To Keep It Holy

From The Christian Reader:

To Keep it Holy…


by Brian Carpenter



(This is Part Twelve of a series. Click here to read Part One.)



Hopefully last week I made the case that the Sabbath is a positive, moral commandment on par with any of the other commandments of God, and that we ought to keep the Sabbath. The next question which immediately arises is, “How?”



Before we begin answering that question, let’s remind ourselves of the purpose of the Sabbath. It is a tithe of your time. This day is to be wholly devoted to the Lord. What does that mean? Well, let me offer an analogy. Let’s say that you schedule a date night with your wife. You take her to a nice restaurant and later on you plan to see a movie together. You get in the car and go to the restaurant. You sit at the table and order dinner. You talk to each other about things that are of mutual interest. You gaze lovingly into each other’s eyes. And then you suddenly stop talking to your wife and whip out your iPhone to watch the latest episode of House right there at the table. You are polite enough to use earphones so you don’t disturb the other diners. How would your wife feel? Insulted. Slighted. She’d probably use her iPhone to call a cab to take her home. The evening is supposed to be for the two of you. You ought to put aside all that distracts you in order to do that. If you don’t, what you are saying is that you don’t value your wife.



The Sabbath is to you and your God what date night is to you and your wife. An opportunity to put aside all that would distract you and pay attention to your relationship with the Lord who saved you. If we keep that principle in mind, then we are very quick to see that there are some things which will help you draw closer to the Lord on that day. There are some things which neither harm nor help you in that task, and there are some things which draw you away from the Lord. You ought to do the things in the first category as much as you can, do the things in the second category only as much as necessary, and avoid the third category altogether if at all possible.



What sorts of things will draw us towards the Lord on the Sabbath? Worship will. Private worship, family worship, and the corporate worship of the people of God will all tend to have a salutatory effect on our souls. You should rise early in the morning on the Sabbath and spend time in personal worship. You ought to worship together as a family, perhaps around the breakfast table, and then you ought to go to church and worship with the gathered assembly of God’s people. Prayer will draw you close to God. Meditation on the Word of God will draw you close to God. So will the reading of good, solid Christian books. So will godly conversation with godly people. Acts of mercy will also draw you close to the Lord. You should make those things a priority on the Lord’s Day.



What sorts of things are neither helpful nor hurtful? Serving the food. Washing the dishes. Caring for the children. Feeding the dog. Cleaning up spilled milk on the floor. An emergency car repair. A nap on the couch. You ought to only do these things if you absolutely need to do them. Whatever can be done in preparation on Saturday night ought to be done on Saturday night. Whatever can be decently left for Monday morning ought to be left for Monday morning. These fall under the category of “acts of necessity.” For instance, in my house I do the dishes most of the time. I try to make sure that all the dishes are clean on Saturday night. If we do not have company over, then we have sufficient dishes that I can let the dirty dishes soak and do them first thing on Monday morning. If we have company, then I have to do dishes. So I do them.



What sorts of things are positive hindrances to drawing near to God on the Lord’s Day? Sin, for one. We ought to be especially careful to avoid sinning on the Sabbath. Football on TV. Recreational activities. The Sunday newspaper. Idle chatter about worldly affairs. Persistent thinking about worldly affairs. Work. Listen to what the Lord says in Isaiah 58: 13-14:



If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,

From doing your pleasure on My holy day,

And call the Sabbath a delight,

The holy day of the LORD honorable,

And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,

Nor finding your own pleasure,

Nor speaking your own words,

Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;

And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,

And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

The mouth of the LORD has spoken.



That Scripture forms the basis of much of what the Westminster Confession of Faith says about the Sabbath (WCF 21.7-8):



As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in his Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him: which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.



This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest, all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.



There is one other thing I ought to mention. The Fourth Commandment specifically says that we are not to have others break the Sabbath for our benefit. Rather we are to see to it that those under our charge keep the Sabbath as well. Look carefully at the text of the Fourth Commandment from Exodus 20:



Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.



For that reason I believe it is wrong for us to go to restaurants and eat out on the Sabbath. I believe it’s wrong for us to go shopping on the Sabbath. The people who are there are our servants. The restaurant staff even refer to themselves sometimes as “servers.” That’s just a variation of the word “servant.” They should not be working on the Lord’s Day. You should not be profiting from their sin. If someone owed you money and they robbed a bank and paid the debt with the proceeds of the robbery, and you knew where the money came from, would you take it? Of course not. You ought not profit from the sin of stealing. In the same way you ought not profit from the sin of Sabbath breaking.



There are a few other loose ends I’d like to tie up next week, and God willing I will do so.



To be continued…