Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
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sermon. God Bless. Father in heaven we come before
you and we ask God for you to work for you to
speak and I pray that we would be those who can
can having been with you and tasted of the things
of God and heard from your word say that your
law is is Sweeter than honey and to be more desired
than gold and silver and that it is our joy to
walk in your ways to delight in your paths God,
to follow the ways of our Lord Jesus. And now
may the words of my mouth and the meditations
of our hearts be pleasing in your sight. Or we
think of how you tell us that the grass withers
and the flowers, they fade. Things of this world
are passing, but the word of the Lord stands
forever. So God, speak to us, we pray now. Amen.
All right. I want to suggest to you that we keep
time in all kinds of ways. It's not a hard suggestion.
This is something you can get behind easily.
Many of us keep our time by the rhythms of the
school year. Messiah students graduating. There's
fewer people this week. So many of you educators,
you are understandably tired. and you have been
running the Great Marathon, it is like the 25th
mile. Just keep going, okay? It is soon to be
here. The end of the school year is just around
the corner, which also means summer break is
soon here, which for you mothers may induce a
little bit of anxiety. And for your children,
you're jumping up and down. You're like, yes,
sleeping in. And what most of all, no homework.
Many of us keep time, of course, with sports.
maybe Penn State games, maybe Hershey Bears season.
More likely, your own children going from volleyball
to basketball to soccer to baseball to swimming
to... And you can think of other seasons that
we observe. I know for some of you and others
beyond who I'm looking at, theater season. It's
a whole season and you've given your life to
this, to devoting yourself to learning your parts,
your words, you're blocking all of that. I know
quite a few of you have been involved in various
plays. All of us in a way, what I'm suggesting
to you is we keep time to one degree or another
around days and weeks and months and years or
as Ezekiel and Hosea and the chronicler and Paul
writing in Colossians chapter two says, festivals
and new moons and Sabbaths, right? We keep time.
We keep our time by our birthdays, by our years,
by our decades. I find that as I get older, the
birthday each year doesn't matter as much, but
the fifth one seems to kind of get me a little
bit. Maybe some of you are to the point where
you're like, it's not the fifth one, it's the
tenths, you know, that you kind of mark. We keep
time by the jobs we've had, the children we've
born. We keep time, of course, around civic holidays
like Memorial Day and Independence Day and Veterans
Day and Juneteenth. Much of the church keeps
time by the great works of God. Christmas, the
birth of Christ, Easter, Pentecost. And today
is Mother's Day. Mother's Day was first celebrated
on May 10th. Not this May 10th May 10th 118 years
ago in 1908 It was actually recognized though
six years later by President Woodrow Wilson in
1914 and The first day that it was recognized
was a Sunday that was again May 10th What happened
was that Anna Jarvis had established it initially
in honor of her mother. Her mother had passed
away two years prior in 1905, and her mother
was a remarkable woman. She also bore the same
name, Anna Jarvis. And her mother had born 12
children, almost all of whom had died of various
diseases, diphtheria, I read, and others. But
Anna Jarvis's mother, who was also Anna Jarvis,
this gets a little confusing maybe, had begun,
particularly right before and after the Civil
War, women's work clubs and women's work days.
And these existed for the blessing of their neighbors.
She knew the pain of childbearing. She knew the
pain of child loss. And she saw the plight of
so many women around her and sought to love them
and care for them and also to gather them together
to love and serve one another. And actually one
thing I read which I thought was lovely is that
so this was the she lived in West Virginia and
One of the commitments of these clubs was that
they cared for Union and Confederates the exact
same They said we are going to love all of our
neighbors in these acts We're not going to discriminate
on who gets our care. We're going to love our
neighbors as ourselves And so her daughter started
this day that we remember today, May 10th, 2026,
in her honor and in her remembrance. And one
of the things that she did actually from the
get -go was she said a white carnation is the
symbol of this day because her mother worked
towards the peace and care of others. So a white
flower would symbolize this day. Just out of
interest this actually isn't even my nose one
of things that I read is that she sort of detested
The card industry that was that came up around
her day, but then in her older age She didn't
have much money and you know who paid her nursing
home bills The card companies that made so much
off of Mother's Day Anyway, that's not in my
that I don't know what that has to do with What
necessarily what I'm talking about today, but
today is a day of remembrance, right? It's a
day of remembering and it's a day actually of
celebrating peace and efforts towards peace and
a day of remembering those who bless others and
who give of themselves for the well -being of
those about them in a way we could say even Mother's
Day is inappropriately a kind of Sabbath and
while I don't think that as I kind of talk about
Sabbath observance, I don't think that Many of
you have serious quibbles with days to remember
the general idea that we have certain days that
we remember certain things in there and that
we celebrate them and we observe them you don't
probably push back on the idea of Mother's Day
too much if you do it all or Celebrating your
anniversary if you do don't tell your spouse
or maybe the establishment of days that remember
help us remember like the birthing of our nation
and the history of our nation you probably don't
have a lot of Problem with that kind of thing.
You probably don't have a lot of problem with
Christians celebrating the birth of Christ or
his crucifixion and resurrection But there are
a lot of people that have a lot of quibbles around
the idea that right there in the middle of the
Ten Commandments near the middle of the Ten Commandments
We are told no, it's not just that we are told
it is a moral command It is part of the moral
law that we believe is actually in nature itself
that God gives us a rhythm to life, a day to
observe. One day in seven, honor the Sabbath
day, keep it holy. Truth is there's been a lot
written about the Sabbath. One of the things
I told Melissa is that I'm kind of nervous about
this sermon because there is so much that could
be said. There's so much that could be read.
From the Didache in the early church to John
Mark Comer today from John Calvin to Wendell
Berry's wonderful Sabbath poems From Martin Luther
who wrote about the Sabbath to Dan Allender who's
written about the Sabbath. There's just a lot
But I also want to suggest to you that as you
read the Ten Commandments it may be the commandment
the singular commandment that you kind of go,
wow, okay, I understand how they're all, they're
all summed up by love God and love your neighbor,
but what about this one? You're like, don't have
other gods. Don't make idols. Don't take his
name in vain. I understand how that, like, I'm
not always sure how do you apply that, but I
understand that that relates to loving God. You
go on the other side, you go, uh, you know, don't
lie and murder and covet and adultery. You're
like applying it. Interesting. The fact that
it has to do with loving our neighbors. I think
it's a given right but then right here you have
this one in seven day rest What does it have
to do with God and neighbor and us and all that?
Well, like I've said that there's a lot more
that could be said than I have time unless y
'all want to just skip brunch Y 'all settle in
no, okay So this morning what I'd like to do
is I'd like us to consider the commandment here
With sort of just basic some basic questions
what? How and why okay, what what is this commandment?
Well What are we told to do well It's kind of
simple verse 8 you have your Bible open it just
says this remember the Sabbath day Keep it holy
So it says it says to keep it holy, but it says
keep it holy that word is actually just one word
to keep it holy remember Sabbath day Keep it
holy Sabbath you may know this but it comes from
the it's just the Hebrew word that means cease
Rest Stop So we're supposed to remember Ceasing
What this assumes is that ceasing and resting
had already happened there already been a pattern
And it had at least two ways we know that it
had been a pattern already. One way that ceasing
one day in seven had already happened was through
the story of the gift of manna. And it's just
a few chapters earlier in the book of Exodus,
you'll remember that God's people were brought
out from slavery and brought and they're in the
wilderness, they're being brought to Sinai where
they would receive the covenant and the law and
all this. And they don't have food and God provides
for them. And He provides for them this manna
and they are to gather it up in a way you could
say that God was working and they were working.
But then God says on the sixth day gather enough
for the seventh day because I'm going to rest
from providing it and you're going to rest from
gathering it. You could say both God's provision
and their gathering ceased. God's work and their
work, they took a break. But remembering goes
back further. It certainly goes back further
for those who observe the Holy Scriptures. We're
going to come back around to this a little bit.
But they're to remember that God not only saved
them, but the God who redeemed them out from
slavery was also the God who made all things.
And he himself finished his work of creation
and he ceased from doing it. And he observed
a time of just stopping, resting. Delighting
in what he made So so we're called to remember
and we're specifically called to remember by
ceasing We're called to remember God's creation
and his preservation his creation and his redemption
But here's what I want to suggest to you so when
I say remember something primarily probably what
you're thinking is I'm going to think about it
Imagine with me the newly married couple one
year into their marriage. Their first anniversary.
They wake up in the morning, husband doesn't
say much to his wife, has his coffee, heads off
to work. They both come home, they make dinner,
they go on a walk, they watch the next episode
of The Office, because who doesn't? They get
ready for bed and lying there in bed he turns
over to his wife and looks at her and he's attentive
enough to see that her eyes are swelling up.
They're becoming red. They're gathering water.
And he says, what's wrong? What's wrong? Well,
I thought you would remember that today is our
anniversary. I did. Where are my flowers? Where
is my card? Why don't we go out to dinner? Why
didn't she buy me something? And his response
is, honey, I was remembering all day long. I
was thinking about just how wonderful it was
when we said our I do's. Isn't that what remembering
is anyway? What's going to be her response? No,
no, that is not how we remember. So we're called
to remember Sabbath. And Sabbath is a ceasing,
it's a resting. But the second thing that we
are told when we come to this what, and this
will begin to lead us into the how a little bit,
okay, is that we're to keep it holy. We're to
kadeshit, we're to consecrate it. What does this
mean? Because it's not just a mental exercise,
right? Just sit here and think. This word to
make holy means to set something apart for God's
use, particularly for God's use in worship. Okay.
Specifically for God's use in worship. It's very
easy. I just did a quick word study of this word
in the book of Exodus. It comes up 24 times.
And one of those probably isn't for necessarily
the sake of worship. All the rest could be possibly.
Maybe there's two that maybe aren't. Every single
use of this word, Kadesh, after this command,
all 19 of them that come in the second half of
Exodus have to do with consecrating something,
setting it aside, making it holy, Kadeshing it
for the use of worship in the place of God's
worship. So utensils are Kadesh for the tabernacle
and the gowns that the priests were supposed
to wear and things like that. But I share that
to say that the what here is there is a ceasing
from our normal life, but it's a ceasing that
is God word. It's a God word ceasing. Years ago,
there was somebody here at our church. I'm not
going to say their name, even though I don't
think many of you would know them because it
was a little while ago. Let's call their name
Peter, just for illustration sake. So Peter hadn't
been in worship for a little while, maybe had
come here and there, but mostly had been absent.
And I saw Peter and I said, hey, I haven't seen
you around a little while. What's going on? And
Peter replies, I just needed a Sabbath. And by
which that was implied, what I needed was a break.
And that break needed to include worship. I needed
a mental break, maybe a physical break in life.
I've been overwhelmed and that needed to include
the gathering together of the saints of God.
That is not Christian Sabbath thing. Okay. If
you just be like really frank, we are commanded
to gather together to make it our habit to be
with the Lord's people. And this command specifically
is setting aside time a day. It is for rest.
We're going to get into a little bit of that.
with all the time that we have. But this is a
God -word ceasing. And it is a God -word ceasing
that at least includes gathering together with
God's people, consecrating ourselves in the place
of worship. There have never been faithful, God
-loving, commandment -honoring Christians who
have taken it to mean ceasing from that. In fact,
when God's people have done that, And when we
have used the day for our own pleasure, as the
scriptures tell us, it invites God's correction.
So what is this command? This command is to remember,
and that is an act of remembering that is primarily
oriented Godward. How do we live our life in
a restful way, ceasing from our normal way of
being in the world towards God? Okay, so the
next thing is how. Look with me down at verses
nine and 10 now, okay? So verse eight said, remember
the Sabbath day, keep it holy. Verse nine, 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, you or
your son or your daughter, your male servant
or your female servant or your livestock or the
sojourner who is within your gates. Okay. The
first thing that you will notice when we ask
this question, how, how do we observe Sabbath
and keep it holy is the first thing is labor.
Isn't that interesting? The first way that we
apply this in a way is you work. It says six
days you may, it doesn't say may, does it? It
says you shall work. Six days work. In the Bible,
to image God is to be a worker, to be a creator,
to be active and moving things and shaping things,
nurturing children, teaching. Writing laws, all
the various things that we use our mind and our
bodies for to bless this world. We can say a
lot of what it means to be made into God's image.
There's a lot that's been written about that.
But the first six days, the sixth day in which
humankind were made, male and female, in God's
image was the sixth workday of God. So at least
we can say that part of being made in the image
of God is laboring and finding laboring to be
actually part of what we are made for Just a
year and a half ago in a in the peer review journal
frontiers in public health There was an article
that was published and this is the name of the
article unemployment and mental health a global
study of unemployment's influence on diverse
mental disorders So this is what I found wild
about this study is that this study studied 201
countries from the year 1970 to 2020. It was
a 50 -year long study around mental health and
unemployment. And the results are not that surprising.
What is the mental health of somebody who is
not working? Well, greater anxiety and greater
depression. Of course, but also there's correlations
with eating disorder and with drug use. And then
the thing that I actually was somewhat surprised
by is that there's actually a correlation between
bipolar disease and unemployment over this 50
year study. That was one of the things that they
found. The bottom line is that you were actually
made to work. You were. Part of being made in
the image of God is labor six days. This is one
of the hows. How do we observe this commandment?
We devote ourselves to the work we've been given
to do. But we also know that all work and no
play makes Jack a dull boy and often Jill a widow.
So just after we're told to work, the how of
applying this commandment is devote yourself
to the work that God's given you to do. But we're
also told So we have to rest. It's kind of wild
that what the Bible says is that you are not
just made to be productive in your life. The
Sabbath thing is not a very productive thing,
but it's a very necessary thing. I read this
week that Bill Gates, when asked why he didn't
believe in God, he said this, just in terms of
allocation of time resources, religion is not
very efficient. there's a lot more I would be
doing on Sunday mornings. The thing that's probably
most indicting about that is that there's a lot
more that Christians would be doing on Sunday
mornings than gathering together to worship the
Lord. But probably many of you are aware of the
various social experiments of the French Revolution.
Much of them was pushing religion aside, as you
are likely aware. And so part of that was pushing
aside this Judeo kind of Christian pattern, which
we do actually believe is rooted in the scriptures,
even though it's become an international reality
of the seven day work and rest pattern, the six
days of work and the day of rest. And so the
French Revolution moved that into a 10 day work
week. What happened? I mean, the economy plummeted.
Suicides rates skyrocketed Productivity went
down and they had to stop it. It did not work
The truth is that as much as you were made to
work you were also made to rest What I also read
this week is that assert there's a certain amount
of work hours in a week that once you hit them
your Productivity either stagnates or it actually
goes down Does anybody know that number? 50.
Which is more or less six days of work. You know,
if you consider that for the great majority of
the world, you couldn't work once the sun went
down. World history. One study found that there
was zero difference in productivity between workers
who logged 70 hours and those who logged 55.
Zero difference in productivity. So work and
rest. Work to the glory of God, rest to the glory
of God. But also my guess is you were also saying,
but how do I apply this? Maybe you're thinking
of the Pharisees, right? Who got so mad at Jesus
all the time because he's healing on the Sabbath.
Or the story that we read in Mark chapter two,
where his disciples plucked a grain. right? And
they ate it on the Sabbath. Now, Jesus knew that
that wasn't part of the command, but what the
Pharisees did is that they layered on command
after command so that you wouldn't work on the
Sabbath. And they actually had 39 different commands
applying this, and one of them is, don't even
pluck grains because you're working. Maybe you've
heard that in the Qumran community, probably
many of you have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Those were from the Qumran community. The Qumran
community took it even farther than the Pharisees.
They were the really devout ones. And so you
couldn't carry your child around on the Sabbath.
You couldn't help an animal who went into labor
on the Sabbath. Maybe some of you have read Laura
Ingalls Wilder's books. Remember Alfonso saying
Sunday was not a day for working or playing.
It was a day for going to church and sitting
still. And you might remember how the characters
in that book just thought of the Sabbath as a
burden and not a delight Because all it was for
was reciting the catechism So, how do we apply
this? Isaiah 58 tells us that we are to call
the Sabbath a delight How do we make the Sabbath
a delight What I want to suggest to you is that
beyond this pattern of work and rest that we're
called to And beyond it being primarily focused
and firstly focused in worship because it is
a day set apart as holy, consecrated, kadeshed
to the Lord. It is the Christian holy day, which
is to say it is the Christian holiday. Okay.
This is the Christian holiday. And actually,
if you get, if you, if you look back with me
at verse 10, what it says say, but the seventh
day is a Sabbath to Lord your God on it. You
shall not do any work. You or your son or your
daughter, your male servant, your female servant,
your livestock, the sojourner who is within your
gates. It is for all of the laborers to have
a day off. Have a holiday. Why did Labor Day
begin? Right? What do we do with like July 4th?
We all take a break and we celebrate what's happened
Harold McMillan the British Prime Minister in
the mid part of the 20th century He called the
fourth commandment the first and greatest workers
protection act in history This is a labor movement
act way before the Industrial Revolution Invited
us to ask questions about labor union rights
This is the beginning of it This is a holiday.
It's a break. Yes, work. Amen. Yes, rest and
mark your rest by worship. Amen. Do not neglect
the gathering together of saints on this holy
day, but make your Sabbath. I want, this is the
question I would love for y 'all to talk about
around your lunch tables, okay? How can we make
the Sabbath or the day that we set aside for
God a little more like a holiday? Should we eat
ice cream? Yes, we should, you know? Should we
reserve maybe the best bottles of wine for Sundays?
Amen, right? What do we need to do to say this
is a holy holiday? This is a day to celebrate
God's work of creation, His work of redemption.
Eat your favorite food on this day. Reserve it
for this day. Delight yourself in the goodness
of creation on this day. Okay, so some of the
what, some of the how. Now the why, okay? Let
me get to this a little bit. Well, why? Think
with me. Why do you keep the time that you do?
Why do we keep time around sports? Maybe we're
building a certain kind of culture around that.
We're demonstrating our loves through that. The
things that we think define us and make us who
we are. Why do we observe Independence Day or
Juneteenth? Why do we think it's important to
gather together on these days? Why do we do these
things? I would suggest that we are telling certain
stories that make us who we are. We're telling
about our past and how we've gotten to where
we are, but we're also desiring to be a certain
kind of person in the world and people in the
world. We're marking our lives not just by our
time, but we use our time based on what we love
and what we cherish and who we desire to be,
what we aspire towards. How you mark your time
says an immense amount about your heart, immense
amount about your heart, what you dwell on and
what you desire. So verse six, or sorry, not
verse six, verse 11. For in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is
in them and arrested on the seventh day. Therefore
the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it
holy. But a lot of you also know that actually
the Ten Commandments aren't just found in the
book of Exodus, in Exodus chapter 20, but they
are also found in the book of Deuteronomy and
chapter five of Deuteronomy. And when we get
to chapter five of Deuteronomy, this is sort
of the why. Verse 15 of chapter five, it says,
you shall remember that you were a slave in the
land of Egypt. And the Lord your God brought
you out from there with a mighty hand and with
outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God
commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Why do
we keep, why keep one day in seven? Well, one
of the things the Bible doesn't say is it's good
for your mental health. It's good for you to
work six days and have a break. You're less likely
to live into anxiety and depression. You're less
likely to have bipolar disease these kinds of
things And you know, it doesn't say your Your
productivity more or less flat lines in the 50s
anyway, so just take a break The Bible doesn't
present it to you as practical but as theological
Which I would suggest to you it has to do with
our relationship with God which has to do with
our relationship with our heart our loves Why
Why do this Because the Creator God loves you
like the one who made all things He put a pattern
into the world that reflects him and he desires
for you to live into his image Reflecting because
he loves you But he also redeemed you Right Deuteronomy
says it was because you were once a slave Which
is to say your identity was in the fact that
you worked and you worked incessantly and that
was all that was who you were and That is no
longer who you are You are not a slave any longer
freed person Your identity is not bound up in
just what you accomplish and what you do and
all of your productivity. I freed you from that.
Your life is oriented around what I have done
and what I've done for you. Why were they told
to observe this commandment? Because they were
defined now by their relationship with this God,
this Creator, and this Redeemer. He's the one
that shaped their life, made them who they are.
No doubt, some of you may think that this is
the one of the Ten Commandments that changed
when Jesus came. We can keep the rest of them.
It's probably good to not encourage people to
murder. Coveting we know is bad, but you're like,
I don't know about this. The fourth commandment,
I don't know about this. Or maybe you think it
went away altogether. Probably many of you know
that early, early on, actually, as soon as we
know, sort of in the book of Acts, the community
around Jesus shifted when they gathered together.
And actually in the New Testament multiple times,
it's called the Lord's Day. They shift this idea
of Sabbath to a day called the Lord's Day. In
fact, B .B. Warfield, the great 19th century
Princeton theologian said, Christ took the Sabbath
into the grave with him, and he brought the Lord's
Day out of the grave with him on that resurrection
morn. Why do we believe that this pattern is
still a good pattern and something actually to
be delighted in and to be sought after? We should
actually seek to work and to rest and to obey
this commandment. Part of it is that we worship
the Creator God. The one who spoke the world
into being and he lives into this pattern. Part
of it's because he brought us out from slavery
where we just find our identity and the things
that we do, the work that we accomplish. He's
brought us out from that. But most of all, because
he has invited us into the rest that was accomplished
on the cross and the resurrection. Where Jesus
says himself on the cross, it is finished. Jesus
gives us a whole new meaning to work and to rest.
He comes into the world to finish the work of
the Father. And because His work is finished,
we actually are invited to enter into His rest,
that is everlasting, as Hebrews tells us. On
the basis of His love, we are not defined by
what we do, but by what He has done. On the basis
of His work, we can find rest for our weary souls.
On the basis of His work, were brought from slavery
to freedom, from death to life. The great why
of why we do this is because Christ rose from
the dead. If you want a reason to have a holiday,
a holy day, for Christians, there is no better
reason, right? Every Sunday isn't Easter in a
way. Every Sunday, gosh, wouldn't it be great
if every Sunday y 'all all made cakes and we
all toasted? Part of what I'm saying is do that
in your life. Ask the Lord, how do I do that?
How do I celebrate a little bit more the reality
that I was brought from slavery to sin to new
life in Christ? What, how, why? Why do we do
all this timekeeping? If you think back on Mother's
Day, if you think of Mother's Day today, I love
that that woman was so persistent, Anna Jarvis,
that it got the attention of the president and
that she wanted to mark it with a white flower
that marked peace. Cause she said, this is a
necessary thing to celebrate. We must celebrate
those who pursue peace, nurture others in wellbeing
and well living. I mean, I don't know how you
can't hear that story and say, yes, that is a
good thing. Enter into the rest of Christ. Work
hard, but rest well. Jesus has accomplished it.
You don't have to keep treading. He invites you
into his rest. Let's just collectively say, let's
love and delight in the law of the Lord and meditate
on it and put it on and seek to live for him.
As we think about how do we rest one day in seven,
let me pray for us. We're thankful for the pattern
of life that you've given us, God. We know that
applying it is so tricky, but I pray that you'd
give us creativity and grace, that we would follow
in the way of Christ, who healed so often on
the Sabbath, because it was a day of recreation,
a day of healing, a day of grace. God, I pray
that we would be those who desire to meet with
you on this holy day. Um, that we find our life
in you that, that, that calling, um, the Lord's
day, a holiday would not be something that makes
us scratch our heads or question or be, be disgruntled
about, but it's something that we desire and
pursue. Um, that your work on the cross and the
empty grave would mark our lives just as the
many other days that we observe mark them. God,
would this be our reality, our being that we
were made in the image? of the true God who made
all things, that we were brought out of slavery
to yourself, that we were brought from death
to life in the cross and resurrection of Christ.
Whose name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening
to Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this
sermon has encouraged you to worship God and
to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please consider
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God bless.