First Principles

Lord what a privilege it is for us to bear your name, we pray that you will howl your name in us to enable us to live lives worthy of that name by which we are called, that we may do everything in word and indeed in the name of our Lord Jesus and glorify our Savior. Be with us in this class we pray as we discuss how your word bears upon the issues of our current day. We lack wisdom, we ask of you to give us wisdom beyond our experience, that we may have insight and that we may be helpful both to ourselves and others. These things we ask in Jesus name. I prepared today lectures on the first table of the law, the first four commandments and I divided it into two two headings. Since this is part two we'll we'll start the Roman numerals over again and my first heading is to deal with the prologue and the first three commandments under what I call first principles. I don't know if you remember I trust you did that you were to read our text but dama on the first table of the law through the fourth commandments so I'll presuppose that in the background. It's good to have this book because we can't deal with every issue in class. If you look through the syllabus you'll see that we've got a number of important issues that we need to address but we don't address them all so keep up with dama. It is good to have a comprehensive text. I will organize our discussion of issues around the 10 commandments and so and dama does discuss those and many that I will not cover in class so keep up with the reading in both dama and the other things that are on that list but the prologue and the first three commandments seem to me to go together in a special way. The prologue I've already commented on earlier in the course in the prologue I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. In the prologue God identifies himself as the sovereign liberator of his people and so what follows that prologue or 10 principles for a liberated life. These are the rules of life or those whom God has redeemed from bondage to worship and to serve him the living and true God. That by the way is an allusion to 1 Thessalonians 1-9 where Paul mentions the Thessalonians praises them for how by God's grace they turn from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven and the Bible is full of those kinds of liberating text. Some have called the 10 commandments the 10 great freedoms I think that that is useful but I'd rather refer to them as the 10 principles of a liberated life. God works so by his word and spirit to enable us to live lives for his glory and these are the 10 comprehensive principles that he has given to us in order that we may use our freedom for his glory. The first commandment you should have no other gods before me I would say directs us to the principle of singleness apart. It obviously doesn't imply that there are other gods it's that we manufacture other gods that supplant our worship of the true and living God. Calvin is famous for saying that the human heart is a virtual idol factory and it doesn't shut down it goes seven days a week he didn't say that that was my gloss on Calvin but you get the idea this is this is our tendency as fallen human beings to have divided loyalty and so the heart of the first commandment is that it calls us to exclusively exclusive loyalty and devotion here oh Israel the Lord your God is one and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart so the positive side of this is that the expression of our loyalty and devotion to God our savior with all of our heart and above all I think we should underscore trust in God alone you know scripture not only tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart but to trust in the Lord with all our heart and don't rely on our own understanding and all our ways acknowledge him he will direct our past so this calls us to love and trust in the only God that there is and the only one that can help us the only one who can save us for there is no salvation in any other and I think in our pluralistic relativistic postmodern age we need to hear that because there's a tendency in our heart to compromise the commitment to the one living and true God you know the Jews have a custom of every morning on a rising of saying the Shema hero is real the Lord our God is one that's not a bad idea in our relativistic age to repeat that because there are very strong tendencies to cut against that many people regard it arrogant on our part to say that there is only one living and true God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that is the truth and we live in the light of the authority of Christ who claims all authority in heaven and on earth and sends us forth with that mission so part of our singleness of heart is propagation of the the only God there is the only Savior that there is in our mission outreach in light of the scope of Christ kingly rule over all the nations with all authority in heaven and in earth and we may expect opposition on that point people accused even mother Teresa of religious imperialism because she claimed the love of Christ constrained her to devote her life to helping the poorest of the poor that's the attitude you can't make absolute claims now that we do this in a non-arrogant way but there is a humility that comes with knowledge of the true and living God it's not something that we have discovered on our own but something God is graciously revealed to us and yet we're called to exclusive loyalty and to propagate him as the one and only living in true God the only Savior our hearts get divided in many ways typical things that we substitute for God things that we glory in our trust in money power fame sex acceptance there's no into the list of ways in which we need to be purged in our hearts in order to serve the living in true God I think that in the world of broad there are two two gods that probably we should mention Romans 1 23 and 25 gives us that exchange of the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man birds animals reptiles exchange the truth of God for a lie worshiped and served created things rather than the creature that's the heart of going after other gods it's going after things in the creation and substituting them for the true and living God I think at one emphasis we need to make is of not worshiping the creation rather than the creator is because for some time now radical people have blamed the environmental crisis on biblical monotheism as long we go as 1974 Arnold Toynbee call for return to a once universal nature reverencing cantheism and he has many new age followers and that has become a a thing that the sacredness of the universe is what will enable us to save the planet well that's been tried we won't save the planet by bowing the need to bail bail was a nature religion and we need to resist that worship of the creation rather than the creator but I think that we can destroy the planet by bowing the need of man and where people for profit began to gain control over the world's food supply through genetic engineering that is a serious potentially destructive element of human life that's global we need to be in the forefront of questioning those kinds of maximum issues as well as searching our own hearts for worship and serve of God alone so the the first commandment is for reaching in its implications both personal and social and much more there is to be unpacked in that in terms of worshiping and serving the creator rather than anything in the creation which ultimately leads to destruction of of ourselves and along with the even deep earth the second commandment you should not make any images and not bow down and worship them that calls us to purity of worship I think it's important as we memorize and communicate the second commandment that we include both those parts should not make any image of anything that's in creation and not bow down and worship and serve them it takes us beyond the having only the living and true God as our God which should be obvious but there's still a problem even having God as our God there is a tendency in the human heart to substitute self-willed worship that limits God inevitably a human projection that limits God is unacceptable to him and any image that you might derive from creation to try to represent the invisible God is going to fall short of who God is it cannot capture him in his in his being and therefore scripture emphasizes that you heard a voice when God spoke of the ten commandments in the great theophany surrounded with with phenomena that demonstrated his power and holiness but the emphasis in scripture is on the spoken word rather than anything that we might construct by which to worship him now in reform circles this principle is known as the regulated principle and the idea is that with respect to worship what God is not commanded is forbidden that is we we must have more than a negative silence a positive warrant is required for worship to be acceptable to God and you can check the scripture proof text in both the Heidelberg Catechism or the Westminster a larger Catechism that traced that thing out through the scripture God alone is able to tell us how to worship him and therefore this principle while it seems like it is provides a limitation is actually in the interest of freedom of Christian freedom because if we began to give to people the idea of imposing what they think is appropriate worship on us rather than biblical worship then they bind the conscience to the commandments of man it is in its essence a liberating principle although it sometimes asks for an over literalistic interpretation in its application still in its concept it protects our liberty to worship God in only those ways that God has prescribed otherwise you know what would prevent a church from having a milk and honey Sunday if what's not commanded is if as long as God is not forbidden it we can do anything there's no commandment against having a milk and honey Sunday why not have one all sorts of alien ways of worshiping God may be introduced and so the regulative principle is best understood as a corollary of Christ rule in his church as king and head of the church Christ has revealed through his apostles teaching and practice his will for us and the church has no right to impose doctrine ceremonies or structures which have no warrant in the word of God now that's not limited to the express teaching of scriptures but also based on legitimate inferences from from scripture but I think that we should always welcome when challenge the opportunity to construct a biblical theological basis for what we're doing in the case of worship for example when challenged on the idea that we should sing songs only and not hymns I think that the appropriate for us to develop a biblical theological response to that which shows how there's a necessity that we be explicit in terms of our hymns of Christ and you know that that's the proper approach rather than simply repudiate people who raise objections right way to approach that is to take seriously those objections and to provide a biblical rationale as long as we're not held to a literalist interpretation but in terms of the principles that are given in God's word and there are various circumstances that I think are matters that are extraneous to the principle that we are just matters of common sense it's a matter if the regulative principle is applied in good faith and common sense then it serves to really free us to worship God in those ways in which he has prescribed now I had a question back back there there was a hand up there Michael now I think that you you you should distinguish between a rigid mentality that really is defending forms that have developed historically and elevating them to the place of scripture from a legitimate diplomically sensitive application of the principle don't recite the principle because some people are insisting over an an over literal basis for it unless you can find a literal basis are confusing the principle with forms that we've developed in the reformed tradition there's a lot of freedom within these biblical principles but be prepared always to defend it in terms of a biblical principle and challenge the idea that people are seeking to explicit a proof text from scripture that is inhibiting us fulfilling the principles of scripture but we ought to be grounded in the principles of scripture on the basis that only God can teach us how he is to be worship but he had the scriptures are are sufficient for all sorts of cultural forms being adopted in that if you take something like Psalm 150 musical instruments are there and there if there happen to be trumpets they weren't brass but that's an extension their flutes their hearts their stringed instruments now if something is not their percussion instruments including symbols if something isn't on that list you know that hasn't mean it's forbidden that's a representative list and what it means is that all the cultural influence by which music is made or appropriate in the bringing to them to bear on the worship of God so you know that's the kind that you know the the reasonable about what they expect to how specific scripture representations are and then I think you restore the freedom that that regulated principle was originally intended to bring to us to free us from the doctrines and commandments of men well I used a sort of a absurd example of the milk and honey Sunday but you get the idea that people you know it's not just what we think is be good it's what God thinks so don't forsake the principle in light of the rigid interpretations now there's a fellow behind here I'm sorry yes okay yeah it's only God can prescribe the ways in which he will be worshiped and it's clear through scripture that God does give detailed instructions for how he will be worshiped so this is something he reserves to himself through the whole of scriptures and the whole tabernacle furniture everything that is there is oriented toward that thing and serious consequences flow from not following the the ways in which God has ordained in script well the question is whether there's a sort of mentality that reflected in the the movement known as theonomy that also overlaps into this area I would say distinguish those things out I mean let's not engage in guilt by association so that if we reject a position on one ground that we reject other things and we should examine liturgical worship and the body the Bible is not against liturgy but the Bible is given as imposing forms that are alien to people people need forms that they can express themselves to God in and those are culturally determined and so I think it's good faith and common sense for eliciting an authentic response from God's people and some people don't find liturgical worship authentic for them I happen to do that I happen to prefer that but I recognize that this is something that I'm partially conditioned toward and that there are other more fluid forms by which a God is rightly worship now that I I'm sort of sparse on this because it's there's a whole course on worship in the curriculum and I don't want to get too far into that but that's the principle and that's why we are suspicious of churches that Eli the first and second commandments that take them together as one there's a distinct principle between singleness of heart in which we exclude all other gods and purity of worship of the true and living God that's a significantly different principle now the third commandment I think is best to gather together you shall not take up the name of your Lord your God in vain as integrity of life integrity of life in word and indeed in speech and behavior it sounds like it's talking about speech and it is but not exclusively about speech it's to bear God's name in vain is really the thought that is there and when you look through the scriptures you do find an important use of God's name in vows and Dalmat is very good on that I don't want to repeat what Dalmat says but he has some very short things to say in that area and particularly his section on perjury is is very timely and but I think that there is a broader aspect of the commandment as I read the scriptures in terms of what this commandment is really about look for example at number 627 number 627 as follows the eronic benediction so they will put my name on the Israelites and I will bless them that was the privilege of hearing God's benediction that God's name is being placed on his people with the promise of his blessing when you come to Matthew 28 19 go disciple the nations baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and in the book of Acts were baptized into the name of Christ so that we bear that name and as you know believers are a first call Christians at Antioch because they bear the name of Christ now the problem of the second commandment Paul presents in Romans 2 verses 23 and 24 Romans 2 23 and 24 he just talked about he just gone through the 10 commandments and shown how those who bear God's name are challenged by them 1st 23 is you who brag about the law do you dishonor God by breaking the law as it is written God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you okay now that is that is a life that contradicts one's profession and the seriousness that is that profession of faith places upon us the name of our Savior and we don't have time to do it in this class but if you'll take a concordance and run through name and observe how often that is a thing to live worthy of the name of Christ let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity it's the most serious offense against this commandment when we do not live up to that glorious name that has been placed upon us in our baptism and which is expressed on us as God's ministers pronounce his blessing on his people James 127 I think is also instructive in this regard we usually think of the first three commandments as having to do with religion which is right they are the direct the ways in which God is directly served so that the vertical relation is the primary relation and it comes to expression in what I call these first principles of the first three commandments but remember James 127 religion that God our Father accepts is pure and faultless is to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world there you move from singleness apart and purity of worship to integrity of life it's a very natural flow in terms of the way in which singleness apart determines purity of worship and integrity of life those three principle things the three first things in principle include all the rest and that if we are singling heart seek to worship God in purity and to bear his name in reality rather than in vanity it overflows into the loving obedience that is toward our our neighbor now there's much more that can be developed out of that in terms of how those first principles relate and I would encourage you to use dharma as a resource for teaching and preaching on the ten commandments we are not ourselves as familiar with them in terms of their implications as as we ought to be and we need to we need to bring out what their intention is in terms of the way in which God has given them as a summary of how we are to live liberated lives before his face now my second major heading is on the weekly Sabbath and as dharma mentions this is the most controversial of the ten commandments in terms of its perpetuity whether it's binding on everyone whether it's binding upon christian set today and as he begins his chapter he goes over the four difficulties that people feel about the Sabbath commandment that makes it a little harder to comprehend it on the same level with the other nine first difficulty is the first actual mention of keeping the Sabbath is in exodus sixteen comes rather late why isn't why isn't it reflected in the patriarchal literature why don't we hear about it before exodus sixteen well answer is what I mean a counter argument is well we hear it in exodus sixteen doesn't mean that silence proves that it wasn't being observed before but it certainly doesn't have the prominence that it begins to have after the exodus when God gathers his people and certainly reveals to them his Sabbath and makes it a special sign of his covenant with them as a nation the second difficulty that people feel is that there's no connection with observance on our part in genesis two verses two and three read there that God rested the Sabbath day and set it apart and it seems that he's set it apart for himself and there's no record that he communicates that to Adam you know now Adam after your first week of work we will return to this day and rest together you know it's just it's just there as a bare record that God set apart the Sabbath day and hallowed it but even that record is not without some point even though it's true it doesn't go on to say God communicated all of this there is a pattern that's there and weeks of six days plus one did develop and is somewhat reflected in in genesis in genesis twenty nine for example already you have time periods divided into weeks so maybe that that shouldn't count decisively the third point is it the third difficulty people feel and I get this probably most frequently I got it in Ukraine for example and keeping the Sabbath is not explicitly maintained in the New Testament not specifically mentioned it's all the other nine or explicitly but the Sabbath commandment isn't that bothers people does that mean that it is for the Christian church today and along with that there is a fourth difficulty that a Christian did not observe this it said as a day of rest until 321 when Constantine passed an edict that made it the day of rest they gathered for worship in the morning and the evening but it wasn't anything really parallel to the Jewish rest until that late in church history of course you can that doesn't just come out of the blue from Constantine there's something that led to the development up to that a desire to have a fuller Sabbath period anyway those are the four typical difficulties the way down tends to answer them is to look at the function of the Lord's day in the New Testament and show its parallels with the Old Testament it functions in the same way and to conclude from the fact that the the decalogue is in the New Testament the still the summary of the way of life for God's people that it would be incompatible with that to have only nine commandments so it sort of restores it that way I think it may be a better argument at least I'll try to to go over an argument that I think answer those objections and make some maybe gives us a better a firmer grasp on the rationale for the Sabbath so let me add my observations to it I have a preliminary observation to make on the place of the fourth commandment in the decalogue it is transitional the first three commandments have to do directly with our vertical relationship with God single this heart purity worship integrity of life before him as we bear his name those are three principles that write directly to God of course integrity of life overlaps with the serving our neighbor because we can't bear God's name without being concerned about the things God is concerned with justice righteousness and the mercy faithless and his attributes that are the pattern or the model for our replication but I like that they do focus on the divine human relationship whereas we noticed that the fourth commandment has both vertical and horizontal directions remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days show you labor and do all your work the seventh is the Sabbath day to rest day to the Lord aren't it usually not doing any work or anybody in your under your jurisdiction whether in your family of the foreigner in the nation now think about what a blessing that is the laborers you know it's not only a command that we take rest which in itself is a blessing you know if we understand stand that properly to to take a day in which we're not responsible for continuing our work is in self a blessing but also to give that blessing to those who are under our jurisdiction I found this some this note in a book by Mary Ann Robinson you don't need to know her name that the book it's titled the death of Adam essays on modern thought had a lot of provocative thoughts this is what she said about the Sabbath Moses forbade it's really God but Moses forbade that servants even foreigners should work on the seventh day if their wage was subsistence as it used to fair to assume in pre-modern societies then this prohibition had the immediate practical effect of securing for them seven days pay for six days work he raised the value of their labor by limiting access to it in all its latter-day forms the Sabbath has had this effect you know there's a tremendous economic principle going on here that's to the advantage of those labor you can't grind people down if they have a day in which they rest are required to rest it's not a paradox you're required to rest what you're required to take rest but also to give rest and that means that the I think we should see the fourth commandment as transitional it has a vertical dimension as we will see but it also clearly has human and interhuman aspects as well now here's the way that I would work work out of the material on the Sabbath first the weekly Sabbath in the Old Testament and there are two points to be made the first is that it's grounded in the order of creation okay that's the force of Exodus 20 11 for in six days God made the earth and everything that's in them and rested the seventh day so it is an imitation of God's pattern of work and rest at the creation now how do God celebrate this Sabbath well Exodus 31 17 gives us a glimpse into that it's really the celebration of God's satisfaction over his works God takes delight in the works of his hands so the human Sabbath would be a finite replica somebody flips it a finite replica of that celebration so at the human level we pause from our labors to take satisfaction in them as we consecrate them to God and I think that it follows on that John Frames comment if recreation is pleasurable activity from different from one's daily labors then Sabbath rest is recreation par excellence it's part of rest is that relaxation from the daily grind which opens us to other other things I say a 58 13 and 14 refrain from doing your pleasure on the Lord's day that's doing your will on the Lord's day but if rest including the activities that provide for renewal of our physical energies is grounded in creation then I think that the Sabbath is more than just a workday in a different sense it's also grounded in redemption this is the thought that it's added in Deuteronomy 5 verse 15 Deuteronomy 5 15 remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand in an outstretched arm therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day there is a redemptive element and certainly the celebration of Israel was to celebrate their release from bondage and so the idea of in ring God's rest becomes associated with the Sabbath and is repeated in the New Testament Hebrews 4 9 especially that so that there was in the Old Testament an anticipatory aspect of the Sabbath in the hope of entering God's eternal rest I think that we have to consider the weekly Sabbath in the inter-testimental period there were two developments in the inter-testimental period one was a very positive and the other one was negative the first development was the synagogue that was not in the Old Testament it developed in the inter-testimental period but it was an institution which was approved by God it was appropriate for the Sabbath day Leviticus 23 verse 3 talks about the Sabbath both as rest and holy convocation didn't specify convocation but the synagogue developed as the holy convocation and you find that Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath day apostles use that as the starting point for the launching of their mission and it is affirmed in carried out carry over into the New Testament the second thing to develop was the oral tradition that later became written down as we know as the which we know as the missionah and here you had all the technical details that were added in order to protect the Sabbath that elevated the traditional keeping of the Sabbath above God's concerns for the Sabbath in the Old Testament so Jesus interaction with the Pharisees on the Sabbath is an interaction with the oral tradition that was added in those intervening years between the testaments with all the the regulations including interpreting taking a handful of grain in order to stave off your hunger pangs as a threshing and inappropriate and Jesus brought back the renewed emphasis on the Sabbath being in line with God's merciful intent and not in that way the oral tradition had developed those some it's a mistake to thank the Jesus critique of the the fair circle observance of the Sabbath is a critique of the Sabbath institution itself thank is much more plausible that he recovers the original Sabbath intent from those accretions that occurred during the intertestamental period and so he ignores those rules and he goes walk about on the Sabbath and he allows his disciples to do things and he heals on the Sabbath and it seems to make a point of challenging the oral tradition without overturning the Sabbath legislation so we come now to the the weekly Sabbath in the New Testament and I have three points to make under the the weekly Sabbath in the New Testament the first is to notice the continuance the text that indicate that there is continuance the text on which we base the idea that the Sabbath continues and I think that the key things here the most important scripture most important single scripture on the weekly Sabbath is Mark 227 the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath okay now that's in the context of recovering the Old Testament the weekly Sabbath from the oral tradition that had surrounded it notice what Jesus says the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath the the oral tradition had had had come to the point where all those rules and regulations had implied that the Sabbath was made for man to observe it or that you know that said that backwards man was man was made for the Sabbath and so all of the that's that's the point of human existence is to observe the the Sabbath Jesus goes back to the creation order it seems to me in this verse and says you know the order is that the Sabbath didn't come first you know man was made first and the Sabbath was made for man had appears in Genesis that God takes rest on the Sabbath day but Jesus is using creation language when I mean that had God taking rest on the Sabbath day has its implication of observance for man so man is created on the sixth day and the Sabbath is made for man it's not as though the Sabbath was already existing and then man is made in order to keep it it's rather the the opposite so I think that there is in that saying Mark 227 think about the permanent relevance of the creation order six day man seventh day rest it hearts back to creation the very language that Jesus uses and the order of those events takes us back to creation the second most important single verse on the Sabbath is Mark 228 the next verse following of the son of man is Lord even over the Sabbath now that that is to be thought through theologically that is Christ saying in effect I am the Lord your God and what I say with respect to the Sabbath and what I do with respect to the Sabbath is then the exercise of my Lordship so he he both alerts us to the purpose of the Sabbath is made for man and he also asserts his Lordship over the Sabbath now that prepares us that prepares us for the element of change in the New Testament observance of the Sabbath now you have to think theologically here rather than looking for an explicit text but you have to think of the significance of Jesus rising again on the third day which is the first day of the week that's intentional on Jesus part it's not by an accident that he was crucified on Friday and he rises from the dead on the first day of the week this is all a part of his plan and he begins then to meet with his apostles on the first day of the week and that continues until the time that he has taken up from heaven the events that are recorded are first day events and then when does he send the Holy Spirit he sends the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost which if you count it up that 50th day is the first day of the week so those two events of such great magnitude in terms of the history of redemption are I think we should observe self-consciously chosen by Jesus for these great redemptive events his resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit by which the church is gathered in the fullness of this dispensation now with that with that background in mind we begin to observe apostolic practice which establishes the first day rather than the seventh as the day of Christian observance check out Acts chapter 20 verse 7 the meeting on the first day of the week and first Corinthians 16 one and two when you meet on the first day of the week let everyone lay aside for this collection for the tour saints in in Jerusalem now here again you have to think theologically about it the pattern that the apostles of follow is is Jesus own pattern of being raised from the dead on the first day and sending the Holy Spirit on the first day what he has said as a model of gathering on the first day they continue our principal hermeneutical principle is that the apostles were established as the foundation stones of the church they were established to lay the foundation of the church what they lay by way of foundation in terms of their teaching we readily acknowledge apostolic foundation when the apostles what the apostles do in laying the foundation of the church their practice is also normity for example in Acts 14 they ordained elders in every place that's not just a passing note of historical interest that's the apostles laying the foundation of the church so their practice of a plurality of elders is normity and similarly when they gather the church on the first day of the week they are functioning they're using the first day of the week as functionally the same as the seventh day in the Old Testament time and that that change is the in fulfillment of Christ's claim of Lordship over over the Sabbath as important as that day was significant as the seventh day was it was not absolute it was transitory and Christ being Lord of the Sabbath changes it to the first day of the week which in Revelation 110 is called the Lord's Day it's specific the first day of the week is the Lord's Day in a special sense in his authority is Lord of the Sabbath there has been that change and with it a change in the someone is called it the symbolic weight of the commandment that is it it anticipates now the great harvest of salvation at the in the end times it's the it's the first day of the new creation you know it's the day that God sends that his Holy Spirit and there's a reversal of the Tower of Babel it's you know everything is now looking forward in light of Christ's resurrection to its fulfillment so whereas the Old Testament looked backward over the six preceding days the first day celebration looks forward to the general resurrection and the new heavens and the new earth it is anticipatory of that for the change is made in that it may be reflect that participatory nature now there is also a change there's a change certainly in the day there's also a change in terms of as a matter of religious obligation it cannot be legislated as it was in the theocracy and and so the the Christian early Christians don't expect to that their labor will not continue on the first day of the week but it's so significant they get to have this gathering this convocation this holy convocation before work or after work but that's not ideal and as the gospel goes forth it affects culture I think that in our day we should not argue that it be legislated as in the theocracy as a matter of religious obligation but as a matter of human welfare and justice it is appropriate matters of legislation because it says that there's something more than consumerism you know why we go you know there's only so much money to spend why can't we spend it six days it's there is a movement I think it comes from Canada that we that we all agree that there will be one day in which we don't buy anything well I think that's you know to show that there's more to life than being a consumer well we've got you know one we got 52 of those a year if we take the Sabbath principle seriously and it is we are now culturally so much into consumerism that it's hard to imagine rolling that back unless Christians take seriously you know that would that wouldn't help you know that would be not insignificant if we start going to the mall or whatever on the board's day and take it seriously now my fourth point my D point here oh wait this is I'm sorry this is my this is my third point under here I had the continuance and change and now I have counter texts there are some texts that are apparently counter to continuance of the Sabbath under the new covenant now there are three of these and let's take them in order Romans 14 verse 5 one man considers one day more sacred than another another man considers every day alike each one should be fully convinced in his own mind and some people take that didn't mean that Sabbath rest the weekly rest the weekly Sabbath is Adiapra if you want to do that to the Lord that's fine but don't elevate that to something that has the authority of a divine command well I think the appropriate response to that is that as a matter of fact the early church did not treat the Lord's the early church did treat the Lord's day in a way different from the others the early church did treat the Lord's day in a way different from the others we've seen apostolic practice there's also attendance as those at those weekly assemblies is not simply optional that's Hebrews 10 25 don't forsake the holy complication now that's the own going part of the ongoing purpose of the Sabbath against the background of rest from our ordinary labors so there are many other days in the Jewish calendar and other calendars that people adopted for spiritual discipline and so forth why not think of those as being the kinds of days that are in view here because as a matter of fact the early church called one day the Lord's day you know that's the day that the Lord reserves for himself in some measure that was the original idea of the Sabbath of being hallowed being God's hallowed by God himself Galatians 410 is a similar text there may be a slight difference of nuance 410 you're observing special days in months and seasons and years I fear for you somehow I've wasted my efforts on you well this is not weeks weekly days special days months and seasons and years those are the wider aspects of the Jewish calendar and they're being observed here for legalistic motives so Paul has really a double argument here against those kinds of things he doesn't regard this as audiophara because it's being as did in Romans but here when people have elevated them to a necessity he speaks against them but not against the weekly Sabbath and I think this is the point also of Colossians 2 16 and 17 which is the strongest appears to be the strongest of these counter texts Colossians 2 16 and 17 therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day these are a shout of the things that were to come actually the the new revised standard version is a better translation because it retains the plural do not let anyone judge you but what you eat or drink or with regard to festivals new moons are Sabbaths all in the plural festivals new moons are Sabbath you see the terms Sabbath in the Old Testament applied to these days besides the weekly day of rest this is not the Sabbath these are Sabbaths along with new moons and festivals and this was clearly distinguished from the weekly Sabbath in the Old Testament which is what the fourth commandment is about so I think that that's that is a plausible explanation of this text that seems to be counter especially when you realize it's in the plural of course you could argue well Sabbaths 52 a year but in the context of new moons and festivals those were particular Jewish regulations which did have a symbolic element that is hard to find in the fourth commandment that would make the fourth commandment a shadow of Christ now my fourth major point under this is the weekly Sabbath in the Westminster Confession of Faith and it's the chapter on religious worship in the Sabbath day I've asked you to read carefully review the Westminster Divines when you look at what they wrote they saw the function of the day a holy W-H-O-L-L-Y entirely I should say in terms of cultic worship or betterly the word cultic out in terms of the corporate worship or also private worship they say that the whole time is to be occupied with the duties of public and private worship except allowances for necessity and mercy the whole time with the duties of public and private worship now I think that it would be better to understand the whole the sanctification of the whole day as the consecration of labor certainly the holy convocation is part of that but the holy convocation is in the context of rest Leviticus 23 verse 3 Leviticus 23 verse 3 there are six days when you may work but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest a day of sacred assembly holy convocation you're not to do any work you see the coordination there of of rest and convocation I think that the the Westminster confession attends to obscure the central purpose of the Sabbath as rest in going beyond what can be proved from scripture to prescribe the whole time occupied with the duties of public and private worship if you took that literally I'm not sure they meant to be taken literally but that's what they said the whole time with duties of public and private worship only accepting necessity and mercy I think that it draws us away from the coordination of rest and worship that is more clearly the point of Leviticus 23 3 to end the apostolic pattern in I think that the full Sabbath principle can only be worked out where we have both of those elements together and in some cases you have to work as a matter of necessity if you're in a culture where it's a matter of survival you know that that conditions you're what you're able to respond to and I think that well other aspects that fall under necessity clearly mean that some some folks even as a priest in the Old Testament continue their weekday work for the sake of human human benefit that Sabbath has never been intended to cut across that