Recently I had a discussion with a co-worker regarding the Sabbath. She believed she was required to keep it every Saturday. I asked her is she Seventh Day Adventist? She said no. Then I asked, Why do you believe you're required to keep the Sabbath? She replied, because of what I read in the Old Testament. No doubt she read Exodus 20:8-11 which says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
If we are required to keep the Sabbath which was part of the Mosaic law, then we are required to keep the entire law. That is a burden that is too heavy to bear (Acts 15:10). I explained to my co-worker that if we must observe the Sabbath, then we will need to offer animal sacrifices as well which was part of Israel's religious practices. If we offer aninal sacrifices today, we would be arrested for animal cruelty. Others would believe that we were part of a Luciferian cult where we are offering sacrifices to Satan as worship. And lastly, a truth I did not mention to her is that we if we are observing the Sabbath according to the law, that means we would have to work six instead of five days a week - we would have to work every Sunday.
James wisely said, "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10). We are no longer under the law, but under grace. We are free when it comes to what days we observe.
Romans 14 provides this insight, "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind (emphasis added). He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat to the the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks" (Romans 14:5-7).
It is important that we understand elements of the law that were contemporaneous to the nation of Israel, and what parts of the law have universal application. For example, the Church is not subject to the dietary laws of the Hebrews. We are free to eat whatever we want. In 1 Timothy 4:4-5 we read, "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer."
Now for many many Jews, they cannot due to conscience eat whatever they want. Because of the law they have practiced their entire lives, eating certain foods they believe would violate their bodies and conscience and put them under condemnation. So for them, to eat foods they consider to be unclean would be a sin because they cannot eat in faith (Romans 14:23).
Some laws that are uninversal are, you shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal, etc (Exodus 20:3,13-15). Moral laws are always in effect; they do not have a shelf life. Some cermonial laws and the sacrificial system of Israel are obsolete. When Jesus died and shed His blood for the sins of the world, the sacrificial system was abolished.
The writer of Hebrews tell us that, "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:11-12).
In the final analysis, the law came through Moses. The law was inflexible but good because it provided a system of checks and balances for the Hebrews. Grace came through Jesus Christ who created a better covenant that abolished the old which gives us freedom. Jesus' yoke is indeed easy and His burden light (Matthew 11:28-30).
But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
- Romans 7:6