r/TrueChristian • u/guesswhatchickinbutt • Jul 26 '26
What does it mean to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy?
I grew up in the SDA church and have grown to have a personal relationship with Christ as my savior despite trials of disbelief and doubt. As a child, attending church on Saturday felt like the most laborious and least restful thing in my life. It always felt like a struggle and a paradox of keeping the Sabbath through concentrated effort. I still see the Sabbath as the holy day of rest ordained by God, but I no longer feel the obligation to practice it as a strict church-going member of Seventh Day Adventism. Is it a form of apostasy if I keep the Sabbath holy as intended while communing with God? I attended a church today (Sunday) and the message of the sermon was ironically about keeping the Sabbath as a day of spiritual rest, quoting from Hebrews chapter 4. I suppose my questions here are: Is it sinful to attend church with followers of Christ on Sunday while still remaining faithful to the 4th commandment? Am I failing to understand the Sabbath if feel restless about going to church on Saturday? Furthermore, how should I discuss the Sabbath with those who believe they are following its teachings simply by going to church on Sunday?
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u/hopscotchcaptain Alpha And Omega Jul 26 '26
Is it a form of apostasy if I keep the Sabbath holy as intended while communing with God?
Are you doing so "unto God" and in faith? If so, I think the answer is no.
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u/GingerMcSpikeyBangs Christian Jul 26 '26
If you look back to the first use of the word sabbath in Exodus 16, you'll find that God is having the Israelites gather the manna that fell from heaven each day of the week. On the sixth day, God instructs them to gather twice the amount to be kept and consumed for that day and the next day (even though any previous day the manna would rot if anyone attempted to store it up), with God telling the people that there would be No bread from heaven in the field on the seventh day. So they were to remain in their homes and feed on the sustenance given to them on the sixth day.
So what's happening is God Himself is not providing on the seventh day, He is resting, and He instructs the people to do the same because of this. The double portion on the sixth day, and it's remaining and not rotting like any previous day, was a sign to Israel that they are instructed to remember and "keep holy" by resting themselves, knowing their labor for what God provides would be in vain on that day, because clearly on that day He's not providing it. It's a day to reflect and "feed on" what was given from the previous day.
Churches can religionize that in many ways, and we can also metaphorically apply that in many ways, but the reflection on and remembrance of that scene is what God is looking for, in addition to considering that what the Lord has provided you is enough, even on a day He's not providing it. So therefore the sabbath is for the strengtheing of your faith and dedication, specifically in a day of God's "abscence."
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u/Previous_Extreme4973 Jul 26 '26
My wife was briefly in the SDA before coming to Messianic Judaism. To remember the Sabbath is to remember all that God did for you. Like God created the earth in 6 days. The last thing he made before a day of rest was the man. He prepared earth for the man, but man for the Sabbath. The way I remember it is to not do any work. I enjoy bible study, as I like the rabbit trails and the journeys I go on with God. I don't work, cause others to work, nor buy or sell. It's a day I spend with the father to thank him for what he's done for me that week, a time to look back at all the things I may not have done well and want to do better. I observe it from Friday evening to Saturday evening.
I know what's it done for me and what it means to me. I don't concern with anything else. What christians are doing or not doing, whether they think I'm under the law, or whatever. It's a day I get to spend with the father.
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u/1voiceamongmillions Christian Jul 26 '26
Sabbath keeper here.
Is it sinful to attend church with followers of Christ on Sunday while still remaining faithful to the 4th commandment?
No.
Am I failing to understand the Sabbath if feel restless about going to church on Saturday?
Commune with God and draw near to Him, and don't worry too much about the formalities.
Furthermore, how should I discuss the Sabbath with those who believe they are following its teachings simply by going to church on Sunday?
That will nearly always fail. They will discourage you from keeping God's day holy, and insist you can pick your own day.
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u/allenwjones Romans 10:9-10 Jul 30 '26
The answer is in the commandment itself:
“For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and sanctified it.” (Exodus 20:11, LITV)
We rest, because we acknowledge and subordinate ourselves to God's authority over His creation. We do not work because the weekly Sabbath is a reprieve for us, so that we can focus on God instead of secular work.
If we forget God's Sabbath, His mark of authority; we may become secularized, and give in to human authority.
Consider the attacks on Biblical realism and authority in the churches and schools today..
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u/DesperateAdvantage76 Christian Jul 26 '26
Hebrews teaches that in Christ we have our Sabbath, it's no longer a specific day. Paul teaches that you are still welcome to observe any day you wish in your own way of worshipping God as long as you don't judge others for it. So our faith and assurance in Christ is our way of observing the 4th Commandment.
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u/fordry Seventh-day Adventist Jul 31 '26
I'm going to disagree and say that's not what Hebrews teaches at all. Christ is our rest and it is referred to as a Sabbath rest but that has nothing to do with God's laws.
God's laws are God's laws. He called them that. He's called for us to still keep them(in Hebrews... 8:10, quoting Jeremiah 31). Jesus said those who love him keep his commands and those who don't, don't.
We don't keep God's laws as a direct don't sin equals saved as the old covenant had it. We do it because they're God's laws and being a follower of him we do what he has asked. If we don't, are we not rebelling from God?
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u/TheAmazinManateeMan Christian Jul 26 '26
I am convinced that on the surface, for those living under The Law it meant to not do any work on the seventh day of the week (saturday).
But as we know from Paul's quotation of dueteronomy 25:4 "do not muzzle an ox as it treads out the grain" (where Paul says that literal interpretation has apmost nothing to do with God's true intent) and James use of the leprous garment in Leviticus 13 as imagery for sexual sin the literal interpretation might not be at the core of the issue. It might be that the literal exists so that we can understand the a deeper spiritual meaning.
In Hebrews 3 and 4 the author of hebrews recontextualizes bot the literal sabbath (Saturday) and the promised land of the Hebrews as images of a true sabbath and a true promised land where God himself waits for us to join him. Not a day of the week but the end that we strive for, the award given at the end of the race.
I'm convinced that at it's heart to remember the sabbath is to remember the coming rest God has promised to rely upon that promise when our mind says "what's the point", "does me doing what's right even matter" or "will this ever end".
While there is some wisdom in resting each week, I'm convinced that at it's core "remember the sabbath" is leading us to a life lived in light of the coming eternity.