The fourth commandment in our 24/7 workaholic world seems like an unkind intrusion into our lives.
I am old enough to remember Missouri’s Blue Laws which required businesses to close on Sunday. Everything was closed on Sunday, except pharmacies. Even restaurants were closed for a day of rest.
Sometime during my childhood, the Blue Laws were repealed, and churchgoers we able to eat Sunday lunch at a restaurant, pick up groceries, and the like.
The fourth commandment is a God-given Blue Laws commandment.
“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
“Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work” (Exodus 20.8-10).
The first Sabbath observance was God’s celebration of creation. Among other things, the Sabbath celebrated God’s creation over and against chaos.
You will recall the first words of the Bible.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1.1-2).
By the end of the first chapter of Genesis, the formless had taken shape and God was ready to rest from his labors.
On the sixth day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.
So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation (Genesis 2.1-2).
What does this have to do with Sabbath rest and Sunday Blue Laws?
(1) Creation has a rhythm of work and rest. We keep the Sabbath to stay in rhythm with creation.
If a day of rest is good enough for God, it should be good enough for us.
In God’s infinite wisdom, he took off a day from his labors to rest. Should we not learn from God’s wisdom and do the same?
(2) Sabbath encourages us to align with creation and stand against the world’s chaos.
No one would doubt that Pharaoh’s brickmaking project was oppressive and harmful to human life.
Whether it is self-imposed or workplace-imposed, workaholism is equally oppressive and harmful.
God has made us to align with his rhythms of creation. This is not a harsh unyielding command from God. It is his prescription for the best life possible.
(3) Another aspect of the Sabbath is that our observance of it shows that we are God’s people.
Circumcision and Sabbath observance have marked Jews as God’s people for centuries. In the face of severe punishment, Jews have shown their allegiance to God over powerful worldly forces.
The observance of the Sabbath (Sunday for Christians) shows the world that our trust is in God, not human labor.
Giving the Land a Rest
A discussion of the Sabbath is further expanded in Exodus 23. God’s wisdom of the Sabbath is applied to the land.
“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow so that the poor of your people may eat,
“And what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard and with your olive orchard” (Exodus 23.10-11).
Two significant issues are presented in these verses.
(1) Our willingness to trust God and allow our land to not be worked for a year requires a large amount of faith.
The big question is whether I will survive if I don’t keep working in the fields. For a workaholic like me, I know this would be a serious challenge.
Rudy Ross and Whispering Danny assured me that Jews have observed this practice over the years. God has cared for them as they have placed their faith in God and his wisdom.
(2) The second portion of this command involves allowing the poor to enter the fields and be nourished from the left-over crops.
The owner of Jack Stack Barbecue was startled one early morning when he was followed into his Freighthouse store by a homeless man.
The conversation with the homeless man led the owner, Case Dorman, to direct some of the profits from his restaurants to local homeless shelters in Kansas City.
As a follower of Jesus, Dorman believes that he has a responsibility to care for vulnerable members of society.
Greed and God’s Commandments
Amid God’s discussion of resting the land in the seventh year and providing for the poor, there is an admonition against the worship of other gods.
Be attentive to all that I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips (Exodus 23.13).
Let’s remember that the root of idol worship is an attempt to secure our existence independent of God.
It should not surprise us that Paul puts greed and idolatry in the same category. See Colossians 3.5.
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).
Greed pushes people to disregard the Sabbath and the poor. Greed reflects a lack of faith in God, believing that we must at all costs secure our existence in a world of limited resources.
Faith pursues God and his wise ways of living, assured that he will care for our needs.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross, Whispering Danny and I discuss this passage on YouTube today. It is on the Bob Spradling channel.
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