The Christian and the Decalogue — Worship
Exodus 20:8«The leader’s material is “em-braced” by these braces; excluded from handouts.»
The Christian and the Decalogue — Worship — Exodus 20:8-11
2 I am Jehovah thy God, … 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
«Some Quite Imperfect» Notes Regarding the Sabbath and Sunday
A. What we call the “week” varied in length and in the method of counting it amongst ancient peoples. In certain eras, the Romans had an 8-day week, the Babylonians a 7-day week, the Assyrians a 6-day, the central Asians a 5-day, and tribes in West Africa a 4-day. In the century before Christ’s birth, the Roman world appears to have adopted the Jewish 7-day week.
1. Assyrian records seem to indicate that at one time, days 1, 7, 9, 14, 19, 21, 28, 29, and 30 of each month were days in which it was not considered propitious to work. Later, this was reduced to days 7, 14, 19, 21, and 28. These were based on a lunar month (of 29½ days) that began in the day of the new moon. Thus, their “week” was re-established each month.
2. there is some suggestion — based upon those Sabbaths that were fixed on certain days in the first and seventh months in Leviticus 16 and 23 — that the Jewish Sabbath was re-established annually or semi-annually. This would imply its initial establishment being related to the Passover and the exodus from Egypt. After the return from exile, this was no longer — if ever — the case.
B. Is it to be kept on the seventh day or the first day of the week? Is it still to be an enforced rest or not? These are questions will not be answered to the satisfaction of every Christian. Certainly, both in its origin — Creation — and in its ordinance by the Law, it is the seventh day of the week. Certainly, in the Law it was an enforced rest, with death for disobedience.
1. Sabbatarianism usually refers to an enforced Sabbath rest, whether that be on the first or the seventh day of the week
a. Generally the reformers, such as Luther and Calvin, rejected this as legalism (that we are not under Law but under grace) and / or Romanist externalism.
b. the Puritans, however, held to it as evidenced by the “Blue” and similar laws enacted in England and in the colonies (e.g., the Ontario Lord’s Day Act)
c. Seventh-day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists hold that rest on this day is an essential moral obligation
d. No Bible passage refers to first day of week as the Sabbath
2. the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath
a. this is based primarily on the fact that the institution of the Sabbath pre-dated the giving of the Law — in the rules concerning the manna its existence is presumed and it was defined by God at creation
b. weight is given to the fact that Paul kept the Sabbath (Acts 16:13, 17:2, 18:4) by attending the synagogue and prayer
c. this position is held by such groups as the Seventh-day Baptists and the Seventh-day Adventists
d. this position — or a difficulty in denying it — seems to be especially attendant upon those who hold with multiple covenants before Christ, since Sabbath-keeping is said — although difficult to prove! — to have applied to the various covenants: Adamic, Noahic, Abramic, etc. On the other hand, those who find only two covenants — the Old (progressively revealed to Adam, Noah, Abram, etc.) and the New — are less likely to hold it.
3. the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day
a. This takes the position that the Sabbath is no longer binding, being essentially ceremonial and done away in Christ. Biblical support is found in
(A) this is the only commandment not repeated in the New Testament
(B) Leviticus 23:7 — both the first and seventh day of the feast of unleavened bread were to be Sabbaths; this week immediately follows the Passover; this is said, by some, to prefigure the changing of the day when Christ became the true Passover, bringing true rest to the soul
(C) Colossians 2:16 — no one to judge us in keeping the Sabbath, etc.
b. Note, however, that ceremonial laws involve basic and eternal principles and have analogies in New Testament truth and practice.
(A) For the Sabbath that analogue is the first day of the week which seems to have come to be called the “Lord’s day”
(1) as John refers to it in Revelation 1:10
(2) and in keeping with Psalm 118:24 “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
(B) and as found in the New Testament being the day that Christians came together to break bread, and,
(1) John 20:19, when Christ met with the disciples
(2) Acts 20:7, Paul then preaching to those so assembled
(3) 1 Corinthians 16:2, it was when the collection was taken
(C) this being taken especially to be related to the fact that it was on the first day of the week that Jesus rose again; and so we, having been raised to a new life, commemorate and worship on that day.
c. but, just as many maintain that opposed to the tithe that belonged to the Lord in the Old Testament, in the New Testament everything is recognized as belonging to God, so also the one day in the Old is replaced by the fact that everyday in the New is to be treated as God’s. So we are to be “always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58), “giving thanks always” (Ephesians 5:20), “praying always” (Ephesians 6:18), and “rejoice in the Lord alway” (Philippians 4:4).
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2 I am Jehovah thy God, … 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
C. understanding the character of the Jewish Sabbath
1. it was to be holy, or S____ A________ as special« Set Apart»
2. it was particularly D______________ unto Jehovah God« Directed or Dedicated»
3. Numbers 28:9–10; it was an occasion for an offering to God A__________ to the continual offerings« Additional»
4. it was special, in part, because it was a day for R______« Rest»
5. one couldn’t use S_____________ to do his work for him« Surrogates or Substitutes or Servants»
6. see Title on Psalm 92; it was a time for P_________ God« Praising»
7. Acts 15:21; it was a time to R____ T___ S___________« Read The Scriptures»
D. Christ also had teachings concerning the Sabbath
1. Matthew 12:1–8, Mark 2:23–28, Luke 6:1–5; The Son of Man is _______ of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath was made for ______, not ______ for the Sabbath «(Lord, man, man)»
2. Matthew 12:8–12, Mark 3:1–5, Luke 6:6–11, Luke 13:10–16; it is a day in which it is lawful to do _________ «(good)»
3. Mark 1:21, Mark 6:2; On it he went to __________ in the __________________ «(teach, synagogue)»
4. Luke 4:16ff; it was when he announced ____ _________ « (His mission)»
5. John 5:1–17, John 7:22–24, Matthew 12:1–8 (again!); it is proper to do ________ ________ on the Sabbath «(God’s work) — also note implications of Jerusalem council, Acts 15»
E. So how should the Christian, seeking to live a life of faith under grace rather than under the law, apply those principles which underlie this commandment? Let me suggest the following:
1. God made man so that he needs a weekly R_______« Rest»
2. as Christians, living by faith, all our time, not just one day is to be H______ (S____ A________) unto God to be engaged in the exercise of worship in all its forms« Holy (Set Apart)»
3. none-the-less, in accordance with the practice in the early church and since, it is convenient to set aside the first day of the week so that the worship we practise all week in an individual manner can be practised as a body of believers.
F. What should comprise the worship that is by faith in Christ?
2. Romans 15:4
6. Philippians 4:6, Colossians 4:2
9. 1 Timothy 4:13 (I know this is addressed to a pastor, but…)
10. Hebrews 10:24–25
G. In a very special way, this commandment was a reminder to the Israelites that God had brought them out of the slavery in Egypt into a place of rest (remember of the preamble to the “Ten Words” in Exodus 20:2?); if God designed us for rest, and if Christ has given us rest (Matthew 11:28-30), in what ways can a Christian miss out on what God intended for us in terms of rest? «(For your meditations this week!)»
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This set of lessons was inspired by part II of “Ethics of Decision” by George W. Forell, The Muhlenberg Press, Philadelphia, 1955 (Library of Congress 55-7767).