Over
time many have asked how to keep the Sabbath Day Holy – here below is how to
understand the Sabbath – and then a short lesson on how to keep it Holy.
Sabbath
Sabbath. Instituted
to commemorate God’s seventh day of rest at the Creation (Ex. 20:10–11),
and also the redemption from Egyptian bondage (Deut. 5:15).
On the Sabbath the daily sacrifices were doubled; the loaves of the shewbread
were changed; the people abstained from all manner of work, and it was a day of
holy assembly.
The Sabbath was a holy day before the giving of the law, even
from the earliest times (cf. the account of the creation—Gen. 2:2–3;
the sacredness of the number 7; the narrative of the manna—Ex. 16:23–30;
and the narrative of the man gathering sticks—Num. 15:32–36;
cf. v. 34);
but we have no evidence of its observance in patriarchal times. This is no
doubt due to the scantiness of the record, for the Sabbath is an eternal
principle, and would have existed from the days of Adam, whenever the gospel was
on the earth among men.
After the return from the exile Nehemiah made the observance of
the Sabbath one of the chief points of his reformation (10:31; 13:15–22),
and the strictness with which it was kept by the Jews became a well-known fact.
In course of time many regulations grew up, and were observed by the Pharisees.
One of the charges frequently brought against our Lord was that of Sabbath
breaking, but this was because he failed to conform to the traditions and
man-made regulations concerning the Sabbath. Jesus obeyed the letter and the
spirit of the Sabbath, but was not obligated to follow the traditions of the
elders of the Jews.
After the ascension of Christ, the members of the Church,
whether Jews or gentiles, kept holy the first day of the week (the Lord’s day)
as a weekly commemoration of our Lord’s resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10); and
by degrees the observance of the seventh day was discontinued. (See Lord’s Day.)
The importance of a sacred day for man to rest from his temporal
labors, contemplate the word of the Lord, and assemble for public worship is a
major item in person’s spiritual development. Furthermore, a decay in the
national religious life always follows any tendency toward carelessness in the
matter of Sabbath observance. The existence of a weekly holy day is a most
important safeguard; it leaves a constant reminder to the individual of his
need for spiritual sustenance and his duty before God, and serves as a witness
to the world that there is such a thing as revealed religion.
The change from observing the last day of the week to the first
day of the week is not so important as is the concept and principle of the
Sabbath. In either case, the Sabbath was symbolic of the mighty works of God,
i.e., the creation of the earth, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Latter-day revelation confirms the significance of the Sabbath
(or Lord’s day), in D&C 59.
For other references to the Sabbath see 2 Kgs. 4:23;
11:5–7; Isa. 1:13; 58:13; Jer. 17:20–27;
Ezek.
20:12–13, 16; Hosea 2:11; Amos 8:5; Matt. 12:1–13;
Mark
2:23–28; 3:1–5;
Luke 6:1–10;
13:11–16;
14:1–5; John 5:18; 7:21–24; Rom. 14:5–6; Gal. 4:10; Col. 2:16.
Lesson 29: Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
The purpose of this lesson is to teach us to keep the Sabbath
day holy.
Introduction
In the United States during the 1930s many people could not find
work. It was a time of great hardship. One priesthood bearer in Salt Lake City,
Utah, got a job with the government. It paid well and promised security. There
was only one problem: the new job required him to work on Sunday. But he needed
the money to support his family.
He knew that the Lord is not always displeased when people have
to work on Sunday, so he prayed that the Lord would approve of his work on the
Sabbath. But the Lord gave him the feeling that, in his case, he should not
work on Sunday. The man discussed the matter with his wife. They both felt he
should tell his boss he would not come to work on Sunday. When he did this, the
boss warned him that he would lose his job.
- What would you do if you were this man?
When this priesthood holder refused to work on Sunday, he lost
his job. A short time later, however, he was blessed to find another job that
did not require him to work on the Sabbath.
The Sacredness of the Sabbath
In the beginning the Lord spent six days creating this earth,
but on the seventh day He rested (see Genesis 2:2–3).
He called this day the Sabbath. He set the example, showing us that we should
honor the Sabbath by resting from all our work. God has always expected His
children to devote one day in seven to Him.
Before the time of Christ,
the Sabbath was observed on the seventh day of the week. But following Christ’s
Resurrection
most Christians have observed the Sabbath on the first day of the week (see Acts 20:7). It
was called the Lord’s Day (see Revelation 1:10)
in honor of His Resurrection on that day (see John 20:1).
Christ is Lord of the Sabbath (see Mark 2:27–28).
As such, He has commanded us to keep “[His] holy day” (see D&C
59:9–13).
During Moses’
time the Lord emphasized the importance of keeping the Sabbath when He included
it among the Ten Commandments.
- Read Exodus 20:8–11.
The Lord told the people of Israel that the Sabbath was very
important—that their obedience in honoring it was a sign of their faithfulness
to Him (see Exodus
31:12–17).
The Sabbath was observed as directed by the Lord in these and
other scriptures until the time of Jesus
Christ. During these centuries, many uninspired religious leaders placed
many restrictions on what a person could do on the Sabbath. For example, they
taught that a fire could not be started or put out on the Sabbath. A person
could untie a knot only if it could be done with one hand. One mile was the
limit anyone could walk. Broken bones could not be reset until after the
Sabbath.
It became so difficult for the people to obey all the rules that
they forgot the true purpose of the Sabbath day. Rather than being a blessing
and a joy, the Sabbath became a burden.
President George Albert Smith explained what our attitude toward
the Sabbath should be: “[The Lord] has set apart one day in seven, not to make
it a burden, but to bring joy into our lives and cause that our homes may be
the gathering place of the family, … increasing our love for one another”
(“Obey the Commandments,” Improvement Era, Jan. 1949, 9).
- How can the Sabbath be a joy in our lives?
The Lord has not given us many rules about the Sabbath; He has
simply given us some directions to guide us in keeping it holy.
- Read Doctrine and Covenants 59:9–13. Why has
the Lord asked us to keep the Sabbath day holy? (To keep ourselves
unspotted from the world.) What does it mean to “keep thyself unspotted
from the world”?
- Display visual 29-a, “On the Sabbath day we are to ‘offer
up … sacraments.’”
- According to these verses, what should we do to keep the
Sabbath day holy? (We should go to the house of prayer, rest from our
labors, pay our devotions, offer up oblations and sacraments, confess our
sins, prepare our meals with singleness of heart, fast, and pray.) What
are oblations? (Gifts to the Lord. They include tithes and offerings.)
What is meant by letting “thy food be prepared with singleness of heart”?
(Prepare only simple meals on that day.)
The First Presidency of the Church said: “The Sabbath is not
just another day on which we merely rest from our work, free to spend it as our
light-mindedness may suggest. It is a holy day, the Lord’s Day, to be spent as
a day of worship and reverence” (“The Sabbath,” Church News, 11 July
1959, 3).
- What other kinds of things may we do on the Sabbath to keep it holy?
In addition to the instructions given to us in the scriptures
and by our living prophets, we can learn how to keep the
Sabbath day holy by studying the Savior’s life. One Sabbath day, for example,
as Jesus was going into a synagogue to teach, He met a man with a withered
hand. The scribes and the Pharisees, convinced that healing the man would break
the Sabbath, gathered around the Savior to see what He would do.
Knowing what they were thinking, the Lord asked them, “Is it
lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to
destroy it?” Then, looking around at all of them, He said to the man, “Stretch
forth thy hand.” The man did so, and his hand was completely healed. (See Luke 6:6–10.)
On another Sabbath day Jesus asked, “Which of you shall have an
ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the
sabbath day?” (Luke
14:5–6).
- According to the Savior’s example, what kind of work is appropriate on the Sabbath?
President Spencer W. Kimball said:
“It is true that some people must work on the Sabbath. And, in
fact, some of the work that is truly necessary—caring for the sick, for
example—may actually serve to hallow the Sabbath. However, in such activities
our motives are an important consideration.
“When men and women are willing to work on the Sabbath to
increase their wealth, they are breaking the commandments; for money taken in
on the Sabbath, if the work is unnecessary, is unclean money” (“The Sabbath—A
Delight,” Ensign, Jan. 1978, 5).
When we are faced with the decision to engage in an activity
that may or may not be appropriate for the Sabbath, we might ask ourselves
three questions:
Is it doing good?
Is it spiritually uplifting?
Would Jesus do it?
When we cannot avoid working on Sunday, we should keep the
spirit of the Sabbath in our hearts.
Blessings for
Observing the Sabbath
The Lord has promised us great temporal and spiritual blessings
if we keep the Sabbath day holy. If we honor it “with thanksgiving, with
cheerful hearts and countenances, … the fulness of the earth is yours, …
whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards,
or for gardens, or for vineyards” (D&C
59:15–17).
- What other blessings might we receive by keeping the
Sabbath day holy?
The Lord has told us not to trifle with sacred things. One of
the most sacred things the Lord has given us is His holy day. Elder Ezra Taft
Benson said: “The purpose of the Sabbath is for spiritual uplift, for a renewal
of our covenants, for worship, for rest, for prayer. It is for the purpose of
feeding the spirit, that we may keep ourselves unspotted from the world by
obeying God’s command” (“Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy,” Ensign, May
1971, 6). Keeping the Sabbath day holy expresses our love for the Lord and
shows our gratitude for His
goodness. When we follow this commandment, we receive great blessings from Him.
Challenge
Seek to make the Sabbath more spiritual. Gather together your
family and discuss your family’s conduct on the Sabbath. Discuss ways to keep
the Sabbath day holy. Remind family members to ask themselves three questions
to determine if their activities are appropriate:
Is it doing good?
Is it spiritually uplifting?Would Jesus do it?
Additional Scriptures
- Leviticus 19:30 (we are commanded to keep
the Sabbath)
- Nehemiah 13:15–21 (we should not sell on
the Sabbath)
- Isaiah 58:13–14 (we are not to seek
worldly pleasure on the Sabbath)
“Always Wondered How”
cji
4/23/12
Reading and pondering
phone calls and
doorbells
praying for the guidance
turning off the
television
tuning out the worldly
having on quiet music
or listening to a talk
measuring the meaning
seeking in the
Scriptures
researching the Prophets
always wondering how
the Savior would do it
too
keeping the Sabbath holy
knowing thus what to do!
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