Fourth Sermon

1. Recap last week

- to not misuse God's name because God's name represents who He is. His character, His authority, His identity.

2. What is the 4th commandment?

Read .

i) Which Persons must keep the Sabbath?

- Applies to every Israelite and everything they own. Even slaves. Even animals. Even the land every 7th year (). How ackward but also very obviously unique to their surrounding nations.

ii) What activities are Prohibited? Read also , ,

(don't just say "work". Define work. Give examples. Extra marks for saying something deep.).

- Since the Sabbath is a special day set apart by God, we break/profane/desecrate the Sabbath when we treat it like any other normal day i.e work

- Not allowed to go out and harvest food. Later when they settle in the land they are not allowed to plough the fields etc.

- Not allowed to cook at home. So even the housewives or slaves must enjoy Sabbath rest. Can't tell them to do all the work while you enjoy rest.

- Not allowed to carry goods (presumably) to do business.

iii) Whats the Purpose of the Sabbath? Read also , .

- to be like God who rested on the 7th day of Creation

- as a sign of that God is the one whoade them special. It is a sign of their special covenant relationship with God.

- the fact that even their slaves must rest is a remind that God had saved them from slavery

- Even though it sounds negative "not allowed to": But they were basically freed from being slaves to work.

Overall: Weekly reminder that God is the true source of their security and significance. That is essentially to worship.

- remember they didn't have food delivery then. To not work for food (primary goal for work) is a humbling reminder that God, not their own hard work, that provides for them

- To not work like everyone else is reminds them that they are special. Set apart by God to enjoy a special relationship with Him. To be like Him (He rested on 7th day too).

iv) What was the Penalty for breaking the Sabbath? Read

- Death ( makes clear)

- effectively rejects God as the true source of their security and significance.

4. Does your parents work? Does your mum or maid cook?/Does the Sabbath rules still apply to us Christians?

- strong Sabbatarian Christians in the past have insisted even sports is off the table. e.g Eric Liddel

- Read . - Are to focus on the shadow on the reality? Now that the reality is here. (Illustration: Photo of long-distance gf)

- The Sabbath rest pointed forward (preview/trailer) to the rest that Jesus will bring () - No coincidence that the rest next passage is a confrontation concerning the Sabbath.

- In fact its because of His teaching about the rest He gives, repeated clashes over the Sabbath that he Jews hated Jesus and eventually Him to the Cross. Which ironically is the basis of the rest Jesus provides.

- Because of the Cross we are redeemed from burden and slavery of sin

- We can rest from our works of trying to justify ourselves before God.

- Jesus is our true source of security & significance

5. Sabbath is 7th day: Saturday not Sunday.

- that's why 7 day Adventists believe we should have Saturday worship then

- but the earliest Christians gathered on Sunday to worship.

- no NT evidence of Sabbath transfer from Sat to Sunday,

- Sunday was the Lord's day because it was the day the Lord rose from the grave

- Practically still good to have a day of rest, a day where we spent more time focusing on God etc. But don't miss the point of the OT Sabbath rest.

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