Dr. Rodney Plunket

Note to the reader of this sermon:  Prior to the oral delivery of this sermon the following passage was read to the congregation:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (Exodus 20:8-11, NIV).

Sermon Text

This morning’s lesson is the third in our series on the Ten Commandments.  To begin this lesson I want to go back to the very first chapter of the Bible.  In Genesis (Gn) 1 we read the story of creation.  That story begins with a description of our planet before God began working on it.  Our English Bibles say, “ . . . the earth was without form, and void . . .” (Gn 1:2), but I do not think those English words––“without form, and void”––well convey the intended meaning.  The Book of Genesis was written in the Hebrew language, and the Hebrew words used here convey a frightening chaos.  One scholar even uses the adjective “gruesome.”[1]

Reflection on that gruesome chaos has caused me to believe that what God confronted at the beginning of creation was a planet in such a state that if we had looked upon it we would have cringed.  We would have drawn back in fear.  We would have been terrified that somehow we might fall into or be sucked into that malevolent mass, a mass churning and boiling in such a way that the planet seemed alive with anger, with murderous intent.

But God goes to work; with ease God dispels that chaos.  In less than a week, God creates out of that chaos a planet that is orderly and fruitful and an ideal place to live.  The Bible says that when God was finished, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (Gn 1:31).  Then, just two verses later, we read,

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.  And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.  So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation (Gn 2:1-3).

We should note that the word translated as “rested” here is the verb form of the noun that is translated as “Sabbath.”  That notation naturally brings us to our Scripture reading this morning from Exodus (Ex) 20:8-11.  That passage contains the fourth of the Ten Commandments.  Let’s look at that passage again.  In verse 8 the fourth commandment is summarily stated, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”

Verses 9-10 explain what keeping the Sabbath holy was to look like.  In those verses 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 animals, nor the alien within your gates.

The noun “Sabbath” is built upon that Hebrew verb used to tell us that God “rested” on the seventh day of creation week.  That verb means, “to cease, desist, rest.”  And the Sabbath day was a day when everyone in Israel rested in the sense that they ceased from work.  That ban on work included everyone in Israel:  the children, the slaves, the livestock, and even the aliens/the non-Israelites that lived among the people of God.  It was to be a day of total rest from the daily grind of growing crops and tending flocks, from cooking and other daily chores.

But not only does the word “Sabbath” connect back to God resting after creation.  Verse 11 explicitly roots that rest commandment in the creation story.  Note again what it says, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

I want to focus much of our time this morning on that grounding of the fourth commandment in God’s rest following creation.  By grounding it there, the fourth commandment serves to remind Israel of God’s comprehensive transformation of a planet in chaos.  A job that seemed impossible was completed in just six days, so God rested on the final day of that creation week.  The Sabbath was used to remember God’s incredible conquest over the seething chaos of Gn 1:2.  So why can Israel rest?  Why can Israel take a day off without fear for the future?  They can do so because the God they serve brought order out of gruesome chaos with ease, did it in less than a week, and did it so completely that God rested on the seventh day of that creation week.

We need to realize that in the ancient world to rest during one day of every week as Israel was commanded to rest was a risky business.  Life was tough in the ancient world.  To take a day off could jeopardize a family’s future.

I rely on others to produce food and fiber and to make those things readily available to me and easy to use.  A trip to the grocery store is all it takes to resupply the pantry and the refrigerator.  A trip to a clothing store and I have what I need to cover my body.  I even have money for luxury items, items I could easily survive without.

In the ancient world there were rich people who did not have food and clothing worries, but there were many who were not rich.  To put aside their tools and to rest for one day out of every seven was to trust that God would look after them in spite of an entire day when the daily chores were left undone.

I think to observe the Sabbath was sort of like saying, “God, you transformed the world’s chaos in only six days and then ceased from your labors.  I believe that you can feed and clothe me if I only spend six days tackling my chaos in the garden and my chaos in the flocks.  I am going to rest on the seventh day, because I trust in Your power to take care of me.”  What I am declaring this morning is my belief that one purpose of Sabbath observance was to teach the people of Israel to take the risk of rest and to find that they could indeed trust in their God to supply their needs.

Let me give further support for that understanding of Sabbath observance.  The very first occurrence in the Bible of the noun “Sabbath” is found in Ex 16.  That chapter tells of an event that occurred soon after the Israelites left a wonderful oasis at Elim and set off into the desert.  In the desert they complained.  They complained because there was no food to eat.  God responds to their complaint by saying to Moses,

I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.  In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my law or not.  On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days (Ex 16:4b-5).

What strikes me is the reason the Lord is going to give them bread.  They are hungry; they want food.  But the Lord does not say I am going to rain bread to feed them; God says, “In that way I will test them.”  And what is the test for?  It is to determine if “they will follow [God’s] law or not.”  Then God makes a rather cryptic statement about the fact that they will gather “twice as much” bread on the sixth day “as they gather on other days.”  That statement makes sense only after reading more of Ex 16.

But first the bread comes.  The people gather it.  And then they confront a divinely engineered contact with the risk of trusting in God.  They are in the desert.  The desert provides nothing for them to eat.  They have been hungry and extremely worried about food.  God gives them bread.  But then they are commanded to throw out all leftover food at the end of the day.  In the desert, it is just not normal to throw away edible provisions; but that is what the people are told to do.  Some do not obey that command.  I suspect they thought the command ridiculous and almost suicidal.  But they wake up the following morning to find that the bread they had disobediently kept was infested with worms and foul (Ex 16:20).

Then the sixth day of the week comes.  The people go out and gather the bread that God has rained down for them; but when the bread is measured, it is twice as much as they have been gathering.  All the leaders of the people come and tell Moses about the doubled amounts.  Here is what Moses says,

This is what the Lord has commanded:  “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning” (Ex 16:23).

So this time they are told not to throw away the bread that is left over.  They are to keep it and to use it tomorrow on the seventh day.  And when Saturday morning comes, the leftover bread is fine––no worms, no foulness.  Moses tells them not to go out and gather on this day.  They are to keep this day as a holy Sabbath, that is, as a holy day of rest.

‘But you can never have too much food in the desert.  How can we be sure this bread will keep coming?  I have my family to think about.  Don’t you remember how hungry we were just a few days ago?  Don’t gather on the Sabbath.  That’s crazy.  That’s risky.  Give me the basket.  I’m going out to get some bread.  I’m not compromising my future.  No way!’  I suspect that is what the people were thinking who broke that first Sabbath and set off to gather more bread.  They found no bread.  God did not rain it down on the Sabbath.

Listen to God’s reaction to the people going out to gather bread on the Sabbath:

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?  See!  The Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day.”  So the people rested on the seventh day.

God is angry.  God is angry because the people do not obey.  But I think it is more than that.  I think God is angry because the failure to obey represents a lack of trust.  They are uncertain that the miraculous raining down of bread to them will continue.  They are fearful about throwing it away at night.  They are afraid to miss even one day of gathering.  They do not trust in the Lord to keep feeding them.  The Sabbath command is a command to accept the risk of rest.  Israel was to accept that risk because they trusted in the power of the living God to provide for all of their needs.  Their God had conquered malevolent chaos in six days and then had rested.  A God who can conquer chaos and then rest can conquer my chaos and give me rest.

The New Testament does not call upon Christians to honor the seventh day or any specific day as a Sabbath as Israel did.  In fact, the apostle Paul in Romans 14:5-6b writes,

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike.  Let all be fully convinced in their own minds.  Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord.

These words make clear that the honoring of one day above another is a matter for all believers to work out for themselves.  Many of the people that the Good News of Jesus reached were non-Jewish slaves owned by non-Jewish masters.  They did not have the option of honoring the seventh day as a day of rest.

But even though the New Testament leaves Sabbath observance up to each individual believer, that does not keep it from calling upon us to take the risk of rest.  In Luke 21:12-15 Jesus says,

[B]efore all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.  This will give you an opportunity to testify.  So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.[2]

Feel the call in Jesus’ words to take the risk of rest.  Jesus tells of a time when His followers will be persecuted.  They will be called upon to defend themselves before high-ranking folks.  The natural inclination would be to work on your presentation, to make sure you know just what to say and how to say it.  But Jesus says do not “prepare your defense in advance . . .”  Jesus promises to give them the words they will need.  They are to take the risk of rest.  They are to trust that what they need will be provided.

And Jesus demonstrated the ability to take the risk of rest.  Remember when He fell asleep in the boat.  A great storm blew up.  Waves came crashing over the boat, but Jesus just kept sleeping.  Several of his disciples were fishermen who were used to working that lake.  But even they panicked.  They woke Jesus up.  Listen to Jesus’ reaction, “And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’  Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.”  Jesus shows us the ability to trust in the midst of apparent chaos.  Jesus could rest in a storm, because He trusted in His Father.

Saturday a week ago, I talked to my daughter Callie on the phone for an hour or so.  One of the things I talked to her about was the Sabbath command.  She told me a great story about the spread of Christianity in Africa.  About four or five hundred years ago, white missionaries were trying to spread the Christian faith in Africa.  But mostly they were just living in monasteries together, and very few native Africans were converted.  Christianity was not spreading.  The big change came when some native African Christians began to live among their people.  They kept a Sabbath day of rest.  Their people were amazed.  They were poor.  They lived from hand-to-mouth.  They had good reason to believe that they needed to work everyday just to stay alive.  But these Christians trusted in their God enough to lay aside that worry.  They believed that God would see to their needs.  They took the risk of rest.  That faith moved the African people.  The Gospel began to spread because of the dynamic power of God, the power realized through the taking of the risk of rest.

The fourth commandment calls upon us to take the risk of rest.  The fourth commandment calls upon us to trust in the living God to look after us.  The fourth commandment calls upon us to let go of our compulsive efforts to keep tight control of our destinies.  The fourth commandment comes very close to saying, “Let go and let God.”

Who is in control of your life?  I urge you to give the control of your life to the living God who took a chaotic planet and made it the life-sustaining place that it is today.  And a Sabbath day is recommended; but a heart and a life that are constantly resting in the power of God, those things are required if we are going to shine to the glory of our God.

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