10 Commandments / The Fourth Commandment
Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
(Gen.2:3)
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath”.
(Mark 2:27-28)
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
(Heb.4:9-11)
Some of the commands we expect to be counter-cultural. The commands to worship only the living God revealed in Christ, and to do so only in the ways that He sanctions, don’t sit comfortably in a relativistic world that prizes spiritual autonomy. We anticipate that, and are familiar with the pressure it brings. But we may be blindsided by the colossal tensions presented by the Fourth Commandment. To live by the principles embedded in this Commandment is to feel acutely marginalised in our world. Significant arenas of societal life are closed to us. Few of the Commandments bring home the sense of sacrifice needed to live in a way that is obedient to and that honours God’s vision for life.
And yet many Christians feel exempt from the claims of this Commandment. It is a disregard born not out of the diligent study of the Scriptures, nor is it consonant with our attitude to the other Commandments. The Church’s surrendering of the Seventh Day followed the restructuring of our society. We have sought to justify our capitulation retrospectively, but increasingly the sense is that the arguments don’t work. Perhaps no single move has contributed more to the decline of the Church, and of our own spiritual maturity in this country, than the Church’s surrendering of the Lord’s Day. Of course we expect a secular society to disregard it, but for the Church to follow suit is … problematic.
The Sabbath is embedded in Creation. Adam, created on the 6th Day (Gen.1:26-27), wakens to his first full day of existence on the Sabbath. He is designed to work from rest. This is foundational to our createdness. It is true that the Sabbath is structured in a particular way during the days of the Mosaic Covenant (and that like the rest of the situation-specific aspects of that Covenant, it is dismantled after Christ’s Ascension), but the principle of every 7th Day being set apart as the opportunity to focus on the things of God in a way that the other 6 days don’t allow for is both more ancient and more contemporary than Moses. In shifting New Covenant observance to the 1st Day of the (New Creation) week, we are not only navigating the implications of the Resurrection, we are also celebrating the Church’s own New Creation identity. We witness this transition within the NT itself (Lk.24; Jn.20:19; Acts 20:7; I Cor.16:2), and immediately after the age of the Apostles we find the Church re-iterating this restructuring of her corporate life. Ignatius (end of the First Century) writes that Christians ‘no longer observe the Sabbath, but direct their lives towards the Lord’s Day, on which our life is refreshed by Him’. For centuries the Church observed, as a matter of priority, this ‘festive day of rest’ (Heidl. Cat.). The Church of England included all 10 Commandments in her liturgy, and considered the matter sufficiently important to address in the Book of Homilies (XX, Of the Place and Time of Prayer).
Colossal damage has been done by our failure to keep the Lord’s Day ‘wholly’. We have marginalised worship, undermined our evangelistic witness, lost our Christian sense of ‘time’, denied ourselves untold blessing, and exposed ourselves to extraordinary damage done to our humanity by our refusal to accept our dependence on God as created beings. Our generation’s habitual violating of this Commandment is all the stranger in an age when the Church pursues social justice so passionately. In the Ancient Church the Sabbath was deeply embedded in such pursuit (Is.58, esp.v.13-14). But underneath it all, the glory of God is impugned. And this above all must break our heart. It seems we live in a time when not even a Divine Command proves sufficient to break the cycle of business, or to call us aside for ‘the time which Almighty God hath appointed [for] His people to assemble together… whatsoever is found in the Commandment appertaining to the Law of nature, as a thing most godly, most just, and needful for the setting forth of God’s glory, it ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian people’ (Hom.XX). Such wisdom is lost at great peril to the cause of Christ.
Questions
The Biblical arguments against keeping this Commandment (or at least for adopting an ambivalent approach) are rooted in passages such as Matt.12:1-8; Heb.4:1-11; Rom.14:5-6; Gal.4:9-10 and Col.2:16-17. Do you think these passages teach the abolishing of the Fourth Commandment?
What other arguments have you heard to justify Christians not keeping the Fourth Commandment? Do you think they work? Do you think it is appropriate to take a different attitude to the Fourth Commandment? Why / why not?
Do you think the ministry and the mission of the Church is damaged by our irregularity in keeping the Fourth Commandment? Do you think people are damaged by our irregularity in keeping the Fourth Commandment?
Read Deut.5:12-15 & Ps.92:1-15
Why do you think the motivation for keeping the Fourth Commandment changes between Ex.20:11 and Deut.5:15?
What does this Commandment teach us about a Christian view of time, and how we relate to time (don’t forget to think about the other 6 days as well!)? How has the fall impacted our relationship with time? How does the Fourth Commandment mitigate this?
What does it mean to keep a day ‘holy’? Does the idea of reserving one day in seven as a day to focus on the things of God excite you or fill you with dread? Can you identify why you feel the way you do?
What about those whose job requires them to work on the Lord’s Day? Or who have a hobby / interest (or whose children have a hobby / interest) that requires engaging with on a Sunday?
Experience shows how easy it is to fall into legalism in keeping the Fourth Commandment. How could we guard against this? How would you judge between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ways of keeping the Lord’s Day holy?
Catechism:
292. Why was Israel to rest on the Sabbath?
Israel was called to rest in remembrance that God had freed them from slavery and that God rested from his work of creation, bringing joyful balance and rhythm to life, work, and worship. (Gen.2:1–2; Ex.20:11; 23:12; Deut.5:12–15)
293. How did Jesus teach us to keep the Sabbath?
As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus taught us to keep it not merely as a duty, but as a gift of God to be received with joy and extended to others through acts of love and hospitality. (Mk.2:23–3:6; Lk.13:10–16)
294. How does the Sabbath serve as a promise for the future of God’s people?
When the Church is perfected in Christ, all believers will dwell in God’s new creation, free from sin and its curse, and eternally united to God in love, adoration, and joy. This will be our unending Sabbath rest. (Ps.132; Is.66:22–23; Col.2:16–19; Heb.4:1–13)
295. How do you keep the Sabbath?
I cease from all unnecessary work; rest physically, mentally, and spiritually; and join with my family and church in worship, fellowship, and works of love. (Ps.92; Is.58:13–14; Matt.12:12; Col.2:16–23)
296. What does this commandment teach you about work?
My work is a gift of God that can grant me provision and satisfaction, and serve the common good, but it neither defines my life nor rules over it. I am thereby freed from resentment and sloth to work diligently and with joy for God’s glory. (Gen.2:15; Ex.20:9–11; Ps.128; Prov.6:6–11; 12:11–14; 16:3; Eph.4:28; Col.3:23–24)
297. Why does the Church worship on the first day of the week ..?
The earliest Christians came to observe Sunday as “the Lord’s Day” (Rev.1:10) for their primary day of worship in remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week. (Lk.24:1–7; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor.16:2)
298. What does the Sabbath teach you about time?
Through an ordered life of weekly worship and rest throughout the Christian year, and by a regular pattern of daily prayer, I learn that time belongs to God and is ordered by him. (Gen.1:14–15; Lev.23; Ps.92:1–4; 119:164; Acts 3:1; Heb.10:25)
299. How does keeping the Sabbath help you to grow in Christ?
As I keep a weekly day of rest and worship, my faith in God my Creator is strengthened, my hope in God my Provider is renewed, and my love for God my Redeemer is deepened. (Ex.16:1–30; Ps.127:1–2; Heb.10:19–25)
