It seems to me that calling the Sabbath a delight has been highly disregarded in our day and age. Christians have put their own 'needs' above those holy duties that God has graciously given to his people. May the Lord turn us back to Him as we call the Sabbath a delight!
Of all of the commandments of a decalogue, the Sabbath is the most controversial in current evangelical Christianity. Would you say that you do not usually put other gods before God? Would you say that you usually do not murder? Would you say that you usually are faithful towards your spouse? Would you say that you usually do not worship with idols? Why do we usually keep the Sabbath day?
Isaiah 58:13-14 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remaineth therefore a Sabbath to the people of God. For he that is entered into his Sabbath, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that Sabbath, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Sins of omission [on the Sabbath day] are exceedingly prejudicial; because, though they have a tendency to harden the heart and stupify the conscience, yet they are, of all others, least regarded. As to the omission of holy duties on the Sabbath day, it is slighting and casting away of a great prize, put into our hands. Hence, in such a case, it will be said, 'Wherefore is there a prize put into the hands of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart for it?' It may be observed also that the omission of holy duties on the Sabbath day is generally attended with the neglect of secret duties, and is an inlet to all manner of sins, and to a total apostasy from God.
~Thomas Ridgeley
2 comments:
"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."
-What is the foundation for keeping the Sabbath?
-Is it possible for a person to argue against the presence of the Regulative principle of worship being in Scripture in regards to this text, especially regarding will worship?
Anon, it seems to me that one must jettison the Sabbath if one also wants to believe in anything other than 6 normal length days for creation. The reason annexed to the 4th Commandment leaves no reasonable doubt that the days of creation were of the same "kind" and length as the Sabbath day. I ask sarcastically, why should I remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, when God is playing word-games (as many today allege) in the reason He states as to why I should keep it holy.
As for you second question, well sure its possible, and all sorts of people argue that all the time, but that is not the favored argument. The current state of the art in will-worship is to deny that will-worship is in fact will-worship. How guilty do we need to feel if we just delude ourselves into thinking the slop we throw at God is in fact commanded by Him? [Sarcasm] Doesn't it say in Eph 5 and Col 3 that we should sing hymns? Doesn't it say in Psalm 150 we should praise God with all sorts of instruments? Doesn't "doing all to the glory of God" mean that all of life is worship? As long we keep the form of the words we can deny the power thereof, and as long we have been baptized with a Trinitarian formula we're in the community of God, and we can trust in that. Although, I wonder if "Mother, Child, Womb" (ala the PCUSA) counts as a Trinitarian formula. [/Sarcasm]
Nate, I think the reason why the 4th Commandment is controversial today is because the “Reformed” church has long ago surrendered on the topic of the 2nd Commandment, and also for the reason I stated above. One must actively “do away with” the Sabbath so that it doesn't so obviously disprove his absurd notions regarding creation. Sunday shopping and football are just fringe benefits. [Sarcasm] Surely one can fit all the important parts of the Resurrection into an Easter Sunrise Service. God surely wants us to have fun, so that's why there are 52 Sundays a year, one for Him, and 51 or us. Do you really expect modern or should I say post-modern man to spend the entire day in the public and private exercise of God's worship except so much as to be taken up in the acts of necessity and mercy – and what, you expect people to actually extend mercy to each other especially on the Sabbath? [/Sarcasm]
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