Ten Commandments
IV “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”
A preacher rode by one Sunday morning to see a farmer and church member
at work harvesting. “Brother,” the minister lectured him, “don’t you know that
the Creator made the world in six days and rested on the seventh?” “Yes,” said
the farmer, “I know all about that, but He got finished and I didn’t!”
There has been much debate over one particular thing in this
commandment; What constitutes “work”?
Where do we draw the line? What about jobs that require you to work on
Sundays? I believe God exhibits grace concerning some things. However, when I
had jobs that required me to work on Sundays, I would have to say my spirit
suffered, because I missed the worship and I missed the fellowship. (Other
testi-monies?)
There are three things that I would say are important in this scripture;
“remember”, “rest”, and “revere”. It’s a call to remember basically three
things about God;
1. God’s power and creation. 2. God’s provision. 3. God’s holiness.
It is also a call to “rest”. God
took time out to rest and enjoy his creation. He made us, He created us, He
certainly knows that we need rest and relaxation. Physically, emotionally,
mentally, spiritually, our bodies need time to refresh. Statistics show that after 40 hours of work,
concentration levels drop; mistakes increase; moral begins to nosedive; and
even our health is affected. People who
are workaholics lead the charts in work related disorders such as; high blood
pressure, heart problems, stress and depression… This is why God built into the
system a “mini-vacation” called the Sabbath.
We need a physical change of environment. We need an emotional change of
environment. We need to encounter joy, and creativeness, and fellowship. And,
of course, we need a spiritual re-charge.
What we receive on the Sabbath gives us what we need to base the rest of
our week and our lives on. If we do not
take time to rest and focus on God, we will become worn out physically -
“burn-out” - we will get burned out emotionally and spiritually as well. This
causes us to get caught in a downward spiral that weakens marriages; divides
families; puts tension on friendships; and even weakens our moral and ethical
convictions.
God wants us to stop working on the Sabbath, but He also wants us to
start worshipping. That’s why He adds “and keep it holy”… the word “holy” has
to do with being set apart for God. It is
a time to spend in worship; it is also a time to spend in activities that
contribute to our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. (What would
they be?)
Would you consider this a negative or
a positive command?
To what extremes can we take it?
One
man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger
worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a
leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day,
the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had
chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don’t get it," he
said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more
wood than I did." "But you didn’t notice," said the winning
woodsman, "that when I sat down to rest,
I was sharpening my ax."
In what ways can we sharpen our ax on
the Sabbath?
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