It’s interesting that people consider *keeping the Sabbath* as attending church.
Yet the Sabbath was a day of rest and while many people go to church on Sunday, do they keep it as a day of rest?
I don’t find any Scriptural support that going to church is *keeping the Sabbath*.
However, I do agree with you on that there’s a world of difference between doing something because you have to and because you want to.
Doing it out of duty or obligation, or because you are threatened with hell-fire and brimstone, is NOT what God intended for us. That is not the kind of relationship God wants as a loving, heavenly Father.
A simple read of the OT shows that.
The Jews kept the law on the outside, but God said their sacrifices were a stench to Him. He’s after the heart, not the outward actions.
Someone can do all the outward stuff perfectly and still be as far from God as the worst heathen.
Indeed. That is the difference in Moses Law and the New Covenant. To keep the law to achieve Heaven is a heavy yoke indeed. To know God is to love God. The closer we are to God the easier it is to follow His Law. We yearn to please Him.
Paul said "I die daily". He died to his human desire for flesh and money and ease and worldly acceptance.