AM Sermon preached at Central Christian Church February 4, 2007
4th commandment “A Healthy Diet---Work, Rest & Worship”
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So have you heard all the hoopla concerning church sponsored Super Bowl parties? Well churches all across that nation have cancelled their Super Bowl parties which were scheduled for today because they were afraid of being in violation of a copyright law. I got wind of the sudden cancellations yesterday and did some quick research to find out what was going on and whether or not we needed to cancel the party we’d planned for this afternoon. What I found out is this---an NFL representative stumbled onto the Fall Creek Baptist Church’s website where the Indianapolis church was promoting a Super Bowl party. The church was charging admission, not to watch the game but to cover the cost of refreshments. The NFL representative said, “Whoa, now! Hold on! You can’t do that! You’re breaking the law!” You see, there’s this law that dates back to the 1960’s which was created to limit the sizes of crowds that gather in public places to watch games---the reason for the law is simple---the Neilsen ratings only measure who’s watching the game at home. Apparently the NFL’s worried that if too many crowds gather in public places, the Neilsen ratings will go down and as a result they lose advertising dollars---which if you were wondering this year involves a mere 2.6 million dollars for 30 seconds of airtime. In a nutshell here’s the NFL’s position on churches having “Super Bowl” parties---churches are not to use the copyrighted phrase “Super Bowl” in their advertising, they cannot charge people any kind of fee at an activity where they promote watching the “Super Bowl” and they cannot project the game on a screen where the diagonal measurement is larger than 55 inches, which is supposedly the largest projection size you’ll find in a typical American home. Note that this law applies to churches…. Sports bars are exempt. They can project the game on whatever size screen they want and I believe they can also charge whatever admission amount they want to charge.
Now, some of you may be wondering how will all this effect our church’s plans for this evening? Well, after learning the laws regarding the NFL’s copyrights surrounding the Super Bowl---we’ve determined the following. The fellowship activity we planned for this evening will go on---but it’s important that you understand--- [SLIDE] we are no longer promoting or hosting a “Super Bowl” party---we’re promoting and hosting a “Power to Win” party at which we’ll be able to watch the “big game…” Legally we can call it that---so in spite of the NFL’s hissy fit over church parties, we’ll be gathering this evening and if while you’re here you want to watch the “big game” you can… [BLANK SLIDE] And I know you know what I mean. We won’t be charging anyone any type of admission fee—and we never intended too anyway--- but we are asking people to bring snacks, sodas and games to share. And lastly we’ll be downsizing our projection plans to do our best to stay within the legal limits. We’ll be stretching out our tape measure to try and get the full 55 inches but no more than 55 inches of projection. Whatever the case, the Power to Win party is still on!
Now for the record---I didn’t just bring all that legal jargon about the NFL’s blowing the whistle on church sponsored “Super Bowl” parties just to fill you in on where we stood with tonight’s activity. I also brought that up at this time because in some ways it makes me think of the crazy ways people interpreted the fourth commandment, the one we’re ready to look at today.
Here’s the fourth commandment as it reads in the NIV: [SCRIPTURE SLIDES]
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 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 manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. [BLANK SLIDE]
So here’s the 4th commandment God gave to the Israelites----remember the Sabbath, keep it holy and don’t work on it. [SLIDE] Most of us aren’t used to calling the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath. We call it Saturday. But Jews, both ancient and modern, call it the Sabbath. [SLIDE] The word “Sabbath” literally means to “rest” or “pause” or “cease.” God said, remember the Sabbath, remember that seventh day of the week, and make it holy. [SLIDE] The idea of making something holy---involves setting something aside as special. For example, in my home growing up we had to sets of dishes. We had the everyday dishes we used which was a conglomeration of an incomplete set of ironstone dishes mom had got at the grocery store and some various plastic dishes that had found their home in the cabinet. We also had a set of china. Mom had a few of them on display on the shelves of the maple dining room china cabinet in the dining room. The rest were stashed away in the bottom sections of that cabinet. We only used the china on special occasions---like when we had company over for dinner or for holiday dining. The rest of the time we used our everyday dishes. That china which was set aside helps us to understand the idea of holiness---and what it meant for the Israelites to set the Sabbath aside as a holy day. God said, I want you to remember the Sabbath, I want you to set it aside, I want you to mark it off on your calendar each week as a special day, a different kind of day, a day on which you don’t do any work. [BLANK SLIDE]
“Okay,” they said, “We can do that. We can say, Saturday---the Sabbath’s a special day---a holy day---a day different from all the others---because it’s a day on which no one is to do any work.” Can’t you just imagine their initial reactions to this command? The men probably began to think---“ah, what a great idea! We won’t have to go to the fields and plow or plant or harvest. We’ll just stay at home, sit in our recliner with our remote and snack and lounge around all day. It’ll be awesome.” And no doubt, the women had their own thoughts on the Sabbath--- “A day of rest?! That would be wonderful! No sewing or baking or building fires or lugging in water from the well. We’ll just soak in the tub and let Calgon take us away! A day of rest---bring it on baby!” And as their goofy daydreaming grins crept across their faces you can almost picture each knowing what the other was thinking--- the men were thinking---“hey wait just a minute, ladies---you will still be cooking for us right?” The women were thinking--- “are you crazy? Cooking for you won’t be a day of rest for us!” And then as they realized that the day of rest was also for their slaves and hired hands and even for foreigners who happened to be in their midst. Everyone started thinking---who’s going to watch the kids---and who’s going to water the animals---and who’s going to do this and who’s going to do that? Red flags started going up everywhere. The bottom line---marking Saturday off as a special day of rest was easy enough to do on the calendar---but how were they supposed to translate that into real life? If no one could work, if everyone was supposed to rest, what could and could not be done? They began to ask----What is work? What is rest?
I can relate somewhat to their dilemma. Several years ago during my ministry in Southern Indiana, one of the elders jumped my case because he had seen me working in my garden on a Sunday afternoon. He believed Sunday was the “Christian Sabbath” and he said that I was setting a bad example because Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest and worship. Not only did this elder and I not see eye to eye on the idea of Sunday being the “Christian Sabbath,” we didn’t see eye to eye on what was work. I looked forward to my time in the garden and found it very restful, a welcome break from my usual ministerial duties. I thought of gardening as a leisurely activity---that elder disagreed. Think about it---What’s work? What’s rest? To me golfing is rest---to Tiger Woods it’s work. Perhaps to you, making a birthday cake is a fun relaxing thing to do---to someone who works at a bakery it’s just another part of their job. You may find it restful to mow your grass---on the other hand, mowing grass is work if you’re in the lawn care business.
The ancient Jews wanted to obey God’s command to observe the Sabbath as a day of rest---they especially wanted to be careful to observe it when later God announced the punishment for failing to keep the Sabbath was death. But they had some difficulties defining what was and what was not work. So their legal advisors sat down and drew a line down the middle of a piece of paper---they labeled one side of the page work, the other rest. Then they started placing things on either side of the paper. And if you think the 55 inch diagonal line that separates legal from illegal broadcasts is pretty nick picky you should check out some of the laws the Jewish leaders came up with as they defined what was and what was not work. They’re not hard to find---they’re in the Misnah and there are over 1500 of them. [SLIDE] Among the many things a person could not do on the Sabbath are these: untie a knot, braid two threads together, strike a hammer, write two letters of the alphabet. A person was allowed to walk, but not very far. [BLANK SLIDE] There were exceptions of course---let’s say the ruling was that a person could walk a half mile---but walking any farther would constitute work and so it was forbidden…unless after walking a half mile a person stopped for a rest and ate a meal---after which he could walk another mile but no more—unless he took another rest and ate another meal---you get the idea. If you ask me it was the beginning of fast food restaurants. A guy would plan his route so that every half mile he came to a McDonalds, Hardees or Taco Bell. He’d stop long enough to woof down a sandwich and then he’d hit the road again.
In any case---God commanded the Jews to remember the Sabbath, to set it aside as a special day of rest. And the way I understand the scriptures God commanded this Sabbath day of rest for three primary reasons…
[SLIDE] 1. God wanted the people to maintain a healthy balance between work and rest. God told the people---you can work six out of seven days---but I want you to take a day off every week. Through this command God was saying to the ancient Israelites, these former slaves who left Egypt with great wealth----“now that I’ve given you your freedom and you’ll have the opportunity to reap the fruits of your labor instead of having to turn those fruits over to another man----I don’t want you to get so caught up in obtaining bigger and better and more expensive things and in climbing the ladder of social success that you become workaholics---but on the other hand I know you’ve come away from Egypt with great wealth and some of you are probably thinking that you’ve got enough gold and silver with you that you’ll never have to work another day of your life---I don’t want you to become lazy either. I want you to both work and rest.”
[SLIDE] 2. I believe the second primary reason God gave this fourth commandment was because He wanted the Israelite nation as a whole to bear witness to His faithfulness and power. Remember Jesus’ words about lighting a lamp in the house? Jesus told His followers--- [SLIDE] Matthew 5 14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Well, God had the same idea for the nation of Israel. He wanted to use them as a light. He wanted other nations around them to take note of the fact that one day a week the Israelite nation shut down its farms, bakeries, clothing stores, tentmaking outlets and pottery shops. And then when neighboring nations asked “why do you guys take Saturday off?” God wanted the Israelites to tell the other nations about Him.
[SLIDE] 3. And the third primary reason God wanted the people of Israel to observe a Sabbath was so they would trust Him and worship Him as their Creator. God told the Israelites “the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD.” And He added, “in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” God knew that there would be times during the Spring planting season that the people would be tempted to work their fields and plant their crops on the Sabbath---maybe that temptation would come because after several cloudy days of rain the sun finally breaks through---only it breaks through on that seventh day when they’re not allowed to work---God knew when those days came that the people would be tempted to go ahead and plan anyway---but God said, “No, don’t you do it. You must learn to trust me. You must learn that I will give you enough good days of weather to plant and harvest. Don’t do any work on the Sabbath. Trust me, I will bless your crops. Remember, I created the world in six days; providing for your minimal needs will be easy. Plant, harvest and work according to the time schedule I’ve given you---and as your crops and herds and flocks and homes are blessed you will know that it is because I have done those things for you.”
Now all of that’s good stuff to know---but that’s all history, right? I mean after all, we Christians today, we’re not required to keep the Sabbath, are we? [SLIDE] And my answer to that friends is “no” and “yes.” [SLIDE] No, we’re not required to observe the Sabbath day and keep all the laws of Moses that go with it. [SLIDE] Nowhere in the Bible is the idea ever taught that the Sabbath has changed days and that now Sunday is the “Christian Sabbath.” [SLIDE] There is nothing in the New Testament that teaches Christians that it is a sin to work on the Sabbath or that it’s a sin to work on Sunday. And am I glad of that---especially since some people think it’s the only day preacher’s work. In fact there’s nothing that I can find that prohibits a Christian from doing on Sunday whatever he or she does on other days.
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In my opinion folks, if a things wrong to do on Sunday, it’s wrong to do on the other days too. And if it’s okay to do on the other days, it’s okay to do on Sunday. To start splitting hairs about what a person can or cannot do on Sunday is to get caught up in the same insanity that lead the ancient Israelites into creating more their more than 1500 regulatory Sabbath laws. And that’s the last thing God wants us to do. Check things out for yourselves---dig through the gospels---and look for the run ins Jesus had with the Pharisees---what you’ll find is that the many of them, if not most of them had to do with those crazy Sabbath laws men had created. [SLIDE] Again my answer to the question are Christians required to keep the Sabbath today is “no” and “yes.”
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“No, Christians are not required to keep the Sabbath LAWS.” But at the same time, I have to say, [SLIDE] “Yes, Christians are required to keep the Sabbath PRINCIPLES.” The three primary reasons which I said God gave the ancient Israelites the Sabbath command still apply to Christians today. God still wants His people to maintain a healthy balance between work and rest. God still wants us to be witnesses of His faithfulness and power. And God still wants us to trust Him and worship Him as our Creator. You see, friends the principles that underlie the 4th commandment entail much more than where we spend our Sunday morning and whether or not we go out to dinner or watch football on Sunday afternoons. The fourth commandment is yet another call for us to give our all to God. It’s a wake up call that our work matters to God. Our leisure time matters to God. Our worship matters to God. Our trusting Him matters to God. The 4th commandment is not a law that demands we relegate our Christian life to one day a week where we visit our little god in a box. No, to the contrary this fourth commandment is a reminder that all of our life is to be holy---that everything we do in word or deed, we do it to the glory of God because He’s watching us and others are watching us too. [BLANK SLIDE]
I’ll be honest with you----through the years I think I have struggled more with keeping this command than any of the others. It seems I constantly find myself struggling with keeping a good balance between work and rest and worship. The pride side of me wants to excel, wants to try and get it all done and wants to impress people. The compassion side of me wants to try and meet every need, fill every gap, be there for everyone who’s hurting. As a result on many occasions I’ve robbed myself of sleep. I’ve worked when I should have rested or been at home with my family---and at times I have failed to give God my best worship because I was just too tired to do so. I’m still working at getting a better handle on the principles in this fourth commandment---and with God’s help I will.
It’s so important to get a grip on this commandment. We don’t want to wake up some morning in our old age and come to the realization that we spent our life being busy rather than having invested our life in the things that mattered most. If you struggle with keeping you schedule in balance---I might suggest you consider doing some of the following things: 1. Do a personal time study... learn where your time has been spent 2. pray for God’s wisdom...ask Him to help you to evaluate the time study---to help you identify your scheduling strengthes and weaknesses 3. find a mentor and/or accountability partner...someone who seems to have a good handle on personal time management and ask them for help, suggestions and/or oversight and 4. Begin today... decide right now to do more than admit to yourself you have a problem---decide right now that you will begin addressing the problem today...
So then, what about you? I’ve told you how I see some of my own shortcomings when it comes to my stewardship of time. How do you see yourself, how do others see you, how does God see you? Are you a workaholic? Are you lazy? Or do you balance your time between work and rest well? Do you worship God every day in all that you do so that your very life bears witness to the faithfulness and power of God? Or have you tried to compartmentalize your faith, living it only on Sunday?
I really do hope you’ll think about and pray on these things---for friends, God doesn’t want us to be consumed by life---He wants us to enjoy it to the fullest in Him.
If there’s anyone present today who would like to make a public decision for Christ, I’d like to meet with you down here in the front as our praise team leads us in Just As I Am….
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NOTE TO THOSE WHO READ AND OR CHOOSE TO MAKE USE OF ANY OR ALL OF THIS SERMON: I am sharing this sermon with the hopes it will be an encouragement to others. I apologize for any blatant typing errors! If you find any I’d appreciate hearing from you so I can correct them. I try to give credit where credit is due, noting writers and or sources to the best of my ability. I have for years been drawing from a wealth of sources including this website. I recognize that my mind and writing processes are fallible. I may occasionally fail to properly identify a source. Please do not take offense if you see anything of this nature. I never intend to plagiarize. Having said that I want you to feel free to draw from my message. When appropriate I hope you will give credit as I do. But most of all I hope Christ will be lifted up and God will receive the glory in all things.
