Bread – Sabbath

Readings for Wednesday, November 4 as
    designated by the Book of Common Prayer:
    Neh. 13:4-22; Rev. 12:1-12; Matt. 13:53-58
    Psalms 72, 119:73-96
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"Remember the Sabbath day [the seventh day, the day of rest], to keep it holy [set apart for honoring God]."  Ex. 20:8 (NASB).

This is the third commandment of God, the first one being to place God first and the second not to mistreat His Name.  If the Ten Commandments have any ranking in their order, then the command to keep the Sabbath day holy is pretty important.

Wow, have we screwed this one up.  Who among us does not disobey this command by doing work on Sunday (or Saturday, if you consider that day to the Sabbath day), by going grocery shopping, planting flowers, buying new electronics and installing them, cutting the grass, taking advantage of that sale at the department store, or cleaning up the car?

I guess familiarity breeds contempt.  We are so used to God’s miracle of the week that one day to us is like every other day.  "Oh – that demand by God to honor Him by setting aside a day a week for Him (and us), well it was for another era when people had nothing to do and lived in an agrarian society where people worked with their hands and back all week long and needed a day of rest and, well, today we have machines and the Internet to make our life easier.  And, in any event, it is the only day when I can run all my errands."  This last statement should hit home.  I have used it myself.

Or maybe you like the excuse that runs along the lines of "Well, that is Old Testament and we have freedom in Christ."  We have the freedom in Christ to honor and glorify Him, which brings us back to the point that, if you believe Jesus is God, then God Himself told us to honor Him by making the Sabbath a holy day.

Well, in today’s lesson in Nehemiah, believe it or not he had exactly the same problem.  He leaves Jerusalem for a while to go report to the Persian king and then returns to Jerusalem to find that … people are doing things on the Sabbath:

"In those days I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs, and all other kinds of loads.  And they were bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath…Men from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people Judah." Neh. 13:15-16.  [except for the winepress and the donkeys, sounds a little bit like Wal-Mart]

Nehemiah immediately rebuked the people of Jerusalem by saying "What is this wicked thing you are doing — desecrating the Sabbath day?  Didn’t your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity upon us and upon this city?  Now your are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath."  Neh. 13:17b-18.  Later, Nehemiah threatens to beat up the foreigners who were trying to sell merchandise on the Sabbath to the Jews, and so they stopped selling their merchandise.

Notice that desecration of the Sabbath by buying and selling goods and by doing work is not just a problem today, it was a problem back then and, even before then.  In fact, Nehemiah describes desecration of the Sabbath as one of the reasons God destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews during the Babylonian captivity.

Now I am not suggesting that you go out and beat up the clerks at Wal-Mart so they will stop selling stuff to you on Sunday, and I am not suggesting that God is so mad at you for desecrating the Sabbath that He is going to blow you up tomorrow.  But, stop and think for a moment, would doing nothing one day a week hurt or would it help?  Would a day spent reading a good book (one suggestion – the Bible) hurt or help?  Would a day a week spent talking to your spouse, your neighbors, and God hurt or help?

Ask yourself – am I leading the kind of joyful and peaceful life which Christ promised for all those who follow Him?  If not, think about whether part of the reason may be that you are desecrating the Sabbath.  Just think about it … pray about it … and listen to what God tells you.  And I suspect He will tell you to obey Him.

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Lord, help us to wisely answer the question, "Will you really lay down your life for Me?"  Lord, help us to love your Word, incarnate in Jesus Christ and written in Scripture, and to rely solely upon them as our source of information about how we should live.  Help us Lord to come to You, and once having come to You to become closer to You and to preach the Gospel to all people in all circumstances, in and out of season, as You have commanded.  Help us know that You are God and we are not.  Assist us Lord through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be willing and obedient servants, and to keep your Sabbath holy as You have commanded.  It is only through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ that we are empowered to even make this prayer.  And so we thank You and praise You!  Amen.
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