Enemies of the Sabbath
When Jesus showed up, He elevated God’s principles, standards, and law. He also knocked down religious spirits, legalistic practices, and idols. During that time the Sabbath was being desecrated – treating something sacred with violent disrespect. The Israelites made the sabbath into something it was never meant to be. They became completely obsessed, dominated by it, consumed with the meticulous observation of the Sabbath day and by doing that they made it into an incredible burden. They became so bound up by rules and restrictions that people lost the whole sense of loving and honoring God.
We today on the other hand, have swung too far the other way. We commonly treat the Sabbath as just another day. By doing that, we are also breaking the Sabbath. When we treat the Sabbath day as just another day, we will become apathetic towards God, losing our awe, honor, respect, and reverence for God. Remember, a Sabbath rest is more than just taking a day off… it is supposed to be a time of connecting with God and honoring Him.
Over the next few sermons, we will be talking about some of the enemies of the Sabbath day. The one we are focusing on this week is a religious spirit. A religious spirit focuses more on what you can’t do instead of what you can do.
You may have a religious spirit if…
•All you see is people’s behaviors
•Make judgements about their outward appearance without knowing their heart and their story.
•You are emotionally stiff and rigid.
•All you notice is the sin in others.
•You insist that others be punished or cancelled the moment they make a mistake.
•You push religion perfection on others.
•You are argumentative about issues that are not important to the life of believers.. you are more focused on being right than engaging in relationship
•You avoid working on your own brokenness
•You replace relationship with religious activity
•You are closed to change
•You add or subtract from God’s commands and instructions to justify your actions/feelings.
Check out what the bible has to say about this:
Romans 14 : 1 – 8; 10 – 14 (MSG) (capitalization is Pastor's emphasis)
1 Welcome with open arms fellow believers WHO DON’T SEE THINGS THE WAY WE DO.
And DON’T JUMP ALL OVER THEM every time they DO or SAY something YOU DON’T AGREE WITH —even when it seems that they are STRONG on OPINIONS but WEAK in the FAITH department. REMEMBER, THEY HAVE their own history to deal with. TREAT THEM GENTLY.
2-4 For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly.But since BOTH are GUESTS at CHRIST’S TABLE, wouldn’t it be TERRIBLY RUDE if they fell to CRITICIZING what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. DO YOU HAVE ANY BUSINESS CROSSING PEOPLE OFF the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? IF there are CORRECTIONS to be made or MANNERS to be learned, God can handle that WITHOUT YOUR HELP.
5 Or, say, one person thinks that SOME DAYS (like the Sabbath) should be SET ASIDE as HOLY and another thinks that EACH DAY IS PRETTY MUCH LIKE ANY OTHER. There are good reasons either way. So, EACH PERSON IS FREE TO FOLLOW THE CONVICTIONS OF CONSCIENCE.
6-8 WHAT’S IMPORTANT in all this is that if you KEEP a HOLY DAY, keep it for GOD’S SAKE; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. NONE OF US ARE PERMITTED TO INSIST ON OUR OWN WAY in these matters.
IT’S GOD WE ARE ANSWERABLE TO — all the way from life to death and everything in between — NOT EACH OTHER.
10-12 So where does that leave you WHEN YOU CRITICIZE A BROTHER? And where does that leave you WHEN YOU CONDESCEND TO A SISTER? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly — or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. YOUR CRITICAL AND CONDESCENDING WAYS AREN’T GOING TO IMPROVE YOUR POSITION THERE ONE BIT. Read it for yourself in Scripture: “As I live and breathe,” God says, “EVERY KNEE will bow before me; EVERY TONGUE will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God.” SO, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. YOU’VE GOT YOUR HAND FULL JUST TAKING CARE OF YOUR OWN LIFE BEFORE GOD.
13-14 FORGET ABOUT DECIDING WHAT’S RIGHT FOR EACH OTHER. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: THAT YOU DON’T GET IN THE WAY OF SOMEONE ELSE, MAKING LIFE MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT ALREADY IS. I’m convinced — Jesus convinced me! — that everything as it is in itself is holy. WE, of course, BY THE WAY WE TREAT IT or TALK ABOUT IT, CAN CONTAMINATE IT.
Jesus saw this religious spirit and knew that it was happening in the church so he began to clarify the meaning of the sabbath. Take a look at this quote from Stuart Briscoe from his book The Ten Commandments:
“How did Jesus act? Scripture says in Luke 4:16 that on the Sabbath day He went into the Synagogue as was His custom. Jesus worshiped regularly on the Sabbath day. He cleanly and carefully adhered to this requirement, but he also healed on the Sabbath. The authorities had determined that to heal was work (their rule, not God’s). In response to this, Jesus said the Sabbath was for man, not man for the Sabbath. He was saying: ‘Listen, the Sabbath doesn’t govern me; I govern the Sabbath.’ Remember, man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man. In Sabbath, God graciously provides for humans, giving men and women the opportunity for rest, refreshment, reflection, and the privilege of worship, obedience, and dependance. Enjoy it as a gift from God.”
The bottom line here is that a responsible disciple of Jesus will view the Sabbath as a practice. Setting aside a day each week for the purpose of sharpening our focus upon God. During our Sabbath rest we worship Him, serve Him, repent, confess, enjoy His creations (nature and people), talk and listen to God and each other, do something you enjoy but just remember to not leave God out of whatever that is.
“Responsible Discipleship says: I am going to take this day as a gift from God and use it responsibly in a way that honors God and restores my body and soul as well as my spiritual vitality.” – Rev. Andy Haskins.
We today on the other hand, have swung too far the other way. We commonly treat the Sabbath as just another day. By doing that, we are also breaking the Sabbath. When we treat the Sabbath day as just another day, we will become apathetic towards God, losing our awe, honor, respect, and reverence for God. Remember, a Sabbath rest is more than just taking a day off… it is supposed to be a time of connecting with God and honoring Him.
Over the next few sermons, we will be talking about some of the enemies of the Sabbath day. The one we are focusing on this week is a religious spirit. A religious spirit focuses more on what you can’t do instead of what you can do.
You may have a religious spirit if…
•All you see is people’s behaviors
•Make judgements about their outward appearance without knowing their heart and their story.
•You are emotionally stiff and rigid.
•All you notice is the sin in others.
•You insist that others be punished or cancelled the moment they make a mistake.
•You push religion perfection on others.
•You are argumentative about issues that are not important to the life of believers.. you are more focused on being right than engaging in relationship
•You avoid working on your own brokenness
•You replace relationship with religious activity
•You are closed to change
•You add or subtract from God’s commands and instructions to justify your actions/feelings.
Check out what the bible has to say about this:
Romans 14 : 1 – 8; 10 – 14 (MSG) (capitalization is Pastor's emphasis)
1 Welcome with open arms fellow believers WHO DON’T SEE THINGS THE WAY WE DO.
And DON’T JUMP ALL OVER THEM every time they DO or SAY something YOU DON’T AGREE WITH —even when it seems that they are STRONG on OPINIONS but WEAK in the FAITH department. REMEMBER, THEY HAVE their own history to deal with. TREAT THEM GENTLY.
2-4 For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly.But since BOTH are GUESTS at CHRIST’S TABLE, wouldn’t it be TERRIBLY RUDE if they fell to CRITICIZING what the other ate or didn’t eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. DO YOU HAVE ANY BUSINESS CROSSING PEOPLE OFF the guest list or interfering with God’s welcome? IF there are CORRECTIONS to be made or MANNERS to be learned, God can handle that WITHOUT YOUR HELP.
5 Or, say, one person thinks that SOME DAYS (like the Sabbath) should be SET ASIDE as HOLY and another thinks that EACH DAY IS PRETTY MUCH LIKE ANY OTHER. There are good reasons either way. So, EACH PERSON IS FREE TO FOLLOW THE CONVICTIONS OF CONSCIENCE.
6-8 WHAT’S IMPORTANT in all this is that if you KEEP a HOLY DAY, keep it for GOD’S SAKE; if you eat meat, eat it to the glory of God and thank God for prime rib; if you’re a vegetarian, eat vegetables to the glory of God and thank God for broccoli. NONE OF US ARE PERMITTED TO INSIST ON OUR OWN WAY in these matters.
IT’S GOD WE ARE ANSWERABLE TO — all the way from life to death and everything in between — NOT EACH OTHER.
10-12 So where does that leave you WHEN YOU CRITICIZE A BROTHER? And where does that leave you WHEN YOU CONDESCEND TO A SISTER? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly — or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. YOUR CRITICAL AND CONDESCENDING WAYS AREN’T GOING TO IMPROVE YOUR POSITION THERE ONE BIT. Read it for yourself in Scripture: “As I live and breathe,” God says, “EVERY KNEE will bow before me; EVERY TONGUE will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God.” SO, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. YOU’VE GOT YOUR HAND FULL JUST TAKING CARE OF YOUR OWN LIFE BEFORE GOD.
13-14 FORGET ABOUT DECIDING WHAT’S RIGHT FOR EACH OTHER. Here’s what you need to be concerned about: THAT YOU DON’T GET IN THE WAY OF SOMEONE ELSE, MAKING LIFE MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT ALREADY IS. I’m convinced — Jesus convinced me! — that everything as it is in itself is holy. WE, of course, BY THE WAY WE TREAT IT or TALK ABOUT IT, CAN CONTAMINATE IT.
Jesus saw this religious spirit and knew that it was happening in the church so he began to clarify the meaning of the sabbath. Take a look at this quote from Stuart Briscoe from his book The Ten Commandments:
“How did Jesus act? Scripture says in Luke 4:16 that on the Sabbath day He went into the Synagogue as was His custom. Jesus worshiped regularly on the Sabbath day. He cleanly and carefully adhered to this requirement, but he also healed on the Sabbath. The authorities had determined that to heal was work (their rule, not God’s). In response to this, Jesus said the Sabbath was for man, not man for the Sabbath. He was saying: ‘Listen, the Sabbath doesn’t govern me; I govern the Sabbath.’ Remember, man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man. In Sabbath, God graciously provides for humans, giving men and women the opportunity for rest, refreshment, reflection, and the privilege of worship, obedience, and dependance. Enjoy it as a gift from God.”
The bottom line here is that a responsible disciple of Jesus will view the Sabbath as a practice. Setting aside a day each week for the purpose of sharpening our focus upon God. During our Sabbath rest we worship Him, serve Him, repent, confess, enjoy His creations (nature and people), talk and listen to God and each other, do something you enjoy but just remember to not leave God out of whatever that is.
“Responsible Discipleship says: I am going to take this day as a gift from God and use it responsibly in a way that honors God and restores my body and soul as well as my spiritual vitality.” – Rev. Andy Haskins.
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