Revealed in the Law - Commandment 4

Commandment 4 - Rights and Privileges of God

"Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."

Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17

Observing the Sabbath is only one way to recognize the rights of God 

to receive honor and gratitude from the Israelites.

If we are running constantly in this busy and chaotic world, or preoccupied with our own self interests and endless to-do lists, just when will we make time for staying rooted and connected to Him and thereby keep His commandments?

In this commandment to rest and worship Him every seventh day, our wise God gave the Israelites the time they needed for this knowing they would never take it on their own without being commanded to do so.  Thinking about context, this is astounding considering the Israelites at this point were staying put at the foot of Mount Sinai for about a year being fed by God with manna and water.  So... what exactly kept them busy?  Of course, this commandment (and sign of keeping the covenant) was also meant to extend into when they took possession of the land after they came out of the wilderness, and then we can see how taking up a new life in a new land (though they were gifted all the infrastructure and abundant resources of those conquered cities for their use and didn't have to start from scratch!) would then require intentional rest periods.  Designating a specific day of the week for it then also took an individual commandment and applied it in a corporate manner which further identified the Israelites as God's people to the rest of the world.  Today we can identify with this when we are dressed nicely and out of our houses on Sunday mornings for church worship services by which the rest of our community can easily surmise that we are church-goers -- God's people.

But what was God's full intention for these intentional rest and worship periods?  Of primary importance is connecting with and rooting ourselves in Him as we've discussed, which means then this time, as well as us - our bodies, souls and minds, are made holy by His Presence. God Himself tells us "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14) By Moses' additional examples in this section of Deuteronomy, we see that God also wanted the Israelites to recognize His work in creation (Exodus 20:11) and to be thankful for delivering them not only out of slavery (Deuteronomy 5:15) to Egypt, but also out of perpetual work in an imperfect world ("toil" Genesis 3:17-19)(7.1). In this demonstration of His all-knowing (omniscience), He knows what we need better than we know it ourselves!  Our bodies and minds require regular rest to function properly and optimally, and true restorative rest only comes in His Presence.

Jonathan Edwards, one of my favorite theologians, taught how God Himself is our food, our water, our dwelling place, our wealth and treasure, our life.  The purpose of eternal life in heaven is to be with God.  And all delight in others and the blessings He gives us, in this life and in heaven, is because we see God in them. (7.2)  It is incredible and quite mind-blowing to think about Immanuel - God with us (Matthew 1:23).  Jesus came to earth to be with us, which means we already have access to the purpose of eternal life in heaven here, now!  We need to intentionally seek out connecting with Him on a daily basis in order to more fully realize this amazing truth!

How do we connect with and root ourselves in a God we cannot see yet?  Primarily by reading His Word (Deuteronomy 8:3) and responding to it with a worshipful attitude.  By His Word He is revealing to us more about Himself and about ourselves, and we will never be able to reveal anything to Him that He doesn't already know (Psalm 139:2-4).  A relationship with another human is not grown by sitting next to them and reading a book while they sit there.  Neither is our relationship with God grown by us merely reading His Word and not responding to Him about it. God has given us an array of responses to choose from:  praying, talking, thinking, singing, making music, shouting, crying, laughing, dancing, being still, etc.  He is a creative God who desires to be properly worshipped with creativity.  He invites us to fully participate in the celebration of who He is (all of these attributes in the green font)! 

A church family member recently told me that he doesn't feel that he needs to read the Word much now.  He read it a while ago and feels he knows what it says and the important thing is now just to do it.  He certainly is a man who walks his faith out regularly in many acts of service and teaching youth, but I was very alarmed at his view of reading God's Word as a once and done thing.  If we do not keep our relationship alive by staying in His Word regularly to hear His voice, we cannot continue to deepen and sharpen our understanding of His ways, give ourselves opportunities to respond in worship/celebration based on His input not human input, and allow Him to show us fresh insights into His ways and grow our faith!  In fact, we would be in very great danger of having a view of God that looks more and more like ourselves and what the world thinks of Him.  Think about the game of telephone.  The farther away you get from the original source of the message, the more distorted it becomes.

Moses expands our understanding of God's rights and privileges in a number of ways.  One way is by telling the Israelites that as God gives them abundant resources, He wants a portion back (tithe).  And not just any portion, but the prime sampling (firstfruits) because He is so deserving of them.  One of the best examples in Scripture of this principle, and its consequences if not followed properly, is in the account of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:2-5.  Abel brought God his best sheep for sacrifice, but Cain brought him the fruit of his garden that had fallen to the ground (and kept the choicest fruit for himself).  God's response in verse 7 (Genesis 4:7) shows a patient and compassionate response to Cain to teach him that a selfish focus leads away from God toward evil.  But in view of His character being revealed here, we can now see this in a new light. As a person who actually receives offerings as discussed in Commandment 2, God literally receives these tithes and offerings personally, and then uses them for the benefit of all His people as stewarded by the people He has placed in charge of where you tithed.  Where is our gaze when we give?  Keep our eyes on God, not on the stewards (other than to hold them respectfully accountable of course).  This point is given considerable weight when you realize that this account in Genesis 4 is the very first narrative account in the entire Bible. (7.3)  This is a theme of all of Scripture across the testaments and bears repeating: a selfish focus leads away from God toward evil.

Another way Moses expands our understanding of God's rights and privileges is by telling the Israelites that goods and resources weren't the only things God gave the Israelites and wanted in return, He also gave them freedoms to do with these remaining goods and resources "whatever [they] desire[d]" with rejoicing. (Deuteronomy 14:26; 2 Corinthians 9:7)  They in turn were to give goods, resources and freedoms to others in His name. (7.4) (Matthew 25:35-36)  Just look at how beautifully this sets up the context for the remaining commandments! As well as gives us the remedy for selfishness.  I also want to take just a moment here to point out that the same Hebrew word used to convey "desire" in Deuteronomy 14:26 is translated as "require" in Deuteronomy 10:12.  What an awesome picture that gives us to think that in the same way we delight in spending all of the good things God gives us (after our firstfruits are given back to Him), God also delights in receiving our offerings!

Anybody can rest, celebrate nature, and take care of others, unbelievers do it all the time.  What makes us different is that when we do it, we are intentionally taking a break from the relentlessness of life, connecting with God and His Creation and even celebrating it, and taking care of others with a conscious knowledge that it is God who gives us everything we have including the very breath in our bodies (James 1:17; Hebrews 9:9-13) .  This gives us a much richer meaning to David's words in Psalm 116:17 when he says he will offer God the sacrifice of thanksgiving!  The Apostle Paul captures all this perfectly in Colossians 3:16 ESV, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." 

When we do these things in His name, we are giving Him honor and glorifying Him.  The most amazing thing about this is that it is only by His power that we are even able to do any of this.  So if you are struggling, as we all do, to make the time for Him in all these wonderfully full ways, just persistently ask Him for His power to make the time. He knows our weaknesses.  And He is so worthy of the effort!

A great analogy for this my pastor and friend, the Rev. Dr. Paul Detterman, and I once discussed is to compare our ability to recharge with our electronic devices.  They have a battery, which has a limited power charge that gets depleted with use.  How do we recharge them?  By plugging them in to a greater (borrowed) power source.  But they are "resting" while recharging (usually, but you get my point)! Our power source is Him, whether we acknowledge Him as that or not.  We cannot be fully powered up without first plugging into Him, and renewing this charge on a regular basis (and God has given us the cycle of a seven day week, so we don't even have to guess at how long we can go without a charge!).  It's only when we have this greater (borrowed) power stored up in our batteries, can we then complete our work He has prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2:8-10), with freedom and rejoicing!


Here are a few questions to ponder before you continue:

How is your heart responding to what you just learned?  
How are you giving God your firstfruits?
How can you incorporate intentional times for God in your week to recharge using His power?
When, how and where do you honor Him and glorify Him in your week?
Have you ever asked Him to give you His power to make the time for Him as you should?
How has your understanding of His Presence and the purpose of heaven changed?

Next Post:  Commandment 5

Credit Notes

Previous Posts:

Commandment 3

Commandment 2

Commandment 1

The Decalogue (The Ten Commandments)

Some Background

Introduction

I encourage respectful and edifying dialog.  All comments are subject to approval.
Last updated: July 30, 2018