I am preaching on the Sabbath Rest and we are not going to think about the old argument about what day for worship or what the Sabbath day really is. It is the third commandment.
The 1st commandment demands our hearts (loving and trusting him above all others) and the second our mouths (calling upon and using God’s name properly), then the third demands our ears. God calls us to listen to his word–because that is where rest is. Christ is the Sabbath (as Paul says, the day was a shadow of things to come, the shadow of Christ) who we find rest in. Thus to him we are to be drawn. How do we meet him, hear him, know of him? How do we receive this rest? Through his word. Through the preaching and the sacraments. Thus the commandment demands that we both honor this word and keep it holy, that is cherish it, set time aside for it, and use it. Gladly hear and learn from it.
The Sabbath Rest for the people of God has been achieved and Christ is that rest. Despising preaching and the Word is despising Christ who is the Word and gives us rest by bearing our burden of sin and satisfying the Law’s demands.
