"The Fourth Commandment"

Many times after church I would hang out with some of the young people in the church and many times the suggestion would made to go to lunch. Sometimes the great suggestion of going to Chick-Fil-A would be made. And on several occasions we would actually arrive at the restaurant and be greatly disappointed… can anyone guess why?

The great day. The Lord’s Day. A wonderful day set apart by the Lord of all creation for His glory. A celebration. A time to rejoice. A time of divine reflection. A time of great remembrance. A time to reflect on our deliverence. For our children it is their deliverence from their grounding. A time for us to receive to wonders of the Word of God, the means of grace, all that is sweeter than honey. Its the day for our children to eat their candy and junk food. A time for us to cease from our work and to trust in the providence of the Lord. A wonderful glorious and holy time. But unfortunately a time often neglected by many today. RC Sproul writes, “Probably no commandment is more flagrantly broken than this. We do not consider it to be important.”

I remember once the son of a very legalistic and uncompromising deacon of a church I pastored came up to me and said that he and his family would not be in church for the next 3 months and hopes that I will keep them in my prayers. Oh my so you guys are gonna be out of town visiting relatives or taking a trip. No no no where gonna be in town. Oh… wow. Is everything Ok is everyone in your family alright? Oh yeah no problems. No don’t worry nothing is wrong (and without hesitation or even any discomfort at all) said it’s baseball season and my son is on the baseball team and all their games are on Sunday. Oh well you guys could still come to evening service though… oh no, Baseball is like an all day thing and we are wiped out when we get home, plus our favorite TV shows and all the shows we saved on our DVR this past week… we set aside Sunday night to watch them.

I tried really hard not to show it, but I was stunned. I talked with his dad after and it started a huge conflict in leadership which in the end the deacon and the family left the church. For baseball? I remember the exchange… Shane it is not like he is sinning. I’m sorry my brother… but he is. But so and so’s son was gone from church 3 months for little league football. Was that a sin? Yes. But so and so takes lots of Sundays off for his marathons and triathlons. Was that a sin? Yes. So and so took Father’s day off to go fishing. Was that a sin? Yes. So and so had to work on Sunday is that a sin… possibly. So and so was not feeling good… was that a sin possibly. Do you even have a biblical basis for this… Yes… buckle up your seat belts.

Exodus 20:8–11 NLT

“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 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. 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 grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

What is the Sabbath?

2. The Lord’s Day

3. The Coming Rest

The first thing we will look at today is a brief treatment of the nature of the Sabbath command. The second thing we will explore is this continuing essence of this regulation now understood as the Lord’s Day. And finally, we will rejoice as we look ahead to our future Sabbath bought for us by the life and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to flagrantly break the Lord’s Day command, it is the truth of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to be devoted to keeping the Lord’s Day in love and adoration of Christ and Christ alone.

I. What is the Sabbath?

- Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy.

A. Now this is a huge topic of discussion with lots of discussion, contention, and debate. Just not gonna have the time to be thorough today. So lets get some help from the Heidelberg Catechism.

Q. 103.  What doth God require in the fourth commandment? A.  First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained; and that I, especially on the sabbath, that is, on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God, to hear His word, to use the sacraments, publicly to call upon the Lord, and contribute to the relief of the poor, as becomes a Christian. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works, and yield myself to the Lord, to work by His Holy Spirit in me; and thus begin in this life the eternal sabbath.

B. The point of the fourth commandment is simply that the Lord desires for all of us to spend one day of a seven day week to spend in worship of Him. Worship the Lord. The Lord commands us to spend one day in worship of the Lord. Something so simple but it became a burden and complex. We stop our labors our working to spend time worshipping the Lord. It is not that we stop our labors to sit on the couch and do nothing at all. But we set aside a day for the Lord. Sure there is an element for resting, but that is from our labor. It is not a time for us to be lazy. But a time to make the day and keep it holy in worship. Moses points us to the day of creation to help us see this.

Genesis 2:1–3 NLT

So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

C. We are commanded by God to stop our daily routine to spend the day in worship of our Lord. The Lord after creation was not exhausted and needed to recuperate or take a nap to get more energy. He did this to set an all important pattern that is built into all of creation. The pattern was there even before the fall. The 6 and 1 pattern. This pattern given at creation was also made plain with the 10 commandments that all humans are to follow this pattern as we would follow the command of idolatry, taking the name of the Lord in vain, stealing, adultery, lying and coveting.

D. This is the essence of the command… we are commanded to take a day to cease or labors and where we devote to the worship of the Lord. Now of course there is a ton that goes with that, but simply this is the moral issue. Keep the day holy; set apart for the Lord.

Isaiah 58:13 NLT

“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.

E. Do not pursue your on interests on that day. We are commanded to give glory to the Lord in our praise and in our rest and even in our fellowship with one another.

F. Now the Jews did add too much of a burden to the Sabbath to have the Sabbath lose its purpose and this is what we saw Jesus make clear. The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath is supposed to be good for you, it is not supposed to harm you.

G. We cease from our work, we worship the Lord, we trust in Him, and we do what is best for ourselves and others. So hopefully I convinced you of the command of what it is and what was generally expected.

II. The Lord’s Day

- Yes it still applies today.

A. But Shane that’s good and all but we don’t do the Sabbath thing anymore. And this is a common objection with lots of reasons, but we will only tackle a couple today. The OT laws are passed away once Christ came to fulfill it. This might be helpful for many of you today when we read the scriptures and we come to certain laws.

B. It is important to recognize that the Laws of scripture can be divided into 3 different categories. The categories are moral laws, ceremonial laws, and civil laws. This can take hours to explain, but we’ll keep it simple. Moral laws are those that deal with morality like the 10 commandments… thou shall not lie, steal, kill ect. Ceremonial laws are those that deal with things like the sacrificial system and festivals like sacrificing bulls for atoning for sins and the year of Jubilee. Civil laws are those that deal specifically with the nation of Israel like the building codes of today.

C. So some laws did indeed pass away with the scattering of the nation of Israel and the life and sacrifice of Christ. So what remains… the moral laws and the general equity of the civil laws. So the 10 commandments are the moral laws and they are still binding to us today. Jesus even summarized it for us in his teaching on the greatest commandment. So is the Sabbath command included in the 10 commandments? It sure is, but there is also something more.

D. Some might object with a common hermeneutic today. This is common. The only moral law we follow today is Christ’s Law. All of the OT laws have passed when Christ came, but we only follow the 10 commandments Christ reiterates or reaffirms in His teaching. Then many will say that Christ did not reaffirm the Sabbath therefore, we should not follow it.

E. First of all, this method of hermeneutic is wrong. Its actually the opposite. We must follow all the laws God gave and only stop following the law that Jesus or the NT writers abrogates, nullifies, invalidates or voids. And Jesus nor the NT writers abrogates the Sabbath command. Another thing about the Law of God.

F. The moral laws are essentially a reflection or representation of the Character of God. It reflects who He is and what He desires.

- For example, it’s like our mothers growing up. They have certain things that they want from us, and most of it is a reflection of who she really is. I had a mother who was a ‘clean freak’. She wanted everything clean and did not ever tolerate a mess.

- Now, growing up we understood that it was not necessarily a general characteristic for mothers to be ‘clean freaks’, but it was one that was specific to our mother. My friend’s mom allowed us to be messy when we played at their house. Not so with my mother. I found that it was a part of my mother’s character and the rules that I had growing up, reflected this.

- In any case, we need to know that God does not change. Therefore, we need to know that these laws, then, are forever binding on us because they will never change. God will never change. His character will never change. What He desires morally will not change. It won’t be right one day and then be wrong another. It cannot be thrown out.

G. But Shane, we don’t follow the Jewish Sabbath anymore. We worship on Sunday not Saturday. Yes indeed but that does not mean that the moral quality of the Sabbath is gone we just went from the 6 and 1 pattern to the 1 and 6 pattern. The Sabbath went from the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sabbath or what we call the Lord’s Day. Just like the Jewish Sabbath which was given for all creation to follow, both Jew and Gentile, in memory of the Fathers rest from Creation, now we go to the Christian Sabbath, what we call the Lord’s Day in memory of the resurrection of Christ and the New creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

H. “This is a nice picture relating to the creation of the world where God rested on the seventh day. The new creation happened on the first day of the week, so that is why we celebrate and rejoice on that day. Therefore, we must understand that it is no longer the seventh day, but the first day.

“Two things to clear this up. First of all, even though we do not have a clear and emphatic statement making this specific change, we have enough evidence in the Scriptures to conclude that the change took place. The Scriptures indirectly show the change from the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sabbath referred to as the Lord’s Day. The apostles seemed to have made this change with all the rights and authority given to them by Christ Himself. Not to mention, Christ is the ‘Lord of the Sabbath’ and it is His divine right to change the day from the seventh to the first. We also see in Deuteronomy 5:15 the principle of remembering salvation.

Deuteronomy 5:15 NLT

Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.

I. “We see that a reason other than resting from our labors to remember and glorify God in light of His creation, is resting from our labors to remember our Lord’s mercy, grace and power in delivering us from sin just like the Israelites rested to remember their deliverance out of Egypt. This picture of deliverance was a foreshadow of the deliverance of Christians through the work of Christ’s strong hand and powerful arm. This is truly fulfilled. But there is still the point of remembrance. We remember and rejoice in our salvation on the day Christ rose from the grave, the first day of the week.”

Jason opened his Bible to the book of Acts.

“Acts 20:7. This shows us that the believers, with Paul, met together on the first day of the week to observe the Lord’s Supper, which is, of course, part of our worship services.

Acts 20:7 NLT

On the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper. Paul was preaching to them, and since he was leaving the next day, he kept talking until midnight.

J. “This shows us that there is a change happening from the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sabbath, with the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday and the Christian Sabbath on Sunday or the Lord’s Day.”

Jason flipped the pages of his Bible to the book of 1 Corinthians.

“In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Paul desires the church to take up offerings on the first day of the week.

1 Corinthians 16:1–2 NLT

Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia. On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.

K. “This implies that this is the time the believers would be gathered for worship. Historically, it was common practice of the Jews to take up a collection on the Sabbath in their gatherings in the synagogue. Collections being taken up seems to suggest that they were all gathered in a meeting, and it is at this time, the first day of the week, that Paul desired the collections to happen.”

Jason immediately flipped the pages of his Bible to the book of Revelation.

“In Revelation 1:20, the apostle John uses the term the ‘Lord’s Day’ and most scholars would take this day to mean Sunday.

Revelation 1:20 NLT

This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

L. “This is where we get our terminology of the ‘Lord’s Day’ as it pertains to Sunday morning worship.”

Micha and Jeff nodded their heads in understanding.

“Secondly,” Jason said. “We see throughout church history, since even the first century, that Christians have gathered for worship on the first day of the week calling it the ‘Lord’s Day.’ This is the Christian observance of the moral commands of the Sabbath. The Christian Sabbath. As you can see, it is not as straight forward as many would like, but with careful study, we can easily demonstrate the moral demands of the Sabbath and the change from Saturday to Sunday. Nevertheless, with all the work needed to make this conclusion, I can see how there would be confusion with this subject. Yet, at the same time, I do think it is so obvious, that the Scriptures really seem to assume that we know this already.”

III. The Coming Rest

- The rest that is still to come.

A. If this is the reality of the Lord’s Day. If this is the essence of the Christian Sabbath. If this is what we have to remember one day a week. Why do we struggle with this? Changes in our culture and our own sin nature contribute to this. With all this in mind should we not be rushing to get to church on Sunday?

-We will fight through cold ice snow a blizzard to go to work, go to school, go to the gym, go to the store, go shopping, go to the post office, go to the football stadium? Do we call in sick to church more than we call in sick to go to work? What is more important than obedience to the Lord and remembering in worship the new life and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. For many today, we are saying that baseball, football, marathons, even the super bowl party preparations. He gave us 6 days to do what we need and want to do. He is asking for one day. Is our Lord not worthy enough?

B. Sometimes we can’t make it. For many of our members today, physically, cant get here. Because we live in an unjust society and many of our employers do not share the same convictions, many of us have to work on Sundays sometimes. I get it. The question I have with these issues concern the heart. If you can’t control it, nothing you can do about it. But if you can, but you don’t… that is different.

C. It is a heart issue. Its a priority issue. Are there hobbies or recreations that is more important then spending the day with the people of God worshipping together? More important than obedience to the Lord?

Hebrews 10:25 NLT

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

D. We need to search our hearts. Are we wanting to believe that church is a good thing, but not a requirement? Are we wanting to believe that church is a strong suggestion but not a command? If we don’t go, are we wanting to believe that we just missed out, but we didn’t sin? The question is…why?

E. Its sin and the pattern of this world getting to us. But the beauty of the law of God is that it shows us that we have sinned. We see it and then we see that we are sinners and when we do we will cry out for a savior. We all struggle with this. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short. No one is righteous.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 NLT

Not a single person on earth is always good and never sins.

F. But, I got good news for you today. All of us who have disobeyed the fourth commandment many times even. We have hope today. Why? Because Jesus came. And he came into this world to seek and to save that whcih was lost. He died for our sins according… The saying is trust worthy and deserving…

1 Peter 3:18 NLT

Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in the Spirit.

G. Yes while we were still sinners Christ died for us. So that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God…

H. And what a wonderful thing to come together as a family a royal preisthood and a holy nation and hear the good news and be reminded of His many promises and to give him praise on His Lord’s Day. We need it, your neighbor needs you to be here… and it is the Law. And we get to begin our rest that we will have for eternity in Christ. Rest for the weary… yes rest for eternity.