Called Into Sabbath

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you so as we now

Move to a time of sitting as it were before our Lord and hearing him in his word.

I wanted to begin this morning by Reminding it reminding us of what it is that we are participating in here this morning in each week

As pastor Kendall taught us last week We gather each Lord's Day in the real presence of our

God for the purposes of renewal And not renewal in the sense of renewing our salvation like we're coming here each week to get saved again

That's not what we're doing here. We come for renewal in the sense of being renewed by God Because of the covenant standing that we have with him in Christ We haven't lost anything in the course of the last week

But we rightly understand that we are in need of more grace from God as we navigate this life

All right, we're not it's not sufficient Or I gotta be very careful when I talk like that But as we come because we need more we need more of the grace of God in our lives

It's similar to the idea of we don't eat lunch because breakfast didn't work, right? We eat lunch because breakfast satisfied us right but through the course of those few hours

You know that span of time is different for each of us right in the course of those few hours We recognize that we needed more nourishment, right?

And so we go back to food for more Right in the same way we come to God in this way each week for nourishment not because that initial salvation is ineffective

Or because it's lost its power. It's actually quite the contrary right because we come to him to be renewed because we know

Based on that salvation that we will not find the nourishment. We need to navigate life anywhere or in anyone else and so this morning

We've returned to the presence of God to be renewed and to be fed as it were by the one who covenanted or promised or Obligated himself to be the one who would feed his people those who come to him by faith in his son by the power of his

Holy Spirit and by the call of His glorious gospel and so with that in mind I want us to begin this morning by reading the text from which we will continue our

Consideration of covenant renewal worship and today we're looking at the first of the five elements of our service

Which pastor Kendall mentioned last week? Those are the five C's we have call confession consecration

Communion and commission. This is kind of the this is the flow of the service, right? And so today again, we're focusing on the first of those five elements, which is call and so if you would

Please open in your Bible with me to our text for today. We're gonna be in the gospel according to Mark We're gonna be in chapter 2 verses 23 through 28 and the text won't be on the screen behind me

And so if you'd like to follow along which I would encourage for sure There should be if you don't have a

Bible there should be some in the underneath the seats in front of you That you'll be able to to use this morning

So again mark chapter 2 verses 23 through 28 hear the word of the

Lord this morning and It happened that he is as Jesus was passing through the grain fields on the

Sabbath and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain The Pharisees were saying to him.

Look, why are they doing? What is not lawful on the Sabbath? And he said to them Have you never read what

David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry? how he entered the house of God at the time of a by a thar the high priest and Ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priest and he also gave it to those who were with him

Jesus said to them the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath So the

Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath Let's pray and ask that God would help us to learn from him this morning

Father we do. Thank you that as we consider your word this morning we can

Rejoice in and knowing that this is your word to us your people or that you are you are our

God the God the creator of all things. We're king of all things and we rejoice that we can be

Hearing this word this morning and reading this word this morning knowing that this is the word of our father

As well or help us to Rejoice as children here this morning and celebrate the things that you will teach us

Lord I do pray that as we learn You would help us to set aside the things And the cares of the world the weights and sins and encumbrances that would cause us to look anywhere aside from you in this time

Lord help me as I deliver these words or to help to forget the things that you would not have me to say

Lord and protect the words that are That are brought over your people are spoken over your people here today

Lord help me to be out of the way As it were I didn't help you to be the one that is teaching and caring for your flock here in this time

Thank you in Jesus name. Amen Now you may be wondering

Why in a sermon that is dealing with call to worship the call to worship section of our corporate gathering?

Why the text that we're considering is about Sabbath practice and Sabbath observance, and maybe you're not wondering that But if not,

I hope that you are now and that's why I did that and for the reason for that the reason for that is that I Believe and what

I'm submitting to you here this morning as my main objective in the sermon is that it is

Only with a proper view of the Sabbath Can we have a proper view and appreciation for the call elements of covenant renewal

I'll say that again that if we do not properly understand the Sabbath or the Lord's Day and its purpose

We will not be able to properly understand and value the benefits of covenant renewal

Worship and what we are being called into by God each week Now many of you know,

I have a major dislike of Qualifications. I Find them most of the time what

I mean is like qualifying what you're saying Like just to be clear before I go on any further because I'm gonna say something controversial.

I'm gonna qualify it You know, it's like protect I drives me crazy. I can't stand that type of stuff. I think it's

Unnecessary most of the time and I think it's usually an acquiescence to a culture that loves to find fault and division with one another

So I have like a principle against qualifying things usually but today I will provide a qualification

So that we can be sure that we're on the same page because again, I think that Sabbath and Lord's Day observance

It can be a loaded issue for some of us, right? We maybe have preconceived notions and of what it all means

And so I want to make sure that we're operating from the same place and same definitions And so when

I refer to Sabbath observance This morning, I'm not referring to the type of Sabbath observance that Jesus quite clearly calls wrong in the

Gospels I'm not talking about a Lord's Day observance that says that you can't leave your property on the

Sabbath or You know, you can't turn on a microwave or turn a doorknob or press a button and I'm not making some of these up These are some of these are like real like regulations

Like if you go to modern -day Israel, there's buildings that have like a Sabbath setting, right?

So that where elevators are gonna stop on every floor up and down and they're gonna open on every floor so that on Saturdays because that's the

Jewish Sabbath so that they don't have to press a button because that would be a violation of the Jewish Sabbath if you were pressing a button for your floor calling an elevator to your floor

And so this is obviously I think it's obvious. Well, hopefully it is now That's not the type of Sabbath observance that I'm getting ready to talk to you guys about this morning

And again, I think that Jesus pretty clearly debunks this type of observance throughout the Gospels as pharisaical and man -made, right?

So what I think tends to be a problem though is an overreaction to Jesus's debunking of pharisaical

Sabbath standards, right? so the issue that I think many modern Christians run into when it comes to the

Sabbath and I say modern because This is really a fairly new fad in the Christian Church Really like past hundred years even less

That people have really started to throw the baby out with the bathwater as it were that they throw modern

Christians will throw Sabbath observance out entirely as opposed to looking more carefully and Specifically at the contentions that Jesus is raising with the pharisaical practices

So what many moderns do? Is say that Jesus's rebukes of the

Pharisees amount to an abolishing of all Sabbath laws Right so that any commands to remember the

Sabbath day and to keep it holy like we read earlier the fourth commandment That those are void in our time or they mean something utterly spiritual only right?

They don't have any practical Implications for us, but I would argue that there are two really fatal errors to that line of thinking

The first I think is it will be pretty obvious as we discuss it

But the first is that it assumes that Jesus is saying that the Pharisees understanding of the

Sabbath and its requirements was correct Right, but that he's putting an end to it with his ministry

And so I don't think I'll have to belabor the point But I will but I will say this that I think it's fairly obvious that the

Pharisees are in general general senses here general term The bad guys right in the

Gospels that we read right there there. They don't get it. They're haters of God They've usurped the law of God with the laws of men right there the picture of being wrong at almost every turn

Right, but when we assume that Jesus has abolished Sabbath observance because he tells the Pharisees that the way they were doing it was wrong

It shouldn't be done. We're assuming that they were actually right in this one instance, right? So in G if we assume that Jesus is saying it's over We're saying that Jesus says you have

Pharisees. You're right about what the Sabbath is, but I'm telling you that we're all done with it But I think that that and if that were the case, right?

That would be something to consider But I think that one totally falls on its face when we consider the second error to the line of thinking which is that Is found in Jesus his own words in our passage mark 2 verse 28

Jesus says so the Son of Man is Lord even of the

Sabbath and So what moderns would have us to believe is that Jesus came into the world?

He told the Pharisees they were wrong about everything except for the Sabbath But he abolished and so he abolished said

Sabbath and yet named himself Lord of this now abolished thing It just doesn't make any sense right doesn't hold water

And so again I think that there's a pretty fatal error in the logic of the idea that Sabbath has been abolished by Jesus because he's saying that Even though the

Pharisees are right about it. I want to get rid of it, but I'm Lord of it That doesn't that doesn't make sense

Right. So we want to be careful not to just kind of accept the what is kind of thrown at us from the perspective of Modern Christianity that that Sabbath rules and Sabbath laws are they don't really matter

And we should take care to be a little bit more nuanced in our approach to understand What is it that Jesus is teaching us about the

Sabbath? He's rejecting pharisaical Standards man -made standards we understand that and so let us understand what he what he is telling us the

Sabbath is intended for and let's learn from that and so Again, this where does this connect to call to worship?

I'm asking you this morning to trust me that we're gonna you're gonna see how there's an appreciate that Respecting and appreciating what the

Lord's teaching on the Sabbath is it's gonna help us to better understand covenant renewal worship And then specifically what it means to be called into worship.

And so In our text this morning again We see one of these instances of Jesus is correcting of the faulty view of the

Pharisees when it comes to Sabbath observance I'm going to read reread 23 through 26 of Mark chapter 2

And it happened that he was passing through the grain fields of the Sabbath on the Sabbath and his disciples began to make their

Way along while picking the heads of grain the Pharisees were saying to him look Why are they doing what is not lawful on the

Sabbath? And he said to them have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry

How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the consecrated bread

Which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests And he also gave it to those who were with him So now as Jesus and his disciples travel travel along right wearied as they were they pick some grain from the farmlands that they're walking by and the

Pharisees take some issue right with this this idea that they're just picking grain as they're walking and Some of us might be tempted to think at first glance at the text that the

Pharisees issue with these men It's gonna be that they're stealing food that doesn't belong to them. Just taking food from these guys farm poor guy you know,

I would be pretty upset if someone took eggs out of my chicken coop, but Nevertheless, but we would be wrong

Obviously God's God's law and the Pharisees know this which is why they don't pick a fight on this point gives provision to the practice of gleaning

Or picking from the corners and edges of harvest fields in Leviticus 2322

God says when you reap the harvest of your land Moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest

You are to leave them for the needy and the alien I am the Lord your God and so Jesus and his disciples are not guilty of stealing here, right?

The Pharisees however take issue with the fact that this gleaning happened on the Sabbath That Jesus and his followers would dare to pick up to pick a head of grain on the

Sabbath day and so we're confronted here with this question that we've already kind of discussed of whether this pharisaical standard of Sabbath observance is correct and Jesus is just telling them that it doesn't matter anymore

Or if they don't actually understand what the Sabbath is meant to be and I think his response makes it obvious They don't properly understand the point of the

Sabbath looking at verses 25 and 26 again Jesus said to them have you never read what

David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the consecrated bread

Which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests and he also gave it to those who were with him Our Lord points the

Pharisees to the example of David and his mighty men who eat bread Which is reserved for the priests and what is his point in doing that?

What what does this have to do with whether they're properly observing the Sabbath? Jesus is showing them that while The Pharisees might be able to read and they are able to make assumptions about what they're capable of making assumptions about the meaning of the law

He's pointing out to them that they do not fully grasp the depths of the meaning of it, right?

They're able to read and understand that this is what the law teaches and now they're in there also able to take that and make

Their own assumptions, but Jesus is saying that your assumptions are wrong Essentially, he's telling them that they might understand the letter of the law, but they don't understand the spirit of the law and this is where Jesus he really he hammers what the point of The Sabbath laws are right the spirit of the laws is this that Verse 27 the

Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath He's saying

Pharisees you're right that God commanded you to lay aside your work for one day per week out of seven This is a good and right thing for man to do

This is a good thing to lay aside work work for six days lay it aside on the Sabbath day. This is a good thing

But you're wrong to presume that it's your man -made understanding of work that is meant here, right?

You're he's resetting their understanding of Sabbath requirements to teach us that the Sabbath isn't a day

That's designed to test just how obedient we can be but by providing more strict laws to observe

Right. This isn't a day where we're now is the day where I really prove how much I'm willing to work, right?

The Sabbath is a day that's created by God to show us that he's for us right that he loves us

He sustains us. He blesses us and he keeps us. It's a day for man to be blessed

Not a day for man to work harder by not working, right? This is it's a the paradigm that he's trying to shift here.

It's really important Right today for man to receive not a day for man to give

He says the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the

Sabbath Really critical right and Jesus isn't teaching anything. That's really revolutionary here, right?

He's not he's not changing the rules, you know in the intent of the Sabbath in the middle of the game All right looking at Isaiah 58 verses 13 and 14 the

Lord says if because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day and Call the

Sabbath a delight the holy day of the Lord honorable and honor it desisting from your own ways

From seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word Then you will take delight in the Lord and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth and I will feed you

With the heritage of Jacob your father for the mouth of the Lord has spoken God describes for us here that the intent of the

Sabbath is the delight of his people He intends to bless us here on this day.

He doesn't want to burden us, right? This isn't about this isn't about a burden. It's about a blessing

You think about it in this way. God is perfectly blessed Right in his character.

He is perfectly blessed by which we mean he's perfectly happy and satisfied in himself at all times He has no need for external influences to improve his blessedness to improve his happiness

It's it's not even possible, right? Like if we think that like somehow if I do this then God's it's gonna make

God more happy It's just not possible. God is perfectly blessed and happy at all times in himself

He's infinitely happy all the time But often we approach

Sunday services and Lord's Day gatherings You know Sunday rolls around we and we see this as a requirement that God's put upon us to come and give him the worship that he wants

Right or even that he needs we something to think sometimes think And there's certainly an element of this which is true that God does

Require our worship, right? We God wants us to come into his presence in worship But at best

I'd say that this is a half -truth and it's the second half of the truth at that right because we approach this day as if it's our day to give something to God when we should be looking at this day as The day when

God has decided to bring us into his presence so that he can give something to us

Right. This is the point of the Sabbath people of God come before the throne of grace and be blessed by the king of heaven

That's the point of the Sabbath God's teaching us his people he says come delight in the

Sabbath the setting aside of this day to come and worship me and Be blessed in it

Don't look at this day or even the few hours at church in the morning as a burden to get past It's a bump in the road of your day before you get out get to go out and do what you really want to do like look at the foliage and and Go to apple -picking or in the beach go to the or in the summer go to the beach, right?

And you know those things those are all nice things you do those things I don't have an issue with you doing those things, but that's not the purpose

That that's this isn't a bump in the road till you get there This is the purpose of the day what

God has called you to To be in his presence to be blessed by him to delight in him and the blessings that he's giving us in it

So remember the Sabbath day God says and delight in the blessings that I'm giving to you in it

And so this principle, you know, it's really critical for us to understand. I You know if we're rightly understand why this covenant renewal

Worship concept that we've been talking about is important, right? It's critical to understand if we're gonna understand why we do this here

Why is this the type of why do we practice this form of worship here? Why is that important to us? Understanding these these elements these this purpose of the

Sabbath is critical to helping us give a baseline Right to understand any of the rest of the flow of our services.

And so if we don't understand That what God is intending for us as we gather each week is for us and for our good

Then we'll not be able right we won't be able to logically get there to properly prioritize the gathering

Right, and if I can be Frank for a moment, I'll cease to be Derek for a second. I'll be Frank Thank You Christina appreciate you

Yeah, I don't think it's out of line right for us to acknowledge that we right along with many

Christians today, right We don't properly prioritize the Lord's Day in the gathering of the

Saints Right. We we value other things More than the setting apart of this day,

I think a good barometer of this I think actually pastor Kendall taught me this a couple like a year ago a good barometer of like Understanding where do you value or how do you value?

The Lord's Day and what God is doing in our midst right as we gather each week is to it's not foolproof, right?

But it is a good little test is when you go on vacation Right when you go on vacation, do you find a church to go to if you're gonna be gone on Sunday?

Do you find a church to go to while you're away? or Do you typically? Look at that vacation as kind of a an opportunity to vacation from church on Sunday as well

Right that because I'm on vacation, you know God understands I'm not able to meet that obligation to be there and sometimes like you just sometimes there is no church, right?

That can happen too. I mean, it depends where you're going obviously, but for many of us right Sundays have turned into Youth sports days or yard work days beach days like we talked about earlier so on and we kind of Force ourselves with this obligatory church service in the morning, right?

Because we're trying to soothe our consciences in a way Because God wants us to be there. God wants me to be there

So I just gotta get it done or we just become occasional attenders, right? We were there I'll get there when

I can get there. But you know, obviously there's a lot of other stuff happening Right, this is this tends to be our approach to this but I think

I Think that when we think that way We're really we're choosing the lesser thing.

We're choosing less of God We're thinking like Pharisees I Would even do it.

I think I would take back even saying that we're choosing less of God We're choosing a lesser God when we do that. This isn't the

God of Scripture at all that we're choosing when we do stuff like that We're thinking like the Pharisees thought right that God wants us to prove to him each week that we're willing to handle the burden of going to church and I've sat under Kendall's preaching for a long time.

It can feel like no, it's great I'm just kidding.

I love you is so I Wasn't in my notes, I promise But we can we can often think that you know, we are here for our weekly

Offering up of a sacrifice to God here bearing our burden, but that's not the purpose of the gathering

It's not the purpose of the Sabbath day. It's the day was created for you Right, but it's for you.

It's a good thing You think about creation God didn't need to rest After six days of creation as if he were tired and couldn't do anything else until he took a day

He didn't need to do that God could have left us with a six -day week Yeah, it could have been work six days

And start a new week and work six days start a new week works God didn't he did that for us he rested from his work on the seventh day to give us a

Model by which to live our lives working for six days and then resting with him on the seventh

This day was created for you Because God loves you.

He loves his people. He wants to bless his people through fellowship with him every week and we get that fellowship with him each week when we gather in his name because he promises to be there with us when we gather in his name

And so again as we consider a covenant renewal worship and consider the call to worship Segment as of our services we we need to understand that that God is calling us into the blessedness into the happiness of Fellowship with him not primarily because he wants us to give him our worship again

That's an element of it as a part of it But primarily what God is doing when he calls us to himself on the

Sabbath day is he is intending to give us His blessing in the gathering through the fellowship of the

Saints the confession of sin the consecration of the word and Baptism the communion of his table the commissioning of his people into the world.

God is giving to us and by faith We're receiving all the things that God is giving to us

And so as each Lord's day come, you know We respond to this call to worship because we know that we're coming to receive from him by faith and through his son

Jesus Christ This is incredible. I as I was sitting with us this week I was like what an amazing thing like all that God is

Literally from the very beginning God has created the world in such a way and in how he created the world even to show us every week

He wants us to come back Come back for renewal He's given us he's given this day for us and he promises to be here with us as we gather together

There's another aspect of this that's I think it just Elevates and adds to the amazingness and the the awesomeness of what this weekly covenant renewal

God is doing for us Not only does God promise to give blessing and renewal as we come before him

But as if that weren't enough God is even the one that brings us before him.

So he calls us but he also brings us He's the one bringing us because we may be tempted to think that you know Now that we know that God is giving blessing and renewal each week.

I'll be there, you know so I'm gonna make sure I'm there, you know, and we're just gonna you know, we're gonna go make that happen in and of ourselves, but Even in our coming before him the true church rightly understands that it's

God is the one who's bringing us near for the blessing What I think is a really one of the best pictures of this in Scripture.

I think is in Psalm 23 So if you would want to turn there as well, it's It's really beautiful the way this is one of the most popular

Psalms. If not the most popular Psalm and most for most People But Psalm 23,

I think gives a beautiful picture of God's Leading and care for his people and drawing us to himself for the purposes of renewal and for sending out

So I'll read the first three verses Psalm 23 It says the Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake

So first and foremost, we rightly understand our relationship with God when we know that we are but sheep, right?

We're a notorious sheep are notoriously unintelligent animal Are they helpless in the face of a harmful predator and they would mindlessly graze into harm's way if it weren't for the care

Of their shepherd, right? They would just keep going We're sheep, you know, we're not sheeple like the libs.

Just kidding Someone said to me the other day Anyways, well, we aren't we're sheep, right?

We're not just any sheep, right? We're the sheep of the Good Shepherd. We belong to God. We belong to the

Lord And because of this we want for nothing we lack nothing we have all that we need in him

But it's in verses 2 & 3 I think that we begin to see this biblical order for our coming into the presence of God as his gathered people so yeah as I'm trying to Display this right is that the

Sabbath is kind of this foundational the Sabbath principle is this foundational thing that God has created this day for us

He's created to say for our blessing for our renewal each week, right and now we're kind of seeing a biblical order for that Call that first element that I think it's again really well laid out here in Psalm 23 verse 2

It says he makes me lie down in green pastures He leads me beside quiet waters in the beginning of verse 3.

He restores my soul When we consider what it is that motivates us to come to God for blessing if we don't see that it's actually

God himself Who's drawing us not just in our initial justification, right? But in every moment of our life

He is at work to conform us to his image if we don't see this then we're missing

What is such a beautiful aspect of the gospel promise, right? the good news that that this is is the good news isn't just that God one day did one thing and then

Now I get the rest of my life the good news is that God has drawn us to himself and is continuing to draw us to himself and we even see in his

Sabbath ordinance that he is Continually renewing that in us and helping us to know and grow into the likeness of Christ, you know

This is what makes the news. So truly remarkable I think that God through Jesus has brought peace with God and repayment payment for sin and Through his

Holy Spirit making his dwelling place in us in his people, right? He's completing that work in us that he began he's gonna complete that work in us

He's leading us and blessing us all the days of our lives And he's even to the point where we will dwell with him in his house forever

It's all him all by him for us and the Sabbath is a great picture a great picture of that to us

So each week as we gather we're seeing this outworking of God's leading Right. He's the one he's leading us like stubborn and mindless sheep to lush pastures

Right. He's leading us to quiet waters and for what reason to restore us to renew us

And he's doing all this for the purposes of drawing us nearer to his eternal salvation

Which we see in verses 4 through 6 Even though of Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff. They comfort me You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You have anointed my head with oil my cup overflows Surely goodness and loving -kindness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the

Lord forever Our God leads us through all of life But particularly each

Lord's Day when his people gather he is leading us into his presence to be Restored and taught right in verse 3 to be comforted in verse 4 to be fed and anointed

Verse 5 and to be sent out and assured of his good and merciful care today and forevermore in verse 6

What a generous God that he's in his every week for us He says continue every day, but we see such a beautiful picture of it each week when the

Sabbath comes around I can't it's just amazing to think that that this

God would serve lowly people like us in this way And it's it's learning things like this that really make like it's things like this and make me just yearn for heaven

Yeah, and make me wish every day was the Lord's Day, you know Like that we could gather in his presence continually like this

Like we just don't know and we can't really grasp exactly what it is that God's bringing us into here every week We can begin to understand it.

Like I hope that we are But it's we'll never fully understand what God's bringing us into It's just it's incredible to think about every week

It makes me rejoice that we have our children here to experience it It really does like it from a young age that they'll grow up in it and it just makes me so thankful for that It's such an amazing an amazing thing that God is doing for our for us

For his people and that he's given this to us each week as we gather on the

Lord's Day and so To summarize some of these things. These are some of things.

I hope that we we know as we come away Is that God created the Sabbath right? We we know this he created the

Sabbath from the beginning for man He did not create man so that we would observe a

Sabbath day each week, right? God created the weekly Sabbath so that he could give to us

Rest and blessing to do the work of Dominion that he's called us to For the rest for the other six days in the week.

God created this day for man, right? He created it for us He didn't create us so that we would observe this day every week

Further Jesus Christ was He remains and ever will be the Lord of the

Sabbath the Sabbath principles that that have not been disregarded They've been corrected right through the ministry of Christ corrected away from man -made

Conceptions that would seek to make Sabbath observance our work of burdened sacrifice to God our

Romans 12 here I am God a living sacrifice, you know Given it everything

I got just to be here on Sunday morning. That's not what that's not the purpose of of the gathering this is this is his work a faithful blessing to his people and Finally with this day each week that the

Lord has set apart from the beginning To be a day for our renewal We know that as God draws us into his presence in the weekly gathering as he calls us into his worship

That we are being called into the blessings that he would have for us as he works Renewal and transformation in his church.

He's not calling us for for no reason He's calling us into the graces of the ministries of the church that the word the preached word the sacraments

Discipline, these are the graces of God to his people. He's calling us into that And gives us that weekly reminder right to be here to be

I mean not here necessarily to be in the church to be with God's people and Learning from and and sitting under his word and sacrament

And so as We prepare to close this morning I think that this is how

God would have us to think about these things that we would As we read in Isaiah 58 earlier that that we would call the

Sabbath a delight That we would respond to God's calling and leading each week with rejoicing and celebration right that we wouldn't look at it as As this burden or this thing that we have to do check off the off the box check off the list today

But that this is something we respond to with rejoicing and celebration that we get to go and worship the Living God today and be in his presence

But again, given all the wrong ways that I think we have been taught to understand the Sabbath I wanted to conclude with some practical exhortations

That I think could be helpful. I hope I know they've been helpful for me First I'll read from the

Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 21. Like I said, this isn't it's a newer fad to set aside

Sabbath observance in Christianity like 70 to 100 years Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 21 of religious worship religious worship and the

Sabbath day paragraph 8 states That this Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering of their common affairs

Beforehand do not only observe a holy rest all the day from their own works words and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations

But also are taken up the whole time in the public and private Exercises of his worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

I said paragraph 8 that was one sentence right there Gotta love it

But if I could summarize so again, it's one sentence old English beautiful document If you've not read the

Westminster Confession of Faith You need to get a copy it is Fantastic, obviously or join one of the small groups because I think they're all going to the

Westminster Confession of Faith right now. So But if I could summarize the teaching here of these practical exhortations, how do we how do we properly observe a

Sabbath? I'll do it just like the PPP loans from the government that I have three words for you all them begin with a

P That I'm gonna share with you. So hopefully that's helpful and just like the government You don't have to worry about paying me back after either

All right Nothing wrong, I guess, you know, well, I mean it depends for you anyways

God All right, let's focus. All right. Thank you. All right.

So first one Be present, right? This kind of goes without saying should be pretty obvious But if we're gonna delight in the

Sabbath rest that God calls us into each week We need to be present right you need to you need to be you need to be present with God as he's present with his people

Right, we don't take attendance here. Obviously, I don't know if that's obvious, but we don't take attendance here But I'd be lying to what if I said to you that we don't notice some people aren't here

We're a pretty small church by God's grace And we're you know, so obviously we we feel we all feel the impact when our brothers and sisters are absent

You know, we impact more than just ourselves when we aren't around. Do you think of a family if a father is not around?

You know that that impacts him, but it also impacts every person in that family Right if a child moves out of the home to go to college, right that affects everyone in the family everyone is forced to adjust to that missing member and so The exhortation would be be consistent in your attendance and not consistently absent or consistently inconsistent, but consistently present

For your good and for the good of your neighbors, right then your neighbors here, right?

We all benefit from a stronger and deeper fellowship And not only being present but there's another piece of Attendance right is being on time a good principle.

I think on this point Of being timely is that to be be on time for yourself, right be on time for service for yourself

So it's a benefit to you be early for your neighbor You know, I think of fellowship that can happen before service, you know be on time for yourself

You want to you want to be here for the service in its entirety the best your ability But you want to be on be early for your neighbor to be a blessing to the people around you

Again, these aren't hard and fast rules. These are exhortations, right? This is meant to be practical and so This is all the more important I think when you think about attendance and being present right when you have a family so for fathers and mothers, right?

You have or husbands you have a wife, right? But if you're if you're causing the family to be late You're causing her to be late if you're causing your you're causing your children to be late

So you think about the impact that we have is greater than greater than we realize they've oftentimes we think that you know

By not by not coming what you know, it's just it's just for me. It's only impacting me It's not hurting anybody, but we everyone feels those things

And so let's be encouraged to consider one another even in that even in when we arrive to service

This the other piece of being present beyond just attendance right is being participative, right?

So part of being present is not settling for Lesser things just because it's easier, you know

You don't come just to sit and fall asleep or stand and melt the words as we sing, right? But we come and we participate in the word and sacraments we sing

We have faith that God is working these things in us for our good and for our renewal For your blessing people laugh and I'm wondering oh boy, but be present.

This is what God This is what God would have for us God God is bringing us into these things participate

We participate in them trusting and believing that God is going to work them to our good. So be present second

P is To be prepared right if we're gonna be able to delight in the Sabbath and we need to be prepared to do it, right?

I think the first thing is again probably the most obvious one But make it a priority to set aside worldly labor right

Exodus 20 verses 9 and 10 We read earlier six days You shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a

Sabbath of the Lord your God Right, the Pharisees were right about this Mostly because it's so clear that you should set aside your work on the

Sabbath There are allowances here obviously for certain professions, you know works of necessity and mercy

Those are you know, there are certain things that you can't just stop working on Sunday and that makes sense You know, there's an allowance there

But generally speaking we should set aside our jobs set aside the work that we have around the house you know set aside set those things aside on the

Sabbath day set the day apart for the Lord and Christians should be notorious

I think for their work ethic Considering this right because we know this is like this the Chick -fil -a principle as they call it

I don't know if they call it that but I decided I might Because we know that we need to complete in six days what the rest of the world completes in seven days

Right, so you get a we work we should work for six days knowing that we have better things to do on the seventh day

You know, we work we work those six days knowing that there's something better waiting for us that day Outside of work when it comes to being prepared

I think is coming into the Lord's day with a healthy disposition Right, so be rested physically and mentally that's

I think pastor Kendall mentioned that a few weeks ago You know get a good night's sleep, you know You don't let your mind be consumed with you know, your

Monday punch list and so on right don't don't be worrying about those things But also to come humbly before God come humble in spirit, you know, we remember that we've been given this day by God It's for our good

We didn't earn this day off because we worked so hard the other six days Then now I get this one day off per week

We were given this day off because God is gracious and kind and provides for his people

And recall what we sang earlier in Psalm 131 my heart is not lifted up my eyes are not raised too high

I do not occupy myself with things too marvelous for me But I have come and quieted my soul like a child with his mother like a child is my soul within me

Oh Israel hope in the Lord for now and forevermore come with a quiet and humbled soul

And I think you know come celebrating I think that this is again we can because when we put these like kind of burdens on ourselves

It's easy for us to start getting dour and we've added weights that make it more difficult for us to stand up tall and rejoicing and what

God is What God is giving to us in this day. So come celebrating right? This is a sweet day The Lord's Day is a sweet day

We gather every week on the first day of the week to rejoice in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ We're celebrating that victory over sin and death every

Sunday That's just on Easter every single Sunday we are celebrating the resurrection of Christ so we should because it's a sweet day

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it come celebrating every week

Don't come burdened don't come with the mind that you know, I really hope that God sees all the sacrifices I'm making here. I'm not working today.

He I hope he sees this That's not this isn't your sacrifice. He did that for you. He's given you this day so that you could do that Rejoice come celebrating what

God's done You know Sabbath comes in the same day every week praise the Lord for that. So let's be a people who?

Who prepare ourselves well for the bountiful blessings that God has prepared for us in Christ be prepared

Right. The final P is to be patient. So be present be prepared and be patient For many of us.

We're breaking old habits. I think you know when it comes to treating the Lord's Day You know, we normally treat the

Lord's Day like our day And so now we're kind of this would be a shift for many of us You know in trying to understand how this covenant renewal gathering is such a blessing to us and such an important Needs to be a critical a priority of our lives, right?

So breaking habits takes time It takes patience for ourselves and with each other and so Bless you, so make the effort as individuals, you know as families as a church family, right?

It's a find and practice new rhythms, right? It's gonna take time where you have to figure things out I know for our family we're working out, you know

How do we enter into Sunday morning with with just a spirit of celebration that we're all coming in rejoicing

To what God has done and is bringing us into and it takes time you have to figure those things take time to figure out

So we do those things together, right practice new rhythms Helping one another as a church ought to do as the people of God ought to do

Ask questions to one another learn from one another ultimately being brothers and sisters, right? Who are working to help not to judge one another and doing all those things to the glory of God Ultimately looking to help each other as we draw nearer to him and so be patient and so As we do close this morning again,

I want us to be reminded that through the wonderful Mediation of our

Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath that God has given us this day for our good

Let us rejoice in knowing that he has called us that he summoned us by name into his presence in the corporate gathering

And as his Holy Spirit works tremendous blessing in us through the word and sacrament of covenant renewal

So let's pray as we close God, thank you for your word. We thank you that Where we can know and trust that even as we learn

How you would have us to live the things that you would have us to know God. We know that you are Patient and kind and where you are

Helping us because we are your children or you you seek to help us to grow us to to conform us to your image because you are

Gracious and kind to your people where we're undeserving of it. And yet you are where it's so abundantly merciful to us and loving to us

Where we thank you that you've given us this Sabbath day each week Lord is a As a call to us as it were to come and to worship you to be renewed every week the

Sabbath This is a reminder to us that you have called us to you Into your presence word into your into the fellowship to be renewed by word and sacrament

Where it help us to be men and women and children who yearn for? Yearn for your Sabbath word each week who rejoice in it celebrate it

Where we that we didn't wouldn't place external burdens upon ourselves from others or even from ourselves or we it's so eat

We're so susceptible to placing external Rules and regulations and standards upon ourselves because we're hoping to meet them and satisfy our own consciences where it help us to know that You are satisfied by the blood of Christ shed for us

Where may we not look to our obedience for justification But may we look to you and yearn to know you yearn to fellowship with you and every opportunity that we can

May we look to Christ and Christ alone for our assurance of pardon to know that we've been justified by faith in him

Lord and help us to respond in light of that justification With a desire to know you more or a desire to be with you to dwell in your house forever

Help us to want that today help us to want that tomorrow Help us want that next Sunday and Sunday after where help us to to yearn to be

In your presence at the gathering of the Saints We thank you for again your kindness to us and the great truths of your word in Christ's name.