shift work on the sabbath

[Mattybates]

Hi all, since my walk with the Lord deepens, so does my reading of the word. I have just started the 10 commandments and I want the gift of the holy spirit and tongues so desperately. Jesus tells me he will ask his father for me (NIV)John 14:15-16
"If you love me, keep my commands. [16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever---


My problem lies with the me working shifts night and day including the sabbath. I know God measures the heart and sincerity, but this is a commandment and cannot be negotiated with. Any helpful Scripture or advice from the more seasoned of you would be so appreciated.

Matt

 

[ebia]

Do you mean the Sabbath or Sunday?

Literal sabbath keeping is a part of what marked out the Jews. We don't need to keep that.

We do what we can to keep Sunday as the day we celebrate the resurrection, and we make sure we and all we are responsible for get times of rest.

In the first century there was no weekend. Jews stood out for refusing to work on the Saturday; everyone else worked seven days a week. The first Christians got up very early on the first day each week to celebrate before work and/or met after work. They didn't get the day off.

 

[Mattybates]

wow, thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction, it was starting to be a concern of mine. Your perspective gives me a real footing of where to head now, thanks so much brother!

 

[americanvet]

Read John 12:9-13 regarding working on the Sabbath.
Read 1 Cor 12-14 regarding spiritual gifts.

I work shift work and am unable to go to church on most Sunday's. However, my "church" is a Wednesday morning (6:00 am) Bible study. Sometimes we have to think outside the box to worship God. Look in your area, and don't limit yourself to just one church. I have been a Baptist since I was saved. However, the local Baptist churches did not offer any type of services out side of Sunday worship. So I look at other denomination and found the United Methodist Church to offer the Bible Study I attend. I have also since moved my membership to this church. We should desire gifts from the Spirit of God. Also Life Church (lifechurch dot tv) has online church and online small group classed. This is not a perfect answer but it is a way to still have a type of church in your life.

Hope this help!

 

[boldlion]

Hi all, since my walk with the Lord deepens, so does my reading of the word. I have just started the 10 commandments and I want the gift of the holy spirit and tongues so desperately. Jesus tells me he will ask his father for me (NIV)John 14:15-16
"If you love me, keep my commands. [16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever---


My problem lies with the me working shifts night and day including the sabbath. I know God measures the heart and sincerity, but this is a commandment and cannot be negotiated with. Any helpful Scripture or advice from the more seasoned of you would be so appreciated.

Matt

Tell your boss that you can't work on the Sabbath Day. The Sabbath Day is Holy unto the Lord and Christians must keep it. It is not optional !

 

[GreekOrthodox]

Keep in mind what Jesus says in Mark 2 when He and the disciples are picking grain on the Sabbath: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

I would say that it depends on the type of work you are doing and what you do on that day. For example, if you are in public service such as an EMT or police, do what Jesus did on the Sabbath, heal people!!

If your job is more secular, then talk to your employer and see if you can work out a schedule. I work in software troubleshooting software that runs hospital ICUs and ORs and I'm on call one week out of four. In my case, I still take my on-call phone to church, put it on vibrate and if someone calls, I step into the narthex. If I can't solve it over the phone, I have an arrangement to call a co-worker to have him start looking into things. Once I get home, I can pick up the problem from there. There have been times where I did have to work on a Sunday to get things ready for a critical Monday meeting and I would at least make part of the service. I would also then take comp time to spend some extra time in prayer.

Just keep in mind that Jesus and the disciples broke the Sabbath law all the time.

 

[ebedmelech]

What sabbath??? There are no sabbath days.

Christ is our sabbath rest...

 

[childofdust]

Hi all, since my walk with the Lord deepens, so does my reading of the word. I have just started the 10 commandments and I want the gift of the holy spirit and tongues so desperately. Jesus tells me he will ask his father for me (NIV)John 14:15-16
"If you love me, keep my commands. [16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever---


My problem lies with the me working shifts night and day including the sabbath. I know God measures the heart and sincerity, but this is a commandment and cannot be negotiated with. Any helpful Scripture or advice from the more seasoned of you would be so appreciated.

Matt

Good to hear about your growing devotion, Mattybates.


If you're going to keep the Sabbath command, then you must sanctify it/make it holy – for that is the command, not simply resting, but keeping it holy. And in order to keep it holy, you must follow the other parts of Torah because, for example, if you have sex on the Sabbath, you become unclean – and if you are unclean, you have ceased to be holy, and thus you have broken Sabbath. And if you wear clothes woven of two different fabrics on Sabbath, you have ceased to be holy and thus broken the Sabbath commandment, which requires you to keep it holy. You need to be aware that if you are going to keep the Sabbath commandment, then you are required to keep the whole law and if you fail in one part of the law, you fail the Sabbath commandment (For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all, James 2:10 - And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law, Galtians 5:3).