Worship, Work And Rest Series

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).