Our text for this morning is the second giving of the Ten Commandments, the original giving of the Ten Commandments was on Mt. Sinai in Exodus nineteen. We might say that Moses is reviewing the Ten Commandments with the children of Israel before he departs from them. Last week we rejoiced in the trinity of our God, that is that we worship a God who is three persons in one Godhead, as we describe Him. This week hear the commandment concerning our worship of our triune God that is the commandment that is emphasized in our text, the third commandment. I think it is fitting that we have this as our text, because the third commandment, and I would add the second commandment as well, is a fitting reminder, as we begin the Pentecost Season, as well as the Summer Vacation Season, that we are to remember the Lord’s Day. As the Lord does not take vacations from us, neither do we take vacations away from Him.
Our text begins with the command. We read verse twelve, “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you” (v. 12). This first verse has three important words, observe, Sabbath, and holy. The first word, “observe” is also translated as keep. The literal word is best translated as guard or watch. We are to guard and watch so that we do not forget the Sabbath day nor neglect to rest on this day.
The second word, “Sabbath” simply means rest. The Sabbath was given to us by God as a day of rest. Originally God set up the Sabbath day of rest as the last day of the week, the day we would translate as Saturday. The Sabbath is a day set aside by God to remind us of His work of creation and redemption as well as a day of rest. Indeed, God created all things in six days and rested on the seventh day giving us the seventh day to be a Sabbath, a day of rest. And Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week which has now become our Sabbath, our day of rest.
The third word, “holy” means set apart, pure, perfect. In reference to God, to be holy means to be righteous, perfect and without sin, something we obviously cannot do, at least not in and of ourselves. Putting these three words together we are given God’s Word which tells us we are to set apart, guard and watch our lives so that we keep as holy, a day to remind us of the Lord’s works of creation and redemption.
Why are we to do this? We get the explanation in verses thirteen and fourteen. We read, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do” (v. 13-14).
The Lord gives us six days to work. During those six days we are to get our work done. But on the seventh day there is to be no work. We are not to work, our sons and daughters are not to work. Anyone who is owned or employed by us is not to work. Our animals are not to work. This is to be a day of rest for us, for our family, and for our workers. This command is for everyone.
Yet, we still have the question of why? We find our answer in verse fifteen, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (v. 15).
Why did the children of Israel need to be reminded to remember the Sabbath day? Why do we need to be reminded to remember the Sabbath day? The children of Israel and we need to be reminded because we have a strong tendency to forget. We all know how it is, when we have difficulties in life we tend to remember our Lord a lot and pray a lot, but when life seems to be going well we tend to forget that our Lord is the One to whom we need to be thankful and we tend to pray less and less. Indeed, we need to be reminded to remember the Sabbath day so that we might show that the Lord is God. We remember the Sabbath day as a day to worship and adore an Almighty God who is outside of us, who loves and cares for us, who is over us and watches and rules over us.
We remember the Sabbath day to show love to the Lord. At the same time we need to remember that God does not need anything from us, as if we have something that we could give to Him. We love the Lord only as He first loves us. We remember the Sabbath day because of our need. We have a need to respond to what our Lord does for us and to what He gives to us. We have a need to acknowledge that the Lord is God. We have a need to show our love for the Lord and the Lord helps us fulfill that need by giving us the Sabbath day to keep and observe.
We remember the Sabbath to keep the first commandment, to have no other gods before the one true God and to keep the second commandment, to call upon Him in trouble, pray, praise and give thanks. Indeed, as we live our priorities so we live our Sabbath day. Because the Lord our God is our God and because we have no other gods before Him, nothing gets in our way of being in His Divine Service on the Sabbath day, on our Sabbath day, on Sunday. Our desire, as Christians is to be when and where the gifts of God are given out, to be in Divine Service. When we fail to be in Divine Service, some other god is placed before the One True God.
We remember the Sabbath day to be given God’s gifts. God comes to us to give us His good gifts and blessings through the means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments. We gather together as believers in Christ in order to be reminded of our Baptism. As we hear the words of invocation, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” we are reminded of God’s name placed on us at our baptism. We gather together as believers in Christ in order to confess our sins and hear the greatest words we can ever hear, words of absolution, that our sins are forgiven. We gather together as believers in Christ to hear the Word of the Lord through the scripture readings for the day as well as through the sermon. And we gather together as believers in Christ to be given His body and blood in His Holy Meal. We come to be given to and God comes to give.
In good Lutheran fashion we ask, what does this mean? This means that God gives us a day of rest. According to the old covenant and the first giving of the Law, that day of rest was the last day of the week, the Sabbath Day, the day God rested from all His work of creation. In our text for today we are told that it is the redemptive work of God illustrated by the freeing from bondage of slavery in Egypt that is the reason for worshiping on the Sabbath. Thus, taken together, it is God’s total work of creation and redemption that is the motivation behind the Sabbath Commandment. Today we keep the Sabbath by setting aside the first day of the week, Sunday, because Jesus rose on that day. On Good Friday Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. On Saturday, on the Sabbath day, Jesus remained dead, resting in the tomb. But on Sunday He rose up from the dead. Again, we see the redemptive work of our Lord arising as the reason for our keeping the Sabbath.
God gives us the Sabbath, a day of rest and He instructs us in keeping the Sabbath, a day of rest. We keep the Sabbath by being in Divine Service in order to be given His gifts. Certainly, a person can read their Bible at home, or watch a church service at home, but that person is missing an essential part in keeping the Sabbath, the part of fellowshipping together with other Christians. Might I remind you of the charcoal illustration. When you attempt to begin a fire in your grill, you begin by pilling all the charcoal briquets together. As the flame dyes down to a white and red glow you know you have a good fire. If you take one of those pieces of charcoal and set it off by itself, it tends to go out because it does not have the fellowship with the rest of the charcoal. Likewise, as Christians, we need that fellowship, that building up of each other in the body of Christ.
As we worship here together as the body of Christ, so too our brothers and sister in Christ are worshiping together throughout this country and the world. When we all shared the same hymnal, many years ago it was as if we, as the body of Christ were worshiping all together as the whole body of Christ. And it will continue this way until we reach heaven where we will all worship together as the whole company of saints.
Keeping the Sabbath is something that takes discipline. Maybe that is why it is called religion. To be religious means to do something regularly. Some people religiously have a cup of coffee every morning. For us Christians, being religious means worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on a regular basis, each and every Sunday. We add to that the fact that Sunday worship is something that becomes a habit, a good habit, but a habit nonetheless. To skip one Sunday leads to skipping another Sunday, leads to getting out of the habit and leads not only to missing out on all the good gifts and blessings our Lord has to give, but eventually leads to refusing those good gifts and blessings. And eventually could lead to one losing their faith.
We attend Divine Service in order to be filled with the gifts and blessings God has to give. It is like a cup being filled from a pitcher. God is an endless pitcher of gifts that He pours out on us through His means of grace; Holy Baptism, confession and absolution, His Holy Word and His Holy Supper. Every Sunday we remember the day of rest, the Sabbath and attend Divine Service He fills us and fills us, and indeed He fills us until we overflow and share our faith other others. The opposite is also true, when we absent ourselves from Divine Service and His means of grace He has no way of filling us. And just as a cup full of water with no more added, all the water inside may eventually evaporate, so when we refuse and reject the gifts of God Sunday after Sunday and fail to be filled with His gifts and blessings, our faith may eventually evaporate so that we have no faith.
Moses exhorts us today to remember the Sabbath day, maybe not so much as a command, but an encouragement for the good of our faith life. We are to remember the day of worship because it is the day our Lord has set apart especially to come to us to give us His good gifts and blessings through His Word and His Sacraments. We remember the Sabbath as a day to come and be given the Lord’s Word and Sacraments (the means of grace) through which our Lord gives us all His many good gifts and blessings, including the most precious gift of forgiveness. As we begin this Summer vacationing season, if you will, I would encourage you as Moses, do not forget to meet together wherever you are so that you might be given the gifts of God. God does not take a vacation from being your God and watching over and protecting you. He loves you so much and has so many gifts and blessings ready to give to you, be sure to be in Divine Service and be given His gifts. Most assuredly, be given His greatest gift, Your sins are forgiven, go in peace. And to that we say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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