Title: REST—IT’S NOT ABOUT US

Focus: The 4^th commandment about Sabbath rest is all about God’s work and our response to God’s work

Function: To encourage the people to respond to God’s rest in Jesus Christ with public worship on Sundays and daily Christian living throughout the week.

Texts: Romans 14:1-8; Genesis 2:1-3

Confession: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 38

INTRODUCTION

The fourth commandment has a very colorful history in the Christian Reformed Church. I suppose that most of us raised, especially 40 years ago, can tell stories about what we could and could not do on Sundays: Some of my friends were allowed to play soccer games; I was not. Some could buy an ice-cream cone; I could not; I could play cards on Sundays; some of my friends could not. My Dad did not water the tomato plants in his greenhouses on Sundays; his Christian neighbor did. My wife could not do any needlework on Sundays, but reading the Banner and learning the Catechism lesson for the week was highly recommended. And so it went. Historically, keeping the fourth commandment in the CRC was serious business. It was all about what we could, and could not do.

In my studies of church records in the Netherlands and in America, I’ve read of a consistory excommunicating their pastor in Friesland, because on a given Sunday, when the roads were treacherous because of freezing rain, their pastor skated to church. In my first church in Michigan I read of one elder, who would milk his cows on Sundays but throw the milk away, instead of selling it the next day. It was all about what we could, and could not do, on Sundays.

It was also very confusing. My grandfather was discouraged from riding his bike to church on Sundays in the late 1800 hundreds; then came the cars. No one could drive a car to church. But bicycles, by that time, was o.k. And so it went. Today, I want to make it very clear in light of God’s word: The 4^th commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” is all about God’s work and our response to God’s work. It’s about rest—God’s rest; it’s not about us.

LORD’S DAY 38

Whenever a parent or child comes to me, asking how to understand God’s 4^th commandment, I refer them to the classic, Reformed interpretation as found in the Heidelberg Catechism. I submit to you that if we take seriously that understanding expressed in L.D. 38, we won’t get bogged down in legalistic notions as to what we can, may, and should not do. The question in L.D. 38 is very simple: “What is God’s will for you in the fourth commandment?” The answer is profound.

Note that the answer has two parts. Listen to the opening part: “First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained, and that, especially on the festive day of rest, I regularly attend the assembly of God’s people to learn what God’s Word teaches, to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor.” Now let me ask you: What does the “gospel ministry and education for it” have to do with the commandment that says: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”? In other words, what does Calvin Theological Seminary, and Reformed Bible College have to do with this commandment? These are institutions supported by the CRC specifically to promote and advance and maintain the gospel ministry and education for it. Do you see now that a Reformed understanding of the 4^th commandment calls for wholehearted support for the seminary, for example—a support that includes our finances, and the encouragement of sending our sons and daughters to these institutions to prepare for preaching, and teaching, and promoting the gospel ministry? But why?

Here’s why: Just as the 4^th commandment is about God’s rest, so the gospel ministry and education for it is all about God’s rest. It’s all about what God, in Jesus Christ, has done, is doing, and as yet will do for his people and the world.

The church celebrates God’s work of rest especially on the “festive day of rest,” that is, on Sundays. Then there is public worship, public prayer, public proclamation of God’s Word; then the church publicly collects the offerings and declares to the world, in word and deed, that God’s rest in Jesus Christ has come to all who open their hearts to Him in faith and trust. By responding to God’s call to worship Him on that festive day of rest, Reformed Christians believe that they are honoring and keeping the 4^th commandment.

The second part of the Catechism’s answer is just as revealing and surprising. Listen: “Second, that every day of my life I rest from my evil ways, let the Lord work in me through his Spirit, and so begin already in this life the eternal Sabbath.” Here’s the eye-opener: the 4^th commandment about the Sabbath day is a commandment that affects every day of our lives. The fourth commandment tells us that we must work hard to “rest” from our evil ways every day of our lives. And note: the 4^th commandment is NOT about what we do, but about the Lord’s work for us and in us and through us. The catechism says: “…let the Lord work in me through his Spirit.”

The key to a biblically-informed, Christian understanding of the 4^th commandment is this: The Sabbath rest, spoken of in the 4^th commandment, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Through his death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus has ushered in the eternal rest, the kingdom or rule of God that shall be fully established when Jesus comes again, when heaven and earth shall unite, and when God shall live in our midst forever more. That eternal Sabbath has already begun in this life. The 4^th commandment is NOT about us; it’s about God’s Sabbath rest.

GENESIS 2:1-3 AND ROMANS 14:1-8

When God created the heavens and the earth in six days, he entered into rest on the 7^th day. God pronounced a benediction on that day, and God set it apart by making it holy. The seventh day became the day of God’s rest, where all of creation, including Adam and Eve, could enjoy God’s creative design and works and fellowship with them. God’s pattern of 6 days of work and resting on the 7^th day is the pattern that has shaped the lives of God’s image-bearers—of all people, ever since the beginning of creation. It’s a pattern, a rhythm of work and rest, of service and thanksgiving, of active creativity and active gratitude and worship. When God formed his people Israel at Mount Sinai, He called them to pattern their lives on the basis of His own pattern of rest and work. Thus we note that the 4^th commandment in Exodus is rooted in God’s creation: “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:11). So then, God’s creation work and rest is one of the great pillars on which the 4^th commandment rests. It’s not about us. It’s about God’s rest.

However, when sin entered the world, God’s Sabbath or rest in creation was chaotically disturbed. And turmoil, misery, rebellion, bondage to sin, and death spoiled life on earth. Now God’s creation is in bondage. And only a decisive rescue action of God can change the situation. We need a pillar of deliverance, of redemption, a pillar that restores God’s eternal rest or Sabbath.

Thank God for his acts of deliverance! For you see, God’s deliverance of the Israelites from the bondage of the Egyptians becomes that pillar. That’s why we read in Deuteronomy 5 these words, spoken 40 years after the Exodus of the Israelites, just before they entered the promised land of Canaan: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” (Deut. 5:15) It’s not about us. It’s about God’s work in Jesus Christ. Yes, in Jesus Christ.

You see, Jesus ushers into our world the rest we so desperately need: rest from sin, its bondage, its misery, its turmoil and death. Jesus is the Restgiver: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Consider:

Jesus gave his life at Calvary, that we may live and enjoy the eternal rest of salvation; he died on Good Friday; he rested in the grave on the Sabbath; and he conquered death on Sunday, the first day of the week. On that day, Jesus ushered in the eternal Sabbath.

The early Christian church began to refer to Sunday as the “Day of the Lord.” It’s also called the “eighth day,” in that the eternal rest—the kingdom of God for all eternity—has broken into our world on that resurrection Sunday. In other words, everything has changed when Jesus arose from the dead. New life, new hope, good news have entered our world on that resurrection Sunday. The Sabbath rest of God, foreshadowed in the 4^th commandment, has now become a reality in Jesus Christ. That’s what we celebrate on Sundays, on the festive day of rest.

It’s in this light that the apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome. There are devout Jews and Gentiles in that church; they all have come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But they do not all have the same understanding when it comes to the commandments and ceremonial laws of the O.T. Some of the Jewish Christians want to maintain the old covenant Sabbath observance.

Others say, “no,” because Jesus has fulfilled that commandment. We are now living in the new covenant era, the era of salvation, the period of rest being ushered into our world, the period of anticipation of the eternal rest being fully established when Jesus comes again.”

So, the apostle Paul reminds us:

Be patient with each other; some (Jewish) Christians need time to come to grips with Christ’s work on the cross and in the tomb. Do not judge them and look down upon them as they seek to observe the old covenant Sabbath rules and regulations. Neither may they judge their brothers and sisters who do not believe that they are still bound to the old covenant Sabbath observances.

Remember: “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord….” For Paul, the observance of the Sabbath regulations is a disputable matter—a thing indifferent. We must be careful to consider this entire matter in light of God’s work in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Lord. Therefore, we must do everything, including the observance of the 4^th commandment, “as to the Lord,” “giving thanks to Him.” Why? “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

Thank God! It’s not about us. The 4^th commandment about Sabbath rest is all about God’s work and our response to God’s work.

Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.