Sabbath, 6of9

 ~ God Required Worship On The Sabbath ~

 

Introduction  ~  In the Old Testament the Sabbath was established as part of The Law.  The Sabbath is observed from sundown Friday evening through sundown Saturday evening.  In the New Testament the law of God is written on believers’ hearts (Romans 2:12-16) rather than on tablets of stone.  It is the heart’s attitude which now supersedes outward obedience (Romans 10:10).  Following Christ’s resurrection, which occurred on the first day of the week, the Disciples and later the Church have observed their day of rest on Sunday in remembrance of Christ’s resurrection (Acts 20:7). 

 

Passages  ~  “Thus says the Lord God: ‘The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.  The prince shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway from the outside, and stand by the gatepost.  The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings.  He shall worship at the threshold of the gate.  Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until evening.  Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the entrance to this gateway before the Lord on the Sabbaths and the New Moons.  The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish; and the grain offering shall be one ephah for a ram, and the grain offering for the lambs, as much as he wants to give, as well as a hin of oil [about 1.5 gallons or 5.7 liters] with every ephah.  On the day of the New Moon it shall be a young bull without blemish, six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish.  He shall prepare a grain offering of an ephah for a bull, an ephah for a ram, as much as he wants to give for the lambs, and a hin of oil with every ephah.  When the prince enters, he shall go in by way of the vestibule of the gateway, and go out the same way’” (Ezekiel 46:1-8). 

 

“Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony.  And we were staying in that city for some days.  And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.  Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us.  She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God.  The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.  And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.’  So she persuaded us” (Acts 16:11-15). 

 

Comment  ~  Once we see the concept of a day set aside – apart – from normal activities to reflect upon our God.  

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

* * * * *

·         Be an insider!  Sign up for his Author Newsletter and receive occasional news and special offers.  His books have won national and international literary awards.  Subscribe today and receive a welcome gift.  Your email will never be sold, given, or used in any other way.  You can easily unsubscribe at any time.  https://www.subscribepage.com/rlr 

Daily blog page: http://robertlloydrussell.blogspot.com/ “Abundant Life Now”

·         The INDEX of topics is accessed by scrolling down the left column.

·         The current TOP 10 reader favorites are listed at the bottom of the page.

·         Personal TOP 10 favorites are listed in the right-hand column of the blog. 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/robertlloyd.russell 

Spiritual Gifts, 41

~ Spiritual Gift Analogies ~ 

 

Opening Comment  ~  “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (James 1:16-18). 

 

Analogies  ~  In the world around us we find many analogies of the need to function together for the good of the whole as opposed to selfishly.

 

The secular world provides examples.

 

(1)   A Championship Sports Team – a key differentiating factor from other teams is functioning with good “chemistry.”  Truly excellent teams have individual players who do what’s best to win as a team rather than what is good for their own statistics. 

 

(2)   An Excellent Company – has a clear focus, good communication, and all departments are working toward the same clear and understood goal.

 

Creation also shows this value of harmony.

 

(3)   A Forest – individual trees will withstand gale winds quite well but a lone tree will blow down much easier during a storm.

 

(4)   A Campfire – remove a red-hot ember and place it alone and it will cool rapidly.

 

(5)   The Local Church – when operating as God intended will function like a championship organization (unfortunately, like sports teams and companies this is not common).  See the next section.   

 

Biblical Analogies  ~  The Scriptures provide metaphors of a well-functioning local church.

 

(6)   The Human Body – for example read 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 and Exodus 4:11-12. 

 

(7)   The Farming Process – “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.  Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor” (1 Corinthians 3:7-8). 

 

(8)   A Family – “I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18).  “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). 

 

(9)   God’s Household – “I am writing these things to you so that… you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14-15). 

 

The Key Point  ~  In all these examples there is a clear need for all talents and gifts to be operating together for the good of the entire organization.  Each has an assigned purpose and role.

 

“And God Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16).

              

Closing Comments  ~  “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.  Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.  Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:12-16).

 

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7).

 

“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW blog.

* * * * *

·         Be an insider!  Sign up for his Author Newsletter and receive occasional news and special offers.  His books have won national and international literary awards.  Subscribe today and receive a welcome gift.  Your email will never be sold, given, or used in any other way.  You can easily unsubscribe at any time.  https://www.subscribepage.com/rlr 

Daily blog page: http://robertlloydrussell.blogspot.com/ “Abundant Life Now”

·         The INDEX of topics is accessed by scrolling down the left column.

·         The current TOP 10 reader favorites are listed at the bottom of the page.

·         Personal TOP 10 favorites are listed in the right-hand column of the blog. 

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/robertlloyd.russell