1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:06,700 You know how we Lutheran's love to do catechesis in the question and 2 00:00:06,700 --> 00:00:07,500 answer format. 3 00:00:07,499 --> 00:00:13,009 Well I was looking at the Catechism on the Third Commandment. 4 00:00:13,900 --> 00:00:18,800 By the way, you do know, of course that this material in the book of 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,200 Exodus is not really commandments at all 6 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:23,800 in the strict sense of the term. 7 00:00:24,900 --> 00:00:30,100 Rather they are statements of the principles that are to shape the life 8 00:00:30,100 --> 00:00:31,200 of the people of God. 9 00:00:35,700 --> 00:00:40,000 Statements instead of bitsmoth, commandments. 10 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:44,900 But that's another topic for another day. Anyway as I was saying. 11 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,600 When I was looking at this material the other day, I realized that there were three 12 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,700 very important questions about this text 13 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:57,100 that are missing from the catechism. 14 00:00:58,700 --> 00:00:59,400 1. 15 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,400 Why is the third principle 16 00:01:04,700 --> 00:01:07,100 the longest of the ten principles. 17 00:01:09,100 --> 00:01:09,700 Well. 18 00:01:10,700 --> 00:01:15,800 It turns out that the answer to this one is pretty easy. You know that 19 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:20,000 in narrative and in dialogue, one of the ways that authors highlight 20 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,900 the importance of something is by the space 21 00:01:22,900 --> 00:01:24,200 they devote to it. 22 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,500 The longer, the discussion of something, the more significant it is 23 00:01:29,500 --> 00:01:30,300 for the narrative. 24 00:01:31,900 --> 00:01:34,600 So it's at least quite likely 25 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:39,200 the length of the third principle is a way of highlighting its 26 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:39,800 importance. 27 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:47,200 Now you already know that the shabbat the day of rest is pretty important for the 28 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:48,400 face of the Tanakh. 29 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:52,800 So recognizing that, the length of the passage is a way of 30 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:53,100 signaling 31 00:01:53,100 --> 00:01:56,900 its importance is not something that's going to strike you as 32 00:01:56,900 --> 00:01:58,000 shockingly new 33 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:05,200 But thinking about it might just prompt you to ask a second question. 34 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:07,400 2. 35 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,500 Why does this principle fall 36 00:02:12,500 --> 00:02:17,000 where it does in the sequence of the ten principles? 37 00:02:16,999 --> 00:02:22,989 Now this ones a little trickier because there are several possibilities 38 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,900 why authors arrange material in the way that they do. 39 00:02:25,900 --> 00:02:30,600 So let's think about the logic behind the way that the ten principles 40 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:32,000 are organized. In general 41 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,300 the ten principles governing the life for the people of God, in Exodus 42 00:02:37,300 --> 00:02:39,400 20 fall into three groups. 43 00:02:40,900 --> 00:02:44,100 Verses 1 to 11 are focused on those principles 44 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:51,700 between God and his people. Verses 12 to 16 are focused on the 45 00:02:51,700 --> 00:02:53,200 principles that are to guide 46 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:58,500 the relationships among God's people, that is their relationships with 47 00:02:58,500 --> 00:02:58,700 one 48 00:02:58,700 --> 00:03:05,600 another. Verse 17 is focused on the believer himself that is on the 49 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:11,800 internal attitude or state of the heart or the motivations that shape 50 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,300 the actions of each individual believer. 51 00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:22,700 Third principle stands at the end of the conclusion of this first 52 00:03:22,700 --> 00:03:22,900 group. So if we look at this section in more 53 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:26,000 detail we'll see that 54 00:03:27,500 --> 00:03:34,200 all of those principles deal with what we might broadly call worship. 55 00:03:35,300 --> 00:03:39,800 The first principle is that Yahweh's people are to worship him 56 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:41,000 alone. 57 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:47,400 The second principal and the third principal both deal with how the 58 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:52,900 people of God are to carry out the exclusive worship of the one true 59 00:03:52,900 --> 00:03:53,100 God. 60 00:03:53,100 --> 00:03:56,300 The second principal presents us with the negative 61 00:03:56,900 --> 00:04:02,900 side of the equation, what God's people are not to do in worshiping 62 00:04:02,900 --> 00:04:03,100 him. 63 00:04:04,900 --> 00:04:09,500 The third principle provides us with the positive side of the equation. 64 00:04:09,500 --> 00:04:14,100 What should God's people do in worshiping him? 65 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:19,899 Now there's a lot of theology at work here and we don't have time 66 00:04:20,500 --> 00:04:27,600 to go into any depth about the biblical theology behind the concept of Shabbat 67 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:33,600 here, but recognizing the importance of this principle, I'm 68 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:38,500 recognizing the place that it plays in the logic of the passage. 69 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,300 Pushes us directly to ask the third question. 70 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:52,400 Why does the explanation for the reason for observing the day of rest 71 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:57,300 as given in Exodus 20 version of the ten principles differ from the 72 00:04:57,300 --> 00:05:02,700 reason that's given for observing the day of rest in the Deuteronomy 5 73 00:05:02,700 --> 00:05:05,200 version of the ten principles? 74 00:05:07,300 --> 00:05:12,100 Now, you may have previously noticed that the second and third 75 00:05:12,100 --> 00:05:13,000 principles 76 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,800 the two that deal with how God is to be worshiped are the only 77 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,100 principles that have reason attached to them. 78 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,300 And the reasons given for these two principles are connected to God. 79 00:05:26,300 --> 00:05:32,100 Not to us, they're shaped by God's character and by God's work. 80 00:05:32,900 --> 00:05:38,700 And this is the point at which the reasons, given for the third, 81 00:05:38,700 --> 00:05:44,200 principal differ. Here in Exodus 20, the positive statement about how 82 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:49,200 God's people are to worship him God's is rooted in God's creative activity. 83 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:55,700 In Deuteronomy 5 the positive statement about how the people of God are 84 00:05:55,700 --> 00:05:56,200 to worship 85 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:00,300 Him is rooted in God's Redemptive work. 86 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:07,600 And this is one of the keys to understanding both the Theology of 87 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:09,200 Shabbat in the scriptures 88 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:15,700 and what Jesus did by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. 89 00:06:17,100 --> 00:06:23,800 The state of Shabbat or rest was the end result of God's creative works. You know from elsewhere in the Bible that this state of Shabbat 90 00:06:25,300 --> 00:06:31,400 was corrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve. And you know, from your own 91 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,700 experience and by observing the world around you that it continues to 92 00:06:35,700 --> 00:06:44,500 be corrupted by our ongoing rebellion against God. By our invention, and worship of other 93 00:06:44,500 --> 00:06:44,900 gods 94 00:06:44,900 --> 00:06:50,200 whose names are empty and worthless. By failing to respect and care for 95 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:56,200 those for whom God has placed over us to nurture us and protect us. By 96 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:02,000 violence against, and by neglecting to care for the welfare of our 97 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:02,500 neighbor. 98 00:07:03,700 --> 00:07:08,000 By misuse and perversion of God's Gift of human sexuality. 99 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:11,900 By taking what is not ours. 100 00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:14,000 By lying. 101 00:07:15,300 --> 00:07:21,200 And by wanting what we want for ourselves rather than what God wants 102 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:21,800 for us. 103 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:29,500 In every one of the thousands of ways that we all do these things 104 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:34,600 we continue to corrupt God's Gift of Shabbat. 105 00:07:36,900 --> 00:07:39,800 But the point of observing a day of rest 106 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:43,700 is not just to remind us what we have lost. 107 00:07:45,300 --> 00:07:46,600 We really don't need that 108 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:48,500 do we. After all 109 00:07:48,500 --> 00:07:53,600 we see it every night on the evening news. We experience it in our 110 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:58,400 bodies. We weep over it when we lay a loved one in the grave. 111 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:05,500 You live with the loss of Shabbat everyday. 112 00:08:07,500 --> 00:08:12,700 The point of the two different explanations for the third principle is 113 00:08:12,700 --> 00:08:15,500 that observing and ongoing day of rest 114 00:08:15,500 --> 00:08:21,200 not only reminds us of what is lost, the Exodus 20 explanation, 115 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:29,000 but also gives us hope hope that this damned world is not the end. 116 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:36,900 The Deuteronomy 5 reason for observing the day of rest. 117 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:45,900 God has not abandoned you to that corruption. God became man in Jesus Christ 118 00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:51,200 in order to die that he might take the corruption of your sin upon 119 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:56,000 himself and rose from the dead to declare God's victory over death. 120 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:57,600 The death 121 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:02,700 that is the end result of all our rebellion against God. 122 00:09:05,100 --> 00:09:10,100 The day of rest brings God's creative work and his redemptive work 123 00:09:10,100 --> 00:09:16,400 together to bear witness to Jesus through whom God has brought you 124 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:18,700 back to Shabbat. 125 00:09:19,900 --> 00:09:23,600 In Jesus, God gives you a Shabbat life. 126 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:28,000 A life of rest and peace in him. A live 127 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:33,000 whose mission and purpose are the extension of God's kingdom of Shabbat 128 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:37,500 to every person whose live your life touches. 129 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:41,600 So, here's a bonus. 130 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:46,500 We'll call it an extra credit question for you. 131 00:09:48,300 --> 00:09:51,100 How do we honor the third principal? 132 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:57,500 It turns out that the answer to this question is pretty easy 133 00:09:57,500 --> 00:10:02,500 also. The author of the book of Hebrews, in a perfectly straightforward 134 00:10:02,500 --> 00:10:10,000 way, in chapter 4 verse 3, when he says, for we who have believed enter that rest. 135 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:17,300 Do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth died for your sins and was 136 00:10:17,300 --> 00:10:20,900 raised from the dead so that you could be right with God? 137 00:10:23,700 --> 00:10:24,400 Well do you? 138 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,100 This is not a rhetorical question. 139 00:10:27,100 --> 00:10:28,900 I want to know. 140 00:10:28,900 --> 00:10:30,800 I want to hear you say it. 141 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:32,500 Do you believe 142 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:33,000 in Jesus? Yes. 143 00:10:35,900 --> 00:10:37,700 That was about half of you, I think. 144 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:40,900 Let's just try this one more time. 145 00:10:40,899 --> 00:10:47,589 Do you believe in Jesus? Yes. 146 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:48,200 Good. 147 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:50,900 You had me worried there for a minute. 148 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:58,700 Look, I know you're all good Germans but you know there's really nothing 149 00:10:58,700 --> 00:11:01,600 wrong with confessional Lutherans 150 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:03,400 actually confessing Jesus. 151 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:06,100 Or if there is 152 00:11:06,100 --> 00:11:07,900 I'm sure somebody will tell me about it later. 153 00:11:10,100 --> 00:11:12,800 You confess that you believe. 154 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:19,900 And the word of God says that you who believe have entered God's Rest. 155 00:11:19,900 --> 00:11:22,500 By your faith in Jesus you keep 156 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:25,700 the third principal. 157 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:27,500 And nothing. 158 00:11:28,100 --> 00:11:32,900 Not the corruption of the world in which we live not Satan and all the 159 00:11:32,900 --> 00:11:34,100 Devils of hell 160 00:11:34,100 --> 00:11:39,700 can take that Shabbat rest away from you. 161 00:11:41,500 --> 00:11:42,700 So go in peace. 162 00:11:43,700 --> 00:11:45,400 rest in God's grace 163 00:11:46,300 --> 00:11:51,300 and share the good news of the Eternal Shabbat in Jesus with others. 164 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:54,100 In His name. Amen.