God’s Fourth Word – Part 5

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8-11

(Make sure you check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4)

But… But… the Sabbath was on Saturday, not Sunday!

Any sabbatarian has heard this argument more than 30 times. There’s a valid question in there somewhere, but I hope to show it’s a biblically and historically indefensible position to assume that a Sunday Sabbath observance in some way invalidates the fourth commandment as binding on all mankind.

The work of Christ in redemption has transformed all of life, to include our weekly Sabbath. Christ’s saving work has transformed the weekly Sabbath, just like everything else! Not only do we celebrate on Sunday, we call it “The Lord’s Day” instead of the Sabbath. You’ll often hear Reformed Baptist’s talking about the “Lord’s Day,” but it is not some made up Baptist Language – it is the language of the Apostle John in Rev. 1:10: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.” The language is significant, because it’s the same language of the Apostle Paul when referring to the Lord’s supper. It’s a supper belonging to the Lord. Likewise, the language of the Lord’s Day is intended to convey the reality that the entire day belongs to the Lord. What day is the Lord’s Day? For John and the early church, it was the first (or eighth) day of the week.

First things first – I am the first to admit that there are no explicit texts in the Bible which say, “Now the Lord’s Day is on Sunday, not the Sabbath on Saturday.” But as good Bible students, hopefully we don’t just deal with the explicit commands of Scriptures, we also have to deal with what’s implied. So if you don’t want the Lord’s Day to be a Christian Sabbath on the first day of the week, you have two problems to deal with: First, you may answer that the 4th commandment was ended in Christ completely, and if you’re a dispensationalist or adhere to new covenant theology, I assume this is your position. However, you then have the responsibility of proving your response from the Scriptures and, you will soon find, you will encounter the same problem you are seeking to point out in saying there is no explicit text “moving” to a first day. Second, you may believe Saturday is still the Sabbath, however you then need to deal with how it is to be observed today, so you’re either a Seventh-Day Adventist, or more than likely disobeying what you believe the Scriptures to explicitly teach, thus creating all sorts of other problems.

I don’t have the slightest problem with a particular command or doctrine not having a proof-text. The Bible teaches many things that are implied and exemplified throughout the text without having specific reference given, many of those things you believe already if you’re truly a Christian (e.g. the Trinity). What we do have to deal with is the scriptural evidence that points to the significant importance that is placed on the first day of the week in the New Testament. And please take note that the New Testament doesn’t just tell us that the Church was getting together to celebrate the resurrection on Sunday — there was much more going on. Furthermore, the day was given a specific name: the Lord’s Day. Identifying a specific day with a unique title is significant in and of itself.

There’s very little argument amongst Christians that the church’s meeting on the first day of the week has always been based on the resurrection of Christ (John 20:1; Mark 16:9-10). Jesus appeared to the disciples on the first (or eighth) day of the week after his resurrection (John 20:19; John 20:26). Pentecost was on the first day of the week (Acts 2:1; Leviticus 23:15-17). The first Christian sermon was on the first day of the week (Acts 2:14-15). The first baptisms were on the first day of the week (Acts 2:41).

Although Paul stayed seven days at Troas, Scripture does not mention any Christian meeting on the seventh day, but on the first day of the week (Acts 20:6-8). Could the Christians have met on Saturday? Certainly! However the text doesn’t say or imply a Saturday meeting, therefore it’s an argument from silence. Paul encourages the Christians of Corinth to set aside a sum of money to help the poor of Jerusalem on Sunday (1 Corinthians 16:2). The only way this text makes sense is that the Christians were meeting together on the first day of the week.

John had a vision on “the Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10). External sources written around the same time as Revelation indicate that the Lord’s Day was the first day of the week. The first century writing called the Didache says, “The day of the resurrection of the Lord, that is, the Lord’s day. And on the Lord’s own day gather yourselves together and break bread and give thanks, first confessing your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure.”

The second-century Christian apologist Justin Martyr wrote in the “First Apology of Justin Martyr” (Translated from Greek):

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows, and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.

But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.

In the writings of Ignatius, who was alive toward the end of the first-century, we read that “Christians no longer observe the Sabbath (he’s referring to seventh day observance), but direct their lives toward the Lord’s Day, on which our life is refreshed by Him and by His death.” The great Princeton theologian B.B. Warfield wrote, “Christ took the Sabbath to the grave with him and brought the Lord’s Day out of the grave with him on the resurrection morn.”

While this is only a sampling of what could be referenced regarding a Sunday Sabbath/Lord’s Day observance, this hopefully provides ample evidence to convince you of the legitimate practice of the Church today as we seek to apply God’s Law to our Christian lives.

In the next post we will look at specific New Testament texts that supposedly discredit the perpetuity of the fourth commandment.

(By: Nick Kennicott)

The Fourth Word of God – Part 4

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8-11

(Make sure you check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)

Why is sabbath observance commanded?

In Exodus 20:11 God says, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” It would be foolish to conclude that man not commit himself to what God has done, at the very least. God worked six days in creation and rested on the seventh, therefore man ought work six days and rest one. It is interesting to me that those who reject the binding nature of the fourth commandment on Christians today never make anything of the fact that it’s the only commandment in the decalogue that makes explicit reference to its origin in pre-fall creation. In other words, sabbath rest is a creation ordinance, as has been discussed in a previous post, not something that simply showed up as a requirement for the Israelites to live on the land. In creation, God set a pattern and created man with a need to follow that pattern of six days of work and one of rest. 

While it ought to be enough for the Christian to say, “I do this because God commands it,” there certainly are other compelling reasons to observe the sabbath. Mark records the words of Jesus in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” What does that mean? It means the sabbath is good for us; it is for our benefit! The Lord’s Day is intended to restore us spiritually and physically. It is good for all of mankind. The restorative nature of the sabbath will be an important consideration when we look at application in a future post, but at present there ought to be a recognition that the sabbath is commanded by God for the good of mankind. God is not a cosmic kill-joy who is seeking to make life miserable, but instead commands what’s best for us; as creator, he knows better than we do. The prophet Isaiah proclaims a word from the Lord in Isaiah 58:13-14: “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

I speak to many Christians who share with me a lack of joy in their life. They confess that their joy in the Lord is gone, they feel empty and distant from God. There are always multiple factors to this issue, and most often it centers on a lack of communion with God through the means of grace, however one of the prescriptions for joylessness is found in Isaiah 58. God promises joy to those who delight in the Lord with triumph and feasting on the good things of God! The treasures of God’s kingdom both now and forever will overflow to those who rightly keep the fourth commandment. On His day, God Himself is taking His people by the hand, leading us to joy, triumph, and feasting. It ought to be the highlight of our week!

Notice, the prophet doesn’t give us a list of do’s and don’ts, but addresses the issue of the heart. If there is a genuine desire to enjoy God and all that is ours in Christ, the primary focus is almost never about what we can and cannot do, but rather a delighting in our union with Christ and enjoying soul-stirring, deeply satisfying communion with God. How do we get there? Take advantage of the wonderful, holy worship and rest that God has prescribed for our good. In doing so, many of the do’s and don’ts take care of themselves. That’s not to say there aren’t legitimate questions to consider when thinking through fourth commandment’s application, however those questions ought not be our starting place. As we learn to call the sabbath a delight for the right reasons, we move further away from “we have to keep the Lord’s Day” and get closer to “we get to spend all day with God – enjoying Him and all His benefits, through worship, rest, and the fellowship of the saints.”

In the next post we will discuss why Christians meet on Sundays and not Saturdays.

(By: Nick Kennicott)

The Fourth Word of God – Part 3

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8-11

(Make sure you check out Part 1 and Part 2)

How is the 4th commandment to be obeyed?

Having given the specific command, God now provides the outworking of that command with specific instructions. In Exodus 20:9-10, the emphasis is on how the fourth word of God is to be obeyed: “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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.”

“Sabbath” comes from the Hebrew word meaning “to cease or to rest.” It’s a day for worship, relaxation, holy naps and recuperation, and is a day to delight in God’s goodness and mercy. It’s a day to enjoy God’s works of redemption and creation.

One of the frequently overlooked aspects of the fourth commandment is what God calls man to do with the six days of his week that aren’t the Sabbath. In verse 9, the command is that in “six days you shall labor, and do all your work.” And the teaching of the Bible would affirm that not only are we to work, but to work hard and onto the Lord (e.g. Colossians 3:23). Man has an obligation and a purpose in his work, and he needs to do it well. Additionally, it’s worth pointing out that the modern five-day work week is an invention of unionized labor in the west, not the historical understanding of one’s work week, and certainly not the biblical prescription. God’s fourth word provides that there are six days of the week given for work. There are many ways to define what work is, and it looks different to each person depending on one’s circumstances in life, however the basic principle is that our primary objective during six days of the week is work. God governs our work just as much as He governs our rest, and in doing so provides a means of bringing Him glory and providing for the needs of our family, our church, and our neighbor. We find God’s blessing in doing what He has called and gifted us to do.

The puritan Thomas Watson emphasizes the fact that God, having provided six out of seven days for us to work, is a grace in itself. It very well could be that God require six days of worship and rest and only one day of the week that we do all we need to provide for our families. God has been gracious in giving us six days to labor. It seems as though most critics of sabbatarianism do not think in this manner, however if we acknowledge that six days of labor are a gracious provision from God, should we not all the more have a great desire to set aside the Lord’s Day in a special manner for worship, rest, and duties of mercy and necessity?

The remainder of verses 9-10 highlight the specifics of setting aside the Lord’s Day for worship. In verse 10 God says, “The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.” The book of Leviticus calls the Sabbath a “holy convocation” (Lev. 23:3). It is a time to gather for corporate worship. The puritans called the Lord’s Day The market-day of the soul. Six days of the week are used for business transactions — buying and selling — but the Lord’s Day is for transactions involving spiritual business with the currency of Heaven. What a blessed opportunity for the Christian to pray to God with fellow pilgrims, to hear the reading and preaching of the Word, to sing great songs of worship, and to behold and partake of the ordinances! Thomas Watson wrote that the result is that, “the heart which all the week was frozen, on the Sabbath melts with the word.” May it be that all who have experienced the wonderful grace of God will delight in the sweet mercy of God that causes our hearts to melt with overwhelming gladness for who He is and what He has accomplished in creation and redemption.

In verse 10, God provides the negative command of His fourth word: “But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.” There is an obligation that neither you nor anyone else within your household do any work whatsoever. In other words, so far as you have control over the situation, do not work and do not be cause for others to work. The Lord takes this so seriously that He even includes one’s animals in the mix; let them rest too! Obviously, the implications go far beyond one’s household, extending into communities and commerce. The principle is clear: Do not be the cause for others to engage in their employment. Walter Chantry writes, “In a heathen culture one is tempted to reason that the [unbeliever] will work anyway. He will not make it a matter of conscience to devote a day to his Maker. His shop will be open. Why not let his hours of employment serve me and make the Lord’s Day more pleasant for me? God’s commandment forbids this process of thought by forbidding us even to employ the [unbeliever] in work for us on God’s holy day. God’s moral laws are of universal application. They are not intended only for believers.”

The fourth commandment is one of the many “levelers” of the Bible when it comes to mankind. In God’s wisdom, a new social order is created wherein work and rest are not divided by class. The universal necessity of obedience to God’s law dictates that everyone should work, and everyone should rest and be free to worship God. Could it be that if God’s people around the world obeyed God’s fourth word, there would be far less stress and anxiety and depression and burn-out and all that comes with these things?

God’s fourth word commands all mankind to keep the Sabbath holy. How is it to be done? Work six days, and worship and rest one. Leviticus 23:3 summarizes it well: “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.”

In the next post, we will look at verse 11 and why the Sabbath is commanded by God.

(By: Nick Kennicott)

The Fourth Word of God – Part 2

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8-11

(Make sure you check out Part 1)

What does God Command in the 4th Commandment?

Exodus 20:8 teaches us what God requires in His fourth word: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” The answer to question 63 of the Baptist Catechism says, “The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God one whole day in seven to be a Sabbath to Himself” (Himself is referring to God). 

The word Remember is used in two distinct ways in the Scriptures. First, with regard to the fourth commandment, the Israelites are called to remember what God established and what they had observed prior to Mount Sinai. There’s an important chronological distinction to make when considering this usage of the word remember. God provided manna from heaven for the Israelites in the wilderness, and Exodus 16 provides specific guidelines regarding their gathering of the manna. On the sixth day of the week, the Israelites were to gather twice as much manna because it would not be provided from heaven on the seventh day. Why? Exodus 16:23: “’This is what the Lord has commanded: “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”” God provided manna six out of seven days, and on the sixth day they gathered extra to prepare their meals for the seventh, because the seventh was the sabbath, a day of solemn rest and worship, free from their labors. The chronological distinction that’s important is the fact that the sabbath is to be practiced in Exodus 16 while the law was not given to Moses until Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 20. So what? 

God’s call to remember for the Israelites is rooted in history. The sabbath began with God’s work of creation. Whether Israel wanted to adhere to it or not, they saw God’s observance of His own command by not providing Manna for them on the sixth day. In other words, the sabbath is not a law that just shows up at Sinai (in fact, none of the Ten Commandments are), but is a creation mandate that is republished at Sinai as a reminder to the people of what God has always required and they were obligated to fulfill if they were to receive the blessings of life on the land. Additionally, the call to remember is not a call to remember just once, but  perpetually — weekly. Like us, the Israelites needed to remember God, and having a specific day of the week designated for this remembrance is what God intends. Philip Ryken writes, “We are prone to forget the great work of God in creation and redemption. And when we forget, we fail to praise Him for making us and saving us. But the fourth commandment is a reminder. It is God’s memorandum to His people, reminding us to give Him glory for His grace.”

The second use of the word remember doesn’t involve memory or recall. While a weekly recalling of God’s great work in creation and redemption is glorious and necessary, it also involves the heart. Imagine if July 24^th rolled around and halfway through the day I called my wife and said, “I remember — today is our anniversary! So, have a nice day!” That’s it. I remembered our anniversary, right? Ladies, how well does that go over? Men, please — I’m begging you — don’t do that! To remember our anniversary takes more than simply acknowledging my recall of the fact that we were married on July 24th, 2004. We ought to set aside time to celebrate and focus on one another, spend time away together, and thank God with one another for sustaining our marriage, our love, and our faithfulness. In the same way, remembering the Sabbath means using a specific day of the week to show our love for God in a special way. It means, as verse 8 points out, to keep it holy. Literally, we are sanctifying the day and setting it aside for holy or sacred use.

In the next post we will consider how the fourth word of God is to be obeyed.

(By: Nick Kennicott)

The Fourth Word of God – Part 1

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8-11

One of the more surprising realities of my life as a Christian has been the amount of push-back I’ve received from fellow believers when discussing the 4th commandment. Of the 10 commandments, I believe the 4th commandment is the most neglected and most misunderstood amongst Christians today, and yet in my life it has been one of the most rewarding. I will be writing several blog posts to address the 4th commandment in its context within the decalogue, and also provide some application and answer a few common objections.

As with all Scripture, it’s helpful to understand the 4th commandment in its context, and particularly its context within the decalogue. The first table of the Law (commandments 1-4) provides us with God’s instruction regarding our relationship to Him. Jesus summarized this in saying we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength…” The second table of the law (commandments 5-10) deals with how we relate to others: “…Love your neighbor as yourself.” The 4th commandment should be understood in conjunction with the other commandments of the same table. Thus, the following summary should help us develop the context of the first table:

• The 1^st Commandment teaches us whom we are to worship, namely God alone.
• The 2^nd Commandment teaches us how we are to worship, namely the way God has prescribed and not our own.
• The 3^rd Commandment teaches us with what attitude of the heart we are to worship God.
• Lastly, the 4^th Commandment teaches us when we are to worship.

Obviously, much more could be said about all the commandments – there are entire books, and I’ve preached an entire series of sermons – however, these give us a good framework for looking at the 4th Word of God.

The famed software giant and billionaire Bill Gates was asked once about belief in God. He responded, “Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.” To be fair to Mr. Gates, he has never claimed to be a Christian, but he very succinctly communicates what many professing Christians prove to be a similar mindset by their actions. This is certainly the opinion of sports programs/teams, most employers, and the to-do lists that sit undone in our homes. As Americans, we are in a constant battle with the powerful idols of time and productivity. There are always projects, forms of entertainment, and work clamoring for our attention. There’s always something to do, and to quote one of the most used phrases in modern America, “there’s not enough time to do it.” “If only…” we say, “There were a few more hours in the day.” Time is an elusive and precious commodity, and we all want more. So, it seems realistic to agree with Mr. Gates — who has the time to set aside an entire day of the week to commit to worship, rest, and deeds of mercy and necessity?

As the 4th commandment is concerned, the predominate position in the Western church is that if a Law from God is not explicitly restated in the New Testament as a command, it no longer applies to Christians today. Therefore, the argument goes, since Jesus (supposedly) never stated explicitly that it is a Christian’s duty to uphold the 4^th commandment, it can effectively be removed from the Decalogue, or at least only referred to for a principle of application, but not hard and fast obedience. Some Christians suggest that the 4th commandment was ceremonial (just snuggled right there in between those other 9 moral laws!), while others reject the perpetuity of the law of God from the Old Testament all together. Yet, knowingly or unknowingly, it’s as if the common refrain is, “You mean, I have to spend an entire day with God?!” No, you don’t have to – you get to.

The Law of God was instituted by God at creation. It doesn’t just show up at Mt. Sinai with Moses, but was established with Adam in the garden. The moral Law is precisely what God commanded Adam to uphold, and Adam — in his state of innocence — had the full ability to do so. Likewise, as children of Adam created in the image of God, the law of God has been written on the hearts of every man, woman, and child (Romans 2:15). Therefore, it’s important to acknowledge that nowhere in the Scriptures do we read, “The Law of God minus the 4^th commandment is written on the hearts of all men.” It has primarily been the work of New Covenant theology and dispensationalism to develop a system that discounts the 4^th commandment. In fact, of all the commandments, it can be argued most clearly that the 4^th commandment was instituted at creation. Gen. 2:1-3 says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” God Himself observes the Sabbath, setting the example for man, and so the 4^th commandment is, like the rest of God’s Law, nothing more than a restating of what was established in the garden.

In our next post, we will look at the specifics of the 4th commandment in Exodus 20:8-11.

(By: Nick Kennicott)