Text: Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Theme: Work, Rest and Worship
Greetings: The Lord is good; and his love endures forever.
Illustration: A man in a confessional said, “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have committed the sin of vanity. Twice a day I look in the mirror and tell myself how Handsome I am.” The priest took a look at her and said, “My dear, that isn’t a sin. It’s simply a mistake.”
Introduction to Sabbath:
The word Sabbath is found in the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments, and is presented as a positive formulation. Sabbath is found in Exodus 20:1-17, and in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. Scholars have recognised this: “Deuteronomy is more explicit than Exodus regarding the Sabbath commandment.” “Deuteronomy’s distinctive formulation of the Ten Commandments increases the importance of the Sabbath.” The Sabbath commandment “is at the center of the pattern. The Sabbath commandment is given a central, mediating position.”
This passage commences with three principles: 1. Six days you must work, 2. Seventh day is the day of rest, and 3. Keep the seventh day. This fourth commandment is a call to Remember the sabbath day, keep it holy, and rest in it (Exodus 20:8-11). So, it’s a call to work, rest and worship.
Observation of the Text:
Observe the sabbath day, Keep it holy, Six days work, Seventh day no work. Remember you were slave. It’s a blessed day. Seven days working pattern is a slavery system (Deuteronomy 5:15). In short I would like to say, Remember the Lord, remember the sabbath, and remember your slavery.
Remember the Lord to worship him, remember the sabbath to keep it holy, remember the slavery to enjoy the liberation and the rest.
Six days of work - “Remember the Lord”
The words Remember and memorial are from the Hebrew root word ‘zkr.’ The creator, the redeemer and the judge are one and the same. There are a few important truths such as creation, redemption and judgement, which were and are and will be. God created out of nothing that is ‘Bara’. But human beings can build, can form, can make, can create anything and everything out of something. Only God can create space, time, matter, energy and all that exist on the earth.
We read in the scriptures by the word of the Lord the heavens were made. Further we read that He spoke, He commanded and it stood fast (Psalm 33:6,9, Isaiah 45:12, 18). He calls the stars by their names because he has created them (Isaiah 40:26). The we can understand through the New Testament that through Jesus God created everything (Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2).
When we are in worship, we remember that we are creatures of God. We are redeemed people of God. We are community of otherworldly or ‘Maranatha’. We are here in the sanctuary to remember that our image is maturing to the image of God in his likeness and in his holiness.
The Israelites were asked to remember that the Lord has redeemed them with a mighty hand, and an outstretched arm (Deuteronomy 5:15), and to remember that there is no other hand bedsides him.
Israelites sang a great song of redemption after their deliverance from Egypt, so the singing in the worship is not a routine program or an item in the worship but it’s a song of redemption and witness of commemorative celebration.
It means that the Israelites to remember God as creator, redeemer. They were to make a distinction between the seventh day and the rest of the week. Israel’s redemption from slavery is celebrated. It is a time of rest, refreshment, and recuperation for all God’s creatures.
Proverbs 3:6 “Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way.
Deuteronomy 8:18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.(NKJV)
Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”:
By keeping it, observing it we acknowledge our utter dependence on God in worship. We worship him through attending the church is a witness to others that we obey God, that we respect His words, we renew ourselves. Sunday worship helps us to grow deeper in the understanding of God’s creation and redemption in our life journey. So, in Psalm 95:6,7 call us to worship him and bow down and kneel before our creator. Sunday attendance immortalises the creation, redemption of God and his purpose of retiring us to holiness which we lost due to our original sin.
Jesus Christ himself remained faithful to the Scriptures and attended services in synagogues every Sabbath (Mark 1:21; 3:1; Luke 4:16). Christ is also the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). The apostle Paul used to attend synagogues on the Sabbath and preached the good news on numerous occasions (Acts 13:14; 17:2; 18:4).
After His Resurrection, the early church assembled on Sundays, held it as sacred day the Lord’s Day (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). We meet on Sunday to commemorate the resurrection of Christ and to worship HIM, Triune God. So, the observation of Sunday is not a “Christian Sabbath”
2. Remember the sabbath
The English words holy, and sanctify are in Hebrew has the same root ‘qds’ (Exodus 31:13 - sanctify, Exodus 20:8 - holy, Exodus 20:11 - hollowed, Genesis 2:3 - God sanctified it). God mandated that the Israelites observe or keep the Sabbath.
The verb translated as “observe” basically means “to keep,” “to watch,” or “to preserve.” The biblical understanding of keeping something holy is setting it apart for special use or dedicating it for a special purpose. Thus, God asked His people to withhold the sabbath day from ordinary use so that it might be consecrated to Him. The idea is of a celebration. Thus, the Israelites were commanded to celebrate the sabbath day.
Scholars are unsure whether the Hebrew noun Shabbat for Sabbath is related to the Hebrew verb Shabat, “to rest,” or “to cease” desist from exertion. The differences between Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15 appear to be insignificant. However, there are variances with each other regarding the Sabbath. But a careful reading of Exodus 20:8 “Remember (Zakar) the sabbath day, and keep it holy.” Contrasts Deuteronomy 5:12 “Observe (Shamar) the sabbath day, and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.”
Sabbath is a break from the routine of daily labor (Exodus 23:12). The Jewish leaders had made the Sabbath a burden rather than a blessing, and Jesus rebelled against that misapplication, stating in Mark 2:17-18, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Jesus broke the sabbath Law for only two purposes one for the healing and the second for feeding the hungry. Jesus healed people on the Sabbath (Luke 6:9). Healed the Crippled Woman (Luke 13:10-17). Healed a man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-18). Restored a Shrivelled Hand (Matthew 12:9-14, Mark 3:1-6). Healed a Man’s Body (John 7:21-24). Picked Heads of Grain to eat (Matthew 12:1-8, Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-5).
Sabbath serves as a sign of the covenant between God and His people, a symbol that God has set apart a people unto himself (Exodus 31:12–17). The Sabbath is a day of holy convocation (Leviticus 23:2–3) in which the people gather for public worship and instruction in the Torah (Nehemiah 8:8). Assemble with other believers (Leviticus 23:3). Give an offering (Numbers 28:9-10, Nehemiah 10:32-33). Refrain from buying and selling/conducting commerce (Jeremiah 17:19-27, Amos 8:5, Nehemiah 13:15-22). The prophet Isaiah suggested that we should turn away from doing our own pleasure and should “call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable” (Isaiah 58:13).
We can keep Sunday holy by attending Church meetings; reading the scriptures and the spiritual books and commentaries; visiting the sick, the aged, and our loved ones; listening to uplifting Christian music and singing hymns; telling faith-promoting stories and bearing our testimony to family members and sharing spiritual experiences with them; fasting with a purpose; and sharing time with children and others in the home.
3. Remember your slavery and rest on Sabbath
Deuteronomy 5:15 says that remember that you were in slavery. The command to observe the sabbath is the remembrance of their slavery. The seventh day rest was not observed right after the fall till the redemption of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt. Worship of Yahweh is mentioned, prayers are mentioned, sacrifices are mentioned but not the observance of the sabbath till Exodus 20.
There are six days for laboring (Exodus 20:9; Deuteronomy 5:13). One of the purposes for God’s creation of man is that man can work to earn a living (Genesis 2:5,15). Man’s work should not completely dominate his existence. If anyone is working for seven days, certainly he is A SLAVE to the master, to the money, to the company.
The seventh day is a day of rest because of God’s redemptive act on Israel’s behalf during the exodus experience (Deuteronomy 5:15) rather than because God rested on the seventh day (Ex 28:10). Therefore, Jewish prayer before and after the Sabbath meal was “Once we were slaves in Egypt, now we are free people.”
The rest from work is extended to everyone — male and female, free and slave, human and animal, citizen and alien (Exodus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:14), a radical departure from common practice in the ancient world. God gave them a time to rest their bodies. we can’t work non-stop. But while the body rests spirit is renewed.
The sabbath rest is not just relaxation. Sabbath is not just stop the shopping, stop watching the mindless entertainment, stop doing things we do on six days. More than that it means to worship the creator with grateful heart for his creation, redemption and sanctifying us. Through our regular attendance on the Sunday services, not only we worship God but we grow in holiness and sanctified.
The best example is the redeemed exodus community. The Lord has seen their slavery, tyrant task masters. So, God sent Moses and Aaron to redeem them. But they were wearied on the way to the land of milk and honey. The land of prosperity and rest. The land of joy and celebration. So God commanded them to observe the sabbath.
We all have heavy burdens brought on by sin, guilt, sickness, sorrow. We all carry the weight of fear, anxiety, and trouble. In worship, you give your back-breaking loads to God. The rest you receive is the peace and forgiveness, the hope and joy that come from Him. You take a break from this troubling world by remembering that Christ has already overcome it.
Romans 6:16-23 explains how we were slaves of sins be the slaves of righteousness. The Egyptian’s slavery was cruel, extracted their talents, time and energy against to their wishes. They were ill treated and not counted a human beings. Those who live in sin are equally live in disgrace and under the slavery of thoughts of Satan.
We are observing the Sabbath for a rest. Matthew 11:28-30. The rest offered by Jesus was an emotional, a psychological, and a spiritual rest for those who are heavily burdened and heavily loaded. In addition to the basic human need for physical rest there is an equally important need for the mind and the spirit to have a change of pace and tempo for future week.
The church is a place of rest, a place of sanctification, a place of joy and celebration. We are here to o honour God, magnify him and worship him. All other things are immaterial and will not be counted for blessings.
Conclusion:
Sunday worship removes the boredom and fatigue and helps us to move forward in our jobs and businesses. Sunday becomes a symbol of rest for us truly to have in him. It gives sense of identity. It gives us the vertical intimacy with God no a horizontal relationship with one another in Christ, and through Christ. We are restored week after week in our relationships and move on to the blessed state of life.
