Exodus 20:8-11
Introduction
Written
by the very finger of God, permanently engraved on two stone tablets, placed in the sacred Ark of the Covenant, and kept in the
Holiest place of the Temple of God, the Ten Commandments are the
essence of God’s law for humanity. They
teach us how to honor God and live well with each other. They also make it clear how far we fall short
of God’s glorious standards and how desperately we need God’s grace and
forgiveness.
Someone came to Jesus with this
question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”
“Why ask me about what is
good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer
your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the
commandments.” (Matthew 19:16-17)
If the
Ten Commandments are so important, shouldn’t we take time to remember and
understand them? I challenge you to memorize
the Ten Commandments this summer. Then, come to Pleasant Grove UMC each Sunday (or read this blog) to
learn how each Commandment applies to your life.
Let’s list all Ten
Commandments (paraphrased):
1.
Do not worship any God except the Lord.
2.
Do not make idols of any kind.
3.
Do not misuse the name of the Lord.
4.
Remember to observe the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
5.
Honor your father and mother.
6.
Do not murder.
7.
Do not commit adultery.
8.
Do not steal.
9.
Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.
10. Do
not covet.
Today we will look at
the Fourth Commandment as found in Exodus 20:8-11
8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath
day by keeping it holy. 9 You
have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest
dedicated to the Lord your
God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you,
your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any
foreigners living among you. 11 For
in six days the Lord made
the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day
he rested. That is why the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
The Fourth Commandment
The Fourth Commandment is all about
love, because it reveals a precious gift God gave us straight from His
heart. The Sabbath day is a gift of
sacred time. Few gifts are more precious
than time. The busier we are in this
hectic world, the more valuable time becomes.
A child may beg for the newest toy advertised in commercials, but
what they really want is their parents’ precious time. What a wife really longs for from her husband
it not jewelry, but to spend quality time together connecting (of course,
jewelry is nice too!). And how much
would a man on his death bed give for a little more time to live. Time is precious and the God of the universe
gave us a whole day to share love with Him and He called it the Sabbath.
God gave us this holy “time” to
rest and renew. Some people don’t need
to be told to rest, but most in our day and age will run themselves ragged,
ruining our health and injuring vital relationships without resting properly. God loves us and cares about our need. Even when we neglect our own health, God
cares enough to remind us to rest. As we
set aside the cares of the world and worship the Lord (as we were originally
designed to do), God renews our strength.
Isaiah 40:31 – “…those
who wait for the Lord shall
renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall
run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” God is the source of life and strength. We are renewed as we rest in Him.
The Sabbath also reminds us what is
most important in life. When we step
away from the cares of the world and rest, we reconnect with what’s really
important. This is another precious gift
from God. On the Sabbath, we reconnect
with the people who are most important to us.
We find fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ--those who
share common love for our Heavenly Father and who are on a common journey of
discipleship in Christ. The Sabbath--with its closeness to our Creator and like-minded believers--helps us remember
what’s truly important in life. It is
not what the world promotes that is important--all the flashy trinkets and
vices that would entice us to work harder and longer, never taking a break in
our striving to get ahead and gain more trinkets. The Sabbath
gives us time to remember the relationships and love that are truly meaningful
and be grateful to God.
Jesus and the Sabbath
Some have
taken the Fourth Commandment too literally.
Seventh Day Adventist insist that the church must worship on the true
Sabbath--which is really the seventh day of the week or Saturday. It was not until the second century that most
Christians started worshiping on Sunday (known as the Lord’s Day because it
was the day Jesus rose from the grave).
Every Sunday is a little Easter to Christians and it is fitting that most Christians
honor the Lord’s Day as our Sabbath each Sunday. Some Christians legalistically refuse to do
any work on Sunday or argue against things like the sale of alcohol on
Sundays. Could it be that they are being
too much like the Pharisees in Jesus time?
Jesus
observed the Sabbath. Luke 4:16 tells us
it was his custom to go to
church on the Sabbath day (although they called it a synagogue). So we know Jesus honored the Sabbath and we
should too. However, Jesus was not
legalistic about the Sabbath. In fact,
he criticized the religious leaders of his day for their legalistic
interpretation of the Fourth Commandment.
In Matthew 12:9-14, Jesus
healed a man with a deformed hand on the Sabbath while he was at church. The Pharisees were self-righteously indignant
because they considered healing to be work, and you weren’t supposed to work on
the Sabbath day. Jesus thought that was
crazy. God is not upset when we do good
on the Sabbath day. So Jesus healed the
man. You can do good on the Sabbath.
In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus was at church
again on the Sabbath when he healed a woman who was sick. The leader of the church (I guess you could
call him the pastor or rabbi) got angry and scolded everyone for working on the Sabbath. He said (paraphrase), "You have six days in the week to heal and be healed. Come on those days for healing, but not on the Sabbath." Jesus called him a hypocrite and said healing
the woman was the right thing to do--even on the Sabbath.
In Mark 2:23-27, the Disciples
picked some food to eat as they walked through a farm on the Sabbath. The
Pharisees complained the Disciples were breaking God’s law, but Jesus rejected
their Pharisaical thinking. In Mark 2:27 Jesus said
to them, “...The sabbath was made for humankind, and not
humankind for the sabbath…”
You see, the Sabbath is for our benefit.
It is a gift from God, not a restriction meant to take away our
freedom. We should try to be more like
Jesus and less like the Pharisees when it comes to obeying the Fourth
Commandment.
The Mark of Believers
There is one more important
thing to say about the Sabbath. The
Sabbath is what marks us as sacred people.
We live in a sea of secular people, in a secular world that constantly
tries to take us over. We must always be
careful, lest we be swallowed up in the meaningless activity and busy-ness of an
unbelieving world. When we keep the
Sabbath, it announces our loyalty to God and is a witness to our decision to
follow His way instead of the chaos of this world. It dramatically proclaims our faith that
resting in God is more fruitful than toiling away an extra day in the world.
Some would say, it doesn’t make any
sense. Surely seven days of work will
produce more than only six. Yet we see
in businesses like Chick-fill-a that a Sabbath day of rest is possible in a
successful company. Furthermore, it is a
tremendous witness to everyone about who we are and who we trust. I don't ever remember a cashier at Chick-fill-a telling me the restaurant was a Christian business. No one there ever preached to me or quoted the Bible, but every time I am craving a chick-fill-a sandwich on a Sunday afternoon and can't get one because "Oh yeah, Chick-fill-a is closed today," it reminds me that Chick-fill-a is a business founded that operates on Christian principles. You can say you are a Christian until you are
blue in the face, but when you take the seventh day off, it speaks volumes.
The Sabbath rest challenges us to
disengage from culture induced expectations for frantic leisure, frantic
consumption, or frantic exercise. (The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume I page
846). It requires us to trust that God
can provide just as much abundance (or even more) in six days than the world can
give in seven. This is what a God’s
people believe.
Conclusion and
Invitation
I would like to challenge you to
remember that Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
We live in a time when way too much has crept in to steal away the
precious Sabbath gift God gave. It
didn’t happen over night, but little by
little, over the course of years or even decades, this greedy world has stolen
our sacred time--minute by minute and hour by hour. Work schedules, business ventures, baseball
tournaments, entertainment venues, the demands of people who do not understand
or honor our God-given right to rest and worship the Creator… They have stolen our precious gift. You need the Sabbath. God knows you need it. That’s why He gave you the gift. You are the only one who can choose to take it back. You are the only one you can protect your
Sabbath by choosing God’s way instead of the world’s way. I challenge you to make a commitment to
remember to observe the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
Jesus said,
“…if you want to receive
eternal life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17) But who among us can really keep them? Even if you break just one commandment, you
have broken them all (paraphrase of James 2:10). That’s why I am so glad Jesus came to offer us
grace. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said,
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give
you rest.” Lay down your heavy burden of
sin and find grace and forgiveness in Christ today. Stop frantically following the ways of the
world trying to earn more (even trying to earn God's love) and come follow Jesus and you will find rest. I invite you to choose Jesus today.
If you would choose Jesus today,
would you pray with me:
"Lord Jesus, forgive me for breaking God's commandments. I know I am a sinner and I'm tired of it. Please forgive me and save me. I want to follow you and find rest. Please come take control of my life and lead me. I will do my best t follow you. Amen."
If you prayed that prayer today, would you send me an email and tell me so I can pray for you? You may email me at ReverendChrisMullis@hotmail.com.
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