This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Jesus and the Law” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, July 6, 1986.

Our scripture reading this morning is from Acts chapter 20. We will read the first twelve verses. And after the uproar in Ephesus had ceased, Paul called the disciples to him, embraced them, and departed to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone through those regions and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece and remained there three months. And when the Jews laid a plot against him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. And some accompanied him into Asia. These were Sopater of Berea, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus. And Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy. And from Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.

These went ahead and met us in Troas. And he sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread. He came to them in Troas five days later, where we stayed seven days. And on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul spoke to them, as he was ready to depart the next day. And he continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lamps in the upper chamber where they were gathered together. And a young man named Eutychus was sitting in a window, and he fell into a deep sleep.

And as Paul continued speaking for a long time, he sank down with sleep and fell from the third floor, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him, said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” When he had returned up again, he broke bread, ate, and spoke with them at length, even until daybreak. So he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were greatly comforted. And then, from Exodus 20, verses 8 through 11.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter, your male servant nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor the stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Though we may not have known it, Lord. Though we may not have perceived it, our hearts have longed for you and for your family. In this week that has passed, Father, we have come to be nourished by you. Our nourishment is found in your Spirit through Christ, and only through your words. Exalt yourself now, Lord, in our presence, and we will be exalted. Amen.

He had only recently been converted. His new faith, however, was costly. It cost him his job. He had struggled with that job since coming to Christ, because it was a position at a local printing company that specialized in producing pornography. The company had enjoyed the protection of the local police and the joint ownership of a local judge. But now the state had asserted itself, and the company’s owners had made the decision. He was dismissed. So young in his faith, he was looking for work. As he searched, he asked the Lord specifically that there might be a job provided that did not require him to work on Sunday. The Lord was gracious. God heard his prayer. And within a week, he found such a job. He holds that job to this day, twelve years later. He is good. Very good. At thirteen, he is exceptional. He plays soccer with a team. There is a problem, however. The real competition, the real test of his skill, lies in Sunday contests with the travel team, where the best players from his region meet the best players from other regions.

It has not been easy for him to understand his parents’ position. He has resisted and even sulked. At those times, his father has had one of those quiet conversations with him. His father explains why they are different, and why he cannot permit him to play on the Lord’s day. The boy would like to rest in his father’s certainties, but he still feels the tug and pull.

He finally sent the letter. He had thought about sending it and not sending it, over and over again. Now it was sent. He worked as an assistant manager in a fast food chain. He thought about those arguments, rehearsed them, and considered that he was involved in a work of necessity. After all, people have to eat, even on Sunday. Or perhaps a work of mercy—rescuing weary travelers and saving the lives of tired women who had worked in hot kitchens all week. Anyway.

His letter went to the top. In it, he asked if arrangements could be made so that, because of his religious, Christian, Reformed convictions, he would not have to work on Sundays. He did not mention his willingness to work double shifts, his availability for emergencies, or his strong record of loyalty to the company. The top executives received the letter. They rejected it. On the mobile device. And he was eventually dismissed.

Now, unlike the man in the first story, this man has had to walk a road of extreme suffering and humiliating death. But once more, God has been faithful and provided him with a job, even a managerial position in a restaurant business. And, you know, in keeping with the prayers offered, he does not have to work on Sundays.

Now, I have told you these stories, all of which are true. They arise out of my pastoral experience over the last fifteen years. I told you these stories because each of us faces the question of the Fourth Commandment. Is it not true that even now, in our advanced age, when humanity is said to have come of age, the Fourth Commandment remains an enigma and even a challenge for the people of God? There is confusion, discussion, and debate. There are quandaries: Do I embrace it? Do I not? If I embrace it, how? In what manner?

Is the chief focus of the day on prohibitions—those things that we cannot do? Are these receiving emphasis? Is this merely a matter of our understanding of this day, reduced to a list of do’s and don’ts? There is an added difficulty for some of the most faithful and devout, as the day remains lodged in the conscience, despite their actions. Questions arise because of the prompting of the conscience.

A number of Reformed and Presbyterian believers, people otherwise consistent in affirming the relevance of God’s law in our time, have made a bold declaration. It seems to be a declaration of independence regarding the Fourth Commandment. They say that one of the ten commandments—the fourth—has only symbolic reference. The Sabbath, they say, is a picture of our rest from sin, and since Christ has achieved our rest in this matter, the Sabbath commandment no longer holds importance.

Therefore, they conclude, we may set it aside, along with the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament administration. Not ten commandments, but nine. How do we respond to this confusion and this problem? How do we focus on the commandment? How do we address a response such as the one we have just heard?

Well, taking that response, the problem in refuting it is that there exists within it a fundamental truth. It is strong, great, and approved. It cannot be denied. You see, regardless of where we stand in the Reformation or what our position on the Fourth Commandment might be, even those who hold a strict position on this commandment are compelled to admit that, at least in some respect, our sin and our redemption from that sin are related to the Sabbath rest and to Christ’s achievement of rest on our behalf. We must admit it. It is true.

By the same token, those who hold a strict position on the Fourth Commandment are compelled to admit that this commandment is decidedly related to the Old Testament ceremonial administration. There can be no denial of that. Therefore, certain aspects of it fall under the same category as the ceremonial law when we come to the New Testament. The Fourth Commandment is an enigma and a mystery.

But in taking stock of this commandment and understanding it, first of all and primarily, in its biblical intent, we need to realize that with this commandment, perhaps even more than the first three, we are faced with God’s marvelous and wonderful plan. In this commandment, we encounter something that we may not have seen in the first three. I say this with regard to those now living in a New Testament era, within a New Testament age. We are able to see, better than ever before, through this commandment, the intent of all the commandments and the relationship that they bear to the overall plan and purpose of God.

You may have been bothered by the way in which I have been approaching the commandments. I know what my experience has been. The treatment of the commandments to which I have been exposed in my life has often been like presenting them as textbook problems—problems in the philosophy of ethics. As a result, the approach to the commandments has typically involved providing answers to every possible circumstance, dealing with them in a fine rabbinical style, and addressing every particular case that might arise. The emphasis I have placed before you, however, has taken a different direction. The focus here, as I have presented it, has been upon the mighty works of God and the obligation that arises from those works. That is why you have the prelude to the commandments that you do: I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. I am the one who did it.

This is a rehearsal of God’s redemptive act, which establishes the context for the commandment. But when you come to the fourth commandment and wish to consider it carefully, you cannot forget the mighty acts of God. In fact, you see, the mighty acts of God become clear and evident. For in giving us the commandment, God has also rooted and grounded it in what He did in His creative work, as recorded in Scripture at the beginning. This is a rehearsal of the mighty work of God. Consider the first Sabbath, the seventh day at the end of creation. You see what is happening there: God’s works are completed.

And with the pattern of His labor and His rest, the pattern for beginnings, progressions, and endings is established within the entire structure of reality, and this is inescapable. There is also the reality embedded in the fabric of the created order—the pattern of work, labor, and rest—that is established as well. But there is something here beyond this wonderful work of God as it affects natural structures, for there is also its impact on supernatural structures. You see, God’s marvelous labor in creation, ending in a seventh-day rest, becomes the pattern of God’s dealings with His people, or the pattern of their relationship to Him. This pattern is inescapable, just as inescapable as the pattern we have observed in the natural order of things, where there is a beginning, a progression, and an ending.

What happens as you move from Genesis 1 through Genesis 2–3? God, the mighty God, sets about in His Word to overcome the formlessness and the void mentioned in the second verse of the first chapter. The Lord is seen there as a great warrior king, going forth to do battle against formlessness and void. In conquering these things that stand against Him, He becomes king in a way He was never king before, and the seventh day is the day of coronation. That seventh day is the day in which the Lord rests from His labor, and all that He has made acknowledges Him. That is why, you see, when you turn to Job chapter 38, that marvelous statement appears there: the Lord has come to Job now, out of the whirlwind.

He asks him many questions. He says, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now gird up your loins like a man, and I will ask you, and you instruct me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line upon it? Or when were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone?”

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. That is what happened on the first Sabbath. In that day, God took his throne in a sense in which he had never had it before, his work of creation complete. Then sin entered, and the necessity of redemption arose. You turn to excellence. Again, a commandment regarding the Sabbath day is introduced, and the keeping of it. And likewise, as in the first. So in the second. For God once more has gone forth like a man of war. Lord.

He has been triumphant over all. The hymn of praise by Moses and the sons of Israel extols the great king who has become our salvation. And the Lord shall reign forever and ever. So the song goes. It is out of that context that there comes now the reintroduction of the Sabbath, because the Sabbath day is coronation day. And in it, the greatness of God is seen, observed, and imaged. The greatness of God is grasped, meditated upon, and enjoyed. But is the Exodus the end? There is one other who comes forth, one greater than those leading the people out of sin and death.

And with him, there comes this radical transformation of the administration as a whole. Not the last day, for his coronation is the first day of the week, now to be known as the Lord’s Day. For in that day, Jesus Christ has been resurrected and exalted. He is on the first day, and the disciples gathered to break bread. Why? Why? Why the things?

Isn’t it interesting that in the passage from Acts 20, just before the mention of the first day of the week, there is reference to the week of unleavened bread and its observance? Thus, in contrast to the Old Testament administration, which foreshadowed what was to come, we see the first day of the week established, when the disciples gathered together, broke bread, and carried out these practices. We could discuss further the significance of these events, but consider what occurs on the Lord’s Day. The very first day of Christ’s resurrection and His Lordship are clearly demonstrated, as this dead man is raised to life.

Turn to Revelation chapter one and read how John found himself in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. Why? Because on the Lord’s Day, all seven churches were gathered in the Spirit. His union with John was especially evident and clear on that day as well. Thus, on the Lord’s Day, John and the Spirit together proclaimed the message to the churches.

How will you spend this day? Remember, it is a day given to you through the crowned cross, the exalted and risen Christ. Your conduct on this day should reflect His character, particularly in the context of the assembly He has established. This assembly gathers to break bread and to hear the preaching of the Word. In the morning service, we all participate in preaching. In the evening service, He was preaching. The pattern continues, as the Jews began and ended the day with worship. So too does the New Testament Christian begin and end the day with worship, affirming the Lord’s claim upon the day and upon himself.

Do you want me to dictate rules for you—what you may watch on television, what you may not, whether you may turn it on at all, whether you may buy the Sunday paper, or whether you may go out to eat? You are in Christ. You are in Christ. Your life on this day is mediated through Him. Therefore, live accordingly.

Dearest Lord, we ask You, for we may still be very weak in perceiving the glories of our Savior. We may not see all that there is to see in Him. But we ask, Father, for open minds and open hearts, so that we may receive for our benefit the wonderful things You have promised to give us. And certainly, Lord, strengthen within us a clear understanding of our Lord’s coronation, the glory of our Christ, and the truth that He calls to Himself a gathering of people. Especially on the first day of the week, we are together to do those things that are fitting, in accordance with the pattern found in Scripture. He responds. Fill our day, then, with actions that are in keeping with the things we have read and heard today. For Jesus’ sake, amen. The final PIM is PIM 453.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.