Time Out
The world is too big for us: too much going on, too many crimes, too much violence, and excitement. Try as you will, you get behind in the race, in spite of yourself. It is an incessant strain, to keep pace and still, you lose ground. Science empties its discoveries on you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. Human nature can't endure much more.
That sounds like something from today's paper, but it actually appeared in the Atlantic Journal on June 16, 1833. Life goes on at a breathless pace, constantly accelerating. That's why we need the guidence of the fourth commandment so desperately today.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11 (NKJV)
God established the Sabbath because He knows our need for rest and worship. It is His word of grace for those who are driven and harassed. It says to housewives and to construction workers, to students and to teachers, to marines and to sailors, "You must stop now and come aside with me."
God intended the Sabbath for blessing; we've ignored it and allowed ourselves to be enslaved in a culture of busyness. The fourth Commandment, like all the others, is not designed to limit us, but to liberate us. So before we get too deep in our discussion of the Sabbath, I want to make sure that we avoid a deadly trap: the trap of legalism.
By the time of Jesus the Pharisees had lost all sense of delight in God. They surrounded His law with over 1500 rules and regulations. The problem was not with what God said, but with what they said about what He said. Rabbis drew up lists of rules regulating everything. Some were ridiculous. If an ox fell in a ditch the owner could pull it out, but if he fell in the ditch he had to stay there until the end of Sabbath. Eggs laid on the Sabbath could not be eaten, because the hens had worked. If a fly bothered a man, he had to let it gnaw away, for any attempt to catch it would be hunting on the Sabbath. Jesus spoke against Jewish legalism regarding the Sabbath:
And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27-28 NKJV)
Steve Rexroat elaborates on that text:
Declaring himself to be Lord of the Sabbath, he spoke against their ritual-centered understanding of the day and argued that the day was for man rather than man being made for service of the day. God's instructions about observing the Sabbath were for our benefit, not just another burden to bear. Take hold of that truth and the observance of a day of rest will become more a delight than a matter of duty. The special day set aside for unhindered fellowship with God was intended as a gift. Those who try to turn it into a guilt trip simply don't understand God's positive purpose.
Are you tired of the struggle to meet the pace of your life? Do you need rest?
Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV)
