The Third Commandment: Holding God's Word Sacred
Sermon
What's That Supposed To Mean?
Using The Catechism In The 21st Century
Object:
The Third Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
When is the Sabbath day? Most seem to agree that Sunday is the Sabbath day. What makes Sunday the Sabbath day? A story may help answer this. A church member who had previously been attending services regularly, suddenly stopped coming to church. After some weeks, the minister decided to visit the absent member. It was a chilly evening, and the minister found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair by the fireplace, and waited. The minister made himself comfortable and said nothing. In grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, he took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow, but then its fire was no more and it was cold and dead. Not a word had been spoken since the initial greetings. But as the minister rose to leave, the host said, "Thank you so much for your visit -- and especially for your fiery sermon. I shall be at church next Sunday."
What happens when Christians go to church? The pastor made the point that Christians who drop out of church end up like a coal taken out of a fire -- cold and dead. But something great happens when Christians get together. Each adds energy to the others and great things happen. Consider the early church in the days shortly after Jesus rose from the dead. When people were told the good news about Jesus, Luke reports, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." To be devoted meant sacrificing the time it took to get to know better what the apostles taught about Jesus. As our catechism teaches, these people held preaching very sacred, and gladly heard and learned the Word of God as often as they could. They gathered regularly for Bible class and Holy Communion.
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." Those first Christians invented welfare after they realized what Jesus had done for them. Salvation is something Christians do, as well as something we talk about. The good news that Jesus died and rose again to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil also includes the good news that Jesus sends us to love the needy in His name.
"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts." That will blow your mind: they didn't meet only once a week. They had church every day. This custom was followed in many parts of the world up to this present day. We could have services every day. Our hymnal has services for each day of the week, at least twice a day. The Matins service is the morning service for each weekday. Vespers is the evening service. Luther had services twice a day during the week, and three times on Sundays. Christians still offer services every day in many places in the world. That's because every day is the Sabbath day now. Remember, Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The Sabbath day was a day of rest for God's people that taught them what Jesus would do when He came. The Sabbath day pointed to Jesus, like everything else God's people did in the Old Testament days. Now, any day we go to Jesus is a Sabbath day, not just Sunday.
"They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." Early Christians looked to each other for social fulfillment. They didn't need a VFW hall or school activities to get together. They believed that they were the body of Jesus and acted that out. They spent a lot of time in each others' homes. Remember, there were no churches where they could meet in those days. Such a thing didn't come along for over three hundred years! Pastors traveled from home to home. But many services were held without pastors. We have potluck dinners once in a while. In those days, every day, somewhere, Christians were meeting for potluck dinners.
"And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." That's what happens when Christians take Jesus seriously. The secret to a growing congregation is that the members of that congregation are devoted to God's Word and to each other. It's not the pastor who makes a church grow. It's not members being friendly before or after church services that makes a church grow. It's not attractive programs that make a church grow. These have influence, but they are not the secret. Plain and simple, what makes a church grow is plenty of Bible study and plenty of time spent with each other. An hour or so a week in church, maybe, if you feel like it, hardly counts for the kind of devotion growing churches will have.
The Scripture lays a challenge before us: remember Jesus! We are challenged to make Jesus Christ a big part of our life. Think how tired we are because we don't spend more time with Jesus and those He has saved! Think how this congregation would blossom if we would take Jesus at his Word and spend more time with Him and each other!
Prayer: Holy Spirit, You come from Jesus to give us faith and life. Forgive us for taking Jesus for granted and crowding Him out of our lives with all the cares of this world. Help us to believe that we don't have to spend so much time making a living that we only have a few minutes a week to spend with You and each other. Help us believe that we will find more joy and fulfillment when we soak ourselves in Your Word and share our lives with each other. Amen.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
When is the Sabbath day? Most seem to agree that Sunday is the Sabbath day. What makes Sunday the Sabbath day? A story may help answer this. A church member who had previously been attending services regularly, suddenly stopped coming to church. After some weeks, the minister decided to visit the absent member. It was a chilly evening, and the minister found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair by the fireplace, and waited. The minister made himself comfortable and said nothing. In grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, he took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow, but then its fire was no more and it was cold and dead. Not a word had been spoken since the initial greetings. But as the minister rose to leave, the host said, "Thank you so much for your visit -- and especially for your fiery sermon. I shall be at church next Sunday."
What happens when Christians go to church? The pastor made the point that Christians who drop out of church end up like a coal taken out of a fire -- cold and dead. But something great happens when Christians get together. Each adds energy to the others and great things happen. Consider the early church in the days shortly after Jesus rose from the dead. When people were told the good news about Jesus, Luke reports, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." To be devoted meant sacrificing the time it took to get to know better what the apostles taught about Jesus. As our catechism teaches, these people held preaching very sacred, and gladly heard and learned the Word of God as often as they could. They gathered regularly for Bible class and Holy Communion.
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." Those first Christians invented welfare after they realized what Jesus had done for them. Salvation is something Christians do, as well as something we talk about. The good news that Jesus died and rose again to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil also includes the good news that Jesus sends us to love the needy in His name.
"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts." That will blow your mind: they didn't meet only once a week. They had church every day. This custom was followed in many parts of the world up to this present day. We could have services every day. Our hymnal has services for each day of the week, at least twice a day. The Matins service is the morning service for each weekday. Vespers is the evening service. Luther had services twice a day during the week, and three times on Sundays. Christians still offer services every day in many places in the world. That's because every day is the Sabbath day now. Remember, Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The Sabbath day was a day of rest for God's people that taught them what Jesus would do when He came. The Sabbath day pointed to Jesus, like everything else God's people did in the Old Testament days. Now, any day we go to Jesus is a Sabbath day, not just Sunday.
"They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." Early Christians looked to each other for social fulfillment. They didn't need a VFW hall or school activities to get together. They believed that they were the body of Jesus and acted that out. They spent a lot of time in each others' homes. Remember, there were no churches where they could meet in those days. Such a thing didn't come along for over three hundred years! Pastors traveled from home to home. But many services were held without pastors. We have potluck dinners once in a while. In those days, every day, somewhere, Christians were meeting for potluck dinners.
"And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." That's what happens when Christians take Jesus seriously. The secret to a growing congregation is that the members of that congregation are devoted to God's Word and to each other. It's not the pastor who makes a church grow. It's not members being friendly before or after church services that makes a church grow. It's not attractive programs that make a church grow. These have influence, but they are not the secret. Plain and simple, what makes a church grow is plenty of Bible study and plenty of time spent with each other. An hour or so a week in church, maybe, if you feel like it, hardly counts for the kind of devotion growing churches will have.
The Scripture lays a challenge before us: remember Jesus! We are challenged to make Jesus Christ a big part of our life. Think how tired we are because we don't spend more time with Jesus and those He has saved! Think how this congregation would blossom if we would take Jesus at his Word and spend more time with Him and each other!
Prayer: Holy Spirit, You come from Jesus to give us faith and life. Forgive us for taking Jesus for granted and crowding Him out of our lives with all the cares of this world. Help us to believe that we don't have to spend so much time making a living that we only have a few minutes a week to spend with You and each other. Help us believe that we will find more joy and fulfillment when we soak ourselves in Your Word and share our lives with each other. Amen.
