Last Week’s Sermon: Honour God’s Name 

[00:01]

We can be guilty of taking God’s name in vain by the way we live, not just our lips. By the way we walk and not just our talk. For the Bible gives us examples how this is done, in Malachi [chapter] one, “But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’…” [Malachi 1:6]. Did we say anything? No, it’s by the way you pollute my altar. You offer polluted food upon my altar. You gave me unclean things, things I do not want, things that are blemish… You look like you’re worshiping me but actually you are desecrating my name… And again. “…But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised.” [Malachi 1:7]. So, by the way you live, by the way you offer, you despise my name. [01:40]

Understanding the Concept of Workaholism

[02:09]

I begin with this word that is very well known or very familiar to Singaporeans and it is the word “Workaholic”. Are you a workaholic? Well, what is a workaholic? According to some definition, it refers to a person who compulsively works excessively hard and long hours. Are you a workaholic? Well, this is not a word that you can find about 60s, 70s years ago because this is a word coined in 1968 by a psychologist named Wayne Oates, and so you see, the use of this word really picks up only after 1950. Wayne Oates noticed that people who are workaholics are people who exhibit similar traits like those who are addicted to some substances. “His observation is that work is like a narcotic – it can become compulsive, difficult to handle with restraint and moderation, much like alcoholism or other addictive disorders.” So, he notices that an alcoholic behaves very much like a workaholic and a workaholic behaves very much like a… What did I say? Workaholic, right? Anyway, they are so similar you can almost use them interchangeably.

Another pastor / preacher, he notices this as well and he said, “I submit to you that workaholism is the only acceptable and applauded neurosis in our nation. We consider people successful if they have a full calendar. Have you ever heard anyone brag about how much free time they had? No.” Because we all like to be workaholics. We all like to pride ourselves we are working excessively hard. “We are a nation of workaholics in one form or an[other].” … buzz… buzz… buzz… [handphone vibrating in the background] Who texts huh? Who is calling huh? How come you’re so busy huh?… I’m kidding, it’s from my slides, alright… Ha… Ha… But even as I’m speaking, some of you already have your phones buzzing, right? Your boss is calling. Your staff is calling. Your stocks are haphazard and so on. You’re so busy, you can’t rest and actually you’re proud that you don’t have a lot of free time. You’re glad you’re working very hard but without you knowing, you are already an addict, you are stuck to a narcotic.

Well, to be fair and to be clear, the Bible is not against work. God is the giver of work. God is the one who gave man work in the garden of Eden before men fell into sin. God already gave Adam and Eve stewardship to take care of the garden. So work is a good thing but work however can become excessive and so God set a boundary for men, and he sets it via his own example. The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter two that, “God [had] finished the work he had been doing, so on the seventh day he rested from all his work…” [Genesis2:2-3]. Now, why did God need to rest? Is it because he got tired? Is it because he was exhausted, because he had no more energy? Oh no, our God is a God of omnipotence. He has all power and even if he has to do something that requires great energy, it doesn’t exhaust him the least bit. But he rested to set a pattern, an example for man so that we may know the boundaries of what that six day is where we work and the seventh day is a rest unto the Lord, our God. And it is from this pattern that we see the fourth commandment in the Bible: “Remember the Sabbath day”.

The Biblical Commandment of the Sabbath

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

This commandment is the longest in the list of 10 Commandments. It says in Deuteronomy chapter five, “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God….” [Deuteronomy 5:12-14]. This is not just for you but also for your children, for your servants, for your livestock, for your animals, it’s for everyone in a Jewish household. And on this day, “…You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and outstretched arm….” [Deuteronomy 5:15]. So, the seventh day is for the people of Israel to remember how God delivered them from Egypt, that’s in Deuteronomy five.

Exodus 20:8-11, 31:15

There’s a subtle difference from Exodus chapter 20 when God first gave the 10 Commandments, this was 40 years earlier and God said, you keep the Sabbath. Why? Look at the creation rhythm there, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,” and “the sea…” [Exodus 20:8-11], so this is something that is rooted in creation. This is serious stuff because in Exodus 31 we are told that, “… Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.” [Exodus 31:15], and there was someone who wanted to test the system. You know, when some countries set the law there will be people who say, I’m not sure if you’re really serious about it. So, when God gave the 10 Commandments there was someone who really wondered and wanted to test the system if God is serious about it.

Number 15:32-35

So, on the Sabbath day he went out to gather sticks. That’s work because he’s gathering sticks so that he can burn, he can… I guess… cook. He worked on the Sabbath day and the Jews knew it. They brought it to God and God said, “This man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” and it is from here that the Jewish people were very serious and meticulous about keeping the Sabbath.

Jewish Shabbat – What Is It and How Is It Celebrated

Even up till today, Jews all over the world still honour the Shabbat. It is said that they have more than 1500 rules about the Shabbat, about the Sabbath and some of them seem rather bizarre to us but they keep it.

1. No Tearing Toilet Paper

For example, they do not allow for the tearing of toilet paper on the Sabbath. So, I suggest you probably shouldn’t go and eat Orh Luak [Oyster Omelette in Hokkien] the night before. Well, they don’t allow for the tearing of toilet paper because that to them is work. So how do they get around this toileting problem? Very simple, the day before you tear all your toilet paper, you tear already and stack it up there. And so, you can just take and use. Take and use, okay. Tear, not okay. So, this is to the degree they would want to keep the Sabbath.

2. No Flicking a Light Switch

Another thing I found out is that they have very special lights for Sabbath because they can’t use the typical flick on and off switch lights. To them when you turn on a switch, there’s an electrical current that goes and it causes a spark, and that causing of a spark is like lighting a fire. So technically, that’s not allowed. So how do they deal with this issue of lighting on the Sabbath day? They use special light where it is already turned on but when you rotate it, it may block the light or release the light, that’s all. So, in that sense they don’t violate the ignition of a spark principle. They avoid that work, that’s how meticulous they go to.

3. No Using Regular Elevators

And if you go to Israel, you will realize that they have special lifts for the Sabbath where the lifts do not have buttons for you to press because pressing a button is considered work. So, these Sabbath elevators will stop at every floor. You knew it huh… You very smart huh… But if I were to stay in Israel, I definitely wouldn’t stay high floor. Pek Chek [Frustrated in Hokkien] ah… I want to go to level 45 you got to stop every floor, can you imagine that? 45 minutes before you get up there but these are the rules that they have kept.

4. No Writing… or Even Carrying a Pen

They also do not allow for writing or the carrying even of a pen on the Sabbath day because once you write, you may work and you break the Sabbath. 1,500 prohibitions, go figure out.

The question we have now and the elephant in the room really is this, the Bible says that Israel is to keep the Sabbath, the people of Israel have kept it meticulously all these years. Do we as Christians keep the Sabbath?…

Debate Among Christians on Keeping the Sabbath

[12:08] A thick air of suspension… of suspense. Can I ask you; do we need to keep the Sabbath? There are only three answers: yes, no, I don’t know. That’s fine, alright. I like you to think about this and I like to get a poll, alright. I like to… my sermon depends on how you all say lah… Yes, no, I don’t know. Ready? Let’s try. How many of you say we have to keep the Sabbath today as Christians? Can I see by a show of hands?… Okay, maybe 40, 40 to 50%, alright. How many of you say no, no need to keep the Sabbath today?… Huh, 10% at most. How many of say… of you say, I don’t know? The rest of you die one huh? I mean there’s only these three options: yes, no, I don’t know. Well, I figured from that straw poll that majority of you say “Yes”. So let me share with you how I process this elephant in a room or this question, and this is a very legitimate question because Christians have debated this even up to today. All right, so it’s not an easy to solve question.

1. YES

There are some who say “Yes” and the basis for saying “Yes” is actually very straightforward. The Sabbath, the fourth commandment, is part of God’s continuing moral law because it’s part of the 10. It’s a very powerful logic. These 10 Commandments are for all times. They are the summary of the 613 laws and they are about ethical, moral principles. So, they say the Sabbath remains binding because it’s part of the 10 and you don’t anyhow take out any of the 10. So “Yes” because it’s part of the 10 Commandments.

2. YES, BUT ON SUNDAY

But then there are others who will say “Yes” but I need to make a caveat. I need to give a caveat. I need to give an explanation here and that is it is still binding but the day is shifted to Sunday because traditionally and biblically, the Sabbath is on the last day of the week, and in a Jewish calendar, the last day of the week is Saturday. So, Christians they say, “Yeah, we need to keep the Sabbath but we keep it on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, the first day of the week”. So, the day has shifted because we commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just as God delivered Israel out of Egypt, Jesus delivers us from death, sin, hell through his resurrection. And so, the early church we read, they gather on the Lord’s Day (Acts 20[:7], 1st Corinthians 16[:2], Revelation 1[:10]). We see that pattern of gathering on the Lord’s Day and so they say, “Yeah, we still keep it but we shift it from Saturday to Sunday” just to be precise.

In our nation, we would be familiar with CK Tangs. Of course, they are open for business every day now but during the founding, Founder’s Day, they are shut on Sunday because he is a Christian and he wants to honour God in keeping the Sabbath, so his entire company doesn’t work on Sunday. And of course, you may know about this fast-food chain. Simi ah? [What is it in Singlish]. Not McDonald’s ah, not KFC ah but Chick-fil-A. I was told by someone who is working with Chick-fil-A, wow this one don’t know whether inside scoop or not, they’re coming here this year. I preach anything also don’t have “Woo…”. This one, woo..woo… Aiya, okay, anyway, they are coming this year but Chick-fil-A is known to be a…to be led by a Christian family or household, at least they started that way, and they have always closed on Sundays. So, they do not operate, unlike Mac and KFC and so on. They do not operate on Sunday because of the founder’s principle.

And of course, maybe the most famous person with regards to the Sabbath would be this Olympian, Eric Liddell. He later on became a missionary to China and he was famous because he refused to run a race as it was scheduled on Sunday. He chose to honour God and say, “I will not run”. But of course, he ran in another race on another day even though he didn’t quite specialize in that and he won. So, there are people today who say, “Yes, we need to keep the Sabbath but we keep it on Sunday”.

3. NO

But the third group is the group that says, “No, we do not need to keep the Sabbath” and the reason they say so is twofold.

It is not commanded in the New Testament

Number one, the command to observe the Sabbath is not repeated in the New Testament. Every other command you kind of see it in the New Testament, but interestingly in the New Testament there is no explicit command written by Paul or the apostolic writers to say, keep the Sabbath day to the Christian church.

Jesus, the fulfilment of the Law, has come

Number two, this is also very compelling and that is Jesus who is the fulfilment of the law, the offerings, the types, the ceremonies, has already come. It is clear when you look at Colossians Two, “…a festival or [a] new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” [Colossians 2:16-17]. So according to the Apostle Paul, he looks at all the ceremonies, rituals, day observances and say that they actually have a very clear function. Their function is to point you to the coming Savior. So, before the Savior comes, they have a purpose. They are predicting. They are foretelling. They are keeping you in anticipation of the coming Savior. But when the Savior comes then the shadow doesn’t need to come. It doesn’t need to exist anymore because you have the real thing.

It’s almost like you have gone overseas, or your wife or your husband has gone overseas for some time and he leaves you with his photograph, and he says, “Wait for me, I’m coming back.”, till before he comes back you keep looking at the photograph but when he comes back already, I hope you don’t look at the photograph and ignore him. You don’t need the photo anymore. You can just go to him.

And the point here is that the Sabbaths, the various Sabbaths in the Bible not just Sabbath day, but of course the year of Sabbath and the year of Jubilee, they all point towards Jesus. And so, Jesus, having come says… there are people who say, “Ya, that’s why it is not repeated in the New Testament anymore”.

So, as I’ve said this question has been debated for centuries, do we as Christians keep the Sabbath? Sunday or Saturday? And I think various positions here can be defended. It’s not easy to be dogmatic here. But instead of asking, should I, must I keep the Sabbath? I’d rather switch the paradigm around, around this statement that Jesus made and it is this “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” [Mark 2:27]. Do you know what he’s saying here? It’s very simple. Jesus is saying the Sabbath was made for man. In other words, the Sabbath was meant for your benefit. It is to serve you rather than use man to serve Sabbath. The Sabbath is given not as chains to bind you but they are blessings for you. If I may put it in simple English, in bold for you to see it is that “The Sabbath was made for you”. So, the question we need to ask is not must I do this? But why wouldn’t I do this? If I understand that the Sabbath is good for me. The Sabbath is not a burden. The Sabbath is a benefit, “The Sabbath was made for men.” [Mark 2:27]. It really isn’t a burden.

The Sabbath as a Blessing, not a Burden

Now I’m going to spend the remaining time I have to share with you why the Sabbath is a blessing from God and not a burden. And if you really understand that then you wouldn’t go around saying you must keep or I must keep, but I want to keep. I’m seeing that this is a real good thing for me. So, I share with you three things.

1. REST

Number one, the Sabbath is a blessing because it is a day that God ordained rest. It is clear in Deuteronomy [chapter] five, it’s a day where you do not do any work, is a day for rest. But maybe this is very beautifully presented in its full-orbed splendour in Exodus 23, when it says, “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.” [Exodus 23:12].

It talks about [22:04] different groups of beings in a household but I think the principles can apply across. You have three words there for rest, first word in orange, second in pink, the third in also pink, refreshed. But what do they mean in our English? They may seem similar but, in the Hebrew, there are different words.

The first word in orange is the word “Shabbat”. That’s where we get the word “Sabbath” and the word “Shabbat” simply means to cease, to stop. That’s it. On Sabbath, you stop, you don’t work.

The second word “rest” there is the word in Hebrew “Nuach”. Now it means to lay down, to repose, to lie. I think it is a very easy word to remember because it sounds a lot like our Hokkien word, “Nuah”. So “Nuach, all right, “Nuach!” “Nuah…” First word, Shabbat! Second word… “Nuah”. Okay just “Nuah” that’s what you do and we all like to “Nuah”, right!? You all like to go back home, lie down on your couch and “Nuah…”. Okay, so that’s the idea you “Nuah”. Okay, I hope you all the Hebrew people don’t go and slam me. I’m just trying to make it easy for you.

And the third word refreshed is the word “Naphash”, “Naphash” which is breath, to be breathed upon or if I may use a modern way of saying things to catch your breath. It’s like you’ve been running so hard, working so much that you can now suddenly, “Shabbat!”, “Nuah…” and catch your breath.

Now that’s what Sabbath is to be. That’s a beautiful picture, right? You stop, you “nuah”, you catch your breath. And so, it is God’s design. Now you are made by God and you’re made to be human. You’re not made to be a machine. A machine may be able to work 24/7 without stop but not humans. Man is made for a rhythm, a rhythm of work and rest and you not, you need to honour and recognize this rhythm. Too many people in Singapore especially, we are so hooked on to this narcotic called workaholism that we will not rest. We will say we rest only when I feel like it but oftentimes it may be just too late. So, you end up very stressed. You have ulcers. You have IBS for those who know, you don’t know it’s fine. You are irritable. You have insomnia. You can’t sleep. You are shouting at everyone at home, in your office. You are just not happy and you wonder why. I tell you the reason why, is because you are not made to work like this. You are not made to run like this every day. I mean you are breaking down mentally, physically because that is not how God made you. You are made to work hard six days and on the seventh “Shabbat”, “Nuah”, catch your breath and then the next week can start. That is the rhythm God has made you to be.

So maybe today you are someone who is anxious, depressed, stressed. You know, we live in a very difficult world and there are many people today who are very tormented mentally. I wonder if it is because… now I’m sure there are many factors, there are many reasons but maybe one addressable factor may be the way you treat the rhythm of creation. So, learn to do this, learn to rest.

Now to do this is not easy because I understand it’s like taking your hands off the wheels of your life for one in seven and you’re wondering, if I don’t do this, if I don’t do that, will my work catch up on me or will I be able to catch up on my work later on? Will I be unable to make ends meet? Will it be that God cannot provide for my home. You have all these trust issues but I think that’s why Sabbath is an exercise of faith and reliance too. You remember? I mean you just think about the Jewish people in time past. They were agricultural. Every other people, Moabites, Philistines, they probably tend to their field every single day but the Jewish people say we work hard six days but on the seventh day we all don’t work. Everybody will look at them. Are you sure your crops will grow? Are you sure your plants will be healthy? And it’s the same for you? Am I confident that if I don’t work this day, keep it off that God will provide for me and that I will still do well in my job. It’s a…It is about trust. It is about reliance and it is about you revealing to the world that you belong to this God, and He provides for us. We just need to trust Him. So, it’s a beautiful thing that you can take a break and for maybe students, children here, you can take a break.

[27:58] I’m looking for all the parents… are giving me the dagger look… Don’t say that!… Well, I say that it is okay for the children to take a break if they understand why and if they have worked hard from Monday to Saturday. All right, so don’t go back and tell, “Mommy, mommy, Pastor say, ‘No need to study leh…’.” No…no…no… Then you better make sure from Monday to Saturday you do all your work. I think even our children need such a rhythm of rest. So, it is a blessing that God has given to us for rest and maybe someone who can’t sleep, very anxious, very troubled, very irritable. Hey, this is God’s solution for you perhaps that you should obey Him.

All right, so should I keep the Sabbath? My question, my answer, my question to you better is why won’t you? This the way God made you and this is the way He will be honoured and glorified in your life when everyone sees that you follow this unique Sabbath rhythm.

2. REMEMBER

Second reason, I think this is also straightforward and that is to remember. This is clear from the text in Exodus 20[:8-11] that we are to remember the Sabbath day because we remember that this is the day God created, or we remember this is how God created the world. So, we keep the Sabbath to remind ourselves of God, our great Creator.

And in Deuteronomy [5:12-15], we are told that we remember God as our great Savior. Well, that’s at least for the Jews, for the people of Israel. So, Sabbath is a day to remember God, how He created us with His power and how He saves us out of His grace. So that’s why Christians throughout history have gathered on the Lord’s Day to worship, to thank God, to praise Him, to remember Him, and I think this is a very important principle.

Let me just say that the Sabbath day is not just… ah… 10:15 to e… what time do we have? 11:30. The Sabbath is the whole day. So, a lot of Christians just keep the Sabbath for that one, two hours and then they go back to their work, that’s not Sabbath. A lot of us, we fail to understand God gives us this whole day so that we may catch our breath and so that we may taste eternity, so that we may draw near to God, so that we may understand the joy and rest that he promises for us in the life that is to come.

I just had my medical school reunion with my classmates. We celebrate our 25th year after graduation and of course we talked about old times looking at old pictures. But as I thought about it, my fondest memory in med[ical] school is not the studies or the grades but the fondest memories are Sundays, because it is in those very hectic days that I deliberately, by the grace of God, to protect Sunday and it was my spiritual lifeline, because from Monday to Saturday I really worked like a dog. I mean I’ve never studied so hard in my life, secondary school and so on it’s like just copy homework and that’s fine. But when in medicine, I was a Christian then, so I got saved and I didn’t want to be sloppy so I did study but it was so all encompassing, when I wake up in the morning sit on the toilet bowl, I’m with my textbook. When I take the bus, I’m reading my textbook. When I’m in a canteen eating, also reading the textbook, from morning to night is textbook. Study, study, study… and it was difficult, rough but it was Sunday that was my lifeline. I enjoyed my Sundays. I enjoyed being in the church. I enjoyed being with God’s people. I wouldn’t need to rush home because I wanted to keep a whole day to serve, to reach out, to evangelize. And I will remember being back at my hostel at night, Sunday night, the next day will be exams and I will go to the study room. Is it study room? Yeah, study room. A lot of my classmates, seniors will be studying and I will also be studying but I will be studying the Bible. And so, they will come around say, eh, what are you doing? Reading my Bible. They say, are you siao [Crazy in Hokkien] or not? Tomorrow exam leh… and that for me was a time to really rely on God, a time to reveal my faith and a time to remember who He is, that He’s worthy of my worship. And I’ve never for those five years, ever felt that if I’ve just taken that Sunday night and studied more, I will get better grades, never once, always my delight to do so. And that went on to the time I was working, I would always try to keep my Sundays off, swap my call so that I can appear in church on Sunday, attend the means of grace. Sometimes you’ll catch me in church dozing off because work the whole night through the last night, try as I can, very hard to keep awake. But that is my conviction, that is my joy because I understand that Sabbath was given to benefit me and I would say it really benefited me. It was as I’ve said here, my spiritual lifeline.

So, are you struggling spiritually? Are you always saying to yourself, I don’t have time to read my Bible. I don’t have time to study God’s Word. I don’t have to… I don’t have time to spend with God. So, you are contented with this mediocre, anaemic kind of spiritual life. Pastor, I’m so busy. How to find time? I say, God has given you the time you know, the Lord’s Day. Will you obey, rest and rely? So, the Sabbath is a wonderful blessing for rest. Number two, to remember God so that I may repent of my sins. I’m not just talking about studying, I’m talking about how we live rightly. We repent of our sins, we rejoice in God, we walk in alignment.

3. RELIEVE

But there’s a third blessing, rest, remember… refresh… errrr… Refresh I think I put it under rest lah, same idea mah, alright? The “Naphash” idea. So, rest, remember… reef…??  You, cheater busted… ha, ha, ha… very smart huh…Tim, I know you look back and the answer is “Relieve”. Very few would think about this and that’s why I kept you in suspense. The reason is because most of us, we are thinking about ourselves but the Sabbath is given for others and we have the joy and privilege to serve others.

You remember the story of how there was a man with a withered hand? The Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Is it lawful for any man to heal on the Sabbath day?”, they asked this question not because they genuinely wanted the answer, they asked this question to purposely accuse Jesus, because if Jesus said, “Yes, it is lawful to heal”, then they will say, “Ah, look at this Jesus, he goes against the Law of Moses. So that was their purpose but Jesus masterfully answered them this way, he said, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?” [Matthew 12:11]. He is asking a question that is obvious because the Jews clearly have been doing this. If one of their animals fall into a ditch, they will immediately bring it out. They won’t hesitate to do so. Jesus then went on to say “Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” [Matthew 12:12]. You guys have been accusing me of healing on the Sabbath as if I broke the law. But don’t you realize that the Sabbath is actually given so that I may bring relief and healing, and help to those who are in need? So, on the Sabbath, it is a great day to show mercy. [36:58] Jesus clarified this in this passage and I think the Book of Isaiah also speaks to us, “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.” [Isaiah 58:10]. “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight” [Isaiah 58:13]. When you really understand why this is given “…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.” [Isaiah 58:14].

So, the Sabbath is a great day for you to do… relieve, to benefit others, to serve others. It’s a great day for you to come early in church, stay behind, reach out to people, welcome newcomers, talk to people in need, listen to them, share God’s Word together, serve in ministries. It’s a great day to do that. It’s a great day to go out and share the Gospel. Great day to visit the poor, the widows, the orphans, the fatherless. I do not know what you will do. Every one of you have… will have unique opportunities and relationships, and connections but if you could keep this day, you could have a beautiful Lord’s Day to rest, to remember and to serve, to give, to relieve, things you would love to do from Monday to Saturday but you have no time for.

Someone wisely said, “When we trust God by taking our hands off our work, what we give up through Sabbath ultimately benefits those around us.” That’s what love is all about and it involves how you treat the Lord’s Day. So, must we keep the Sabbath? It’s not a great question. I think a better question is, why would we not keep the Sabbath? Not because we are going to hell if we don’t keep it but because we realize it’s not a burden but it’s a blessing. Since Jesus tells us, “[The] Sabbath was made for man.” [Mark 2:27].

Historical and Modern Perspectives on the Sabbath

I end with three quotes. Henry Ward Beecher, a preacher of time past, says, “A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile, like a summer without flowers, and like a homestead without a garden. It is the joyous day of the whole week.”

Voltaire, he is an outspoken Christian opponent. He himself observed, “I can never hope to destroy Christianity until I first destroy the Christian Sabbath.” Read it like “The Screwtape Letters” as if Satan would write this. Satan says, “Maybe one of the best ways to destroy Christianity is to rob Sabbath from God’s people.” That’s what Voltaire thought.

And William Gladstone, the former Prime Minister of the UK, he would say, “Tell me what the young men of England are doing on Sunday, and I will tell you what the future of England will be.” Tell me what you are doing today and I’ll tell you what the future of Gospel Light [Christian Church] will be. It may boil down to this, isn’t it? So, remember the Sabbath, it’s a day of God inviting you to taste of the eternal rest in Him and it’s a gracious, good command.

Closing Prayer

Let’s bow for word of prayer together. I like you to take this time because this is a very, very practical message. I’d just like you to take this time in the quietness of your heart to think about your life, your rhythm, your schedule, your pace, your psyche, your mindset, your emotions and ask God today as he reveals to you the beauty of the fourth commandment, to make the necessary alignments. We all have different lives but perhaps with these words, these principles, God may lead you to an even fruitful, more fruitful and graceful life. So, take this time ask God to show you, how should you honour the Sabbath and really take advantage of how it is created for you?

[42:18] Think about your rest. Think about your devotion. Think about your ministry. Honour God on this holy day.

I also want to say to my friends who are not Christians, you know when we look at the Bible and we see God’s commands, we almost feel like God is so demanding. He gives us so many laws to be burdened, to be chained, to restrict us. But maybe this fourth commandment gives you a new insight, isn’t it? That when God commands us, it’s not to chain us or to burden us but really to bless us. God’s laws are for our good. And I want to say to you that there is one, one very special command I want to remind you of, because the Bible tells us God commands man everywhere to repent and to believe. So, if you’re not a Christian today, I want to tell you that this is a good command, a wonderful command. He’s commanding you to turn from your sin and to believe in Jesus Christ because that is the only way you can be set free from sin. That’s the only way your sins can be washed, the only way you can be reconciled with this Creator God. Don’t ask, “Can I come?” Don’t ask, “Will God accept me?” because it is already clear he commands men everywhere to repent and to believe, so come as you are. Indeed, you must come. Indeed, why won’t you come and be saved? It comes from the heart of a good and gracious God.

So, Father, thank you for this morning we can hear your words. May we not just be hearers but may we be doers. May your children today be wise to realize the Sabbath is for our good. May we make godly decisions on it. Teach us to take time to be holy. And I pray for all my friends who do not know Jesus that you lead them to repentance and faith in Jesus, your son. Thank you. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.