How many of us struggle to have a daily time of devotion with God? Worship - Bible reading - and prayer? That’s all of us.

Have you heard this? “Sunday is my day off. I need to rest. Coming to church in the morning is just one more thing I have to do.” Have you felt that way? Maybe even this morning? Be honest.

"You don't understand all the stuff I need to do. Sunday’s the only day I have to catch up." And yet, we never do.

We all feel this. If we could run 25/8/366 - we’d do it. And still miss time with God.

Please turn with me to Exodus 20 - starting at verse 8. This morning we’ve come to the fourth commandment - which is about keeping the Sabbath.

As we’ve been going through these commandments we’ve been seeing that God is not a contract god. A “do this for me and then I’ll love you” kind of god. Our God is the what? Covenant God. God loves us. These commandments are all about what it means to live in a covenant relationship with God. That’s especially true of the fourth commandment.

This commandment is here to deepen our relationship with God. Not to burden us with one more thing to do. But to put us in a place before God where we can experience the kind of refreshment and renewal that deep down we all crave.

Look with me at this commandment - let’s read verses 8 to 10 out loud together and then come back for some observations.

Exodus 20:8 - out loud - together - Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.

Walk with me through this command.

The Sabbath was a day set aside to cease work. The word literally means “to interrupt.” Stop what you’re doing.

Its a command that God stresses over and over and over again in Scripture. Its found in the prophets - the history books - the Psalms - even in the New Testament. Its that important to God and us.

If we were to go back through the Old Testament and look at the yearly calendar of religious feasts and offerings - rituals of the tabernacle and Temple - regulations about what a person could or couldn’t do and when they could or couldn’t do it - if we did that kind of study what we’d find is that the whole Hebrew socio-economic-religious system was integrally tied into the Sabbath. This is so important - so crucial to the relationship of God and His people - that to not keep the Sabbath was punishable by death. (Exodus 31:14)

Every seventh day - stop work - you - your kids - your servants - your animals - even your guests. Keep the Sabbath “holy.” Keep it distinct - separate - from all the other days when you can work 24/6. But on this day - stop - rest. Don’t fail to do this.

For most of the church - we come together on Sunday. What has been called the Christian Sabbath. Jesus rose from death on the first day of the week. So in the New Testament - something new comes - a new observance - The Lord’s Day. After Jesus resurrection the church began to gather together on the first day of the week - to eat together - to bring together money for ministry - to share the Lord’s Table - communion - to worship and praise God - to be taught from Scripture. (Acts 20:7-21; 1 Corinthians 16:2; Revelation 1:10). That pattern has been followed by the church even till today.

In the Old Testament there was a ceremonial obligation - all the rituals and offerings and socio-economic-religious things that were done. Today we have a moral obligation to keep the Sabbath. We’re required to give a regular dedicated portion of our time - traditionally on the first day of the week - to use this time to stop what we’re doing and to come before God as He requires.

We need this rest - this time for refreshment and renewal from God. Say this with me, “We need this.”

Have you ever gone on a vacation - and come back needing a vacation? We take vacations and pack them so full of things to see and do - so that our vacations are more hectic than our regular lives. Do you remember the theme to Gilligan’s Island? “no phones, no lights, no motor cars, not a single luxury, like Robinson Crusoe it's - what? - primitive as can be...." Don’t we long for that? To get away from the pressures and pace of life?

Have you ever gone to bed tired and woken up exhausted? Wrestling with problems at night? Burdened with stuff from the day? Relationships - marriages - work - family - money - obligations. It all crowds into our minds demanding attention. When do we get refreshed?

Have you ever taken a day off - and felt like you would’ve liked to have actually had a day off? There’s always just one more thing waiting for us to do. By the time we knock one or two things off the top of the list - six or seven more have been added at the bottom. When do we get renewed?

It used to be that a house had one phone - on a party line. Some of you will remember party lines. Now we have phones all over the house. The problem with having a phone means we have answer it. It’s a Pavlovian thing. Try not answering and we break out in a cold sweat - our heartbeat gets irregular.

Everyone has a cell phone - some people have two or three. Faxes aren’t fast enough. We have text messaging and foto-sharing. We don’t want to miss anything. The most intimate conversations can be interrupted by a cell phone. Every time we turn around someone or something demands our attention. When do we rest?

Then there’s the computer - with its “you’ve got mail.” Palm Pilots synchronized - wireless networking - so we can go any where and stay connected.

It becomes overwhelming. Sometimes you just want to take out a hammer and smash the thing to get it all to stop.

When do we get to rest? Where is refreshment? Renewal?

We need this fourth commandment. God knows - we need to stop. Say that with me, “We need to stop.”

We need to see the fourth commandment as an opportunity that God gives to us - His covenant people.

Turn with me to Mark 2 - starting at verse 25. Jesus and His disciples were passing through some fields of grain - on the Sabbath. As they’re walking along the disciples began to pick the heads of the grain and eat the meat inside. If you’ve ever done this - its an understandable thing to do. Just walking along - enjoying the day - picking grain and eating the kernel inside.

The Pharisees saw this and said to Jesus, “Jesus, look what your disciples are doing. They’re breaking the law of the Sabbath. They’re not keeping it holy.”

By Jesus’ day there were at least 39 acts forbidden on the Sabbath. Things that the religious leaders said - in order to keep the Sabbath holy - you can’t do that. The Pharisees had the disciples on a technicality. Picking the grain was harvesting - couldn’t do that. Eating it was threshing it - couldn’t do that. Not on the Sabbath.

Mark 2:25. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry? How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?”

David is on the run from Saul. He’s hungry. His men are hungry. He comes to the town of Nob - northeast of Jerusalem - to Ahimelech the priest. David asks for bread. The only bread available is the consecrated bread - the twelve loaves of bread - baked of fine flour arranged in two rows on the table in the holy place. Bread that only the priests were suppose to eat.

Every Sabbath - catch that - every Sabbath the priest took the old consecrated bread off of the table - out of the holy place - and put freshly baked bread in its place. And the priests - by Mosaic law - the priests were allowed - the only ones allowed - to eat the week old consecrated bread. But on this Sabbath - Ahimelech hands over the consecrated bread to David. Who eats it and gives it to his men.

David breaks the Mosaic law by eating the consecrated bread - a clear violation. And yet, no where - in the entirety of Scripture - no where is David condemned for eating that consecrated bread. Why? Because the letter of the law - all the legal technicalities - are not to be imposed when they bring hardship on God’s people as God’s people are trying to serve God. The relationship of God and His people is more important. David needs God’s refreshment - His renewal. The bread is his.

Jesus asks the Pharisees, “Have you read this?” Of course they’d read it. Duh! These are the Pharisees! “You read it. But with all your rules and regulations you’ve missed the point. Otherwise you wouldn’t be asking the question. You wouldn’t be burdening My people with all these rules about the Sabbath.”

Mark 2:27 - Here’s what you missed. What’s more important here than the regulations. The bottom line of what the Sabbath is all about. Verse 27: Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Its not the regulations. Its not the burden of keeping the fourth command. It’s the purpose. That’s the bottom line.

Sabbath wasn't’ meant by God to be a spiritual straitjacket - an obligation that we have to get through and endure while we’re waiting to get on with the real things of our lives. Sabbath isn’t something that gets added on to an already overwhelming - oppressive - growing list of stuff that burdens us.

God is the covenant God - the Lord of the Sabbath - who created Sabbath for us. Sabbath is made for man. Say that with me. “Sabbath is made for man.”

This all about living in relationship with the God who wants to pour out His love on us - to take the burdens off our shoulders - to refresh us and renew us and bring His true rest to our minds and His peace to our hearts.

Isn’t that what we really long for? Not an action packed week in Cancun - or with the professor and MaryAnn - but time well spent with God?

We need to stop seeing the Sabbath as an obligation and see it for the great opportunity that it is.

Two opportunities. First - look with me back at Exodus 20 - verse 11.

Exodus 20:11: For - why keep the Sabbath? - for - because - in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore - because He created everything in six days - the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy - set it apart for us.

The Sabbath is an opportunity for us to celebrate God Our Creator.

Think with me about that. God works at creating things for six days. Puts the finishing touches on the time-space-universe. Steps back - takes a look - sees no flaw in what He’s brought to completion - and rests on the seventh day. Hear this: What God set out to do - He did. That’s our covenant God.

Do you remember Philippians 1:6? “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who [what?] began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Look at people today. Using people. Climbing over people. People are torn down and weighed down. Running like rats in a habitrail - frantically trying to do for ourselves - focused on caring for ourselves - rushing and running - as if everything in life depends on us.

If we could just get it through our hearts that God - creator God - is for us. He began us. He will perfect us. Then we can cease all of our striving after what we can never achieve and what God waits patiently to pour out upon us.

Purposefully - deliberately - regularly - stop what we’re doing - even though every fiber of our body pushes us forward to trust ourselves. Stop what we’re doing - come before Him - and we will learn to trust Him.

We can delight in knowing that He will supply what we lack. To appreciate what He’s doing for us. To see His work and presence in our lives - and be thankful. To rest in the truth that in His time and His way He will care for us in ways we could never imagine caring for ourselves.

Isn’t it refreshing to know that life isn’t about our striving. Life is about what He has created us for and what He will supply for our needs.

Second opportunity. If you would turn forward with me to Deuteronomy 5:12-15.

Deuteronomy 5 is a repetition of the Ten Commandments. But, in the fourth commandment there’s a different opportunity we need to see.

Deuteronomy 5:12: Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. Sounds familiar so far?

Verse 15 - notice the different ending. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore - because God delivered you from Egypt - the Lord your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

The Sabbath is an opportunity for us to celebrate God Our Redeemer.

God - God alone - by His mighty outstretched arm God delivered His people from Egypt. Brought the gods of Egypt - Pharaoh - the mightiest nation on earth - brought them all to their knees. Destroyed the Egyptian army. Sent His people out of Egypt with parting gifts.

God - by His mighty outstretched arm - is able to redeem us. To defeat the power of Satan over our lives. Through the death of His Son to buy us back from slavery to our sins and eternal separation from Him. To break the chains our past - the guilt - the struggle over things we don’t even want to admit we struggle with.

Because He is our redeemer we are free!

When we stop - purposefully - deliberately - regularly - and lay ourselves before Him - we celebrate the one God who alone is able to transform us and renew us and refresh us and free us and heal us and empower us to live life as He intends for His people.

What an opportunity. The Sabbath is made for man - for us. God calling to His people, “Rest in Me. Stop and think about Me. Think about everything I’ve done for you. - your physical preservation and spiritual salvation. Rest in Me.”

If we’re having trouble fitting God into our life - maybe there are things we need to give up. Maybe even take a hammer to - or get rid of. Maybe there are relationships or commitments or patterns of our lives that we need to set aside.

Nothing is worth missing out on the opportunity of God’s Sabbath.

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Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright© 1960,1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.