Key Bible Passage(s):

Leviticus 25; Isaiah 58:13-14; Deut.5:15; Col.2:16-17

Tier 1:

Time is a gift from God, and like all gifts from God, it is to be used in accordance with His statutes and commands.  The God of time has scheduled a Sabbath: time for worship and rest. Work can be good & we are supposed to work, but we are designed to rest!  There been a dislocation in our relationship with time (and with work) since the fall, which makes relating to God’s vision for how we spend and use time very difficult.  As with any of the Commandments, sin the world and the devil oppose us , and it is as much a spiritual fight to keep the 4th commandment as as it is to keep any other.  But if we use the time which the Lord sets aside for worship and rest for other projects or purposes that is sin.

Tier 2:

Strangely, people who completely accept that the other 9 of the 10 Commandments apply in some sense to Christian living, feel at liberty to disregard this fourth Commandment. Why is that? How has the Church historically understood the keeping of a Sabbath Day? And are we indeed free to ignore it in our own time?

Tier 3:

The Sabbath is not just about a Day of Rest each week. It is integrated into a way of seeing the world that is rooted in a social justice that regulates such matter as work and debt, and our relationship with the rest of creation, and that ultimately anticipates the ‘rest’ of the New Creation.

Oh, what a blessing is Sunday, interposed between the waves of worldly business like the divine path of the Israelites through Jordan! There is nothing in which I would advise you to be more strictly conscientious than in keeping the sabbath day holy.

William Wilberforce

Group Discussion:

near beginning of session

Is there anything in Lev.25 that surprised you, or shocked you?

How much of this should be, or even could be, observed by the Church today?

How does any of this point to Jesus?

Main discussion:

What could / should Sabbath look like for Christians in [our town]?  How can we ‘keep it holy’?

What is the difference between the Bible’s view of rest and our culture’s view of rest?

How do you think the ministry and the mission of the Church is damaged by our irregularity in keeping the Fourth Commandment? 

How do you think people are damaged by our irregularity in keeping the Fourth Commandment?

and later in the session:

Does the idea of reserving one day in seven as a day to focus on the things of God excite you or fill you with dread? Can you identify why you feel the way you do?

What about those whose job requires them to work on the Lord’s Day? Or who have a hobby / interest (or whose children have a hobby / interest) that requires engaging with on a Sunday?

Experience shows how easy it is to fall into legalism in keeping the Fourth Commandment. How could we guard against this? How would you judge between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ways of keeping the Lord’s Day holy?

Homework:

Over this half-term we are working to memorise Matthew 5:17-20. You will have to keep refreshing Matt.5:1-16, Matt.6:5-15 and Matt.7:7-12 whilst you do this.

(we’ll memorise the whole of the Sermon on the Mount over the 3 years of DTP)

To Be A Christian: Q&A 290-299

Read Matt.5:21-30.  Map out the same ‘internalizing’ process for the fourth commandment.

What ‘1 degree change’ would make the Lord’s Day more focused on the Lord’s agenda? How will you ensure this is implemented?

The idea of the one-degree change is a recurring theme in DTP. Except for a very few people, massive overhauls of life rarely if ever work. Our temptation when we get hold of an amazing idea about being a Christian is to try and change everything and to implement it as fully and as radically as possible. That tends to lead to an intense few days, followed by failure, and a permanent relapse. It’s not a good way to build a life of discipleship.

A much healthier and sustainable - if less dramatic - way to approach spiritual growth is to make a series of one-degree changes over a period of months. A change in direction of one degree can get you to a very different destination over time. And if you make 4 or 5 such changes over a period of a year, you are travelling in quite a different direction.

So, what one-degree change can you make in how spend the Lord’s Day? Bear in mind that it might have ramifications for other days of the week too! It might take time to build it in, but be ready to discuss this in a couple of weeks.