Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Last week we celebrated Memorial Day because we wanted to take time to remember something important. We wanted to make time to remember that many brave soldiers fought and died to keep us safe and free. When something is important, and we want to make sure we and future generations remember it, we set aside a day; many businesses close, many are given time off of work; we make time to remember. Unfortunately, not everyone who has time off work uses that time to remember. The majority of people who had Memorial day off didn’t take much time, if any, to think about why they had a holiday. They slept in, maybe caught up on some chores, grilled and had a party, or spent the day at the lake. Many didn’t observe Memorial Day, or take time to remember why they had the day off.
Does this sound familiar? Isn’t what’s true about Memorial Day, even more true of the Lord’s Day?
When God’s people were at Mt. Sinai they heard God tell them in his own voice that he wanted them to observe a day of rest, a Sabbath Day. He told them it was to be the seventh day of the week. Saturday was to be their day off. They were not to do any work on that day. God made it clear that this didn’t mean others could work while they rested. They were not to think, “my servant is not a believer so he can work.” No matter who they were, master or servant, spouse, son or daughter, even animals, no one was to work on the Sabbath.
Some have a little joke about those today who want to make Sunday a New Testament Sabbath but don’t follow what God is saying here. They want to go to church to worship but they don’t want to cook, so they go from church to the restaurant and make others. At least the owners of Chick-fil-a and Hobby Lobby are consistent. They believe in resting on Sunday and so they make sure that their stores are closed regardless of what their employees believe. They rest, and so do all those connected with their household, or business.
Consider what a witness the Sabbath was for Israel. Even the strangers who were visiting them were to rest on the Sabbath! Their servants, or those strangers who may have served another god would surely ask, “Why isn’t anyone working today?” And the faithful Israelite would be able to tell them why. They were making time to remember; to remember who the true God is and the two important things he had done for them, that he is their creator and their redeemer.
When God gave this commandment on Mt. Sinai, as Moses reminds the people by saying just as the Lord your God commanded you, the thing God told them to remember was different than the one Moses mentions here in Deuteronomy. In Exodus 20, the reason God gave that his people should set Saturday apart for him to keep it holy, was to remember that when God created all that exists he did it in six days, and he rested on the 7th day.
The first important thing that God wants us to make time to remember is that he is the creator of all that exists and that he created it all in six days, just as he had Moses tell us in Genesis.
Why is it so important to remember that God is the Creator? Because if you do not believe that God is the Creator then whatever God you have is a false god, an idol, someone who couldn’t have done what he claims he did; a god who doesn’t really have what it takes to help you. If you do not believe that God is the Creator then you are denying that you are his creature, that you are responsible to someone other than yourself. You are denying that there is such a thing as sin and that you need a Savior from sin. You are denying that the Bible is God’s word without error because it calls God the Creator in many different places. You are calling Jesus a liar because he says that God created Adam and Eve and all things.
It is very important that we make time to remember that God is the Creator. Not just one day a week, but every day we want to acknowledge that he is God, we are not. He is the creator, we are the creature. He is the potter, we are the clay. He is the eternal, all powerful, all wise being to whom we are responsible and to whom we have to answer for everything we think, do and say.
Do you see why Satan and the world have worked so hard to replace creation with evolution? If evolution is true then there is no God. There is no supreme being to whom you have to give an account. You are free to do whatever you want, you become god. There is no such thing as sin and therefore there is no need for a savior. If creation falls, then every other important doctrine of the Bible falls with it.
Make time to remember that God is your creator. Think about what you are saying when you recite the creed and say that you believe in “God the Father almighty maker of heaven and earth,” and if you don’t believe what you are confessing, then you need to ask yourself why, and to think about the fact that you are speaking a lie before God and the members of your congregation.
Make time to think about what it means that God is your creator, that you are his creature, that you have to give an account to him for everything you think, say and do, for the way that you use the body and the gifts he has given you, and the way you use and care for all that he has given you to use while you are here on the earth.
Remembering that God is the Creator of all that exists, your Creator, can burden you with guilt. That’s another reason the world wants to deny Creation, they think it might help them get rid of guilt. But it’s also why God told his people to remember another important truth about him. He is also the Redeemer.
When Moses repeats the command to observe the Sabbath Day he doesn’t repeat the fact that they are to remember that God is the Creator of all that exists and that he rested on the seventh day, he adds something else they are to remember. He says remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.
Moses says to Israel, “Yes, as you remember that God is YOUR Creator, that he is all powerful, that you are responsible to him for everything you think, do and say, you will feel guilt. You will realize that he should use his power to destroy you for all the times you have ignored him, worshiped created things instead of the Creator, and misused all that he has given you. But, remember that he hasn’t destroyed you. Remember that, when you were slaves in Egypt he saw you. He heard your cries for deliverance. He sent Moses. He performed miracle after miracle. He kept his promises and he has brought you to the land he promised Abraham. He doesn’t want to use his power to destroy, but to save. Remember, as you celebrate the Sabbath, that God gives you rest from guilt, from a nagging conscience. Remember, as sacrifices are made daily at the Lord’s altar, that the way of redemption is through the shedding of the blood of a substitute who is to come.”
The word of God through Moses says to us today, “Make time to remember that God is your redeemer. You weren’t a slave in Egypt, much worse. You were a slave to sin, death and Satan. But God had mercy on you, even though you are a sinner. He sent his only perfect Son Jesus to redeem you. He proved himself by his perfect life and his many miracles. Unlike you, he never ignored the father, he never worshiped created things instead of the creator. He always used his gifts and everything he had in the way the Father intended, in a way that gave glory to the Father. He went to the cross as the unblemished lamb pictured by the Old Testament sacrifices. He offered himself in your place, in the place of all people. He took your punishment on himself and shed his blood for you. As Luther reminds us, “he redeemed us, not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.”
In the Gospel lesson we heard Jesus remind us that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is the one to whom the Sabbath pointed. He invites us to come to him for true rest, rest for our souls, rest from guilt, rest from the fear of death. And Paul reminds us, that because Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, we are no longer required to set aside Saturday as a day of rest. Jesus is the reality that the Sabbath only foreshadowed. But Paul also tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We can remember that God is our creator and redeemer everyday on our own, but what a blessing to be able to gather with others and to remember these things together; to encourage each other to make time to remember.
Throughout the history of Israel people observed the Sabbath day, but often it was the way that most observe Memorial Day and other holidays. They observed the outward requirements, they took a day off work, but they failed to remember that God was their creator and Redeemer.
Today we aren’t required to observe the Sabbath by resting on Saturday, but God still wants us to make time to remember that he is our Creator and our Redeemer. As we make time everyday to remember that God is our Creator and Redeemer by spending time his God’s word, we will be moved to humble ourselves before him and serve him gladly. We will look forward to worshiping him with our fellow believers. We will gladly let others know who he is and what he has done for us, and for them. We will make time to remember.
