Friendship Study - Edition #18: Desecration on the Sabbath

August 18th, 2006

Friendship Study – Edition #18: Desecration on the Sabbath

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.”
Mother Teresa

Leviticus 19:30-32
“‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD. Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD.’”

Sabbath (noun):

1. A day of rest and worship: Sunday for most Christians; Saturday for the Jews and a few Christians; Friday for Muslims

Elderly (adj.):

1. Being past middle age and approaching old age; rather old.


2. Of, relating to, or characteristic of older persons or life in later years.


3. Advanced in years.

Revere (verb):

1. To regard with awe, deference, and devotion.

Ephesians 5:21
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Hebrews 12:14-17, 25-29
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

1st Peter 3:1-4
Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

Mark 2:23-28
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Mark 2:23 Sabbath:
sab'-bat-on
The Sabbath (that is, Shabbath), or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself); by extension a se'nnight, that is, the interval between two Sabbaths; likewise the plural in all the above applications: - sabbath (day), week.

Leviticus 19:30
shab-bawth'
Intermission, that is, (specifically) the Sabbath: - (+ every) sabbath.

Matthew 12:1-8
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

He answered, “Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread - which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Desecrate (verb):

1. To violate the sacredness of; profane.


2. Violate the sacred character of a place or language.


3. Remove the consecration from a person or an object.

OK, I know I’ve thrown a lot of scripture, definitions, and Greek and Hebrew, but I was just trying to get a good understand of this all. Now, a priest worked on the Sabbath. They cleansed people from their sin. They also circumcised the children. They were breaking the “God’s Law” by doing God’s work. An oxymoron of sorts to the Jews but it was the right thing to do. And should a Christian not do God’s work on “the Sabbath” just because it is Sunday, or Saturday… or Tuesday, for that matter? No, originally, the Sabbath was made for us, not the other way around. And what that means, is God set aside for me to worship him. And what day can I worship God now? Can I worship on Tuesday? Can I worship on Friday? Heaven forbid that I might worship on Monday. The freedom is there to worship on all days, every moment I am awake, I can worship God. I can also do the work of God on any given day and it wouldn’t be violating God’s Law.

Consecration (noun):

1. A solemn commitment of your life or your time to some cherished purpose.


2. Sanctification of something by setting it apart (usually with religious rites) as dedicated to God.

Now at the end of Jesus’ prayer in John 17, he says this: My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. Jesus died for me, so that I may be set apart, that I might be dedicated to God. Am I living a life that reflects that? He says for them I sanctify myself… He set himself apart so that I may too be set apart. That’s huge. That’s more than huge, that makes Mount Everest look like a molehill. That’s all the restaurants in Addison serving lunch to me at the same time, look like a snack (in case you didn’t know, Addison has more restaurants per square mile than anywhere else in the United States, most likely the world). You get the idea. It’s a big deal. So Christ did this for me, what is my gratitude? Everyday is a day dedicated to God, do I show that? I can do better. I need to do better. Anyway, Johnny OUT.