Who is Lord of Your Sabbath?

For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:8 ESV)

How many of us really know who we are worshipping on Sunday? Moreover, how many of us really know who we’re praying to when we actually get around to praying?

I’m sure you’ll answer those two questions unequivocally as, “Yes, I really do know who I’m praying and worshipping.” Of course we know who it is that we’re praying to and who we are worshipping. But I want you to sit and ask yourself– is the God we are thinking of when we are worshipping and praying a figment of our imagination or the God of the Bible, the God who loves, the God who judges, the God who hates sin, the God who glorifies Himself, the God who created the universe, the God who sent His only begotten Son to save us? Or is the God we are thinking of, a god who loves us and wholeheartedly agrees with our decisions and our actions, and rescues us only from our poor decision making, and at the end of the day a dormant clock maker that does not intervene unless we cry out that something is broke and needs fixing?

In this passage we find Jesus declaring that HE IS the God that made the Sabbath. The Pharisees and Scribes had been picking a fight with the disciples that they were sinning by working to collect some food because they were hungry. The Pharisees and Scribes had an idea of God that wasn’t really God. They construed God to be something of their own making, and not who He actually is. That led people to a lifestyle that wasn’t pleasing to the almighty God, but pleasing to a worshiper and prayer who needed God to be convenient on the Sabbath.

Our preconceived notions of prayer and worship and Sabbath come from God. Let’s not confuse the God of the Bible, who gives us rest in our hearts and souls, who saves us from our sin through the blood of Jesus, with a god convenient for us. Remember, God transforms us through worship and prayer, WE change, WE become more like Him, not the other way around. We are not perfect and won’t get there. He will always shape us and change us to know Him more.