Sermon Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “Rest”
New Covenant Church
March 11, 2018
We are continuing today with our look at the Ten Commandments. So far we have learned to never worship other gods, things like drugs and alcohol that enslave us, and never worship idols, things we have made, which will never satisfy us. We are to worship God. We are also to keep God’s name holy by never using profanity, doing what we vow to do, and give honest testimony court. Today we turn to the fourth commandment. This one should be the easiest to obey. But in reality, it is the hardest. In the fourth commandment, we are told to rest. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
We all agree that there are 10 commandments. But different Christian traditions number them differently. The oldest enumeration we have comes from the first and second centuries in the writings of Philo, Josephus, and Origin. All of these writers agreed with the numbering we use today in reformed churches.
Modern Jews number them differently. They combine the first commandment, “no other gods”, and the second commandment, “no idols” into one commandment. But they break out the prologue, “I am the LORD your God”, as a separate commandment. Jews see commandments 3 through 10 the same way we do.
Roman Catholics and Lutherans also combine the first two commandments into one, just like modern Jews. But they include the prologue with this commandment. To maintain the quantity of 10 commandments they divide the last commandment, “do not covet” into two commandments, “do not covet your neighbor’s house” and “do not covet your neighbor’s wife.
So let's turn to what we call the fourth commandment and our brother and sister Roman Catholics and Lutherans call the third commandment. This is the commandment to rest.
Deuteronomy 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 male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
The Bible gives us two reasons why we need a day of rest every week. The reason, giving in the Book in the Book of Deuteronomy, is that when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt they had no rest. But when God freed them from slavery he blessed them with a Sabbath rest. We read this in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 5:15 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.
So, we are blessed by God with a rest of one day every week. There is another reason why we should keep a sabbath rest and that comes from the book of Exodus. In the book of Exodus, the Hebrews were told to keep one day of rest each week because God made the world that way. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. So everything in creation needs a day of rest. People and animals need a sabbath day every week. Land needs a year-long sabbath every seven years. Follow these instructions and you will be blessed with an abundant life.
In the ancient world, no one had a day of rest except the Jews. There is no record anywhere of any pagan god blessing people with a weekly day of rest. And this confused merchants coming to Jerusalem. When merchants came to the city gates to trade there was pressure on God’s people to give up their day of rest. Hear what God told the prophet, Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 17:19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. 21 This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
So the people were not to work on the Sabbath. The merchants could wait outside the gates until sundown on Saturday to engage in trade. The Jews were to stay home and rest. But this rule was often ignored as we read in the book of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”
Nehemiah’s response was to close the city gates to prevent trade on the Sabbath. You would think that people would enjoy having one day off every week, but we engage in work seven days a week anyway. Greed forces us to work 24/7 and ignore the day off God wants to give us.
I was recently in Israel where the Sabbath is taken seriously. Most businesses are closed from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Late Friday evening I boarded an elevator in my hotel and pushed the button for my floor. Nothing happened. A young man was standing in the elevator and he explained to me that this was a Sabbath elevator. On the Sabbath Jews do not push elevator buttons because that would be work. So elevators are set to open its doors automatically and wait a while for people to enter. Then the doors close and the elevator rises to the next floor where the doors open and the elevator waits. This is repeated floor by floor so the observant Jews can ride the elevator on the Sabbath without pushing a button. Of course, I was too impatient to ride in an elevator that would stop on every floor. So I got off the Sabbath elevator and waited for one with buttons I could push.
Then, late Saturday, just before sunset, a group of us arrived at the elevators to return to our rooms after a long tiring day. The Sabbath elevator was open and empty. I suggested to the group that we try it. So we all got in and waited for the doors to close. While waiting on the second floor we began talking with each other. And our conversation continued as it rose floor by floor. When I exited on the fifth floor I said that the Sabbath elevator was really nice because it gave us a time of rest when we could just talk with each. I suggested that we need sabbath elevators in America to slow us down a little and give us time to talk with each other.
The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset on Saturday. The earliest Christians continued this practice. Then on Sunday mornings, they would gather, usually in someone’s home, to remember the stories of Jesus and his resurrection on the first day of the week. They would also gather again on Sunday evenings to share bread and wine in memory of Jesus. These practices grew into the Christian Sabbath on Sundays. We are blessed with a day rest every Sunday.
The Sabbath day is holy. We are to use it for God’s purposes. We are to rest from work and other activities. We are to focus our attention on God. We come to worship. We pray. We study our Bibles. We engage in conversations with each other. We are to enjoy this wonderful blessing from God.
Jesus expanded our ideas about how this day of rest could be used for God’s purposes.
Matthew 12:2 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’[a] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
We can be instruments of God’s love on the day of rest. We can feed the hungry. We can visit and pray for the sick. We can tell others about God. All these things are permissible on the sabbath day.
Grace’s oldest son recently graduated from Temple as a pharmacist. But as he looked for jobs he found that most pharmacies are open on Sundays and expect new pharmacists to work Sunday mornings. He refused to give up the blessing of a day of rest. But thankfully he found a job at a mail order pharmacy and works Monday through Friday. Sunday is set aside for God.
So I urge you to remember your day of rest. One day out of seven is not too much. You can work as hard as you want for six days. Your children can engage in school and other activities for six days. You can go 100%, 24/6 if you want. But Sunday must be a day a rest. As Christians, you and your family must be in worship every Sunday morning. When you travel find a church to attend. Tell coaches that your children must go to church on Sunday. Use Sundays for worship, education, prayer, and service to others. Enjoy your Christian day of rest. Let’s pray.
Father in Heaven, we thank you for the rest you give us on the Lord’s day. Thank you for this opportunity worship you and learn more about your son. Help us to keep this day holy. This we pray filled with your spirit and in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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