Ten Commandment 5 (4th Commandment part 2)
Bible passage: Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who [a]stays with you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lordblessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today, in the fifth sermon of the Ten Commandments, we will continue to look at the 4th Commandment. Two weeks ago, we looked at why the Sabbath, originally observed on Saturday, was changed to Sunday after Jesus' resurrection. The reason was, Sunday was the day when the Lord of the Sabbath, our Lord Jesus, destroyed the power of death and resurrected, thereby giving our souls true rest and the hope of eternal rest. It was also mentioned that children of God who remember and keep the Sabbath holy were promised complete resurrection and entry into eternal heaven at the Lord's Second Coming.
Those who faithfully observe the Sabbath and offer whole tithes receive are protected from accidents or disasters. This is because observing the Sabbath and offering whole tithes are the acts of acknowledging God's sovereignty both spiritually and physically. To receive protection and blessings as God’s children, most basically, we are to recognize God’s sovereignty by completely observing the Sabbath. Today, we’ll look at how to keep the Sabbath day wholly in detail. Dear brothers and sisters, the term "rest" literally means "to relax comfortably." The rest that God speaks of is not simply about not working or taking a leisurely break. This kind of rest has nothing to do with God. When we pursue worldly physical rest, we’re lea towards the path of death.
Isaiah 58:13-14 advise, “Turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day… and seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word.” It indicates that the Sabbath should be kept holy without indulging in worldly pleasures. The rest God speaks of is not physical but ‘spiritual rest.’ Spiritual rest means to remember that the day is dedicated to God, come before Him, and keep it in a holy manner. It means to come to the Lord’s sanctuary, not engaging in worldly affairs, share the bread of the Word, communicate with the Lord in praise and prayer, and experience spiritual rest. It also includes sharing grace through fellowship and growing in faith. When you have such spiritual rest, God will help your faith to grow and your soul to prosper.
Dear brothers and sisters, then, what do we need to do to keep the Sabbath day holy? Firstly, we need to desire the Sabbath’s blessings and prepare ourselves as worthy vessels to receive them. The Sabbath is a day that God has set apart as holy, and a joyous day to receive blessings. The latter part of Exodus 20:11 tells us, “The Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy,” and Isaiah 58:13 says, “Call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word.” If we truly consider the Sabbath as holy and joyous, we will prepare for it in advance.
In Israel, people still observe the Sabbath on Saturday following the Old Testament laws. They make full preparations for the Sabbath from the day before. They prepare food in advance and, if traveling during the week, they hurriedly arrive home by Friday evening to observe the Sabbath. We should also adopt a similar mindset in preparing for the Sabbath Throughout the week, you should live in a way that ensures readiness before God on Sunday. This means staying on alert in prayer and living in the truth. Keeping the Sabbath completely is the same as living according to God’s Word throughout the week. It’s important to repent of any shortcomings to God before Sunday, so that you can welcome the Sabbath begins with a clean heart.
You should boldly come to worship, like a bride waiting for her groom, with joy and anticipation. With this heart, you would physically groom yourself well and make sure your home is clean and tidy. You would also prepare clean Sunday clothes in advance. Saturday nights must not affect the ability to worship on Sunday. It’s important to prepare the heart, mind, and physical areas to observe the Sabbath fully and ready yourselves as a vessel to receive grace. For your reference, you’re advised to avoid fasting on Sundays. Of course, when undertaking a long fast, you may need to fast on Sundays. It’s not to say that it’s wrong to fast on Sunday.
But if possible, it is better not to fast but to eat, worship in joy and fullness, and share fellowship on the Lord’s Day. Dear brothers and sisters, to keep the Sabbath holy, secondly, you must dedicate the entire day to God. Some people only attend the main morning worship service and rest or take care of business in the afternoon. This is not considered keeping the Sabbath Day wholly. If you truly fear God, you wouldn’t take care of any personal business while the afternoon service is being offered. Skipping the afternoon service and going about business during worship usually stems from your worldly desires or interest. If you partially observe the Sabbath, eve while you attend the main worship service, you’re likely to be distracted by idle thoughts about worldly things. You may think of quickly finishing the service to rest, wanting to go out and worrying about traffic, hanging out with friends or quickly opening the business after church. These thoughts can distract you from focusing on the Word, leading to fatigue.
To truly keep the Sabbath holy, it's important to be not only physically present in the church but also have your heart completely focused on God. God will receive and delight in your heart’s aroma when you worship in spirit and in truth and focus solely on God on Sunday. To fully observe the Sabbath, not just the time spent in worship but how you spend the rest of the day are important. Simply fulfilling the obligation to attend the services is not enough. It’s important to engage in fellowship and serve God's kingdom in various ways after the services. While it’s acceptable to rest at home afterwards, this does not mean you may indulge in worldly pleasures. It’s beneficial to reflect on the Word. When you engage in conversations, they have to be ones of truth and grace.
Though it’s best if you don’t watch TV, if you must watch, choose to watch wholesome and spiritually enriching programs rather than shows that provoke worldly lust or seek fleshly pleasures. God will be pleased with your effort in keeping yourselves holy before Him even in such areas and grant you joy, the fullness, and true rest. Thirdly, to keep the Sabbath holy, you shouldn’t engage in secular business. Nehemiah, the governor of Jerusalem, recorded in Nehemiah 13:15, " In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys, as well as wine, grapes, figs and all kinds of loads, and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day.
So I admonished them on the day they sold food." When Nehemiah saw the people of Judah buying good from Gentiles on the Sabbath, he said in Nehemiah 13:17-18, “What is this evil thing you are doing, [b]by profaning the sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble?” This shows that the Israelites were not protected but faced calamities because they violated God’s commandments by working and trading on the Sabbath. So, Nehemiah strictly prohibited labouring and buying and selling with Gentiles on the Sabbath. He even expelled Gentile merchants sleeping outside the city. They were waiting to come in and trade once the Sabbath ended. Nehemiah expelled even these people to eliminate any possibility of violating the Sabbath. If you abstain from work and trade to observe the Sabbath, will it result in a loss? No, of course not.
The Almighty God always rewards those who keep His commandments with blessings. In Exodus 16, God provided manna from heaven to feed the Israelites when they were in the wilderness. The people could gather manna every morning only enough for one day as it would spoil and become inedible if kept overnight. But surprisingly, on the day before the Sabbath, the Israelites were allowed to gather twice the usual amount. The manna did not spoil overnight and could be eaten on the Sabbath. On the Sabbath mornings, there was no manna to be found. So, people went out to gather in vain. The same principle applies today.
Observing the Sabbath and not working does not result in a reduction of daily income. Working one more day does not necessarily bring additional benefits either. Instead, those who honor the Sabbath can receive an income of a 7-day worth of labor or more for their six days of work. On the contrary, if you disregard the Sabbath and work the entire week, even though your income seems to have increased, you may face unexpected losses due to various accidents or diseases. So, working more leads to no real benefit. Neglecting the Sabbath and disregarding God's sovereignty distances you from salvation in addition to giving no benefits. God emphasized the importance of observing the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments and even commanded in Numbers 15 that a man caught working on the Sabbath be stoned to death. This strict punishment was a warning to ensure that many people would remember the importance of the Sabbath and not go the path of destruction. Dear brothers and sisters, to keep the Sabbath holy, you should not engage in secular business, including work and trade.
But, there are times when work is permitted on the Sabbath, particularly in cases necessary for fulfilling the Lord's work or acts of goodness to save lives. Matthew 12:5-8 say, "Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple [a]break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this [b]means, ‘I desire [c]compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent." Priestly duties like sacrificing animals and burning grain as offerings are not considered to be violating the Sabbath. Similarly, God does not consider activities carried out under the Lord of the Sabbath as breaking the Sabbath. For instance, if Sunday school teachers or the choir need food and there is no dining facility or means to provide food in the church, then buying meals from the outside is permissible. Though it is better to provide meals without relying on the outside. For example, our church provides lunch for all members on Sundays. A church kiosk for the convenience of the congregation is also not considered a violation of the Sabbath.
A church kiosk does not sell worldly goods. It has Bibles, hymns, and books which give life in the Lord and remains open on Sundays for those who need to purchase these items. The proceeds are not for personal gain but are entirely directed towards missions, charity, and other good works in the church. It’s the same with selling snacks and drinks in the kiosk. This is to help the members keep the Sabbath wholly. For example, when their kids cry and whine, parents may have to go outside to buy a snack to properly offer the service. Some novice believers may go outside to buy drinks. As the faith grows, you would prepare necessary items before Sunday or go without them for a day. But, these aspects can be challenging when your faith is still immature.
So, we operate the church kiosk to help these believers keep the Sabbath more fully. All profits are not for personal gain but used for good works within the church. There are also certain jobs where working on Sundays is necessary such as military, police, and hospitals workers. Adversaries can invade and crimes need to be dealt with on Sundays. Emergency patients and care for the hospitalized must be provided as well. Those in essential roles are engaged in good, life-saving duties, so God does not consider it a violation of the Sabbath if they must work on Sundays. But even in such cases, if they truly believe in God, they would try to attend worship services. They would remember the Sabbath and have their hearts oriented towards God, regardless of their location. It would be preferable to request permission from a superior or change your schedule to observe the Sabbath. But, it is not true faith if you violate the Sabbath for personal reasons like fearing significant losses from not signing contracts on Sundays or losing regular customers.
Of course, we cannot force new believers with immature faith to stop working on Sundays no matter what. For they could forsake their faith by these demands, it’s important to be patient and wait until they develop faith to observe the Sabbath on their own. Still, it is essential for church leaders to clearly teach why keeping the Sabbath is a blessing both spiritually and physically. There are also worship services on Sunday evenings for those who cannot fully observe the Sabbath due to their jobs in department stores or restaurant businesses. (Light and Salt worship services are available if commitments like national exams fall on a Sunday morning) What should church leaders do if there are church members who have weddings on Sunday?
Would it be inappropriate to attend a celebration where unbelievers eat and drink, on the holy Sabbath? If one believes in God but choose to have a wedding on Sunday, it suggests he has immature faith. In such a case, he may misunderstand or stumble in faith if no one from the church attends. So, it is acceptable for his leaders to attend and offer congratulations after attending worship. Matthew 12:11-12 tells us, “What man [a]is there among you who [b]has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do [c]good on the Sabbath.” Like Jesus’ words, it's not about attending worldly celebrations out of a lack of faith. It’s an act of extending mercy to prevent a soul which is more precious than all creation soul from stumbling.
But staying long after the wedding and mingling with worldly people is not acceptable. Brothers and sisters, there may be other questions relating to the Sabbath. To find answers, you need to come into spirit and discern God's heart. Above all, 'God desires mercy, not sacrifice.' God doesn’t just look at 'what actions you have taken,' but at your intentions, the 'why’ of the actions. If you truly revere God in your heart, you would never consider using any excuse to violate the Sabbath. When you are free from evil, truly revere God and love souls, you will not be bound by the traditions of the elders like the scribes and Pharisees who were hypocrites. Instead, you can observe the law and find true rest in God. You will be able to discern God's will amidst the works of the Holy Spirit and enjoy freedom within the truth.
Dear brothers and sisters, Nehemiah 13:22 says, “And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come as gatekeepers to sanctify the sabbath day. For this also remember me, O my God, and have compassion on me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness.” Nehemiah could confidently pray this way, because he’d fully done his duties by completely observing the Sabbath and teaching the people to do the same 1 John 3:21-22 tells us, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence [a]before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”
I hope that you will also observe the Sabbath completely and keep God’s commandments, thereby being able to confidently ask anything before God. I pray that God will remember you, always give you grace, and lead you to the best heavenly dwelling places.
