We are to praise the Lord every day. Hebrews 4:1-3 tells us we have entered into our Lord’s rest, i.e. Sabbath. The lesson of the Sabbath is more than setting aside one specific day of the week to worship God. It is a daily worship. We can be at peace, resting by trusting and loving God. Luke 9:23: (NIV) “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

The Apostle Paul in Romans 14:5-6 said, “One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.  He that regards the day, regards it unto the Lord; and he that regards not the day to the Lord, he does not regard it.”

There were several times in which Jesus was accused of not keeping the Sabbath. This was because the Jewish people had incorrect concepts about Sabbath keeping. Moses taught, “remember the Sabbath to keep it holy,” Exodus 20:8. However, when Jesus was falsely accused of breaking the Sabbath, he rebuked them saying “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27–28). Moses explained how to keep the Sabbath when he wrote, “you shall do no servile work.” Servile work has to do with work that one does to earn money and or pay a debt.

The Apostle Paul gave us an oxymoron in Hebrews 4:11 when he stated, “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.” How does one “labor to enter into rest”? Consider Jesus’s example: Jesus did most of his miracles on the Sabbath. He preached and healed the people on the Sabbath – sometimes to the point of his own exhaustion. Jesus’ example defines acceptable Sabbath labor.

Was he doing servile work? Absolutely not. He was laboring to pull us out of the “pit.” As he stated in Luke 14:5, “which of you shall having an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?”  Both God and Jesus are laboring to pull all of us out of the pit of Adamic death. Jesus stated in John 5:17, “My Father works hitherto, and I work.” Should we keep the Sabbath? Absolutely. How do we keep the Sabbath? By doing our best (labor) to bring people to Christ.

The meeting of Christian on Sunday began when the early church met on the first day of the week to break bread and to remember the Lord’s resurrection: Mark 16:2, Acts 20:7. On that day, Jesus appeared to some in the Upper Room and to two on the way to Emmaus.  He appeared to Mary and subsequently to others of the disciples near the tomb.  These four manifestations of the Lord’s resurrection marked that day in a special day to the early church. They waited for an entire week, and then again, he appeared on the first day of the week. So far as we know, all of Jesus’ eight appearances to his followers after his resurrection were on the first day of the week. It’s no wonder they associated that with all the blessings of God and a rest of faith that came to them through the Redeemer.

As far as the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments goes, it was a unique commandment in that the Levites were not to keep it. As priests, their work was done on the Sabbath. We as the footstep followers of Christ are the “antitype” (or fulfillment of) of the Levitical priesthood and are thus exempt from that Law. We are to conduct ourselves as Christians in a worshipful way every day of the week, so it technically does not matter what day we meet together for that specific purpose. However, we believe that Sunday, the first day of the week, is a good day for us to rest not only from our temporal work, but also and more importantly, “rest” in the Lord through worship, study and fellowship with family and those of like precious faith. “Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of us be found to have fallen short of it.” Hebrews 4:1.

Additional Resources:
Christian Questions Podcast Episode #1127: “What Does the Sabbath Look Like for Christians?”
Discovering what the Sabbath really means for Christians
Preview Video 
CQ Rewind Show Notes

Sermon: (Audio only) “The Rest of the Story,” Allen Springer 
(Video) Video Version