Ten Commandments Part 8
The 3rd
Commandment (Protestant 4th) “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy.”
This is the only commandment
that is cast in both a positive and negative light. The Sabbath draws us back towards Eden. It’s a reminder of Creation, when God rested
from his work. In celebrating the
Sabbath we have a momentary glimpse of being in the presence of God, just as
Adam and Eve did. The curse of Adam, the
primal Fall of man, is momentarily reversed.
It’s a reminder that all of life is to be lived holy.
The
motivation behind the command differs in Exodus 20 from Deuteronomy 5. The commandment in Exodus 20:8-11 focuses on
creation. At the end of creation God
rested. He sanctified the seventh day
(Genesis 2:1-3). The commandment in
Deuteronomy 5:14-15 focuses of liberation and freedom, adding the ethical
component of rest for slaves. It is to
be considered a day of rest, commemorating all God has done for us (Deuteronomy
5:12-15). Jesus fulfills both aspects in
his resurrection. He recreated
everything, which is why the Lord’s Day is Sunday. He liberated us from Satan’s bondage. He gives a commentary on this commandment
saying that “the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” It is for our benefit.
Think of what God is telling us
in this commandment! He tells us not to
become enslaved by work. We are to take
time for rest every seven days. We are
to see that those who may work for us also have time for rest. He reminds us of all that he has done, and
continues to do for us. Our gratitude
should lead us to worship.
We can best
show gratitude by worshipping together with other believers. We find ourselves
in the presence of God when we attend church.
This is especially true for Catholics and Lutherans in the celebration
of the Eucharist. For Protestants, a
good practice is to visualize Jesus sitting in the front pew. What difference it makes when we really
believe Christ is present with us in worship!
Being in church on Sunday mornings should be an awe inspiring, joyous
occasion. The great festivals of the
Christian year are based on this joy.
The Sabbath
is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the idolatry of
money. God is owed our worship because
everything we have is due to him.
There are three important words in this
commandment – Remember, Holy and Rest.
The Hebrew word translated “remember” describes thought leading to
appropriate action. This is seen in the
Scriptures where God remembers his covenant (Ex 2:24; Ps 106:45). God told Israel “Remember, I intervened in
human history to free you from slavery.”
He tells us “Remember, I intervened for you by freeing you from slavery
to sin.” Every time we see a crucifix or
picture of Christ it should cause us to remember what God has done for us. When you wake in the morning, call to mind
God’s deeds. When you examine your
conscience at night recall all that God has done for you this day. One of the greatest indictments against
Israel is found in Psalms 78:10-11. They
forgot.
How
does one hallow the Sabbath? Joy
Davidman makes an interesting point about the Sabbath. “How does one keep a day holy? By making it unpleasant, and restrictive, and
boring – or by making it joyous? By
making it as much a possible like hell or as much as possible like heaven?”[1] If in worship we receive a glimpse of God’s
presence it should be joyous. “To
make holy” implies setting it apart, making it special. God sanctified the Sabbath by consecration,
we sanctify it by devotion.
Our
society has a problem with rest. We tend
to agree with the Roman philosopher Seneca who said “To spend every seventh day without doing anything means to lose a
seventh part of life”[2] Our culture operates at a frenetic
pace. There is always something we feel
we should be doing. This can negatively
affect our relationship with God. It can
become easy to shortchange our time in prayer, Bible study and even church
attendance. We become guilty of
violating the first commandment. God
becomes second best. We have a crisis of
rest. We really don’t know how to rest.
One of the essentials of being human is leisure – doing something for its own
sake. We need to learn how to rest,
play, etc. without feeling guilty.
Our
resting on the Sabbath points to God’s care for us. It points to our acknowledgement of our
dependency on God. We are free to take a
day off from our labors, knowing that he will provide. Jesus reminds us that the Sabbath is made for
man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).
In the ancient Babylonian creation myths the gods create man to do their
work so the gods can rest. God, at the
end of creation rests. In this command
he also gives us rest
There
are three works which should be performed on the Sabbath. We should do works or piety – attendance at
mass or church, prayer, scripture reading and meditation. We should do works of necessity – those
things which if not done would be harmful.
And we should do works of mercy for the good of others. It’s a day to remember that the Sabbath is a
memorial of God’s great mercy towards us.
You
wanted me to live carefree, Lord. But I
have not believed the promise which you made me. There was always the fear that I might miss
something: fail at work, miss out on fun, get nothing from my life. Now I simply cannot even rest; and I live
among people for whom it is just the same.
The pace is getting increasingly deadly!
We deserve it, Lord, that you should let us perish in our restlessness
and that we should lose you for all eternity.
We cannot help ourselves, Lord, but be merciful and let us find peace
with you again.[3]
Food for thought
1.
How
does your prospective change when you visualize Jesus being present with you in
worship?
2.
Do you
have problems finding time to rest? What
can you do to rest?
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