Self-Denial and Sacred Delight

The principle issue behind the Sabbath command is love for the Lord. In fact, it is the principle issue behind the entire moral law of God (see Matt.22:37,38). But the application of our love to God by keeping the Sabbath focuses on loving God with our "time". This is why God says:

"Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day (or the first day now under the New Covenant) is a Sabbath to the Lord your God" (Ex.20:9,10).

How gracious and generous God is to us. He grants us six full days to pursue all our legitimate interests of work and recreation; while requiring only one day to be devoted entirely to His worship and service. This doesn't mean of course that we do not worship God the other six days, but our worship of the Lord in those six days are fraught with much distraction! But on the Sabbath, on this one day, we have the privilege to show unfettered love to our Lord by self-denial and sacred delight.

Consider how Isaiah 58:13,14 unfolds this two-fold dynamic of what we deny and what we enjoy on the Lord's day:

"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

In the first place, our love to the Lord on the Sabbath is shown by self-denial. We do not profane this holy day by treading upon it with our selfish ambitions and pursuits: "If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath..." The outworking of such desecration would be to do those things which only please us rather than God. Again, it is all about the use of our time on this day. How do we spend the day in our thoughts, conversation, and activity? Are we doing those things that bring us into closer communion with God - like reading Scripture, praying, witnessing to others, ministering to the sick, gathering in public worship? If the time we spend on the Lord's day is anything less than what will bring us directly into fellowship with Christ, then we are profaning His holy day! So turn off the T.V., refuse to do business with the world, and leave your household chores alone. The Sabbath is God's day not family day, not sports day, not work day. We must therefore deny ourselves on this holy day.

But on the other side of self-denial, our love to the Lord on the Sabbath is shown by sacred delight. There is no day in all the week that encourages greater joy in the heart of the Christian than the Sabbath. "Call the Sabbath a delight," God says through Isaiah. A delight! Why? Because we have the justified opportunity and advantage to devote all of our time in one day to the worship of our God. Moreover, when we honor the Lord on His day, He in turn blesses us with the joy of Himself: "I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father." In figurative language, God promises to bless us with Himself. Can anything be greater to the Christian heart than to enjoy more of God? This is our heritage as God's people and it is the heavenly reward of calling the Sabbath a delight.