We are blessed every week by pastor Gerrit Mes’ messages and we appreciate the fact that the Krugersdorp News finds a place for some spiritual upliftment in our local newspaper.
Pastor Gerrit’s article last week, on the Ten Commandments, was not only interesting but also thought-provoking. He poses a pertinent question: “Did Jesus break any of the Ten Commandments?” His answer is well thought through and biblically correct, because if Jesus had broken any of the Ten Commandments, He would have sinned and that would have made it impossible for Him to be our saviour. Jesus is very clear in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”. (Matt 5:17, ESV) The word ‘fulfilled’ means, according to Galatians 6:2, ‘to do it’. Jesus came and fulfilled all the many prophecies made about Him in the Old Testament and lived a life of total obedience to His Father’s will.
But it was Pastor Gerrit’s next questions that made me sit up straight.
He asked, “As we read the Bible today, what did religious people add to it?” and “How much of 21st century religion is man-made?” This is a question every Christian should ask himself because the Bible is clear, “ In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matt 15:9, ESV)
As Christians, we accept the words of ministers, priests and other religious leaders without questioning their validity in terms of the Bible. This is not only true in the 21st century but throughout church history. This was for example the main reason that Martin Luther nailed a copy of his 95 Theses onto the door of the castle church at Wittenberg. Using the Sabbath as an example, and correctly concluding that Jesus kept it while He was on earth, the question that seeks to be answered is this: “ Why then do we not follow His example and keep the Sabbath in the 21st century?”
Many Christians will respond by saying, “ But we keep Sunday holy.” If you point out to them that Sunday is not the Sabbath but the first day of the week, some will maintain that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday. This is where I need help, because if Jesus kept the Sabbath and all the other commandments, He could not have changed it. Reading through the rest of the New Testament, I cannot find a single verse that supports the change from the Sabbath being the seventh day of the week to the Sabbath being Sunday, the first day.
I can also not find a verse that commands me to keep Sunday holy or that it was ever designated as a holy day. Can it be that this is one of those man-made commandments that we religiously keep without questioning its origin and more importantly, whether it is in the Bible at all?
I agree with pastor Gerrit, Jesus did not come to this world to bring a new religion but to give life and reality to what was promised throughout the Old Testament.
We don’t have to bring a sacrifice and live in hope, we can come boldly into His presence knowing that the Lamb of God was slain for the sins of the world – and that includes mine.
