Commandment #4 Keeping The Sabbath
Exodus 20:8-11
First of all is our worship and reverence of God, including our not taking even His name lightly.
-There is much in the Bible about the 4th commandment. The commandment itself is proclaimed 3 times in the Torah.
EX 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 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. 11 "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.
EX 31:12 Then the LORD said to Moses, 13 "Say to the Israelites, `You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
EX 31:14 " `Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. 15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.' "
DT 5:12 "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
Rewrite that for us: Remember that you were slaves to sin and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and outstretched arms, with His death and His resurrection. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
C. 3 notes on the Sabbath:
a. We keep a day separate for 4 reasons:
1. To remind us that it was God who created everything
2. It was to be a sign between God and us that we acknowledged Him as our creator and redeemer.
3. Because God commanded us to keep it
4. Because God knew we need a day of rest.
Our keeping the Sabbath is important to God. 15 times in the bible He refers to them as "My Sabbaths"
b. The Sabbath is still Saturday. It is still holy to God. Look at a calendar. Saturday is the 7th day of the week.
c. We are absolved from keeping the Sabbath as ritual because it is easy to keep it without the worship of God. It is our hearts God is after. As God told us through Paul: RO 14:5 One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. 7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
d. Not only are we absolved from keeping the day of worship ritually, Jesus made it clear that to do that is hypocrisy.
MK 2:23 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?" (Note the legalism that leads to meaningless ritual.)
MK 2:25 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."
MK 2:27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
-The Sabbath was made for man. God knew we needed to set aside a day to acknowledge Him as creator and sustainer and that we needed a day of rest. It is a day when we DO Not Have to Be Productive. We need accomplish NOTHING.
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-Our family started observing Shabbat (Sabbath) when my older son was in high school. In addition to services, we went to the beach and rented movies and visited with neighbors. His school friends were jealous he didn't have to do homework or chores one day a week. He told them that he still had the same chores and homework they had. It meant he had to organize his time to still get it all done. I had a day when I didn't have to run errands or do laundry or clean house.
-Jesus clearly showed our hardened hearts will pervert God's gifts.
MK 3:1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
MK 3:4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
MK 3:5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
-They wanted to kill Jesus because He exposed their hardened hearts and their abuse of power. They were the interpreters of the law and they had power to enforce them as they saw fit.
e. It was to be a sign between God and His people of their covenant with God, they (we) acknowledge Him for who He is and what He has done for us.
-We are under a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-33).
JER 31:31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD," when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
JER 31:32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD.
JER 31:33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
- And there is to be a new sign: JN 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
SUMMARY: If we love God, we will acknowledge Who He is, we will put Him first in our lives, we will not take His name lightly.
All of the commandments are for our own good (Deu. 10:12-13). Not only are we no longer judged by whether or not we keep the Sabbath (Romans 14:5-8), Jesus told us that viewing the Sabbath as something to be kept legalistically is wrong. (Mark 2:23-27)
Since the Sabbath was made for man, do you accept His gift of a day off? For those of you who set aside one day every week, what do you do on that day? What is the benefit to you?