What We Believe About The Lord's Day Series

Anybody going on vacation anytime soon? Somebody tell me where you are going. What are you going to do? A buddy of mine said his wife wanted to go on a vacation but he wanted to have a staycation. So, they compromised and had an altercation.

How often do you usually go on a vacation? I know, not often enough. How often should you go on vacation? Sometimes it's a lot of work to go on vacation. Sometimes you get home from vacation and need a couple of days to recover from it. I've been there. So, why do you do it? Most folks would say they enjoy getting away from work but some of y'all are retired and still go on vacations. Why do you do that? Because you can? I hear ya and I don't have a problem with it. Good for you. Seriously.

If you are able to go on a vacation, you should definitely thank the Lord for providing that ability. And did you know that God wants you to take a break from work? He knows you need it. In fact, God says you need a break from work every single week and so He has provided you with a Sabbath day every week. Did you know God created this day for you? He created it for you so you wouldn't overwork yourself and we should honor His wishes by honoring Him on this day. That's sort of the whole premise behind a Sabbath day.

If you will turn just a little way into your Bible to the book of Exodus, we will see a popular passage of scripture. Exodus is between the first book, Genesis, and the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. Most people know this passage but it is often a popular one to ignore for some reason. It is pretty plainly worded. It's not hard to understand. But some folks feel like it doesn't really apply to them. Okay, those other nine commandments, I'll try to follow them, but this one, eh, not so much.

Yes, if you will turn to Exodus chapter 20, we will see the Ten Commandments but I want to focus on just this one because there seems to be some confusion about it. There seems to be the attitude that God wasn't really serious about this. You know, maybe there ought to be Nine Commandments and one Strong Suggestion. Nine Commandments and a Pretty Good Idea. Or maybe just 9 ½ Commandments, something like that.

We are continuing our look at what we believe and today we are looking at the fourth commandment in Exodus chapter 20, verses 8-11. Let's see what God intends for us to do and not do on what we now call the Lord's Day. (And we will see why we call it that, of course.)

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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 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.

Some years ago, after reading this commandment, I had a great fear that one day I would die and I would wake up to see God face to face and He would say, with a smile, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." And then the smile would go away and He would say, "But what part of, Keep the Sabbath holy, didn't you understand?" Have you ever had that thought?

The word "Sabbath" means to rest. The original Hebrew word is "Shabath" and it literally means to rest or cease. I have heard people say it means "seventh" but that is incorrect. My big concordance includes the words, "celebrate" and "be still" which I thought was interesting. But it does not include the words "Saturday" or "Sunday" nor is any other day named in its definition.

The first instance of its use is found in Genesis 2 where it says God rested from creating the world. It wasn't that He was tired and needed a nap. It just means He stopped, He ceased, He Sabbathed, if you will. He created everything just like He wanted. He made the universe and He made the rules that keep the universe humming like a well-oiled machine just as He planned. And in that plan He included seasons; winter, summer, fall and spring. Aren't you glad it doesn't stay this hot year around? Aren't you glad it doesn't stay 10 below year around either? We need seasons. Genesis 8:22 says, "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease." Add that to the list of reasons I don't worry about the scam of global warming. We have seasons of heating and cooling and it is all God's plan.