Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

Exodus 20:8-11 (CSB)

The Fourth Commandment

As we continue to look at the Ten Commandments, we come to the Fourth Commandment which tells us to keep the Sabbath day holy. When compared to the other commandments that are listed, it seems like this one is really not that big of a deal.

When we come across some of the Ten Commandments like “Do not kill,” “Do not steal,” “Honor your parents,” and “Do not worship any other gods,” we see where it is good that God put those out there. But what about this fourth commandment, “Keep the Sabbath day holy.” What is the big deal with this one? Could this be as important as the others?

I believe that there might be a misunderstanding when it comes to the Sabbath. “Sabbath” is not a term that we often use in the course of everyday conversation. When it comes to talking about what it is all about and how to properly observe the Sabbath, those can be difficult tasks for some. If we could better understand the “why” behind the “what” of this commandment, the 4th Commandment would make more sense.

Misunderstandings of the Sabbath

1) It is the day that we go to church.

One thought pertaining to the Sabbath is that it is the day that we “go to church” – where one attends worship meetings and does not clock in at the office.

The Bible never prescribes the Sabbath to be the day where one gathers together with other believers to worship the LORD. We are commanded that we should do this, but it is not necessarily the same thing.

This brings up another topic about the church. The church is not something that we go to; it is something that we are. The church is the Body of Christ – the people who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a building.

2) It has to be Sunday

There is a thought that the sabbath is Sunday. This is tied closely with the previous one because those who hold to this thought typically hold to #1 as well.

The Jews hold to Saturday as being the Sabbath as it is recognized as the seventh day of the week. Sunday is mostly recognized as the first day of the week. After Jesus’ resurrection, there is seen in history a change from Saturday to Sunday being a holy day set aside for worship. Sunday is a special day that we have set aside to remember the greatest victory ever won: Jesus Christ’s victory over the grave!

3) Cannot do anything on this day.

The Sabbath is seen as a day of rest from work. Because of this, there is this thought that no work can be done on that day. As a matter of fact, this day should be just complete resting.

I can remember growing up that it always seemed to me that Sunday was a day where the weather was always sunny. With busy schedules during the week, it seemed that the best time to cut the grass would be Sunday afternoons. I remember being told by my parents that was something we could not do because it was supposed to be the Sabbath.

While these may be popular thoughts in our day, the question that arises is “Do these thoughts come from the Bible or somewhere else?” Jesus speaks about the Sabbath in Mark 2-3 and shows that there are times when even some work is okay on the Sabbath.

With our time today, I would like for us to look to the only tangible source of absolute truth that we have – the Bible – to guide us as we examine this commandment.

Understanding the 4th Commandment

In order to fully understand this commandment, there are two particular terms that we have to understand to get what God is fully saying: “Sabbath” and “holy.”

The word Sabbath is a Hebrew word that literally means “to cease, desist, or rest”. Literal definitions can help understand words, but we need the context of the text to help us understand what God is meaning by using this term.

Take the word, “R-E-A-D”. What is that word? The context will tell us what the correct meaning of the word is in our language. 

Context is always key in understanding the Bible. In the first couple of commandments, God shows us:

• First Commandment = Who is the one true God
• Second Commandment = How to properly worship the one true God
• Third Commandment = How to worship God with our words
• Fourth Commandment = How to worship God with our time

3 Practices of the Sabbath

1) Rest

In the text that we read earlier, we see the first practice of the sabbath: rest. In Exodus 20:9-10, God says that we should work at what we do for 6 days, but there should be one day set aside in which you rest.

You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.

Exodus 20:9-10 (CSB)

God did not create us to be workaholics 

Work is not bad. We were created to do work, but being a workaholic is wrong. I’m sure that we have all known the “workaholic” – that person that just can never seem to stop his or her job. They are working all the time. They feel that if they let up for one minute, then they will lose everything that they have worked so hard for.

This is not how it was intended to be. In fact, this goes against the very way that God has created us. God did not create us to work ourselves into the ground. God does want us to do the work that we are assigned with all that we have – 

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17 (CSB)

Since God has given you the job/work that you have, do it the way He desires. Go at it with all that you got. If you are a Christian, what does your work say about you to those who employ you or are around you? Do we go at it half-hearted? That can give the impression that God only demands some of us. That’s not true! God demands all, and we should give our best.

When we fall into the trap of being a workaholic, something moves in and is trying to remove God from His rightful place in our lives. It is either our work or ourselves.

So, does this mean that we are to just nap around and not do anything for a whole day? Not so fast. The work that it talks about resting from is the work that we do for a living. There will be certain tasks that will have to be done each day – meals, grooming, things around the house.

We are not to just lay around being lazy. The Bible speaks strongly against laziness. 

Laziness induces deep sleep, and a lazy person will go hungry.

Proverbs 19:15 (CSB)

Though we are not to be lazy, we are to break from our regular routines and take some time to rest. If we don’t, it will catch up with us. We will end up in a worse situation.

2) Reflection

The second practice of the Sabbath is reflection. This is where you are to take some time during this day of rest to remember what God has done and reflect on Him.

The whole idea of the Sabbath is drawn back to creation. After God had created everything, the Bible says that He rested. He did not need to rest. If God did not need to rest, what was that all about? He was reflecting on what He had done.

In Deuteronomy 5, we see another account of the 10 Commandments. This time, they come as the Israelites are preparing to go into the Promised Land. In this account, we see that this commandment calls the people to remember where the Lord has brought them from slavery in Egypt.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Deuteronomy 5:15 (CSB)

If we are going to properly observe the Sabbath, we need to take time to reflect on all that God has done in our lives and wants to do. This is done through worship – worship together with other believers, worship alone with God.

For this reason, many look at Sundays as their Sabbath. This is a time where they break from the normal routines and worship the Lord together with other believers. That is good for some.

For some people – like myself – Sundays are hard to be a Sabbath. Sundays are the busiest days of the week for a pastor like me. That is why it is important to set aside another day for this reflection. I will confess that many times I do not do this well.

3) Refuel

The third way to practice the Sabbath is to refuel. As we observe the Sabbath properly, taking a day to rest and reflect on all that God has done, this third practice comes about. 

We are refueled for what lies ahead. If we choose to not observe this Sabbath that has been commanded to us, then we will not have much of what we need to move forward. We will be going on fumes. The Lord does not desire for us to live our lives on fumes. He wants us to live abundantly. This cannot happen in our own strength. If we try to live the life that God desires in our own power, we will fail every single time.

The Sabbath is to be Holy

Earlier I said that there were two important terms that we needed to understand to properly understand this commandment. The first was “Sabbath”. The other was “holy.”

The word holy means “set apart to God”. This term has the idea that something or someone is different from everything else. This is why we say that God is holy – because there is nothing or no one else like Him.

In the 4th commandment, God sets the Sabbath day apart as holy. He intends this day of our week to look different from any other day. It is to be special.

Conclusion

In the 4th Commandment, God sets the Sabbath aside as holy. It is to be set apart and look different from all other days. This is a reflection of our faith in a way. The God that we worship is holy. He is different and set apart from any other god. He calls those who have placed their faith in Jesus to be different. We are not to operate like those who do not follow Jesus.

Though we do not know what lies ahead of us, God does. He knows that there are things that are above our pay-grade that lay ahead. He knows that we will need times of rest, reflection, and refueling. This is why He has called for a Sabbath among His people. How are you doing with the Sabbath?