4. Remember The Sabbath Day

Exodus 20:8-11

 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

This is perhaps one of the most misunderstood commandments of all, for this very Commandment Jesus Christ Himself broke.

In the book of John, it explains how Jesus went out and healed people on the Sabbath day, something the Jewish people saw as unlawful and evil.

John 5:16-18

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” 18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Looking at these verses, Jesus made it very obvious that He had no problem breaking the rules of the Sabbath, even claiming that He was working. This is what initially caught the attention of the Pharisees. Jesus was persecuted because He had broken the Sabbath rules and claimed to be the Son of God. The commandment in Exodus clearly states that you shall do no work whatsoever, yet Jesus worked on the Sabbath. Why should we honor the Sabbath when Jesus Himself didn’t?

As you see, this commandment’s meaning can be confusing. My personal opinion is that we, as Christians, should make every day the Lord’s day. Praise Him, worship Him, and thank Him for all He does. I disagree with the people who suggest that you must stay at home and do no work. What did Jesus do? Jesus went out and did His Father’s work. If anything, we need to be going out and spreading the good news to everyone we meet.