The Sabbath is a very important day for us to observe, not only for religious reasons but for practical reasons as well.
Every Christian should know and keep in mind that whenever God commands something, it's not for our harm or for our loss. There's nothing wrong with obeying God's commands.
In fact, it will be very helpful and beneficial to us.
How important is the Sabbath, really? Let's talk about that.
More than just a command
The command to observe and keep holy the Sabbath, as God said in Exodus 20:8, is more than just a religious command that meant going to church on a Sunday. It's more than just dressing up well and going to church to sing a few songs, sit down to hear the pastor teach, sing a few more songs, and go home.
It's more than that.
To help us understand just how important the Sabbath day is, let's read God's own words in Exodus 20:8-11.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
1) It's a day to rest from our labors
God explicitly said in the passage that for six days we will do our work, but on the seventh day we will stop and take a rest from our labors.
Religious people in the Bible, the Pharisees in particular, took this command to the extreme and prohibited any form of work on the seventh day. Jesus showed it's not about religious matters; rather, it's about doing what pleases God (see Matthew 12:12; Luke 14:3-4; Mark 3:4-6).
2) It's a day to seek God
Think about this: if everyone considers the Sabbath a day for resting, what about ministers who work on the Sabbath? Don't they break the command when they work on everybody's rest day?
The Sabbath is more than just a fixed day of the week. It's a day set aside specifically for the purpose of seeking God weekly. What better day to do that than on a rest day?
Many people spend their rest days eating with family and going out to relax after a long week of work. Not as many, however, spend their rest days praying and seeking God.
Notice how God said we must "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy"? "Holy" means "set apart," which means our Sabbath is a day we set apart for no other purpose but to seek God.
3) It's a day to let others seek God as well
If we consider the Sabbath as a day to seek God, then we will do well to consider it a day to let others seek God as well.
This is the best day to let our spouses seek God alongside us. If we have children, then it's also the best day to encourage them to honor God. Moreover, if we have servants, then we should let them rest and seek God as well.
God said everyone, including "male servants," "female servants," even "cattle" should be given rest on this day in His honor. We ought to let everyone know the Lord.
