A Day To Remember
July 15, 2007 - A Day To Remember: Exodus 20:8-11. This is our last message concerning the building blocks that form the foundation of true spiritual transformation. These first four commands are important for us to know, consider and practice as we pursue spiritual transformation for a number of reasons. Among them are:
First, they help to define how we love, obey, respect and delight in God. Jesus said that we should love God with everything we have and these first four commands give clear direction on what that looks like.
they help to define how we love, obey, respect and delight in God. Jesus said that we should love God with everything we have and these first four commands give clear direction on what that looks like.
A second reason to follow God’s word in these areas is because this is how the Scripture defines belief in God. Scripture doesn’t view belief in God the way we view belief in something. For instance all of us believe that George Bush is the president of the U.S., Ed Rendell is the governor of the commonwealth of PA and John Street is the mayor of Philadelphia. However that belief in no way means that we voted for, support or actively promote these men, their policies or agenda. It is a simple acknowledgment of what is true. That is the way however many people we know claim to believe in God. The first four commandants however present an accurate picture of what it means to believe in God.
reason to follow God’s word in these areas is because this is how the Scripture defines belief in God. Scripture doesn’t view belief in God the way we view belief in something. For instance all of us believe that George Bush is the president of the U.S., Ed Rendell is the governor of the commonwealth of PA and John Street is the mayor of Philadelphia. However that belief in no way means that we voted for, support or actively promote these men, their policies or agenda. It is a simple acknowledgment of what is true. That is the way however many people we know claim to believe in God. The first four commandants however present an accurate picture of what it means to believe in God.
One final reason to follow these commands is that they provide a sound and solid foundation for a godly, fruitful and well lived life. A life that isn’t trouble free, but can be free from unnecessary stress, pain, regret, turmoil, confusion and drama. That’s important to keep in mind because we know that life itself will bring its share of trouble and difficulty that is not in any way our fault.
reason to follow these commands is that they provide a sound and solid foundation for a godly, fruitful and well lived life. A life that isn’t trouble free, but can be free from unnecessary stress, pain, regret, turmoil, confusion and drama. That’s important to keep in mind because we know that life itself will bring its share of trouble and difficulty that is not in any way our fault.
Since that’s true then one of the most foolish things you could do with the precious life you have is waste it on ungodliness that will only bring added and extra trouble, stress, confusion and drama.
The Scripture doesn’t promise us a life free from all trouble and hardship. But it does promise an abundant life filled with God’s delight, love, peace, hope and goodness in Jesus Christ. The pathway to that life begins with faith in Jesus Christ which will lead to a life of loving God with everything we have as defined by these first four commands.
It begins by embracing, following and delighting in God and God alone as the one we obey, serve, love, desire and delight in. from there God commands that we take Him as He’s revealed Himself in His word and not as we wish Him to be for our own cause. We looked at the third command last week which tells us that God, His word, will, ways, character, agenda, salvation, Son and worship are to be taken seriously.
The fourth command calls for us to keep the Lord our God at the center of our lives and that He is to occupy the prime place in our agenda. The way we do that is to take a day from work and focus part of that day on God’s worship and the other on rest. This fourth command serves a crucial key and bridge to the next six. That’s because consistent, God honoring, Christ-centered and Spirit-filled worship will consistently remind us of the beauty, goodness, love, power, judgment and salvation of God and thus move us to want to delight in Him instead of making our personal well being the focus of life which will put us in danger of falling into the sins mentioned in the last part of the ten commandments.
The Lord's Day is a day to remember. The way this command was spoken and then written strongly implies that the Hebrews were already aware of the Sabbath. The Lord doesn’t command them to mark out a day and set it apart from others. He commands that they remember the existing Sabbath day. It seems likely that the Lord having set apart the Sabbath immediately following creation communicated this to His people so that there was a basic knowledge of the Sabbath. During their enslavement in Egypt the Hebrews no doubt worked every Sabbath which prevented from enjoying life affirming worship and life refreshing rest.
A second aspect of the command is the call to remember. Did the Lord somehow think that His people would inadvertently forget that the Sabbath day had dawned? No, in Scripture when the Lord calls us to remember He means to keep something on our minds and hearts and don’t push it to the margins or edges of our minds and lives. To forget something is to push it away, to consider it less important and valuable and to live as though it didn’t matter. Thus to refuse to honor the day of worship is in effect to push God away from our lives. It is to consider His worship to be not all that important which may mean that we consider him not to be all that important. To refuse to worship God consistently with His people is to begin living as though He doesn’t exist in any meaningful manner.
Moreover, scripture states that we’re most vulnerable to pushing God to the margins of our lives when things are going well, see Duet. 8:11-14.
One more thing about this command. God tells us to keep this day holy, that is to set it apart from the other days of the week. It was to be dedicated to God’s exclusive use. Setting apart this day was to remind us that all the time we have is a gracious gift from our Lord. That we belong to him exclusively and totally. Additionally it was to remind us of God’s great, compassionate and loving care for us. He so cares for our physical, mental and psychological well-being that He commands that we take a day and get some rest and relaxation. This is what is behind Jesus’ statements that the Sabbath was made for man. He was saying that the Sabbath was a gift God gave to His creation so that we could have a day to rest, relax and recreate.
Because we don’t live in an absolute theocracy we may not be able to treat this day exactly as we would like. That’s true of a number of these commands. For example, the church doesn’t execute those who violate the day of worship, disrespect parents or commit adultery. However, the day of the Lord should still be special to us in its two primary senses. First it should be a day of worship. We should anticipate and orient our lives so that we can participate in the public worship of the living God through Jesus Christ. Second of course is this should be a day of rest from usual work One in which we take some time to refresh and renew our bodies and minds.
The Lord's Day is a day of rest. God commands us to rest from work partly because work can consume us. We can become so invested in our work and the benefits of that work that the Lord’s worship drops in priority.
Work is important because we were created to use our God given talents, abilities, gifts, creativity and the skills we’d acquire to build up our communities and provide for our needs. Work can and should provide us with a measure of dignity knowing that we have God-given gifts that can be used to contribute to the progress of our community and society. Work reminds us that we’re carrying out God’s command to manage and make good use of the earth for His glory and our benefit. As I said in previous messages what you do is important. Since one of the primary reasons God created us to work was to provide for our needs we should thank him for blessing us with the wealth that comes from work. Remember God is not for poverty and against wealth.
With all that being true about work it’s easy to see why some can take work entirely too far. Many is our society have become totally engrossed and wrapped up in their work and view it as the primary and only way to achieve dignity. Along with this many see the value of work not in building up our community and seeing God supply our needs, but only in making more and more money and fooling ourselves into thinking that the wealth we have was gotten solely through our efforts at work apart from God’s blessing and so should be used the way we want.
Resting and taking time away from work reminds and helps us to work in proper perspective.
Taking a day from work and using part of that time to worship the Lord reminds us that we are of great value not because of what we do or the title we have, but because the Lord has set His eternal, unconditional love on us in Jesus Christ.
Taking time to rest from work reminds me to make good use of God’s gracious kindness in commanding that I take time off. This teaches us that work should not be a tyranny over us. It also instructs us that people are most valuable and should never, ever be treated or worked like animals or machines. Note that the passage says that everyone was to take a day from labor.
Taking time off from work and spending part of that time in worship reminds me that there really is more to life than wealth. Furthermore Christ-centered worship constantly makes me aware that one of the chief blessings of work is the ability to give to others who for many good reasons cannot work.
Finally, the day of the Lord is a day of rejoicing. The Lord's Day is the one time of the week when the people of God gather to focus our hearts and minds on His worship. It's the time when we actively remember who we are, why we were created and why we were redeemed by our Lord. It gives us the opportunity to rejoice over the great salvation we have in Jesus Christ.
To Him Who Loves Us...
Pastor Lance
