Make It Different

 

Ex 20:8 "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 the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

 

Finishing up  the Book of Nehemiah today, and in the last chapter, Nehemiah brings up three areas of concern. Three areas in which the returning Jews had backslidden. We would do well to explore them because they have a tendency to slip back into acceptance among the churched even today. The first area of concern was the sin of Tobiah. Tobiah had sought to use the temple as his own personal storehouse. This is the age old issue of prosperity gospel.

 

The second area of concern was the neglect of the tithe.

 

The third area was the neglect of the observance of the Sabbath.

 

Ne 13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. 16 Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, "What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? 18 "Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath."

 

Whatever happened to Sunday as a day of rest? A careful reading of this passage in Nehemiah and you can see that the problem with God’s people is they treated the Sabbath like any other day. They “profaned” it. (Made it common) It seems we have pretty much done the same thing. Other than attending church, our Sunday’s are typically the same as any other day. We have taken Jesus’ statement in Mr 2:27 and used it for license to do what we please.  “And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

 

So then, do we throw out this command and make it the nine commandments? Or what other commands would you have us lay aside? If you are a business man or woman, would you consider closing your doors on Sundays? It seems to work for Hobby Lobby and Chick Fil A!

Or as a consumer, would you consider making your purchases on the other six days of the week in order to give a day off for the owners and their employees?

 

Now I know that blue laws just don’t work. Secular government has no business demanding that businesses be closed on Sundays. But for the followers of Jesus Christ, it seems that we should make a concerted effort to keep this day special….set aside…..holy!

 

Need a reason? Look again at Ex 20:11, “11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

 

The fact that our heavenly Father set the Sabbath aside ought to be enough. His very act of resting on that day blessed that day forever and made it holy. Can we not do the same?

 

This “setting aside” is not easy I know! We’ve never done it that way before right? We’ve always stopped for donuts after church or treated ourselves to a nice breakfast at our favorite diner, or took advantage of the 30% off sale at our favorite department store.

I certainly don’t want to sound like a Pharisee as it concerns the Sabbath. With all their rules the Sabbath became a dreaded day rather than a day to be welcomed. As we look for ways to honor this command of God, let’s just start with making the Sabbath Days in our lives something to look forward to and not something to be dreaded. I can’t think of a better way to start than attending a worship service. Ps 122:1 <<A Song of Ascents. Of David.>> I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD."

 

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” To rephrase this command, maybe we could simply restate it: Remember the Sabbath Day and make it different!