The document discusses the biblical commandment to observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy. It notes that the Sabbath commandment is the longest of the Ten Commandments and is stated both positively and negatively. While Sabbath observance is no longer binding under the new covenant, the principle of setting aside one day a week for rest and worship remains important for physical, emotional, and spiritual health. The optimal human schedule involves 6 days of work followed by 1 day of rest, as originally instituted by God.

1. 10 Stupid Things We Do
We Fail to Rest and Recharge
Deuteronomy 5:12-15

2. Introduction
 More misunderstanding about this
command than any other
 More doctrinal error over this command
than all of the others combined
 I want to make some observations about
this command

3. Unique
 This is the longest of the commands
 Deuteronomy 5:12-15 – 12 ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,
as the LORD your God commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor
and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor
your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor
your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger
who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female
servant may rest as well as you. 15And remember that you were a
slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out
from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore
the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

4. Unique
Longest of all the commands
 The only one stated both positively
and negatively
 The only one not repeated in the New
Testament

5. History - Background
 Creation – Genesis 2:2-3
 2
And on the seventh day God ended His
work which He had done, and He rested
on the seventh day from all His work
which He had done. 3Then God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it, because
in it He rested from all His work which God
had created and made.

6. History - Background
 Law of Moses added many restrictions
 Over 70 passages
 Real issue – Define “work”
 Selling, cutting wood, build fire, cook,
carry a load

7. Importance
 Exodus 31:14
 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for
it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it
shall surely be put to death; for whoever
does any work on it, that person shall be
cut off from among his people.

8. In Jesus’ Time
 Scribes and Pharisees added many
restrictions
 They turned a blessing into a burden
 Jesus refocused the purpose of the
Sabbath

9. Not Repeated in NT
 Sabbath observance is contradicted in:
 NT Teachings
 Romans 14:5 - One person esteems one day
above another; another esteems every day
alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own
mind.

10. Not Repeated in NT
 Sabbath observance is contradicted in:
 NT Teachings
 Colossians 2:16-17 - 16So let no one judge
you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival
or a new moon or sabbaths, 17which are a
shadow of things to come, but the substance
is of Christ.

11. Not Repeated in NT
 Sabbath observance is contradicted in:
 NT Teachings
 Example
 Acts 20:7 - Now on the first day of the week,
when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day,
spoke to them and continued his message
until midnight.

12. Not Repeated in NT
 Sabbath observance is contradicted in:
 NT Teachings
 Example
 Revelation 2:10 - I was in the Spirit on the
Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud
voice, as of a trumpet,

13. Not Repeated in NT
 Sabbath observance is contradicted in:
 NT Teachings
 Example
 1 Corinthians 16:2 - On the first day of the
week let each one of you lay something
aside, storing up as he may prosper, that
there be no collections when I come.

14. Not Repeated in NT
 Sabbath observance is contradicted in:
 NT Teachings
 Example
 Sabbath observance was a matter of
personal choice

15. Sabbath Principle
 6 days of work is optimal
 Called the “Judeo-Christian work ethic”
 French tried a 10-day week – work 9 and
off 1
 Productivity fell and the idea was
abandoned

16. Sabbath Principle
 Today many plans are used:
 4 10-hour days per week = 40 hours
 3 12-hour days per week = 36 hours
 6 6-hour days per week = 36 hours
 None of these is as effective as God’s
plan

17. We Need Rest
 Holidays, personal days, sick days,
vacation
 Our rest pays rewards:
 Physical
 Emotional
 Spiritual

18. We Need Rest
 Another purpose – Worship
 Hebrews 10:25 - not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as is
the manner of some, but exhorting one
another, and so much the more as you
see the Day approaching.

19. Conclusion:
 The day has changed
 The principle is the same
 We need to rest and recharge
 We can rest –
 Because Jesus worked!
 Is there an eternal rest in your future?