Is No Pleasure Allowed on the Sabbath Day?

Pastor Shane Vaughn Answers the Question "Is no pleasure allowed on the Sabbath Day?" Shane Vaughn ——— First Harvest Ministries International 1 hello Pastor Vaughn here I want to clear up a few things about the Sabbath day I want to answer a question that we received and see if we cannot help you to understand what this verse is meaning I'm referring to Isaiah Chapter 58 13 and 14. 2 and in these two verses there's a misunderstanding that I want to help clear up for you Isaiah 58 13 says if you turn your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of Yahweh honorable if you honor it not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or talking idly then you shall take Delight in Yahweh and I will make you ride on the heights of the Earth I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it all right the verse seems sort of clear it says you're not to do your pleasure 3 on the Sabbath day what does that mean does that mean that we're not supposed to play with the children on the Sabbath not supposed to play Monopoly or go on a a walk with the wife or play with the dog or doing anything pleasurable outside of Bible study or related activities that that seems to be what it says it says not do your own pleasure but then in the very next line and you shall call the Sabbath a delight so how are we supposed to call the Sabbath delightful if we can't do anything we enjoy and that seems to be the paradox that that verse is giving us well here's the problem brothers 4 and sisters no scripture can violate Torah okay not even Isaiah no one can go against what's plainly written in the Torah we're told not to take away from it in Deuteronomy 12 32 we're not to add or take away from it so let's do this let's go back to the Torah real quickly and let's find out the requirements for the Sabbath day all right that's a good place to start let's start in Genesis 2 and 3. 5 the first mention of the Sabbath so Yahweh blessed the seventh day and made it holy notice it's the seventh day no other the day of the week is Holy except the seven because on that day Yahweh rested from all his work that he had done in creation I want to pause there part of the misunderstanding comes from the fact that in the American mind or the Western mind work that you and I do is not always something that we enjoy it's not something that we take pleasure in we take vacations from our work but in the biblical days it was different they would earn a trade that they loved it would come 6 down from their fathers and grandfathers and they enjoyed waking up every day and doing their trade I've actually had several jobs like that that I enjoyed so much I just loved going to that job it was enjoyable for me I was able to express myself I was able so in the biblical days their work was actually a pleasure to them because they were making money and so many people find pleasure in making money all right so keep that in mind so as we go to the Torah we're going to find out that when we read all the verses about what's required on the uh in the Torah for the Sabbath day we go to Exodus 7 12. 8 and verse 16. I'm sorry no let's go to Leviticus 23 and 3. 9 six days shall work be done but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest a holy convocation I want you to watch that carefully six days shall work be done and that work may be pleasurable because you're making money doing it but on the seventh day you are to stop doing that work that you have been doing all week long which is what we would call employment the Bible calls it in Leviticus 23 and 7 you shall do no servile work which gives us the idea of servitude all right making a living working for income trying to survive so according to Torah there is two things in Leviticus 23 and 3. 10 that's required to keep the Sabbath holy number one whatever you have been doing to earn income the pleasure of earning income whatever that has been stop and then number two you're to have a holy convocation what is a holy convocation it is a church service it is a gathering together of the House of Israel to celebrate this delightful Sabbath day all right so that's the only two requirements for Sabbath keeping stop your income your pleasurable work earning that income stop that and number two have a holy convocation that's how you keep it holy so if that's all that the Torah requires then 11 how is it that Isaiah seems to be adding a much harder burden to this well you'll go look at the ESV version of the Bible they have a note besides that word doing your pleasure on my holy day here's what their note says it made no sense to me until I understood the pleasure of earning income in the ESV it says that the word pleasure may be best understood as business or income now this would mean not to do our pleasure on the Sabbath day but our income our business that gives us pleasure of earning that income and I want to prove that to you why the word business is a better translation than 12 the word pleasure let's go to Isaiah 58 and verse 3. 13 and we'll find some more context it says why have we fasted and you see it not why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it behold in the day of your fasting you seek your own pleasure and oppress all your workers see it there the word pleasure is being attached to work the word pleasure is being attached to income you're so desperate for income that you're making your workers work on the Sabbath day by doing your own pleasure which is your own income so no brothers and sisters the Bible is not telling you you can't have pleasure on the Sabbath day as a matter of fact contrary 14 wise it's telling you to Delight in that great Sabbath day it is a day of delight and it is a day of pleasure it is not a day of income why because the god Mammon which is money we no longer serve that God Mammon on the Sabbath day but rather we trust in the Lord that day we lean on the Lord We Worship the Lord we study his word we come together in holy convocation and then we enjoy the rest of that day with great great Delight I hope that helps you understand that scripture thank you