Remember your Creator

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2023, Lord willing, we'll make it from Genesis through Leviticus. So glad to be with you today. Why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll jump into God's Word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a joy it is to get to worship you and to follow in your ways. Lord, you've woken us up this morning. You've given us a day to worship you. You've given us a day to bring you glory. And now you've given us time to be in your word. We pray that you would please help us to understand in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, so here we go. We are at Exodus chapter 35. This is a short section for us today. Exodus chapter 35.
Then Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said to them, These are the words which Yehovah has commanded you to do. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day. Well, you ask yourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what do we call the two in response to this? So what's this getting at? What's this about?
Well, this is the Sabbath regulation. This is God telling them six days, you got to work. One day, no work. Why though? And this is going to get us into calling. The Sabbath is meant, one, for our benefit. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It was given to us, Jesus teaches, to bless us, to give us a day of rest.
But it also reminds us that we didn't make ourselves, that we are created beings. And if we are created, then we have a creator. That we are the ones who get to lift up our eyes to heaven and remember one day out of every seven that I'm not sovereign. Though I might be able to make all sorts of things and do all sorts of things, I can't do all of it. I need to rest. I need to remember who my maker is.
And this idea of Sabbath was also going to be tied into worship. The people would come together and that they would worship Jehovah. And so this is a pretty serious commandment. This is coming right after that covenant renewal ceremony and God is commanding them here. that they're not to do any work on those six days.
It's a Sabbath to Yehovah, but then he says, whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. Why? Why would that be such a harsh, why would this be the capital offense? I mean, maybe you could understand murdering, right? Murdering is saying, I don't value human life, and you're a danger to everybody around you.
But in the Israelite society, this is true also. Because when a person says, I'm not going to keep the Sabbath, I'm going to do what I want to do. What they're saying is, I don't care about my maker. I don't care about what God says. And in this covenant community, that would almost be like infectious through the people. It starts spiraling and spiraling and spiraling.
And this, not keeping the Sabbaths, not keeping the Sabbath day, and then not keeping the Sabbath years, would actually be how God would measure their time in exile. 40 years worth of missed Sabbaths because they didn't listen to him. One of the key ways in which we find out where someone's heart is, it's how they love God and how they keep the Sabbath. Now, where the Pharisees got it wrong is they forgot to love others during the Sabbath as well.
But here we find this commandment that's for our good. It's a key, it's a sign for us to think about how are we loving God and recognizing Him as our maker. So, best verse in this? Well, I would probably say in my Bible, verse two. That's what I would underline in my Bible. It's only three verses that we looked at today, so I would say verse two. Maybe you would underline something different. Maybe you would say it was verse three because that's the verse that's gonna stand out to you most. But then the last question, C, calling. What are we called to do?
Well, I am of the opinion in the Reformed tradition that we do still have a Sabbath day. From the beginning of creation to the resurrection of Christ, it was the seventh day. That was Saturday. That was the day in which the Sabbath occurred. But we see a change that starts to happen in the disciples. That they no longer hold to the Sabbath, but to the Lord's Day. that they get together and worship on the Lord's Day, that they're resting on the Lord's Day, that it's in the Lord's Day that the Apostle Paul is given his, or sorry, the Apostle John is given his revelation from heaven. And so it's from the resurrection of Christ until he returns again. Now, the first day of the week, the day that Jesus rose again from the dead. That's why Christians hold to the Christian Sabbath on the first day of the week. So I believe that there is a Christian Sabbath and it's a huge blessing.
And so for seek calling, I'm going to call you to remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to rest in his finished work, to worship with his people, to enjoy one whole day in seven that you don't have to work. You could tell your employer, you know, the Lord's still given me one in seven days that I can't work. I'm going to be taking Sunday off. I'm going to, I'm going to go praise God.
And then I'm going to spend time with my family. Might even take a nap. And that's okay. It's good actually. It's bringing God glory because it's remembering you don't have all the power. He made you. And he's also given you a day to bless you with rest.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the work of your Holy Spirit in our hearts. Lord, we pray that we would sanctify the Sabbath, that we would love you, that we would love to help others on the Sabbath, that we would show mercy. And when there's works of necessity that need done, that we would know we need to do those things. But Father, that it would be a day filled with rest and worship. Lord, we pray that you would please help us. Help us, Lord, to live our lives. Seeking to bring you glory in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may you rest in the joy and peace that comes from following Jesus Christ. And I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.