Participants: Stephen Bauer
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000381
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00:30 Welcome to the Faith Chapel, a ministry of 3ABN.
00:34 I'm Pastor Stephen Bauer from Southern Adventist University, 00:38 which is in Collegedale, Tennessee. 00:41 I welcome you to our program today 00:42 and thank you for sharing part of your day with us. 00:46 In today's program, I am going to be looking 00:48 at the moral character of the Ten Commandments, 00:51 focusing on the Fourth Commandment 00:53 about the Sabbath. 00:55 But before we begin that exploration, 00:58 I'd like to have a word of prayer. 01:00 Let's bow our heads. 01:02 Lord Jesus we wanna thank you for your love to us 01:06 and thank you that you care about us 01:08 enough to give us moral guidance. 01:11 As we look at your Commandments today 01:14 and particularly the Fourth Commandment, 01:17 help us gain new insights into how you would have us 01:21 form our characters to be like yours. 01:25 Guide and direct us and bless the viewers 01:27 and listeners I pray in Jesus name, amen. 01:35 We live in a world that has a fascination 01:39 with power particularly in relationships. 01:43 Power theory has taken center stage 01:46 and people view many things in terms of power, 01:50 who has power over whom, and even outside 01:53 of the professional arena where this is a so prevalent, 01:57 we still like to exercise power over things. 02:00 We live in a service economy where we hire 02:04 all sorts of people to do all kinds of things for us. 02:09 I remember when I grew up, I grew up in a family 02:12 were both of my parents came out of the depression 02:15 and so the mind set was you do it yourself or you do without. 02:19 But not so today, you don't do without 02:22 you hire someone to do it for you. 02:26 We go to the restaurant and we enjoy snapping our finger 02:31 and having someone run to give us what we want. 02:36 We hire people to fly us, drive us, take us on trains 02:40 to get us from point A to point B. 02:43 We hire people to fix our home when the roof leaks 02:47 or the plumbing leaks or as electrical issue 02:50 we hire the electrician to come do it for us. 02:54 So in a sense we exercise power over all of these people 02:58 because we can hire them to do what we want them to do for us. 03:03 We even hire cleaners for our home to vacuum 03:06 and do the laundry and so forth someone 03:09 we can exercise power over and in this day of computer 03:13 literacy many of us when we run into trouble with our computer, 03:17 have to hire someone to come fix it, 03:20 so that it operates properly. 03:22 And then a number of you in the viewing audience, 03:25 own businesses where you hire employees. 03:29 And people whom you hire as employees and you're paying 03:32 their pay check expecting a product from them. 03:35 You have a great power over them. 03:37 They're dependent on you for their livelihood. 03:41 We live in a society of power relationships. 03:45 But not only do we have power in this economic realm, 03:49 we also have power over people in our lives 03:52 who are weaker then we are. 03:54 For example parents have power over children. 04:00 We have power over the elderly, particularly those 04:04 who are old enough and decrypt enough 04:07 that they cannot fully function without assistance. 04:10 And they are easily exploited. 04:13 Likewise the handicapped, both the physical 04:16 and the mentally handicapped, can be easily exploited. 04:20 They are someone that we naturally have power over. 04:25 Another words, we live in a world 04:27 that includes a class of beings around us 04:30 who can be easily exploited by us in a power relationship. 04:36 In addition to that, we have technological power. 04:40 We can control our environment. 04:42 We can make ourselves seemingly, omnipresent with cell phones 04:46 and blackberries and beepers and these kinds of technologies. 04:50 And we can be almost omnipresent over time 04:54 with our computers and personal digital assistance 04:56 like a Palm or Pocket PC etc. 05:02 Power and medicine and technology, 05:05 the great hope today is Stem Cell Research 05:08 and these kinds of things where we can exercise power 05:11 over disease and over nature even. 05:16 I saw story recently where the Chinese are trying 05:18 to control the weather for sporting events, 05:22 of seeding rain clouds ahead of time, 05:24 so that the rain will come before the game 05:27 instead of during the game. 05:28 We have a great natural desire 05:32 to exercise power over people and things around us. 05:37 And all of this power tends to create a character in us 05:43 that puts me first and you second. 05:48 You become the servant and I expect you to cater to me, 05:53 my desires, my needs and my rights. 05:57 But this of course leads to power struggles. 06:00 We see this in the Courts, as people sue each other 06:05 over trivial items etc, etc. 06:08 I would suggest that the Ten Commandments 06:11 fly in the face of such an orientation. 06:15 The Ten Commandments are addressed to us 06:18 as a free moral agent, who has the power 06:22 to violate someone else's rights. 06:26 And the Ten Commandments thus call upon you and me, 06:31 to deny self and put other people's 06:34 rights ahead of our own. 06:38 Now I'd like to briefly breakdown the Ten Commandments 06:41 here before I get to the Fourth Commandment. 06:44 The first Three Commandments are designed to protect 06:48 God's rights from my misuse of my free agency. 06:53 The Fourth Commandment will protect God's rights, 06:57 fellow humans, and even animals 06:59 from the misuse of my free agency. 07:02 And the last six Commandments are designed to protect 07:05 the people around me from the misuse 07:08 of my free agency. 07:10 They call me to restrain myself and think of their needs 07:15 and their rights before mine. 07:18 But let's get now to the Fourth Commandment 07:21 and let's open our Bibles and read it. 07:24 Exodus Chapter 20 verses 8 through 11. 07:31 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 07:34 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 07:39 but the seventh day is the Sabbath 07:42 to the Lord your God. 07:43 In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, 07:47 nor your daughter, your manservant or maidservant, 07:50 or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 07:54 For in six days the Lord made heaven and the earth, 07:57 the sea, and all that is in them and rest of the seventh day. 08:01 Therefore the Lord blessed 08:04 the Sabbath day and hallowed it." 08:10 Let's start by looking at the part 08:12 of the Fourth Commandment that protects God's rights. 08:15 God has a right for you and I, 08:18 to dedicate one day a week of His choosing 08:25 to His interest and His business. 08:28 He gives us six days to dedicate to our needs, 08:32 our business, our cares and our worries. 08:35 But He says I want you to take the seventh day 08:39 and put your stuff aside and trust me 08:42 to protect and watch over it. 08:44 And I want you to dedicate that day to me. 08:49 You see man was made to be more 08:52 than a producer of goods and services. 08:57 Our society is so production oriented 09:00 and particularly here in the West, 09:02 where we are increasingly having to compete in a global economy, 09:06 where there is cheaper labor abroad, 09:09 we are being asked to produce more and more 09:11 for the same salary in order to compete. 09:14 And it's easy to be consumed in this round of production 09:20 until my whole identity gets subsumed 09:24 in my career and my job. 09:26 And I think of my and I become nothing more 09:29 than a producer of goods and services. 09:32 And in this hectic economy God steps in and says, 09:36 I made you to be more then mearly a producer 09:42 of goods and services. 09:44 I made you to be someone 09:47 who has a special relationship with me. 09:52 So I want you to put away your goods and your services 09:56 and your production and your worries and your care 10:00 and I want you to honor, who I am? 10:04 And focus on me for day in fellowship together. 10:12 Now this means that we are called 10:15 to put away our secular interests 10:17 for this day to focus on God. 10:20 In Isaiah Chapter 58 verses 13 and 14 10:25 God address the Sabbath issue with ancient Israel this way. 10:29 "If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, 10:32 from doing your pleasure of the Hebrew literally means 10:36 your business, your concerns on my holy day, 10:40 and call the Sabbath a delight and Holy, 10:44 and the Holy day of the Lord honorable, 10:47 If you honor it not going your own ways 10:50 or seeking your own business or pleasure or talking idly, 10:55 then you shall take delight in the Lord 10:57 and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth, 11:01 and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your Father, 11:04 for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." 11:10 You see God calls us to rest on this day 11:13 as if our work were done. 11:17 Sixth day shall thou labor and do all thy work. 11:21 Not just some of it. 11:24 And if my work is undone then I need to rest as if it is done. 11:29 What is that mean? 11:31 It means that if my work is unfinished 11:34 that I can lay it down and not think about it 11:37 and worry about it and conjugate upon it 11:39 while I'm trying to keep the Sabbath. 11:41 I keep the Sabbath as if my work is done 11:45 and when my work is done, I can put it out of mind 11:49 and not worry about it anymore. 11:52 Now it's easy to talk about what we shouldn't do on Sabbath 11:56 and I'll talk about that some in a moment. 11:59 But on the other side of the coin there are things 12:02 that we ought to do on the Sabbath, 12:05 things that focus on God. 12:07 For example, if we turn to Matthew Chapter 12, 12:11 we find Jesus addressing positive thing 12:14 we can do on the Sabbath. 12:16 And He gives us a general principle here 12:19 in Matthew 12:9. 12:24 "And he went on from there, and entered their synagogue. 12:27 And behold there was a man with a withered hand. 12:30 And they asked him, 12:32 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' 12:34 so that they might accuse him. 12:36 He said to them, 'What man of you, 12:39 if he has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath, 12:43 would not lay hold of it and lift it out. 12:45 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! 12:49 So what is lawful 12:51 to do good on the Sabbath'." 12:56 We see here a very, very important principle. 13:00 Yes, we're called to restrain ourselves, 13:02 me and myself says we don't do our shopping 13:04 on the Sabbath and things like that. 13:07 But we can do good things particularly for others 13:09 where there is no benefit to myself 13:12 and it brings glory to God. 13:14 And in this text it was even a sheep, 13:16 helping the sheep out of the ditch 13:18 brings glory to God to reduce suffering 13:20 and pain and bring healing. 13:23 Jesus did more healings than anything other 13:26 day of the week recorded in the scripture. 13:28 He did most of his healings on the Sabbath day, 13:31 as a day of deliverance from bondage 13:35 and the Sabbath indeed is that day of deliverance 13:38 from bondage and if we can help people be released 13:43 from the care and worry and pain of life on the Sabbath day, 13:47 then I think that's an appropriate activity 13:50 to join God and Christ in that ministry 13:54 on the Sabbath day. 13:57 But there are things that get in the wave 13:59 of that mood as well. 14:01 I don't thing the Sabbath is today I need to look 14:04 at the newspaper or the internet news 14:06 to see what's going on in my world. 14:08 That interrupts that mood of rest 14:13 and orientation towards God. 14:16 Likewise, 14:19 that's not the day I mow my lawn, do my laundry, 14:24 bake in the kitchen and so forth because that takes 14:27 my mind away from that focus on Christ 14:31 and other people's rights and needs and so forth. 14:34 Sabbath is a day to bond with family 14:38 and friends and fellowship with Christ. 14:40 It's a day to get rid of those distractions that worry us, 14:46 so we can worship and praise God for His goodness 14:48 it's a day to take stock of the good things 14:52 God has done for us during the week, 14:55 and it's very important. 14:57 A lot of people want to keep the Sabbath 14:59 because they say I can do more in the six days of labor 15:04 that God gives me and I can produce more 15:07 and get more done when I rest on the Sabbath day. 15:10 That maybe true but that shouldn't be 15:12 why we keep the Sabbath. 15:13 We don't keep the Sabbath for my own rights 15:16 and my own benefits. 15:18 I keep it because God has rights, 15:21 and my fellowman has rights, and God has the right 15:25 of my undivided attention and fellowship 15:28 apart from goods and services. 15:30 The Sabbath then is based in grace 15:34 where our merit is not based 15:37 on what we produce and do. 15:41 But it's based on our love and faithfulness to God 15:46 and submission to Him, those relational things 15:50 instead of those performance things. 15:53 So we can do good things on Sabbath and of course 15:55 it's very appropriate to get together 15:58 in public worship and worship the Lord 16:01 and praise the Lord together and strengthen each other 16:04 in our walk with the Lord. 16:07 But the Sabbath is not only about God's rights. 16:11 It's also about other people's rights. 16:16 The text says that on this day we should not have our servants 16:21 or our children working for us. 16:24 You see, it'll be very easy as one in a position of power 16:30 and don't forget this was written in a society 16:32 where it was mostly agrarian and children worked. 16:35 They didn't have any trundling play station 16:37 and Tonka Trucks and Hot wheels and all these things. 16:41 Little children are working, watching the flocks 16:44 and pulling weeds in the garden 16:46 and carrying buckets of water and so forth. 16:49 It was a hard life. 16:51 And the point was, that as parents running 16:54 the farm we don't make our children and servants 16:58 work on the Sabbath day while we enjoy the rest, 17:03 as the one in the position of power. 17:05 Those under us have a right 17:08 to that Sabbath rest as well as us. 17:13 This principle of parents particularly 17:16 meeting to honor the rights of their children 17:19 can be seen in the book of Ephesians 17:24 Chapter 6 verse 4 when Paul says, 17:27 "Fathers do not provoke your children to anger. 17:31 But bring them up in the discipline 17:35 and instruction of the Lord." 17:37 By telling us not to work our children 17:40 on the Sabbath, while we rest. 17:44 I think we have an ethics here of parent child relationship 17:48 that calls for a non-abusive, non-exploitive relationship 17:54 of parents to their children. 17:56 Yes we have a authority over our children. 17:59 We have the responsibility to bring them up 18:02 as Paul says in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, 18:06 but we have no right 18:09 to stymie their person and abuse and knock them down 18:14 and trample upon them emotionally. 18:16 We need to treat our children with the same respect 18:20 we would treat Christ. 18:22 The Ten Commandments call us to treat the lesser person 18:26 with the grace and dignity 18:29 that Christ would treat them with. 18:32 Not only that. 18:36 The Sabbath calls us to remember those 18:40 we have power over in hiring, our servants. 18:44 Our servants are to be given the Sabbath rest as well. 18:49 It is very interesting 18:50 that while the Fourth Commandment in Exodus, 18:54 frames why we keep the Sabbath in terms of creation; 18:58 the Deuteronomy version frames it in terms 19:02 of slavery and servitude. 19:04 Please turn with me 19:06 to Deuteronomy Chapter 5 and verse 15. 19:11 This portion of the Forth Commandment 19:13 changes the rational from Exodus. 19:18 It says, "You shall remember that you were a servant, 19:21 literally a slave, in the land of Egypt, 19:24 and the Lord your God brought you out sense 19:27 with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 19:30 Therefore the Lord your God commanded you 19:33 to keep the Sabbath day." 19:36 You see Israel had a history of being oppressed 19:40 and abused by the practice of slavery 19:43 and as he called them out of slavery he said 19:47 you need to remember that experience of oppression 19:51 and abuse and when you keep the Sabbath you should 19:55 graciously extend that same privilege to your servants. 20:00 Do not abuse them the way you were abused in Egypt. 20:04 Another words this Commandment calls us to implement 20:08 the principle of grace. 20:11 Where those empower serve instead of exploit 20:16 those over whom they have power. 20:22 This is why I avoid shopping 20:27 and going out to a restaurant 20:30 on the Sabbath day because if I'm going out 20:32 to the restaurant on the Sabbath day 20:34 that means the cooks and the chefs have to work 20:37 on the Sabbath and miss out on that blessing because of me. 20:42 Now it's true they may go and do it anyways 20:44 but at least I'm not the cause of it. 20:48 I remember seeing a video from a different Christian ministry 20:53 that made this very point, and the pastor in the video 20:58 told the story how he used to go 21:01 out after church and eat. 21:05 He was a Sunday keeping pastor and he would go out on Sunday 21:09 after church and eat in the restaurant. 21:12 And one day eating in the restaurant 21:15 he asked the waiter serving him, 21:18 if they had been able to go to church that morning. 21:20 And the waiter was rather grouchy and said no, 21:22 I had to be here getting ready for people like you. 21:25 Now this pastor I think was applying 21:27 that the Sabbath to the wrong day, 21:30 the first day instead of the seventh's day. 21:33 But he had the right idea and he says I haven't eaten 21:36 in the restaurant on Sunday since, 21:39 because I don't want to be the cause of someone 21:41 having to work on the day I think is the Sabbath. 21:44 Now again I disagree with what day he thinks 21:47 the Sabbath is but he has the right idea 21:51 that we should avoid doing those things 21:54 that would force others to work for us on the Sabbath day 21:59 and miss out on that blessing. 22:02 I don't schedule my vacation airline travel 22:07 on the Sabbath because I don't want the airline 22:10 to have to work for me on that day. 22:14 I don't hire mechanics and plumbers and even if my car 22:17 is in the shop I say please don't work on it 22:20 on Sabbath on the Saturday because I don't want 22:23 to be the cause of you doing that. 22:26 So this Commandment calls us to recognize 22:30 the right of those under our power, 22:33 to enjoy the same Sabbath rest we do. 22:39 And even if it causes me or you inconvenience, 22:45 we need to honor their right 22:48 to the same Sabbath rest that we enjoy. 22:53 But there is a third class that is rarely talked about 22:56 in Christian circles in this Commandment. 22:59 Not only our children and servants 23:03 were to have a Sabbath rest but even the animals 23:07 were to be given a Sabbath rest. 23:09 Of course this is a society prior to tractors and trucks 23:13 and gasoline engines and all that 23:16 kinds of good thing. 23:19 Nonetheless, I think there is a very important 23:21 principle here about our relationship to animals. 23:25 You see, character is often revealed 23:30 by how we treat those over whom we have power, 23:34 by those we can exploit. 23:36 And probably the most exploitable class 23:40 of beings around us are the animals who can't talk 23:44 and reason and negotiate with us, 23:47 the way a fellow human could. 23:49 And this Commandment says that even the animal 23:53 was to be given the Sabbath days rest 23:56 along with the servants, slaves, and the children. 24:01 This is a very important point 24:05 as Christians we should not be abusive to animals. 24:09 Yes there are times with pests and vermin 24:11 that we need to take strong action. 24:13 But we should always act in the most humane way 24:16 possible toward the animals even as we solve a problem. 24:21 It is very interesting that in Proverbs 12 verse 10 24:26 the Bible says "A righteous man has regard 24:31 for the life of his beast". 24:33 That is, he is sensitive to his needs and its wants 24:37 and its cares and he won't abusive 24:40 the way Balaam beat on his donkey when he was angry. 24:44 We shouldn't come home and take out our anger 24:46 on the dog or the cat. 24:48 And if we take the responsibility 24:50 of dog and cat, we need to make sure 24:52 to properly care for them the food and water 24:55 and not starve and abuse them and make their life miserable 24:59 because they can suffer too. 25:01 And those who are righteous do not take joy in causing pain 25:07 and misery when it's not necessary. 25:11 Likewise Paul alluded to this principle, 25:16 when he quoted Deuteronomy 25 verse 4, 25:20 which says "you shall not muzzle an ox 25:24 when it treads out the grain." 25:28 You see even when you had the ox on the chain walking 25:32 in circles threshing the grain. 25:35 You were not to muzzle him. 25:37 He had a share in the product he was producing. 25:42 And Paul uses that to say, that the pastor should get paid 25:45 for his services but the point is that those 25:48 in under our power should be treated with dignity 25:53 and respect and give him due compensation 25:57 for their efforts and their labors. 26:00 So the Fourth Commandment calls me fundamentally 26:05 to restrain myself in relationship to those 26:11 under me whom I can exploit and put have power over. 26:16 It calls me to treat them with the same grace 26:21 that Christ treats me with. 26:24 You see this is the same character found in the Gospel 26:29 and Christ who came from heaven to earth for us. 26:33 In Philippines 2 Paul says, 26:36 "Have this mind in your selves which is yours in Christ Jesus." 26:41 Who being in the form of God did not count it robbery 26:45 to be equal with God? 26:46 Another verse, Christ understood 26:49 that He was part of the Godhead and equal with God, 26:52 it was not something to be hung on to as it wasn't His own. 26:58 But He left all of that glory 27:01 and emptied Himself of those rights and those privileges. 27:07 And He came down to earth says Paul in Philippines 2, 27:12 and He took the form of servant. 27:14 The highest became the lowest 27:17 to be a blessing to you and me. 27:20 So you see there is no contradiction 27:23 between the character of the Ten Commandments 27:26 and the character of Christ. 27:28 The Ten Commandments reflect the character of the Christ 27:32 who gave them and to truly keep them is not legalism 27:36 it is to follow Jesus in that same self emptying way 27:42 of life to those around us. 27:45 And so the Fourth Commandment calls you and me 27:48 to be careful how we treat those under us 27:51 and to empty ourselves in their service. |
Revised 2014-12-17