GOD’S COMMAND TO WORSHIP
Exodus 31:12-18
A SIGN OF COMMITMENT
V:12. Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
The Sabbath was a Holy day of rest. God created the universe in six days and
rested on the seventh day. He made it Holy by His own observance.
God set an example for us. Work giving all your best for 6 days, then rest
for a day.
Make the seventh day a holy day reflecting on the good in the six days of
work. Anything we are capable of doing is because God gave us the
mind to do it, the strength to do it and the skill to accomplish it.
God commands us to set aside a day to rest in His righteousness.
The Lord set the example.
Genesis 1:31-2:4
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And
the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on
the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
from all his work that God created and made.
A SPECIAL DAY OF REST AND REFLECTION
Notice, God reflected on His work. He declared “it was very good”.
God sanctified the seventh day, and set it aside as a day of rest and reflection.
No matter how bad you think your week was, it was God who allowed you
to make it through the week.
God blessed the seventh day for you and me. God does not get tried. But
we do. God needs no rest. But we do. God does not need to be encouraged
by good work. But we do. We need a day when we can set aside all trouble
and focus on God.
We have a tendency to do what we want and only call on God when we
need something. God designed the seventh day as holy for us.
The world finds it easy to worship what they have, but difficult to worship
the ONE who gave all they have.
Believers in Jesus know better and should practice gratefulness in worshipping the ONE TRUE GOD so the world can witness the right example.
GOD IS HOLY AND THE DAY OF WORSHIP IS HOLY
V:14 "'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. 15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.
The seventh day was made special for the Israelites. God did not give this command
to the other nations of the world. God designed a nation that He grew up in
slavery and then set free for Himself. Because the Israelites were His chosen people,
He set sanctified a day for them to rest and worship Him.
To reinforce the importance of the day, God gave the Israelite's the consequence of
death for their disobedience. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
This was the same sentence that God gave Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
God gave Adam and Eve knowledge of Himself and His righteousness, then
the command to worship.
Worship of the Lord is essential to our fellowship with Him and our well-being.
We don’t have any problem finding time for ourselves, but a day devoted to God
is a problem. It is what we love that gets our attention.
John 14:15
15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Like us, God had to teach the Israelites the meaning of love with his
commands.
Matthew Henry noted the importance of God’s Sabbath this way:
Exodus 31:12-18
The law of the sabbath had been given them before any other law, by the preparation in the desert(ch. 16:23); it had been inserted in the body of the moral law, in the fourth commandment; it had been annexed to the judicial law (ch. 23:12); and here it is added to the first part of the ceremonial law, because the observance of the Sabbath is indeed the hem and hedge of the whole law.
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible, PC Study)
You and I would take for granted God’s commands if there were no consequences.
We must be truthful about who we are before we can change our attitude to love for
the ONE who made us and sustains us. Worship is an attitude of love.
The Israelites had the same death sentence for disobedience while they were
enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. They were forced to labor for the benefit of
The Egyptians. They were treated as property rather than human beings.
that they were free in the desert, and the only labor they had was the care
of the animals they brought out of Egypt. Bread, meat, and water were provided
by the Lord daily. Protection from the enemy was provided by the Lord.
You would think that it would be easy to follow God’s commands. You
would think that the Israelites would welcome the commands of the Lord.
You would think that what God was doing for them free of charge on a daily
basis would be enough for gratefulness and voluntary worship. Yet
their minds were on what they left in slavery.
You and I are no different. We need Sunday as a day of regular worship to
remind us of the goodness of the Lord.
We are not of this world, we are just passing through. It is our passing
through in praise and worship that can make a difference in the world.
HONORING THE LORD IN PRAISE AND WORSHIP
V:16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.'"
The Lord’s Sabbath was made for man. Honoring the Sabbath was a sign to
all the idol-worshiping nations of the covenant God made with Israel.
Men may consider every day is an important business day. But God sanctified
the Sabbath for the holy business of worship. The key to fellowship with
God is the worship of Him in spirit and truth. God wants a day of our
undivided attention. A day without worship is a day without fellowship
with Him. A day without fellowship with the Lord is a day when some blessings
are lost.
We should be grateful for God’s commanded times of worship.
Worship of the Lord keeps our minds focused on the tremendous
unlimited love of the Lord. Worship of the Lord stirs up hope and
confidence in Him. We live in a world where bad things happen every
day. But we live in Jesus who makes the bad work for our good.
Worship reminds us that all good comes through our faith in Jesus.
THE WORD OF GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE
V:18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
God has given us His Word printed in stone. The stone represents the eternal
unchanging nature of the Word. God sits high and sees our need for His
righteousness printed in His Word. Those who worship God are a testimony
to the blood covenant ratified in Jesus’ death on the cross.
Rev. M. Mitchell
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