Exodus 20:8-11 - Keep the Sabbath Holy

INTRODUCTION

Let’s open our Bibles together this morning to the 20th chapter of Exodus.

I will read verses 8-11.

[READ EXODUS 20:8-11]

Today will, God willing, conclude this short series on some difficult passages of the Bible.

And some may look at our subject and wonder where the difficulty could possibly lie.

After all, this is one of the Ten Commandments - what could possibly be difficult about that?

We didn’t take equal time talking about any of the other Commandments, so why would THIS commandment, the Fourth Commandment, present any difficulty to us?

You might even think I am “preaching to the choir” on this.

You are here.

You are attending church.

You are listening to the sermon.

It would be easy to think that the people who REALLY need to hear this message are the very ones NOT listening to it.

If your thoughts have gone that far, perhaps you even have a list of people to send the sermon link to this afternoon.

But since those who are not here to worship with us today are probably not going to hear it anyway, I will just have to preach to us.

And so, for those of us here:

Are you keeping the Sabbath Day holy?

Last week, when we looked at the tithe, I mentioned there are two ratios given in the Law of God:

The tithe, or the tenth of our increase, is holy to the Lord.

And one day in seven, the Sabbath, is holy to the Lord.

And before we get too far into looking at this, I want to remind you that, for the believer, the Law’s function is not to condemn or judge us,

But to show us what pleases God.

That doesn’t mean that we can ignore it or disobey it with impunity - nothing of the sort.

It means that we gladly obey the Law of God BECAUSE it pleases the One we owe our very lives to.

So as we look at this, we will find the Law of God does not bend to our desires or our culture.

Rather it shows us a better way to live,

A way that is in communion with the nature of God as He has revealed it to us in His perfect Law.

Psalm 19:7–11 “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

In keeping the Law of God there is great reward:

Not because He owes or promises us to reward our obedience;

But because in following the Law of the Lord, we find the Truth that makes us free.

We will never bring a profit to God;

He will never receive from us anything near the price He paid to redeem us.

We will always be unprofitable servants,

But it is His good pleasure, His delight, to teach us how to delight in Him;

It is His gracious gift that we CAN follow Him in His ways.

His commandments are not burdensome;

They bring us freedom from the slavery to sin we once lived in.

Are you keeping the Sabbath Day holy?

To help us answer that question in our hearts, let’s look together at the parts of that question.

First, and most importantly, we will look at the Sabbath Day.

This wasn’t something new in the twentieth chapter of Exodus.

It is one of the most ancient commandments.

We find it introduced in the beginning of the second chapter of the Bible:

Genesis 2:3 “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

From the beginning of all creation, God set aside, made holy, the seventh day.

He “rested”.

He didn’t rest because He was tired;

He rested because He was finished.

He had made all His creation, everything that would be created had been created,

And He sanctified the seventh day to dwell in it,

To make that day completely His.

That’s how we see this word translated in other Hebrew parts of the Scriptures.

It is often translated “dwell” or “sit down” (as on a throne).

Genesis 13:6 “so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together,”

Deuteronomy 17:18 ““And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.”

It carries with it the idea of a completed work.

Joshua 5:12 “And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”

So when God “rested” from His work in creation, He inhabited it;

He had communion with it.

Specifically, He had communion with the man and woman He had created in His image.

And that’s why in the chapter that occurs even before the first sin is committed, we find God resting in His creation.

Setting apart a day for man to rest from His work as well.

And the “rest” of the man has much the same meaning toward God as it has in describing God.

Six days, we are to get all our work done;

And the seventh day is a Sabbath, a rest, to the Lord.

“To” the Lord.

That little preposition is, I think, what makes this commandment so difficult.

“To” the Lord.

Not “From” the Lord.

That’s the way we often think about it, isn’t it?

We read Mark 2:27 and think it changes the meaning of the commandment:

“And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

We have all heard it: “the Sabbath is the day of rest.”

And we start to list all those things we might find “restful”:

Sports

Video Games

Mowing the lawn

Sleeping in

But perhaps those who want to be more spiritual will say this:

The Sabbath is a day of rest AND worship.”

That’s better, isn’t it?

We can go to church, spend our time there, and then we can get to all those other “restful” activities afterward.

An hour or three, particularly if we have dinner together, and I have done my duty to God.

That’s the difference between a Sabbath FROM the Lord and a Sabbath TO the Lord.

The Sabbath was made for man, not just to give him an opportunity for a nap or to build in time for worldly entertainment;

It was made for man to give him a full day each week to commune with his Creator.

To leave behind the enticements of this world, the distractions of our lives,

And REST in God.

Not just for an hour - for a DAY.

The Sabbath is TO Him, TOWARD Him;

It is a DAY set apart to find your rest IN Him,

Not to take your worldly rest and INCLUDE Him.

And any activity that removes you from that communion with Him is defiling the good day God has given us.

I know that’s strong language,

And I know it convicts my heart in many ways.

But what worldly activity is so holy, so sanctified, that it can be defended as something that is sanctified TO God?

I would suggest that if that activity is not to be found in what the Holy Spirit has told us in the Scriptures about heaven,

It is not sanctified enough to be considered for our weekly Sabbath.

The Sabbath was made for MAN.

A time set apart to spend a DAY in communion with God.

The Sabbath Day is the closest thing on earth we will have to our heavenly rest, when we are in full and unbroken communion with God through Jesus Christ.

Anything we do to cheapen the Sabbath, to seek after the world’s pleasures, robs us of the fulness of the gift God has given us in the day.

It’s legitimate to look at all kinds of things:

Should we spend the Lord’s Day watching sports?

I realize the NFL and NASCAR are sports that make nearly all their money on the Lord’s Day - does that make them ok?

Is it a holy use of a believer’s time of communion with God to spend our time in that way?

Even more disturbing - does our attention to these sports force the people who play in them to break their Sabbath?

Should we spend the Lord’s Day watching movies or reading novels?

Will those movies or books be on heaven’s playlist in eternity?

Should we spend the day doing sports, like golfing or hunting?

Should we?

What about catching up on yard work or getting ahead on business or school work?

I point you to the word “work” and ask, “Should we?”

Have I made everyone sufficiently uncomfortable yet?

There are a lot of things we do that might also make others break the Sabbath God gave them:

Going to a restaurant?

When I waited tables in college, I was really angry that I was required to work one Sunday a year: Mother’s Day.

No one got that day off.

And as the people came in from church with their families the year I did it,

I had two different men lecture me on working on the Lord’s Day.

Never calculating that if THEY didn’t come to the restaurant, I wouldn’t have been forced to work or lose my job.

Shopping for groceries or other things is another that forces people to staff those stores.

We all get up in arms when Wal Mart or Target ignores religious holidays,

But are we spending our money on the Lord’s Day with them?

I assure you, if their stores were empty on the Lord’s Day, they would close them on that day.

Now, I have on occasion needed to run out to buy something for the church dinner after the service.

I would not want anyone to feel like they need to skip the dinner if you aren’t able to bring something.

There will be times when we each need to eat lunch when we haven’t been able to bring anything -

That’s why it’s church-wide.

It’s a time of fellowship with brothers and sisters, so know we won’t begrudge anyone their meal.

Not even going to look at you funny.

Come, eat, fellowship with us all.

Could we make sure we are fueled up on Saturday so the gas stations might let their employees have a Sabbath?

Can you arrange all your errands and needs so you don’t have to take the Lord’s Day to meet them?

We look at these businesses, and we know they would be open anyway - even if we spend nothing there.

McDonald’s will still serve breakfast;

Publix will still fry chicken.

But let’s look again at how WE, the church, are to keep the Sabbath:

This time, I want to go to the restatement of the commandment in the book of Deuteronomy.

There are two places in the Books of Moses that the Ten Commandments are given explicitly:

Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

We read the commandment from Exodus 20 earlier.

But the end of this commandment is different in Deuteronomy than it is in Exodus.

In Exodus 20:11, the Holy Spirit gives us the reason for the commandment for the individual:

“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.”

That’s what we looked at earlier.

We have the Sabbath so that we can rest toward God.

But Deuteronomy 5:12–15 ends with a different reason:

““ ‘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 to the Lord your God. On 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 livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

That sounds a lot like the Exodus version.

But then we see a different ending reason:

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”

That confuses a lot of people - and it has tripped me up in the past.

But the reason this ending is different here is because it’s not about what the Sabbath does for YOU;

It is the reason you should allow OTHERS to have a Sabbath.

It’s not keeping the Sabbath holy if you do all the right things, communing with God the entire day,

But you do it at the expense of keeping the people around you working to maintain YOUR rest.

The commandment here is saying to give this day to others:

Your family, servants, employees, livestock, and even the PAGAN:

Because YOU were once a slave in Egypt, and God brought YOU out.

You were once overwhelmed seven days a week with the cares of this world, and God freed you from it so you can rest in Him;

That’s why you should do everything in your power not to burden others working on your behalf on the Lord’s Day either.

So what SHOULD we be doing on the Lord’s Day?

I remind you again that the Law here is not meant to condemn, but to instruct and guide us.

Worship with the church is obviously primary for the day.

It is the day, Sunday, that the church gathered after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first day of the week.

The Christian Sabbath, then, is the Lord’s Day - Sunday.

I think it’s instructive that under the Law, men were commanded to END their work with rest;

But under the gospel of Jesus Christ, we BEGIN our weekly labors with rest in Christ.

Our week STARTS with rest;

Our life STARTS with rest in the free gift of Jesus Christ.

The Lord’s Day may be used for many other holy ends:

Time spent with your family in holy pursuits.

Time spent with friends in holy pursuits.

Time spent in service to the church.

Time spent in caring concern for the poor or needy.

Time spent in remembrance and thanksgiving to God.

That is the theme of the psalm we read in our Old Testament reading this morning - Psalm 92.

It even describes itself as a song for the Sabbath.

We may spend time in study and edification in holy pursuits.

I want to be clear - we all struggle in properly keeping the Sabbath because our nation is not a Sabbath-keeping nation.

We live in a secular nation among a pagan people.

So the world, like Babylon and Rome of old, will not make it easy for you to keep the Sabbath.

There will be things you decide you may not do;

But I can promise on the authority of Scripture that you will not give up anything not fit for this holy day that you will end up regretting.

Let me end with a few words of comfort in this:

First, we should not judge others for their choices on the Lord’s Day, so long as they are not sinful or remove them from worship often.

Even then, we should express our concern, not our displeasure, at their absences or sin.

Second, there may be times or seasons of life where you have to work on the Lord’s Day.

Hospitals are not closed, and other businesses may require you to be there.

It is certainly not the best situation, but God blesses us in difficulties on occasion as well.

What I would hope is that if you are in a situation that is preventing your Sabbath,

You might bring it to the church so we can pray or help you find other employment to free you to rest on the Lord’s Day.

Finally, let the Lord’s Day be a joyful day for you and for others.

We aren’t yet good at keeping the day holy, so give yourself some grace in the learning.

I know that I have a better practice of the Lord’s Day than I have in the past,

And I pray you will be finding even better ways to sanctify the day to rest in Christ.