Remember the Sabbath Day, and Keep It Holy

God’s Top Ten List, IV:
“Remember the Sabbath Day, and Keep It Holy”
Exodus 20:8-11
Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 10/03/10

Contemporary Jewish author, Noah benShea, offers the following reflection on life - he writes: “Life is best understood as a tapestry – which means that, by its very nature, we are working at it from the back, ‘in a blind.’ The Sabbath is when we are allowed to turn the tapestry over so that we can see the larger pattern.”
The Sabbath – a day on which we are invited to turn the tapestry of life over and “see the larger pattern” – to stop and get our bearings, be restored, renewed, refocused for living. This is something of what I’d like to talk about this morning.

Today we continue our study of the Ten Commandments with #4: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” And on the surface this seems like the most simple of the ten; almost kind of weak compared to the pressing issues of the others... Almost like God wanted an even ten so he tossed in this “weenie” commandment, basically just instructing us to “TAKE A DAY OFF.” It would seem to be the most easily kept of all the commandments, and the one we would most want to keep – I mean, who is going to argue with taking some time off?
Well, ironically, JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY!
Throughout history, this has actually been one of the more hotly debated commandments. As you may recall, during Jesus’ ministry, it was around this issue of Sabbath observance that Jesus caught the most trouble. Well, in one of Jesus’ many debates over this topic, he sought to push his audience to see not just the letter of the law but it’s intent; and he said: “God made the Sabbath for man not man for the Sabbath.”
Notice what he’s saying stands at the heart of this commandment: That Sabbath is something God created ON OUR BEHALF, for OUR GOOD. “Made for us” – a GIFT given by a loving God to better our lives.
So just what is this “gift”?
Well the word Sabbath is from the verb “to cease” and it basically means to stop and rest. Traditionally, our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate it yesterday – from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. But early in Christianity, the first Christians began celebrating the First Day of the Week – the RESURRECTION DAY – as the Sabbath. Eventually, Emperor Constantine made Sunday the official day of rest for the Empire. And either way, whatever day it is, let’s be honest: Through all the centuries and changes in time keeping; nobody really knows what day it is. Today could be Tuesday for all we know!
But whatever, God is telling us to stop and rest one day a week. And if you don’t think that this is an important instruction, note that this is the longest of all the commandments. In fact, God devotes more time to this then the next six commandments combined!
God is saying this is serious business! Why?
Because God knows that rest is central to our well-being – physical, spiritual, emotional, and relational. As someone once said: “People who cannot find time for rest will be obliged, sooner or later, to find time for illness.”
It is central to our well-being. So what’s the problem?
Well, the problem is that, throughout history, this commandment has been greatly misunderstood. This misunderstanding leading down two opposite yet equally destructive paths:
The first path is a STRICT LEGALISTIC reading of the commandment that results in something more burdensome than blessed. For instance:
The early Jewish teachers decided that there were 39 different types of work and each type was capable of infinite sub-division. In all this micro-management they came up with a list of 1,521 “works” that could not be done on the Sabbath. A woman was forbidden to look in a mirror on the Sabbath lest she see a gray hair and do the work of plucking it out. You could dip a radish in salt on the Sabbath but, if you did so, you had to eat it quickly because if you didn’t it would begin to pickle and that would be work.
If you thought this was tough, the Essenes, the ultra-conservative sect of Jews who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, taught that one should not even go to the bathroom on the Sabbath – lest you “work at it” too hard!
And don’t think it stopped there. In the early days of our own country, devout Christians were no less extreme. In Massachusetts in 1630 a sea captain was put in the stocks for kissing his wife on the Sabbath, as he returned home from a three-year voyage. It was a Sabbath offense, and still is on the books, to shave in Connecticut, to take a bath in Boston, or to hum on the streets in Cicero, Illinois, on Sunday. The State of Nebraska forbids a husband to quarrel with his wife on Sunday. This last one may the only one on the list we need to keep!
This is the first way that Sabbath has been misunderstood and lost: through rigid legalism that makes the day an oppressive one. That’s wrong!! It’s not supposed to be a day where we feel confined and guilty; but rather freed and joyful!
This need for freedom, however, leading to the other path of misunderstanding that has left God’s gift of Sabbath equally lost, namely: We just ignore it altogether! This, of course, is far more the problem in our modern age – in the “24/7” world we now pride ourselves in, we don’t observe Sabbath at all! As it has been said: “Our great-grandparents called it ‘The Holy Sabbath.’ Our grandparents called it ‘The Sabbath.’ Our parents called it ‘Sunday.” We call it ‘The weekend.’”
The special day completely lost. Each day like any other. And what have we gotten for this? One of the most stressed-out, empty, burned-out, exhausted - and lost – generations in human history!
So how do we recover a true sense of Sabbath and its real gifts – not so legalistic that it’s burdensome; but also not so vague that it’s nonexistent? Well, I’d like to offer a few suggestions. Four suggestions for remembering and receiving the gift of the Sabbath...
(I)
Suggestion #1: FIGHT FOR THE DAY.
Right off the top, very simply, to put this in “old school” terms: We need to remember that the devil doesn’t want us to celebrate Sabbath. He doesn’t want us to stop and rest because he knows that as long as he can keep us frantic and running; our lives will be lousy. We’ll be irritable and exhausted. Our work, our relationships, our happiness all will suffer.
He’s going to try everything to keep us from stopping. So we need to know that we have to FIGHT FOR THIS DAY or it will be immediately taken from us. And what this means is that we have to fight to DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. To really make this a day of rest. Yes, believe it or not, goofing off once a week is a sacred calling!
Now this doesn’t mean that if you have to go to work on Sunday, or if your child has some sports activity for a season, that you’re a bad person. The question is whether or not you’re trying to take some time in the day to stop (if absolutely necessary, though not the ideal, faithfully doing no work some other day) – or just making excuses. That is, the real question that needs to be asked is: Why am I making this decision to do something on this day – for a legitimate reason or a rationalization? You see, there are three main hidden forces we have to confront that tend to take Sabbath from us:
The first is SELFISHNESS – We want everything. Often we do things on the Sabbath simply because we don’t want to miss out on something. Ironically, this constant “grasping” causing us to lose the greater blessing of stopping. Much of what we “have to have” we could do better without. Sabbath ultimately demands that we own-up to our choices – and that’s why it is traditionally so bothersome!
The second force is then simple TIME MANAGEMENT – Let’s face it: A lot of the things we do on Sunday: shopping, housework, etc... we say that this is on the only day we can do this; but the truth is that, most often we could have done these things some other day, we just didn’t want to do it then – we did other things. Remember, God is clear here: “Six days shall you labor...” In other words: “You have six days to get things done.” The Fourth Commandment is not simply about one day; it’s about whether or not we’re listening to God the whole week.
The final force is then PRIDE – Basically, we convince ourselves that we must keep busy because “we’re so important that the world won’t keep spinning without us”. “I have to do this!” Really?! A corollary to this being the modern plague of the over packed schedule - people taking the measure of their worth in how busy they are, particularly how they are busier than everyone else.
Well, constant busyness does not necessarily prove worth. More often than not, it simply indicates poor planning, and even more: a lack of faith in God or anyone else. In Sabbath, God is trying to teach us to TRUST: That the world does keep spinning without us. That he has hold of things and we can stop for a day. Do we believe this or are we faithless?
Let me ask you: Are you willing to go one day without turning on your computer, without checking your email – one day without turning on your phone and checking your messages? If not, just how important are you?
Essentially, the first basic question of Sabbath observance is this: Do I really need to do this today? Is the world going to come to an end if don’t? Does my life truly depend on it? Can this wait? Can I do this another day? If so, let it go. Stop and trust.
To you remember the story of Olympian Eric Liddell? It was portrayed in the film “Chariots of Fire.” In 1924, a young Scotsman named Eric Liddell entered the Olympic games for Great Britain. He was favored to win the 100 meter dash, but the race fell on Sunday, and Liddell, a devout Christian, refused to run that race. It caused a fury in Great Britain. He was greatly criticized. But the next day he ran a race he had never run before the 200 meters, and he won the Gold Metal. He rested in Christ, and trusted him for the results. And God provided for him all that he needed. Are we willing to do the same?
Suggestion #1: FIGHT FOR THE DAY.
(II)
Suggestion #2: KEEP IT HOLY.
In the text, God tells us that this special day is to be a “Sabbath unto the Lord.” That is, it’s not just a “day off” it’s also a day focused on God – a “holy day”. And this is the second point here:
Taking a day off is great; but Sabbath is more than that: From its earliest observance it’s been about stopping to take some particular time to focus on God in worship, to get our lives re-centered on our Savior, to be truly recharged and redirected. A time to gather with the COMMUNITY of faith – not just a solo act (notice how the commandment states that this is for the whole community together.) And as God (obviously) makes it clear here: we need this WEEKLY however we get it! Not every once in a while, whenever we feel like it, twice a year – Christmas and Easter! One author writes:
“Sabbath is primarily and preeminently a day of worship; a day to focus on God to get a spiritual tune-up. The tragedy is many people now just simply take the day off. They use it to take care of their mind and their body, but then they ignore their most important need which is their spirit. Most Americans have taken Sunday and turned it from a holy day into a holiday. The problem with this is that if all you ever do is work and play then you will start thinking all there is to life is work and play, but there is a lot more to life than just work and play.
“I know there are some people who don’t obey this commandment because they say that Sunday is the only time they have to spend with their families. And that seems so noble, who can argue with that: love of family? Well, let me just say two things: First of all, if your really love your family, there is no better place to spend with your family on God’s day than in God’s house, worshipping God with God’s people. And secondly, if Sunday is the only time you’ve got set aside for your family, you need to reorder your priorities. What you are saying is that your family is not really a big deal any other time of the week.”
Beware the barrenness of a busy life that majors in work and minors in worship. It’s a proven fact that people who, once a week, stop and join with their community of faith live healthier, happier lives. More stable, less stressed out, fewer ailments, better relationships. If nothing less, remember this:
If you really want to remain healthy and safe, avoid riding in automobiles because they are responsible for 20 percent of all fatal accidents. Do not stay home because 17 percent of all accidents occur in the home. Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because 14 percent of all accidents occur to pedestrians. Avoid traveling by air, rail, or water because 16 percent of all accidents involve these forms of transportation. Of the remaining 33 percent, 32 percent of all deaths occur in hospitals. So above all else, avoid hospitals.
You will be pleased to learn that only .001 percent of all deaths occur in church services. Therefore, the safest place to be at any given point in time is at church!
A poet once wrote: “Like a navigator needs a north star, like a builder needs a plumb line, like a mathematician needs a square root, like a musician needs a fixed note, so we who believe, in a sometimes hectic and overwhelming world, need a sanctuary, and the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
Suggestion #2: KEEP IT HOLY. Which leads to...
(III)
Suggestion #3: GIVE IT A REST.
In the commandment, the phrase “keep it holy” literally means: “keep it SET APART.” And one the meanings of this is that Sabbath should be a SPECIAL DAY not like any other day of the week. Which leads us to the third point here, simply put:
How often are our Sabbaths empty and meaningless because we just plain don’t live any differently than any other day? Particularly, we tend to be as nasty and unkind and worldly as we are the rest of the week – most especially right here in church?! It shouldn’t be this way! What if we were to really change the way we live on this day?
Suggestion #3: To really celebrate Sabbath, don’t just take a rest, GIVE IT A REST! Make Sunday a day when you refrain from all nastiness and anger and complaining and whining and criticizing and finding fault. Make it, instead, a day when you praise and rejoice and forgive and celebrate and encourage! Imagine how different, in a very tangible way, our lives – here, at home, out in the world – would be if we did this! Preacher Chuck Swindoll puts it this way: “(True Sabbath observance results in) a relaxed, easygoing Christian who is miles more attractive and effective than the rigid, uptight brother who squeaks when he walks and whines when he talks.”
Let me ask: How many people are willing to try this out, right now - for the Sundays in this month to resolve to not complain or criticize but only to praise and rejoice? If you’re willing to try this out, raise your right hand and repeat after me:
“Dear Lord, I pledge, that for the five Sundays in this month I will take a Sabbath from being an annoying jerk. Help me not to whine, complain or criticize; but to instead celebrate and praise and laugh. Amen.”
We’re all on our honor!
Suggestion #3: GIVE IT A REST. All of which leads, finally, to...
(IV)
Suggestion #4: STOP IN THE NAME OF LOVE.
Notice how God finally makes it clear that Sabbath is not just for an individual to observe; but something that is to be given to all: to one’s entire family, to one’s servants, to the foreigners living in one’s midst, to the animals of the field – all creation!
Final key point here: Sabbath is not simply something we are to receive but something we are to SHARE. Sadly, quite often the way we celebrate Sabbath negates this – that is: We often celebrate a day of rest by making someone else work. “I’m not going to cook, let’s go out to dinner.” “I love shopping. Let’s head out to the store.”
Now, this is very tricky – because our lives are so intertwined – but the final question in truly celebrating Sabbath is: How can I not only observe Sabbath BUT OFFER IT somehow? Offer it to creation by not using my car for a day or by turning off the lights in my house? Offer it to some worker by not going out to eat or shop? Offer it to someone close to me, by simply doing for myself what they always does for me? Give rest to someone else?
Now, some will argue: “But this is pointless! It’s not really going to change anything. The stores, the restaurants, the businesses are still going to be open. Many of the people working may not even care about the Lord and Sabbath!”
True. But that’s not the point. The point of faith in Christ is not to force compliance to our point of view; but simply to live our beliefs so that others may benefit – to offer the love of God whatever is made of it. Each week ask: How can I offer Sabbath today? One author writes:
“Sunday was my day to sleep in. I had been raised in the church but didn’t go anymore – I didn’t see the point, and my husband didn’t have any interest. But I felt my daughter Jessica needed basic religious instruction, so every Sunday morning I would get up and make her breakfast, get her dressed, and then drive her to Sunday School. I’d still be in my pajamas when I dropped her off... and when I picked her up.
“This went on for a couple of years until one Sunday morning when I came down and found Jessica eating a bowl of cereal. She had made her breakfast for herself. I was pleasantly surprised but didn’t think much of it until it happened again the next week, and the next, and the next.
“Finally, on the fourth Sunday I asked, “Jessica, what inspired you to get up and make breakfast for yourself? She replied, “Well, a few weeks ago we learned about Sabbath in Sunday School. It’s a day of rest. I figured - You never get a day of rest, so I’ll do this myself to help you out.”
“I began to choke up a bit. I drove her to church and back; but during the week ahead what she had said worked on me. The next Sunday, when Jessica came down for breakfast, I was there, all dressed up and sipping a cup of coffee. “I think I’ll go to church with you.” I said. Her face beamed.
“We headed over to church: her to Sunday School, me to Bible Study. Afterwards we went to service, and we sat in church and held hands. On the way home we talked about the service. This was our Sunday morning pattern from then on: she’d make her breakfast, I’d make mine, and we’d go to church together.
“Today, my daughter is all grown up and moved on. But every Sunday afternoon she calls to talk to me. It’s a special time. She tells me about her church service, and I tell her about mine. You see, now I gladly go on my own, having found the Lord – thanks to the Sabbath my daughter gave me all those years ago.”

A musician once said: “Music consists of pitch and silence, of notes and rests. There is no music in a rest; but there is the making of music in it.”
The rests – where the making of the music of life happens. Fight for the day. Keep it holy. Give it a rest. And stop in the name of love.

“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.”