Ten Words: Honor The Sabbath; Week 4

Good evening. Over the last few weeks we have been studying the 10 Commandments. These commandments are listed together…as a whole that is, in both Exodus and the book of Deut. As we will read in just a moment, the 10 commandments were not given to the Israelites, just so they had rules to follow…that would be no different than living in Egypt. Instead, God gave them the commandments in order to begin the process of revealing His character to His people. Let’s go ahead and pray

PRAY!

Let’s start by reading them, according to

Exodus 20:1–21

Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

As I’ve mentioned before, the commandments are set up in a specific order: The first four deal with our relationship with our creator, while the last 6 deal with our relationship with others. So far, we have covered the first 3 commandments…which means that tonight we are studying commandment 4, honoring the sabbath.

This week’s commandment deals with something that it is probably safe to say we all struggle with, intentional rest. The commandment comes with some interesting commentary: the actual commandment is found in verse 8; but for the next 3 verses, we are told why this commandment is so important. It is worth pointing out that the none of the other nine commandments get the same level of attention; even the prohibition on idolatry (which comes in second for added attention) does not have as much commentary as God’s command regarding the Sabbath.

OLD TESTAMENT SIGNIFICANCE

In the O.T. the Sabbath was significant for a few of different reasons.

1. The Sabbath is based upon the natural order of creation

and is commanded by God, as verses 9–11 demonstrate.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

God did not just create a world, and water, and plants, and animals, and people; he also created a day of rest. It is a blessed day that God has made holy; the only one of its kind with such a distinction

Genesis 2:3

“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”

In terms of days of the Hebrew week, the Sabbath was held on our Saturday. It is a day when we are to experience a cessation of work so that we can rest, and in doing so, reflect on the God who wasn’t so consumed with his work that he couldn’t take a break. The Hebrew word for Sabbath literally means a cessation of work…which is how the ancient Israelites would have understood the command to mean.

2. The Sabbath was a reminder that the Israelites were delivered from Egypt.

Deuteronomy 5:15

“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.”

Perhaps you haven’t thought about this, but think of the conditions that the Israelites were set free from. What were they? They were slaves. Slaves are not afforded days off or rest. In fact, earlier on in Exodus, it talks about the harsh conditions which the Israelites had to endure. They had daily quotas that were impossible to meet…in addition, to punish them, Pharaoh took stopped providing them with straw…a major ingredient in making bricks. The people had to retrieve the straw for themselves, which took a lot of time. There was never a day of rest in Egypt. Then God gives the 10 commandments, and while the last 6, the ones that have more to do with other people were not a new idea…the first 4 were completely new concepts. Only worshiping one god, not making idols, not taking God’s name in vain and taking 1 day a week to rest were all new ideas. In seeking to change how the Israelites thought about God, He orders a day of rest. The Sabbath would be a constant reminder of the exodus from Egypt.

3. The Sabbath began a new standard of caring for others.

It is for sure that we do not think about the Sabbath as something that helps us care for others, but God was very specific when giving the command to the Israelites

Deuteronomy 5:12–14

“‘Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.”

Referring back to what I was just talking about…how bad the Israelites were treated during their captivity…God was obviously not pleased with that…but God ended up using it for His ultimate purposes.

Let me shake your brain for a second. Think about how terrible it was for the Israelites to endure 400 years of brutal slavery in Egypt. After Joseph, who was Pharaoh’s right-hand man, died, and the Pharaohs he served died…a new leader took over and began to fear how rapidly the Jews were growing. So, the Egyptian leader subjected them to slavery and there they stayed for a very long time. Imagine though if that did not happen and the people of Israel were totally accepted in Egyptian society. In other words, would the Jews even want to leave Egypt if they had not been treated poorly? I do not think many people would be prepared to say that God caused someone to become a slave…yet, without that happening, there probably would have been no nation of Israel, no King David…and you can follow the logic all of the way. Now, God could have done something different…but I’m not sure that God ever has to choose a “Plan B,” if you know what I mean.

Anyway, one of the reasons behind the Sabbath, according to scripture is to make sure that everyone…not just Jews, are able to have a day of rest. This was an important cultural shift for the people of Israel, who were not used to treating especially outsiders, in a fair way.

So, those are the 3 ways that the Sabbath was significant in the O.T. Unfortunately, like with almost anything that humanity touches, the idea of the Sabbath became twisted, much like the notion of refusing to use God’s name and taking a bath every time it was written. The truth is, God gave Israel the Sabbath as a gift, but by the time Jesus arrived, it became a burden to the people.

Instead of the Sabbath being used as a means to include people in God’s goodness…it turned into a means to exclude people from God.

The Ten Commandments: A Guide to the Perfect Law of Liberty

Sabbath is Yahweh’s day of joy, when he delighted in the completed creation.68 It’s socially revolutionary because it’s the Lord’s day, a holy day of worship that opens earthly time to the rhythms of heaven. All Israel, including slaves and animals, mimics the rest of God. We might expect the opposite: because it’s Yahweh’s day of ceasing, human beings can’t cease. In ancient myths, gods make human beings to serve their divine leisure. The Sabbath, by contrast, is premised on an analogy between God’s work and human work: the Creator is himself a craftsman and a manual laborer. The Sabbath highlights an analogy between divine and human rest.

Which brings us to the

New Testament Significance

In the New Testament, we see the significance of the Sabbath change. In fact, the Sabbath command is the only one that is not specifically reaffirmed in a positive manner…as far as Jesus quoting it directly, like we see with the first 3 Commandments. Now, that does not mean that the principle of the Sabbath is not affirmed. It most certainly is.

A quick side note, when I was researching N.T. passages that confirm the Sabbath, one of the passages that would constantly pop up is a verse we dealt with this past Sunday:

Hebrews 4:9–11

“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”

You may or may not remember, but including this passage in a list of N.T. verses that confirm the Sabbath is terrible heremeneutics. If you just read them, without any context, you could be forgiven to thinking they are affirming the Sabbath…but can anyone tell me what the author of Hebrews is trying to say here…can you remember from the sermon on Sunday? Does this passage deal with the actual day of rest, or is it talking about something much larger than that? Thing is, we don’t need this passage to confirm that Jesus and the disciples still honored the principles behind the Sabbath.

Luke 4:16

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.”

Acts 16:13

“And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.”

There are more examples…many more, but I do not think I have to convince you that the Sabbath is confirmed in the New Testament. However, there are some very important distinctions between the law of the Sabbath and the principle behind the Sabbath. As I mentioned before, by the time Jesus arrived, the Sabbath had been turned into a burden, rather than being used as a gift. Over the years, the religious leaders had heaped regulation upon regulation on the command.

In fact, there is a passage in the book of Isaiah that I believe gives us an idea of how the sabbath is supposed to be viewed:

Isaiah 58:13–14

““If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, Then you will take delight in the Lord, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.””

These 2 passages give us the idea that the Lord honors those who keep the Sabbath, rather than punishing those that don’t. In fact, one of the major differences in how people generally read or teach scripture has to do with how they view God’s commands. Are the commands designed as a means with which God can punish people or as a means by which God can bless people. Depending on what your answer is will determine how you teach them and how you view those who do not keep His commands. I would submit to you that Jesus made the manner in which we are to view the commands very clear…as did Paul and other N.T. figures:

Matthew 12:1–12

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.

But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.”

But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions,

how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?

“Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?

“But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.

“But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Departing from there, He went into their synagogue.

And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him.

And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?

“How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

What was the general idea that Jesus was trying to get across…in regards to the Sabbath? Is it reasonable to read this story and conclude that God demands that we must meet together on a particular day…the same day as the O.T., and obey the command in the same manner as the Ancient Israelites. Or, is it reasonable to read this story how I believe God intended the command in the first place…as a gift from God to His people....and that we can find our rest in our Heavenly Father.

John 1:17

“For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

It is grace and truth that give us the ability to find out the intent behind the law, thus living out the principles.

Lastly, there is another idea that I want to present that applies us today.

The Sabbath reminds us that we belong to God.

Just as the 4th Commandment was significant for the Israelite, in pointing them to their creator and to remember the story of the Exodus…today, the Sabbath is a reminder that we belong to God. The truth is, the world and everything in it belongs to our heavenly father. Not only that, but even difficult concepts, like that of time, language and self-consciences belongs to God. He is the creator of all things and in Him, as things hold together. On one day out of seven, we set aside a special day, which serves to remind us of the sacredness of all our days.

When we make the mistake of forgetting that our lives…all of our time, our money, everything about us belongs to God. When we forget that, one of the first things to go is the Sabbath. In other words, when our priorities are out of wack, this commandment is normally the first thing to be compromised. It is easy to tell if God is at the center of our priorities by examining whether or not we follow the command to honor the Sabbath. I’m not talking about being legalistic…but are we able to simply unwind for a day and relax, without having to do something to make money?

I truly believe that N.T. believers should still be taking one day per week and consecrating it to the Lord. Not out of religious dogma, but because it helps us remember that we belong to God. It helps us keep a balance in our lives. Coming to church is not keeping the Sabbath…it can be a part of us keeping the Sabbath, but I’ve known people who simply carve out a couple of hours on Sunday to come to church…then go right back to work when church is over. This is not honoring the Sabbath.

It’s my challenge for all of us today to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. To set aside 1 day per week where we cease work, where we cease the constant need to get more money. Like I mentioned before, we don’t view keeping the Sabbath as though we will be punished if we don’t…we must approach the Sabbath as a means of blessing…that if we honor God, the result will blessing.

Let’s Pray.