Full Transcript for 4th Commandment

believe I get to be a part of it and uh get to worship with you all. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:32.560 And uh uh we're we're just I just had this sense of just overwhelming gratefulness for this church and and getting to be a part of it. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:42.319 And so I just wanted to share that um uh after the after this retreat uh that we got to have um retreat to move forward. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:44.400 That's from 30 rock. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:45.599 Let's pray. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:03:08.240 Holy Father, we are so grateful to gather together as your people on the Lord's day, to get to worship you, to confess our sins to you, to hear the voices of our of our friends and of our family sing praise to your name together. 00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:15.199 Lord, this is this is such an incredibly joyful and wonderful gift that you have given to us. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:23.520 Lord, I pray that you would teach us to uh fully receive the Lord's Day as you have given it to us. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.639 Lord, and all the gifts that are associated with it. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:34.080 Lord, help us to learn to keep it holy and to honor you with all of our time. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.000 Lord, we thank you for these times and seasons that you have given to us. 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:58.960 And Lord, I thank you for this time and season for our church, Lord, that uh all of us are brought together for such a time as this to encourage one another, to build one another up in love, Lord, and to learn to obey you and all your commandments and all that you have taught us. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:04.000 Lord, we praise you for your continued work in your church. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:16.319 Lord, that you have you have not stopped interceding, you have not stopped guiding and leading and ruling and preserving your people, and you never will. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:28.399 Lord, you will continue to bring your church into the fullness of glory, such that we are washed with the word, and we are presented as a bride for you, Lord. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:34.399 We pray that you would set us apart, make us holy for that glorious, glorious role. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.240 Lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:37.120 Amen. 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:58.000 So we are on the fourth commandment now as we're moving through Exodus uh this fall, and we've arrived at the Ten Commandments, so it's the Ten Commandments fall, and we are uh now on the fourth commandment, and this is the conclusion traditionally of the first table of the law. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:11.759 So the first table of the law corresponds to the first uh uh the greatest commandment that the that our Lord taught us, which is that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:17.519 And so these first four commandments are the heaven word, these are the really God word commandments. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:23.680 And the uh final six commandments correspond to loving your neighbor as yourself. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.800 So these are about our interpersonal relationships. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:35.360 Now, all of them are about all of them, uh, but these are still helpful parsings that we see within the Ten Commandments. 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:43.680 And this is the final one, and this is about the day that is associated with the worship of the Lord, a day that is set apart for holiness. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:53.279 Now, I've asked uh uh a lot of folks, like uh how many of you have heard a Ten Commandments series or ever heard the Ten Commandments preached? 00:05:53.519 --> 00:06:00.319 I I hadn't uh heard the Ten Commandments preached until I'm I I'm hearing them now as I'm doing it. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:12.720 But uh I I I'd never I hadn't sat under that that sort of teaching, and and that was ordinary for, I think for most people that I've talked to haven't heard a series on the Ten Commandments. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:17.920 And there's a strangeness there because this is the center of Christian ethics. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:26.000 This is, I think, for uh like an ordinary person walking off the street or looking at a church, and you'd be like, hey, what do you think they're talking about in there? 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:29.360 They'd probably be like, Yeah, I don't know, like the Ten Commandments, you know? 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:32.240 And little do they know we're not. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:35.680 And we probably should be. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:48.560 Uh, this is the traditional way of making disciples throughout church history, and uh this is the way that the um reformers would often teach how how to pray. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:52.160 This is a format of prayer, is praying through the Ten Commandments. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:58.079 And when you consider what the Great Commission itself is, it's teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:02.480 Well, then how could we do that without teaching the Ten Commandments? 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:06.959 It seems very strange that we've lost this in our vocabulary. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:13.279 And I think we've lost a lot when we've lost the Ten Commandments in our in our vocabulary. 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:17.199 We we've lost uh our moral grounding. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:28.240 And especially I think we've lost a sense of what it means to be Christians that are directed in the whole of our lives towards God. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:32.000 And that's what this commandment is really about. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:48.800 Uh now, interestingly, I think the the Sabbath, although it is pro it is in practice or or for it in recent memory has been such a neglected commandment, the Sabbath is having a bit of a moment uh right now in Christianity. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.879 Do you do it do you guys sense it? 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:52.079 Yeah, I got a thumbs up. 00:07:52.160 -->

00:07:52.879 That's all I need. 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:54.079 Let's roll with it. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:07:55.360 One thumbs up. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:58.319 Yeah, the Sabbath is the Sabbath is having a having a bit of a moment. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:07:59.360 Good for the Sabbath. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:06.560 Um now, this return of the Sabbath, I've noticed it takes place in a in a very particular frame. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:12.240 I still think that a lot of the fullness of the Sabbath is being neglected with this great Sabbath return. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:25.279 Now, it makes sense that there is a return of talking about the Sabbath because uh we're all uh we we have lost any sense of time boundaries in our lives. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:29.439 We are now all on call 24-7. 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:37.840 And being on call used to be reserved for like a small band of humans that are emergency workers. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:45.519 And they they are on call, not all the time, but but they're on call when like their shift was to be on call. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.399 Most of the even their lives, they were not on call. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:53.759 We, all of us, every one of you, is on call 24-7. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:55.759 That's insane. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:59.120 And we're all very tired because of it. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:14.320 We are uh all, in a sense, like perpetual emergency workers with incredibly boring emergencies, but with the same level of cortisol. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:26.559 And so this is not a so you could see that there's this, because there's this, there's no differentiation between our between our days, between our time on or our time off. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:31.919 There's no going home without also being at work, there's no being at work without also being at home. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.919 We are these this totally flattened, totally blended type of creature. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:45.120 And so, because of that, uh you can see that there would be this desire to receive some sort of definition around our time. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:47.759 Because the people are tired. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:58.879 The people are very worn down, but not in like a cool, like I just summited the mountain that I've been trying to climb, so now I'm tired for a couple of days, type of thing. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:01.919 We're all just like tired with no stories. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.759 This is uh this is a bad sign. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:08.639 Something's gone terribly wrong. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:16.639 And the Sabbath has sort of rushed in within this frame of uh answering this restlessness. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:43.200 It's been uh there's been something of a retrieval of the Sabbath, but I think that the the risk that that we're running with this Sabbath retrieval is that the Sabbath is being retrieved as a technique that can allow us to participate in the uh absurd uh uh human-machine race in a better way. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:11:01.519 Here's like some new technique that you can incorporate into your life, and if you incorporate this into your life, then this will be an antidote uh to the burnout that your other machine humans will experience. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:15.840 And then while they're burned out, you will be able to continue on and and you will you will finally be able to serve the market uh in an even better, more full, more complete way. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:25.360 The clickbait headline would sound something like this the key to beating burnout is unlocking this one ancient habit. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:33.840 And now the Sabbath, what it is, is it's just uh another another one of those techniques. 00:11:34.159 --> 00:11:44.399 You know what when when I finally incorporated this one ancient habit, then I was able to outperform all of the uh people around me. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:47.600 And it can even be presented as sort of like a trick. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:12:11.679 It's like it you can you're able to fully live within machine life, you're able to fully incorporate yourself into machine world, put perfectly optimized for your market output by just, it turns out we need to just sprinkle in a couple ancient uh rhythms, a couple ancient patterns. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:24.159 And if we just sprinkle those in, then you will be able to even outperform or be be more fully the the market production machine that in your heart of hearts you you really are. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:26.399 Right. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:33.679 And so with that, there's like this this trick of the of the Sabbath going on. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:51.840 And the trick is that we are using the Sabbath in order to uh in where framing the Sabbath as a way to still be in service to whatever the gods of this age are. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:13:00.720 And the gods of this age are for you to be a pure production slash consumption machine. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:04.720 That this is this is what you are, this is what you are meant to be. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:06.399 This is how you are to assess yourself. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:10.080 You're to be a pure production or consumption machine. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:24.240 Now that the machines are taking on so much of the production parts of humanity, at least in theory, at least while we're raising money, the machines are taking on so much of the production parts of humanity. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:29.840 Uh so then you really, really even more fundamental, you're just a consuming thing, right? 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:33.200 You're just uh just here to consume things. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:47.519 Well, the Sabbath, break from this production, break from this consumption, when you add it in, you'll really be able to participate in all of that for longer, better stretches, more fully. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:14:20.320 And another way that it can present itself as is even perhaps even more subtle or uh or even worse, there's this myth

in our culture that is so strong, which is that the human is a machine that, if given the perfect optimal inputs, will be able to achieve rest and peace and satisfaction. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:22.879 And you are moments away from that. 00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:33.519 You are moments away from your life being so machine-like regimented, perfectly ordered, where your sleep scores are high. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.360 You know, like when you greet a friend and it's like, how are your sleep scores, buddy? 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.919 And they're like, hi, and then you high five, and you go drink a matcha. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:43.360 I don't know. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.320 It's just the most repulsive thing I could think of, so I wanted to say it. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:47.919 Then we all have to hear it. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:54.480 And then if we optimize all of these things, now think of this. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:59.759 Now the Sabbath is one in seven, it's it's prescriptive, it's temporal. 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:04.799 If you this can be a part of your optimization strategy. 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:31.039 And you can be in and once it's achieved in this this area of your life, and you're within this six days of work, one day of rest, you're in this rhythm, this, this, this frame, and you're able to participate in that, then, and once, and once that's mastered and all in all its its realms around it, and then you will finally be able to achieve rest. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:49.039 And so the Sabbath then becomes a technique that slots into the all the regular old optimization that you're being fed in all the old places, and and just on the other side of that, you'll be able to rest. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:51.519 You'll finally be able to rest. 00:15:53.120 --> 00:16:02.240 I can tell you that even if that plan wears the Sabbath like a skin suit, there will be no rest in that plan. 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:06.559 The rest that it is promising is not there. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:22.080 Insofar as the Sabbath is a technique that fits into our culture's uh uh method of optimization and rest being just on the other side of realizing that there will be no rest. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:33.200 And that's because the problem is worse, the our problem of restlessness is worse than the incessant pinging of our phones. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:58.799 Uh the this isn't this isn't a problem that is that is so modern as uh uh the the invention of the the Facebook news feed that becomes the you know, whatever the dopamine story is, whatever the most recent dopamine story is that you're being told, this problem is deeper than that, the problem of your restlessness. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:05.440 The problem is, I think, best articulated by Saint Augustine. 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:12.079 At the beginning of his confessions, he famously says, You have made us for yourself, O Lord. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:18.000 And our heart is restless until it rests in you. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:29.680 It is possible to implement the Sabbath in your life as a sort of practice and miss the whole heart of the Sabbath, completely miss the heart of the Sabbath. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:36.240 Because our rest is in God. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:40.000 That is where our rest is. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:45.119 That is where the rest for your soul, for your heart is. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:46.640 It is in God. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:57.039 So if our Sabbaths are not fundamentally a Godward orientation, there is no rest. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:02.400 So let's look at the Sabbath. 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.440 And let's see its commands to remember. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:17.279 Let's see its command the command to keep it holy, and then we'll talk practically about uh what is uh prohibited and commanded on the Sabbath. 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:22.640 So Exodus 20, verse 8 says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:28.960 This is the first of the commands that is a positive command in the Ten Commandments. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.960 We have been told to uh have no other gods. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:34.559 So you're gonna have another God. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:35.119 No. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:35.599 Right? 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:36.880 Negative command. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:39.359 No carved images. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.559 Uh uh, so don't worship God by the manner of images. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:48.400 And third, don't take the Lord's name in vain. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:51.440 But here it's a command to remember. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:54.400 The first part of the Sabbath command is remember. 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:59.039 It's a positive command, it's an active thing that you are being told to do. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:04.000 This is not just a mere prohibition, it's an active thing that you're being told to do. 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:06.480 Remembering is active. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:13.039 We think of remembering as something that just happens to us. 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:15.599 Remembering does not just happen to you. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:18.240 What you're thinking of is forgetting. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.880 Forgetting is the thing that just happens to you. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:24.880 Remembering is active. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:34.960 You know, when when we uh uh we remember the Fourth of July, there are many documents that have been signed in world history. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:38.480 Most of the dates of those I don't remember. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:47.359 But I remember the signing of the Declaration of Independence because once a year, throughout my whole life, we've I've celebrated it. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:48.559 Fireworks. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:55.359 So that was an active participation in it, and because of that, we remembered. 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:59.920 When you have traditions in your home, you are actively remembering. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:01.200

Remembering is active. 00:20:01.359 --> 00:20:02.799 You call to mind. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:05.200 That's what remembering is. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:08.799 You're in a it's not like hard drive storage. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:11.119 That's not the way to think of remembering. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:13.119 That is the way we think of remembering. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:15.519 Because we we even call it memory. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:17.440 Isn't that weird? 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:19.039 Huh. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:26.160 Probably doesn't mean anything that we use these brain-human metaphors to describe our machines. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:29.039 I don't foresee any negative ramifications from that. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:36.000 The we uh what we we we call to mind. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:41.440 We uh uh we we i okay here it's even better. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.839 I I just thought remembered this. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:46.880 You you know what it is? 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:48.400 Do you hear it in the word? 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:52.000 Remember. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:21:01.039 It's like it's a part of you, and you pull it back into the hole. 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:04.079 That's what remembering is. 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:12.799 This part of you which would have fallen off and died, is pulled back, it's re-incorporated, it's remembered. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:17.279 So that's what we're doing. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:21.119 We're called to remember the Sabbath day. 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:23.920 What is the Sabbath day? 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:33.759 Well, it's helpful to think, well, what would the Sabbath day have been to have been to the hearers of this uh command that's coming from the mouth of the Lord? 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:41.039 And they just not very long ago were complaining in the wilderness that there was no food. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:46.079 And so the Lord made them a promise and began giving them food from heaven. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:49.920 He had manna come down from heaven each morning. 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:59.759 And the way that the Lord distributed this manna from heaven was six days you would go out and collect enough manna for. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.599 You for that day. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:04.319 And there was some work associated with that. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:09.119 The manna would come down from the heavens, and then you would go out and collect it. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:12.720 But on the seventh day, there would be no manna. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:17.359 And you were to have collected twice as much on the sixth day. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:24.799 And that twice as much that you gathered on the sixth day would be sufficient for your for you and your family for the seventh day. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:28.079 Because on the seventh day there was to be no collecting. 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:32.079 There's to be no work on the seventh day. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:40.720 So it was very easy to participate in, in one sense, because on the seventh day you would wake up and there'd be no manna, and so you wouldn't go collect it. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:54.000 In Exodus 16, 23 through 26, this is where the story, that story happens, it says, Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:23:02.880 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. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:10.640 Then in verse 25, Moses said, Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:14.079 Today you will not find it in the field. 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:20.000 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:26.160 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be one. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:29.359 Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest. 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:39.440 So in the very pattern of the Lord's distribution of food to the people of God, we see that he's not just distributing their food, he's also distributing their labor. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:47.039 And in his distribution of their food, he gives it to them in the pattern of six days of collecting and preparing. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:51.519 And then the seventh day is a day of solemn rest. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:59.119 It is not a day of fasting, but it is a day of solemn rest. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:04.240 They are to eat on it, they're to feast on it with the food that was prepared before. 00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:12.559 But it is a day of solemn rest, which means that they are not to participate in their ordinary labors. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:18.400 So this is the pattern of their lives that they are living in, the people of God. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:22.240 They are living in this pattern of six days of work, seven days of rest. 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:33.759 And when the seventh day of rest shows up again each week, what they are being commanded to do is to remember it, participate in it. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:38.000 That they are to remember the Lord's provision for this day. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:43.920 They are to remember that on this day their ordinary labor is to cease. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:55.519 And they are to remember it for a particular purpose, which is described also in this verse, Exodus 20, verse 8, says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:57.759 Why are they to remember it? 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:02.000 For the purpose of keeping that day holy. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.279 This day is not an ordinary day. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:09.839 This is a holy day. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:20.400 And a holy day is a day in which it is to be set apart so that they are to more directly than on an ordinary day, consider the works of God. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:37.519 Consider the presence of God in their lives, consider the worship of God, give their hearts and

their minds to the worship of God on this day, because it is not an ordinary day. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:41.440 It is holy, which means that it is set apart. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:55.759 Now, what we see within this is you can sort of see there's the creation of two things, or at least two categories, which we need in order to live in the world, and that is holy and ordinary. 00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:59.519 The six days are ordinary. 00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:05.119 The seventh day is a holy day. 00:26:06.799 --> 00:26:16.799 God has structured the time of his people into ordinary time and holy time. 00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:20.000 And he does this by the Sabbath. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:27.279 Now, this is this is uh the opposite of our way of thinking. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:33.839 We do not like thinking in terms of categories of holiness and ordinariness. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:40.079 We do not like those structures being imposed onto our lives or being placed within the world. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:44.880 Here's what we would here's what we would much rather do. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:48.640 The reason is we are enlightenment types of people. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.559 And enlightenment types of people like flat stuff. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:54.720 We like things that are flat. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:56.319 You know, we're moderns. 00:26:56.480 --> 00:26:57.759 You know, modern art? 00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.440 It's flat art. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:02.000 These are flat things, no flourishes. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:04.799 You know, it's like Apple computers. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:06.240 Flat. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:07.920 Minimal. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:09.119 Minimalism. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:09.920 Ugh. 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:15.039 When you see it, when you hear minimalist or minimalism, you should think death. 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:16.640 These people love death. 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:18.720 That's what you should think. 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:22.400 When you hear maximalism, you should think life. 00:27:23.839 --> 00:27:26.079 That's what that's what you should think. 00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:35.839 And because we are minimalist types of people, we're flattening types of people, that means we like no distinctions anywhere. 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:37.680 No distinctions. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:44.400 And so here's what would feel good to us, to hear, to people like us, to moderns like us. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:55.119 What would feel good to us is the Sabbath, the holiness of the Sabbath, is a picture that all days are holy. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:59.759 All of your life is meant to be a day of holiness. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:04.799 All days are to be called up into the holiness and the wonder of God. 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:07.359 And that is the true Christian life. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:09.599 That is the way of Christian living. 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:12.240 Oh, wow, isn't that great? 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.839 Didn't that feel good to say and to experience? 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:17.680 This is wrong. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:20.400 Because you know what that means. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:24.079 It means now they're they're ordinary again. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:29.119 If they're all holy, they're ordinary. 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:32.799 This is not the way that God has structured our time. 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:39.599 God has structured our time with ordinary time and holy time. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:41.519 This is helpful to know. 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:45.839 There is ordinary time. 00:28:46.480 --> 00:28:48.079 Doesn't mean it's bad. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.640 It just means it's not holy. 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:57.920 And then there is holy time, which is set apart from that ordinary time. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:09.440 You know, this is uh this is frustrating to us because as flattening people, we don't want there to be distinctions. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:18.799 We don't want there to be uh we don't want to consider, yes, that day is a holy day, and this day is just a regular day. 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:29.440 In fact, we think that to make distinctions like that is to place something arbitrary upon the real world. 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:31.200 That's the way we think of that. 00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:36.480 That we are placing arbitrary distinctions upon the real world. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:49.759 Now, the reason we think that is because we think that everything fundamentally is arbitrary, that the most real is the most arbitrary. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:51.839 Let me give you an example of this. 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:53.359 This is part of our flattening. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:30:08.160 What we do is we like to describe things in terms of their parts, and then once they're described in terms of their parts, we say that is the reality of the thing. 00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:12.880 I've said this before, but I'm going to keep using it because I like it. 00:30:13.039 --> 00:30:16.480 This is Neil deGrasse Tyson's one trick. 00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:19.200 This is what he does. 00:30:19.519 --> 00:30:25.839 He says, he takes something and then he describes it according to its parts, and then he says, that's what it really is. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:31.279 You know, a sunrise, we say sunrise, it's really an earth turn. 00:30:33.279 --> 00:30:37.279 You know, because that's the parts of it, the way that the parts are all working together. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:43.839 But I I saw the sunrise this morning, and I can tell you, I could tell it was a sunrise just by looking at it. 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:50.960 You know, uh, when people played, well watched my kids play soccer last night. 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:55.519 You know, soccer is just people running around on a field kicking a ball. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:56.960 You know, it's the parts. 00:30:57.039 --> 00:30:57.759 It's all it is. 00:30:57.839 --> 00:30:58.240 Isn't it? 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:00.319 Can you believe

how arbitrary this is? 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:04.559 This is just soccer, it's just people running around on a field kicking a ball. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:07.759 But I do you guys remember this past summer? 00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:14.720 The uh World Cup, all the Europeans coming to America, air conditioning. 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:17.839 Remember how much fun? 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.480 That was not just people running around on a field kicking a ball. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:31.680 I could tell, I could tell by looking at it that that it was more than that. 00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:35.839 Much more than that was happening. 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:48.319 And to to drop down a level and describe it according to its parts, I think it actually it's it's that is not revealing the reality of what's happening. 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:52.960 It is hiding the reality of what's happening. 00:31:54.720 --> 00:32:05.680 And so when we say, you know, all days are just days, there's no difference between this 24-hour period or this 24-hour period or this 24-hour period. 00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:06.640 There's no difference. 00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:10.319 It doesn't, it doesn't, there's no meaning within them. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:14.640 There's no meaning that takes place within any of it. 00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:19.519 That may feel like we are uncovering the reality of existence. 00:32:20.319 --> 00:32:27.279 That we are peeling back some sort of uh human-imposed arbitrary distinction layer. 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:28.960 But that's not what's happening. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:31.680 We are not peeling back, we are covering up. 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:33.680 We are hiding. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:38.160 Oh, the way to think of it is we are dismembering. 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:44.079 That is what that way of thinking is technically doing. 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:53.680 It is dismembering the parts from the whole so that we can no longer participate in the world as it has been given to us. 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:57.279 Because you know, a fetus is just a clump of cells. 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:00.240 Right? 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:10.160 We're just a uh a crowd gathered together that happen to be singing the words on the screen, aren't we? 00:33:11.599 --> 00:33:13.599 Isn't that really what this is? 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:19.599 You know, it feels like it's revealing, it's hiding and covering up. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:33.359 And what we need to see is that the Sabbath day, the argument for the Sabbath day in Scripture, this is not an imposition of an arbitrary distinction onto the parts of existence, the real parts of existence. 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:36.640 This is the least arbitrary thing. 00:33:39.680 --> 00:33:44.720 Because it goes back to the very work of God in creation. 00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:50.880 What I what I what I want us to be able to see here, here I'll just read it. 00:33:51.039 --> 00:33:53.920 Exodus twenty, eleven, this grounds the command. 00:33:54.240 --> 00:34:03.759 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. 00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:08.960 Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:19.440 The Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy. 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:24.719 You know, there were some other things that he did that week. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:32.960 Like, for example, the he said to the ocean, uh just stop right there. 00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:36.880 And then it and then it did, it stayed there. 00:34:38.320 --> 00:34:47.280 He said to the sun, once a day, you know, and the sun was like, come on, I can't like once. 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:51.360 And the sun was like, okay, great, I'm gonna love it. 00:34:51.679 --> 00:35:02.960 And then today the sun, like a strong man running its race, is tearing across the sky. 00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:09.760 So those are some other things that the Lord did on this week, and those are things that he made. 00:35:10.559 --> 00:35:15.599 And those things that he made, we don't think, well, those are arbitrary. 00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:19.519 We think, no, no, they were precise. 00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:21.519 They were just right. 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:27.599 They were they were from the mind of God from eternity past. 00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:32.480 They're disclosures of his glory for his people. 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:42.159 They are they are the real world that we have to interact with and to enjoy and to participate in and to make with. 00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:44.400 We don't think of them as arbitrary at all. 00:35:44.559 --> 00:35:52.800 Well, what he did on that week is he saw the seventh day and he rested on it and he made it holy. 00:35:53.199 --> 00:36:00.239 What I want us to see here is that the Sabbath day is as real as the coastline. 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:07.679 It is as real as the heavens above and the earth beneath. 00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:10.079 It is that real. 00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:12.800 You know, there's a lot of argument about those. 00:36:13.360 --> 00:36:15.039 And what was the pattern of the Lord's creation? 00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:15.920 Of God's creation? 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:24.159 It is the pattern of on six days he worked and he made everything, and on the seventh day he rested. 00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:38.000 Now, there's a lot of argument over six literal days, six twenty-four-hour periods, six, you know, what is this, what are we saying for the creation of the world? 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:40.400 What is this, what does this mean? 00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:51.280 And what would be nice is if I said right now, you know, wherever you fall on those, these are these arguments don't matter, but that's not the way I like to do things. 00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:54.159 Here's why it's obviously six literal days. 00:36:57.199 --> 00:37:06.400 The reason it's obviously six literal days is because, well, if he

didn't make them then, when did he make days? 00:37:08.239 --> 00:37:14.880 If it wasn't six literal days, when he blessed the seventh day, what's he blessing? 00:37:17.920 --> 00:37:20.960 What's he setting apart from the other six? 00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:28.320 Like we think here's the we're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's fine that he made stuff. 00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:31.679 You know, it's fine that he made the stuff, but he didn't make time. 00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:33.599 He obviously didn't make time. 00:37:33.840 --> 00:37:36.719 Yeah, you know, look, he's making time. 00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:41.440 This is where the time was made. 00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:48.480 You know, it's not like there was time and God was like, I'll go make my stuff inside the time. 00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:49.039 No. 00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:51.440 This doesn't make any sense. 00:37:52.000 --> 00:38:03.440 And then, like he does with the space, where he sets apart some of it as holy, a holy place, so he does with the time. 00:38:03.679 --> 00:38:07.360 And we're not like, oh, he didn't actually make the stuff. 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:11.920 But for some reason with the time, we're like, yeah, he didn't actually make the time. 00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:14.159 This is my argument. 00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:16.559 I think it's good. 00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:25.519 In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. 00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:29.280 Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:34.000 This is the argument for the fourth commandment. 00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:46.719 So this means that there is an actual day in the pattern of creation, which is set apart by God for holiness. 00:38:47.119 --> 00:38:51.119 Set apart for rest and reverence of God. 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:53.840 Just as he did with space, right? 00:38:53.920 --> 00:38:58.159 He creates all of creation and then he creates Eden, right? 00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:01.840 And Eden is not like the rest of creation. 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:02.880 It's holy. 00:39:03.119 --> 00:39:04.960 The Lord walks in Eden. 00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:08.000 There's the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:13.679 There's the sacramental food and worship of God whose presence is right in Eden. 00:39:13.760 --> 00:39:15.199 It's a holy place. 00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:19.679 You know, the type of place that you could get kicked out of. 00:39:19.840 --> 00:39:21.679 You could go east of it. 00:39:23.920 --> 00:39:27.679 And when you're east of it, you're not in the holy place anymore. 00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:31.760 Well, so the Lord did with time. 00:39:32.639 --> 00:39:37.679 He took the days of the week, and he had six of them. 00:39:37.920 --> 00:39:43.440 These are ordinary, regular land, you know, all the land outside of Eden. 00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:56.320 But then there's holy time, a holy day that he made

where our hearts are to be directed towards him in a not ordinary way. 00:39:57.840 --> 00:40:00.320 The Lord loves distinctions. 00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:04.800 The Lord loves mountains and he loves valleys. 00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:07.760 He loves dry land and he loves oceans. 00:40:08.000 --> 00:40:10.400 He loves men and he loves women. 00:40:10.639 --> 00:40:12.639 He loves distinctions. 00:40:13.679 --> 00:40:17.440 He loves work and he loves rest. 00:40:19.920 --> 00:40:21.440 He loves those things. 00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:24.320 He loves those things. 00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:27.199 He loves times. 00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:29.280 Here's what God is like. 00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:32.559 He loves times where you're focused on the problem at work. 00:40:33.280 --> 00:40:38.159 And it and it's it has your attention, it has your energy. 00:40:39.599 --> 00:40:42.800 You know, because it's like your problem. 00:40:45.039 --> 00:40:55.440 And then he loves the time where where you your mind is not on that problem anymore, and your mind is on him. 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:10.960 The Lord does not require that your thinking is is like um uh this this constantly like two thoughts at the same time type of thing. 00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:12.559 This is not required of you. 00:41:12.800 --> 00:41:19.840 It's not required of you to be like, okay, I've got to uh um fix this swamp cooler. 00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:22.320 To the glory of God, I've got to fix it. 00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:26.159 You know, I've gotta get here's this thing to the I've gotta get this part to the glory of God. 00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:27.679 Glorifying God while I'm doing this. 00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:34.639 To the you know, no, this is not, this is that's not a you don't have to do that. 00:41:35.920 --> 00:41:40.800 What you have to do is you do the ordinary and you do the you do the ordinary. 00:41:41.039 --> 00:41:45.440 And then you turn your mind to focus on the Lord. 00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:52.239 You honor him, you remember his ethic, you labor, you give your attention to the things that he has called you to. 00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:57.119 You know, this is tied up into the glory of him in wonderful ways. 00:41:57.280 --> 00:41:58.960 Our labor is not in vain in the Lord. 00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:02.079 All those promises, all those, all those promises. 00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:14.719 But there is a particular time where it is required of you to turn your attention to the Lord in a unique way, a way that cannot be done in ordinary time. 00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:17.599 And there is a time to do that. 00:42:18.719 --> 00:42:22.400 And the time to do that is on the Sabbath day. 00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:26.400 Now, the Sabbath day was the seventh day of creation. 00:42:27.679 --> 00:42:32.239 But there's been a new creation that has taken place. 00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:37.760 And so the Sabbath day for the Christian has transferred to the Lord's day. 00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:44.639 This is why all the Christian worship since the resurrection has taken place on the Lord's day. 00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:47.679 And that is the day of resurrection. 00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:54.960 We're here on Sunday doing Sabbathy things, but we're here on Sunday, this is the first day. 00:42:56.239 --> 00:42:58.159 And what is the difference? 00:42:59.440 --> 00:43:06.880 The difference is that the seventh day is you rest because your work has been concluded. 00:43:08.719 --> 00:43:10.400 You are at the end of the week. 00:43:10.639 --> 00:43:13.360 God rested because his work was done. 00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:19.519 Your work today, I bet, I bet your work is not done. 00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:25.119 I bet that there are things that you could go home and work on right now. 00:43:26.079 --> 00:43:28.880 And it and it you and you probably want to. 00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:31.920 You might have planned on it when you walked in here. 00:43:37.840 --> 00:43:43.679 And our work though, has shifted. 00:43:43.760 --> 00:43:46.559 There's this glory that has been revealed in Christ. 00:43:46.719 --> 00:43:59.760 Because you know, you you know the the uh the fourth commandment when it's relayed to us in Deuteronomy chapter 5, at that time it doesn't say that you shall rest. 00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:04.320 On the seventh day, because on the seventh day God rested. 00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:07.519 It doesn't use creation to ground the Sabbath. 00:44:08.320 --> 00:44:13.199 What's used instead of creation to ground the Sabbath is redemption. 00:44:14.559 --> 00:44:20.239 Why is it that in Deuteronomy they are told to rest on the Sabbath on the Sabbath day? 00:44:20.559 --> 00:44:31.760 It is to remember that they were slaves in Egypt, and that God rescued them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 00:44:31.920 --> 00:44:34.079 That's why they rest on the Sabbath. 00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:45.920 They rest on the Sabbath not just to remember the pattern of creation, but they rest on the Sabbath to remember that they were rescued from the place of perpetual work. 00:44:48.320 --> 00:44:54.960 They were rescued from the place where, as slaves, there was no opportunity for rest. 00:44:55.599 --> 00:45:01.440 They were rescued from the place of being under the tyranny of other gods. 00:45:03.599 --> 00:45:27.440 On the Lord's Day at the resurrection, when we remember the resurrection, and we focus our hearts together as Christians on the Lord's Day, on the resurrection, we are remembering that we have been rescued from the tyranny of the other gods. 00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:41.840 That the market that I would desire to receive my satisfaction from when left to my flesh, that I do not, I am freed from that market. 00:45:45.920 --> 00:45:59.440 That the righteousness that I would like to be able to provide of my own, to give to the Lord as a reason that I might be saved, has been provided for me by the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:46:00.639 --> 00:46:04.800 And so I enter into his rest. 00:46:10.960

--> 00:46:18.800 It says, Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. 00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:30.000 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. 00:46:30.960 --> 00:46:44.800 Disobedience to the Sabbath is a way of saying that God is not the God of creation, and it is a way of saying that you and your work is finally responsible for your salvation. 00:46:45.039 --> 00:46:48.960 So that means that God is not the God of redemption either. 00:46:50.000 --> 00:47:01.519 But participation in the Sabbath means that our hearts are situated in such a way where we are saying that God is the God of creation. 00:47:02.239 --> 00:47:05.440 He is the one who is able to make distinctions within it. 00:47:06.559 --> 00:47:09.679 And God is the God of my redemption. 00:47:10.960 --> 00:47:15.360 He is the only rest that I can truly come into. 00:47:15.760 --> 00:47:47.360 And when you come into that rest, you realize that this is not the type of rest that once I finally integrate this system, or once I finally integrate this uh, you know, add this one ancient practice to my life, then my life will finally be optimized and I won't feel bound by this terrible stress, or uh uh the pains of machine life will finally be worn off. 00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:51.119 No, it's not that type of rest that you're entering into. 00:47:51.280 --> 00:47:56.800 It's not like once you get the Sabbath, then you'll be able to rest on the Sabbath. 00:47:57.280 --> 00:47:58.880 You shouldn't think of it like that. 00:48:00.400 --> 00:48:03.840 The way to rest on the Sabbath, you can rest now. 00:48:06.320 --> 00:48:09.760 It is a rest that has been purchased for you. 00:48:10.880 --> 00:48:31.199 It is a rest which has been built into creation and then restored to you by the blood of Jesus Christ, so that all of the things that encroach upon that rest, all of the all of the little tyrants in your life, they will get exposed like crazy while you're practicing the Sabbath. 00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:32.960 They will rear their heads. 00:48:47.599 --> 00:48:54.079 And it is saying to all of those tyrants, my rest has been purchased by Christ. 00:48:55.920 --> 00:48:57.519 I can rest now. 00:49:00.400 --> 00:49:03.119 In fact, you ought to rest now. 00:49:05.440 --> 00:49:14.960 And then, so this is this is the the first things that I want us to see with the with regards to the Sabbath first is this ratio of days of labor to days of rest. 00:49:15.119 --> 00:49:18.239 The Sabbath begins with the six ordinary days. 00:49:18.480 --> 00:49:20.559 These are to be six days of labor. 00:49:20.800 --> 00:49:25.599 If you don't labor with this ratio, what this shows us is that God gives us work. 00:49:25.760 --> 00:49:28.159 This is one of the commands in which God gives us work. 00:49:28.320 --> 00:49:32.719 And it turns

out that work is very good and can be taken in incredibly high doses. 00:49:32.960 --> 00:49:36.880 In fact, it's good to be taken in incredibly high doses, like six to one. 00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:41.840 That's a high ratio of work to rest. 00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:49.119 And if you don't work at a like ratio to this, then what happens is you will you will rot. 00:49:50.800 --> 00:49:58.559 And then if you don't rest with the and I want to be really careful with this, because here's what I here's what I want to say. 00:49:58.719 --> 00:50:02.880 If you rest, here's what I don't want to say. 00:50:04.559 --> 00:50:15.679 If you what I don't want to say is if you don't rest, then you will burn out and you'll really fall behind. 00:50:15.920 --> 00:50:18.000 That's what I don't want to say. 00:50:18.480 --> 00:50:20.239 I want here's what I want to say. 00:50:20.480 --> 00:50:37.519 If you don't rest and you work machine-like with no rest in you, you may advance far beyond any of your peers that are resting on the Sabbath day. 00:50:38.079 --> 00:50:44.239 You may be outrageously more productive than them. 00:50:45.199 --> 00:50:52.880 You may have far more to show for it by dishonoring the Sabbath day. 00:50:54.719 --> 00:51:04.800 Okay, I want I want us to hear that so that we don't use the Sabbath as a trick to serve the market God. 00:51:07.920 --> 00:51:14.800 By following the Sabbath day in the market, you may fall behind. 00:51:16.960 --> 00:51:19.199 You may achieve less. 00:51:20.800 --> 00:51:22.719 You may get less. 00:51:24.800 --> 00:51:26.800 But what is your life? 00:51:29.920 --> 00:51:32.559 Is your life not more than possessions? 00:51:33.840 --> 00:51:37.280 Is your life not more than food and clothes? 00:51:39.679 --> 00:51:41.280 This is the wonder of the Sabbath. 00:51:41.679 --> 00:51:47.039 The Sabbath, I think, for our culture, it does this thing where it pushes you into and it's like, what are you? 00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:53.440 What is your life? 00:51:53.679 --> 00:51:54.800 Is it not more than food? 00:51:54.960 --> 00:51:55.920 Is it not more than clothing? 00:51:56.079 --> 00:51:57.440 Is it not more than production? 00:51:57.679 --> 00:51:58.719 Is it not more than work? 00:51:58.800 --> 00:52:00.320 Is it not more than labor? 00:52:03.119 --> 00:52:09.440 I think that if you disregard the Sabbath, you may be better off in all of those things. 00:52:10.239 --> 00:52:12.159 You may gain the world. 00:52:16.079 --> 00:52:21.920 But what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 00:52:23.920 --> 00:52:34.960 What if instead the Sabbath was a real day and it was set apart, made holy to the highest thing? 00:52:35.199 --> 00:52:37.760 Now, what is the highest thing? 00:52:38.159 --> 00:52:43.119 What if the highest thing was worship of the Lord? 00:52:45.039 --> 00:52:51.920 Considering his great work of creation, his great work of redemption. 00:52:52.159 --> 00:52:55.039 Do you know what you had to

do with his great work of creation? 00:52:55.360 --> 00:52:56.559 You weren't even there. 00:52:56.960 --> 00:52:59.760 Do you know what you had to do with his great work of redemption? 00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:01.519 Jesus paid it all. 00:53:02.960 --> 00:53:05.840 Do you know how you receive these and honor him in them? 00:53:06.159 --> 00:53:06.800 You rest. 00:53:08.639 --> 00:53:10.960 You worship and praise. 00:53:11.280 --> 00:53:13.519 You receive with gratitude. 00:53:14.079 --> 00:53:22.639 You enjoy the great gifts of the people and the family, the friends that he has given you. 00:53:22.800 --> 00:53:28.800 You encourage them, you build them up, you talk with them on this day about the highest things. 00:53:32.000 --> 00:53:40.400 So we rest, we worship, we don't neglect the assembly, we remember his creation and his redemption. 00:53:40.559 --> 00:53:47.039 And then here's what I want you to can to I'm gonna say one more practical thing. 00:53:47.199 --> 00:54:04.320 This will require, as you're as you're experiencing the conviction of the reality of the Sabbath, that it is really here, and the reality of our stepping into the rest of Christ or neglecting it by the neglect of the Sabbath, uh, you will need to talk with your spouse. 00:54:05.599 --> 00:54:08.000 Okay, now who needs to do that? 00:54:08.320 --> 00:54:19.440 So uh 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. 00:54:19.679 --> 00:54:25.280 The following of the Sabbath is a responsibility of the head of the household. 00:54:27.360 --> 00:54:34.480 So the the head of the household, the father in the house, is the one who says, we're doing the Sabbath today. 00:54:35.599 --> 00:54:41.440 So that means you you are taking the labor off of all of those in your charge. 00:54:41.840 --> 00:54:46.400 That's what the Sabbath is, that's the way we are able to participate in the Sabbath. 00:54:47.519 --> 00:54:53.840 So that means you will need to defend against those other tyrants which will creep in. 00:54:54.079 --> 00:54:57.519 So, fathers, especially, protect the Sabbath in your home. 00:54:59.679 --> 00:55:08.239 Okay, the last word that I want to leave us with in consideration of the Sabbath, and just to sort of prime your conscience with regards to what you do and what you don't do on the Sabbath. 00:55:08.559 --> 00:55:13.840 Um, I'm not just giving gonna I'm not just gonna give you a list that you want. 00:55:15.440 --> 00:55:18.079 Here's what I'm here's what I'm going to do instead. 00:55:18.320 --> 00:55:23.039 I'm going to say, the Sabbath is a holy day. 00:55:25.599 --> 00:55:28.880 You did not you did not make it a holy day. 00:55:29.119 --> 00:55:32.880 Humans do not make the Sabbath a holy day. 00:55:34.719 --> 00:55:40.000 What you put on the Sabbath, you are calling holy. 00:55:42.960 --> 00:55:44.800 What are you calling holy? 00:55:48.320 --> 00:55:52.960 And if you put it there and you make it holy, it will be. 00:55:55.519 --> 00:55:56.719 It will be. 00:56:00.480 --> 00:56:02.559 So that should be a helpful filter. 00:56:03.360 --> 00:56:04.880 Should be a helpful filter. 00:56:05.199 --> 00:56:05.760 All right. 00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:07.360 Remember the Sabbath day. 00:56:07.599 --> 00:56:08.719 Keep it holy. 00:56:10.639 --> 00:56:12.000 Let's pray. 00:56:15.440 --> 00:56:19.840 Father, we praise you because you are the creator and the redeemer. 00:56:20.719 --> 00:56:28.400 Lord, let our hearts be focused on you as the true highest good, as our true highest God. 00:56:29.440 --> 00:56:48.000 Lord, we see that and I I don't I don't know if this is like this in every civilization, but in ours, Lord, this command feels like it pushes us up against some of the deepest idols that we have. 00:56:56.639 --> 00:57:06.480 What the other gods, the other tyrants of our culture, who would never let us rest, but would demand our attention on them for freedom. 00:57:09.760 --> 00:57:12.639 Lord, would we see what they demand of us? 00:57:13.199 --> 00:57:18.719 And would we see that compared to the free redemption that you have given us in Jesus Christ? 00:57:18.960 --> 00:57:25.760 Lord, would you teach us to fix our attention on you on this day to make the Sabbath day holy? 00:57:27.039 --> 00:57:28.880 Help us remember it. 00:57:33.679 --> 00:57:35.920 I think the stakes are very high, Lord. 00:57:36.400 --> 00:57:38.320 Would you help this to settle on our hearts? 00:57:38.639 --> 00:57:40.079 Lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:57:40.239 --> 00:57:40.880 Amen.