Luke 18:9-14

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Luke 18:9-14 ESV

The past couple days, I have had some interesting Facebook exchanges with mutual friends of a leader of a Messianic group -- God-fearing people who proclaim a belief that Jesus was the Messiah described by the Old Testament prophets. Two of the discussions started like this:

A Christian: "Instead of 7th-day Sabbath, we observe the first day of the week, the Lord's Day."
Me: "Where does the Bible say that the Lord's Day is the first day of the week?"
The Christian:

And ...

Why is it that Christians can keep 9 of the Ten Commandments and insist they are not doing it to earn their justification, but when a Christian believes in keeping all Ten, he is accused of keeping the Sabbath to earn his justification?

Now, I am not going to get into the he said she said dialogs we had; there's no need for that. But as I read this section of Luke today, I couldn't help but hear, "the Messianic stood up and prayed: 'God, I thank you I am not like other those other men -- those Christians who ignore your Sabbath day, choosing a Sunday service, instead."

You know, working six days in a row is difficult. When I do it, I am usually exhausted.

Now, can you imagine how God felt? On the first day, he created the heavens and the earth. On the second, light and atmosphere. On the third, dry ground. On the fourth, the stars. On the fifth, fish and birds. And finally on the sixth, he created man and animals. Think about this for a minute. He created light. We can define light. And we can make a light bulb. But light? How did he think of that? And atmosphere? Did you know scientists still don't know where our atmosphere ends? How about the dry ground, or in another word, dirt? We have spent centuries studying dirt and we still don't understand it all. Impressively though, God created fish and birds and animals, millions and millions of species that are each marvelous and unique. And then he created man, who is even more marvelous and unique. And he looked at his creation, and saw it was very good.

By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing: so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Gen. 2:2-3) And, he saw that rest was good, so he etched that into stone, declaring six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. (Exo 20:9)

I get it ... I am supposed to take a day off from work every week. My Messianic friends declare that is Saturday, not because of anything in the Bible. Saturday isn't listed in the Bible; the Shabbat is. My master (the Journal Star) declares that my sixth day is Wednesday. Either way, obeying God's law, and remembering the Sabbath, is not a burden on you. In fact, it should be so restful, as Hebrews 4:10 declares, God will continue doing your work for you, justifying you, sanctifying you, and declaring you righteous, because you believe in him and you took a day off like he commanded.

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:3-5 ESV)

I appreciate that Messanics are hard at work trying to obey the law, as we all should. But don't for a second think that by obeying the law you will find more favor with God than the tax collector who stands in the back beating his chest and declaring, "Forgive me, Father."

However, do rest assured that when you recognize you are in fact a poor miserable sinner, unworthy of God's grace, and that when you seek his forgiveness, asking him to help you turn away from unbelief and guide you back onto the narrow path, that he will rescue you. Rescuing people from their sin is the work that God continues to do best. Just believe in him. He will take care of the rest.