DOES GOD REQUIRE SABBATH KEEPING OF HIS DISCIPLES?

In Colossians 2:16-17: the apostle Paul declares: "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in the Messiah." Similarly, Romans 14:5 states: "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." These Scriptures make it clear that, for a disciple, Sabbath-keeping is a matter of spiritual freedom, not a command from God.

Sabbath-keeping is an issue on which God's Word instructs us not to judge each other. Sabbath-keeping is a matter about which each disciple needs to be fully convinced in his/her own mind.

In the early chapters of the book of Acts, the first disciples were predominantly Jews. When Gentiles began to receive the gift of salvation through Jesus the Messiah, the Jewish disciples had a dilemma. What aspects of the Mosaic Law and Jewish tradition should Gentile believers be instructed to obey? The apostles met and discussed the issue in the Jerusalem council (Acts 15). The decision was summed up by James: "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood" (Acts 15:19-20). Sabbath-keeping was not one of the commands the apostles felt was necessary to force on Gentile believers. It is inconceivable that the apostles would neglect to include Sabbath-keeping if it was God's command for believers to observe the Sabbath.

A common error in the Sabbath-keeping debate is the concept that the Sabbath was the day of worship. Groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists hold that God requires church service to be held on Saturday, the Sabbath day. That is not what the Sabbath command was. The Sabbath command was to do no work on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). Nowhere in Scripture is the Sabbath day commanded to be the day of worship.

Yes, Jews in Old Testament, New Testament, and modern times use Saturday as the day of worship, but that is not the essence of the Sabbath command. In the book of Acts, whenever a meeting is said to be on the Sabbath, it is a meeting of Jews and/or Gentile converts to Judaism, not the disciples of the Messiah.

When did the early Christians meet?

Acts 2:46-47 gives us the answer: "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." If there was a day that disciples of the Messiah met regularly, it was the first day of the week - Sunday, not the Sabbath day - Saturday (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). In honor of the Messiah's resurrection on the first day of the week - Sunday, the early disciples of the Messiah observed Sunday not as the "a Sabbath" but as a day to worship Yehovah - God.

Is there anything wrong with worshipping on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath? Absolutely not! We can worship God every day, not just on Saturday or Sunday! Many churches today have both Saturday and Sunday services. There is freedom in the Messiah (Romans 8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:1).

Should a disciple of the Messiah practice Sabbath-keeping, that is, not working on Saturdays? If a Christian feels led to do so, absolutely, yes (Romans 14:5). However, those who choose to practice Sabbath-keeping should not judge those who do not keep the Sabbath (Colossians 2:16). Further, those who do not keep the Sabbath should avoid being a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 8:9) to those who do keep the Sabbath.

Galatians 5:13-15 sums up the whole issue: "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."

NEXT:

Scriptures says: "All things were written for our learning", however not everything is for the disciples of the Messiah to do. Many take commands and instructions given to others and apply to themselves or others in error. This can be avoided by "Rightly Dividing the word of truth."
Notice: 2 Timothy 2:15-17: Do your best to present yourself to God as tried-and-true. Avoid pointless discussions. People who pay attention to these pointless discussions will become more ungodly, and what they say will spread like cancer.
Most of what we see in the world today presented as "Christianity" is actually a mix of Judaism, paganism, Gnoticism and Christianity.
There are four cardinal rules for Bible understanding. We must observe:
1. Who is speaking?
2. Who is being spoken to?
3. On what authority are the words spoken?
4. To what age, or time period, do the words apply?
Though the scriptures are God's infallible inspired record, it not only records God's words, but also words of men and women, words spoken by angels, Satan and demons. Some recorded words of men, Satan and demons are lies, which contradict truth elsewhere in the scriptures. Also, some of God's words are applicable only to a particular individual or group of individuals and for only a particular time. There were times when men spoke and wrote words which God gave them as His words, while at other times they were inspired to speak and write their own words and human observations which do not have infallible authority.
We are assured of God's help in observing the rules of correct understanding if we carefully study the Bible itself with the desire to be approved of God and accepted by Him.
Read:
John 7:17: Those who want to follow the will of God will know if what I teach is from God or if I teach my own thoughts.

Luke 24:45: Then he said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you. I told you that everything written about me in Moses’ Teachings, the Prophets, and the Psalms had to come true.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
John 16:13: When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth. He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what he hears and will tell you about things to come.
1 Corinthians 2:9-11: I had also written to you to test you. I wanted to see if you would be obedient in every way. If you forgive someone, so do I. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did in the presence of Christ for your benefit. I don’t want Satan to outwit us. After all, we are not ignorant about Satan’s scheming.
Neglect of these points has lead to much confusion and false doctrine. Whereas, careful application of these precepts may help open the Holy Scriptures for a clearer understanding of the will of God for our lives.
It is readily apparent and understood by most that the law of circumcision is a Hebrew ritual which has been abolished for Christians. It should also be just as apparent that "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" is also abolished. What are these ordinances? Gal 4:9-11
The Hebrew feast days were required by the law, but described as weak and beggarly elements for Christians because they are just copies of the reality that we have in the Messiah. These feasts included: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Harvest, the Feast of Ingathering, as well as the Sabbath Day. Disciples of the Messiah are not to be under bondage to these.
Colossians 2:11-17: "you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by the circumcision of the Messiah, buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of the Messiah.
This isn't saying you can do anything you want and keep others from judging you. It's saying the ordinances have been wiped out so don't let anyone require you to practice the "Do's" & "Don'ts" of the law regarding: meat, drink, holy days, new moons, or sabbath days. These were all a shadow of things to come, but disciples of the Messiah have the reality of those things in Jesus the Messiah. Like baptism, we  were baptized with the Messiah. For I have been crucified with the Messiah. The same applies to the sabbath. the Messiah was the only perfect man who kept the law perfectly and walked according to his God Yehovah's will perfectly. the law was given as a "schoolmaster" to bring us to the Messiah.
In Acts 15 we find that the gentiles (anyone not a Jew and never under the law) should not be put under the law as the Jews were.
NEXT:
Those who follow the lord Jesus and are in him do not have to keep any ordinance other than to be baptized [total immersion] and to keep the lord's supper in rememberance of him until he returns. That's it for all who in the Lord Jesus. No wearing of certain clothing, no keeping of any day or days, nothing. Salvation is a freely given gift of God and it is all of Him and nothing of us at all. To keep the Sabbath [7th day] is of an by itself not wrong to do as a believer, but to do so as a requirement for salvation is to practice what Paul calls down a curse upon those who mix law and grace.
Galatians 3:13: The Messiah did redeem us from the curse of the law, having become for us a curse, for it has been written, ‘Cursed is every one who is hanging on a tree,’
To go back to keeping the "law" including Sabbath keeping in order to be saved is to insult to Jesus and questions what Jesus has done for us by being hanged on a tree!
Galatians 3:10: for as many as are of works of law are under a curse, for it has been written, ‘Cursed is every one who is not remaining in all things that have been written in the law, to do them,’
Indeed, the law was brought into being to act as a schoolmaster until the coming of the Messiah Jesus. Now that he has come and died for us in order that we might be reconciled to his God and our God his Father and our Father Yehovah, something the law could not do!
Again, if I am in Israel and go to a Messianic Christian church and observe the Sabbath there there no problem in doing so, because I don't do it to gain salvation or reconciliation with my God since Jesus has done it all for me according to God's undeserving Grace for me.
All Jesus asks of me is to follow his creed:
Mark 12:29-31: Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
This is the spirit of the law that we can keep as enabled by the power of the spirit of God and by the spirit of the Lord Jesus.
Notice that Jesus adds some words to the original command:
Deuteronomy 6:4-5: Hear, O Israel: YHVH our God is one LORD: And you shall love YHVH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul [being], and with all your might - strength.
In Mark 12:29-30 - Jesus adds the word mind... interesting.
Jesus is my Sabbath rest!
Matthew 11:28: ‘Come unto me, all you labouring and burdened ones, and I will give you rest,Indeed, I have found my rest in the lord Jesus, who will bring me into his soon coming kingdom when he come to Jerusalem to sit on the throne of David and rule over Israel as King and over the nations as King of kings and Lord of lords during the thousand year rule where we will kings and priests ruling with him.
Revelation 1:6: and did make us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him is the glory and the power to the ages of the ages! Amen.
Revelation 5:10: You made them a kingdom and priests for our God.
They will rule as kings on the earth.”

May that day soon come!