20th Century Bible
Course
LESSON SIXTEEN
Dear Student:
Sunday today is
considered by some people as a holiday, a day for recreation and relaxation, a
day with the family. Others view it as a great day for a round of golf or a
time to mow the lawn.
Could this attitude
stem from the fact that many misunderstand the purpose for a special weekly worship
day, as well as misidentifying which day God has set aside for His Sabbath day
and when it begins?
Bible scholars who
support the creation account in Genesis agree that God originally set aside the
seventh day of the week-the day we call Saturday-as His special Sabbath day way
back at the creation of this world. They also support the fact that the
traditional, Biblical Sabbath day is still the seventh day of the week-the day
we call Saturday.
God set aside the
seventh day of the week as a perpetual reminder of His Creatorship, a reminder that
this world was created by Him in six literal days. The Sabbath points man back
to this great act to remind him continually that God created man in His own
image.
Thus the Sabbath is
more than just one of the ten commandments. It is an experience in communion
with God on the same day of the week that He gave to Adam and Eve. God blessed
the seventh day. He sanctified it for man's benefit. All this is clear in the
creation account.
For someone to come
along and substitute another day-any other day, in place of God's Sabbath, presupposes
that such a person is equal to God Himself. And for someone else to pick up
that day, recognizing it as a substitute, and expect to receive the blessing
God promised for those who worship on His seventh-day Sabbath, borders on
presumption.
What an honor God
has given man, to arrange a special weekly appoin-ment for fellowship together.
The King of the universe wants me in that circle of His fellowship! He wants
you to keep this appointment that He has so graciously provided. But He leaves
it with us to decide. No force. No compulsion-except the drawing power of Calvary,
where He showed how much He cares for us. Is He asking too much-one special
appointment a week? And at the time He has arranged?
Very sincerely,
Your Bible Instructor
LESSON 16
SABBATH OBSERVANCE
SCRIPTURE READING:
JOHN 9 (NT 92 [ 7 1 ] )
God said,
"Remember!" But evidently man has forgotten the divine appointment
God made with him many centuries ago. Church attendance is dropping rapidly the
world over. Only 5 percent of the people in France, and only 2 percent of those
in England, ever attend church. Although some churches in America have shown an
increase in attendance, many of the larger churches are having difficulty in
luring members to any but
special holiday services. Recently one church offered a prize to the family who
came to church on a certain Sunday by the most unusual method of
transportation!
Most people have
become so preoccupied with living and having fun that they have forgotten their
Maker. Too busy to really live is the schedule that many Americans have charted
for themselves. Could it
be that because God
knew and understood that the pressures and problems man would face would make
it very easy to forget His gracious provision of love, He began the Sabbath
command with the word
"Remember"?
Part 1-- THE VALUE
OF THE SABBATH
1. For whose
benefit was the Sabbath made? Mark 2:27 ________________________
When God commands,
He does it with love. His request for us to keep the Sabbath holy is a request for
joy-our joy. The world around us runs at its frantic, dizzy pace. The Sabbath
is a buffer against it-a time
to turn off the
world; a time for physical, mental, and spiritual rest. He called it the
Sabbath, which means rest.
2. Of what two
things is the Sabbath designed to remind us? Genesis 2:1-3____________________
Ezekiel
20:12___________________________________
Here we are
reminded of two great facts: ( 1 ) God is our Maker, the Father of us all; and
(2) God's objective is to sanctify us; i.e., to restore His image in us.
Sabbath observance is our acknowledgement that only the Creator has the power
to re-create us. Since it is Christ who sanctifies us (1 Corinthians 1:30)
keeping the Sabbath shows our faith in His ability to do this for us.
3. Of what future
event does the Sabbath remind us? Isaiah 66:22, 23 (OT 595 [463])
By keeping the
Sabbath holy we demonstrate our faith in the second coming of Christ and the recreation
of all things. Each recurring Sabbath becomes a foretaste of the Sabbaths to be
spent with our Saviour throughout eternity.
True Sabbathkeeping
answers the three great questions mankind has faced throughout the ages:
Where did we come
from? Why are we here? Where are we going?
We came from God,
who created us.
We are here to
become again like Him-to have His image restored in us.
And we shall
someday live with Him and rest with Him "from one Sabbath to
another."
Part 2-- HOW TO
KEEP THE SABBATH HOLY
1. How should we
keep the Sabbath? Exodus 20:8.________________________________
2. What is not to
be done on the Sabbath? (verses 9,10) ___________________________
Frequently
well-meaning Christians say, "We ought to keep every day holy, not just
one." Of course, what they really
mean is that we should live holy lives every day of the week. And who will
quarrel with that? However, to live Christlike lives every day is not the same
thing as keeping a day holy. God does not leave it up to man to define what it
means to keep His day holy. He spells it out carefully for us. God expects us
to earn a living, and has given us six days each week for that purpose, but the
work involved in making a living is not to infringe upon God's time.
3. What about hiring others to work for us on God's holy day? (verse 10) ___________________
Even if our
employees or household help do not believe in God, they are not to be denied a
day of physical rest. Even domestic animals are not overlooked!
4. What else
besides labor is prohibited on the Sabbath? Isaiah 58:13 " If thou turn
away thy foot from the sabbath, from _____________________ on my holy day; and
call the sabbath a ____________________,the holy of the Lord, honourable; and
shalt honour him, not doing___________________, nor finding thine own
________________________, nor____________________________________________________________."
To place your foot
on something is a Hebrew idiom meaning to claim ownership of it. God says,
"Stop taking over my day as if it belonged to you." God wants the
Sabbath to be a delight-the best day of the entire week! Why then, are we not
to do our own pleasures on that day? As legitimate as our hobbies and pasttimes
may be, they are usually all-absorbing. Many involve strenuous exercise. The
Sabbath is a day set apart for God. On it man is to concentrate on doing that
which will please and honor God, not himself.
To illustrate: I
notice on the calendar that Mother's Day is approaching. I want to do something
special for my dear mother, now up in years, so I plan carefully. I am very
fond of pizza. Here's a great opportunity to go to the pizza parlor and
indulge. True, Mother doesn't particularly care for pizza, and going out saps
her frail strength, but I want to do something special for her!
What's wrong with
that kind of thinking? Why, if I really want to do something special for my
mother, I will plan to do the
things that she most enjoys, not what / would like to do. She would cherish an
unhurried visit. She still delights in a
good game of dominoes, and she's very fond of mints. So I slip over with a box
of mints and give
her a couple hours of my time. The game we play together and our fellowship
will be relived over and over in the coming weeks as she recalls Mother's Day.
Just as one must
know and appreciate the love of a mother in order for Mother's Day to mean
anything to him, so the Sabbath can be of no value apart from a happy and holy
relationship with the One it honors.
How appropriate it
would be if our first thoughts upon awakening each Sabbath were, "This is
your day, Lord. I will rejoice and be glad in it. I want to spend it with You.
What may I do today that would bring You honor? What would
please You most?" Soon the Sabbath would become a delight to us. We would
look forward to stopping secular work and anticipate with pleasure the quiet
hours of the Sabbath, and worshiping with
fellow believers in church. All through the week the Sab-bath would attract our
hearts, pulling us closer to God. As we look forward to its sacred hours, we
should plan ahead to make everything ready. The house will be clean, the
clothes ready, the food prepared. The radio will be silenced and the television
turned off. Newspapers, secular books and magazines will be put away. The
Sabbath has arrived, a special time for man and his God, a time when our
spiritual longings can find fulfillment in communion with our Maker.
5. When does the
Sabbath begin? Mark 1:21,32; Leviticus 23:32________________________ Only those
who have experienced the peace and quiet joy of ushering in God's holy day as
the sun sinks in the west, can fully appreciate this thoughtfulness on the part
of God. Man begins each day in the middle of the night. How much nicer it is,
with all the work done, with clean bodies and homes, for the whole family to
meet together for songs of praise, for words of Scripture, and for prayer as
the Sabbath hours begin.
Then again, as the
sun goes to its rest at the close of the Sabbath, we may lift our hearts and
voices to Him in thanksgiving, and ask His blessing and presence to be with us
as we begin another week.
What a lovely way
to begin and end God's weekly Sabbath!
Part 3--HOW JESUS
KEPT THE SABBATH
For a perfect
example of how to keep the Sabbath holy, we may turn to the Word and see how
Jesus observed it when He walked on earth. Jesus knew why the Sabbath was made
and for what purpose. He knew of man's need for rest, refreshment and delight.
But by the time He arrived on the scene of action, the true nature of the
Sabbath had become perverted by human interference. Covered with the rubbish of
human inventions, the Sabbath was no longer a blessing but a burden, no longer
a delight but a drudgery. Jesus came to cast away these purely human enactments
and restore the Sabbath to its rightful position. Much of His ministry was
devoted to proper Sabbath observance.
1. Where was it
Christ's custom to go on the Sabbath? Luke 4:16 ________________________ What
the Jews called a synagogue, we call a church. Our Saviour attended and took
part in Sabbath services-not just to get an audience, for vast crowds followed
Him where-ever He went. Evidently it was His way to show regard for God's holy
day and to leave us an example of proper Sabbath keeping.
2. When his enemies
accused him of Sabbath breaking by healing on that day, what great principle of
proper Sabbath observance did Jesus give? Matthew
12:12__________________________
Works of mercy,
relieving pain and suffering, honor a God whose heart is touched by any kind of
suffering.
3. What else did
Jesus often do on the Sabbath? Luke 4:31 ____________________________
To share with
others who are hungering and thirsting for a knowledge of God, the Word of
Life, is certainly an appropriate activity for the Sabbath day.
4. Why did the Pharisees
accuse Jesus' disciples of breaking the Sabbath? Matthew 12:1, 2
___________________________________________
The religious
leaders of His day had added to the Sabbath commandment countless restrictions
of their own-restrictions that were both ridiculous and impossible to keep.
Prodding in the direction of greater strictness was the last thing needed in
Christ's day. Rather, Jesus sought to free the Sabbath of all these man-made
encumbrances and to let it stand in its original beauty. Today the pendulum
has swung to the other extreme and most
people pay little attention to what they do or do not do on the Sabbath.
5. Why did Jesus
visit a Pharisee one Sabbath? Luke 14:1 _______________________________ Christian
fellowship is proper on the Sabbath day. Notice, however, that Christ gave us
an example of "not speaking thine own words." The table conversation
was not on the latest fashions, the political news or the Roman games. It
centered on spiritual themes.
Part 4--LOYALTY
George E. Vandeman,
in A Day to Remember, tells the following story:
"Seated in a
dining car on a train during World War II, I noticed on the back of the menu an
engraving of the Stars and Stripes in full color. As a loyal American, I honor
the Stars and Stripes. So you can imagine my surprise and my perplexity as
beneath the flag I read these words: 'Just a piece of cloth.
That's all it is;
just a piece of cloth. You can count the threads in it, and it's no different
from any other piece of cloth.'
"My patriotism
would have rebelled if I had not read on: 'But then a little breeze comes
along, and it stirs and comes to life and flutters and snaps in the wind-all
red and white and blue-and then you realize that no other piece of cloth could
be just like it. Yes, that flag is just a piece of cloth until we breathe life
into it. Until we make it stand for everything we believe in and refuse to live
without.'
"I might take
an ordinary piece of red cloth. You could count the threads in it, and find it
no different from any other piece of red cloth. But if I take that piece of red
cloth and a piece of white cloth and a piece of blue cloth and sew them
together into the Tricolor of France, Frenchmen would die for it. If I sew them
together into the Union Jack, Britishers would die for it. Or if I sew those
same pieces together into the Stars and Stripes, Americans would die for
it-would not live without it!
"Just so, God
took an ordinary day. You could count the hours in it. In that respect it was
no different from any other day. But then He made a Sabbath out of it. He
breathed life into it. He made it stand for everything precious and vital, an
emblem [sign] of all He wants Christians to live for and refuse to live without"
(pp. 43, 44).
1. What did God
call His Sabbath? Ezekiel 20:12, 20 "I gave them my sabbaths, to be a _______________________,
that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.... And hallow my
sabbaths, and they shall be a __________________________________ , that ye may
know that I
am the Lord your
God."
Today we would
probably use the word "trademark." When you see a Kiwanis pin on a
man's lapel, you know he belongs to the Kiwanis Club. When we keep the seventh-day
Sabbath, it is a badge, or sign of membership in God's family. It shows that He
is my Father and I am His child. It becomes a special bond between God and me.
It tells Him He is supreme in my life. It tells Him that I look back upon
Calvary with a recognition of my own sinfulness. It tells Him that I see and
realize how much Jesus paid for my
redemption there on that cross. It is a sign to everyone who sees me worship on
His day, that I would rather die than be disloyal to Him.
2. How is our
loyalty determined? Romans 6:16 ___________________________________
As history winds its way to its final crises, the question of allegiance will become even more important. Every person will be on one side of the other-the Creator's or the man of sin's "who exalteth himself above . . .God" (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4)
As history winds its way to its final crises, the question of allegiance will become even more important. Every person will be on one side of the other-the Creator's or the man of sin's "who exalteth himself above . . .God" (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4)
3. How did Jesus
feel about following tradition? Mark 7:7-9 (NT 39 [29]) __________________ Could
He have said it any plainer? Rather serious, isn't it-that we might as well not
worship at all if we are going to do it in our own way and not as He has
commanded? And since we plan to keep the Sabbath with Him in heaven-and in His
way-isn't it a good idea to start keeping it here? "For this is the love
of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not
burdensome" (1 John 5:3, RSV). If you have never known the joy of
Sabbathkeeping, why not accept the rest that God gives in Christ? Why not find
the joy and delight He has placed in this memorial of the work He finished at creation
and on the cross? Do you love Him enough to do this?
http://wesleychapel22.adventistchurchconnect.org/
http://wesleychapel22.adventistchurchconnect.org/