Focus: Obeying the 4th commandment calls for faith in Christ and living daily in obedience to God’s Word. It also calls for regular public worship on Sundays.
Function: To move the people to enter or experience God’s rest today and enter God’s eternal rest in due time.
Text: Hebrews 3:11-4:13
L.D. 38 (4th Commandment)
When it comes to God’s 4th commandment, I can take you on two pathways: there is the pathway or road of legalism, with its “do’s” and “don’ts.” That is the pathway developed by the Pharisees in Jesus’ days and adopted throughout the centuries by various Christians, including the Puritans. Or I can take us down the road of gratitude and faith. That is the pathway established by Jesus, and adopted throughout the centuries by many Christians, including John Calvin and the designers of the Heidelberg Catechism.
Most of us are familiar with both pathways. Many of us, for example, can tells stories of what we were allowed to do on Sundays and what we could not do on Sundays. I remember, for example, reading the consistory minutes of the first church I served as ordained pastor. I learned that in the early 1900’s an elder in that church was commended for milking his cows on Sundays and then throwing the milk away (lest he should be rewarded for his work of milking the cows). No doubt, you can share many similar stories when it comes to Sabbath observances.
It is my task as a minister of the gospel to take us down the road of gratitude and faith. So then, hear God’s Word on the 4th commandment: obeying the 4th commandment calls for faith in Christ and living daily in obedience to God’s Word. It also calls for regular worship of God on Sundays. I say this in light of Scriptures and especially in light of Hebrews 3 and 4. If we wish to enter or experience God’s rest for us today and enter God’s eternal rest in due time, we must turn to Christ in faith and the Scriptures.
THE 4TH COMMANDMENT
The fourth commandment about Sabbath rest gives us two reasons why God commanded his people Israel to “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” In Exodus 20 the reason goes back to God’s creation pattern: “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.” This pattern of working 6 days and resting on the seventh day is a divine pattern that God wants his people to follow. It’s a pattern that brings wholeness and health to people. That pattern still stands. Physical rest to enjoy the fruit of our labor, to thank God for the blessings of our work this past week, and to contemplate God’s daily provisions—such rest is necessary. Do you and I rest from our labors on a weekly basis? And do we gratefully acknowledge God’s provisions to us through our work each day?
The second reason for God’s command to “remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” comes to in Deuteronomy 5, where Moses, at the end of Israel’s 40 years of wanderings in the desert, says: “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.”
Here we note the deliverance or salvation pattern. On the Sabbath day God’s people remember their bondage to Egypt and God’s deliverance from that bondage. To remember God’s mighty acts of deliverance from Egypt’s bondage meant that the Israelites needed to hear and enter the grand story of the exodus. For centuries they would do so by turning to God’s Word as found in the writings of Moses and the prophets. And they would celebrate the story of God’s mighty acts of deliverance through their Sabbaths, their feasts and their festivals, such as the annual Passover feast and the feast of weeks or Pentecost.
The reasons for obeying the 4th commandment still stand, but the lens through which we hear and obey the 4th commandment is not Moses and the exodus, but the Lord Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. Through the lens of faith in Christ Jesus, Christians do not observe the Sabbath day (the 7th day of the week) but the Lord’s Day (the 1st day of the week). It’s in that light, that we hear the text from Hebrews 3 and 4.
THE TEXT
The writer of Hebrews talks about entering God’s rest. And the inspired writer speaks about God’s rest against the background story and history of the Israelites in Moses’ days. Since the story of O.T. Israel is our story, and since we participate in that story, the writer wants us to remember and learn from the story of God’s people. That’s why the text comes to us with a warning and a call.
Hebrews 3:12-4:5 contains the warning to us: “See to it…that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” The writer of Hebrews shows us what such unbelief looks like by pointing us back to the story of the Israelites wandering around in the desert and rebelling against God. These people never entered God’s rest foreshadowed in the 4th commandment, because they died in their sin. We must take seriously the warning against unbelief and sinning against God.
The call to enter God’s rest comes to us in Hebrews 4:5-13. Listen: “Let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” The fourth commandment is about Sabbath, about rest. It’s about ceasing from our labors and pondering and celebrating God’s rescue work in our midst. And to enter that rest means that you and I put our faith or trust in Christ Jesus and live daily in obedience to God’s Word. It also calls for regular worship of God on Sundays.
GOD’S PROMISE OF REST
The grand story of God dealing with his people Israel and the nations of the world is a story about God providing rest—eternal rest for a sinful, fallen humanity. That story unfolds all throughout the scriptures and has its roots in God’s covenant promises.
For example, when God entered into a relationship with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all their descendants, God promised to be their God and he promised them a land, a place where they could experience rest—his blessings in their lives. God raised up the people of Israel so that they “would become a blessing to the nations.”
And so the story unfolds. To Moses and the Israelites God said that he would lead them into the promised land of Canaan, “and I will give you rest, “ said the Lord (Exodus 33:14). That rest, however, could be experienced and entered only through faith in God’s covenant promises and through obedience to God’s Word.
Later in the history of Israel, God renewed his promise of Sabbath—eternal rest. That rest would come through the Son of God—who has said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The rest that Jesus promised is a rest that comes to all who believe on him and respond with faith and obedience to his Word. And the rest that Jesus promises and that is foreshadowed in the 4th commandment will come to its own when Jesus comes again.
The Sabbath rest in the 4th commandment tied in with the promised land of Canaan. But it was a shadow of the promised new heavens and new earth that will be ushered in by Jesus—the giver of eternal rest. That’s why the writer of Hebrews says: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God….” And we enter that rest and experience it already today when we turn to Christ by faith and cease from our work trying to save ourselves. We are to rest (by faith) in Christ and live for him each day—thus we may enter the eternal Sabbath.
It is through this window of Scripture that the Catechism answers the question about God’s will for us in the fourth commandment.
APPLICATIONS
The first thing that we observe in the Catechism’s answer is that the 4th commandment for Christians is not about one particular day (the Sabbath or the Lord’s Day) but about every day of our lives. Listen to that second part of the answer:
“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.” Clearly, this part of the Catechism’s answer rings bells; it echoes the Scriptures’ teachings found in Hebrews 3 and 4. The fourth commandment calls for a daily, living faith in Christ that is marked by a resting from evil, sinful ways.
Disobedience of God’s Word and unbelief lead to a restlessness in our lives—a restlessness that comes with misery and unhappiness and even death. Living by faith in Christ and by the Spirit of Christ, however, leads to the experience of Jesus’ rest—an experience that will lead in due time to the inheritance of salvation rest on the renewed heavens and earth.
The second thing we note from the Catechism is the focus on gathering for public worship “on the festive day of rest.” That festive day is the “Lord’s Day.” Jesus died on a Friday. He was buried just before the Sabbath Day started. On the Sabbath day, Jesus rested in the tomb. That is, he conquered the powers of sin and death, and the Spirit of God raised him from the dead on the first day of the week. Easter Sunday is the Lord’s Day, on which the church of Christ celebrates its story of salvation, its story of Christ bringing about rest for all his people.
The early Christian church began to celebrate that story on Sundays by gathering for worship. Ever since that time, Christians listened to stories and teachings of God’s Word; they participated in the sacraments; they prayed to God publicly, and they offered their gifts or monies for the poor. Out of gratitude and in faith and in obedience to God’s 4th commandment, the Christian church still does so today.
Today, I appeal to all of us to obey God’s 4th commandment by renewing our commitment to gathering for public worship. If at all possible make Sunday a day for physical rest, and especially for public Christian worship. Entering God’s rest today requires active participation in the hearing of God’s Word, in the receiving of the sacraments, in the offering of prayers and in the sharing of our gifts. It is through public worship that Christ renews our spirit every day. It is through entering the stories of God’s salvation that we experience the power and rest of our salvation in Christ.
You and I face special challenges today. Sunday worship is jeopardized by the demands of coaches and sports club for games and training on Sundays. Sunday worship is up for grasp as more and more we have the opportunities to travel and do all kinds of leisure things to counteract our busy lives throughout the week. It takes discipline, and a deep spiritual hunger, and a strong faith to relish the rest of God in Christ Jesus—a rest that comes to us in obedient daily living and public worship on Sundays.
The CRC has a history of deep commitment to Christian worship. Its historic rhythm of two public worship services goes back to the Reformation times when the need for being taught and shaped by the hearing and teachings of God’s Word was very great. I believe that this need is still there, especially today.
Would not it be a testimony of faith and commitment to God’s Word if you and I would meet regularly for worship at Calvary—both in the morning as well as late afternoon? Would not it be a sign of faith and Christian discipline when Calvary church turns her decline in afternoon worship attendance into a turn-around mass celebration and nurture of Christian faith?
As your pastor, I appeal to all of you: keep the 4th commandment. Recommit yourself to public worship on Sundays and remember: If you wish to experience or enter God’s rest today and his eternal rest in due time, you and I must put our faith in Christ and live daily in obedience to God’s Word.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.