Resurrection Life: Keeping Time

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

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sermon. God Bless. Father in heaven we come before

you and we ask God for you to work for you to

speak and I pray that we would be those who can

can having been with you and tasted of the things

of God and heard from your word say that your

law is is Sweeter than honey and to be more desired

than gold and silver and that it is our joy to

walk in your ways to delight in your paths God,

to follow the ways of our Lord Jesus. And now

may the words of my mouth and the meditations

of our hearts be pleasing in your sight. Or we

think of how you tell us that the grass withers

and the flowers, they fade. Things of this world

are passing, but the word of the Lord stands

forever. So God, speak to us, we pray now. Amen.

All right. I want to suggest to you that we keep

time in all kinds of ways. It's not a hard suggestion.

This is something you can get behind easily.

Many of us keep our time by the rhythms of the

school year. Messiah students graduating. There's

fewer people this week. So many of you educators,

you are understandably tired. and you have been

running the Great Marathon, it is like the 25th

mile. Just keep going, okay? It is soon to be

here. The end of the school year is just around

the corner, which also means summer break is

soon here, which for you mothers may induce a

little bit of anxiety. And for your children,

you're jumping up and down. You're like, yes,

sleeping in. And what most of all, no homework.

Many of us keep time, of course, with sports.

maybe Penn State games, maybe Hershey Bears season.

More likely, your own children going from volleyball

to basketball to soccer to baseball to swimming

to... And you can think of other seasons that

we observe. I know for some of you and others

beyond who I'm looking at, theater season. It's

a whole season and you've given your life to

this, to devoting yourself to learning your parts,

your words, you're blocking all of that. I know

quite a few of you have been involved in various

plays. All of us in a way, what I'm suggesting

to you is we keep time to one degree or another

around days and weeks and months and years or

as Ezekiel and Hosea and the chronicler and Paul

writing in Colossians chapter two says, festivals

and new moons and Sabbaths, right? We keep time.

We keep our time by our birthdays, by our years,

by our decades. I find that as I get older, the

birthday each year doesn't matter as much, but

the fifth one seems to kind of get me a little

bit. Maybe some of you are to the point where

you're like, it's not the fifth one, it's the

tenths, you know, that you kind of mark. We keep

time by the jobs we've had, the children we've

born. We keep time, of course, around civic holidays

like Memorial Day and Independence Day and Veterans

Day and Juneteenth. Much of the church keeps

time by the great works of God. Christmas, the

birth of Christ, Easter, Pentecost. And today

is Mother's Day. Mother's Day was first celebrated

on May 10th. Not this May 10th May 10th 118 years

ago in 1908 It was actually recognized though

six years later by President Woodrow Wilson in

1914 and The first day that it was recognized

was a Sunday that was again May 10th What happened

was that Anna Jarvis had established it initially

in honor of her mother. Her mother had passed

away two years prior in 1905, and her mother

was a remarkable woman. She also bore the same

name, Anna Jarvis. And her mother had born 12

children, almost all of whom had died of various

diseases, diphtheria, I read, and others. But

Anna Jarvis's mother, who was also Anna Jarvis,

this gets a little confusing maybe, had begun,

particularly right before and after the Civil

War, women's work clubs and women's work days.

And these existed for the blessing of their neighbors.

She knew the pain of childbearing. She knew the

pain of child loss. And she saw the plight of

so many women around her and sought to love them

and care for them and also to gather them together

to love and serve one another. And actually one

thing I read which I thought was lovely is that

so this was the she lived in West Virginia and

One of the commitments of these clubs was that

they cared for Union and Confederates the exact

same They said we are going to love all of our

neighbors in these acts We're not going to discriminate

on who gets our care. We're going to love our

neighbors as ourselves And so her daughter started

this day that we remember today, May 10th, 2026,

in her honor and in her remembrance. And one

of the things that she did actually from the

get -go was she said a white carnation is the

symbol of this day because her mother worked

towards the peace and care of others. So a white

flower would symbolize this day. Just out of

interest this actually isn't even my nose one

of things that I read is that she sort of detested

The card industry that was that came up around

her day, but then in her older age She didn't

have much money and you know who paid her nursing

home bills The card companies that made so much

off of Mother's Day Anyway, that's not in my

that I don't know what that has to do with What

necessarily what I'm talking about today, but

today is a day of remembrance, right? It's a

day of remembering and it's a day actually of

celebrating peace and efforts towards peace and

a day of remembering those who bless others and

who give of themselves for the well -being of

those about them in a way we could say even Mother's

Day is inappropriately a kind of Sabbath and

while I don't think that as I kind of talk about

Sabbath observance, I don't think that Many of

you have serious quibbles with days to remember

the general idea that we have certain days that

we remember certain things in there and that

we celebrate them and we observe them you don't

probably push back on the idea of Mother's Day

too much if you do it all or Celebrating your

anniversary if you do don't tell your spouse

or maybe the establishment of days that remember

help us remember like the birthing of our nation

and the history of our nation you probably don't

have a lot of Problem with that kind of thing.

You probably don't have a lot of problem with

Christians celebrating the birth of Christ or

his crucifixion and resurrection But there are

a lot of people that have a lot of quibbles around

the idea that right there in the middle of the

Ten Commandments near the middle of the Ten Commandments

We are told no, it's not just that we are told

it is a moral command It is part of the moral

law that we believe is actually in nature itself

that God gives us a rhythm to life, a day to

observe. One day in seven, honor the Sabbath

day, keep it holy. Truth is there's been a lot

written about the Sabbath. One of the things

I told Melissa is that I'm kind of nervous about

this sermon because there is so much that could

be said. There's so much that could be read.

From the Didache in the early church to John

Mark Comer today from John Calvin to Wendell

Berry's wonderful Sabbath poems From Martin Luther

who wrote about the Sabbath to Dan Allender who's

written about the Sabbath. There's just a lot

But I also want to suggest to you that as you

read the Ten Commandments it may be the commandment

the singular commandment that you kind of go,

wow, okay, I understand how they're all, they're

all summed up by love God and love your neighbor,

but what about this one? You're like, don't have

other gods. Don't make idols. Don't take his

name in vain. I understand how that, like, I'm

not always sure how do you apply that, but I

understand that that relates to loving God. You

go on the other side, you go, uh, you know, don't

lie and murder and covet and adultery. You're

like applying it. Interesting. The fact that

it has to do with loving our neighbors. I think

it's a given right but then right here you have

this one in seven day rest What does it have

to do with God and neighbor and us and all that?

Well, like I've said that there's a lot more

that could be said than I have time unless y

'all want to just skip brunch Y 'all settle in

no, okay So this morning what I'd like to do

is I'd like us to consider the commandment here

With sort of just basic some basic questions

what? How and why okay, what what is this commandment?

Well What are we told to do well It's kind of

simple verse 8 you have your Bible open it just

says this remember the Sabbath day Keep it holy

So it says it says to keep it holy, but it says

keep it holy that word is actually just one word

to keep it holy remember Sabbath day Keep it

holy Sabbath you may know this but it comes from

the it's just the Hebrew word that means cease

Rest Stop So we're supposed to remember Ceasing

What this assumes is that ceasing and resting

had already happened there already been a pattern

And it had at least two ways we know that it

had been a pattern already. One way that ceasing

one day in seven had already happened was through

the story of the gift of manna. And it's just

a few chapters earlier in the book of Exodus,

you'll remember that God's people were brought

out from slavery and brought and they're in the

wilderness, they're being brought to Sinai where

they would receive the covenant and the law and

all this. And they don't have food and God provides

for them. And He provides for them this manna

and they are to gather it up in a way you could

say that God was working and they were working.

But then God says on the sixth day gather enough

for the seventh day because I'm going to rest

from providing it and you're going to rest from

gathering it. You could say both God's provision

and their gathering ceased. God's work and their

work, they took a break. But remembering goes

back further. It certainly goes back further

for those who observe the Holy Scriptures. We're

going to come back around to this a little bit.

But they're to remember that God not only saved

them, but the God who redeemed them out from

slavery was also the God who made all things.

And he himself finished his work of creation

and he ceased from doing it. And he observed

a time of just stopping, resting. Delighting

in what he made So so we're called to remember

and we're specifically called to remember by

ceasing We're called to remember God's creation

and his preservation his creation and his redemption

But here's what I want to suggest to you so when

I say remember something primarily probably what

you're thinking is I'm going to think about it

Imagine with me the newly married couple one

year into their marriage. Their first anniversary.

They wake up in the morning, husband doesn't

say much to his wife, has his coffee, heads off

to work. They both come home, they make dinner,

they go on a walk, they watch the next episode

of The Office, because who doesn't? They get

ready for bed and lying there in bed he turns

over to his wife and looks at her and he's attentive

enough to see that her eyes are swelling up.

They're becoming red. They're gathering water.

And he says, what's wrong? What's wrong? Well,

I thought you would remember that today is our

anniversary. I did. Where are my flowers? Where

is my card? Why don't we go out to dinner? Why

didn't she buy me something? And his response

is, honey, I was remembering all day long. I

was thinking about just how wonderful it was

when we said our I do's. Isn't that what remembering

is anyway? What's going to be her response? No,

no, that is not how we remember. So we're called

to remember Sabbath. And Sabbath is a ceasing,

it's a resting. But the second thing that we

are told when we come to this what, and this

will begin to lead us into the how a little bit,

okay, is that we're to keep it holy. We're to

kadeshit, we're to consecrate it. What does this

mean? Because it's not just a mental exercise,

right? Just sit here and think. This word to

make holy means to set something apart for God's

use, particularly for God's use in worship. Okay.

Specifically for God's use in worship. It's very

easy. I just did a quick word study of this word

in the book of Exodus. It comes up 24 times.

And one of those probably isn't for necessarily

the sake of worship. All the rest could be possibly.

Maybe there's two that maybe aren't. Every single

use of this word, Kadesh, after this command,

all 19 of them that come in the second half of

Exodus have to do with consecrating something,

setting it aside, making it holy, Kadeshing it

for the use of worship in the place of God's

worship. So utensils are Kadesh for the tabernacle

and the gowns that the priests were supposed

to wear and things like that. But I share that

to say that the what here is there is a ceasing

from our normal life, but it's a ceasing that

is God word. It's a God word ceasing. Years ago,

there was somebody here at our church. I'm not

going to say their name, even though I don't

think many of you would know them because it

was a little while ago. Let's call their name

Peter, just for illustration sake. So Peter hadn't

been in worship for a little while, maybe had

come here and there, but mostly had been absent.

And I saw Peter and I said, hey, I haven't seen

you around a little while. What's going on? And

Peter replies, I just needed a Sabbath. And by

which that was implied, what I needed was a break.

And that break needed to include worship. I needed

a mental break, maybe a physical break in life.

I've been overwhelmed and that needed to include

the gathering together of the saints of God.

That is not Christian Sabbath thing. Okay. If

you just be like really frank, we are commanded

to gather together to make it our habit to be

with the Lord's people. And this command specifically

is setting aside time a day. It is for rest.

We're going to get into a little bit of that.

with all the time that we have. But this is a

God -word ceasing. And it is a God -word ceasing

that at least includes gathering together with

God's people, consecrating ourselves in the place

of worship. There have never been faithful, God

-loving, commandment -honoring Christians who

have taken it to mean ceasing from that. In fact,

when God's people have done that, And when we

have used the day for our own pleasure, as the

scriptures tell us, it invites God's correction.

So what is this command? This command is to remember,

and that is an act of remembering that is primarily

oriented Godward. How do we live our life in

a restful way, ceasing from our normal way of

being in the world towards God? Okay, so the

next thing is how. Look with me down at verses

nine and 10 now, okay? So verse eight said, remember

the Sabbath day, keep it holy. Verse nine, six

days you shall labor and do all your work, but

the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your

God on it. 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. Okay. The

first thing that you will notice when we ask

this question, how, how do we observe Sabbath

and keep it holy is the first thing is labor.

Isn't that interesting? The first way that we

apply this in a way is you work. It says six

days you may, it doesn't say may, does it? It

says you shall work. Six days work. In the Bible,

to image God is to be a worker, to be a creator,

to be active and moving things and shaping things,

nurturing children, teaching. Writing laws, all

the various things that we use our mind and our

bodies for to bless this world. We can say a

lot of what it means to be made into God's image.

There's a lot that's been written about that.

But the first six days, the sixth day in which

humankind were made, male and female, in God's

image was the sixth workday of God. So at least

we can say that part of being made in the image

of God is laboring and finding laboring to be

actually part of what we are made for Just a

year and a half ago in a in the peer review journal

frontiers in public health There was an article

that was published and this is the name of the

article unemployment and mental health a global

study of unemployment's influence on diverse

mental disorders So this is what I found wild

about this study is that this study studied 201

countries from the year 1970 to 2020. It was

a 50 -year long study around mental health and

unemployment. And the results are not that surprising.

What is the mental health of somebody who is

not working? Well, greater anxiety and greater

depression. Of course, but also there's correlations

with eating disorder and with drug use. And then

the thing that I actually was somewhat surprised

by is that there's actually a correlation between

bipolar disease and unemployment over this 50

year study. That was one of the things that they

found. The bottom line is that you were actually

made to work. You were. Part of being made in

the image of God is labor six days. This is one

of the hows. How do we observe this commandment?

We devote ourselves to the work we've been given

to do. But we also know that all work and no

play makes Jack a dull boy and often Jill a widow.

So just after we're told to work, the how of

applying this commandment is devote yourself

to the work that God's given you to do. But we're

also told So we have to rest. It's kind of wild

that what the Bible says is that you are not

just made to be productive in your life. The

Sabbath thing is not a very productive thing,

but it's a very necessary thing. I read this

week that Bill Gates, when asked why he didn't

believe in God, he said this, just in terms of

allocation of time resources, religion is not

very efficient. there's a lot more I would be

doing on Sunday mornings. The thing that's probably

most indicting about that is that there's a lot

more that Christians would be doing on Sunday

mornings than gathering together to worship the

Lord. But probably many of you are aware of the

various social experiments of the French Revolution.

Much of them was pushing religion aside, as you

are likely aware. And so part of that was pushing

aside this Judeo kind of Christian pattern, which

we do actually believe is rooted in the scriptures,

even though it's become an international reality

of the seven day work and rest pattern, the six

days of work and the day of rest. And so the

French Revolution moved that into a 10 day work

week. What happened? I mean, the economy plummeted.

Suicides rates skyrocketed Productivity went

down and they had to stop it. It did not work

The truth is that as much as you were made to

work you were also made to rest What I also read

this week is that assert there's a certain amount

of work hours in a week that once you hit them

your Productivity either stagnates or it actually

goes down Does anybody know that number? 50.

Which is more or less six days of work. You know,

if you consider that for the great majority of

the world, you couldn't work once the sun went

down. World history. One study found that there

was zero difference in productivity between workers

who logged 70 hours and those who logged 55.

Zero difference in productivity. So work and

rest. Work to the glory of God, rest to the glory

of God. But also my guess is you were also saying,

but how do I apply this? Maybe you're thinking

of the Pharisees, right? Who got so mad at Jesus

all the time because he's healing on the Sabbath.

Or the story that we read in Mark chapter two,

where his disciples plucked a grain. right? And

they ate it on the Sabbath. Now, Jesus knew that

that wasn't part of the command, but what the

Pharisees did is that they layered on command

after command so that you wouldn't work on the

Sabbath. And they actually had 39 different commands

applying this, and one of them is, don't even

pluck grains because you're working. Maybe you've

heard that in the Qumran community, probably

many of you have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Those were from the Qumran community. The Qumran

community took it even farther than the Pharisees.

They were the really devout ones. And so you

couldn't carry your child around on the Sabbath.

You couldn't help an animal who went into labor

on the Sabbath. Maybe some of you have read Laura

Ingalls Wilder's books. Remember Alfonso saying

Sunday was not a day for working or playing.

It was a day for going to church and sitting

still. And you might remember how the characters

in that book just thought of the Sabbath as a

burden and not a delight Because all it was for

was reciting the catechism So, how do we apply

this? Isaiah 58 tells us that we are to call

the Sabbath a delight How do we make the Sabbath

a delight What I want to suggest to you is that

beyond this pattern of work and rest that we're

called to And beyond it being primarily focused

and firstly focused in worship because it is

a day set apart as holy, consecrated, kadeshed

to the Lord. It is the Christian holy day, which

is to say it is the Christian holiday. Okay.

This is the Christian holiday. And actually,

if you get, if you, if you look back with me

at verse 10, what it says say, but the seventh

day is a Sabbath to Lord your God on it. You

shall not do any work. You or your son or your

daughter, your male servant, your female servant,

your livestock, the sojourner who is within your

gates. It is for all of the laborers to have

a day off. Have a holiday. Why did Labor Day

begin? Right? What do we do with like July 4th?

We all take a break and we celebrate what's happened

Harold McMillan the British Prime Minister in

the mid part of the 20th century He called the

fourth commandment the first and greatest workers

protection act in history This is a labor movement

act way before the Industrial Revolution Invited

us to ask questions about labor union rights

This is the beginning of it This is a holiday.

It's a break. Yes, work. Amen. Yes, rest and

mark your rest by worship. Amen. Do not neglect

the gathering together of saints on this holy

day, but make your Sabbath. I want, this is the

question I would love for y 'all to talk about

around your lunch tables, okay? How can we make

the Sabbath or the day that we set aside for

God a little more like a holiday? Should we eat

ice cream? Yes, we should, you know? Should we

reserve maybe the best bottles of wine for Sundays?

Amen, right? What do we need to do to say this

is a holy holiday? This is a day to celebrate

God's work of creation, His work of redemption.

Eat your favorite food on this day. Reserve it

for this day. Delight yourself in the goodness

of creation on this day. Okay, so some of the

what, some of the how. Now the why, okay? Let

me get to this a little bit. Well, why? Think

with me. Why do you keep the time that you do?

Why do we keep time around sports? Maybe we're

building a certain kind of culture around that.

We're demonstrating our loves through that. The

things that we think define us and make us who

we are. Why do we observe Independence Day or

Juneteenth? Why do we think it's important to

gather together on these days? Why do we do these

things? I would suggest that we are telling certain

stories that make us who we are. We're telling

about our past and how we've gotten to where

we are, but we're also desiring to be a certain

kind of person in the world and people in the

world. We're marking our lives not just by our

time, but we use our time based on what we love

and what we cherish and who we desire to be,

what we aspire towards. How you mark your time

says an immense amount about your heart, immense

amount about your heart, what you dwell on and

what you desire. So verse six, or sorry, not

verse six, verse 11. For in six days the Lord

made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is

in them and arrested on the seventh day. Therefore

the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it

holy. But a lot of you also know that actually

the Ten Commandments aren't just found in the

book of Exodus, in Exodus chapter 20, but they

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

are also found in the book of Deuteronomy and

chapter five of Deuteronomy. And when we get

to chapter five of Deuteronomy, this is sort

of the why. Verse 15 of chapter five, it says,

you shall remember that you were a slave in the

land of Egypt. And the Lord your God brought

you out from there with a mighty hand and with

outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God

commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Why do

we keep, why keep one day in seven? Well, one

of the things the Bible doesn't say is it's good

for your mental health. It's good for you to

work six days and have a break. You're less likely

to live into anxiety and depression. You're less

likely to have bipolar disease these kinds of

things And you know, it doesn't say your Your

productivity more or less flat lines in the 50s

anyway, so just take a break The Bible doesn't

present it to you as practical but as theological

Which I would suggest to you it has to do with

our relationship with God which has to do with

our relationship with our heart our loves Why

Why do this Because the Creator God loves you

like the one who made all things He put a pattern

into the world that reflects him and he desires

for you to live into his image Reflecting because

he loves you But he also redeemed you Right Deuteronomy

says it was because you were once a slave Which

is to say your identity was in the fact that

you worked and you worked incessantly and that

was all that was who you were and That is no

longer who you are You are not a slave any longer

freed person Your identity is not bound up in

just what you accomplish and what you do and

all of your productivity. I freed you from that.

Your life is oriented around what I have done

and what I've done for you. Why were they told

to observe this commandment? Because they were

defined now by their relationship with this God,

this Creator, and this Redeemer. He's the one

that shaped their life, made them who they are.

No doubt, some of you may think that this is

the one of the Ten Commandments that changed

when Jesus came. We can keep the rest of them.

It's probably good to not encourage people to

murder. Coveting we know is bad, but you're like,

I don't know about this. The fourth commandment,

I don't know about this. Or maybe you think it

went away altogether. Probably many of you know

that early, early on, actually, as soon as we

know, sort of in the book of Acts, the community

around Jesus shifted when they gathered together.

And actually in the New Testament multiple times,

it's called the Lord's Day. They shift this idea

of Sabbath to a day called the Lord's Day. In

fact, B .B. Warfield, the great 19th century

Princeton theologian said, Christ took the Sabbath

into the grave with him, and he brought the Lord's

Day out of the grave with him on that resurrection

morn. Why do we believe that this pattern is

still a good pattern and something actually to

be delighted in and to be sought after? We should

actually seek to work and to rest and to obey

this commandment. Part of it is that we worship

the Creator God. The one who spoke the world

into being and he lives into this pattern. Part

of it's because he brought us out from slavery

where we just find our identity and the things

that we do, the work that we accomplish. He's

brought us out from that. But most of all, because

he has invited us into the rest that was accomplished

on the cross and the resurrection. Where Jesus

says himself on the cross, it is finished. Jesus

gives us a whole new meaning to work and to rest.

He comes into the world to finish the work of

the Father. And because His work is finished,

we actually are invited to enter into His rest,

that is everlasting, as Hebrews tells us. On

the basis of His love, we are not defined by

what we do, but by what He has done. On the basis

of His work, we can find rest for our weary souls.

On the basis of His work, were brought from slavery

to freedom, from death to life. The great why

of why we do this is because Christ rose from

the dead. If you want a reason to have a holiday,

a holy day, for Christians, there is no better

reason, right? Every Sunday isn't Easter in a

way. Every Sunday, gosh, wouldn't it be great

if every Sunday y 'all all made cakes and we

all toasted? Part of what I'm saying is do that

in your life. Ask the Lord, how do I do that?

How do I celebrate a little bit more the reality

that I was brought from slavery to sin to new

life in Christ? What, how, why? Why do we do

all this timekeeping? If you think back on Mother's

Day, if you think of Mother's Day today, I love

that that woman was so persistent, Anna Jarvis,

that it got the attention of the president and

that she wanted to mark it with a white flower

that marked peace. Cause she said, this is a

necessary thing to celebrate. We must celebrate

those who pursue peace, nurture others in wellbeing

and well living. I mean, I don't know how you

can't hear that story and say, yes, that is a

good thing. Enter into the rest of Christ. Work

hard, but rest well. Jesus has accomplished it.

You don't have to keep treading. He invites you

into his rest. Let's just collectively say, let's

love and delight in the law of the Lord and meditate

on it and put it on and seek to live for him.

As we think about how do we rest one day in seven,

let me pray for us. We're thankful for the pattern

of life that you've given us, God. We know that

applying it is so tricky, but I pray that you'd

give us creativity and grace, that we would follow

in the way of Christ, who healed so often on

the Sabbath, because it was a day of recreation,

a day of healing, a day of grace. God, I pray

that we would be those who desire to meet with

you on this holy day. Um, that we find our life

in you that, that, that calling, um, the Lord's

day, a holiday would not be something that makes

us scratch our heads or question or be, be disgruntled

about, but it's something that we desire and

pursue. Um, that your work on the cross and the

empty grave would mark our lives just as the

many other days that we observe mark them. God,

would this be our reality, our being that we

were made in the image? of the true God who made

all things, that we were brought out of slavery

to yourself, that we were brought from death

to life in the cross and resurrection of Christ.

Whose name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening

to Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this

sermon has encouraged you to worship God and

to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please consider

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person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us

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God bless.