I was dissapointed to see that many "mega churches" were not conducting services on Christmas day. This story was covered in the secular media (CNN) and the blogosphere, good information here and here. Here are a few posts from pastors:
But probably most dissapointing of all was that of the few responses/posts/stories that I did read, only one mentioned God's view of the Sabbath. The reasons for closing the church on Sunday were just weak. Where's the biblical explanation?
I think that all agree that the Bible does not mention "Christmas" or, outside of the shephards and wisemen, speak specifically to the celebration of Christ's birth. But God has incredible things to say about the Sabbath. Of the 150+ mentions to "Sabbath" in God's word, here are some of my favorites are
- Exodus 20:8-10 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy...but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates."
- Exodus 31:12-14 "And the LORD said to Moses, You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.'" [emphasis mine]
- Nehemiah 13:15-18 "In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food...Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, 'What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.'"
- Isaiah 58:12-14 "If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
- Mark 2:27-29 "And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.'"
- Acts 13 "And on the Sabbath day [Paul and his companions] went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets...As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath...."
- Hebrews 4 "...For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account...."
And on the issues of the Sabbath being Saturday or Sunday, I'll defer to the 2000+ years of protestant history in which the church celebrates the Sabbath on Sunday. Christ rose on Sunday, and since that day, the church has celebrated the Sabbath on Sunday.
Finally, this doesn't have anything to do with the Sabbath, but I will say that the worst irony is that the world saw the hypocrisy in the decision to close the church on the day in which the church celebrates Christ's birth.
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. It's all about perspective, Job 38, Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
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