"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Considering the fourth commandment a phrase at a time, we will begin this post with the words “Sabbath day.” Many believers in our day think they are honoring the Sabbath day by attending church for an hour and a half, and then doing whatever else they may want to do with the rest of the day. We need to be reminded that the Sabbath day is one day in seven, not an hour and a half out of 168 hours that make up a seven-day week. The entire day belongs to the Lord.

That thought brings us to the phrase “keep it [the Sabbath day] holy.” What does it mean to keep the Sabbath day holy? There is ho hard and fast rule, or set of rules, that everyone must subscribe to. The text simply says keep the day holy. I will therefore offer some ideas and encourage each of us to honestly and prayerfully ask the Lord how HE would have us keep the Sabbath day holy.

First, remember, we are talking about the entire day, not just the time we are in church.

Second, keeping the day holy will not mean exactly the same thing to every believer, so let us each obey the Lord as He convicts us, and refrain from imposing our convictions regarding details on others.

Third, keeping the day holy, certainly does include participating in corporate worship in church with God’s people. Of course, when we are too ill to attend corporate worship, or providentially hindered in some other way, we will not be able to attend public worship. However, this must be the exception, and we must do all we can to see that it does not become the norm.

What about the rest of the Sabbath day? How are we to keep it holy? More on that next time…