“Remember the Sabbath”

by Jeff Curtis

The observance of the Sabbath day was part of the Old Testament law that was abolished (Ephesians 2:13-16; Colossians 2:14). Christians are not obligated to keep any part of the Old Testament Law, including the Sabbath regulations. The fourth commandment was the only one of the Ten Commandments which was not incorporated into the law of Christ (Exodus 20:8). Some people speak of Sunday as “the Christian Sabbath,” but there is no such thing. The Sabbath day was the seventh day of the week, that is, Saturday (Exodus 20:8-11). The day of worship for Christians is Sunday, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1Corinthians 16:2), which came to be called the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10). The fact that early Christians had a special day and time as well as specific activities for worship is attested to by historical writings.

The first day of the week became the day of worship for Christians because this was the day that Jesus arose from the grave (Matthew 28:1-6; Luke 24:1-6; John 20:1-9). As far as we know, every recorded post-resurrection appearance of Jesus that is associated with a specific day occurred on the first day of the week. Sunday is the day when Christians gather together to pray, sing praises to God, listen to a message from God’s Word, give of their money, and observe the Lord’s Supper.

The New Testament teaches Christians to assemble on the Lord’s Day, both by apostolic example and by direct commandment. If we are to partake of the Lord’s Supper on the first day of each week, as was customary in the early church (Acts 20:7; 1Corinthians 11:20-34; 16:2), then it is mandatory that we be present. The writer of Hebrews wrote to encourage Jewish Christians not to “give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25, NIV). Since early Christians met on the first day of the week – a fact verified by the New Testament and other historical accounts – the assembly mentioned in Hebrews obviously was this one. The inspired writer didn’t want his readers to forsake the practice of meeting with the church on the Lord’s Day.

When He Writes “Forgiven”

author unknown

In a small town in the South during the Great Depression, there was a Christian physician widely known for his medical skill and for his kindness.

After his death, when his books were examined by his wife and other heirs, there were many accounts which had written across them in red ink the words, “Forgiven – too poor to pay.” The wife and heirs were not as kindly disposed as the old doctor, and they determined to collect these accounts since they added up to quite a large sum of money.

They sued for the money. The judge asked the wife, “Is this your husband’s handwriting in red?” She answered that it was. The judge shook his head and said, “In this case, there is not a tribunal in the land that can collect this money, for he has plainly written, ‘Forgiven’ on these accounts.”

We can be sure that when the Great Physician has written “Forgiven” on our spiritual debts, we have been forever released from them.

The Uselessness of Fighting Against God

by Jeff Curtis

James Weldon Johnson began a new poem – a sermon in verse – on the prodigal son with these words: “Young man, young man, your arms too short to box with God.” Those lines stick in the memory because of the vivid imagery. Picture a boxer with short arms trying vainly to hit an opponent who has much longer arms. Imagine two men from the Middle Ages wearing armor and mounted on horses for a jousting contest. One has a lance twelve feet long, and the other’s six feet long! Similarly, we might think of two athletic teams that are completely mismatched. For instance, in the 2003 rugby World Cup series, the Australian team defeated Namibia 142-0. The poet Johnson was saying that when we fight against God, our situation is like that. There is no way we can win.

The futility of fighting against God is well illustrated in the book of Exodus. The story in this book is basically a story of the one true God versus the many false gods of Egypt. We might also view it as the one true God against Pharoah, who was regarded a god. Ultimately, of course, God won the battle. Israel was delivered, and Pharoah had to acknowledge God’s power.

The first chapter of Exodus gives a preview of the story. Here, Pharoah made a concerted effort to defeat God’s people, and so to defeat God, but he was beaten in every attempt.

1. Pharoah enslaved the people. Why? Because he was afraid of them. What was the result? The people of Israel multiplied and spread out (1:12).
2. Pharaoh made their work more difficult. When he saw that his first effort didn’t accomplish his purpose, he made the people work even harder (1:13-14). Apparently, that didn’t work either, since Pharaoh took other steps.
3. Pharoah told the Hebrew midwives to kill the baby boys (1:15-16). The midwives refused to obey Pharoah because they “feared God” (1:17-21), and God honored these midwives. He “established households for them” (1:21) by giving them “families” (NRSV). In addition, He preserved their stories and their names for posterity. (Notice that these women are named in Exodus while Pharaoh remains nameless.) The mighty pharaoh’s plan was stopped by two lowly midwives.
4. Pharoah next commanded that the baby boys be thrown in the Nile (1:22). In a sense, Pharaoh succeeded this time in that his orders were carried out. Later, the Egyptians would pay for these murders with the lives of their firstborn (4:23). In another sense, the strategy backfired, for it allowed God to raise up the deliverer of Israel in Pharoah’s household, being nursed by his own Hebrew mother at Pharoah’s expense. God was working behind the scenes during all this to bring about the fulfillment of His plan.

Fighting against God is useless. All the forces of evil in this world, though they may seem to be winning, now, will be defeated in the end. (That is the theme of the book of Revelation). Pharaoh’s futile efforts to beat God proves that human beings cannot fight against God and win. We fight against Him when we act as if we can sin with impunity, as if we can sin against God and not get caught. We cannot “get away with” anything where God is concerned. He set a law of consequences in operation in His universe: “Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). We will be called to account for our rebellion against the Creator of the Universe.

God’s law of sowing and reaping in inevitable. However, He gave us something that supersedes that law. We can avoid reaping the ultimate consequences of our sin because Christ died for us. By repenting and coming to Christ in obedience, we can have our debt cancelled by the grace of God and the blood of Christ.