Rejoicing In the Sabbath:

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

if sabbath is a commandment then I'm lost cause I work weekends?

No. I do not see it as an issue of salvation. God can, and does, forgive every sin (except one). Breaking the Sabbath isn't unforgiveable.

Now, a hardliner might point out that many down through history have DIED because they honored God's Sabbath (both Jew and Christian). Sometimes our Christianity will cost us. If you sincerely desire to observe the Sabbath (Saturday) but you have to work... seek to maximize the time you do have available on the Sabbath. REST from labors and don't go running around on errands like a mad man until after sunset. Take the time to have a family devotion. Read a children's Bible story to your kids and pray with them. The Sabbath was made for you! Enter into it and find it's blessings. All too often we are so busy we crowd God out of our daily rutines. Eventually worship and focus on the Lord gets pushed to those days wherein we attend church. Today... many Christians will tell you that their religious practice is primarily at the church building. The Sabbath gives you and your family a reason to bring God back into your home. When the entire family chooses to gather together to take at least a little time out from all their worldly persuits to focus on God together, as a unit, there will be a blessing. It can be a very blessed time for the entire family. When I first began to explore the Sabbath it was personally in my own home. My church just happens to have services on Saturday and Sunday. So I go to the Saturday services now.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

if sabbath is a commandment then I'm lost cause I work weekends?

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?

[Truthseeker]

Originally Posted by Aquila

If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?

neurosurgeon.

[Truthseeker]

so it's not a commandment then.

we can't break a command by saying it not unforgivable with no intent to obey the command.

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

so it's not a commandment then.

we can't break a command by saying it not unforgivable with no intent to obey the command.

Why would you intend to break it? In reality we all break commandments... some of us struggle with anger (murder) other covet incessently, you've met them- every weekend at the mall, members of Amazon Prime, chronic ebayers, etc. Some gossip (bear false witness) spreading all the newest rumors, sometimes even hidden as prayer requests (we need to pray for Sis. so and so... I hear she is struggling with marital infidelity). We are weak flesh... that is not a reason not to try. And as we try God honors our efforts. If you now work on Saturday but honor what you can of Sabbath God may make a way for you to do more

It breaks my heart that some will look at Gods wonderful gift of rest and only see another way they might be condemed.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

so it's not a commandment then.

we can't break a command by saying it not unforgivable with no intent to obey the command.

We can't get around it being in the Ten Commandments. So yes, it is a commandment. However, we know that we are NOT justified or saved by the Law. We are saved unto good works, not by good works. That being said...

The way I see it you have three choices:

-Claim it's not a commandment and disregard it entirely.
-Acknowledge that it is a commandment but throw your hands in the air and give up on even trying to observe it.
-Or choose to acknowledge it is a commandment and observe it as much as is possible.

You might find that if you TRY to observe the commandment as much as possible God will open up doors for greater obedience through new job opportunities that will allow you to observe the fulness of your Sabbath rest.

[Truthseeker]

Originally Posted by Aquila

We can't get around it being in the Ten Commandments. So yes, it is a commandment. However, we know that we are NOT justified or saved by the Law. We are saved unto good works, not by good works. That being said...

The way I see it you have three choices:

-Claim it's not a commandment and disregard it entirely.
-Acknowledge that it is a commandment but throw your hands in the air and give up on even trying to observe it.
-Or choose to acknowledge it is a commandment and observe it as much as is possible.

You might find that if you TRY to observe the commandment as much as possible God will open up doors for greater obedience through new job opportunities that will allow you to observe the fulness of your Sabbath rest.

so we have commandments but if whe dont obey it doesn't matter because we are not saved by commandments??

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

so we have commandments but if whe dont obey it doesn't matter because we are not saved by commandments??

No. We are saved by responding in faith to Christ and the call of the Gospel. Once one is saved one begins a process known as sanctification. That means that they seek to be more Christlike. Christ perfectly obeyed the Law of God in all things (including thought, word, and deed), though on several occasions Jesus challenged the Law of Moses, which infuriated the Pharisees. Jesus summed the Law of God up in two principles:

Matthew 22:37-40
{22:37} Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind. {22:38} This is the first and great commandment.
{22:39} And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. {22:40} On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.

How do you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind? By honoring the following:

I
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me
II
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
III
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain, for the Lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain
IV
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
V
Honor thy father and thy mother,
that thy days may be long upon the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee

How do you love your neighbor as yourself? By honoring the following:

VI
Thou shalt not murder
VII
Thou shalt not commit adultery
VIII
Thou shalt not steal
IX
Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor
X
Thou shalt not covet

So, while we are only saved by responding in faith to the Gospel... we are sanctified through obedience. Obedience causes us to seek to love God with all of our being and our neighbors as ourselves. If we don't obey, we are not being sanctified to the fullest. Love and faith will seek to please God and be perfect before the Law of God as Jesus was.

Notice Christ's own words:

Matthew 5:17-19
{5:17} Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. {5:18} For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled. {5:19} Whosoever therefore shall break one of
these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever
shall do and teach [them,] the same shall be called great in
the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus doesn't condemn one to Hell over breaking one of God's Laws. Jesus does speak of him being least in eternity however. A loss of eternal calling and reward.

[Titus2woman]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

so we have commandments but if whe dont obey it doesn't matter because we are not saved by commandments??

Spoken like all those I've met whoes primary concern is to avoid being singed by the firey flames of hell. But yes you are technically correct.

[Truthseeker]

Originally Posted by Titus2woman

Spoken like all those I've met whoes primary concern is to avoid being singed by the firey flames of hell. But yes you are technically correct.

Notice I said lost not hell. I agree it's a messed up mentality to only be concerned with what keeps us out of a burning hell, if there is one.