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Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came upon a little house. She knocked and, when no one answered, she walked right in.
At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the porridge from the first bowl. “This porridge is too hot!” she exclaimed. So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl. “This porridge is too cold,” she said. So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge. “Ahhh, this porridge is just right,” she said happily and she ate it all up.
While reading the story of Goldilocks and the three bears to my children, I couldn’t help but think about the human propensity to be out of balance. Our food is too hot or too cold, too spicy or too bland! Our clothes are too tight or too loose! Our house is either too big or too small. We either have too much money or not enough! Although most of us would say don’t have enough, the truth is that many of us have too much! Seldom do we ever experience Goldilocks’ sense of satisfaction when she ate Baby Bear’s porridge. Very rarely can we sit back and say, “Ah, just right!”
Similarly, people are often out of balance when it comes to time. We tend to be either too early or too late; in a mad rush or just waiting around! For instance, raise your hand if you were in a hurry before church this morning! Raise your hand if you had to wait for someone before church this morning! That’s what I thought! When was the last time you heard someone say, “Ah, I always have just the right amount of time?”
I believe that one of the primary reasons why people’s time is so out of balance is because they have ignored God’s pattern of work and rest. Last week we looked at Genesis 1 and discovered that God instilled rhythms of work and rest into his creation. Today I want to show you how God reaffirmed these creation rhythms in his Law and reflect on their significance for our stewardship of time now.
Keeping the Sabbath Holy
Did you know that the Ten Commandments are recorded in two places in Scripture: Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. In Exodus we find the story of the original giving of the Ten Commandments. After God delivered the Israelites from 400 years of slavery in Egypt Moses led them through the Red Sea, they came to the sandy foot of Mount Sinai. There Moses ascended the jagged mountain and received the Ten Commandments from the Lord. When he descended, he delivered God’s Law to the people of Israel.
In Deuteronomy, which actually means “second law”, Moses recounts the Ten Commandment while the Israelites are camped along the east bank of the Jordan River. The people were reminded of God’s mighty deeds and Holy Law before they were to cross the Jordan and take possession of the Promised Land. They needed this spiritual renewal before they could take another step of faith.
The Sinai command to keep the Sabbath holy is the fourth in the listing of the ten revealed to Moses. Notice that the Fourth Commandment in Exodus and Deuteronomy are nearly identical in the two listings but the reasons supporting the commands differ! The reason given in Exodus is that this is what God did: God worked six days and quit working on the seventh. The reason given in Deuteronomy is that when God’s people were slaves in Egypt it was work, work, work—incessant, unrelieved work; they must never themselves perpetuate such oppression; they must quit work each seventh day so that their slaves and livestock and children will get a day off.
The Exodus reason supports a life of loving God—Sabbath keeping is a way to get in on what God does; the Deuteronomy reason supports a life of loving people—Sabbath keeping is a way to love your neighbor, a simple act of justice. (Peterson 111)
Let’s take a closer look at these two passages!
Exodus 20:8-11
The Exodus command is to remember the Sabbath is backed up by the precedent of God, who rested on the seventh day. When we remember the Sabbath and rest on it we enter into and maintain the rhythm of creation. We keep time with God! Sabbath keeping preserves and honors time as God’s gift of holy rest: it erects a weekly bastion against the commodification of time, against reducing time to money, reducing time to what we can get out of it, against leaving no time for God or beauty or anything that cannot be purchased. It is a defense against the hurry that desecrates time. (Peterson 111)
This is so true, when we reduce time to money or what we can get out of it, we desecrate God’s gift. When we are poor stewards of time, we do not love God. Like a child who gets a birthday gift that he does not like, throws a fit, and smashes the toy against the floor, when we either work too much or rest too much, we destroy God’s gift of time and show a lack of appreciation for it! God wants us to love him with six days of good work and one day of good rest and worship!
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
The Deuteronomy command to observe the Sabbath is backed by a sense of social justice in the neighborhood. We remember the Sabbath and rest on it in order to enter into and maintain the freedom of creation, to experience and share God’s deliverance and love for others. Sabbath keeping preserves and honors time as God’s gift of holy freedom: it erects a weekly bastion against the lethargic procrastination that breeds oppression, that let’s injustice flourish because we are not attending in holy obedience and adoring love to the people and animals and things God has placed around us. (Peterson 111)
When we are poor stewards of time, we are not loving people. Other people are affected by our hurry and procrastination. Other people are affected when we work too much or too little. How many families have been torn apart because time abuse? Think of the parent who oppresses their family financially because they refuse to work! Think the parent who oppresses his family emotionally because of he is always at work and is never home!
A first grader became curious because her father brought home a briefcase full of papers every evening. Her mother explained, “Daddy has so much to do that he can’t finish it all at the office. That’s why he has to bring work home at night.” “Well then,” asked the child innocently, “why don’t they put him in a slower group?”
God wants us to love people by balancing six days of good work and one day of good rest and worship!
Balancing Work, Rest, and Worship
Let’s think about work, rest, and worship for a few minutes!
Work
We cannot understand either the character or significance of Sabbath apart from work and workplace. Work doesn’t take us away from God; it continues the work of God through us. Sabbath and work are not in opposition; Sabbath and work are integrated parts of an organic whole. Either apart from the other is crippled. (Peterson 115)
Martin Luther, we are told, said this about work: “The maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will of God just as much as the monk who prays—not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps but because God loves clean floors. The Christian shoemaker does his Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
God wants us to work hard and work well. If you are a farmer, may you have a dairy of distinction in God’s eyes! If you are a teacher, may you be teacher of the year in God’s eyes! If you are a nurse, care for people as if every one of them was Jesus! Whatever work you do, do it for the glory of God!
Rest
According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens a man noticed the great storyteller Aesop playing childish games with some little boys. He laughed and jeered at Aesop, asking him why he wasted his time in such frivolous activity.
Aesop responded by picking up a bow, loosening its string, and placing it on the ground. Then he said to the critical Athenian, “Now, answer the riddle, if you can. Tell us what the unstrung bows implies.”
The man looked at it for several moments but had no idea what point Aesop was trying to make. Aesop explained, “If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it.”
People are also like that. That’s why we all need to take time to rest. Shouldn’t we take His example seriously? Start by setting aside time to relax physically and renew yourself emotionally and spiritually. You will be at your best for the Lord if you have taken time to loosen the bow.
Worship
Storyteller Garrison Keillor comments, “Sunday feels odd without church in the morning. It’s the time of week when we take our bearings, and if we miss it, we’re just following our noses.”
Two weeks ago I preached a portion of this message at the Franklin Carriage house. Afterwards, an elderly woman told me a fascinating story about her grandparents. They were family dairy farmers and devout Christians. They never missed church and always reserved Sunday as a day of rest. Other than feeding their animals and milking their cows, they didn’t do any other farm work.
One spring, the weather was especially terrible and all of the farmers were having difficulty getting their seeds planted. They began to panic because they thought they might not get their crops planted in time. The first day decent enough that the farmers could get a horse into the fields just happened to be a Sunday. When her grandfather came in from his chores, he notified his wife that he wouldn’t be going to church that morning because he had to get his seed planted. He ordinarily wouldn’t have done this, but he was really feeling the pressure.
His wife didn’t argue with him, but as she walked out the door on her way to church by herself, she very calmly whispered, “You’ll regret this!” He worked hard that day, and by evening, all of his seed was planted. He felt good about his decision until the next morning when he went to the barn and discovered that his best horse was dead. He never missed another day of church the rest of his life!
Hard work needs to be balanced with consistent rest and worship. Our bodies need weekly rest and our souls need weekly worship. God gave us these laws for our good, not his! He gave us this pattern to help us be good stewards of his time!
The “Coronary and Ulcer Club” lists the following rules for members…
1. Your job comes first. Forget everything else.
2. Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays are fine times to be working at the office. There will be nobody else there to bother you.
3. Never say “no” to a request. Always say “yes.”
4. Accept all invitations to meetings, banquets, committees, etc.
5. All forms of recreation are a waste of time.
6. Never delegate responsibility to others; carry the entire load yourself.
7. No matter how many jobs you already are doing, remember you always can take on more.
The fourth commandment tells us to remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. For most people today, Sunday makes the most sense for honoring the Sabbath. Have you set apart one day a week for rest and worship? Is your life balanced between rest and work?