Would you like shrimp for dinner? Not if you were one of God’s Old Testament Christians! God forbid all kinds of foods in the dietary regulations. It wasn’t just food that God regulated. There was also the mandated day of rest known as the Sabbath. In fact the work Sabbath means rest.
So let’s go straight to the topic of work… or should I say activity. Is it wrong to take a job or any activity if it meant you had to miss one Sunday a month? – think soccer, dance, fishing, bird watching, whatever. One Sunday? Ok. Two Sundays a month? Meh, alright. Three Sundays a month? Four Sundays a month? Do I have to say five? Pastor Fred, Colossians 2:16-17 talks about how no one can judge us by religious festivals, a New Moon celebrations or a Sabbath days! It doesn’t matter when or how often we go to church. You are right on the money – these are only a shadow. We do not worship for worship’s sake. God doesn’t like us more because we make it every Sunday. Our reality is found in Christ. My question is what if you don’t have time to find Christ? How can you remember the Sabbath day by setting it apart, when you never do? Do you find rest for your body? Do you find rest for your soul?
Pastor Fred, I don’t need church for that! I worship God every day! Those devotional emails. I wake up every morning and read my Bible for a half hour and then meditate for another fifteen, asking God for his blessing on my day. I pray that is you. Know this also, I’m not God’s private investigator. I’m the shepherd of this flock. I won’t peek in your window. I will call you from time to time and say, I’ve been thinking about you. The sad reality in my experience is that if people are not making Sunday morning worship a priority (online worship is fantastic – especially in the age of COVID), they aren’t getting Sabbath, they aren’t getting rest for their bodies and their souls. They’re getting tired. Sometimes they get exhausted.
Want to hear more? Including how much sleep we actually need? Watch this Sunday’s message taken from Colossians 2: Shrimp for Dinner.
Book(s): Colossians
Tag(s): Sabbath, Work Righteousness
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg