Is Jesus Lord of Your Sabbath? (Mark 2:23-3:6)
Group Guides | Sharing the gospel, sharing our lives (1 Thessalonians 2:8)
By way of introduction: What do people you know (be that Christian or not Christian) think the Sabbath is for?
Read Mark 2:23 - 3:6
The episode before us, in two scene of two locations, all happens on one Sabbath day - and all happens through interaction with the Pharisees.
Mark’s Gospel engages the reader with a most important question about Jesus: “Who is this?” First, what do we learn about who Jesus is in these scenes?
After entering a synagogue for gathered worship, Jesus asks a question about the Sabbath. What does this teach us about what the Lord Jesus designed the Sabbath for?
In these Sabbath scenes what is the contrast between what we ought to do on the Sabbath, and what we ought not do?
Why do you think the idea of Sabbath is increasingly a foreign concept in our society, and a neglected rhythm in the church?
The Westminster Confession summarises what the Bible teaches on the Sabbath, with:
This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts, about their worldly employments and recreations;a but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.b
a. Exod 20:8; 16:23, 25-26, 29-30; 31:15-17; Isa 58:13; Neh 13:15-22. b. Isa 58:13; Mat 12:1-13.
So, how could we curate a culture of receiving the blessing of the Lord’s Day Sabbath, with planning, intentionality and thankful hearts?
Pray for one another, that we would be a church where Jesus is Lord of our Sabbath.