Why keep the seventh day Sabbath holy?
Because how we worship determines, who we worship.
Matthew 15:9 Their worship is worthless, for they teach their man-made laws instead of those from God.
Mark 7:7 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
We are called to be holy, just as God is holy.
1 Peter 1:14-16 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 John 3:10 So, now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.
We first become holy by being cleansed of all our past sins.
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Each one of you must turn from sin, return to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; then you also shall receive this gift, the Holy Spirit.”
Being cleansed of our past sin, and empower by God's Spirit to obey His Torah, is the born again experience. Being empower to live a holy life is the very reason why God gives us His Spirit..
Ezekiel 36:25-27 Then I will put clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will make you clean from all your unclean ways and from all your false gods. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to follow My Laws and be careful to do what I tell you.
1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
1 John 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
The cleansing of our past sins, and the filling of God's Spirit, delivers us from sin's power, so that we can bear holy fruit, resulting in eternal life.
Romans 6:22 But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.
Holy fruit is behavior. Fruit is the outward manifestation of a changed life.
Luke 6:44 A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thorn bushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes.
Matthew 3:8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
If we don't work at bearing the fruit of living a holy life, we will not see the Lord.
Hebrews 12:24 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
God will continue working in us, to produce fruit, until we've hardened are heart so much that His work just hardens our heart even more.
Luke 13:6-9 Then Jesus told this story: “A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’ “The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’”
Hebrews 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
Keeping the Sabbath holy, because God declared the seventh day holy, is one way of many ways to produce holy fruit.
Genesis 2:1-3 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. By the seventh day God completed His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation.
Exodus 20:11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
We can live a holy life by being sanctified by God's truth.
John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Being sanctified means, we learn what God says is holy, and live by it. This is what it means to bear holy fruit. Keeping the seventh day Sabbath holy is one way to bear holy fruit.
Ezekiel 20:12 And I gave them the Sabbath—a day of rest every seventh day—as a symbol between them and me, to remind them that it is I, the Lord, who sanctifies them—that they are truly my people.
We keep the seventh day holy by taking the day off from work to gather for worship, as worship.
Leviticus 23:3 You have six days in which to do your work, but remember that the seventh day Sabbath, On that day do not work, but gather for worship. The Sabbath belongs to the Lord, no matter where you live.
When we do this, in light of God asking us to do it, we testify to the world around us that the God of creation is our God, and the one we worship.
Ezekiel 20:20 Keep my Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.
Exodus 31:13 Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who makes you holy.
Living a holy life, as God defines holiness, is very important to our relationship with Him, His Son, and eternal life. This is why God tells us not to worship Him the way the pagans worship their false gods. Remember, how we worship determines who we worship.
Deuteronomy 12:29-31 When the Lord your God goes ahead of you and destroys the nations and you drive them out and live in their land, do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’ You must not worship the Lord your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the Lord hates.
Sun worship, right in the LORD's house, is a great abomination to God, and is one of the problems He had to deal with, in Israel's past.
Ezekiel 8:15-16 Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” So, He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.
Sun worship, in the LORD's house, continues even today.
In Roman culture, Sunday was the day of the Sun god. In paganism, the Sun was a source of life, giving warmth and illumination to mankind. Sunday - Wikipedia
On 7 March 321, Constantine I, Rome's first Christian Emperor, decreed that Sunday would be observed as the Roman day of rest: On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. Sunday - Wikipedia
"The Council of Laodicea ... forbids Christians from judaizing and resting on the Sabbath day, preferring the Lord's day, and so far as possible resting as Christians." Encyclopedia Britannica, 1899 Edition, Vol. XXIII, page 654.
The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine
Question - Which is the Sabbath day?
Answer - Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Question - Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
Answer - We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 3rd ed.
“Sunday is our mark of authority… the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact” Catholic Record of London, Ontario Sept 1, 1923
Keeping Sunday holy, and rejecting God's seventh day Sabbath, is a commandment of the Papacy, and is connected to sun worship. Sun worship is still a great abomination to God, and will causes our worship to be in vain, and worthless to Him.
Matthew 15:9 Their worship is worthless, for they teach their man-made laws instead of those from God.
Mark 7:7 And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Let us follow the example Messiah left us by keeping the seventh day holy, by gathering to hear the word or God. Just like the early church did.
Acts 13:44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.
Let us not profess to know God, and yet deny Him by how we live.
Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but by their behavior they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Our beliefs, and how we worship, should line up with the life and teachings of Messiah, which the early church called, the Way.
1 John 2:6 If we say that we remain in union with God, we should walk just as Jesus Christ walked.
When we follow the Way, our beliefs, and how we worship, will be in accordance with the Torah and the Prophets.
Acts 24:14 I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a cult. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Torah and that is written in the Prophets.
Sun worship continues today, even in the Lord's house.
