The Sabbaath and the Superbowl - Isaiah 58:13-14
Pastor Dennis Bone
2/1/09
THE SABBATH AND THE SUPER BOWL 2-1-09
Two of the top things that I have been involved in or with during most of my life is church and sports so you might think that having arguably the biggest sporting event in the world on the same day that many Christians consider the New Testament Sabbath day would be a match made in heaven. In fact the NFL doesn’t even start the game until the late afternoon, or early evening in the east – unlike the regular season when many games are played in the morning during church – not necessarily to accommodate church goers but certainly to guarantee a greater viewing audience. Although the title of my sermon might imply that these two things – the Sabbath and the Super Bowl – have something in common, my goal this morning is not to equate the two or even to contrast the two, but it’s to use this popular and well-known event or “holy day” of athletic competition, to challenge us as Christians to consider again the day we call “holy” as Christians – the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day.
So turn with me to Isaiah 58 and let’s consider this morning the words of Isaiah in verses 13 and 14:
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.
When Debi heard the title of the sermon she asked me if I was trying to make every one feel guilty for watching the game, and my answer is no unless you think it’s a sin to watch TV on Sunday. On the other hand, this is the 43rd Super Bowl game and I think I’ve watched every one, but I’m not promoting it as something every Christians should do. The Super Bowl personifies the city of man and highlights everything that the kingdom of this world is about – money, advertising, entertainment and pleasure – while the Sabbath personifies the city of God, and highlights everything that the kingdom of God is all about – worship, service and joy in the Lord. Can the two things co-exist? Yes, we live right now as citizens of both cities, and so the question is how as Christians should we relate and respond to both.
The confusion over the Sabbath has led many Christians to take a laissez-faire approach in discussing its meaning and application for the church today. Some people say you should only go to church and avoid any activity that is not worship or service oriented; while others say let’s just do church on Saturday night so we can have Sunday free; to all sorts of different views in between. The fourth commandment says to “Remember the Sabbath Day and to keep it holy.” In our passage Isaiah calls the Sabbath the Lord’s holy day, and to not break it but to honor it. Thus in order to keep the commandment and to apply the words of Isaiah 58 we need to answer the question, “What day is the Sabbath and what does it mean to keep it holy?”
When we look at the Scriptures as a whole – both the Old and New Testaments – we find that real issue or substance of the Sabbath is not the day, but the principles of creation and covenant. It’s these principles that set forth a “day” to remember and honor God in a significant and special way. If the day becomes more important than the principle, then we may miss the point. The commandment given by Moses in Exodus 20 is based upon God’s creation and the principle found in Genesis 2 that “in six days God finished His work; and on the seventh He rested.” We are to follow this same principle. The principle was carried out and applied in the old covenant on Saturday; but in the New Covenant the same principle is applied to Sunday – the first day of the week. The early church didn’t change the day out of convenience, as if any day would do, but it corresponded to the resurrection of the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ.
The new covenant warrants the change of the day, as well as the change of its name, and the new application of Old Testament principles. We understand and apply the Old Testament law in light of New Testament or new covenant principles. What has often made the discussion of the Sabbath confusing over the years are the distortions of religion and legalism. Sometimes the people who want to keep the law the most – both Jews and Christians – distort it or misrepresent it the worst. We can still find many examples today of people and groups who do the same thing that the Pharisees did in the New Testament – they care more about the day, then they do about the principle. It’s all about do’s and don’t; rules and regulations; outward form and appearance; rather than delighting in the One who gave us the day, and celebrating Him.
This doesn’t mean that what we do on the day – the Lord’s Day – is unimportant; or that we can just do whatever we want because we aren’t under the law anymore. What it means is that we should seek to apply the law properly in the context of the new covenant church, and seek to understand what Isaiah means he calls us to not go our own way or to do as we please on the Lord’s holy day, but to honor it. The day might be different but the principle remains the same, thus our responsibility is to apply it. We are responsible to do this in the context of the ignorance of the world and our culture. While legalism puts too much emphasis on the day itself; the world doesn’t care about the day at all.
Few people, certainly not non-Christians, even question the validity of playing or watching sporting events on Sunday, or businesses being open or people working at their job or around their house. It’s just another day, maybe to work, maybe to rest, maybe to go on a day trip, maybe to recreate, maybe to watch TV, but above all to do what “I” want to do. And this is really the core issue of Isaiah 58, and of the entire Sabbath principle. Do we do what we want to do without any regard for the Lord of the Sabbath – in that we either define the Sabbath our way, or dismiss it as no way – or do we look to the Lord of the Sabbath to help us define and determine how we are to keep it holy?
It’s this background as to how we should view the Sabbath as Christians that should help us determine the activities of the Sabbath. This is the second point to consider this morning. The emphasis of the Sabbath is to be on God, not on man. The focus is not to be on me and my needs or wants, but on God and His glory and honor. God made the Sabbath “holy” by doing something different than the work He had done. Thus we stop the work we are doing to focus our attention on the work of God for us. We do this first and foremost by the activity of worship. The principle of the Sabbath is to teach us to stop and to see what God has done, and is doing is good, and to worship Him. It’s to not be preoccupied with yourself or your own activities but to be preoccupied with the activities of God. Psalm 92 is called a psalm for the Sabbath and it reflects the attitude and activities of worship.
It is good to praise the Lord and to make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts!
We can worship God anytime and anywhere but the essence of the Sabbath is worship – the activity of turning away from ourselves and our works to focus on God and His works – and so we devote ourselves to a day and a time to do this. This is why in chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews we read those familiar words, “Do not neglect or give up meeting together as is the habit of some.” These words come in the context of new covenant worship and equates the seriousness of breaking the Sabbath in the old covenant with forsaking the Assembly of God’s people on the Lord’s Day in the new covenant.
There were no specific times prescribed for worship, but you could probably make a good case that the services in the Old and New Testament were longer than most of ours – certainly the sermons were – but it’s also true that people did other things. In fact Jesus teaches us a lot about the Sabbath and it’s principle by the things He did with His disciples. He was walking and traveling and picking grain and healing people all on the Sabbath, and it wasn’t just to get the Pharisees upset but it was also to teach us about the activity of mercy and service. The Sabbath principle reflects the principle of all God’s love which is to first love God, and to second love your neighbor. Jesus’ point was that the Sabbath was not meant to restrict our ability to do good things on the Sabbath or to keep us from enjoying God’s creation and God’s people, but quite the opposite; He is opening up the activities of the Sabbath. Jesus said in Matthew 12, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice . . . and it’s lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
An important part of our worship is our witness of service and mercy towards others. When we become too preoccupied with ourselves – even with our own religion or righteousness – we often take our eyes off our neighbor and those who are in need. The Sabbath or Lord’s Day is a reminder to us that even as God loves us in word and in deed we are to love others as well. The third activity of the Sabbath is the activity of rest. When we think of “rest” we usually think of sleep or inactivity, but the emphasis is not so much on not doing anything, but it’s on being refreshed and renewed. Isaiah says that by putting emphasis on God, and looking to honor Him and not yourself, that not only will you find joy in the Lord – verse 14 – “but the Lord will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” In other words, God will bless us with peace and contentment, and joy and hope, even in the midst of difficulty and trouble.
We are also reminded by Jesus in Mark 2:27, after once again rebuking the religious leaders for their narrow view of the Sabbath, that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath principle is a gift from God and blessing for people – not meant to put people in a man-made straight jacket of do’s and don’ts; yet neither is it given to us to be used in any way we want. One writer said that “Jesus blew the dust off the law so that we could once again see the beauty and the meaning of the commandment.” And so this leads us to a third and final point – the joy of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is to be a joy for man because we find our greatest joy and delight in the Lord Himself. We won’t delight in the day or the activities of the day unless we delight ourselves in the Lord.
We say with the Psalmist, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.” Again, the emphasis is not on what we want but on what the Lord wants of us. Joy is a byproduct of our commitment to the Lord and to His Word. We truly experience the joy of the Sabbath when we trust in the Lord of the Sabbath Jesus Christ, for He is our fulfillment and our rest. Jesus does not do away with or void the Sabbath principle but He transforms it. As Christians we are not bound by ceremonial regulations but we are free to celebrate the Sabbath’s joyous principles that have been fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ and passed on to His church.
So what does this mean? Calvin said, “The Sabbath is an outward sign fulfilled by the substance and reality of Jesus Christ.” Christ is the reality of the rest that the Sabbath foreshadowed or pointed to. This is why we read in Hebrews 4 about entering this Sabbath rest through faith in Jesus Christ. Even as God rested from His work of creation, we must rest from our works in order to trust Christ by faith and find true rest and salvation in Him. This is another reason that we celebrate the Sabbath principle on Sunday because the Risen Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath and we celebrate Him. And so the point is that we celebrate the person not the day, thus we find our joy and delight first of all in the celebration of God’s creation and Christ’s redemption. The principle of the Sabbath is rooted in the creation and fulfilled in the recreation. And so our worship, like that of the Psalms, is grounded in the works of God’s creation and redemption. He gives us life and new life; He gives us the ability to enjoy His creation and rest in His salvation. We bear witness to this in both our individual and corporate activities as God’s people.
Secondly, we celebrate the Spirit’s renewal and rebirth. The principle of “rest” is one of spiritual refreshment and it points us to the work of the Holy Spirit who initially made us alive spiritually, and who also revives us along the way of the Christian life. We need to practice the Sabbath principle of rest in order to pause and be reminded of where our life comes from, and receive additional strength and courage and encouragement to press on and be faithful as we work in the city of man. And then third, we celebrate Christian freedom and fellowship. We are free to worship God and enjoy the blessings of His creation and His redemption with His people. This is why we are called to not forsake the gathering together, because it’s in the assembly of God’s people that we celebrate the work of our Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and it’s in the assembly of God’s people that we are encouraging one another; praying for one another; and teaching one another to love God and to love our neighbor.
Today millions of sports fans will be gathering together with friends and family to celebrate and enjoy the big game. These people may do some other things today as well, but for many the center of attention and the focus of their day is on the event of the day – the Super Bowl. As Christians this should get our attention, and cause us to ask, “What is the center of our attention? What is the focus of our day?” We may do other things today – like watch the game – but is Christ the focus of our day and the center of our attention? Do we find our joy and our hope and our rest in Him?
©You’re welcome to recycle these resources for your church free of charge. However, if you find them useful, please consider making a donation to the ministry of GCC
Pastor Dennis Bone
2/1/09
THE SABBATH AND THE SUPER BOWL 2-1-09
Two of the top things that I have been involved in or with during most of my life is church and sports so you might think that having arguably the biggest sporting event in the world on the same day that many Christians consider the New Testament Sabbath day would be a match made in heaven. In fact the NFL doesn’t even start the game until the late afternoon, or early evening in the east – unlike the regular season when many games are played in the morning during church – not necessarily to accommodate church goers but certainly to guarantee a greater viewing audience. Although the title of my sermon might imply that these two things – the Sabbath and the Super Bowl – have something in common, my goal this morning is not to equate the two or even to contrast the two, but it’s to use this popular and well-known event or “holy day” of athletic competition, to challenge us as Christians to consider again the day we call “holy” as Christians – the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day.
So turn with me to Isaiah 58 and let’s consider this morning the words of Isaiah in verses 13 and 14:
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.
When Debi heard the title of the sermon she asked me if I was trying to make every one feel guilty for watching the game, and my answer is no unless you think it’s a sin to watch TV on Sunday. On the other hand, this is the 43rd Super Bowl game and I think I’ve watched every one, but I’m not promoting it as something every Christians should do. The Super Bowl personifies the city of man and highlights everything that the kingdom of this world is about – money, advertising, entertainment and pleasure – while the Sabbath personifies the city of God, and highlights everything that the kingdom of God is all about – worship, service and joy in the Lord. Can the two things co-exist? Yes, we live right now as citizens of both cities, and so the question is how as Christians should we relate and respond to both.
The confusion over the Sabbath has led many Christians to take a laissez-faire approach in discussing its meaning and application for the church today. Some people say you should only go to church and avoid any activity that is not worship or service oriented; while others say let’s just do church on Saturday night so we can have Sunday free; to all sorts of different views in between. The fourth commandment says to “Remember the Sabbath Day and to keep it holy.” In our passage Isaiah calls the Sabbath the Lord’s holy day, and to not break it but to honor it. Thus in order to keep the commandment and to apply the words of Isaiah 58 we need to answer the question, “What day is the Sabbath and what does it mean to keep it holy?”
When we look at the Scriptures as a whole – both the Old and New Testaments – we find that real issue or substance of the Sabbath is not the day, but the principles of creation and covenant. It’s these principles that set forth a “day” to remember and honor God in a significant and special way. If the day becomes more important than the principle, then we may miss the point. The commandment given by Moses in Exodus 20 is based upon God’s creation and the principle found in Genesis 2 that “in six days God finished His work; and on the seventh He rested.” We are to follow this same principle. The principle was carried out and applied in the old covenant on Saturday; but in the New Covenant the same principle is applied to Sunday – the first day of the week. The early church didn’t change the day out of convenience, as if any day would do, but it corresponded to the resurrection of the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ.
The new covenant warrants the change of the day, as well as the change of its name, and the new application of Old Testament principles. We understand and apply the Old Testament law in light of New Testament or new covenant principles. What has often made the discussion of the Sabbath confusing over the years are the distortions of religion and legalism. Sometimes the people who want to keep the law the most – both Jews and Christians – distort it or misrepresent it the worst. We can still find many examples today of people and groups who do the same thing that the Pharisees did in the New Testament – they care more about the day, then they do about the principle. It’s all about do’s and don’t; rules and regulations; outward form and appearance; rather than delighting in the One who gave us the day, and celebrating Him.
This doesn’t mean that what we do on the day – the Lord’s Day – is unimportant; or that we can just do whatever we want because we aren’t under the law anymore. What it means is that we should seek to apply the law properly in the context of the new covenant church, and seek to understand what Isaiah means he calls us to not go our own way or to do as we please on the Lord’s holy day, but to honor it. The day might be different but the principle remains the same, thus our responsibility is to apply it. We are responsible to do this in the context of the ignorance of the world and our culture. While legalism puts too much emphasis on the day itself; the world doesn’t care about the day at all.
Few people, certainly not non-Christians, even question the validity of playing or watching sporting events on Sunday, or businesses being open or people working at their job or around their house. It’s just another day, maybe to work, maybe to rest, maybe to go on a day trip, maybe to recreate, maybe to watch TV, but above all to do what “I” want to do. And this is really the core issue of Isaiah 58, and of the entire Sabbath principle. Do we do what we want to do without any regard for the Lord of the Sabbath – in that we either define the Sabbath our way, or dismiss it as no way – or do we look to the Lord of the Sabbath to help us define and determine how we are to keep it holy?
It’s this background as to how we should view the Sabbath as Christians that should help us determine the activities of the Sabbath. This is the second point to consider this morning. The emphasis of the Sabbath is to be on God, not on man. The focus is not to be on me and my needs or wants, but on God and His glory and honor. God made the Sabbath “holy” by doing something different than the work He had done. Thus we stop the work we are doing to focus our attention on the work of God for us. We do this first and foremost by the activity of worship. The principle of the Sabbath is to teach us to stop and to see what God has done, and is doing is good, and to worship Him. It’s to not be preoccupied with yourself or your own activities but to be preoccupied with the activities of God. Psalm 92 is called a psalm for the Sabbath and it reflects the attitude and activities of worship.
It is good to praise the Lord and to make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts!
We can worship God anytime and anywhere but the essence of the Sabbath is worship – the activity of turning away from ourselves and our works to focus on God and His works – and so we devote ourselves to a day and a time to do this. This is why in chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews we read those familiar words, “Do not neglect or give up meeting together as is the habit of some.” These words come in the context of new covenant worship and equates the seriousness of breaking the Sabbath in the old covenant with forsaking the Assembly of God’s people on the Lord’s Day in the new covenant.
There were no specific times prescribed for worship, but you could probably make a good case that the services in the Old and New Testament were longer than most of ours – certainly the sermons were – but it’s also true that people did other things. In fact Jesus teaches us a lot about the Sabbath and it’s principle by the things He did with His disciples. He was walking and traveling and picking grain and healing people all on the Sabbath, and it wasn’t just to get the Pharisees upset but it was also to teach us about the activity of mercy and service. The Sabbath principle reflects the principle of all God’s love which is to first love God, and to second love your neighbor. Jesus’ point was that the Sabbath was not meant to restrict our ability to do good things on the Sabbath or to keep us from enjoying God’s creation and God’s people, but quite the opposite; He is opening up the activities of the Sabbath. Jesus said in Matthew 12, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice . . . and it’s lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
An important part of our worship is our witness of service and mercy towards others. When we become too preoccupied with ourselves – even with our own religion or righteousness – we often take our eyes off our neighbor and those who are in need. The Sabbath or Lord’s Day is a reminder to us that even as God loves us in word and in deed we are to love others as well. The third activity of the Sabbath is the activity of rest. When we think of “rest” we usually think of sleep or inactivity, but the emphasis is not so much on not doing anything, but it’s on being refreshed and renewed. Isaiah says that by putting emphasis on God, and looking to honor Him and not yourself, that not only will you find joy in the Lord – verse 14 – “but the Lord will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” In other words, God will bless us with peace and contentment, and joy and hope, even in the midst of difficulty and trouble.
We are also reminded by Jesus in Mark 2:27, after once again rebuking the religious leaders for their narrow view of the Sabbath, that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath principle is a gift from God and blessing for people – not meant to put people in a man-made straight jacket of do’s and don’ts; yet neither is it given to us to be used in any way we want. One writer said that “Jesus blew the dust off the law so that we could once again see the beauty and the meaning of the commandment.” And so this leads us to a third and final point – the joy of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is to be a joy for man because we find our greatest joy and delight in the Lord Himself. We won’t delight in the day or the activities of the day unless we delight ourselves in the Lord.
We say with the Psalmist, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this.” Again, the emphasis is not on what we want but on what the Lord wants of us. Joy is a byproduct of our commitment to the Lord and to His Word. We truly experience the joy of the Sabbath when we trust in the Lord of the Sabbath Jesus Christ, for He is our fulfillment and our rest. Jesus does not do away with or void the Sabbath principle but He transforms it. As Christians we are not bound by ceremonial regulations but we are free to celebrate the Sabbath’s joyous principles that have been fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ and passed on to His church.
So what does this mean? Calvin said, “The Sabbath is an outward sign fulfilled by the substance and reality of Jesus Christ.” Christ is the reality of the rest that the Sabbath foreshadowed or pointed to. This is why we read in Hebrews 4 about entering this Sabbath rest through faith in Jesus Christ. Even as God rested from His work of creation, we must rest from our works in order to trust Christ by faith and find true rest and salvation in Him. This is another reason that we celebrate the Sabbath principle on Sunday because the Risen Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath and we celebrate Him. And so the point is that we celebrate the person not the day, thus we find our joy and delight first of all in the celebration of God’s creation and Christ’s redemption. The principle of the Sabbath is rooted in the creation and fulfilled in the recreation. And so our worship, like that of the Psalms, is grounded in the works of God’s creation and redemption. He gives us life and new life; He gives us the ability to enjoy His creation and rest in His salvation. We bear witness to this in both our individual and corporate activities as God’s people.
Secondly, we celebrate the Spirit’s renewal and rebirth. The principle of “rest” is one of spiritual refreshment and it points us to the work of the Holy Spirit who initially made us alive spiritually, and who also revives us along the way of the Christian life. We need to practice the Sabbath principle of rest in order to pause and be reminded of where our life comes from, and receive additional strength and courage and encouragement to press on and be faithful as we work in the city of man. And then third, we celebrate Christian freedom and fellowship. We are free to worship God and enjoy the blessings of His creation and His redemption with His people. This is why we are called to not forsake the gathering together, because it’s in the assembly of God’s people that we celebrate the work of our Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and it’s in the assembly of God’s people that we are encouraging one another; praying for one another; and teaching one another to love God and to love our neighbor.
Today millions of sports fans will be gathering together with friends and family to celebrate and enjoy the big game. These people may do some other things today as well, but for many the center of attention and the focus of their day is on the event of the day – the Super Bowl. As Christians this should get our attention, and cause us to ask, “What is the center of our attention? What is the focus of our day?” We may do other things today – like watch the game – but is Christ the focus of our day and the center of our attention? Do we find our joy and our hope and our rest in Him?
©You’re welcome to recycle these resources for your church free of charge. However, if you find them useful, please consider making a donation to the ministry of GCC
