Sabbath: A Time to Remember
Scripture Text: Deuteronomy 5.12-15
INTRODUCTION
As you may remember, …we’re devoting our attention to the subject of “Sabbath-keeping” ~ What does it mean to ‘keep’ Sabbath?
There’s-really a-lot-of-material contained-within the Sabbath-commandment of Deuteronomy 5… But, let’s focus our attention on the last verse because there’s a very important word, there: Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
The key-word here is: Remember. Remember…
Memory is a big-deal. There are web-sites devoted to memory improvement. There are games to help children develop memory-skills. And, of-course, memory-loss is a terrible-experience for stroke and Alzheimer’s-victims. Memory…
TRANSITION
Modern psychology differentiates between short-term memory and long-term memory. An interesting exercise in testing short-term memory is this: [Flash the following letters up on the screen:
FBIPHDTWAIBM] WAIT 5 SECONDS THEN GO TO A BLANK SCREEN
Can anyone recall the letters?
I’d be surprised if anyone could... However, when the string of letters is broken down into chunks of familiar letters, …It becomes much easier to remember the letters in the proper order. Check it out…
PUT UP THE NEXT SCREEN AND READ:
FBI PHD TWA IBM,
Short-term memory is very helpful and necessary to daily-living. This ability to recall ~ even recent-experiences and new-information ~ is part of short-term memory, …and the difficulty is not simply remembering what has recently occurred, …but in shifting that-information from short-term memory to long-term memory. If information merely stays in short-term memory, it will be lost. Long-term memory is essential to being rooted, conscientious, knowledge and wise. But, how does information move from short-term memory to long-term memory? ~ That is the million-dollar question!
The answer: repetition! It’s through repetition that we move thoughts, ideas, experiences and memories from short-term, …into the long-term storage banks of our minds. Part of the genius of Sabbath-observance is that it’s repeated every week. And in-this-way, …we review and reinforce and we move information from short-term memory into long-term memory! We need repetition
But specifically, what do we need to repeat? What information is so precious that we don’t want it to be lost in short-term memory? What is the info that – through repeatedly observing Sabbath – …what is the information we want to move from short-term into long-term memory?
BODY
I. Windshields and Rearview Mirrors
We remember what the Lord has done for us, …we remember what the Lord is doing for us, …we remember what the Lord has planned for us. We remember : “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”
One of the sad-consequences of the mindset of people today is that the past doesn’t matter. We get so-involved… so wrapped-up by the present-moment,
- with all its pressures,
- with all its demands,
- with all its feelings,
- with all its desires,
We are so-consumed, …so preoccupied by the present that we can’t grasp the relevance – …the importance – of the past.
As Christians, we must see the importance of the past. We must remember. We remember the mighty-acts of God throughout the history of Israel. We remember those mighty-acts because it reminds us that God gets involved in our world, …He gets involved in what’s-happenin’ with His people. The past reminds us that God cares.
We remember the mighty-act of God in the person of Jesus.
“For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Jesus’ coming was a historical event. History is important to remember – …especially, God’s historical actions.
The Bible is like a family photo-album ~ It contains stories that are like snapshots of God’s love, …His mercy, …His desire for relationship with us, …they tell us of God’s mighty-strength and His good-plans. And by reviewing and reminding ourselves of-these-things, …we end-up being reminded that He has intervened on our behalf, He has worked in our hearts and minds, He has spoken to and directed us. Isn’t it important to remember those events?
Do you remember when God first entered your world
- when He told you that He loved you?
- when He offered you the gift of salvation?
- when He took you by the hand and welcomed you into His family?
Do you remember? Do you remember that time when He heard your cry and comforted you? Do you remember that time when you didn’t know where to turn, and all of a sudden a door was opened? Do you remember the time when things were crashing in all around you, but God was there, …and He gave you a peace in the midst of the storm – …a peace that you just couldn’t hardly believe or explain? Do you remember?
We remember so that we don’t forget. We remember so that we know what to expect. We remember so that all the junk of this present-moment doesn’t cloud our eyes-of-faith so that we can’t see His presence. We remember. And in remembering, we keep the Sabbath day holy. It is the day that we get together and remember Who we belong to. It is the day that we get together and remember that we’re not alone. It is the day that we remember that God has great plans for His children. We remember. And in our remembering, we make this day unique and special. …Not-because on other days we forget. …Not because this is the only time we remember. …Not because this is the only day that we acknowledge God’s activity. Rather, this day is special because we are a community who remembers. We are together …and together we remember. We remember what the Lord has done for us, …we remember what the Lord is doing for us, …we remember what the Lord has planned for us. “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”
II. Slavery Comes in Many Forms
Now… You may be thinking, “Hold-on, a-minute!... “How does this whole-thing-about ‘Remember that you were slaves in Egypt…’, “…how does this pertain to me!?! “I’m no slave… Never have been! “I’ve never lived in Egypt… never visited Egypt… don’t-even ever-plan to go to Egypt! “Am I exempt from keeping the Sabbath because this doesn’t fit who-I-am and where-I’ve-been?”
Well, let’s think-about-this for-a-minute... Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (Jn 8.34). Have you ever sinned?... Have you ever gone-against God?... Have you ever chosen to do-your-own-thing, …rather-than do God’s-thing? Have you said ‘no’ when God said, ‘yes’? Have you ever run-away when God said to ‘run-to’? ~ If-so, …then we’ve sinned; …and Jesus says that whoever sins is a slave to sin.
We’ve all been there. We’ve all drunk deeply from the bitter-waters of sin ~ …Now, our personal-sins may have-been-expressed differently than someone else: …one person struggles with selfishness, …another with rebellion, …still-another with un-belief, …and others with hard-headedness, or unforgiveness. Sin manifests itself in thousands of attitudes and actions. So, the question is not how we’ve sinned; …but-rather, …the fact-of-the-matter is that we have sinned. And, according to Jesus, that-means that we have-been enslaved to sin.
I think that those who’ve struggled with addictions have-a-knowledge of this that many-others do-not-have. An addiction is like a tyrant, …a cruel-master, …a bully ~ …One person who struggled mightily with drug-addictions said that the addiction was literally like-a-monster! That’s-how sin is. It’s ugly. It’s uncaring and viscious. And the author-of-sin hasn’t-got the slightest-bit-of-concern for your well-being. Sin will chew-you-up and spit-you-out. Sin will knock-you-down and kick-you-around. Sin will spit-in-your-face and laugh-at-your-pain. But, just-like-a-dog will return-to-its-vomit, …when we’re living-in-sin, …when we’re dabbling-in-sin, …when we’re flirting with sin, …it is our master! And that’s a truly-terrible place to be! Peter says, “a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2Pe 2.19). Do you remember when your hands were tied and your heart was held captive by the sin that bullied and belittled and bopped-you-around?
A good-many of-us remember those-days. And they were not good! There’s probably some who are still-struggling under the shackles of sin. Maybe no-one-else knows about it. You’ve done a good job of keeping it private, …secret, …outta-sight. But you-know …what it’s doin’ to ya! You know … how it’s tearin’ you down! You feel the hand-cuffs around your heart, …and the ball-and-chain around your legs. You can’t break free.
When Deuteronomy says, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt…”, …it’s not-necessarily talking about a social, or an economic-status in a far-and-distant country. But it wants us to think about the spiritual condition that we’ve all-been-in: …enslaved, …held-captive, …oppressed. Egypt is a figurative-way of referring to that-place-in-life ~ …the place of oppression and bondage and slavery. Pharaoh was a pathetic human-tyrant and his weapons were whips and chains. Our tyrant was Satan and his weapons were cheap-thrills, empty-promises, addictions, and lies.
The point of connection between ourselves and the ancient Israelites – …the point of connection is not the place called Egypt, …or the economic-status of being owned by someone-else; …rather, the point-of-connection is the experience of having our life and personal-freedom taken from us and withheld against our will. That’s what sin does. And we’ve all been there. Deuteronomy says:
“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.”
It seems that we might have to change our mind about this slave-business. We’ve all been slaves! We’re all sinners ~ saved by grace, yes, but sinners nonetheless.
III. We Have a Deliverer
But, just as God stepped onto the stage of human-history …in-order-to deliver the children of Israel out of Egyptian slavery, …God stepped onto the stage of history in Jesus so that we might be delivered from slavery to sin! Jesus said,
“if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
And Paul wrote,
“[O]ur old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Ro. 6.6) .
The question is not whether we have been slaves ~ …we all have-been! We’ve all been slaves to sin. But, the Sabbath is the time to remember what-we-were and why we no-longer-are what-we-were!
We have a Deliverer! We have a Rescuer! And the bondage that we’ve-been-released-from …is no-less-dramatic than the bondage that the Israelites were-delivered-from in Egypt. By the grace-of-God, …many of us have been delivered from the sticky-clutches of sin! And the Sabbath is the time to remember that deliverance, …and to remember our Deliverer.
CONCLUSION
Has it been so long?... Has it been so long that we’ve forgotten what God has done for us? We are so-prone to forget! We have trouble remembering what we had for lunch two-days-ago. We have trouble remembering our anniversary. We have trouble remembering to pay our bills before the due-date. We have trouble remembering so-many-things ~ …some-of-which are trivial, …and others are quite-important.
But-friends, …we also lapse-in-our-memories when it comes to remembering where we used-to-be, …and what God has done for us!
I think that it’s absolutely spot-on that in Deuteronomy the fourth commandment has this statement about “remembering”. In the Book of Exodus, …if you looked up the fourth commandment, …do you know what you’d find?... You’d find almost the same-wording and the same-language with a noticeable difference: …In Exodus, there’s no statement about remembering!
Now, let me put this in a time-chart for you: Exodus tells us about God’s dealings with Pharaoh and the Egyptians, …the plagues …and God’s deliverance through the Sea; …it tells about Mt Sinai and the pillar-of-cloud and the pillar-of-fire and the chiseling of the Ten-Commandments. In a word: …Exodus is all-about the beginning-stages of the children of Israel being freed from Egypt. Deuteronomy, on-the-other-hand, …Deuteronomy takes place at the end of Israel’s 40 years in the desert. Deuteronomy takes place just-before the children of Israel march into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy is the last chapter of forty-years of living-in-the-desert. The first generation of people have passed-on. Deuteronomy is for a new generation. And they are told to remember. Do you think that they-too were prone to forget? Do you think that there was the danger that they wouldn’t listen to the stories that their parents had told them about God’s deliverance? Do you think that there was the danger that they’d forget about their own sin-in-the-desert? Do you think that as they moved into the Promised Land with all it’s blessings, …do you think that they’d forget that it was all the Lord’s doin’!?!
I think that it’s absolutely spot-on that in Deuteronomy the fourth commandment has this statement about “remembering”. I think that God knew that as walls began to tumble, …and Canaanites began to surrender, …and the land became theirs ~ …I think that God knew that they’d be prone to forget. To forget His deliverance. To forget His mercy. To forget His patience. To forget His strong-and-mighty-arm!
And-ya-know-what!?! I think He knows that we’re prone to forget, too! And-so… He commands us to keep the Sabbath… Why? So that we’ll have a time set-aside …every-week, …to remember.
Life is hectic and our Enemy is busy ~ …and the more-stuff that gets thrown-at-us, …it diverts our attention, …and our memories fade, …and before-ya-know-it we’re acting-as-though it never happened!
This command to keep Sabbath is not a burden, …it’s not a chore, …it’s doesn’t come from a tyrant who just-wants-to micro-manage our time! No… the command to keep the Sabbath is a beautiful, tender blessing from God-our-Savior! It is a gift that serves to keep us rooted, …grounded, …established in the knowledge of who-we-are, …and who-we-were, …and Who-it-is that has made us different!
Like all gifts, Sabbath is supposed-to elicit praise and thanksgiving from us. Let us not set the Sabbath aside ~ …not-just because we don’t want to offend God ~ …but-also because we believe that this gift is a good-gift, …a precious-gift to be treasured.
But-another-reason not to set-aside the Sabbath is this: …we need as-many-opportunities as-possible to remember and to-be-reminded of God’s deliverance, …of all-that-God has done for us; …We need to remember that we used to be lost-in-sin, …and-that we’d still-be-there, if it weren’t for the powerful, redeeming, delivering hand of God! Do you get that? …Oh, I hope so! I hope that we understand how-important it is for us to remember: …who we-used-to-be, …what life-was-like-before, …all that God-has-done-for-us, …the ways that He has delivered us from the clutches of sin.
If we remembered this, …Sunday’s would-be a day of-tremendous-celebration. We’d be more excited than when our favorite football team scores a touchdown! We’d be more excited than when grandma makes a cheesecake! We’d be more excited than if Publisher’s Clearinghouse knocked on our door!
Let us remember the redemptive, deliverance of God. Once we were dead in our trespasses; …now, we are alive in Christ Jesus. Once we were lost in sin; …now, we are found in the Lord. Once we were enemies of God and of one another; …now, we are friends of God and brothers-and-sisters to one another. Let us remember what God has done for us!
