The Fourth Commandment

What an awesome day with our Baby Dedication. I want to thank the Willett’s and the Worthington’s for their stewardship in parenting and their recognition that it cannot be done alone. Church, may each of you encourage them — Brooklyn, Michael, and Pascoe; Susie, Jeremy, Porter, and Tate — to follow God and live Kingdom lives.

Join me in a brief prayer as we thank God for his word and what he has to reveal to us this morning.

Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sunday’s...

Spending my High School years in Florida, I have endured many Sunday’s where I so badly wanted a boneless breast of chicken seasoned to perfection, freshly breaded, pressure cooked in 100% refined peanut oil and served on a toasted, buttered bun with dill pickle chips. And the place that sells that wonderful sandwich is Chick-Fil-A. What you may not know about Chick-Fil-A is that they are closed on Sunday’s because their owner is a professed Christian and organized his business to take a Sabbath — a day of rest.

I have it written in my mind that Chick-Fil-A is a “Christian” company, and upon leaving Church on Sunday’s it would seem that the most appropriate meal would be a chicken sandwich that the Lord has definitely blessed! But, still in 2021, Chick-Fil-A locations continue to take a sabbath from their work.

However, for the most part, contemporary Christians pay little attention to the Sabbath. We more or less know that the day came to reflect, in U.S. culture, the most stringent disciplinary faith of the Puritans which, in recent time, translated into a moralistic prescription for a day of quiet restraint and prohibition.

Some of you can likely remember when you could not purchase alcohol, play cards, or see a movie on Sundays. The sum of all these memories of restraint was essentially negative — a series of “Thou Shall Nots” that served to echo the more fundamental prohibitions of the 10 words.

“Remember the Sabbath Day by Keeping it Holy”

What we often neglect to see is that this is one the two commands among the ten that are positive. If you have your Bibles, open up to Exodus 20 as we read God’s word together. We will be reading Exodus 20:8-11 together.

Exodus 20:8–11 NIV

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The Israelites are told to “remember” the Sabbath day. Even in the wilderness with scarce resources, God mandates a pause for Sabbath for the community. Read with me in Exodus 16:25-30

Exodus 16:25–30 NIV

25 “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” 27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

If God — Yahweh — is to govern as an alternative to Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt, then the restfulness — the Sabbath of God effectively counters the restless anxiety of Pharaoh. The restless anxiety of work, work, work — more, more, more.

In our own contemporary context of the rat race of anxiety, the celebration of Sabbath is an act of both resistance and alternative.

It is resistance because it is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods. This requires intentionality and communal reinforcement amid the wave of seductive pressures from the desires of the market, with its intrusion into every part of our life from the family to the national budget. As Bruggeman writes, “one of the great ‘seductions of Pharaoh’ is the face that ‘soccer practice’ invades the rest day.”

But it is not only resistance, but it is alternative. It is an alternative to the demanding, pervasive presence of advertising and claim of professional sports that devour all of our “rest time.” The alternative is that we are placed at the receiving end of the gifts of God. In our culture, we neither expect nor want a gift to be given because we are enamored with accomplishing, achieving, and possessing.

Bruggeman claims, “the fourth commandment…is the most difficult and most urgent of the commandments in our society. It summons us to intent and conduct the defies the most elemental requirements of a commodity-propelled society that specializes in control and entertainment… along with anxiety and violence.”

The Struggle of the Sabbath

The Sabbath is a call to rest—to stop, to cease. It is not a cognitive exercise any more than remembering your wedding anniversary means simply recalling it. Biblical remembrance requires action.

The same God who remembered Israel in their slavery also delivered them from their slavery. This slavery was not a simple lack of freedom. Their slavery was bondage to god who demand endless produce and who authorize endless systems of production. Their slave holder, Pharaoh, endlessly demands more production. In narrative in Exodus 5 paints a picture that there can be no Sabbath rest. Pharaoh desires more grain, more bricks, more storage.

Part of the reason Egypt had no Sabbath rest was because their gods also never rested. Their economy reflects the gods who legitimize the entire system. And because of God — Yahweh, the Israelite economy is no longer determined and compelled to meet production quotas. God and God’s people in the world are not commodities to be dispatched for endless production — rather we are called to rest.

The command states in Exodus 20:11

Exodus 20:11 NIV

11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The divine rest on the seventh day of creation has made clear that God is not a workaholic and that the well-being of his creation does not depend on endless work.

The reordering by our God is decisive for Israel and for us: do not worship such objects or make them your defining desire. God is a Sabbath-keeping God, which ensures that restfulness and not restlessness is at the center of life.

Sabbath becomes a concrete and visible way of opting for and aligning with the God of rest.

Keep It Holy

The way of mammon — capital/wealth — is the way of commodity, which is the way of endless desire, endless productivity, and endless restlessness without any Sabbath.

The Israelites unfortunately found ways to pollute the Sabbath. Isaiah prophesied against Israel in Isaiah 58:13

Isaiah 58:13 CSB

13 “If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath, from doing whatever you want on my holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, seeking your own pleasure, or talking business;

Notice the ways they polluted it. They polluted it by placing their priorities, desires, and wealth above the God who has rescued them from restlessness. We pollute this rest with our own worship to capital, commodity, legalism, and restlessness. Jesus tells us we cannot have it both ways. Jesus says in Matthew 6:24

Matthew 6:24 NIV

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

As believers, we are no longer committed to the system of productiveness and restlessness. We do not qualify for the goodness of God based upon our restless works. This thought was awakened in Martin Luther’s life which led to the Protestant Reformation (which is celebrated on October 31st).

We do not need to work to the bone in order to find worth. We do not need to live in anxiety, worry, or perfection to be loved by God. Our God in creation did not turn to anxiety when he rested, but trusted in his complete and perfect goodness. The world kept spinning, even while he rested.

We do not keep the Sabbath holy through moral and legalistic actions. It is not kept holy because you did not mow your lawn on Sunday or you got the day off, or you refrained from drinking alcohol. Though, I wouldn’t be upset if you stopped mowing your lawn on Sunday… but Jesus corrects our understanding of the Sabbath in several passages. He tells us we keep it holy by recognizing who made the Sabbath and who they made it for. Read with me as we turn to Mark 2:23-27

Mark 2:23–27 NIV

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Did you read that?

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Sabbath is then God’s gift of repetitive and regular rest. It is given for our delight and communion with God. It is a time for being in the midst of a life of doing that specifically characterizes the Sabbath.

It does not mean that the Sabbath is a lazy day one day a week; rather it is focused on doing his will — specially on one day a week to worship, learn, study, care, and strengthen the spirit.

It does not mean doing any physical activity is wrong either — if you were physically active in pursuit of service to God and godly service to others, it would be entirely consistent with the Sabbath. Practicing restful activities like walks, family time, games with your kids, a phone visit with someone you love.

Remembering the Sabbath by keeping it holy can also look like letting go of things that stress you out for twenty-four hours, letting the difficult conversations happen another day, refraining from competition that moves you into a bad place.

But the Sabbath is different for us who are in Christ, right?

But the Sabbath is different for us who are in Christ, right? Yeah, kinda. Paul does write in Romans 14:5

Romans 14:5 NIV

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.

but lets continue Paul’s thought. Here is Romans 14:6-9

Romans 14:6–9 NIV

6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

The Sabbath was a sign of the Mosaic covenant between Israel and God. Christ inaugurates the New Covenant God has with us through His work on the cross. But notice how we are no longer living for ourselves, but we live for the Lord.

So, as we begin to close out this morning — I do not want guilt or shame to make you think, “Man, Pastor just wants our butts in the seats on Sunday morning.” It’s always great to see you — but the Sabbath is gift from God where we can rest in Him, with Him, among each other who are young and old, poor or rich, healthy or sick. We are all equals on this day — in this time of worship before our God.

No one is better, no one is worse. We all have come before God, as people in need of freedom. A freedom that is found through Jesus. Freedom from consumption, from lust, from hate, from destruction, from evil, and from the power of Satan.

Hebrews 4 has powerful words about rest that I want to share with you. The author writes in Hebrews 4:1-2

Hebrews 4:1–2 NIV

1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

And Hebrews 4:9-12

Hebrews 4:9–12 NIV

9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter this rest… because the word of God, Jesus Christ our Savior, is alive and active. He is sharper than any double-edge sword, and he penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; he judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it Holy — for by observing it you profess your faith. You confess that your God is alive and active seeking to redeem you from the evils that surround you and hold you captive. Will you pray with me.