The Rest of the Sabbath Question

This past Sunday, we got to spend time in Matthew 12:1-14, where we heard Jesus confront the Pharisees over their misunderstanding and misapplication of the Sabbath command.

Towards the end of the message I made the comment that the Sabbath doesn’t apply to us, but I didn’t get the chance to flesh that out any further, and so I (understandably) got some questions about that later. Was I really saying that the command to rest one day in seven doesn’t apply to Christians anymore?

The short answer is yes, that’s exactly what I was saying. Colossians 2:16-17 and Romans 14:5 are two passages that show us this is the case.

But there’s a bit more below the waterline on this topic. Isn’t the Sabbath a part of the Ten Commandments? Aren’t Christians supposed to obey the Ten Commandments? Didn’t the Sabbath just move from Saturday to Sunday? Are we allowed to mow our grass or do homework on Sundays?

If you want to explore these questions (plus a bonus question about Phariseeism and decisions in the church today), I did my best to explain how this all works in this video earlier today. Below it, you’ll find some links to where we tackled this topic in the You Are Here series back in 2019.

• The Law (sermon)
• Law, Covenant and Mission (blog post)