The Ten Commandments - Remember to Rest

Welcome to the roots, where it's all about Jesus.

We love God, we love people, we reached lost, and

we make disciples. Today I've kind of had an eventful

day of running around in the morning usually well, actually

this morning, I was with my kids because my wife

ran a half marathon this morning, so that was really

really cool. And now she's teaching kids, so God bless her.

Pray for endurance and strength on her part. But I

was with the kids. After that, I went to our

church offices to study, and that's normally also where I

gather some of the usual things that I need to

bring today for church service. And so then after that

I went and picked up my family and came to

church a little bit early and realized that I had

left something.

I had forgotten something, and I had.

To go all the way back down to downtown Olympia

at two o'clock in the afternoon. While I'm watching I

five North just get slower and slower. So I went

and grabbed those and that camera bag that I needed

to grab, and when I came back, my wife told

me that she said, You've been forgetting a lot of

things lately, and I said, oh, no, like what She's like, well,

there was the test you were supposed to print out.

My notes you were supposed to print out. So first,

I just need you to pray for me that my

brain starts working and that I can remember things.

But my question for.

You today, actually funny enough to start off with, is

how many of you are good at remembering things? You

guys good at remembering things. I'm not very good at

remembering things. Apparently that's I thought. I did a little

bit better than I thought. But how about okay, well,

if maybe some of you are good, maybe some of

you aren't that good at remembering things. About how many

of you are good at using a calendar? Okay, yep, yep,

all the responsible people. I am terrible at using a calendar.

I've gotten a little bit better over the years, but

many people still have to kind of remind me or

check in on me that indeed, I have put whatever

new plan I have on the schedule so that I

either my wife, maybe my family, my workplace will know

where I will be and what my plan is for

some of the specific days. But there's some things that

we don't feel like we have to put on the calendar.

They're just so.

Routine so so much a part of just a rhythm

of our life that we don't even have to put

them on there. So if I were to ask you,

where will you be at Monday at two pm, you're

probably not like, oh, let me check my calendar. You're like,

I'll be at work at least for most of you,

some of you, if it's your child's birthday, I could

bring it up, and you're not like, hey, let me

check my schedule. You're like, oh, that's my kid's birthday.

We're probably going to be.

Busy that day.

We already have plans for your anniversary. Hopefully it's something

similar where you're like, I already have plans in the

evening because you want your marriage to go well, and

so you'll celebrate with your spouse. But some of you

maybe just follow sports, so maybe we could guess what

you're going to be doing on a Monday night. Or

you follow politics and so we could guess what you're

going to be doing on a Tuesday evening. For all

of us, we have regular rhythms of.

Things going on in our lives, but those.

Rhythms don't just reveal what we do with our time.

It doesn't just reveal what we do with our lives,

but they can also reveal what our lives are centered around.

So if I were to ask you what you would

be doing on a Sunday, what.

Would I see on your schedule?

How do you decide what goes on or who gets

first DIBs for that time slot? And I believe that

as we look into today's text, I believe God is

going to reveal the answer to us in a way

that is not just a command, but actually totally reshapes

how we understand the importance and blessing that God gives

to us in this command. And so the command that

I'm referring to can actually be found in your Bible.

So let's open up our bibles together.

We're going to be in Exodus chapter twenty. Exodus chapter twenty,

starting in verse eight. And if you do not have

a bible, please just raise your hand, and Gabriel in

the back would love to run you a bible so

that you can have one.

There, there we go, Thanks Gabe.

But we're going to be in Exodus chapter twenty looking

at three verses, so let's look at it. Pray asking

the Lord to apply his word to our hearts that

he would bear fruit in us. Exodus twenty eight through

eleven says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

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.

Do or 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.

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.

This is God's word. Let us pray. Father.

We asked that, as we have opened your word, as

we have heard it spoken, we asked that you would

start to do a work in us through.

That word, through your spirit, Lord God.

As we yield this time to you, as we gather

in your name to worship. We just asked that you

would bless our time with one another, that we bless

our time and worship of you, bless our time sitting

underneath your word, that we, as your people, would be

conformed to your image.

Jesu's name, everyone said amen.

So, if you are joining us for the first time, welcome.

You're kind of coming right in in the middle of

a series that we're going through, and we're so glad

to have you with us.

It's been really exciting.

Because we've been going through the Ten Commandments, and we

called this series Law Defining Love. Law Defining Love. We've

spoken about the last couple of weeks how we live

in a world where what we love is usually how

we define what is right.

But as we've seen in.

God's Word, as we're exploring how these ten commandments are

given to us, and they actually are given to us

to teach us how we are to properly both love

God and both love people. We see spoken to us

by Jesus himself in Matthew twenty two.

It says, you.

Shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your mind. This

is the great and first commandment, and a second is

like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Listen to this.

It says on these two commandments depend all the law

and the prophets.

So, as we've.

Seen, God's Law has two primary purposes. The first is

to reveal our sin. That's one of the reasons that

most of us don't like talking about the law is

because we go like, I don't want to talk about

that thing that I just feel called out every single

time we bring it up. But the first use of

the law is just that, to reveal our sin and

how we have fallen short and ultimately how we need

a savior, which ultimately points us to Jesus Christ, who

died for our sins and was raised on the third Day,

that we would be forgiven our sins and given instead

of wrath, eternal life. But we also see that once

we've been saved from the wrath to our sins, once

we've been given eternal life, that we are called to

walk this new life out in Christ, to walk in

the same manner that Jesus did, to be conformed to

his image. In Jesus himself obeyed the law perfectly.

And we know that he did that on our behalf.

But now that we've been saved by his good work,

we now get to live out and we're being conformed

to his image. So these commands first convict us of sin,

but now they function to guide us in how we

are to live and love God and others as we ought. Now,

something interesting about these commands is, depending on your upbringing,

depending on your church background, you might kind of have

this hesitation just towards the word commands at all, or

or just having to deal with anything with God's law.

But it might sound harsh at first, but then I'm

going to back it up with the Bible, so just

bear with me. No one can ignore these commands and

claim that they love.

Know or follow Jesus.

Now, it's one thing if you didn't know that these

were a commands, let's give you some grace.

But now you know. Now you know what his word.

Says, and you have the options to walk out in

obedience or to not. But no one can ignore these

commands and claim that they love, know and follow Jesus.

Because look at what John says.

First, John two says, whoever says I know him but

does not keep his commandments as a liar, And the

tr truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his

word in him? Truly, the love of God is perfected.

By this, we may know that we are in him.

Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in

the same way in.

Which he walks.

So there's this aspect where if we claim to follow Jesus,

we're actually claiming to follow his way, follow his example,

be conformed continuously to his image.

Now we're not going to do that perfectly. That's why

we also need his grace.

But once we've been saved by him, we've now been

called to walk out this new life that looks like

he did.

First.

John five three says, for this is the love of

God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are

not burdensome.

I don't know, it's kind of interesting.

I fill it on my heart to kind of explain

that really quick too, that there's this aspect of like,

you know, there's just someone that you just like love,

and you're like, whatever you require of me does not

feel like a burden. Because I love you, I'm more

than happy to give it all for you. Talking about

that kind of love for our savior. So, as we've

been walking through specifically the Ten Commandments the last couple

of weeks, we've been looking at how we are to

first properly love the Lord. That's what the first four

commandments deal with. So we've been looking at how are

we to properly love God. We saw that the first

commandment had this call for us to worship him, only

the second command had to deal with us worshiping as

He defines. Last week we saw this call for us

to be worshiping Him from our hearts, giving the worship

in reverence do his name, that we would not treat

that lightly.

And now this week we're.

Going to look at how we are to worship God

with our time or with our schedule, that as God

has told his people to worship him, only worship him

as He instructs to actually have a worshiping posture towards him.

And finally, in today's command, that we are to actually

worship Him regularly. I believe in today's text we're going

to see that this is our main point for today.

We remember to rest by regularly worshiping him. We remember

to rest by regularly worshiping Him. So I've simply titled

today's message remember to rest, remember to rest and kind

of living an interesting day and age where we have

more things to help us be efficient with our time,

more things that are faster, quicker than we can get easier,

more instant access to and yet somehow we all feel

like we don't have enough time. Not ironic, all these conveniences,

and yet we still don't have enough time. Some of

the busiest people on earth rarely with a moment to spare.

And then when the sun breaks and your Saturday all

of a sudden has nothing going on on it, you

now have endless possibilities with how you can fill it.

So our problem isn't with the lack of ability to

fill our schedule, but as our text calls to our

attention today, it has more to do with how and

what we.

Fill our schedule with.

Today's text really deals with really the fundamental rhythms of life,

of everyone's life, that of work, rest and worship, work,

rest and worship work, or the grind, is so prevalent

in our culture, and in many cases to a fault.

Some people just work and work and they don't stop.

And because of that, some people kick against that and go.

To the other side where're like, we work too.

Much, we really shouldn't have to work at all, and

eventually we're gonna have robots to do it all for

us anyway, so we might as well get used to it.

But both of those are too extreme because we know

from a scripture that work is good.

Not usually a big amen from that, but it is

a true thing.

One of the very first things God did when he

made man was give him a job. It was only

after man's rebellion, when sin entered the equation that work

became more difficult, more unbearable, less enjoyable or fulfilling. But

work is inherently good because when we work, we model

the one in whose image we are made in because

God also worked.

But work isn't the only thing that God did.

God also rested. Look at this in Genesis two. So

God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because

on it God rested from all his work that he

had done in creation. So here scripture provides for us

a basic pattern modeled after God himself.

Do we see that says that we are to.

Work six days and rest on the seven, just as

God did. So ultimately, here we see once again that

God is the standard for how we are to live.

And it's from the seventh.

Day of rest that we get this word or concept

or idea of sabbath, that is, to cease, cease from

work on the seventh day. So at the beginning of

our text, when God gives the command to remember the Sabbath.

We're going to see that the first place he points

to the place he's reasoning from first is from the

pattern that God has set in creation.

Let's look at our text again.

Exodus twenty says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

But the seventh day is the 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 sojourn

who is within your gates. 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. That is that we are to do

all of our work.

In six days and have the seventh day be a

holy day of rest. Now many of us might very

quickly or immediately get defensive at hearing such a command.

Maybe we just want to blow this one off.

Or just kind of go like, hey, let's just move

on to the next one. And we might do so

because this just doesn't work practically for us. It's where

we start talking from it. This just doesn't work practically

for us. This means I have to change my schedule.

How could I have a fool to give up an

entire day?

Now?

Before I let you exhale in any kind of relief,

I actually do think it would be wise for us

to examine the conditions of our heart by pressing more

on this.

If this is what.

The Lord required of you rigidly, who are you going

to obey? You're going to obey the pattern set by God?

Or are you going to let the pattern of your

life set by you control you? Who do you trust

to be in control? And here's the deal, I'm going

to take this off you just for a minute. This

is an important question because this is what the Israelites

who first got this command had to deal with. This

commands we're looking at, and it's and it's it's very

rigid form. They had to obey this exactly. And so

the expectation is that they would double up their work

on Friday so that they could rest and do no

work on Saturday. And you have to be mindful that

this was a culture where they had livestock. Eventually they

were doing farming and all kinds of other things. Even

they always had stuff to do, So how could you

afford to take a day off?

This is exactly one of.

The things that this command is calling us to do.

It's calling us to trust God with our time, to trust.

God for our prais.

In order to rest like God calls you to, you

actually have to trust in Him to provide for you.

Now, I do not believe that we as.

Christians are called to observe this commandment in the same

rigid or ceremonial way that the Israelites did, And we're

going to I'm going to prove my point a little

bit in just a few minutes. But I do think

at its face value, it should challenge our hearts like

it would have the Israelites hearing it in their day.

In their day, the punishment for breaking the Sabbath command

was death. So maybe it's important that we stop really

quick and kind of go like, what's going on here?

Why is this so important? Why does God take this

command so seriously? Because this day isn't just about having

a day to rest.

This is a day to rest.

In honor and holy worship. Unto the Lord. So to

have disregard for this command to rest and worship the

Lord is actually to disregard worship for God, which should

that should make us possibly be like, Okay, well, maybe

I'm starting to understand how this is a big offense

towards God to break this commandment. God makes it clear

that they are to work six days and then rest

on the seventh and worship him. Look at this in

Leviticus twenty three, it says six days shall work be done,

but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest,

a holy convocation.

You shall do no work.

It is a sabbath to the Lord in all your

dwelling places. And that word for convocation means a holy assembly.

It's like a gathering of those who would come to worship.

So not only were the people to rest from their work,

but they were also to gather in worship of the Lord,

and that was to worship and hear God's word. Look

at this, and Acts fifteen says for from ancient generations,

Moses had in every city those who proclaim him, For

he has read every sabbath in the synagogues. So this

pattern of rest on the Sabbath day and coming together

to worship and hear God's word was established throughout.

The Old and New Testament.

This is the day you would rest from your work

and set aside time to worship.

The Lord God tells us people very clear that anyone.

Who breaks this command, who breaks the Sabbath, is to

be put to death.

Let's just let's look at that really quick. Exendus thirty one.

Pay attention a little bit to the reasons he gives

to why he takes us so seriously. And the Lord

said to Moses, you are to speak to the people

of Israel and say, above all, I didn't even catch that.

Look at that.

Above all, you shall keep my Sabbath. He takes it seriously,

for this is a sign between me and you throughout

your generations, that you may know that I the Lord

sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath because it is

holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put

to death. Whoever does any work on it, the soul

shall be cut off from among his people. Six days

shall work be done, But the seventh day is the

Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord.

Whoever does any work on the Sabbath shall be put

to death.

Therefore the Lord, or therefore the people of Israel, shall

keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as

a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me

and the people of Israel that in six days the

Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the

seventh day he rested and was refreshed. So here he

says it multiple times, there's judgment for those who disobey

and have disregard for God's command to regard this day

as holy and rest. And the way to keep this

command is to rest from your work on the seventh

day and gather to worship unto the Lord. Now, so

far we have shown that this command given to God's

people is rooted and founded in the order of creation.

It's a rhythm, it's a pattern. It's kind of funny.

Even in my study this week, they're like, why do

we count seven days of a week? Just something we

just like all do, but no, like, why why seven? Well,

we're actually we're literally given a foundation in a reason here.

It's the pattern of that God himself has said. But

it even goes deeper than just the regular rhythms of

our life, because this isn't just a pattern for our lives.

This is a pattern for our salvation found in Christ.

This is really cool. This commandment was a shadow of

what we are to find in Christ. Look at this.

Colossians two sixteen says, therefore, letting no one pass judgment

on you in questions of food and drink, or with

regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath.

Listen to this.

It says, these are a shadow of the things to come,

But the substance belongs to Christ. So what's being said

here is huge. This one verse makes all the difference.

It's a very big deal that we pay attention that

we lean in here. The implications are drassic and how

we are to understand and now obey the fourth commandment,

And we're not making it up, We're.

Just doing what the Bible says.

Here, Paul makes it clear that we are no longer

to hold to the rigid regulation of the law concerning

specific days and times and dietary restrictions, because those things

find their fulfillment in Christ. Amen that instead of looking

at the law for understanding, that we are to understand

the law through the life and fulfillment of Christ. Those

things were but shadows to point us to and find

their full substance in what Christ has done and provided

in himself, and what has Christ provided.

Concerning the Sabbath, well, let's look at this.

It's kind of a big chunk from Hebrews, but will

summarize after starting in Hebrews three, it says, for who

were those who heard.

And yet rebelled?

Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses,

and with.

Whom was he provoked for for forty years?

Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in

the wilderness, and to whom did he swear that they

would not enter his rest?

But to those who were disobedient.

So we see that they were unable to enter because

of unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering His wrath

still stands, let us fear lest any of you should

seem to have failed to reach it. For good news

came to us just as to them. But the message

they heard did not benefit them, because they were not

united by faith with those who listened. For we who

have believed, enter that rest, as he has said, as

I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest,

although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he is said somewhere spoken of the seventh day

in this way, and God rested on the seventh.

Day from all his works.

And again in this passage he said, they shall not

enter my rest, since therefore it remains for some to

enter it, and those who formerly receive the good news

failed to enter because of disobedience. Again, he appoints a

certain day today, saying through David so long afterward, in

the words already quoted today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts, for if Joshua had given

them rest, God would not have spoken of another day

later on. So then there remains a sabbath rest for

the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest

has also rested from his works, as God did from

his Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so

that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. So,

like I said, a lot going on there. Well, let's

summarize and then kind of zero in on this last

part of the text.

It's huge.

The writer of Hebrews is showing how God had promised

rest to the Israelites, but those Israelites ended up being

disobedient and not entering God's rest. Now it's not just

a rest from their day today work, but it's a

rest from their works to be saved. The Sabbath points

us to a greater rest that is found only in Christ,

that has rest from our works by trusting in His work.

Think about this.

In our day to day lives and rhythms, we kind

of see this creation order where God commands for us

to work six days and rest and worship him on

the seventh. God has clearly made that clear in his

fourth commandment, and he says that all who fail to

obey God and continue to work get what judgment. And

this is exactly the same with our salvation. Think about this.

All of us have been working, trying to save ourselves

through our own works, but God commands us to rest

and trust in His finished work. But for everyone who

refuses to rest in His finished work by instead trying

to save themselves by their own works, they will find

no rest, but instead we'll have judgment. Do we see

that this commandment speaks to our daily rhythms and the

pattern of our salvation. We were working, but We've been

called to rest and trust him. That is we work,

and we are to rest and worship. Our sabbath ultimately

is in Christ, and Jesus doesn't hide it. We're to

find rest in Christ, who says this. He says, look

at this, Matthew eleven. He says, come to me, all

who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give

you what rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn

from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find what rest for your what souls.

It's not just a physical rest.

He's not just saying that your your work and your

day to day job is going to be easier. But

he's going to say there's a deeper work that I

will give you rest from, for my yoke is easy

and my burden is light. Like Christ invites all of

us to come to him and find rest in him.

No longer do we need to work and.

Try to earn our salvation, but we are to rest

and trust in His finished work on the cross, where

he himself said it is finished, and I was actually

thinking about it. What day did he say that? On

the sixth day he finished his work? His mission mine

history to come and die in our place after having

lived the perfect life under the law. Also in our

place for everyone who believes Christ died for our sins

so that we could have peace and rest with God.

And now we're called to trust God to provide that

rest for us instead of trying to work it out ourselves.

There's countless things in our life that try to sell

us the rest that can only be found in Christ.

Come talk to this person, buy our product, take that vacation.

Those things will never give us the rest that only

Jesus can, securing our rest and our peace with God Almighty.

Just like the Israelites had to trust God and give

him that one day a week to provide rest to them,

we too must trust God by giving up our works

and finding rest in the appointed person, Jesus Christ. Is

anyone who tries to get rest from anything else, anyone

who ignores this command to find rest in Christ. There's

only judgment left for those who refuse to obey his

call to repent of their ways and trust in him

by believing in him, believing in what he's done. We

work so hard because we feel like what we have

is never enough.

And you're right. We are right we're correct in.

That feeling, and so Jesus himself says, come to me,

I'm gonna do it for you. I'm going to provide

exactly what you need, but you have to trust me.

So from the angle of salvation, I believe the application

is very clear. We're to stop striving to work for

our salvation, but we are to instead trust God for

our salvation and the rest provided for us in Christ,

Jesus's finished work. Now we get to kind of the

more interesting, not more interesting than salvation, but more difficult

part of the application. As we see that this is

fulfilled in Christ. We see that the Sabbath points us

to salvation in Christ. That it's fulfillment is how we

keep the fourth commandment by finding our rest in Christ.

Yes and amen, the application is simple, trust in Christ's

finished work and find rest in Him. Now, the question

that's left for us is does this command still hold

any weight as it regards the pattern of our day

to day lives or should I say week to week lives.

Now, while it's.

Fulfillment is in Christ, I do believe that there is

a principle still to be taken and observed from in

the fourth Commandment. And as we venture down this road,

let's just say, like, we're not the only people who

have tried to figure out how else we are to

apply and follow the fourth Commandment. It's actually a hotly

debated issue. There's some in some camps who are like, no,

we still have to obey it one hundred percent, as

it's stated that means we work six days and we

take Saturdays off and that's when we worship.

There's others on the other side who might.

Go the full way and say, well, it's been fulfilled

in Christ. Therefore there is no binding of this law

on our schedules. We can rest in Christ ultimately and

have our schedules look however we want. Like I said,

this is an issue that goes back to the early Church.

And you actually see discussion going on around this topic.

We saw it in coloutions, and now Paul also talks

talks something to this idea, talking about what days we

observe in Romans fourteen. Look at this and he starts

off the same way as our colautions text. Its kind

of important probably for us to take in heed where

he says, who are you to pass.

Judgment on the servant of another?

That'll preach by hisself that that's a good place for

us to think through is we're thinking through this application.

It is before his own master.

That he stands or falls, and he will be upheld,

for the Lord.

Is able to make him stand. Amen.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while

another esteems all days alike.

Now listen to this.

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

The one who observes the day observes it in the

honor of the Lord. The one who eats eats in

honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God.

While the one who abstains abstains in honor of the

Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us

lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

For if we live to the Lord, and if we die,

we die to the Lord. So then whether we live

or whether we die, we are the Lord's. But to

this end, Christ died and lived again that he might

be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Once again.

He's gonna ask you a question, why do you pass

judgment on your brother or you why do you despise

your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment

seat of God. For it is written as I live,

says the Lord, every neede shall bow to me, and

every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of

us will give an account of himself to God. So

Paul really makes two things clear to help guide us

in our application of this verse. However you do choose

to order your schedule should be done so in faith

and conviction. That's the first thing. And why I think

this is also an important thing for us to talk

about is because most of us don't really give too

much thought to our schedules. We just kind of let

things take over us. We don't know how to prioritize

or to order properly. But here he says, whatever decision

you make, you should do so proceeding from faith and conviction.

And secondarily, we must understand that either way, God is

going to require an account of how we do choose

to live, which should make us consider what convictions and

faith we have about what decisions or ideas that we're

landing on. We want to make sure that they're accurate

and we're.

Living as we've been called.

So it's important that we understand that whether you rest

and worship on Saturday or Sunday, or on any day,

we should do so in faith. Now, personally, I believe

that the two views that I shared before are two

extremes of the position of what the Bible has to say.

They're either two strict or too loose. I believe that

if we look at the Law, we can see both

the fulfillment in Christ, but then a pattern or principle

inherent for God's people. I believe that this pattern is

consistent with how the early Church operated in the New Testament.

So let's look at this command again. Exodus twenty remember

the sabbath day to keep it holy. 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, or your male servant, your female servant,

your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

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. So God has

told us to remember the Sabbath day, a day that

was to be kept holy for rest in worship unto God.

We know our rest is found in Christ, which leads

to our worship of God. But I also believe that

there's a pattern here for us to follow the God

intends for our good. Many people view the Sabbath almost

as if it's just this burden that was put on us.

But God picked this arbitrary thing, and it is just

so that we could be slaves or serve this special day.

But Jesus sets the record straight that it's actually supposed

to be a blessing, not a burden. Look what he

says in Mark two, and.

He said to them, the Sabbath was made for man,

not man for the Sabbath.

So let's explore this.

What good might we get from taking a day out

of the week to rest and worship God?

Hopefully it's rhetorical. What good we.

Might we get from taking a day to rest and

worship God.

God isn't asking for all the days, and.

He could, he'd be totally right in doing so. But

one modeled after himself that you, your family, the people

who work for you, would actually get a day to rest.

From the day to day toil that you would gather

to be able to worship him. Now, what's really interesting

in my study this is depending on who you were reading.

Like I said, some were like, no, we gotta like

you gotta make it like this is a day, it's

super holy and all we got to observe it in

these ways. And then other people who are kind of like,

let's like not be like superstitious about this, Like we

don't need to be extra and weird about it. But

there is something here for us to consider. What benefit

and blessing does this command give us? And from what

I believe is that it's the main point for today.

It's we remember to rest by regularly worshiping him. It's

a pattern in our lives that recalls us to do

and to remember what we ought to do and what

we can get caught up in forgetting. Having one day

set aside following this pattern makes us intentional to take

a day of rest where we actually trust God. We're

practiced in our schedule, we're practicing in our rhythms, a

trust to God where we make it about him, where

we gather to worship Him regularly.

Not only that, but like it's not.

It's also a day to rest, like, actually get some rest,

play with your kids, read a book, talk to the

talk to your children about the Lord, or your spouse

on a nice walk, but have a day off. The

Lord actually gives us this direction because you think about

the God of this world. Lower case g could be

greed or idolatry. There's so many, so many idols in

our world that are fighting for our attention, and they

just say give, give, give. It's never enough, it's never enough.

And God says, hey, you worked six days, take a day,

remember me on it, worship me on it. But take

a day and rest and you can trust me with that.

That's huge that he just gives that to us.

Many of us get so caught up in our lives

that we let other things crowd out our rest, We

let other things crowd out.

Our worship of God.

But the great blessing found in this command is that

we if we do just follow the principle that's here,

that what God's calling us to do, then we would

always be intentional to make sure that God always has

a time slot in our week, and then we get

to reap the blessing that God means to give us

in this command.

And here's the deal.

You could still argue with me. You could not like

my position, you could not like my and that's okay.

Like I said, there is a range that is debated here.

But I do believe that I feel in safe company

when I look at how the early Church still conducted themselves,

and how pretty much Christians have for the last two

thousand plus years. Because actually we see this interesting shift

once Christ is raised from the dead, that instead of

believers gathering together on Saturdays, they seem to begin meeting

on what was referred to as the Lord's Day, that

is Sunday, the day our Lord rose from the dead.

They just kind of see it sprinkled throughout the New Testament.

It's like and the believers were together on a Sunday evening,

and the believers were together on the first day of

the week. That's usually what it says, first day of

the week, the first day of the week, the first

day of the week, because it's an axe says on

the first day of the week, when we were gathered

together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to

depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech

till midnight Paul.

We see this instruction from in one Corinthians.

He says, on the first day of every week, each

of you is to put something aside and store it

up as he may prosper, so that there will be

no collecting when I come. So there's something going on

on this first day of the week that we see

throughout the New Testament. Jesus when he continues to appear

before he sends to heaven, it's the first in the evening.

Of the first day of the week, he continues to.

Appear to the disciples who all are gathered together.

To hear.

We're seeing them gather on the first day of the

week instead of rigidly the seventh, but they're still.

Gathering on one day of seven.

So I believe that this actually kind of points to

the fact that in one sense the Fourth Commandment is

fulfilled to the extent that we don't have to meet

on Saturdays. We're here on a Sunday, hey, guys like,

But that believers still know that they ought to meet regularly.

And we do see this clearly laid out in scripture.

We look at it back in Hebrews. Hebrews ten.

It says, let us hold fast the confession of our

hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And

let us consider how to stir one another to love

and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is

the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all

the more as you see the day drawing near. So

why I believe it's consistent with the pattern and commands

and scripture that at the very least there is an

expectation and principle that God's people are still to gather

with one another for worship as a habit, as a

regular rhythm.

Here's the deal. You're here today.

So not that I want to tell you to be

prideful and pat yourself on the back, but it's a

great thing to have put this, to have this as

a rhythm in your life. And you can tell everyone

who wasn't here, Hey, Somethingy's message.

Is really good. You should go check it out. I'm kidding.

I need the I know I didn't mean Afrair to

be that. I do need the band to come up, though.

And it's a blessing for all those.

Who were to follow this principle, because we have built

in our regular rhythms of our life this almost obedience

to this command that we remember to rest because we

have this regular pattern and rhythm of worship in our life,

starting our week off with worship and rest.

And Lord sets the course for our whole week.

We start our week by trusting Him, by being reminded

of Christ and how we are to rest and treasure Him.

We're fed by His word.

I was thinking about it. The Israelites were commanded to

work six days and on the sixth day to store

up a little extra to make some preparations so that

on Saturday they would just come and eat. And I

think there is a similarity for us as believers that

throughout the week we should be reading our Bible. Throughout

the week, we should be doing our regular spiritual routines.

But on Sunday we get to gather and we get

to enjoy just sitting under the Word and just worshiping

with other believers, something prepared for us. Like I could

get into it about what it still looks like for

us as believers to be.

Serving one another on the Sundays.

But we know clearly from scripture that we are still

called to serve one another even.

If it's on the Sabbath. People would have different.

Issues where they're like, well, if my enemy's ox falls

into a ditch, well, then surely I must obey the

sabbath and neglect helping him.

But Jesus makes it very clearly that if we have.

The ability to do good, even if it's on the sabbath,

that we should totally do that, that we should act

in a way that shows love and mercy towards those

around us. It's important that we hear and see this

fulfillment of this commandment in Christ, because I want each

and every one of you to find rest in Christ alone.

I don't want you to miss the heart of the

commandment of having regular rhythms of rest.

And worship for God. And you're way to week, and

I think it's like the.

Perfect ending of those first four commandments, because the Lord

is saying, you're to worship me only, you're to worship

me how I define, and you're to worship me truly

and revere my name.

And then he's saying, and you should like.

Actually worship Me regularly because we can all agree about

those things and never have it on our agenda to

actually worship him. And so the last one that he

ends with is saying, and now do this regularly. Years ago,

I heard a pastor say you can either make fifty

two decisions a year or one. He was talking about church,

coming to church, what you're going to do on a Sunday.

I actually think it's also really helpful if you were

to think about what we do when we come to church,

because we'll give it different titles.

Going to service, got a thing on Sunday, I'm going

to church, but each and every one of us are

coming here to worship.

And I think if we actually thought about it like that,

would we really treat it as optional, as something that

could have something of more importance put over it. It's

really easy to say, I think I can skip church today.

And do this thing.

I think we'd feel a little bit differently if you

were to be like, well, y'all, I'll skip the worship

of the Creator for X, Y and Z.

That's what we're doing.

We just make it sound nicer by saying just church

or the gathering or that thing I do on Sunday afternoons.

And again, this isn't to beat us up, but it's

to bring the reality of how we can still honor

the Lord with our time and our schedule. I love

that question because for me, I didn't have to make

fifty two decisions anymore.

I only had to make one.

I could surrender to the pattern example given by God's

word that don't have to wonder where I'll be on

a Sunday. Like I said, many of us base our

schedule and our life on the things that we follow,

and we let those things dictate what our life looks like. Sports, politics, work,

family will almost religiously set aside time for those things.

Which usually ask.

More of us than just one day. But when we

hear God give us this command, or we hear this principle,

inherent will kind of scoff at God calling us to

rest and worship Him on one. Ultimately, we are to

find our rest in Christ. And as for all the

other things, the application where you kind of fall on

what you believe the Bible has to say about this topic.

I believe that God's.

Spirit and word will work to convict you on this

matter in how you're going to dictate your time and

your schedule. But I do believe that the sober warnings

should make us stop and consider the rhythms of our life,

how we work, how and when we rest and worship

because I do believe with all my heart that there

is only blessing to be gained for the person who

chooses to remember to rest by regularly worshiping him.

Would you guys please stand to your feet.