Celebrating the Sabbath

by Bruce A. Ray
125 pages / 2000

In Celebrating the Sabbath pastor Bruce Ray warns there's a couple of ways we tend to get things wrong when it comes to Sunday observance:

Two equally great and destructive dangers that we must avoid when talking about the Sabbath are legalism and lawlessness.

In my churches we used to lean in the legalistic direction, turning this gift from God into a day of “don’ts.” Riding a bike, going to lake after church, or playing some basketball with friends were all things that “we niet doen op Zondag!” ("we don't do on Sunday!")

Forgotten commandment

But today the pressure is coming from the lawless side. It seems as if Christians in most other churches don’t have a problem with working on Sunday. Sure, many do take the day off (who doesn’t weekends off?), but if the boss wants them to come in, they won’t object. And when they get to go to church, they think nothing of going to brunch right afterwards and putting cooks, waitstaff and dishwashers to work on their behalf. The 4th Commandment has become a forgotten commandment.

It’s curious. It’s as if the Western Church believes there should now be just the Nine Commandments. I’ve heard it argued that the 4th Commandment was part of the Old Testament ceremonial law, and that like the rest of the ceremonial law it was fulfilled with Jesus’ coming.

Not fulfilled

But as Pastor Ray points out the Sabbath rest has a history that extends to long before God gave the Ten Commandments. It begins right in Genesis 1 and 2 with Creation.

…the Sabbath was ordained before the Fall, for all people of all time. It cannot be confined to the ceremonial law appointed specifically for the nation of Israel, but was intended to be a celebration of creation for Adam and all his posterity

So, no we are not down to just Nine Commandments….and that is a very good thing. God knows us, and in this command He gives us what we badly need. In Celebrating the Sabbath Bruce Ray includes a good quote from M. J. Dawn about how the 4th commandment is a blessing.

A major blessing of Sabbath keeping is that it forces us to rely on God for our future. On that day we do nothing to create our own way. We abstain from work, from our incessant need to produce and accomplish, from all the anxieties about how we can be successful in all that we have to do to get ahead. The result is that we can let God be God in our lives. 

Conclusion

There is a lot to love in this book. Ray address all the most commonly asked questions (like why the Sabbath is on Sunday now, rather than Saturday) but does so concisely. His clear writing, and clear Scriptural grounding make this my favorite reference on 4th commandment. It's slim size also means that it can be read in just three or four nights, making it well worth giving to any church member.

You can buy a copy at Amazon.com by clicking here and at Amazon.ca here.