"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
Part EIGHT!? Let us be reminded that the fourth commandment is the longest of the Ten, and contains more detail than any of the other nine. It only stands to reason that one needs to spend more time considering all that God said that day when His words shook Mount Sinai and terrified God’s people!
Last time we considered the working part of the commandment. Now let’s consider the not working part. It is imperative that we understand the word work in two ways, and not in a third or fourth.
Let us understand the word work as referring to “usual labor” and as commerce, or “for profit” labor. These first two ways mean we are to do our usual labor for six days (five if we are so blessed), and to rest from our usual labors on the Sabbath. Similarly, we are to do what we do to make a living (commerce) for six days, and to rest from commerce on the Sabbath. This is a reminder of the faith issue—we are to work for only six days and trust God on the Sabbath.
The third and forth ways we should not understand work, is that the commandment is not a call to idleness. Rest, yes. Mere idleness, no. Idleness is easily a selfish pursuit. Worship and serving others are not commerce, but they do require effort. In other words, the Lord’s Day is not simply a “day off.” Rather it is a day to rest from our usual labor and from commerce in order to exert ourselves in worship and in serving.
A well intentioned person once questioned having ministry team meetings on Sunday. “Isn’t that work?” she asked. I explained that it is ministry and about worship, which is not the same as going to work. She understood and therefore it was a good question!
One other application of this principle has to do with people who are “employed” in vocational ministry. Like the priests in the Old Testament, pastors (and others) are paid for what they do in ministry even on the Lord’s Day. That is why pastors need to take another day during the week to rest from their labors since they are “working” (albeit in worship and service) on the Lord’s Day.
Next time: Answering a few questions regarding not working on the Lord’s Day.