It seems to me that we do keep the Ten when we live by the life of God within us. For example, someone mentioned murder a little bit earlier. We are still keeping the law about not murdering, but Jesus elevated it by quite a lot, to whit, that we aren’t even to call our brother a fool or to be angry with him without a cause. Likewise it’s not enough just to love the Lord our God and worship Him according to temple practices. We must worship in spirit and in truth, no matter where we happen to be geographically. We do not only eschew adultery; we don’t even look at a woman (man?) to lust. Not only do we not steal; we give our extra cloak to our fellow person in need. And not only do we not bear false witness against a neighbor, we don’t resist him if he sues us without cause. It isn’t good enough not to covet; we must even consider others as better than ourselves . . . you get the picture.
So I would submit that it isn’t good enough or even (for me, at least) pertinent to keep Saturday as the Sabbath. Jesus IS truly our Sabbath and we must be resting in Him every moment of every day. We do not dedicate one day a week to worship and contemplation, but rather every spare moment.
Now for me, it’s possibly a little easier than for many of you. I work part time, all my children are grown, and my husband is away at work most days. I spend a LOT of time seeking God, studying His word, listening to Him . . . contemplating Him, basically. I would do this all the time to the exclusion of laundry, dishes, making pottery, sweeping the floor, walking the dogs . . . oh, just about everything. But then He pricks my conscience and I have to go wash a dish. But hey, it’s pretty easy to go right on contemplating whilst washing dishes, etc. So for me, every spare moment truly is a little Sabbath.
I think it’s a great idea to take one day off a week and dedicate it solely to God, though I don’t do this. We meet together as a body on Saturdays (usually, unless someone has a conflict), and of course that means cooking and (if it’s at my house) cleaning, etc. I could do these things the day before, and I should, but it’s so much more fun to read my newest book or study out something I’ve been wondering about, that I always seem to put the work off until the last possible moment. Maybe I SHOULD take up Kelly’s practice. It would perhaps cure me of at least a little bit of that procrastination.
But seriously, I think it’s fine for anyone who feels God is so leading them to keep the Sabbath in any way they see fit. If God is telling my sister or brother to keep Sabbath, then I think she/he should do it. He hasn’t told me that, in so many words. You could say that He HAS – in scripture – if I’d only listen, but there’s at least as good a case against ritually keeping Sabbath as Christ followers as there is for it; possibly better. I am not struggling with my conscience here. If Jesus wants me to ritually keep the Sabbath, well I’m willing to do it. All He has to do is convict me of my sin (and He’s really good at that), but thus far, I feel absolutely no compunction to start doing it, so I’ll wait to hear from Him personally. That said, if He’s convicted others to keep the Sabbath rules as written down in the OT, then they should do that, and I applaud them for their obedience.
Love, Cindy