Building on the Foundation

  Quoting directly from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, Jesus Christ taught us that all of God’s laws rest upon these two: “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Mat. 22:37-40). Therefore, it’s through this lens that we need to view all of God’s commandments. As we read each of God’s laws, let’s seek to understand, “How does this teach me to love God and to love my fellow man?” But God’s law also teaches us about His character and about His love for each one of us. When God says that “He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing” (Deut. 10:18), and when He commands us to do likewise, this tells us something about who He is. God gave us His laws for our good (Deut. 10:13), because H...

  As we’ve proven in some recent posts , the Sabbath serves as a sign between God and His people. It’s also pretty important to God. A life and death matter, in fact. So how should we keep the Sabbath? Folks have debated and quarreled over the Sabbath more than probably any other law of God. Like the ancient Israelites, most self-proclaimed Christians today rebel against God’s Sabbath command. But even among the few who understand that God expects us to keep the Sabbath, there’s considerable disagreement. Some folks go far beyond God’s instructions and turn the Sabbath into a burden; others view the Sabbath as little more than a day to go to church, and suppose that they can do whatever else they please on that day. So let’s examine what God’s Word tells us about keeping the Sabbath, and see what God really expects of us. Too many folks think of the Sabbath as a restraint, as something that stops them from doing other things they’d rather be doing. So I’d like to present the Sabba...

  Our great Creator, Almighty God, tells us, “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” (Ex. 20:10). The question I want to pose today is, “What is work?” What, exactly, does God tell us not to do on the Sabbath? Do we get to decide for ourselves what we shouldn’t do on the Sabbath? Or has God already told us? Mind you, this post is IN NO WAY intended to serve as an exhaustive list of dos and don’ts for the Sabbath. Such an exercise would miss the whole purpose of God’s instructions. As the apostle Paul wrote, “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless” (Tit. 3:9). Rather, the purpose of this study is to establish some basic guidelines and principles. It’s to help us better understand what God expects of us. There’s a typ...