"THE SEVENTH IS FOR JESUS"
A sermon by Pastor John Glass, D.Min.


When I was a little tyke in Cradle Roll, they had a yellow and blue plastic choo-choo train with a string tied to the cow catcher; once in a while I got to pull it around the room while everyone put their offering in the smoke stack. They had a sandbox full of sand they stuck paper cut outs of people and trees and buildings in. The sand was really dry; maybe that's why I've never been surprised at how arid the Middle East is. The box had a blue mirror under the sand. It was supposed to be the Sea of Galilee, but it never looked like anything but a mirror to me. They taught us songs, like this one:

"One, two, three, four, five, six for us. One, two, three, four, five, six for us.
One, two, three, four, five, six for us. The seventh is for Jesus."

The 7th is for Jesus. We find the 7th in the Ten Commandments. Let's review, shall we? (KJV style)

Commandment one, together: "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20.2-3)

Commandment two: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is the heavens above or that is the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20.4-6)

Commandment three: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." Psalm 111.9 (KJV) says "Reverend is His name." Do you mind? If reverend is GOD'S name, call me pastor. Bless your heart! (Exodus 20.7)

Commandment four: (Even if you learned this differently in catechism, it's still #4 in the Bible.) "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20.8-11)

If you're like one fellow Solomon wrote about, you like what we just recited: no working on the Sabbath! Remember Maynard, Dobie Gillis' friend? He had an allergy to work. Every time he heard the word he jumped. Solomon wrote that he walked by the fields and vineyards of a man without judgment (viz., lazy) one day. They were full of weeds and thorns and the wall protecting them was in ruins. He said he learned a lesson from what he saw. A little more sleep, a few more naps, a little more folding hands in rest and poverty creeps up on you before you know it. Your wealth will be gone as if you had been robbed. Proverbs 24.30-34, Clear Word. Did you ever notice the 4th commandment says we are to work SIX days of the week? Union scale is not God's idea.

I grew up near Flint, Michigan. Every three years the contract between GM and the UAW came up. The UAW was always seeking better benefits, shorter work weeks, better pay. Now, there's nothing wrong with any of that - IF YOU KNOW HOW TO HANDLE IT. When people work hard for long hours every day, every week, they don't have much discretionary time, but my, do they have self-worth from their work. The annual vacation and a few holidays are really appreciated. However, the 40-hour work week gives everyone two free days every week. Make it four 10 hour work days and now you have 3 days off every week! (I've also heard of the 36-hour work week.) The man who ran the Ford engine rebuilding company in Escanaba once told me he had no trouble paying his employees for their work. His challenge was paying them the sixty six days every year when they didn't work.

Know what happens? When you're working all the time you don't need things like RVs and cabins up north: you don't have the time. But when you have two - three days of discretionary time every week and sixty six holidays, NOW you have time to enjoy the "good life," which can include a cabin up north, an RV, a boat, snowmobiles. Play. You need(?) and want toys - expensive toys. As your work ethic deteriorates and your GMAC payments escalate you need a lot (!) more wages. So, you strike for more each time the contract comes up, and the typical American vehicle can only be purchased with five YEARS of payments. "I owe, I owe; it's off to work I go." And did you ever notice the bumper sticker that says "my take home pay won't take me home"? Too much leisure.

With this, what's happened to self-respect? Why, do we think, did God give humans WORK to do in the first place? They were to dress and keep the garden. After sin entered human experience God took work to the next level: by the "sweat of our brow." That IS how character and self-respect are obtained. What eternal good does it do a man to sit and watch every conceivable sporting event on ESPN every week and spend hours on "fantasy football"? What kind of character does a boy gain sitting around for hours on end with an X Box or Play Station 2? How does it help a girl to talk for hours on the phone? Neither self-respect nor character integrity come from self-indulgence! In the light of eternity, does it REALLY matter WHO wins the Superbowl? YOU need self-worth. Pull the plug and go back to work. Show up early and before you check out make sure everything is set for the next shift or tomorrow. Never let anyone take care of you. James Johnson, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy (the first Black appointed to this position by the President), always heard his father say, don't accept from another what you are privileged to earn yourself. Always give a dollar-and-a-half work for a dollar wage. See how much you can learn every day. FEEL your character grow. As Johnny says, what you do for yourself dies with you; what lasts is what you do for others.

Some years ago I was working with a Conference evangelist. One retired couple absolutely defied our catching both of them at home. I finally asked and the missus told me we would have to go to the Country Club to find him. I went. Besides getting a free golf lesson I learned he spent every single day on the course. That night I asked her what he did in the winter? "Oh," she said, "he lives in the bowling alley." You spend your entire life to retire to...THAT? So, six days we shall labor and do all our work...but the seventh is for Jesus.

Look, if we're not supposed to WORK on the Sabbath, then what ARE we supposed to do with it?

While we were living in Virginia we had a Pentecostal minister and his wife staying in their travel trailer in our back yard for several months. I knew it wasn't whether, but when. Sure enough, the day arrived when the subject of Sabbath came up. There is no question which day of the week this commandment is referring to: Saturday. You can look from now till you die and you won't find a single Bible verse authorizing Sunday. If you can find one, show me and I'll hand you this $100 bill. John could be a bit gruff at times and he was then. "We keep Sunday. We keep Sunday." "John," I replied, "I've been watching people who say they keep Sunday. Know what I see? They get up and read the morning paper. They go to church. Afterward they either go out to eat in a restaurant or stop at a store on the way home. All afternoon they either watch sports on TV or go golfing or do whatever they want. That's keeping Sunday? I don't think they keep any day, including Sunday. I'd call them Sunday church-goers." John glowered at the ground a few moments and then quietly groused, "You're right; we don't keep Sunday. We only go to church on Sunday."

Can you guess what I've been seeing as I watch Seventh-day Adventists? The command is to "Remember the sabbath day to keep it HOLY." We may go to church on Sabbath, but if we spend the rest of the day doing exactly what WE want, wouldn't you have to say we're no different than Sunday church-goers? What else can you call us when we don't come early enough to study the Bible in a Sabbath School class, we stay only for worship (not even the monthly fellowship dinner), and spend the rest of the day doing just what WE want to? We're not Sabbath keepers: we're Sabbath church-goers. What does it mean to keep the seventh day Sabbath HOLY as God commands?

Once more: my offer. If you can locate a Bible verse that authorizes the keeping of any day other than the 7th day Sabbath, this $100 is yours. (And this goes for any visitor to our web site!) Take your Bible and find Isaiah 58. The last two verses in the chapter (13 and 14) say this:
"If you refrain from trampling on the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests,
or pursuing your own affairs;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

Did you notice? Sabbath keeping is the key to enjoying the Lord. "THEN you shall take delight in the Lord." Sabbath is like a date with Jesus.

In college I was always told that if I was going to be a minister I would need to be married. To be married you need a wife. To have a wife you need to find a comely person to love. To do that you have to date around. I wasn't having any success so one Sunday morning one of my professors invited me to his study at home. He's sitting in his bathrobe asking me who I have been dating. "Why don't you date my reader? Don't you think she's attractive?" She was. I asked and she accepted.

We came into the gym where the chairs had all been set up for the lyceum program and sat down. She was sitting to my left. I turned to her to begin the process of discovering who she was. She swiveled away from me to the left, crossed her arms, and refused to say one word. For a while I tried to talk to her but I couldn't chisel one word out of her. So, I enjoyed the program by myself, literally.

Can you imagine this kind of date? This is what we give the Lord, only whereas she wouldn't say a word the entire evening, some of us come here and never quit talking. (How is it back there?) The problem with irreverence is not with children or adolescents. We don't even turn off our cell phones. God loves us, but will we give Him two moments of undivided? What, do you think, could happen if we did?

It had been a wild night on the Sea of Galilee. The morning was beautiful. The disciples stepped out of the boat onto the shore, thankful for a respite from all those people. Suddenly the quietude was shattered by horrible screams from the two demoniacs who lived among the graves at the top of the bluff. In less than a minute they were back onboard, frantically oaring. "Where's Jesus?" "Well, I, ah... Oh no, there he is on the shore with those wild men. What are we going to..." A few moments later 3,000 hogs sailed over the edge of the neighboring bluff into the sea and drowned.

The swineherds ran for town. It was quite a crowd that followed them back. "Please, whoever you are, leave. We can't afford to have someone like you around." Fine. As Jesus stepped into the boat the two men begged, "Jesus, please let us go with you. We're safe with you." "No. Go home. Tell what great things the Lord has done for you." They'd been with him maybe two hours at the most. They hadn't listened to Him teach, hadn't heard one sermon. Only a moment in time during which Jesus delivered them from such a living death. They obeyed. They told everyone, and hundreds responded when Jesus returned. A moment in time, with such incredible results.

The Sabbath is more than a moment. It's a complete day of every week. If we were to at last catch the genius of this day and turn to the Lord with all our heart and mind and give Him our undivided: what do you think could come from even today?

Go tell what great things the Master has done for you.