TAKE A DAY OFF
Well here we are. This is the fourth week in the sermon series about the Ten Commandments and I have good news for you. There is only one sermon left after this one. I know that some of you are counting right now. In your heads you’ve already figured out that we’ve only covered three commandments so far and you’re wondering how we’re going to squeeze seven commandments into two sermons.
You’re correct. We’ve only covered three commandments up to this point. Today we’re going to talking only about the fourth commandment.
This has been an interesting trip through the Ten Commandments so far. We’ve learned a few things about them that maybe we hadn’t realized before. All of this began with a co-worker telling me he couldn’t come to our church because he had too many problems in his life, that God wasn’t going to accept him because of all the issues he has. This sent me on a search for answers. You see, there are people all over the world who believe that the way to be accepted by God, the way to be loved by God, the way to get to heaven, and the way for God to hear your prayers is for you to do all the right things. You’ve got to obey the rules. And most often when you ask someone they’re going to tell you that the rules come from the Ten Commandments.
The problem is that most people have no idea what the Ten Commandments really say. In fact, when I began this series I probably couldn’t have told you what all of the commandments are. Most people, in fact, only know “You shall not kill” and “You shall not steal.” Beyond that they’re completely lost when it comes to the commandments.
What we learned in that first sermon was that God never gave his commandments as a condition of his love. He gave his commandments as a confirmation of a pre-existing relationship with him. Another words you can’t get to God by obey rules. The rules are given because you’re already in with God.
Then we learned that God wants to be your one and only God. In fact, what we said is that God wants to be your “one stop God.” Remember that term? He wants to be the God you go to for everything. That same week, we also discussed that God doesn’t want you making any idols of him. Because when you try and do so you try to make him manageable. You try to put him in a box. And God isn’t manageable. He can’t be put in a box. You can’t just go get him when it’s convenient for you and then close the box lid and tuck him away until you need him again. It doesn’t work that way.
Then last week we got into talking about misusing God’s name. And we found out that the third commandment didn’t quite mean what we originally thought it meant. What we discovered was that God didn’t want us attaching his name to anything God was not a part of. That was different, wasn’t it?
Well, today we’re still not going to be discussing the commandments that everyone knows. We’re not going to be talking about “You shall not kill” and “You shall not steal.” Instead we’re only going to be talking about the fourth commandment. And I know right now some of you are thinking, “But Tim that leaves us six more commandments for next week.” Yes. It does. But don’t worry. We’re going to get through all of them next week. In fact, that’s a Sunday you don’t want to miss because we’re going to talk about freedom.
Now this is a commandment that is most often forgotten about in our society. In fact we very rarely even remember that it exists. And I think there’s a reason for this. This commandment does not appear in the New Testament. “You shall not kill” does. Jesus covers it. The disciples cover it. “You shall not commit adultery” does. Jesus talk about it. The disciples cover it. But the fourth commandment is never really discussed.
So here it is. You ready for this?
“You shall take a day off.”
That’s it.
You shall take a day.
Ok so maybe that isn’t really all that this commandment has to say. In fact, this commandment has more words than any of the other commandments. God felt this one was super important and he told Moses specifically about the importance of this commandment.
Let’s take a moment and just look at this one. It’s found over in the book of Exodus chapter 20 and beginning in verse 8. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor son or daughter, not your manservant or maidservant, not your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For is 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.”
Now I know what some of you are thinking right now. “Tim, please don’t tell us we have to take a day off. You don’t know how busy my life is. I can’t afford to take a day off.”
Actually I do know how busy your life is. Because my life is busy too. I have so many things on my plate in an average week. I’ve got this full time job down at the plastics factory. I have family obligations with my wife and children. There are classes, meetings, sermons to write, and chores to do. Somehow I still need some time for hobbies and relaxation. There are services to put together and children sermons to prepare. I know how busy life can be. My life is busy too.
In fact, just a few weeks ago I read an article on Yahoo.com. The article was about how busy we are as Americans. On average Americans try to jam 31 hours into a 24 hour day. It’s called multitasking. And we’ve become professionals at it. Just this past week Storm and I went to Topeka. Along the way I was counting cars with people on cell phones. What I discovered was that of the 26 cars we passed going up Auburn Road, 24 drivers were talking on their cell phones. I’ve seen people in offices checking their e-mail while sitting in a meeting. If you go into a McDonald’s in Topeka they now have, Wi-Fi, (for those who don’t know, that a wireless internet connection) that way you can surf the internet while you eat your meal. In fact, I was at work while I was writing this sermon. Even I’m good at multitasking. I know I’ve got a few seconds in between each part that rolls down the conveyor belt. So during those free moments I’m scribbling words into a notebook to prepare another sermon. You see, we’re busy and we don’t want to be told to take a day off. It would ruin our schedules.
The truth of the matter is you shall take a day off.
You see, God wants to give you seven days of provision for your six days of work. In fact this idea was forced onto the people of Israel. This was a concept that they had to live with every day.
Now you may be thinking that was fine for them. But they don’t live in today’s society.
You know what?
The Israelites were busy people too.
It’s only been three months since the Israelites left Egypt. Not very long at all. They’ve become nomads, traveling through the desert until God tells them exactly where they’re going. History tells us that there may have been anywhere up to two-million of them all traveling at one time. As fast as they left Egypt I can’t imagine that they could have carried that much food with them. In fact we know that they were running out of food because they began to complain to Moses.
“This is your fault.”
“We’re going to starve out here.”
“At least back in Egypt we had plenty of food.”
And God came through again. He provided mana from heaven. Now we’re not exactly sure what mana really was. Some commentators believe that it might have been some kind of crust bread type substance. And one morning the Israelites wake up and open there tents and spread all over the ground are these pieces of something. Now I’m not always the bravest person in the world. I’m willing to try most things once. But I’m not sure I would have been the first person to pick one of them up and stuff it in my mouth. But God had made a decision. He was going to provide for his people.
I want you to see exactly what he tells Moses to tell the people. This is huge. Because it sets a precedence for taking a day off. This is found over in Exodus 16:26, “Six days you are to gather it (it being the mana), but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” Now skip down to verse 29, “Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days.”
God wants to do the same thing for you. He wants you to work for six days and he’s going to give you provision for the seventh day. And that is so hard for us to understand. We don’t have time to sit still. We’re busy worrying about the food that is on our table, the possessions we want, and the bills we have to pay. We have a hard time understanding that God wants to provide for us.
In fact, we need to depend on God for our daily bread.
Remember that? We just prayed it this morning. As we prayed the Lord’s Prayer we said, “Give us each day our daily bread.”
And still we have problems remembering just how much God wants to provide for you and for me.
The truth of the matter is that the Sabbath day is to remind you and I that we are completely dependant on God. He provides everything that we need.
Now I think this can be taken to some extremes. Just this morning Irene came to me to tell me about her sister’s church. The sister goes to a church that still believes that you are to do nothing on the day of rest. You don’t cook. You don’t clean. You don’t leave your house or answer the telephone. You don’t even go to church. All those things must be done before you take that day off.
The Pharisees had pushed this commandment to extremes too. We talked a little bit last time about some of the loopholes that are found in the commandments. One of those loopholes comes into this commandment.
God doesn’t want anyone working. He doesn’t even want your animals working. He takes it a step farther and says, “or the alien within your gates.” How many of you have an alien in your gates?
I don’t think we’re talking about the same time of alien here. At the time the Israelites fled from Egypt, there were Egyptians that went with them. These were people who no longer wanted to be Egyptian society. As the Israelites began developing their cities, they started sending these people outside the city gates to do business on the Sabbath. Then these people would come and report on Sunday what they’d accomplished on Saturday.
They were breaking the law.
I believe that what this scripture is telling us is that we aren’t supposed to be trying to earn money or a living one day a week. You see, in everything that we do we’re supposed to be giving glory to God. Paul writes about it over in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do it all for the glory of God.”
So you know what? I don’t think you necessarily have to sit around and do absolutely nothing on this day. There are still going to be meals that have to be cooked. There are still children and animals that you have to take care of. Do those things. Even more do them for God’s glory. If you love to quilt, by all means, take this day to quilt for God’s glory. If you love to garden, do so while praying and worshipping God. Do it for God’s glory.
As I near the close of this sermon, I heard a story in the last few weeks about a man that was faced with a decision about a day off. He owns a national business. And he had to make a choice. He had to decide whether or not to keep his business open on Sundays. You know what he chose. He decided that the best thing he could do was close his restaurants on Sundays. So today when you leave here, if you drive up to Topeka, you won’t be able to eat in either one of his restaurants there. They aren’t open. The restaurant is Chik-fil-a and they’re never open on Sunday. Because he felt it was more important to close his restaurant and let God provide for his and give back to God than to make money. Was it a good decision? You bet. Was it a good decision financially? No way. He loses millions of dollars in revenue across the country each year by closing his restaurants on Sundays.
Now I know. For lots of us Sundays is a work day. It is for me. Today, when I’m done here, I’ve still got to go to the factory and work there. I work on Sundays. It’s when my company has a position open for me.
You know what though? It doesn’t really matter what day you celebrate the Lord’s day. According to the New Testament every day is holy to the Lord.
Over in Romans 14:5 – 6 Paul addresses this issue. He writes, “In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. Each person should have a personal conviction about this matter. Those who have a special day for worshipping the Lord are trying to honor him.”
Every day is holy. The day of the week doesn’t matter. It’s all about making that day special for the Lord.
When I first started really thinking about the principle behind the Sabbath day I was like a lot of you. I didn’t have time to take a day off. I was too busy. Sunday is a work day. Saturday is a work day. I had to make some changes though. With everything that was going on in my life I was burning myself out. There wasn’t time to relax. So I looked for a day when I could just have one day off each week. Here’s what I found. Wednesdays are the best day for me. You see I work my normal job Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tuesdays is full of meetings and appointments as I train for ministry. Thursday is the day to run errands and praise team practice. That only leaves Wednesdays. So if you call me about something needing to be done here I probably won’t come running. If the factory calls, I’m definitely not going there.
Do you know what I found? When it comes to Tuesday evening I’m forced to pray to God. “Lord, I’ve done everything I can this week. I know there’s more that could be done. But I’m going to depend on you for this one day of provision. Are you able to take care of it? Are you big enough to take care of me?”
Here’s what’s happened over the last couple of months as I’ve put this into practice. I find that I’m getting more accomplished in those six days than I used to get done in seven. To make matters even better, I’m not as stressed any more. God’s providing what he promised to provide me with.
So here’s my challenge to you. For the next month take a day off. You choose the day. Because the day doesn’t matter. You’re not to work on that day. But one day out of every week for the next month, take a day off. Learn to depend on God.
It’s going to be tough. There are going to be those calls that come in and you’re going to want to take them. You’re going to feel like if you don’t you’re going to miss out on some opportunity. But you’re not in charge of those opportunities. God is. He can take care of them.
He wants to provide you with seven days of provision for your six days of work. Depend on him for it.
