Daily Devotions David H. Horner, Senior Pastor

Transcription

1 Day 1 Whose Standard? In Luke 3:10-17 we find Jesus teaching on a Sabbath in a synagogue, when He sees a woman, crippled by a spirit, who was bent over and unable to straighten up. He calls her forward, sets her free from her infirmity, and she immediately straightens up and praises God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. 15 Then the Lord answered him, You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? 17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. (Luke 13:14-17) Religious leaders had twisted the Sabbath into a binding, complicated, regimented, tiresome religious duty. Jesus saw no conflict because He obeyed the two great commands (Matthew 22:36-40), loving God and loving His neighbor. The standard by which Jesus was able to measure the appropriateness of His actions was not the traditions of man, the additions that had been made to the Law, but the greatest commandments in the Law. The convictions and passions of His heart always flowed from His deep love for the Father and an unconditional love for others. The consistency of His life always matched the consistency of His Word. If you face conflict between religion and God s Word, ask the Lord to provide clarity and understanding to enable you to live according to His grace and mercy.

2 Day 2 The 4 th Command Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15) How do you observe the Sabbath day? Do you follow a routine based on traditions and personal beliefs? Do you see it as a means to show others you are religious? Do you rest from your work but choose not to worship? Throughout history man has applied his ways to the observance of the Sabbath. Even religious leaders sought to establish rules designed to exact what they felt should be appropriate behavior by the people on the Sabbath, thinking they were helping to keep the Sabbath as the Lord commanded. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8) The 4 th Commandment calls for you and me to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. We must remember that God created it for man, to rest and to give undivided attention to Him, who gave us the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3). Adding our traditions and ways to the Command does not equal His glorious command and outpouring of love for us. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy! Ask the Lord to help you to keep the Sabbath as He meant for you to keep it.

3 Day 3 Understanding the Sabbath When Jesus performed the miraculous healing of the woman who had been bent over for eighteen years, He failed to gain praise from the synagogue leader (Luke 13:10-17). As the woman and the crowd rejoiced in what they had witnessed, the leader sought to rebuke Jesus for healing on the Sabbath! As Dr. Luke reveals, the synagogue leader was humiliated because he failed to understand the Sabbath as Jesus did. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 58:13-14) Jesus accepted the conflict because He knew what was at stake the true understanding and observance of the Sabbath. God gave man the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3) to rest and recover from his labor and to reflect on and worship the Lord! Some reduce the Sabbath observance merely to a change of pace in their physical routine. They cut back on their labor but only gain some benefit. For those who take time to be holy and give the Lord their undivided attention, the Sabbath takes on the value it is intended to have. As God commanded, let us remember the Sabbath, created for our sake, and live it as a day of recovery to allow our bodies and spirits to recuperate every week. Ask the Lord to help you observe the Sabbath as He intended it for you.

4 Day 4 Jesus Fulfills the Sabbath Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18) When Jesus performed a miraculous healing in a synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17), he challenged the religious system that had made man s petty rules equal to God s glorious commands. Jesus fully embraced the Law of Moses, the very Word of God, believing every command from the Father was for the good of His people. Observing the Sabbath was no exception. And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27) In the Sabbath Jesus saw God s love at work, not a club to make men do what He wanted. He trusted the Father and obeyed Him, keeping His focus on the big picture that God s love would never be pushed aside and that His Law, properly understood and obeyed, would affirm His love and never ask for anything that is contradictory. As He did in the synagogue when he healed the woman who had been crippled for 18 years, Jesus sees us with eyes of compassion, just as the Father does. He inspires worship and exalts God! Even when the hardened around us are jaded and cannot respond to the wonders of God, we must always be ready to rejoice and worship, exalting God for His great power and grace. As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. (Luke 13:17) Thank the Lord for the Sabbath and ask Him to help you observe it as He intended.

5 Day 5 Standing Up for the Father Luke s account of Jesus healing the crippled woman in a synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17) shows Him confronting His adversaries with His words and challenging them with His actions. There should never be any doubt that Jesus always stands up for the glory of His Father, defending the good done for His people. As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. (Luke 13:17) Jesus cannot ignore blatant rejection of the liberating purposes of the Law and Commands of God and allow the burden of meaningless man-made rules. He will not tolerate hypocrisy, which seeks to protect a self-righteous image, making it virtually impossible for anyone to measure up to the standard imposed by religious leaders. The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, (Matthew 23:2-5) Hypocrisy, self-righteousness and hard-heartedness all serve to reveal ungodliness and a lack of love for God and His people. They have no place in the Sabbath observance. As God commanded, the Sabbath is His way for us to be refreshed and restored so that we may be ready to serve Him more faithfully. Observing the Sabbath is God s way for us to be reflective and worshipful, without routine, daily distractions getting in the way. Ask the Lord to reveal any hypocrisy in your observance of the Sabbath so that you may worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23)!