Simply Jesus - Sabbath Rules

Matthew 12

Looking back now I am so glad that my parents were Christians. I have always gone to church. I may not have always enjoyed it but i have always gone. Unfortunately there seemed to be lots of rules to being a Christian and many of them revolved around what you did on Sundays.

You were not allowed to play out, watch TV, buy things on a Sunday. You could go for a walk but not a bike ride. You could walk along the beach but you couldn't go for a swim. The list went on.

I remember vividly being on holiday in Mussleburgh. My brother and I were allowed to walk by ourselves from church to the house where we were having lunch. On the way back we decided that we could buy an ice cream, eat it before we arrived at the house and our parents would be non the wiser.

There is a verse in the Bible that says "Be sure your sin will find you out". As we emerged from the shop, ice cream in hand our parents car went past. Caught red handed. The ice cream did not taste too good as we headed towards our lunch appointment with our parents.

In v7 Jesus says - "I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual’

The rules were there out of wanting to please God but God is more interested in a surrendered and obedient heart than a list of rules.