Message by Larry Thacker Jr. from June 23: Remember the Sabbath?
Most of the church today has relegated the Sabbath to the dust bin of Old Testament history. If we mention it at all, it is within the context of Jesus’ run-ins with the Pharisees over what could and could not be done on it. It’s a relic of legalism and nothing more.
Yet we have a history of applying some of the same stricture to Sunday as the Jews to the Sabbath? Though they have largely disappeared from modern society, laws that restrict what one can do on Sunday used to be commonplace throughout the country. Others insist that we must keep the Sabbath on Saturday and have formed their own sect to institutionalize the practice.
What would Jesus say to all of this? I think it could be summed up in the last two verses of our primary text for this message, Which will be from Mark 2:23-28.
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”(NASB)
The Sabbath is of great significance, but as we often do, we turned something meant for our good into a tool of division and oppression. It was meant to signify something far greater than an enforced day off, whichever day you choose. It was meant to draw us to the source of life!
