Hear This You Who Trample On The Needy

Amos 8:4-7 Surely the Lord will not forget the deeds of those who  bring the poor to an end.

Healing On The Sabbath

Luke 14:1-6 KJV Jesus healed on the Sabbath. So should we.

Work For Six Days?

 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

                                                                             (Ex 20:8-11 KJV)

I have always stressed observing the Sabbath Day and our need to actually rest. But, today I am going to get a little legalistic and say something about the other six days. Lately, when doing any type of business, whether in the stores or offices or on the telephone, it seems that the employees aren't really thrilled that they have to do their jobs. They can be rude and appear to be most unhappy that they have to even be there. There seems to be a lot of people who really don't care about the quality of the services their work provides. 

When Adam and Eve were placed in the garden they actually had no work to do. God took care of their daily needs. There was an abundance of food in the orchard. But, they sinned by disobeying God and eating from the one tree they were told not to eat from. The consequence was that humankind would have to work for their food. They would also have to work so that they would have a home since they were cast out of paradise.

God had labored for six days to create heaven and earth and then he rested. In the beginning humankind had to do nothing like that; at least not until they decided that they should eat of the tree that the serpent told them would make them like gods. We could say that in part that came to fruition as now we get to work six days and rest for one even as our God worked for six days and then rested.

Today, most people (at least in the United States) would be offended by the thought of having to work six days. They simply would not do it. It seems it has become an imposition to have to work to earn an income in order to live. It takes away from the way more than one day of rest that we think we deserve to mow the lawn or otherwise take care of our homes and property. So many end up stressed out because they don't have enough time to do nothing. They end up worried about how they are going to manage financially.

Although I cannot recall the original early American author of the quote, it would do us all well to remember that we should "work not worry." If in fact we would focus more on our work; our vocations, then we will have a lot less to worry about.

May God bless your work days and grant you refreshment on the Sabbath.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

The Sabbath; Remain Still

Scripture is pretty silent on any human activity during the day after the crucifixion of Jesus. It is silent because it was the Sabbath. Travel was limited by law. Work was curtailed. The Sabbath was and is a time of rest. It is a time to recount all that God has done for us.

And, how much recounting there was during that Sabbbath! 

The Priests and Pharisees were still worried about the man, Jesus, that was crucified the day before. They remembered that Jesus had said he would rise from the grave on the third day so they went to Pilate to have the grace sealed, just in case...

The followers of Jesus had lost their teacher to a horrible death the day before. They were grieving this Sabbath. They were in shock and in fear for their own safety. Oh, how their minds must have been racing as they recounted the past three years following Jesus and the events of the past week. Their hearts and minds may have been racing; but, it is was the Sabbath so they remained still. According to tradition they stayed in place until they were allowed to go out again on Sunday.

Today, is the Sabbath. It is a good thing to remain still and recount the happenings of the previous week. For many people today, it is unlawful to leave their safe places unless it is absolutely essential. It is an opportunity to take the time to reflect on all that Jesus has done and continues to do for us.

God's Peace - Pr. J.    

Remember the Sabbath

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." (Exodus 20:8 NIV)

My husband and sons were logging together. Logging can be a pretty expensive business. We sometimes joked that it was just a hobby as it often felt like they were paying to work rather than earn livings since equipment breakdowns can get pretty expensive. On occasion, they would decide that they needed to work on Sunday morning rather than worship in order to make up for time lost due to the weather or equipment breakdowns. Every time they decided to do this they would have another piece of equipment break down on that Sunday morning. Do I think that God was punishing them for working on Sunday? No. I think that because they did not heed His word to rest on the seventh day that they were exhausted and when we work tired and troubled; accidents; problems occur. God does not give us the commandments so that He can punish us. The commandments are for our own good.

 

It has been many decades since I realized what this holy-day of rest meant for me. I can get pretty cranky at times. During a particularly trying period of my life I came to realize that if I did not attend worship on Sunday (or maybe Saturday evening) I was pretty difficult to live with the rest of the week. By Friday, nobody, including myself, wanted to be around me. I need to receive the means of grace, the Word and Sacrament of Holy Communion, in order for me to be a bit more graceful towards others. I need to be able to find rest in Christ in order to be refreshed for the upcoming days.

 

Thanks be to God, He has given us the gift of the holy-day to gather with the saints and hear His sacred Word.

 

God desires good for you. Receive the good gifts of His Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. These gifts are available, without cost, for you at your local place of worship. Do yourself, your family, and your friends a favor; go and listen to Him; receive His Word; receive the Lord in the Sacrament of Holy Communion! Join others in worship every seventh day, no matter which day that happens to fall on.

 

God's Peace - Pr. J

The Sabbath Rest

"And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done." Genesis 2:2

God ordered things so that we would have time to rest from our labors. The Sabbath was given to us for this day of rest. Today is the Sabbath. Tomorrow, Sunday, is a very busy day for me. Today, I hope that I can spend at least most of the day resting in the presence of God. We all need to rest at times. Our Father in heaven loves us enough to command it.

I normally need only a few hours a day or to be able to actually rest on the Sabbath to be rejuvenated. I don't need long vacations to rest. Vacations are nice; but, don't be misled. Vacations can be very busy times. In fact, mine are usually so busy that there is rarely time to even write my morning blog, which I find to be very restful for me as it is actually a part of my morning devotionals. And, then... what happens when you get back to work? Overload! Lots of work to catch up on.

I don't mind vacations all that much. But, I have to be honest. I prefer to spend my time off in the backyard of my home. I spend an awful lot of time running around during any given normal day. When I have time to rest, I want to rest. I want to relax. I don't want to fight the traffic or the crowds. I want to spend quiet, less hectic time with family and friends. I want to spend time with Jesus. I can never get enough quiet time with him. I him we can find real rest, rest that will refresh both your body and soul.

"Come to me,⁾ all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matt 11:28).

 God's Peace - Pr. J

Sabbath Rest

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."  (Exodus 20:8-11 NIV)

I woke up this morning realizing that I actually rested on the Sabbath for a change. Over the years, I have purposely tried to keep the Sabbath; but, I there is usually work or something that needs to be done every Saturday. Yesterday, God blessed me with a day with real time to spend time with Him and in private devotion to Him. It is a good thing for us to be able to keep the Sabbath.  Sometimes, we are able to keep the Sabbath on Saturday. Sometimes, we are not able to. Whatever day we are able to rest in the Lord, it is important that we do so. God rested on the seventh day from all of His work. We need to find a time and a day to rest from our work as well.

Years ago when my husband was logging, every now and then, he would get this crazy idea that he would have to work on Sundays instead of going to our place of worship. It never failed! The equipment would break down and he'd lose even more time fixing it, as well as a whole lot of money.

When confronted by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law about healing a man and his disciples picking some heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath, he said, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” and "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." In Mark 2:27, he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

I don't believe that my husband was being punished for working on Sunday. But, the reality is that we need to find time to rest in the Lord. Working seven days a week is just not good for anyone. Things happen when we get tired and worn out. We make more mistakes than usual. God gave us a day of rest and the best place to rest is in Him.

The Sabbath is a gift to us. May God help us to be good stewards of our day of rest and use it wisely.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Remember The Sabbath

The Third Commandment.

Thou shalt sanctify the holy-day.

What does this mean?--Answer.
We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it.

http://bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php#tencommandments

 

My husband and sons were logging. We sometimes joked that it was just a hobby as it often felt like they were paying to work rather than earn livings since equipment breakdowns can get pretty expensive. At times, it is so expensive it feels like you are paying to work. On occasion, they would decide that they needed to work on Sunday morning rather than worship in order to make up for time lost due to the weather or equipment breakdowns. Every time they decided to do this they would have another piece of equipment break down on that Sunday morning. Do I think that God was punishing them for working on Sunday? No. I think that because they did not heed His word to rest on the seventh day that they were exhausted and when we work tired and troubled; accidents; problems occur. God does not give us the commandments so that He can punish us. The commandments are for our own good.

 

It has been many decades since I realized what this holy-day of rest meant for me. I can get pretty cranky at times. During a particularly trying period of my life I came to realize that if I did not attend worship on Sunday (or maybe Saturday evening) I was even more difficult to live with the rest of the week. By Friday, nobody, including myself, wanted to be around me. I need to receive the means of grace, the Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion, in order for me to be a bit more graceful towards others. I need to be able to find rest in Christ in order to be refreshed for the upcoming days.

 

Thanks be to God, He has given us the gift of the holy-day to gather with the saints and hear His sacred Word.

 

God desires good for you. Receive the good gifts of His Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. These gifts are available freely for you every Sunday at your local place of worship. Do yourself and your family and friends a favor; go and listen to Him; receive His Word; receive the Lord in the Sacrament of Holy Communion! Join others in worship every seventh day, no matter which day that happens to fall on.

Help us, Lord, to seek and find rest in You.

 

God's Peace - Pr. J