Ten Words to Live By: The Rhythm of Rest
Exodus 20: 8-11
Patter Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
8-17-2025
Red Lobster Sundays
When we moved from North Carolina to Mississippi to attend seminary, I transferred from the Red Lobster in Raleigh to the Red Lobster in Jackson.
One of the first things we were told in training was, “No Sundays off. Don’t even ask!”
As I began getting to know people on the staff, I discovered quickly that no one cared about working on Sundays, except for the fact that the after-church crowd was rude and didn’t tip well.
I asked to meet with my new manager and told him that I was the only one out of the entire staff that wanted Sundays off. I explained that I was teaching a young married Sunday school class and that being with my church community was very important to my faith. Sunday was our day of worship and rest.
He didn’t get it. It was like I was speaking French. He didn’t understand why anyone would “waste their time” going to church when you could “go to the lake or make money.”
I expected him to say no but to my surprise he said, “If it’s that important to you, I’ll make sure that you don’t have to work on Sundays.”
He honored that promise for the duration of my time there.
Review
God has a top ten list. We know them as the “The Ten Commandments” although that name is never used in the Bible.
In Hebrew, this top ten list is known as the “Ten Words,” or Decalogue, and we find them in Exodus 20.
Pastor John Miller reminds us of three reasons the ten words were given:
* God is holy
* Man is sinful and we need a Savior
* Shows us how to live
They are less rules about what to do and tell us more about who God is to us:
1. One God - God is God.
2. No idols - God is Creator.
3. Revere His Name - God is holy
4. Remember to Rest - God is Rest
5. Honor Parents - God is Father
6. No murder - God is Life
7. No adultery - God is Faithful
8. No stealing - God is a Provider
9. No lying - God is Truth
10. No coveting - God is Sufficient
The ten words are divided into two groups. The first four cover our relationship with God. The last six detail our relationship with others.
The first commandment tells us who to worship - “do not have any other gods before you.” We are to worship God exclusively and passionately. The second commandment tells us how God desires to be worshipped.
The first commandment covers idolatry generally. The second hones in on the specific relationship between visible things and the invisible God.
The third commandment calls us to revere His name in our keeping our promises, avoiding using his name flippantly, in our integrity, and by not playing the “God card.”
If you weren’t here last week, you can always watch the sermon on YouTube, Facebook, or our website.
Today, we come to the fourth commandment - “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” This is probably the most confusing but critically important commandment for us.
There are some people that teach that the Sabbath is no longer applicable to us as New Covenant Christians. Is this true? If not, what place should the Sabbath have in our faith journeys?
Commandment four is the longest of the commandments and the one most repeated in Scripture (over 100 times).
It’s the first commandment that starts with a positive and not “Thou shalt not.”
It’s the only commandment not mentioned in the New Testament.
I heard of one Baptist fellowship which split into three separate groups because they had differences of opinion about how to interpret and apply it. I’ll probably say something you’ll disagree with. I’m OK with that as long as we don’t argue over it. This is not “a hill to die on” issue.
Turn with me to Exodus 20:8-11.
Prayer.
Let’s read it together.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 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” (Exodus 20:8-11)
The What?
When Moses directs them to remember, it’s not like what we think of remembering. Our idea of “remembering” is calling to mind something we forgot. The Greek word for remember means to “recall and put into practice.”
Jesus said the same thing when He instituted communion - “do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19)
As humans, we are forgetful creatures and God has to continually call us back to what is most important.
It’s obvious that Moses is reminding the Israelites of a pattern they already understood.
God developed a pattern of work/rest in creation:
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Genesis 2:2-3)
Even the provision of manna in the desert had followed this rhythm:
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” (Exodus 16:4-5)
They were to gather twice as much the sixth day, because the seventh day would be a Sabbath day and no manna would appear.
The word “Sabbath” has nothing to do with the number seven. It means to “cease from working.” It is a time of intentional rest from labor to concentrate on worshipping God. Ligon Duncan calls it the “stop working day.”
The word rest means to “settle down and be quiet…be still and know that I am God.”
“Keeping it holy” means to set the day apart as sacred. Most pagan nations did not keep a day separate for worshipping their deities. It was a way from the Jewish nation to stand out.
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.”
There is an important lesson in these words - work is for our good and God’s glory. We are to work hard, with integrity, doing our best. But we can also ignore the God-given rhythm of life to our peril. Work six days. Rest one.
Thomas Edison believed sleep was unnecessary. He took small cat naps and worked well over 100 hours a week and expected his employees to do the same. He often had meetings in the middle of the night and set 4:00 am as the time he would do interviews.
Very few people survived working with him for long. They just couldn’t keep up and they suffered emotionally and physically.
Workaholism is rampant in our society, even in churches. I’ve never met anyone on their deathbed that said that their only regret is they didn’t work enough.
God calls us to be a people who do an honest week’s work:
“For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: ‘If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.’”(2 Thessalonians 3:10)
We are commissioned and commanded to work.
Kevin DeYoung writes,
“Every time and everywhere we cycle through Sunday-Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday, we are embodying the Sabbath principles introduced into the world by God Himself.”
On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.
In this command, there is an inherent protection of not only you but those who work for you.
You can imagine a wealthy Jewish man saying, “Well, I keep the Sabbath” while sending his sons, servants, and animals into the fields to continue work.
Even foreigners get a blessing from this day of rest.
When I was in high school, I worked at the food court at the Mall of Memphis. I made pizzas at Sbarros. Three sections down from us was a Chick-fil-A that my brother and all his Christian friends worked at.
Even though they were closed on Sundays, they were the top food court earner week after week.
Why is Chick-fil-A closed on Sundays? S.Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A, had worked long hours in a 24/7 restaurant as a young man and saw the need for family time and rest for himself and his employees.
He made the decision to close on Sundays in 1946 and the policy still stands today, even in airports and stadiums.
He believed it was important for employees to have a day for rest, spending time with family, and worship.
The Why?
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.
Moses grounds the commandment in the creation account. God made the heavens and earth in six literally 24 hour days and then He rested.
He wasn’t gassed. He didn’t collapse from exertion. He ceased from His work to give us a pattern to follow.
Moses not only grounds the Sabbath in creation but also in the rescue from Egypt found in the sister passage from Deuteronomy:
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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 male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 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.” (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)
For 400 plus years, the Israelites had been in bondage in Egypt and worked as slaves. They were told when to work, how to work, and there was no rest for the weary.
God made it clear that He wanted them to live by a very different pattern of life.
The Sabbath in the Old Testament was designed to remind them of their Creator and their Deliverer.
"Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation.” (Leviticus 23:3)
The Sabbath was a sign to the Israelites that God was their God and they could trust Him:
“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘You are to speak to the people of Israel, and say ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.’” (Exodus 31:12-13)
It is important to remember that the Sabbath was a covenant between God and the Jewish people.
It was to be a blessing:
“Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” (Isaiah 58:13-14)
By the time Jesus arrived, the Sabbath had become more of a burden than a blessing.
Jesus and the Sabbath
The Pharisees were considered the most godly people in that culture. They were the rule keepers and interpreted the Law for those around them.
In Jewish tradition, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible contains 613 commands to be kept. These are traditionally divided into 248 positive commandments (things to do) and 365 negative commandments (things not to do).
In other words, in order to protect the original commands, the Pharisees built fences around regulations to make sure no one got close enough to break them.
While this can be good protection, it can and did lead to legalism - empty man-made rules.
Now, let’s draw out some principles from how Jesus viewed the Sabbath. I’m grateful to Ray Fowler and Brian Bill for these insights.
Jesus gathered for public worship one day a week.
“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read.” (Luke 4:16)
It was customary for Jesus to regularly gather for weekly worship. If this was a priority to Jesus, it should be a priority to us.
Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
A case could be made that Jesus intentionally healed people on the Sabbath because He did so on six occasions, confronting the religious leaders each time.
Serving as religious police officers , the Pharisees enjoyed writing tickets about Sabbath-breaking. Jesus showed that doing good and doing works of mercy were to be celebrated on the Sabbath.
“So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’” (Matthew 12:12)
Jesus proclaimed Himself as Lord of the Sabbath.
At that time, Jewish leaders followed 39 Sabbath clarifications, with each having multiple subdivisions, for a total of more than 1500 prohibitions.
For instance,
you couldn’t kill a flea which landed on your arm because you would be guilty of hunting on the Sabbath.
If a man’s ox fell into the ditch, he could pull it out but if a man fell in, he had to stay there.
You could dip your radish in salt but if you left it there too long you were pickling it, and thus working.
Knots couldn’t be tied on the Sabbath, except to tie a girdle.
One time, Jesus and His disciples were walking through some grain fields on the Sabbath and the disciples picked the heads of grain and began to eat. The Pharisees quickly condemned them of four Sabbath violations - reaping, threshing, winnowing, and preparing the grain.
Jesus pointed to the example of David and his companions ate the consecrated bread when they were hungry.
Then He told the Pharisees in Matthew 12:6-8:
“I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:6-8)
Jesus is Sovereign over the Sabbath. He owns it and frees us to do acts of mercy and love for His glory.
Jesus taught the Sabbath was for our benefit.
Jesus said: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath...” (Mark 2:27)
The Sabbath was never intended to be a burden but rather a blessing. The Sabbath was given to people out of the grace of God.
Brian Bill writes:
“This day of rest was to be a time of refreshment, not a day of restriction, a delight, not a duty. Unfortunately, because the religious leaders had added a bunch of laws, rules, and regulations to it, it had become burdensome.”
Saturday/Sunday?
What is the day that we should set aside to worship?
There are those like the Seventh Day Adventist that believe strongly that the day of worship is Saturday.
In fact, some Saturday worship people teach that to worship on Sunday is the mark of the beast!
There are those who believe that Sunday has replaced the Sabbath, so its rules and regulations should still be followed.
Others teach that we can rest and worship on any day we choose.
Here at CBC, we celebrate, worship, remember our Creator and Redeemer on the Lord’s Day, Sunday.
After the resurrection of Jesus, which happened on Sunday, and the post resurrection appearances of Jesus that happened on Sundays,, the Christians began to celebrate on Sunday, The Lord’s Day. setting them apart from the Jewish people who met on Saturday as Sabbath.
We can see this in Acts, even during the life time of Paul:
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.” (Acts 20:7)
“On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” (1 Corinthians 16:2, NIV)
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet". (Revelation 1:10)
In Acts 15, at the council that decided the requirements for newly converted Gentiles, nothing was said about Sabbath keeping.
Not one New Testament writer mentioned Sabbath breaking in the list of sins.
Justin Martyr, an Early Church Father, wrote about 50 years after John, 130 AD (ish)
“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.” (Justin Martyr, 1 Apologia 67)
The early church father Ignatius, writing at the end of the first century, said, “Christians no longer observe the Sabbath, but direct their lives toward the Lord’s Day, on which our life is refreshed by Him and by His death.”
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states:
“From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be a weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since…which is the Christian Sabbath (The Lord’s Day).”
Theologian B.B. Warfield put it like this:
“Christ took the Sabbath into the grave with Him and brought the Lord’s Day out of the grave with Him on the Resurrection.”
In 325, Emperor Constantine declared Sunday a holiday so Christians wouldn’t have to hide in the catacombs.
But let’s also remember that the earliest Christians met every day!
“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-47, NIV)
Paul made it clear that we are no longer under the Mosaic law but under the New Covenant of Grace:
“But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” (Galatians 4:9-11)
“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17)
And the writer of Hebrews (Chapter 3:15-19; 4:1-3; 4:9-11) makes it clear that, as Christians, we do not keep Sabbath, or the feasts, for these are merely shadows, word pictures, pointing to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Christians are under no obligation to go back to calendar feast days or the observance of Saturday Sabbath because they were all part of the Mosaic covenant.
But this is not a primary issue. This is not a “die on the hill issue.”
“One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord…” (Romans 14:5-6)
Don’t make an issue about the Sabbath, recognizing that those believers who celebrate it do so as to the Lord and those who don’t do it as to the Lord.
Interesting Note: Seventh Day Adventists, which is a cult, believe that churches that worship on Sunday are part of AntiChrist’s plan to lure people away from Jesus.
How do we celebrate now?
In 1890, the town of Evanston, Illinois passed a law forbidding the sale of ice cream sodas on Sunday. One creative businessman got around this by selling ice cream with chocolate sauce instead of mixing it with soda water. This new dessert became so popular people began asking for a “Sunday.”
When some objected to a dessert being named after the Lord’s Day, they changed the spelling to “Sundae.” The next time you have a Sundae, remember this came about as a result of some people who wanted to respect the Lord’s Day and others who were looking for a loophole.
John Calvin wrote:
“There is no doubt that by the Lord’s Christ’s coming, the ceremonial part of this commandment was abolished…Christians ought therefore to shun completely the superstitious observances of days.”
He goes on to say that the Lord’s Day was instituted as a substitute for the Sabbath and carries forward the following principles:
A Day to gather for worship
Research tells us that the average Christian attends church 1.8 times a month. That means out of 52 sermons, most people hear less than 25.
I realize there are people that have to work on Sundays, medical personal and other health care workers, police, fire, ambulance drivers and emts, and fast food workers.
Make a commitment to be in service every Sunday this fall. If something happens, work at worshipping on another day and time. If you’re not able to gather in person, engage online.
“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)
The writer of Hebrews makes the case that gathering with others in church is a habit. You can get out of the habit but you can also make it a habit.
Philip Ryken writes:
“Too many people see corporate worship as a good thing to do if the weather is nice but not too nice, if the football game is uninteresting, and the sports practice doesn’t interfere, or if they’re not too tired. Somehow we’ve gotten the idea that gathering with God’s people to worship at God’s throne and to hear from God’s word is something that’s fine to do when it fits our schedule…We may say that Jesus is Lord but end up showing that soccer is our real king.”
Prepare for worship before you arrive. Go to bed early. Lay out your clothes. Read the passage. Pray for your pastor.
Can I encourage you to even come early and attend EQUIP, our adult Sunday school. We are currently going through I Corinthians verse by verse.
I’ve had people say to me that they can worship in a deer stand, or on the lake and that is partly true. But Christianity is a team sport. They miss out on that hug, or that song that encourages their faith, or the Spirit using His Word to change the way you see things spiritually. They miss out on taking communion together, praying together, singing together, giving together, laughing together, crying together.
One more thing, I ran into someone recently who hasn’t been here in a while. They spent the entire conversation apologizing to me that they haven’t been in church. I laughed and reminded them that church isn’t school, we don’t take attendance.
J.I. Packer writes:
“Freedom from secular chores secures freedoms to serve the Lord on his own day. The Sabbath was made for a day of holy rest so that it might be a day of holy work. Physical recreation and family fun will not be excluded, but worship and Christian fellowship comes first.”
A day of rest from our labors
Many of you grew up with rules about what you couldn’t do on Sundays - play cards, go to the movies, or even laugh.
I heard of a pastor that served in a church in snowy New England. After a bad ice storm, the pastor was trying to figure out how to get to the church.
He finally strapped on his skates and skated all the way there. When he arrived on skates, the people immediately called for a vote to dismiss him since he skated on a Sunday.
He explained it was the only way to get there and one of the leaders asked, “Did you enjoy yourself while you skated here?” The pastor answered no. It was cold and he was tired.
This satisfied the congregation and they allowed him to stay.
The Puritans had 39 pages worth of rules of things you couldn’t do on a Sunday.
The Lord’s Day is a blessing not a burden. I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do on Sunday.
It’s not about not doing things. It is a day of rest, reflection, prayer, worship. It’s a day to attend to our souls.
John Ortberg writes that sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.
Trust Christ enough to rest from working. It’s a counter-cultural act that shows that we trust God to provide for us.
When I asked off for Sundays at Red Lobster, that was an act of faith. Maxine hadn’t found a job yet and we needed all the money we could muster. But we trusted resting and trusting in His provision was more important to our souls.
Jesus called out to us:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
to find our spiritual rest in Christ every day of the week.
Trust Christ enough to rest.
Repent and receive the salvation rest Jesus offers. Sabbath is all about rest. Instead of being busy and working to be accepted by God, it’s time to believe and rest in your acceptance.
The promise of a temporary Sabbath rest is a picture of the eternal rest only Christ provides. Once you repent, believe and receive Him, you will find the only rest that will satisfy your soul.
One commentator writes:
The Sabbath was a memorial of creation. The Lord’s day remembers His redemption.
The Sabbath reminds us that God’s work in creation is great. The Lord’s Day reminds us that His redemption is greater.
The Sabbath shows God’s great wisdom in making us. The Lord’s Day shows His miraculous wisdom in saving us.
Someone said it like this:
“Before Christ, we worked all week and then rested on Saturday. They worked to earn their rest. Now that Christ has risen from the dead, we rest on the first day of the week because the work of salvation has been accomplished for us.”
Kevin Deyoung writes:
“Certain aspects of the Sabbath have been abolished. Strip away the cultural context and the case law, the main takeaway from the Mosaic Sabbath is that we rest from our labors and trust in God. This is the principle that we find fulfilled in Christ. Jesus showed us the fullest, deepest meaning of the Sabbath, namely that we should trust God to be our provider, sustainer, deliverer and savior.”
Are you resting in the finished work of Jesus? If you are, that rest is simply a preview of the rest that awaits us once we get to heaven.
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from His.” (Hebrews 4:9)
Ending Video: Rest by Toby Mac
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