle of the Sabbath is still there—a day for rest and focus on the Lord, once a week. But the legal requirement of the particular day is gone.

That’s what I see.

Whichever day we set apart to the Lord, we remember that our observation of that day is not a matter of salvation. It is Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as payment for our sins—that’s what has provided our way to heaven. We as believers serve the Lord everyday of the week, but for our spiritual and physical well-being, it is a good idea to give one day out of seven as a specific time for rest and worship. One day out of seven--that is the way we take our Sabbath rest.

But again, let me emphasize, that the Sabbath rest is like any other commandment in this way: They are given so that we may "enjoy long life" and "so that it may go well with you" and so that we may learn to "fear the LORD" (Deut. 6:1-3). It's Jesus' work on the cross which provides salvation (our eternal life with God), not our work in keeping all those commandments, including the Sabbath.

I’d like to focus next time on the day of the week—Saturday or Sunday. What would be the reasons to choose one or the other?

Click here to go on to Part 3.