Lord's Day 29

Devotion

God's righteous demands, in comparison, are very gracious. What other government or king, only requests of their people one day in seven and a mere ten percent of their income? In medieval times, peasants were required to work for their land owners two to three days a week in addition to the work required for their own fields, and taxes were arbitrary and confiscatory, dependent upon the whim of the tax collectors. If we would stop to see how much of our time is taken up by the things we “have to do”, as well as add up the withholdings of our own government, we would realize the superiority of God’s plan for our lives.

Since we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, it is refreshing to know that our salvation does not depend on our ability to keep the Sabbath. In this regard we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The failure of the world to understand and set aside the Lord's Day is but an indication of where their hearts lie. Still, the law provides for us a path for living in grace for the glory of God, and our keeping of the Sabbath is a spiritual gift, in which the Holy Spirit transforms our character so that we might better imitate Christ our Lord. The rest God offers we gladly celebrate for His glory and honor.

Rather than becoming consumed with a list of things we can and cannot do on the Sabbath, let us remember that this is the Lord’s Day, it is His and we should use the day to glorify and bless His holy Name. The Sabbath is for us an opportunity to joyfully celebrate the God rich grace. This one day is our sign of grace which we can lay before a watching world.

Prayer

Gracious God, we thank you for your promised rest, and we pray that you might so transform us in the likeness of Christ that we would grow in our desire to keep your day holy, set apart for worshiping and praising your holy name. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Question 61

Q. 61. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.

Scripture Proofs

Ezek. 22:26;

Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

Amos 8:5;

saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain?

And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,

Mal. 1:13;

But you say, ‘What a weariness this is,’ and you snort at it, says the Lord of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the Lord.

Acts 20:7;

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Acts 20:9;

And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.

Ezek. 22:38;

Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths.

Jer. 17:24-26;

“ ‘But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and bring in no burden by the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, then there shall enter by the gates of this city kings and princes who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall be inhabited forever. And people shall come from the cities of Judah and the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the Shephelah, from the hill country, and from the Negeb, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord.

Isa. 58:13.

“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;

Question 62

Q. 62. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?

A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are, God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own employments, his challenging a special propriety in the seventh, his own example, and his blessing the Sabbath day.

Scripture Proofs

Ex. 20:9;

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

Ex. 20:11.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

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