"Remember the Sabbath Day" April 8, 2018 AM

The Gift of Grace and the Call to Worship

We come here this morning and truly, truly grateful that you have brought us thus far. We would have never been here, close to you, so far from condemnation, so far from despair, if it had not been for your grace.

You have brought us thus far. You are our rock of help, our Ebenezer. You have given us these words this morning to lead us on, further on, farther up, into all that you have given to us in Christ. Help us to rejoice, help us to rejoice in the blessings you pour into our lives and call us to live.

Pray these things for Christ's sake, in whom you are well pleased. Would you please stand with me? We're going to read Jeremiah chapter 17, verses 19 -27. This is the word of the Lord. Thus the Lord said to me, Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem, and say to them, Listen to the word of the Lord.

Kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in through these gates. Thus says the Lord, Take heed for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the Sabbath day, or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem.

You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy. As I commanded your forefathers. Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.

But it will come about if you listen attentively to me, declares the Lord, to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it.

Then there will come in through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.

They will come in from the cities of Judah, and from the environs of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the Lord.

But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be.

This is the word of the Lord, may we who have ears to hear, may we hear. You may be seated. Welcome to the public gate of Jerusalem. This is our most prestigious gate. It is, as many have called it, the river of our commerce.

And all the other gates of Jerusalem are its tributaries. We call it the gate of the sons of the people because everybody uses it. From kings to the villagers of all our land, shepherds, bind dressers, farmers, they all come in with their goods to Jerusalem on this day, a great day, a day of joy, a day of commerce, the Sabbath.

Here they come winding up the road. You can see donkeys covered in fleeces, men bearing yokes of grapes, whole families coming in with flasks and satchels ready to sell. And the people of Jerusalem all come out of their houses.

They've got things to trade, they've got burdens they want to exchange for the things that the villagers are bringing in. And the merchants all lay out their wares. As soon as these villagers get some money in their pockets, they may find some of the wares of the merchants to their liking.

A great sea of people gather around this great public gate. We have moved everything out of the way. There's lots of area on both sides of the gate for all the sea of people to gather and do business.

Keep a sharp ear out, a keen eye, there may come a shout and soon the sea of people will part and Jehoiakim or one of his sons will come riding through to take note of what goes on here. They like to keep an eye on the productivity of the land.

They need to know how much to tax the people. Yes, all the gates of Jerusalem stand as portals of our progress. And wait, someone's calling out. Is this a herald of the king? No, it's that loathsome Jeremiah.

What misery does he afflict upon us today? Oh yes, yes, another word from the Lord. Yes, complaining about our forefathers again. Oh, we must keep Sabbath. Oh, no commerce on the Sabbath. What a horrible idea.

A promise of the prosperity of Israel restored if only we take one day out of seven and toss it aside. Yeah, that'll take progress down to a trickle. And okay, he's going to wrap up now. Get ready for the doomsday saying, yes, this one's a good one.

Oh, God will burn our city down if we don't keep Sabbath. Thank you, Jeremiah, for ruining a perfectly good day. You can be quiet now. Judah did not think much of the Sabbath. Perhaps they were a bit confused about what it all meant.

After all, it had been a while since it had been kept, and maybe they thought it was an antiquated, old-fashioned idea. Not even our forefathers were too concerned with it. What about us? Do we think much of the Sabbath?

Are we perhaps a little confused about it? Do we relegate it to another time period? Old-fashioned. As we read the text, I hope that you saw how much Goff thought about the Sabbath. Mentioned it seven times.

How he's clear on the matter. How he expects Judah to keep the Sabbath day holy in their here and now. Now, a pattern that is set in creation, the fourth of the Ten Commandments, and a subject that is often upon the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ, is important enough for us to give some thoughts to think about for a few moments this morning.

We do need to think about it. We do need to get clarity on the issue. And we need to think about how it is that we are to keep the Sabbath in the here and now and in the hereafter. And the first way to do that is by remembrance.

By remembrance. Judah had forgotten it altogether. God brings it back to their attention. And after all, the fourth commandment in Exodus, Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8 says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

We're going to start anywhere. Let's start there and remember the Sabbath day. What ought we remember about the Sabbath? Well, in six days, God created everything that he had made and said it was very good.

And on the seventh day, he rested. Genesis 2, 1 through 3. On the seventh day, he rested. We ought to remember that God set this pattern in creation. One that was picked up by Israel in the wilderness.

God began to give them manna. And on six days, they went out and gathered up manna. On the seventh day, they were instructed to stay right in their tent. Do not leave their tents. And just rest. That day was not a time for work.

It was a time for rest. They were following the pattern that God set down in creation. God set aside time and told the Israelites to set aside time and space. For the Sabbath. For rest. We should also remember that the religious leaders of Jesus' day got the Sabbath wrong.

Jeremiah's contemporaries hardly ever thought about the Sabbath. Jesus' countrymen thought about it all the time and got it wrong. They made a lot of rules. A universe of rules about how to keep Sabbath.

You may think the tax laws of our nation are a bit convoluted. But the rabbinical Sabbath law makes the IRS as simple as ABC. Why so many rules? Because they were really focused upon just how to set aside time and space.

Not really giving any consideration as to why. The whole point of the Sabbath. Jesus even had to remind them, you know what? The Sabbath was made for man. Not man for the Sabbath. We weren't created to worship the Sabbath.

And be infatuated by the Sabbath. We weren't designed for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was designed for us. Meaning that God gave Sabbath to those he made in his image. He made man in his own image and says, here's a gift.

It's called Sabbath. It's for you. What God did in his pattern and creation, he gives off to man and says, this is for your benefit. This is for your good. Sabbath was made for man. God made it for those he made in his image.

And so as we take Sabbath, we are doing so to rest and thinking about the one who made us. And our relationship to him and whose image we are made. If we're going to remember anything about the Sabbath this morning, it's this.

The Sabbath is for rest and relationship. The Sabbath is for rest and relationship. A relational kind of rest. Let's think about rest for a little bit. Repeatedly in our passage, God tells Judah to sanctify the Sabbath day.

Set it apart. Make space and time to rest. We're not going to carry loads in from the countryside into Jerusalem. We're not going to carry loads out of our houses. We're not going to go down to the city gate and set up market.

That space is going to be clear. Our time on that day is not about work. It's about rest. Set aside time. Set aside space for rest. No more carrying loads. Put the load down. Why? In six days, God created everything that he had made.

And it was very good. And on the seventh day, he rested. Genesis 2, 1 -3. That creation pattern God cites in the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment in Exodus 20. To remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.

He cites the creation pattern as the reason why. To put it another way. God made everything. He gives everything life. He's the one who provides abundantly for humankind. So you can rest one day out of seven.

And rest in the providence of God. God is giving you all that you need. So rest in him. It's not up to you by yourself. And your own power. Your own strength. Your own industry. God will provide. Trust God.

He's your creator. He's your provider. It's also cited in Exodus 31. The creation pattern of rest is cited in Exodus 31. Where God says that keeping Sabbath is an eternal sign between him and Israel. So God, in six days, creates everything.

He does his work. On the seventh day, he rests. And then gives it off as a gift. A pattern for his people, Israel, to follow. Gives it to man as a pattern to follow. Because we're made in his image. And so we reflect him.

We imitate him in these essential ways. And one of the essential ways we imitate him is in how we take our rest. So it's really important, therefore, that we clarify what in the world was God doing on the seventh day?

What does it mean that he rested? If we're going to rest as God rested, what does it mean that he rested? So in Exodus 31, verse 17, God says at the Sabbath,. It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever.

Then Moses explains why. For in six days, God made heaven and earth. But on the seventh day, he ceased from labor and was refreshed. He worked for six days and needed a day off. He was tired and needed a vacation day.

He worked all day. And went home and collapsed in his easy chair. And had a refreshing night's sleep. No. Nowhere close to it. Nowhere close to it. These, if we confess them of God, would be blasphemous notions.

That can't be. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. So what does it mean he was refreshed? We should understand that this translation, refreshed, strains to cover a wonder.

In Genesis 2 -7, and this is the way we're going to have to work on the mystery. In Genesis 2 -7, we read,. Then the Lord God formed man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

And man became a living being. A living being. In the Hebrew, nethesh. A soul that is alive. A spiritually alive entity. A being. One who is relational and meant for worship to God. Our life is derived directly from God's life.

That he breathed life into us. Therefore, we are a nethesh. That's the noun. A living being. Nethesh is the noun. Living being. Deuteronomy 31 -17. The noun is turned into a verb. In six days, the Lord created everything.

On the seventh day, he, in the Hebrew, sabbathed. And then he nephash. The living being, the noun, is turned into a verb. And that's what God did on the seventh day. God sabbathed and took breath? God sabbathed and was being?

Every attempt I make to get at what God did in his rest ends in mumble and stutter. And the one commentary I have was even brave enough to comment. And it was this. The application of this word to the creator, which occurs nowhere else, is remarkable.

Period. Thanks. Mystery. Alright, this is the best I can do. And I really do this bowed down before the God of this mystery. In six days, the Lord made heaven and earth. But on the seventh day, he sabbathed and was full of himself.

He was full of himself. If we're a nephesh because God breathed life into us, when God does this, whatever this is, to nephash, it must be that he was full of himself. We won't keep sabbath by the mere observance of rules and rituals.

We will only keep sabbath by resting in the God who made us. The one who breathed the breath of life into us on the sixth day communed joyously with himself as the triune God of life on the seventh day.

To show those he made in his image what true rest looks like. As God made a whole day of just being full of himself. So he calls us to be full of God. To make space and time to be full of God. Without that kind of rest, we're not keeping sabbath.

So we know these basic things about abiding in Christ. Remember that strange little command in Ephesians 5, 18? Be being filled with the Holy Spirit. This is keeping sabbath. Notice that this kind of rest, which is sabbath rest, is entirely dependent on relationship to God.

You can't keep sabbath and rest in God if you're not in relationship with God. It's absolutely impossible. It's a relational rest that we're full of this Christ who saves us. And this spirit who indwells us, filled with this God who made us and gives us life.

We must be full of him for he gives strength to the weary. And to him who lacks might he increases power. And though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly. Yet those who wait for the Lord, those who sabbath in God.

They will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. So it's a relational rest. The theme of relationship is strong.

Seven times in our passage in Jeremiah, Jeremiah talks about the sabbath. Seven times also the Lord addresses his people and talks about whether or not they're listening to him. Or inclining their ear to him.

Paying him attention. The connection is this. You can't sabbath unless you're paying attention to God. It's not about following a list of rules. It's about paying attention and fixing our attention upon the God with whom we have to do.

Our creator and our redeemer. The Pharisees were so busy counting their steps. So as to not walk too far on the sabbath day they never drew near to God. And I think it's quite possible that we are too busy sometimes.

Too busy to draw near to God. But it's about relationship and we make time for those we love. Don't we? We make space and time in the busyness of life for those we love. It's about relationship. In Deuteronomy 5, the second giving of the law, the second giving of the ten commandments.

God does not cite the ten, the creation pattern, the six days and one day. He does not cite that for the fourth commandment. He gives another purpose, another reason. And this is in Deuteronomy 5 .15.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. And the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

Did you hear that? God says, I am your creator. So sabbath. I am your redeemer, your savior, your deliverer. So sabbath. What's the point? Because of who I am, you do this thing. You rest in who I am.

I'm your creator. I provide for you. You don't have to do it all by your own strength. I provide for you. Rest in me. Worship me as greater than that which you might earn, that which you might accomplish.

With all the time. He says, I am your redeemer. I am your deliverer. I brought you out of Egypt by my mighty hand and by my outstretched arm. What did you do to deliver yourself from Egypt? Nothing. Therefore rest.

What did you do to earn your salvation? I didn't do a thing to earn my salvation. I didn't do a thing to impress God. God saved me absolutely in spite of who I am. All of grace. Therefore I can rest in him.

I don't have to be busy all the stinking time trying to do wonderful things for God. Trying to work my way into his approval. I can rest in him. Because he saved me. I didn't do anything to bring that about.

About relationship. Matthew 11, 27 through chapter 12 verse 12 is one of seven Sabbath defining passages in the gospels. And in here this passage you can read it for yourself. But Jesus clarifies the meaning of the Sabbath and how to keep it holy.

He starts off by talking about the grace of our relationship to him and his father. Nobody knows the father except the son. And nobody knows the son except the father. Nobody knows the father except those who the son reveals the father to.

Relationship with God. He starts off with relationship and then says come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest. Starts off with relationship. Then he talks about rest. And then no grand surprise comes a passage about the Sabbath.

Because the Sabbath is about relational rest. And in this passage on the Sabbath he encounters the Pharisees that want to make the Sabbath all about rules. And Jesus encounters that. And he confronts them and gives them a couple of examples.

One about David. One about the temple. And clarifies through that Sabbath keeping is about who you're with. And where spiritually speaking you're located. And he says something greater than the temple is here.

And someone greater than David is here. So how in the world is it possible for my disciples who are with me to be breaking the Sabbath. Explain that to me. Jesus says it is absolutely impossible for his disciples to break Sabbath when they're with him.

He takes that which was in a pattern in creation. That which was modeled for the nation of Israel. And he takes it and relocates keeping Sabbath from a day to himself. Which was the point of the whole thing anyway.

Paul says in Colossians 2, 16 -17, Let no man act as a judge over you concerning what you eat, what feast you celebrate, or Sabbath day. Things which are mere shadows, but the substance belongs to Christ.

He said Christ is the substance, the body in the Greek, the soma. It's his body that's the real deal. And the shadow, the shadow includes Sabbath. But Jesus is the real deal. If you're going to keep Sabbath, it's about who you're with, Christ, where you're located, spiritually speaking, in Christ.

Now how does that practically work out in our lives? We need to make space and time for rest and relationship in Christ. We need to make space and time for rest and relationship in Christ. A relational rest in Christ.

Now I want to be clear on this so we don't exchange one legalism for another. We know that Christ is the talos of the law, the end, the goal, the fulfillment of the law. For righteousness to everyone who believes.

You and I can't keep the fourth commandment. None of the other ones either. Can't keep the commandments, can't keep the law. By Christ. He leads us into lives of righteousness. Lives of godliness. Lives which adhere to the truth and the character of the law.

Nobody can murder someone if they're following Jesus, can they? As long as I'm following Jesus, I simultaneously cannot also commit adultery. It's impossible. If I'm following Jesus Christ, if you're following Jesus Christ, you can't break the Sabbath.

He's going to lead you into Sabbath keeping. And Sabbath keeping looks like making space and time to rest relationally in Christ. It's not about, it's not about not preparing meals on Sunday. It's not about not going out to eat on Sunday.

It's not about going to all the church services on Sunday. It's not about refraining from lawn mowing or refraining from wearing colored shirts or walking the dog on Sunday. We're not exchanging one list of rules for another.

We're not saying that Sabbath is Saturday and on sundown Friday through sundown Saturday you have to stay in your house. We're not exchanging Saturday for Sunday and calling Sunday the Sabbath day. I think that's about as unhelpful as transferring dietary laws to things like caffeine and alcohol like the Mormons do.

That's as unhelpful as transferring Old Testament circumcision to infant baptism. Where's Jesus? Where's Christ? He'll lead you to holiness. I think it really ignores, that ignores the law. Put down the load.

It is, it's what keeps us. Sabbath is kept in our abiding and by our hand does not live by bread alone. Sabbath is kept when we push back the distractions and the busy day. The world may go roaring on but not I, not us.

Here we stop and affix our submission and our adoration upon God our Creator and God our Savior. I don't know of any other sustaining way, better sustaining way than to keep Sabbath than by gathering with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

When we gather and we gather on a Sunday because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. No better way for me I've ever known to keep Sabbath than by showing up here on Sunday so that I can keep Sabbath while I'm here.

Showing up itself is not keeping Sabbath. Showing up with my brothers and sisters on a Sunday is not keeping Sabbath. No better way. It's about being with Jesus and Jesus said we're together. But Jesus also said we're together based on a robust private piety.

Are we keeping Sabbath in and of ourself? Not just in public every once in a while but are we keeping Sabbath? When it's just us. Sometimes it's not just us but you know it's just us. I'm not trying to throw heaps of condemnation on mothers of small children who never have a quiet moment at all in the house.

Or those who work long shifts. Or those that are forced to work on Sunday to provide for their family. I'm not throwing condemnation on those who maybe only have every once in a while throughout the week something to grab hold of.

Don't despise the small things. If you can't have an hour and a half scheduled programmed quiet time. Jesus says about his kingdom don't despise the small things. The mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds that you plant in your garden.

And there's just a little bit of leaven that you put into the hole and it leavens the hole up. Don't despise the small things. Sabbath can come in small portions as you fixate your attention upon Christ.

And remember it's not about total inactivity. I mean we're not talking about having to join a monastery and go into one of those cells for eight hours. Remember that Jesus was often busy on the Sabbath healing people.

Oh that got under the skin of the Pharisees. Healing people on the Sabbath. We can do good on the Sabbath Jesus says. I mean what better way to commune with him and abide in him and rejoice in him than by doing good and keeping Sabbath with him at the same time.

Hindrances to Keeping Sabbath

Okay what keeps us from keeping Sabbath? What hinders us from keeping Sabbath? Now keeping Sabbath in Christ on this side of his resurrection and ascension is decidedly a different type of experience.

There's some things that are different about it than what Judah was called to do. But the priorities on making space and making time for rest and relationship in God are the same. And that means that the hindrances are also the same.

What Jeremiah preaches against is helpful for us to know what hinders us from keeping Sabbath. And one of those is social disruption. All throughout Jeremiah 17 verses 19 to 27 we have this refrain. Kings of Judah, all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem.

The whole group is continually addressed. Everybody's got to get on board on keeping Sabbath Jeremiah. Everybody's got to do it. Not just some of us. All of us have to do it together. Why is that? Because one of the hindrances to keeping Sabbath is your community.

Your family, people you work with, people you know, people you hang out with. One of the hindrances to your keeping Sabbath is your community. Sometimes it's a help. Very often it's a help because here we are gathered together to keep Sabbath.

But it can also be a hindrance. Everybody has to be on board. Now, you're responsible for that because you help shape the community you're a part of. So, does your family let you keep Sabbath? Or is this just constant distractions and pay attention to me and get involved with this?

Do people at your work know that you have a priority on Sabbath? That when they try to involve you in extras, when they try to get you to do something over and above and beyond and so on and so forth.

Why can't you hang out and do this? Does anybody you work with know that you have a priority of keeping Sabbath? What about people in your, I mean, your neighbors? What about the people you sit next to in your pew?

Do they know your priority of keeping Sabbath? They know like, you know, during Sunday school or during church service, you don't want them to show you this cool thing they just found on Facebook on their smartphone.

They know that about you? They know your priorities? Social disruption. You know, they need to know your priority in keeping Sabbath not because you're a legalist and holier than they are, but, you know, there's nothing more important for us who live in the image of God than to be full of God.

We need Sabbath. It was given to us as something good. What about scriptural deafness? That's the second hindrance that we see in the text. Seven times God says to the people, Listen! Listen! Why won't you pay attention?

Why won't you incline your ear? Listen! One of the most basic hindrances to keeping Sabbath is that we don't have time to listen to God and his word. One of the most basic hindrances to keeping Sabbath is we just don't have time to listen to God and his word.

We don't make space in the noise and busyness of our world to adhere to the giver of life. Now, if you've never ever thought about really keeping Sabbath, this is a new idea. This is just maybe a little overwhelming idea of keeping Sabbath.

Here's something just very, very simple. If you make some space and time in your life to really listen to what God has to say in his scriptures, you're keeping Sabbath. You know Christ. You make that space and time.

You just make a little space and time in your life to listen to what God has to say in his scriptures. You're keeping Sabbath. Now, I'm not saying that it's going to be this wonderful, soothing, pleasant experience.

What God has to say in his word is not always soothing to our souls. It's not always that comforting voice, exactly what we needed to hear to feel better about ourselves. Those voices are rarely true and honest.

Now, there is soothing. There is a balm for our wounds. But he's also the great physician who's going to be making some cuts deep into our life to reform us and renew us to the image of God. So take some time.

Make some space in your life to listen to what God has to say. That's the simplest way to keep Sabbath. Just listen. We can see that in our text. Sabbath all the time. I find it remarkable. God promises to bring about the blessings and fulfill the promises of life pertaining to the three covenants.

He filled in and kept. Brothers and sisters, could it be? We read. Necessary prerequisite. Is more important than doing. Yes. You are worth. 26 and visions. Appropriately. What is the result in the land?

People from all over the land may bring the full manifold offerings, incense, sacrifices of Thanksgiving. Lord, if only this fall highly about and when you do Sabbath. And isn't it just like God that very often when he puts us on our backs.

And reminds us that we can do nothing in our lives of worship. I trust we've remembered the Sabbath. Will we keep Sabbath? Will we be full of God? Father, I thank you for the time you've given us in your text.

A reminder to your people to listen to what you have to say to keep Sabbath. That if they would do that, they would know your blessings. That as we keep Sabbath, we will know your blessings. Given to us in Christ.

Will lead us into this. Wonders. Happiness. In Christ. Pray these things for his sake.