How did Christ and the Disciples spend the Sabbath, just lying around, I dont think so. What did Christ and the disciples do on the Sabbath....

The Sabbath was intended to be a time for spiritual and physical refreshment; a time to get to know God better and be physically renewed and spiritially blessed. Notice the sort of things that Jesus did on Sabbath. Here are ten recorded incidences in which Jesus did something on the Sabbath.

A. Eating

Picking grain with the disciples (Matthew 12)

Eating with one of the chief Pharisees (Luke 14:1)



B. Healing

Man with crippled hand (Mark 3:1)

Crippled man by the pool (John 5:2)

Blind man receives sight (John 9)

A woman relieved of an 18-year infirmity (Luke 13)



C. Teaching in the synagogue

Matthew 12:9

Mark 1:21

Mark 6:2 D. Resting

In the tomb (Matthew 27:58-60) Note: In no place do we find Jesus saying, "It's been a tough week. Let's sleep the day away!" It is a rest from work and toil, but not from sharing Gods truth and blessings. There is no indication from the actions of Christ that the day was designed for inactivity.



What are some things that Christs example gives us that would be good to do on Sabbath?

1. Visit a friend or someone that is sick and might not get out a lot.

2. See how to help someone in need.

3. Have a special family worship to start or close the Sabbath.

4. Have a Bible study with others or even give a Bible Study with someone that is looking for understanding.....

A few of the things I've found to be really worth while and fun to do on the Sabbath:

Join a church singing group for sharing gospel songs at the area hospitals or retirement centers on Friday nights or Sabbath afternoons.

Going to a university campus on Sabbath and talking to people about Christ and the Bible, passing out literature and inviting people to the church for a potluck and vespers.

Visitng people in retirement centers (many of whom very seldom have any visitors and so are grateful for conversation and attention). Many appreciate a short Bible study or a few verses and prayer.

Meeting people at the parks or beaches and handing out Christian literature if they are interested in spiritual things.

In most of the Seventh-day Adventist church there is a Friday night service, Sabbath morning and Sabbath afternoon service. That's in at least 80% of our churches.

Asia, Spanish, and Africa.

Here is a good explanation of how Christ could look at the rules and traditions of the Jews they had built up and cut right through them to show the true purpose of the Sabbath...


"And it came about that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to Him, "See here, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"... And He was saying to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. "Consequently, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:23-24, 27-28)

In this narrative we read of only one of many occasions on which Jesus was accused of breaking the Sabbath. St. John's gospel, chapters 5, 7, and 9 record more instances where the Jews were violently angry with Our Lord for violating the written code of the Sabbath. Jesus' response to these accusations is authoritative: "The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Jesus could alter the regulations of the written code when He chose to honor the spirit of the Law, and not just the letter. If He could fulfill the Sabbath Law by breaking the commandment against doing work on the Sabbath, then certainly St. Paul is on the right path to say that the very observance of the seventh-day Sabbath is subject to greater fulfillment in Christ. And how is the Sabbath fulfilled in Christ? By worshiping Him on the day on which He won our salvation: "He... was raised for our justification." (Rom. 4:25)


While Jesus was certainly accused of breaking the Sabbath by His enemies, He never did any such thing. Jesus was healing and doing good in the name of the Father, and the spiritually blind Pharisee's accused Him of breaking the Sabbath laws. But Jesus was not breaking His Father's laws, he was breaking the traditions and rules of the Pharisees, rules and traditions which God had never imposed, which made the Sabbath a burden rather than a joy. Anyone who suggests that Jesus went about breaking the Sabbath of God, for any reason at all, does not know God, and places himself in the company of the spiritually blind Pharisees....."

Number 15:32 While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35 Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” 36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Hmmm?

Rob

The Lord taught the people of Israel the importance of obedience, particularly in regard to the keeping of the Sabbath. If people don't learn this lesson, they will die eternally. Parents must also teach their children the importance of obeying them and their instructions. At that point in their history, the children of Israel were spiritually immature. They had just come out of generations of slavery and ignorance about God, and were taking their first steps, as it were.

The Lord who said this to Moses was the same Lord in the New Testament who kept the Sabbath and taught more about the Sabbath than ablout any other single subject.

The Lord takes us where we are, as immature as we are, and does what He must do in order to lead us step by step to a higher spiritual experience and maturity. This is exactly what He was doing with the sons of Israel in the wilderness. He is doing the same with His people today.

Those are good things to do, too, I think. I left Christ and the church for quite a few years, but it was my good memories of going to church on Friday and Sabbath evenings and to Wednesday night prayer meetings with my family, which eventually led me to come back to Christ and be rebaptized.

I asked my Sabbath School class, how they could reconcile the God of the Old Testament who sent the angel of death to Egypt and to Pharoahs household, to the Christ of the New Testament who show such love to everyone....the silence was deafening..

It is a hard thing to understand...

The insinuation is that God actually made the Sabbath a burden rather than a joy.

I won't leave that hanging, but I don't want to get off topic here, either. So..
http://adventistforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/184562#Post184562

You dont mean from the silence of the Sabbath School class ...?