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All posts by Bruce Henry
Sabbath: Remember, Reflect, Rely, Rhythm Rest
“‘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 to the LORD your God. On 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 livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:12–15 ESV).
This command applied to everyone that lived within their borders – family, foreigners, servants and animals included. The reason for the Sabbath was multifaceted, we’ll explore a few of them in this post.
REMEMBER. Remembering is not passive, but active – they were called to REMEMBER that they were slaves in Egypt and the LORD brought them out from their oppressor with His mighty hand. As Christians, God has brought us out of the oppressive domain of darkness and delivered us into His kingdom. He has freed us, we need to actively work on remembering this not only with our heads, but in our hearts. You were powerless & dead, but God, being rich in mercy, called you out of the darkness and brought you into His kingdom of light.
REFLECT. All of their lives were to reflect that they were a people in relationship with the living Creator who is not far from any of us. Jesus has set up His kingdom in the hearts of those whom He has delivered from the domain of darkness. The rule & reign of Christ in our hearts causes us to be increasing reflectors of His glory.
RELY. The people were called to stop one day every week and rely upon the provision of their covenant keeping God. In a subsistence lifestyle, this is very hard to do; it required sacrifice and trust in God, not just in themselves. Though we may not live a subsistence lifestyle like the Israelites did over 3000 years ago, we are still recipients of God’s bountiful provision to us; all things are a gift from His hand.
RHYTHM. The Sabbath pointed back to creation and Eden and created a rhythm for the people – work six days – rest, remember & reflect for one. God modeled this by working six days and resting on one. There is a rhythm to life that is God wrought.
REST. This is much more than just physical rest. This is the restoration of the ultimate rest found in the the garden of Eden; Jesus invites everyone who is weary & heavy laden to find rest for their weary souls (Matthew 11:28-30) in relationship with Him as He reconciles all things to Himself. We know that the Exodus generation failed to enter God’s rest (Hebrews 3:7-19), but this rest is available to those of us who acknowledge that we need the rest that God is offering (Hebrews 4:1-13).
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath (Mark 2:27). It is a gift for us to enjoy, not to make ultimate or legalistic. Life constantly pushes back on us in all areas as our souls long for peace, rest & deepest satisfaction that is not found under the sun. The sabbath is certainly about physical rest in the here and now, but is ultimately pointing us to an eternal seventh days rest that offers total soul satiation: a kingdom that is already being establish. Are you experiencing this rest are are you still striving to make life work on your own?
Making the Holy Lowly
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” (Deuteronomy 5:11 ESV).
We should never utter the name of the Lord worthlessly or deceitfully. God prohibits using His name in oaths or vows when intentionally left unfulfilled; some take deceptive oaths and tack on God’s name as if to convince others that they are serious. We should never make the Holy lowly and common by disconnecting His name from His majesty, power and person. The name of the Lord is sacred & majestic and should conjure up worship and appreciation in us. It should never be part of our commonplace vernacular like slang.
The mention of God carry’s glory (weight) with it; it should evoke reverence. We should be aware of using it in a flippant or manipulative way; the Hebrew word for vain is also translated as false, empty, worthless, or lie. God, and His name, are holy (different, separated & morally pure) – are you approaching Him that way or has He (and His name) become common and mundane?
Abandoning Idolatry
“‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:8–10 ESV).
God’s revelation to His people was audible, and therefore they should not create a physical image of the Almighty. He is not physical and nothing that we could craft would accurately represent His glory and majesty. He is eternal, infinite and almighty – nothing created can capture this. Carved images were common to represent other gods (especially in Egypt and Canaan). God is not limited or created, He is eternal and outside of the created order and is not only in one place at one time. God had dramatically demonstrated that He is so far above competing deities by the plagues in and deliverance from Egypt that the people would likely have recalled this. See Deuteronomy 4:12, 15–19, 23. Additionally, God is a jealous God, visiting iniquity to the 3rd and 4th generation. This is not God punishing, rather this is feeling the effects of our ancestors sins. But, God is so benevolent because He shows steadfast love to those who are His in heart and showers them with love, mercy and grace for thousands of generations!
How often do we look to created things instead of the Creator of all things? How often does the weight of our worship (think worth-ship) fall upon these created things. This seems to be one of the central battles of the human heart. To what are you looking to provide you with value, significance, worth, safety, security, meaning or love? What do you dream about happening that you think will make life work or that you can’t live without? That is the idol that you worship.
Singular Devotion, First Affection
You shall have no other gods before me.” (Deuteronomy 5:7 ESV).
The New Living Translation says “no other god but me.” God demands exclusive worship because He is incomparable and because there are no other true gods; our God is not part of the created order (i.e. sun, moon, etc), He reigns over creation with all power. God created all things and sustains all things (John 1:3, Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3). He is not some distant deity, He is all powerful, just and holy and yet He still draws near to His creation.
Our primary problem is a worship problem – we worship all sorts of things to which we ascribe godlike grandeur, but there is only one true God. When we place the weight of our worship on created things, they buckle because they are not designed to hold the weight that our worship places upon them. Singular devotion to Him is how the created order was designed to operate. This is not because He is insecure or needs anything from us (Acts 17:25), but because it glorifies Him and gives us maximum joy (Psalm 16:11). What are you worshiping, what is your first affection?
Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World
The Ten Commandments: A Response to God’s Grace
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 5:6 ESV)
The Ten Commandments start by reminding the people of what God had done on their behalf. This is the LORD God (that is Yahweh Elohim – the personal, covenant keeping and yet all powerful God). The Ten Commandments are built upon what God had done for the people; their obedience was a response in gratitude for what God had graciously done for them – not as a means to earn approval and salvation.
The Israelites are constantly being called to remember the events of the past, particularly how faithful God had been to them. That is not because they normally had cognitively forgotten what God had done, that is because it was not longer impacting their hearts. When we are no longer touched by the magnificent grandeur of God and all that He has done on our behalf our faith begins to wither into drudgery and duty. Because we are prone to forget, we must be disciplined to remember the majesty of God by praying for Him to reveal Himself to us and by searching the scriptures for God’s sovereignty, grace and holiness.
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Are You Abiding or Performing?
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Why We Worry
Do not be anxious about your life. (MATTHEW 6:25)
“Why do we worry? Because we don’t believe. We’re not really convinced the same Jesus who can keep a sparrow in the air knows where our lost luggage is, or how we’ll pay that car repair bill. Or if we believe He can deliver us through our difficulties, we doubt if He will. We let Satan sow seeds of doubt in our minds about God’s love and care for us.
The great antidote to anxiety is to come to God in prayer about everything. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). Nothing’s too big for Him to handle or too small to escape His attention. Paul said we’re to come to God “with thanksgiving.” We should thank Him for His past faithfulness in delivering us from troubles. We should thank Him for the fact that He’s in control of every circumstance of our lives and that nothing can touch us that He doesn’t allow. We should thank Him that in His infinite wisdom He’s able to work in this circumstance for our good. We can thank Him that He won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The promised result is not deliverance, but the peace of God. One of the reasons we don’t find this peace is that all too often we won’t settle for anything other than deliverance from the trouble. But God, through Paul, promises us peace, a peace that is unexplainable. It will guard our hearts and minds against the anxiety to which you and I are so prone.”
Gerald Bridges;Jerry Bridges. Holiness Day by Day: Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey Devotional (p. 81). Kindle Edition.
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