Three Things Jeff Thinks

1. I have a slightly new perspective on topical sermons. In the past, I've been somewhat of an exegetical sermon snob, looking down my nose at topical sermons as being less biblical. However, I've been preaching topical sermons lately. I've been doing a series on the Lord's Prayer, and taking it one verse at a time. So the phrase "give us this day our daily bread" led to a sermon on the topic of supplication. And this week, the phrase, "forgive us our debts..." has led to a sermon on praying prayers of confession and repentance.

2. I'm taking a new class at the local seminary this fall on the topic of New Testament Apocalyptic. I'm looking forward to learning more about this perplexing genre.

3. In a discussion recently someone asked me if I believe that the Old Testament teaches the principle that one day in seven is holy to the Lord. I said no. Instead I believe that the OT presents the command that the seventh day is the Sabbath. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find where the OT teaches a "principle" that one seventh of our time is to be holy, as though God were concerned with fractions, and the Israelites would have been at equal liberty to observe their Sabbath every Tuesday. The fourth commandment is a command, and it specifies that the Seventh day is the Sabbath. Its not about the proportion of our time, its about the day the Sabbath is to be observed on. Turning it into a "one-day-in-seven" principle is special pleading indeed. So in the NT when the first believers started worshiping on the first day of the week, they were consciously out of step with one of the ten commandments. What the NT never does, is to teach that the Sabbath has moved, or that Sunday can now be considered the Christians version of the Sabbath. Instead it says that the Sabbath was a shadow which pointed to the reality which is only found in Christ (Col 2). Christians are expected to worship on the Lord's Day (Sunday, the first day of the week) because that is the day Jesus rose from the dead. Christians are free to worship on the Lord's Day because something greater than the Sabbath is here (Heb 3-4).