Putting your faith in Christ means that you utterly renounce any other hope of being counted righteous before God. Do you find yourself trusting in your own good works? Faith means admitting that they are woefully insufficient, and trusting Christ alone. Do you find yourself trusting what you understand to be your good heart? Faith means acknowledging that your heart is not good at all, and trusting Christ alone. To put it another way, it means jumping off the edge of the pool and saying, “Jesus, if you don’t catch me, I’m done. I’ve no other hope, no other savior. Save me Jesus, or I die.” That is faith.

- Greg Gilbert, What Is The Gospel?

As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God’s appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he has particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him,28 which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s Day:29 and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.

28 Exod. 20:8

29 1 Cor. 16:1,2; Acts 20:7; Rev. 1:10

Personally, I agree with the early church fathers as well as  contemporary theologians who believe Scripture teaches that the Sabbath, as a day, is no longer binding on the believer. The observance of an actual Sabbath day is no longer mandatory for believers. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath (Col 2:17, Hebrews 4). Jesus is our Sabbath rest.

That said, I do believe there is a Sabbath principle that believers are wise to apply to their own lives.

The London Baptist Confession goes on to state:

The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe a holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations,30 but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.31

30 Isa. 58:13; Neh. 13:15-22

31 Matt. 12:1-13

While perhaps some have applied the Sabbath principle legalistically and rigidly, that doesn’t mean we should throw it out all together. We do well to observe it. We do well to observe a day of rest from our ordinary employment and recreations. We do well on this day of rest to give ourselves to public and private acts of worship. We do well to carry out duties of necessity and mercy.

Notice, the emphasis of the Sabbath isn’t “enjoy recreation” (though that is not excluded). The emphasis is worship.  Therefore,  as an act of worship, it is right and good to serve Jesus together on the Lord’s Day. It is right and good to show mercy and kindness to others. It is right and good to spend the Lord’s Day with fellow believers  – resting in Jesus together.

To wrap up – hear these words from John Piper:

We taste the final rest only in part as we trust in Christ. Therefore the Sabbath principle was not abandoned by the early church. The shadow of Christ across this weary world still offers shade, namely, the first day of the week—the Lord’s day. And the meaning of that day is that Jesus is risen and Jesus is Lord and Jesus is Creator and Jesus is Redeemer and Jesus is the only place of rest for the soul. It’s a day for worshipping Jesus. It’s a day for saying by what we do and don’t do that Jesus, not our work and not the money we get from our work, is our treasure and our meaning. It is a special day for the honor and the glory of the Lord. A day for mercy and for man.

May we  enjoy the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day – not to earn God’s favor or love, but for the good of our souls, the building of His church and the glory of His name.

Chris

Note

See Great sermon from John Piper here on the Sabbath.

The sermon ends with these recommendations

1. Accept the gift of one day’s rest a week. Humble yourself to believe you need it. And be willing to admit that your wealth and your significance and your true advancement in life depend far more on God’s labor than on yours.

2. Devote one day a week to focus your attention on God in a special way. Keep a holy day and devote yourself to those things that deepen your love for God.

3. Except where you think obedience to God requires otherwise, let that day of rest and Godward focus be on the first day of the week as a witness to the world that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your sabbath and of your life.

4. For those of you who are free in your conscience to extend your holy exercises forward into Saturday night, let’s dream together of new ways to sanctify Sunday morning. Could it be that the Lord is leading you to new dimensions of prayer, or new hours of personal Bible study, or new deeds of mercy for the poor, or Sunday morning visitation to a shut-in, or perhaps a home evangelistic Bible study for neighbors who would not come to church but might come to your home? Can you think of any better time to reach your neighbors with the gospel than between 10 and 12 on Sunday morning? Who knows—maybe the city will find its way to Bethlehem on Saturday night, or maybe Saturday night will free up the saints to reach the city on Sunday morning? If any of you has a sheep that falls into a pit on the sabbath, will you not reach in and pull it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good—all kinds of good—on Sunday morning.

It is not just any appearance of spiritual progress that is praiseworthy. True Christian growth must-and actually only can-occur within the Faith of the Gospel. It is only the one who has fixed in his heart the assurance of God’s saving love and who possesses the hope of being with Christ and like Christ forever-a hope supplied by the Gospel alone-who grows in godliness and purity of heart (1 John 3:1-3).

Gary Parrett, J.I. Packer.

Every Christian should carefully maintain this difference between the law and grace, not in letters and syllables, but in practical and inner experience, so that when people say good works should be done, and the example of Christ is to be followed, we may be able to judge rightly and say, “All these things I will do gladly. But what follows from this? Will you be saved and obtain everlasting life? Not so. I agree that I ought to do good works, to suffer trouble and affliction patiently, and to shed my blood, if necessary, for Christ’s cause. But I am not justified by this, nor do I obtain salvation by it.

- Martin Luther, p.97 Galatians commentary

This Saturday, December 24th  at 10AM Sovereign Grace Church will hold a special Christmas Eve morning service. You are invited to join us as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Directions can be found here

by Ray Ortland Jr.

from: Blog, Christ Is Deeper Still

“In humility count others more significant than yourselves. . . . He made himself nothing.” Philippians 2:3, 7

How does community work?  By love?  Yes.  Of course.  But that isn’t Paul’s point in these verses, which are all about how community works.  And we can do bad things in the name of love.  We can walk into a situation with love as our purpose, only to trouble that situation by our good intentions but bad judgment.

The key word is humility in verse 3.  And the measure of that humility is the word nothing in verse 7.

“He made himself nothing.”  That is threatening to us.  We wonder how much it will cost us.  But it has this advantage.  It works.

When we make our egos nothing, willing to wash each other’s feet even while being scrutinized on our performance — see Peter above — we are becoming what proud human touchiness cannot resist.  Heart-level connections form when people can see, “He isn’t out for himself.”  Community starts to work.

Let’s not trust our love.  In humility let’s become nothing, as the Son of God did.  He knows what works.

Evangelism really matters to Jesus

Jesus came to “save his people from their sins” (1:21)
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17 ESV)

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.(Matthew 4:18; Matthew 4:19-20 ESV)

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. (Matthew 4:23 ESV)

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16 ESV)

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10 ESV)

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, (Matthew 8:11 ESV)

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38 ESV)

Faith really matters to Jesus

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11 ESV)

When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. (Matthew 8:5-10 ESV)

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
(Matthew 8:23-27 ESV)

And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
(Matthew 9:1-2 ESV)

Embracing the cost of of following Jesus really matters to Jesus

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
(Matthew 8:18-22 ESV)

From ESV Study Bible

Matt. 8:22 leave the dead to bury their own dead. While Jesus clearly upholds the biblical command to honor father and mother (see 15:1–9), the call to follow him rises above all other allegiances. Anything that hinders unqualified commitment to him and to the new covenant family of faith must be set aside.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. (Matthew 10:16-25 ESV)

From Sunday’s message…

The Heidleberg Catechism :

whatever evil he sends upon me in this troubled life he will turn to my own good, for he is able to do it, being almighty God, and is determined to do it, being a faithful Father.

Spurgeon says similarly (of Psalm 91:10):

It is impossible that any ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord; the most crushing calamities can only shorten his journey and hasten him to his reward. Ill to him is no ill, but only good in a mysterious form. Losses enrich him, sickness is his medicine, reproach is his honour, death is his gain. No evil in the strict sense of the word can happen to him, for everything is overruled for good. Happy is he who is in such a case. He is secure where others are in peril, he lives where others die.

It is with that confidence we say in full agreement with the psalmist:

no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent (Psalm 91:10).