Exodus 20:8-11
8 Remember to dedicate the Sabbath day: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You must not do any work-you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates. 11 For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
Matthew 12:9-13
9 Moving on from there, He entered their synagogue. 10 There He saw a man who had a paralyzed hand. And in order to accuse Him they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 But He said to them, “What man among you, if he had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t take hold of it and lift it out? 12 A man is worth far more than a sheep, so it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then He told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored, as good as the other.
Related Text:
Genesis 2:1-3
Exodus 16:11-30
Psalm 62:1-5
Mark 2:23-28
Hebrews 4:1-4
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I Have No Idea, But I Know Who Does
For those faithful to Judaism, the Sabbath is a day when all work stops. Sabbath = No Work. During the time of the Old Testament, if someone broke Sabbath laws, that person was judged. In some cases, they could even be put to death. (See Numbers 15:32-36) They weren’t kidding around with this stuff.
In today’s modern times, there is some difficulty in interpreting what is actually work when comparing it to the Old Testament. For instance, the rule that prohibits anyone from making a fire might be difficult to keep today, if you get too specific in your interpretation. Some people would argue that turning on a light shouldn’t be done on the Sabbath because the burning of the filament which creates the light is a controlled fire, and therefore shouldn’t be turned on. There are those faithful to Judaism who are prohibited from turning on anything electrical because they believe it violates the Sabbath. (The word on the street is that they can still leave their refrigerators running to keep their food from spoiling.)
I have friends that don’t go out to eat lunch on Sunday afternoon because in doing so they are creating a need for someone else to work.
I am not a Biblical Scholar by any means. I am sorry to say that I cannot tell you what you should do on the Sabbath. What I can say is that I encourage you to pray and talk to God about it. Ask Him what He would want from you on the Sabbath. As Christians, our Sabbath is basically Sunday. Pray to God and seek what He might want from you on this day. Maybe whatever His answer is will help bring praise and honor to Him. Maybe He will have you do something that sounds bizarre at first, but ultimately makes an impact for His Kingdom. Just Pray.
