Monday, September 14, 2015
461 - Why Am I Doing This? Part 2
Spirituality Column #461
September 15, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville-Geist
Why Am I Doing This? Part 2
September 15, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville-Geist
Why Am I Doing This? Part 2
By Bob Walters
For all the
New Testament’s discussion of the Sabbath, not once does Jesus demand we “go to
church on Sunday.”
Jesus in
fact constantly nettles the Pharisees by undermining Sabbath protocols. When they rebuke Him, Jesus calls the
Pharisees hypocrites, humiliating them with his plain-spoken, irrefutable
arguments.
Most egregiously, Jesus tells the
Pharisees that He himself is Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). The clearer it becomes to the Jewish leaders
that Jesus is telling them He is the promised Messiah (John 5:18), the nearer He
approaches the cross and crucifixion.
Everyone knows that the Jewish Sabbath
is the seventh day – well, Friday sundown to Saturday sundown – commemorating
God’s rest after the six days of Creation.
Christians celebrate “Lord’s Day,” marking Jesus’s resurrection on
Sunday. Over time Christians adapted the
Old Testament commandment “to keep the Sabbath holy” as an instruction for worship
and rest on Sunday. And many people do rest on Sunday … sleeping in instead of attending
church.
But, to the original question: “Why
am I doing this?” i.e., going to church.
In breaking Sabbath rules, Jesus is
telling Jewish leaders that their rest, their peace, the proper object of their
worship, is standing right in front of them; that He is God in humanity, the
Messiah, the salvation of the world. The
Jews had come to a point – and too many Christians today are depressingly like
this – that their worship was more about things and calendars and rules than
about the perfect divine love of God and the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said “I am Lord of the Sabbath”
because He in fact is the
Sabbath. In Jesus we have the perfect
rest and peace that God enjoyed on the seventh day. Jesus actually is that rest, not merely a symbol or a promise of it.
Church
reminds us of that.
Bible expositors explain that our
Christian Sabbath is about “Creation” and “Redemption” as ordered in the Old
Testament. True enough, but woefully incomplete. Our Sabbath – our rest, redemption,
salvation, peace and hope – is Jesus and the Good News of the New
Testament. It’s not limited to a day, a
place or a set of rules. Our rest is
celebrating the glory and enormity of the Creator God and the Redeeming Christ,
and doing it for Their glory, not ours.
So why do I go to church on
Sunday? Because that’s when it meets.
But Jesus our Lord is alive and with
us all the time.
Walters’
(rlwcom@aol.com) son Eric, the one who asked about going to
church, was married this past weekend in Galveston, TX. He met Lindsey in a prayer group in Dallas,
where they live and work. Blessings to them!
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