What Do You Do on Saturday?
by Jim Josephsen

Saturday is that one day of the week that can't come soon enough. Especially after a hard week of work and the seemingly endless demands each weekday brings, Saturday is the one day eagerly desired.

As Friday evening rolls around, a resurgence of energy awakens. At bars, dance clubs, as friends gather, getting together in homes, at parties, downtown, hanging out and carousing; on into the early morning hours of Saturday, personal pursuits, letting loose, pleasures and activities take priority.

All the more, Saturday is the primary day for retail activities, for shopping, for leisure pursuits, for sports and entertainment activities, golfing, for picnics, birthday parties, and weddings. Saturday is the day for getting caught up with house cleaning, the landscape, washing the car, taking care of one's personal business; for all the things that are self-rewarding and physically focused.

Saturday has become the day people need just to get caught up with life's demands. After all, with the weekdays so arduous, don't they deserve a day to do their own thing, to take care of their own business, to do as they please?

Historically understood and irrefutably, Saturday is the seventh day of the week. From a Biblical perspective, the seventh day of the week, at the time of creation, was sanctified as the day of rest (Genesis 2:1-3), called the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:10).

The word Sabbath, originated from the Hebrew word shabbath which simply means intermission, cessation, rest. The Spanish word for Saturday is Sabado. Saturday is the Sabbath day. The concept of Sabbath is not foreign to the world. Historically, the seventh-day Sabbath has been observed within the religion of Judaism and observed by a very small percentage of Christians.

The 1st Century Church of God was a seventh-day, Sabbath-observing church, obedient and faithful to God. When the 1st Century Church of God observed the Sabbath (or as would be understood in our cultural context today ­ went to church) it was on a Saturday. Today, God's Church is still a seventh-day, Sabbath-observing, Saturday going church.

The seventh-day Sabbath was sanctified by God (Genesis 2:1-2 and Exodus 20:11); His seal of approval was placed on that day by resting on it.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of that same Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28), and He does not change (Hebrews 13:8). He stated that He did not do away with any of the laws of God ­ which includes the fourth Commandment (Matthew 5:17-18). Christ admonishes the keeping of even the very least of the commandments (Matthew 5:19-20). Finally Christ taught, if you will enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17). The commandments are holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). When Jesus Christ returns to rule the earth, the Sabbath will be kept (Isaiah 66:23).

In the history of the Christian movement, with regard to the Sabbath day, one of the most sinister deceptions perpetrated on the Western world, came by the hands of the Roman Catholic Church. The history of the Catholic Church is teeming with examples of how it appropriated many pagan traditions, many Greek and Roman religious and philosophic-based concepts of life and God, merging and mingling them with scriptures into what is now commonly known as Catholic doctrine. The Catholic fathers were far from faithful to the Truth of God. They deliberately disregarded and often obscured the Word of God, changing it into what is now known as the Catholic view of the Bible.

Rejecting the seventh-day Sabbath is the most obvious and deliberate omission of Truth.. Even a cursory review of the Catholic Encyclopedia will reveal the fact that the Catholic Church substituted Sunday, the first day of the week, putting it in place of God's created, sanctified seventh-day Sabbath which God ordained by way of commandment.

Today, the vast majority of Christians practice Sunday-worship, following the teachings of the Catholic Church. Very few Christians listen to or honor God by keeping His Sabbath Day, Saturday, holy!

Considering the seventh-day Sabbath, the prophet Isaiah declared: "If you keep the Sabbath holy, not having your own fun and business on that day, but enjoying the Sabbath and speaking of it with delight as the Lord's holy day and honoring the Lord in what you do, not following your own desires and pleasures, nor talking idly ­ the Lord will be your delight and I will see to it that you ride high and get your full share of blessings I promised to Jacob, your father. The Lord has spoken" (Isaiah 58:13-14 The Living Bible Paraphrased).

Through the prophet Isaiah, God defines behavior that is acceptable and unacceptable for Sabbath keeping. What is meant by your own fun or your own business on that day? How do you speak of the Sabbath with delight? How do you honor God with what you do on the Sabbath? What are your own desires; your own pleasures?

Are there pleasures and desires that would be considered God's; which would be acceptable to God? Perhaps the biggest challenge in obeying God by keeping His Sabbath is to understand what is meant by the phrase, talking idly on the Sabbath. It is bad enough to talk idly (cf. Matthew 12:36) any day of the week, but on the Sabbath, on Saturday?

All you need to do is look across this world today and you will clearly see people constantly rejecting God's Sabbath day, as they aimlessly pursue their own pleasures on Saturday.

History has provided a witness of peoples and nations who have tread upon God's Sabbath Day, and the results of such evil. One of the chief sins committed by the nation of Israel, which led to its demise, downfall and captivity, was the breaking of God's Sabbaths (Nehemiah 13:15-18).

These same results will come to any nation or peoples living today, who breaks God's Sabbath day, Saturday. All the troubles mankind is heaping upon itself in this turbulent world today is a result of breaking God's Commandments. To break the Sabbath is to dishonor God and doing so is a sin that is contributing to the misery this world now suffers.

It is clearly evident, disobeying God's Laws and Commandments, including the Sabbath day, results in broken societies, destroyed lives, poverty, empty human purpose, aimlessness, selfishness, a Christian religion that is vain and useless, and eventually, death. God does not have to lift a finger. The consequences of sin are automatic and this world manifests those consequences.

Seeking your own pleasures on Saturday and not observing the Sabbath is a sin, which is a breaking of the law (I John 3:4). The results of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

To honor, observe and keep the Sabbath, Saturday, holy, shows obedience toward and respect for God, resulting in blessings in this physical life, protection and the promise of everlasting life.

Your life will be filled with more satisfaction than temporal physical pursuits will ever provide, when you keep the Sabbath, Saturday, holy. This is God's promise.

What do you do on Saturday? The answer is clear regarding what you need to do on Saturday. The Word of God informs you what you should be doing on God's Sabbath Day - Saturday. Perhaps now is the time to start obeying God!