Rejoicing In the Sabbath:

[bbyrd009]

Hey, convenient is a perfectly acceptable word there. I'm amazed you would observe Sabbath at all, in that position. I missed why you decided to observe the Sabbath, then? Actually, this Sabbath thing is only like a year old for me, and I'm not sure where I got it, I'm not a Zionist or Jewish or anything...I've just learned to trust those things that come up in my mind against all reason...and I can say confidently that I won't be going back to Sunday, despite what I gave up, which was considerable, for most.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by johnny44

The commandment speaks of not working on the seventh day Exodus 20.
The Lord was angry with the people when they went to gather food to eat on the seventh day Exodus 16:27-28.The apostles went to gather food on the seventh day and Jesus didn't have a problem with them not keeping the Sabbath the only ones that were upset were the Pharisee's.

We have to define work. Is it industriousness for prophet and/or personal gain? Or is it making soup, vacuuming the floors, picking tomatoes out of the gardent, gleaning corn from the edges of crops?

Under the Law of Moses God did emphasize rest to the extreme. But the commandment isn't that extreme. Is picking a tomato from your garden an enjoyable persuit? Is it theraputic? Do you find rest in tending a garden? Rest can be found in fishing. Or even playing with your children in the backyard.

[Aquila]

Here's something I rarely see addressed:

Matthew 5:17-19
17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Notice... both the man who obeys the commandment and the man who breaks the commandment enter the "kingdom of heaven". Their salvation isn't predicated upon their obedience to the Law. However, Jesus states that whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandmets, AND SHALL TEACH MEN TO DO SO, he shall be the least in the "kingdom of heaven".

Brethren, it sounds to me that while we cannot be saved by keeping the Law... our obedience to God's moral Law clearly determines our reward in eternity.

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)

1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”

[The Matt]

I always saw it as not doing work for profit, or personal gain. I usually spend the day praising the Lord, and staying in my bible.

[bbyrd009]

Originally Posted by The Matt

I always saw it as not doing work for profit, or personal gain. I usually spend the day praising the Lord, and staying in my bible.

Hmm, I didn't have you down as a Sabbateer; (dang, and I always seem to use more eraser than pencil, hang on...)
So, how did you come to this, Matt? Is it the norm in your church? How long have you been hopelessly out of step with the rest of the world? : )

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Aquila

So, technically we don't have to go to church. I know that Jesus states that where two or more are gathered in His name, He is in their midst.

Those words of Jesus do not refer to that. Jesus is speaking about going to a brother, and then taking two more with you if he refuses to repent. Why? Because if we do this in his name, it is like Him being there.

I also know that we are not to foresake the assembling of the brethren.

So... a Christian family could choose to house church themselves. Correct?

No. They need other believers than just their own family.

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by FlamingZword

Well the day apparantly matter so much that God made note of it in Genesis, this was long befoere there was a religious covenant.

That is OLD creation. It is a memorial of OLD creation. NEW creation is unending and involves a sabbath BEFORE we work whereas the old creation sabbath was the last day AFTER we work. There is actually a very spiritual picture involved here.

Anyway, Paul said keeping days is gone now.

Also we must rembember that the Israelites kept the Sabbath way before there was a covent, for the covenant was establish at Mount Sinai, but the Sabbath was kept before that event.

Matters not, still.

So we know that before there was a religious covenant the day DID matter.

If something is establish only under a religious convenant, the rightfully it can be discarded when the covenant is not longer binding, but if something is established before the religous covenant, then it is rigth to assume that it still is valid, since it was established before.

The fact that the Sabbath was later added to the law with more instructions does not negate its validity.

What negates the day's religious validity is the fact that the day of Sabbath was a SHADOW no matter when it started. Let's not add to the word. Sabbaths are sabbaths.

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by NotforSale

Hallowed (Blessed, Sanctified), it; shows how important “Rest” is.

Man, show me where I said I don't believe the Bible! I challenge the Bible, and that mfblume, is something everyone does! If people didn't challenge the Bible, we wouldn't have over 30,000 Christian Denominations on Earth.

What's it to you? You use the Bible and preach false concepts that deceive the listener!

So, if a man needs a day of rest, where do you draw the line?

You disbelieve the bible, not just challenge it. And you take its words and my words out of context. Sorry, I am interested in folks who believe the Bible is 100% true.

BTW, HALLOWED means MADE HOLY.

[mfblume]

First of all please stop calling me "Rev". Thanks.

Now

The Law of God is still present identifying sin in both the lives of the unsaved and the saved.

It is done away with so far as serving its purpose to bring Israel to Christ and show what sin is. We only use it for reference sake to show sin and explain how no man could be saved by works.

Let’s look at the entire verse and I’ll show you that this isn’t entirely what you think:

Acts 20:7-8
7And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
8And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

The first thing we must note is that the calendar of the early church measured days from sun-down to sun-down.

That is of no consequence, since they were not KEEPING A DAY as you feel we must keep sabbath. I am just showing you they chose to have church the first day fo the week.

We read that the disciples came together "to break bread", and Paul preached unto them "until midnight". This tells us something… if Paul preached until midnight on the “first day of the week” the disciples had to have gathered "to break bread" shortly after sun-down on Saturday evening.

You are missing the forest for the trees again. Who cares when such and such happened? It's not a holy day anyway. I just showed they had church the first day of the week. We are not considering that day holy any more than the sabbath is no longer in effect as a holy day. HOLY DAYS are gone now. Gal 4:9-11.

What we see is the disciples, and Paul, closing the Sabbath. So, let's read it again with what we now know and see if we see a "Sunday worship service" in this text....

Acts 20:7-8
7And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
8And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

Upon review, I believe that most readers would agree with me that it is obviously a false pretense to say that this verse validates a Sunday worship service based merely on the words "first day of the week". It was a service closing the Sabbath on Saturday night that began shortly after sun-down, "the first day of the week".

So…nice try Rev. Blume.

You totally missed my point, and I am not "REV". You are incorporating legalism of sabbath day into the first day of the week as though we think the sabbath changed from saturday to sunday, when we actually claim there is NO HOLY DAY any more.

[bbyrd009]

"That is OLD creation. It is a memorial of OLD creation. NEW creation is unending and involves a sabbath BEFORE we work whereas the old creation sabbath was the last day AFTER we work. There is actually a very spiritual picture involved here."

Mr. Blume, could you expound on this a bit? I'm almost seeing your spiritual picture, but "rest before work" is striking me funny, ty.