Participants: Charles Byrd (Host), Levi Longoria, Andrea Endries, Stephen Fowler, Dolores Shudarek
Series Code: THL
Program Code: THL000013
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00:11 "Jesus entered again into the Synagogue,
00:20 and there was a man there which had a withered hand, 00:26 and they watched Him whether He would heal him 00:28 on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him. 00:31 And He saith unto man which had the withered hand stand forth 00:36 and He saith unto them, 00:37 is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days or to do evil? 00:41 To save life or to kill? But they held their peace. 00:45 And when He had looked round about on them with anger 00:48 being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, 00:51 He saith unto the man, stretch forth thine hand, 00:55 and He stretched it out and his hand 00:57 was restored whole as the other. 01:00 And the Pharisees went forth, 01:01 and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against Him, 01:05 how they might destroy him." 01:09 One of the teachings of Jesus 01:11 that caused a huge amount of thunder in the holy land 01:14 was His claim to be Lord of the Sabbath. 01:17 This bold claim by Jesus put Him in direct opposition 01:21 to many of the traditions that had been built up 01:24 around the Sabbath by the religious leaders. 01:27 It wasn't that Jesus was in opposition 01:29 to customs and traditions per say. 01:32 After all, Jesus' custom was 01:34 to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath. 01:39 Traditions and customs can be a helpful tool in establishing 01:42 relationships and creating community and memories. 01:46 But on this particular Sabbath, 01:48 the misguided and oppressive doctrines of the Jewish leaders 01:52 collided with the simple teachings of Jesus. 01:56 In the mind and kingdom of Christ, 01:58 a veritable thunderstorm of anger erupted. 02:54 It may seem strange to learn that Jesus could get angry 02:58 in church but sacred history records 03:01 that that's exactly what happened. 03:03 On this particular Sabbath, what caused the angering Christ 03:07 was the hardness of their hearts. 03:10 This hardness was developed in part by years of traditions 03:14 that came to supersede and contradict 03:17 the plain teachings of Scripture. 03:19 The Sabbath had been designed by God 03:22 to be a blessing of time spent together in intimate fellowship. 03:27 Now the teachers who are ordained to speak 03:29 on behalf of God are making the Sabbath a stifling 03:33 and complex tradition instead of a simply delightful experience. 03:39 Jesus' attempt to disabuse the Jews 03:41 of their treasure traditions caused a great deal of thunder 03:45 in the holy land and if we care to notice, 03:48 Jesus' doctrine regarding the Sabbath is causing 03:51 some ominous clouds on our own national horizon. 03:56 Charles, the synagogue is a place of worship for the Jews. 03:59 Today, I'm in Capernaum, 04:01 the very synagogue that Jesus would have attended. 04:04 In Mark 13, we have a story about Jesus, 04:07 the Jews, and the Sabbath. 04:09 But first, we need to establish a baseline here. 04:12 The Sabbath is non-negotiable. 04:15 And that the teaching of Jesus made absolutely clear 04:18 that "The Sabbath was made for man." 04:21 And after all, it was given to perfect people 04:24 in a perfect world by the God of Creation. 04:27 In Exodus Chapter 20 that same Creator God 04:31 gave us His Ten Commandments. 04:33 At the physical heart and center of His Ten Commandments 04:37 is His reminder that He has set aside 04:40 a sacred time, the Sabbath. 04:42 So it should not surprise us that we find Jesus 04:45 in this synagogue on the Sabbath. 04:47 Exactly. Now when Jesus entered 04:49 the Synagogue on this particular Sabbath 04:52 and those in charge for watching Jesus, 04:55 looking for Him to do something by which they could accuse Him. 04:59 They came to church not to rest in the goodness 05:02 and power of God but to limit and restrict 05:05 His flow of mercy and grace. 05:07 In this story, we discover 05:09 the church leaders had changed the meaning 05:12 and definition of the word "work." 05:15 And words have to have meaning, 05:17 without a common and shared definition, 05:20 without an agreed-upon meaning 05:23 there can be no communication. Okay. 05:25 And it's clear from Exodus 20:9 that God has given us six days 05:32 to labor and work and but the seventh day is the Sabbath, 05:36 the Lord thy God, in it thou shall not do any work. 05:40 But in Luke 13:14, one synagogue ruler got 05:43 so upset with Jesus healing in the church 05:45 on the Sabbath day that he cried out, 05:48 "There are six days in which men ought to work, 05:50 in them therefore come and be healed 05:52 and not on the Sabbath day." 05:54 The Bible doesn't tell us we can't heal on the Sabbath. 05:57 So it clearly a tradition of the Jews 06:00 changed the meaning of the word "work." 06:03 I'm not sure how a miracle of God can be construed to be work. 06:07 Well, that's just it, you can't, 06:10 unless you take God off His throne 06:11 and make yourself or your wisdom 06:14 or your traditions the ruler and God of your life. 06:18 Perhaps, Jesus was trying to make 06:20 that point when He asked them, 06:22 "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil? 06:26 To save life, or to kill?" 06:28 But they wouldn't answer him. 06:30 It says, "But they held their peace." 06:32 In a way they stonewalled Him. 06:35 No one would want to admit that you can do evil 06:37 but not good on a Sabbath day. 06:39 And people still do that today. 06:41 They can't give an honest biblical answer as to why 06:44 they worship on Sunday or some other day of the week. 06:47 And probably the most fascinating detail 06:49 of this story is that while they don't want Jesus 06:52 healing on the Sabbath because that's "work," 06:55 they can hold an assassination meeting with the hit squad 06:58 and somehow that's acceptable. 07:00 And to me, this illustrates 07:02 perhaps the number one reason 07:04 why young people leave the church today. 07:06 It's hypocrisy. 07:08 And we may be young 07:09 but we are not completely devoid of thought. 07:12 If Jesus is who He claims to be, 07:15 His question deserves to be answered. 07:19 And based on biblical history, 07:21 I guess that Jesus' Sabbath question 07:22 will only be rightly answered by honest people. 07:27 Jesus told that the Sabbath is made for men. 07:29 Jesus also claimed that He was Lord of the Sabbath. 07:32 Those who are honest in heart will consider these claims. 07:35 And they also need to consider two more important insights. 07:39 The Sabbath is not just about time together 07:41 with another being, it's about time 07:43 with someone called God, Father, and Creator. 07:46 The Sabbath then by default is about worship. 07:50 Revelation 15:4 tells us that, "In regard to all beings, 07:54 only God is Holy and as a result all nations 07:57 shall come and worship before Him." 08:00 And what reason is put forth, 08:01 what reason is given as to why we should worship Him? 08:04 Once again we turn to the Book of Revelation 08:06 which is the testimony of Jesus Himself. 08:09 In this apocalyptic book, John sees an angel flying 08:12 in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel 08:15 to preach to all those who dwell on earth. 08:17 As the cry goes out, people everywhere on planet earth, 08:20 whether Asian or Middle Eastern, European or American, 08:23 are called to worship him. 08:25 Him, who? 08:26 "Him that made heaven, and earth, 08:28 and the sea, and the fountains of waters." 08:31 We are invited to worship the creator. 08:34 Indeed, the only being worthy of our worship 08:36 is the one who created this earth and put us on it. 08:38 And the sign of His creatorship is the Sabbath. Check it out. 08:42 Exodus 20:8 tells us to 08:44 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." 08:47 And the reason or rationale is given in verse 11. 08:50 "For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, 08:53 and the sea, and all that in them is, 08:55 and rested on the seventh day, wherefore the Lord 08:58 blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." 09:00 John clearly states that Jesus is the creator. 09:03 "All things were made by him." He says in John 1:3. 09:06 "And without Him was not any thing made that was made." 09:10 So if Jesus is in fact Emmanuel, 09:12 God with us and if He is indeed the creator 09:16 and if He personally set aside the Sabbath to be a sign 09:18 between His children and Himself that He is the Creator God 09:22 and also assign that He is the one 09:24 who recreates us or makes us holy, 09:27 if He is the Lord of this weakly time that we call Sabbath, 09:30 how is it that most of the world does not keep 09:32 the Sabbath as a holy day? 09:34 I think Jesus Himself gave us the answer 09:37 in one of His parables that people had made a choice 09:40 and sent God this message. 09:43 "We do not want this man to rule over us." 09:48 Ever since man chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, 09:52 we have made our own gods. 09:54 We've made a god out of our own reason. 09:57 Our own thought processes have become the premier standard 10:01 by which we guide our lives instead of a simple 10:04 "Thus saith the Lord." 10:06 And that's the reason there are so many forms of worship today. 10:11 We create our own religions, our own churches, our own God's. 10:16 Without any biblical directive Christians are keeping 10:19 Sunday as a holy day, Muslims are keeping Friday, 10:23 and Hindus go to temple on Tuesday. 10:26 But what does Jesus, the God of creation, say, 10:30 "The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." 10:34 And according to Exodus 20:10, 10:37 the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week. 10:41 He was not only Lord of the Sabbath, 10:43 but while Jesus was here on earth as a man, 10:46 He personally kept the Sabbath as a holy day 10:49 for church attendance and fellowship. 10:52 Dr. Luke, the only gentile writer 10:54 in the New Testament reports, 10:56 "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up 10:59 and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue 11:03 on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read." 11:07 Keeping the Sabbath was part of the weekly cycle in Jesus' life. 11:11 Not as some supposed because He was a Jew, 11:14 but because He was Lord of the Sabbath. 11:18 He led by example and rested just like 11:20 He did in Genesis, following creation. 11:24 And His disciples followed that example. 11:27 In the New Testament alone, we have 84 examples 11:30 of Christ's followers keeping the seventh day of the week 11:34 as a holy time, dedicated to the worship of 11:37 and a relationship with the God of creation. 11:41 The Apostle Paul explicitly declares, 11:44 "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." 11:49 This word, rest, in the Greek 11:51 is sabbatismos or a keeping Sabbath. 11:56 The New Revised Version well translates this verse, 12:00 "So then a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God." 12:06 I've heard some folks say that the New Testament 12:08 never makes Sabbath observance an issue. 12:11 Well, Paul, who personally kept the Sabbath, made it an issue. 12:16 And what does that mean for the New Testament Christian? 12:20 Paul goes on to explain, "For those who enter 12:23 God's rest also cease from their labors as God did from His." 12:29 At the heart of most religions, Christian or otherwise, 12:33 there is a desire to be said and to be transported 12:37 into God's kingdom, a better place. 12:40 Humans seek to accomplish that goal through pilgrimages, 12:44 penances, or gifts to some church or clergy. 12:47 But the Sabbath is not a ritual that earns us merit. 12:52 It is a sign that we are resting in his power to save 12:57 and recreate just like Adam and Eve 13:00 rested in God's power to create. 13:04 The reason God's true followers still observe the Sabbath today 13:07 is they believe in a living God who still has power 13:11 to create in them a holy life. 13:15 You see, the Sabbath is a sign for both 13:17 Old and New Testament believers that we serve a living, 13:22 all powerful, life changing God who can and does, 13:26 actually and in fact change lives. 13:29 God tells us through the prophet Ezekiel, 13:32 "Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, 13:35 to be a sign between me and them that they might know 13:38 that I am the Lord that sanctify them." 13:42 The drunkards become sober, the liars become honest, 13:46 the angry become peaceful. 13:48 We rest in that power and the Sabbath is God's signet, 13:53 His sign of that life changing relationship. 13:57 But since almost all Christians keep Sunday as Sabbath, 14:01 you think Jesus must have changed it somewhere 14:03 in the Bible before He went back to Heaven. 14:06 Yes, with the widespread acceptance 14:08 of Sunday as the day of worship, 14:11 it would seem that there must be some reference, 14:13 some biblical support for its observance. 14:16 And since the word Sunday is not in the Bible 14:18 and to investigate God's word, we must look up 14:22 all the verses containing the words, first day. 14:25 Of the 80 texts containing first and day 14:29 only nine referred the first day of the week. 14:32 One appears in the Old Testament and eight in the New. 14:35 So let's examine them. 14:37 The first verse is Genesis 1:5 and it talks about 14:41 the first day of creation and what was created on it. 14:45 The next six are in the Gospels and they surround 14:47 the crucifixion and five of them talk 14:50 about the women returning early Sunday morning 14:52 after resting on the Sabbath according to the commandment 14:55 to finish their work of embalming Jesus. 14:58 Then one text, John 20:19, talks about Jesus' 15:02 first meeting with His disciples on Sunday evening. 15:05 Now, I'm sure that was indeed an awesome 15:07 and worshipful experience and certainly this would've been 15:11 the ideal time for Jesus to tell His disciples to observe Sunday. 15:16 But there's absolutely no record of Him 15:18 even insinuating that change. 15:21 And that leaves us just two more texts 15:23 regarding the first day of the week. 15:25 Acts 20 actually talks about Paul preaching 15:28 on the first day of the week and at first glance 15:30 we may think we found our first 15:33 biblical reference to Sunday observance. 15:36 But a critical look at this passage 15:37 reveals nothing of this sort. 15:39 You see, in the Bible 15:40 each day doesn't start at midnight, but at sunset. 15:44 And this was just a Saturday evening supper 15:46 and then at a preaching service that happened to last all night. 15:50 Getting along with it to the near demise 15:53 of one of his listeners, Paul preached until 15:55 early Sunday morning when he resumed his journey. 15:59 If Sunday was a true Sabbath, a day of rest, 16:03 he certainly wouldn't have spent Sunday traveling. 16:06 Our last first day verse is in 1 Corinthians 16:2 16:10 which tells us, "Upon the first day of the week 16:13 let every one of you lay by him in store, 16:17 as God hath prospered him, 16:19 that there be no gatherings when I come." 16:22 And the first thing to notice in this passage 16:24 is that nothing is said about church 16:27 or passing the offering plate. 16:29 There are two key phrases in this verse 16:32 that make its meaning clear. 16:33 They are, number 1, "let every one lay by him" 16:38 and 2, "in store." 16:41 Funds were to be laid aside at home each week for those 16:44 suffering persecution and famine in Jerusalem. 16:47 This weekly store would be saved up till Paul would come 16:49 and forward those funds to the Christians in Jerusalem. 16:53 This practice would result in a larger offering 16:56 as it was part of their weekly planning 16:58 and they wouldn't have to make any special gathering 17:00 or call for contributions or offerings 17:04 since it would already be set aside. 17:06 We've now looked at every Sunday or first day text. 17:10 And not one puts the sacred seal of God's blessing 17:12 on that day as a sanctified or hallowed time. 17:17 Our Sunday keeping friends, have never been able to produce one 17:20 verse of scripture that supports Sunday's sacredness. 17:24 It's simply not there. 17:26 Some one may be asking just now, 17:29 if Jesus kept the Sabbath holy 17:31 and the apostles also kept the Sabbath sacred 17:33 and the early church fathers kept the Sabbath, 17:36 how is it then that Christendom, 17:38 the people who take the name of Christ by and large 17:41 now keep Sunday as the predominant holy day? 17:45 Well, the change didn't happen overnight. 17:47 For approximately 300 years after Christ's resurrection, 17:52 the seventh day Sabbath was the only day 17:54 that the organized Christians set aside as sacred. 17:57 But the Jews were a detested people 18:00 among the world government of Rome. 18:02 Because the Christian believers held many things in common 18:05 with the Jews such as diet and the Sabbath, 18:08 they often shared in their persecution. 18:11 For this reason, Christians sought 18:13 to distance themselves from the ill-favored Jews 18:16 and they felt that by christening some pagan practices 18:19 and making less prominent their Christian beliefs, 18:22 they could not only attain distinction from the Jews, 18:25 but perhaps win some of the pagans to the church. 18:28 Both of these goals were accomplished to some degree, 18:32 but not without a high cost, 18:34 the loss of the sacred truths of Christ and His apostles. 18:39 By the year 250 AD, many of the professed Christians 18:42 had become worldly and thought of increasing 18:45 their earthly possessions 18:46 more than cultivating their Christian virtues. 18:50 Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, 18:52 wrote of these times in these words, 18:54 "Forgetful of what believers had either done before in the times 18:58 of the apostles or always ought to do, they, 19:01 with the insatiable ardor of covetousness, 19:04 devoted themselves to the increase of their property." 19:09 For those in this younger universal or Catholic Church, 19:13 the solomn, sacred Sabbath was followed by Sunday 19:16 which was the day of fun and festivities. 19:19 And because God, the Sabbath, 19:21 and the Jews were looked on through 19:22 a distorted and embittered light, 19:25 people gravitated more towards Sunday observance. 19:28 In the year 336, Canon 29 was formulated 19:32 by some of the church leaders. 19:34 And at the Council of Laodicea in 363, 19:37 it became the official universal church mandate. 19:41 Canon 29 was the primary canon 19:43 approved at the Council of Laodicea. 19:46 It prohibits resting on Sabbath, 19:48 Saturday and compels Christians to sanctify 19:51 what they call the Lord's Day or Sunday. 19:54 Canon 29, "Christians must not Judaize 19:58 by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, 20:02 rather honoring the Lord's day and if they can, 20:05 resting then as Christians. 20:08 But if any shall be found to be judaizers, 20:11 let them be anathema from Christ." 20:14 So now you know the reason that Sunday became sacred 20:17 to Christendom because the organized church made it so. 20:21 It says so right in their own catechism. 20:24 Indeed it does. 20:25 I was raised in a Catholic home, 20:28 I grew up wanting to be a nun and I became a nun for 28 years. 20:32 Here is the Catholic catechism 20:35 and this is what it says starting on page 49. 20:39 Question, "What is the Third Commandment?" 20:42 Answer, "The Third Commandment is, 20:44 remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day." 20:49 Actually, the Sabbath commandment in the Bible 20:53 is the fourth Commandment, but that's another story. 20:57 Continuing to read. Question, "Which is the Sabbath day?" 21:03 Answer, "Saturday is the Sabbath day." 21:07 And they are correct on this point, 21:10 but if you're honest with yourself and honest with God, 21:14 this should make you ask an important question, 21:17 a question that is so obvious 21:19 they simply made it the next question in the catechism. 21:24 Question, "Then why do 21:26 we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?" 21:29 And here is the truth of how the Sabbath was changed 21:33 from Saturday to Sunday, right from the catholic catechism. 21:38 Question, "By what authority 21:40 did the church substitute Sunday for Saturday?" 21:44 I'd also like to know the answer to this question. 21:48 How can a church run by mere men change the very law of God, 21:53 the law written on stone with the finger of God himself? 21:57 Well, here's their answer in their own words. 22:03 Answer, "The church substituted 22:05 Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude 22:08 of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her." 22:14 This is a flowery way of saying because we decided to, 22:18 but nowhere in the Bible 22:20 did God give the church such divine power. 22:25 And right here is where the teachings of Jesus 22:27 are causing thunder on our own horizon. 22:29 It is on this very point that the Sabbath 22:31 becomes extremely relevant for our lives today. 22:34 The most powerful church in the world, 22:36 the only one that has its own country, 22:38 postal system, police, and currency, 22:41 the only church that shares-- don't miss this, 22:44 ambassadors with the United States, 22:46 that church has a question for all Protestants. 22:49 John L. Stoddard who was a sincere Protestant Seminarian 22:52 who later became a devout Catholic, 22:54 in his book "Rebuilding a Lost Faith" page 80, 22:57 he challenges all those who claimed 22:58 to be Protestant with these words, 23:01 "The Bible which the Protestants claim to obey exclusively 23:03 gives no authorization for the substitution 23:06 of the first day of the week for the seventh. 23:09 On what authority have they done so? 23:11 Plainly on the authority of that same Catholic Church 23:13 which they abandoned, and whose traditions they condemn." 23:17 John Stoddard is actually correct. 23:19 There's not one verse of Scripture 23:20 that supports Sunday as a holy day, not one. 23:23 Then there's this quote from the Catholic Mirror, 23:26 "Reason and common sense demands the acceptance 23:28 of one or the other of these alternatives, 23:30 either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, 23:33 or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday." 23:36 Give the Catholic Church credit here. 23:38 At least they're honest. 23:39 The Catholic Church says, 23:41 "We go by tradition and the Bible." 23:43 Sunday's sacredness is their tradition 23:45 and has been since the Council of Laodicea. 23:48 The Protestants on the other hand 23:49 left the Catholic Church with this cry on their lips, 23:52 "Sola scriptura," or "The Bible and the Bible alone." 23:57 But even Catholics can see that there's nothing 23:59 in the Bible which calls for Sunday's sacredness. 24:01 "Sunday is a Catholic institution" 24:03 they tell us "and its claim to observance 24:05 can be defended only on Catholic principles. 24:08 From beginning to end of Scripture 24:10 there is not a single passage that warrants 24:12 the transfer of weekly public worship 24:14 from the last day of the week to the first." 24:17 Chancellor H.F. Thomas writing on behalf of the office 24:19 of Cardinal Gibbons wrote "Of course the Catholic Church 24:22 claims that the change of Sabbath to Sunday was her act, 24:25 and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power." 24:28 Prophetic adherence warns us that this same power, 24:31 the Catholic Church, well in the near future 24:33 once again used the political power of the state to demand 24:36 that we keep Sunday sacred and holy 24:39 just as she did during the dark ages 24:41 when she was responsible for the destruction 24:42 of between 40 to 80 million Christians whose only crime 24:46 was a desire to read God's word and let God be God. 24:50 When the Papacy's mark of Ecclesiastes authority, 24:53 Sunday sacredness, stands in direct opposition 24:55 to God and His sign that He is the creator of all things 24:59 and the re-creator of our sin-sick souls. 25:02 And what is the established name sign of God? 25:06 The Sabbath. 25:07 So it comes down to this, either God is God 25:10 and Lord of all or He's not God and not Lord at all. 25:15 Jesus clearly taught, 25:17 "The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." 25:21 By their own admission, the papacy has sought 25:23 to remove God's mark of Lordship and creation from the decalog; 25:27 replacing it with their own mark, Sunday sacredness. 25:32 But in the spirit of tolerance 25:34 and religious freedom some might ask, 25:36 is Saturday versus Sunday really that important? 25:40 The assured answer is, absolutely! 25:43 And here is why, 25:45 If God is the creator then He has the right to rule. 25:49 The right to ask of us anything even if it doesn't make sense 25:54 and making one day holy really doesn't make sense. 25:57 And truly the only reason we give for obedience 26:01 to the Sabbath commandment is He's God and He asked me to. 26:06 To say no to the Fourth Commandment 26:08 is the same as saying, "You are not God, I am." 26:13 And there is another simple reason God chose to make 26:17 the Sabbath a testing truth for His true followers. 26:21 It's easy. Yes, once again, God really makes salvation simple. 26:27 If God said you have to have wealth 26:29 or you have to be educated to be saved 26:32 then 50 to 75% of the world would be lost. 26:36 So the God of creation used something 26:39 that everyone is equal in, time. 26:43 No matter you're wealth, education, sex, or ethnicity 26:46 everyone is completely equal in time. 26:51 God want's to spend time, eternity with you. 26:54 So is it unreasonable for our Creator, Savior, 26:58 and Friend to ask you to set aside 27:01 one seventh of your time to spend with Him now? |
Revised 2014-12-17