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New Twist on Not Working on Sundays

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by InTheLight, Jun 6, 2012.

  1. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    My elderly mother prepaid to have her asphalt driveway resealed last December. Yes in order to get a nice discount, she paid up in December, in Minnesota, to have her driveway resealed this summer. The company promised her it would be done the first week of May. It's not been completed yet.

    I got involved and contacted the company. They sent someone over to my Mom's house on Monday with the condition, "we'll do your Mom's driveway that day if we have enough materials with us to do it, otherwise we'll have to reschedule." They needed to reschedule and placed the date at July 1st.

    I get a call from my Mom yesterday and she's upset because July 1st is a Sunday, and "I don't want anyone working at my house on Sunday, it's the Lord's day." (My mom is a godly woman and really loves the Lord.) I tried to explain that Sunday isn't the sabbath, that we have Christian freedom, that she's not the one doing the actual working, someone else is, etc. She's not buying it. I then asked her if she had ever gone out to a restaurant for lunch after church on Sunday (knowing it was a habit of hers.) Yes, she had. OK, I explained, you are employing people to cook and bring you food on the Lord's day, and having your driveway done on a Sunday is no different. That probably was the wrong tack to take because now she feels somewhat guilty about her Sunday lunches.

    I need suggestions on how I can mollify her so that she doesn't think she's offending God by having her driveway resealed on a Sunday. Ideas?
     
  2. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
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    Would it be a problem to call the company and ask them to come another day? I wouldn't want someone working on my house on Sunday either - just because I want to relax on Sunday and not worry about workers around my house!
     
  3. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    My involvement with this deal is much more extensive. I've talked to the owner at least a half dozen times, starting last December. It's too long of a story to get into but the July 1st date is the third one they've promised. I fear if I try to reschedule they will say something like August 3rd as the next date. I just want it to be over with.

    I'm looking for Biblical reasons why it is OK to have someone perform a work task for you on Sunday.
     
  4. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    If the person doing the work doesn't care, that's their belief and has nothing to do with anyone else.

    I see nothing in the Bible that says Sunday is for not doing work. It just sets the example of one day of rest. Maybe that day is Wednesday for some people, and others take it on Tuesday. I've never had a day of physical rest on a church day, it's (supposed) to be a day of spiritual rest and learning, but most Baptist churches consider it a day to evangelize and babysit and teach instead anyhow. If you go to church on Sunday, you're making the pastor work, the people in the nursery work, the teachers work, the custodian work..that's a lot of work.

    There's no logical, biblical way to say work can't be done on a Sunday. It's just not there.

    Which only makes it extra hard to enforce on others.

    But...if she doesn't want it done on a Sunday and it really bothers her, then it can wait another month. In the big scheme of things, let your mom be comfortable in her own way and don't argue with her. She's your mom. That comes first. :flower:
     
  5. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

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    My suggestion is to stop trying to lower this godly woman's standards and allow her to honor her Lord.
     
  6. menageriekeeper

    menageriekeeper Active Member

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    Go pick mom up on Saturday, book a nice hotel or bed and breakfast for that night and tell her she is going to have a little getaway. Keep her busy with church etc on Sunday and don't take her home until the driveway is done.

    If she still complains, tell her the men had rather work a while on Sunday so they can have precious time during the week to do things that can't be any other time.
     
  7. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Can't do that. She's 91 and arthritic. It's hard for her to get around and I wouldn't want to leave her alone in a strange place.

     
  8. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Should I also tell her she was dishonoring the Lord all those Sundays that she went out to lunch and employed people on Sunday?
     
  9. Scarlett O.

    Scarlett O. Moderator
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    It’s more than likely that your mother will not be convinced. And that’s OK. People who were raised to believe that working on Sunday is a sin because they were taught that Sunday is the New Sabbath for the New Testament Christian that replaced the Saturday Sabbath for Jews and all of the statutes in the Levitical Law that pertained to the Saturday Sabbath have been transferred to the New Sunday Sabbath will not soon abandon that man-made tradition/teaching. I have many friends who follow this unbiblical teaching and I don't argue it with them.

    And like I said, that’s OK. That misguided teaching doesn’t affect eternity and to argue the point won’t usually change anyone’s opinion.

    Just share with her briefly what the Bible says.

    [1] God said that the Sabbath (Saturday and the command not to work) was for the Jews. Exodus 31:14-16. “Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. God did not say that they were to observe it forever and the Old Covenant has been replaced. Ask her if Christians are to observe a strict Levitical Sabbath on Sundays, then why aren’t we killing our fellow Christians who mow their yards on Sunday afternoons or have praise band practice or cook Sunday dinners for their families? Why are we not observing the WHOLE of the Sabbath law?

    [2] Jesus said that human beings were created first and that the Sabbath was instituted for man’s benefit, not the other way around. Mark 2:24-27 The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry — how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the sacred bread —which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests —and also gave some to his companions?” Then He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Ask her to think about this. Is she revering the traditional Sunday-Sabbath idea as a “work” that must be completed? Is she “serving” that day or is that day “serving” her? When the Pharisees criticized Jesus for working on the Sabbath, He told them that as evil as they were that even they would stop and help someone whose animal had fallen in ditch.

    [3] Paul says that there should be no condemning of each for non “Sabbath”-keeping. Colossians 2:16-17 So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

    [4] Paul also says that we have the Christian liberty to live unto the Lord with all that have and do. And that we should live with our convictions and serve the Lord with our convictions – and that some, in weakness, will have weaker faith by holding onto things that aren’t necessary, but we are to love each other still and serve God still. Romans 14:1-5 "Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God."

    [5] But tell her most importantly of all that for New Testament Christians – Jesus Christ is our Sabbath Rest! There is no other Sabbath rest outside of Jesus Christ for the Christian. Romans 4:9-10 “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” What is that rest? It’s a rest from our labors of trying to keep the law and “working” for our justification which could never be in the first place. It’s rest that is observed every single day of our lives – in our faithfulness, our obedience, our trust in God, our emulating Jesus Christ, and our being led by the Holy Spirit. Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." I don’t think that Jesus is speaking of physical and manual labor here. He isn’t saying that we won’t have to physically toil on Sundays or that life will be a breeze. He is saying that His will give rest of the heavy yoke of the burden of the law and our fruitless efforts to work our way into God’s grace – which is impossible. Matthew 12:8“For the Son of Man is the lord of the Sabbath.” He is lord over it because it is His creation and the literal Saturday Sabbath was a foreshadowing of Him.

    Go back and ask her to think about the command to kill those Jews who did literal work on the Saturday Sabbath. Ask her to reflect on Hebrews 4 and how those who continue in a works-based notion of justification and do not allow the rest of Jesus Christ to be their “Sabbath” will also perish – for eternity.
     
    #9 Scarlett O., Jun 6, 2012
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2012
  10. agedman

    agedman Well-Known Member
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    You could tell her that she is actually keeping the workers from sin.

    Rather than drinking, and spending their money on foolish pleasures that the lust of the flesh, eyes and pride bring, she is providing a righteousness by allowing them to work.

    :laugh:

    Actually, at 91, I probably would enjoy the day at her house with her and help her fix cool lemonade for the workers that perhaps the Scriptures can be shared and bring someone to the knowledge of Christ.

    Perhaps then she will look upon the project (as it should be) as a chance to serve the Lord with gladness, and be confident in the fact that God's word is more powerful than worshiping God on a certain day.

    Turn it into a ministry moment, she (and you) will get a chance to spend hours testifying of the Goodness and Mercy of God - preach to a captive audience that has to stay on the job site. :)
     
  11. TadQueasy

    TadQueasy Member

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    Great idea. You are not going to change her mind at this age, but help her to see something positive could come from it.
     
  12. exscentric

    exscentric Well-Known Member
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    Seems simple enough to me, take her to dinner so she can't see them working :)
     
  13. Jkdbuck76

    Jkdbuck76 Well-Known Member
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    Hire a company that has 7th Day Adventist workers. Then invite them all in after the job is done Sunday evening and convert them all to the baptist faith.

    I just showed you how to kill 2 birds with one stone.
     
  14. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

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    It was my understanding you already did that.
     
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