Commandment #4: A Holy Day
Exodus 20:8-11
I. Introduction
-Part of the hallmark of a civilization is a way to measure time.
1. We measure it in minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc.
2. Week = 7 days
3. Universal agreement
4. Basis is creation = Genesis
-Not only our calendar was affected though.
-Ill. Blue Laws
1. Originated in New Have, Connecticut in the mid-17th century.
2. Called so b/c they were written on blue paper.
-Blue Laws have a residual effect today...
1. That's why many businesses were closed.
2. That's why alcohol is not allowed to be sold in some places on Sun (or before noon).
-Let's look at the 4th commandment...
II. Scripture
III. Background
-Time is such an important thing to us today.
1. We live by the clock, calendar, & schedule.
2. We cook, sleep, and work by it.
3. We measure our life by it.
4. Time brings down governments, it cut the Grand Canyon, it builds up mountains, it deposes dictators, and more.
-In the midst of all that, God wants to sanctify time.
-In this 4th commandment it says that God created everything in six days and then blessed the 7th.
1. Notice we are not to make it holy (it already is!)
2. We are to keep it holy!
3. How? By remembering it.
-We characterize days...
1. Monday is the first day of the week (dread)
2. Wednesday is the mid-way mark
3. Friday soon-to-be-over (anticipation)
4. Weekend.
-And in all that we have to do we lay claim to all 7days.
-But God says: "I want 1 day."
IV. Is It Holy?
-Let me ask you: Is the Sabbath a holy day to us?
-Is it just another day?
-Sure we might go to church in the morning, but we can go to church on Wednesday (or any other day).
-The commandment doesn't say He wants one hour on one particular day.
1. It's bigger than a one or two hour commitment.
2. He wants us to keep the whole day holy!
3. There should be something different about this day.
V. What Happened to the Sabbath?
-It's become another work day.
1. We are busy with the wrong things on this day.
2. Our homework, our chores, our projects, our jobs, etc.
3. These things dictate everything we do all week and now we have allow them to take over the Sabbath.
4. We have more leisure time today than we ever have.
5. But we give less and less to God. (post-industrialized)
6. He wants this day to be a holy one.
7. It's just another day to get some work done.
-v. 10 "On it [the Sabbath] you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates."
1. Don't you work or cause anyone else to work!
2. There would be very few businesses open today if all Christians refused to cause anyone else to work.
-I know some have to work out of necessity.
1. I'm glad our military doesn't clock out on Sun.
2. I'm glad the hospital doesn't shut down.
3. Police officers don't quit.
4. These are out of necessity.
-It's become a holiday.
1. Some may not work, but they still don't keep it holy.
2. For them, Sabbath is a holiday.
3. Sabbath is more than not working, it is a holy day.
4. It's more than a family day, a day off, a vacation day.
5. We work six days, and on this day we just want to have fun.
6. Then the Sabbath is no more than an extra day on the weekend.
7. Do you keep the Sabbath holy when you are on vacation?
8. Is it more than a day in the weekend?
9. Is it more than just free time?
VI. How Do We Keep it Holy?
-What do you do on the Sabbath to keep it's sanctity?
-Let me propose a few things...
-(#1) Stop doing all the unnecessary stuff of this world.
1. Sabbath literally = stop.
2. Profit & pleasure have taken away from the holiness of this day.
3. Keeping it holy may be an inconvenience.
4. In six days you have plenty of time to get done everything you need to.
5. Do your homework on Saturday. Get the chores done on Friday night. (TV average= 4 hours/day)
6. Ill. "My ox fell in the well."
a. Luke14:5
b. Has become an all encompassing excuse for any work done on Sunday.
c. Kill the ox or fill in the well.
7. Ill. My family sat around & watched TV... is that keeping it holy?
8. We could do that any day of the week.
9. Plan ahead so you don't run out of milk on the Sabbath.
10. Plan ahead so the laundry is already clean!
-(#2) Keep the Sabbath holy.
1. It isn't so much about not working as it is about worshiping!
2. Make it the day of worship!
3. Go to church, as much as possible.
4. Have family devotions.
5. Pray together.
6. Sabbath isn't just one day in the weekend, it's a holy day we are to maintain!
-(#3) Live out holiness.
1. Jesus always worshiped on the Sabbath.
2. But he also taught, healed, and ministered on this day.
3. Jews had used the excuse of not working to prevent them from doing good.
4. That's why they were upset when Jesus healed on the Sabbath!?
5. Ministry isn't the work we're to rest from.
6. For those that think I only work 1 day a week; I don't even work on that one day.
7. Ministry is the one thing we never rest from, even when we're resting!
VII. Conclusion
-This commandment is about how you worship, love, serve God with your time!
-God created you & I in need of a Sabbath.
-In the NT Jesus & disciples are picking grain as they pass through a field to eat (not harvest for sale).
1. Pharisees accuse them of breaking the harvest.
2. Other laws: No moving a chair on dirt floor.
3. So many steps, no turning on lights.
4. A conservative orthodox Jew who owns a building w/ a elevator...
5. Jesus response in Mark 2:27 "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."
-Don't view it as a hurdle you have to jump through, but something to benefit you.
-We need a holy day, a day of rest from all the stuff we go through.
-You cannot control whether others keep it holy.
1. Don't waste your time trying.
2. But you can control whether you keep it holy.
-"Preacher, that's old fashion!"
1. Maybe, but that's the way it's been since the beginning of time.
2. Since God blessed the Sabbath.
-My prayer is that you would keep this day holy, so that it might be a blessing for you.
Response
