By Jonathan Keller
We’ve finished commandments five through ten, and I thought that we would do a countdown from commandments four to one to finish out this series. This week, let’s focus on the Fourth Commandment:
Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy.
Before the time of Christ, the Sabbath was rendered as sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday (the Jewish day as evening to evening is seen in Genesis 1 in the formula “there was evening, and there was morning”). Since the day of Jesus’ resurrection, the day of the Sabbath has become the Lord’s Day or Sunday. Regardless of the precise hours for the day, what does it mean to keep the Sabbath holy?
One Day in Seven: A Day Set Apart
The central idea of this Sabbath day is to mirror what God did on the seventh day of creation. As He rested in joy at the completeness of His exceedingly good work, so, too, should we rest at the completeness of His work beforehand and the completeness of our work in the week prior. This day ought to be set aside for the worship of the Lord, permitting us the time and focus to rest in God’s goodness away from the cares that keep us busy throughout the week. Along with corporate worship, we can catch up on Bible reading and prayer that we may not have time for during the rest of the week. This seventh day is also a day for visiting others, especially the lonely or those in need of mercy. Once you think about all the things appropriate for this day, it becomes clear why we need to set aside our regular work. There are otherwise important things to do on this day that our work would impede us from doing!
This “rest” principle applies to ourselves and to those under our care. For a household, employees, and students, this means that the leaders should think about how to give them rest through the structures under their command! Personally, I strive to sort out my affairs during the week so that I am able to enjoy the day of rest with worship and visitations. Grocery shopping on Saturday and finishing my work on Friday allows me freedom from care on Sundays.
How might you organize your life to better enjoy Sundays? How might you create rest for yourself and others to enjoy the Lord’s Day?