The Purpose of the Sabbath

What this episode covers

The Fourth Commandment: The Purpose of the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11) The first four commandments reflect our instruction to love God. Commandments five through ten reflect our instruction to love our neighbor. There is only One true God and He is worthy to be worshiped in the way that He has revealed. We are to honor Him in thought, word, and deed. This final commandment in the first section that deals with our love for God meets the greatest amount of resistance, but it really follows in line with the first three. I like how Jonathan Edwards puts it: It is the very design of the command to fix the time of worship. The first command fixes the object, the second the means, the third the manner, the fourth, the time. Disagreements over this topic are inevitable, but they should not disrupt our fellowship. Much of the discussion surrounding the Christian Sabbath are secondary matters. We can take a firm stance on this commandment and still allow room for brothers and sisters to disagree on matters of conscience. In fact, there have been significant differences among reformed Christians throughout history. The Second Helvetic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Westminster Catechisms all have different interpretations regarding the Sabbath. The Westminster provides the most detail and therefore it is prone to receiving the greatest amount of pushback. However, none of that implies that we can ignore the issue altogether. It is a subject of tremendous import to God. “Sabbath” is mentioned in at least 159 verses of the Old Testament. Considering this is a subject we often feel free to neglect, Dr. John Gerstner would simply read those passages out loud to his students. By the end of class, no one could say it is an insignificant topic. I have likened my studying the Lord’s Day to Josiah finding “the book of the law” and repenting, followed by eagerly reforming worship in Judah (2 Kings 22:8-23:27). He tore down the idols and restored the Passover. What are the idols associated with Sabbath-breaking in our day? How might we restore Sabbath-keeping? How do we ensure that the Sabbath remains a priority weeks, months, and years from now (long after spending three sermons discussing it)? Review: The Origin and Observance of the Sabbath Last week we considered the origin and observance of the Sabbath. In Genesis 2:1-3, on the seventh day, we learn that God rested from his creative work the previous six days. If the Sabbath is a creation ordinance then it is on par with work and marriage. These were some of the few instructions given prior to the fall. This instruction seems to have been passed on and practiced by the patriarchs. It seems likely that Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices at the end of the week, on the seventh day. This would imply that the day already had a component of worship attached to it. The Sabbath was explicitly mentioned in Exodus 16 and reflected in the details regarding the collection of manna. When the Israelites rebelled against the Lord and broke the Sabbath command by going out to gather manna, the Lord said, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Exodus 16:28). The implication in the language is that this was one of their repeated failures. Then we considered the four general principles we learn from the Fourth Commandment. I want to reiterate them and remind you to recognize the simplicity of the commandment. It is not a complicated command, but we contort ourselves in all kinds of positions in order to talk ourselves out of taking it seriously. The Sabbath commandment has two positive and two negative principles: Remember the Sabbath Day – Implies prior knowledge, not forgetting, observing, and celebrating.Keep it Holy – Set apart. Not common. When the Lord declares something to be holy, who are we to make it common?Do Not Do Any Work – Not inactivity (cf. Gen. 2:1-3).Do Not Employ Others – The commandment has universal application

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