Sabbath - Practical Implications (SS Class)

Review of Foundational Pillars for Sabbath-Keeping

0:02 Now, this morning, we are proceeding in the direction that we began last Lord's Day, which was sort of a parenthesis in the general field of our study here in the Sunday morning adult class. We've been considering some of the teaching of the Word of God concerning the private disciplines of grace, secret prayer, and study of the Word of God. But because of some incidents that arose in the general ministry of the Church, particularly a Friday night Bible study, when the issue of the Sabbath was introduced and thrashed out, and also because of the general attitude in our own day and the influence of the popular religious teaching over the past hundred years, which has left us something short in our assessment of the importance of the Christian Sabbath, we've taken these two Sundays to discuss some of the fundamental principles of the Word of God relative to the teaching of the Scriptures on the Sabbath. And what I sought to do last week was simply to set before you the three great foundational pillars upon which the matter of Christian Sabbath-keeping rests.

1:18 First of all, we saw that the Sabbath privilege and obligation is a creation ordinance. It goes back as far as the original creation, concerning which we read in Genesis chapter 2 that God sanctified and hallowed the seventh day. And the very fabric of creation is one that has as one of its main threads this concept of life being conducted in seven-day cycles, six days of labor and one day of rest. And then secondly, we saw that the Sabbath privilege and obligation is a creation ordinance.

1:54 The Sabbath privilege and obligation is an integral part of the moral law. There are those who try to dismiss Sabbath obligation by saying the Sabbath is purely ceremonial. But I don't believe this argument will stand any close examination. A number of reasons could be given for this, not the least of which is the peculiarities attached to the moral law or the ten words of Moses.

2:23 And we looked at some of those. We looked at some of those peculiarities last week. If you want to examine the thing further, I commend to you volume one of John Owen's exposition of Hebrews in which he has at the back of this book a treatise on the whole subject of the Christian Sabbath. It's called An Exercitation Concerning the Name, Original, Nature, Use, and Continuance of a Day of Sacred Rest.

2:55 And in it, Owen has some very, very vital materials and perhaps the most helpful treatment of this point that we made last week, namely that the Sabbath privilege and obligation is an integral part of the moral law. And he gives a number of reasons why we should regard with great seriousness any attempt to wrench Sabbath keeping from the moral law of God as expressed in the ten words. Moses. Furthermore, a reading of such passages as Isaiah 56, 1 and following clearly indicates that the Sabbath is not essentially ceremonial.

3:37 For in that passage which speaks of gospel days, God says he will welcome eunuchs into the assembly of his people, something that was forbidden under the ceremonial law. But he describes those gothic eunuchs as those who keep his Sabbaths. And he goes on to mention the foreigners. Welcome them to the congregation of his people who keep his Sabbaths, indicating, you see, that some of the trappings of the ceremonial law will be done away with in gospel days, but the concept of Sabbath keeping is an integral part of obedience to the moral law of God.

4:15 And then thirdly, the third pillar upon which the biblical concept of the Sabbath rests is this, that serious regard for the Sabbath has been and is, a vital part of practical godliness. And again, John Owen has some most perceptive things to say. I shall only read a paragraph in his introduction to this treatment of the Sabbath. He says, There are two great concerns of that religion whose name thou bearest, the profession of its truth and the practice or the exercise of its power, and these are mutually assistant unto each other.

4:55 Without the profession of faith in its truth, no man can express its power in obedience. And without obedience, profession is of little worth. Whatever therefore doth contribute, help, and assist us unto either of these, that is, the profession of truth and the practice of truth, according to the mind of God, is to be highly prized and valued. Now, he goes on.

5:25 Say in the light of that principle, Such is the solemn observation of a sacred weekly day of rest unto God. For among all the outward means of conveying to the present generation that religion which was at first taught and delivered unto men by Jesus Christ and his apostles, there hath been none more effectual than the universal, uninterrupted observation of such a day for the celebration of religion. This worship appointed in the gospel. In other words, Owen says what I have said in more contemporary language, regard for the Sabbath has been and is a vital part of practical godliness.

Addressing Common Objections and Practical Suggestions

6:10 For any who are concerned with such passages as Romans 14.5, one man regardeth one day above another, let no man judge you in respect of the keeping of Sabbaths and holy days, Colossians chapter 2. For any who are concerned with the keeping of Sabbaths and holy days, and who have serious questions as to whether or not those verses refer to the weekly Sabbath, I commend to you one of John Murray's wonderful appendix, or appendices, one of the appendices, that's plural of appendix, and it's appendix D in his exposition of Romans dealing with these very verses and their relationship to the weekly Sabbath. And frankly, I would not want to take upon myself to refute what I feel are, are absolutely unanswerable arguments against the interpretation that writes off Sabbath-keeping because of the verses in Romans 14 and in Colossians chapter 2. Then we concluded last week with these practical suggestions, namely, think positively of this command. Do not look upon the Sabbath as a burden, but a gracious provision. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

7:24 Secondly, think horizontally as well as vertically. We have a responsibility to manifest the power of godliness to the world. And as we demonstrate our love for God's law in every other area, so we must demonstrate our love for his law, appointing a sacred day of rest. And then we concluded with the exhortation, don't neutralize the biblical teaching on the Sabbath by thinking up absurd implications.

Avoiding Extremes: Sinful Accommodation and Pharisaic Legislation

7:53 This is what the Sadducees did with reference to the doctrine of the resurrection in Matthew 22, 23 and following. We must not do so with regard to the Sabbath. Now, we said that today we would open up the class for questions dealing now with some of the fruits. Last week, we dealt with the root principles which support the biblical concept of the Sabbath.

8:19 And I deliberately said, let's stay away from leaves and fruit. But now, today, with the roots having been established, we ought to ask, really, because that's what we have, creation ordinance, an integral part of the moral law, a constant expression of practical godliness, we want to address ourselves to some of the practical questions that you may have. And as you do, there are two extremes to be avoided. And Owen, again, deals with these masterfully.

8:47 There must first of all be an avoidance of the extreme of sinful accommodation. There must first of all be an avoidance of the extreme of sinful accommodation. There must first of all be an avoidance of the extreme of sinful accommodation. Because the world has lost its conscience with reference to Sabbath keeping, we may feel, well, if you really take the Sabbath commandment seriously, people will think we're crazy.

9:04 Well, let them think we're crazy. Anyone who regards the first commandment with seriousness, the seventh or the ninth, is thought crazy. If you're determined not to bear false witness in business today, you're thought nuts, crazy. I mean, it's just accepted that everybody lies to one degree or another in politics, business.

9:25 We've been told this by government leaders. You cannot expect people to be honest. International politics won't allow honesty. There is a necessity to lie for self-preservation.

9:36 Let us do evil that good may come. And we're being told this in every area. Well, what do you as a Christian do with that? Do you accommodate the norms of the ninth commandment to the current attitudes to that commandment?

9:50 You say, no. I will not be a partaker of other men's sins. By the grace of God, I will keep myself pure. All right, with reference to the Sabbath, the same is true.

10:00 We must avoid, on the one hand, the tendency to sinful accommodation to the lowered standards of our day, and, on the other hand, Pharisaic legislation. The Pharisees went far beyond what God required, and they had their long list of how far you could walk and how far you couldn't walk, and all of these foolish things, and they were constantly following the Lord Jesus and his disciples with their little checklist. And every time they didn't conform, they put a little black mark, and then they'd come and say, how come? And so the Lord had to just show them from the Scriptures that they were violating the principle of the Sabbath by their Pharisaic legislation.

10:40 And we must avoid that danger, where we begin to legislate in specifics where the word of God is silent. Now, it's one thing for you as an individual, particularly for those of you who are the heads of households, it is one thing for you to set up the principles and their application for your household. It's another thing for you to do it for me and for my household, you see. And so we must beware, on the one hand, of sinful accommodation, and, on the other hand, of Pharisaic legislation.

11:12 But you say, Pastor, if we can't come down absolutely and say, this is right and this... what are we going to do?

11:17 Well, we're shut up to what a Christian is always shut up to. A heart and mind sensitive to the broad principles of the word and to the present ministry of the Holy Spirit. And whenever you move away from any view of any aspect of the Christian life that demands a conscience sensitive to the broad principles of the word and the present ministry of the Spirit, you'll always end up in some form of legalism. And the moment you do, you'll start relinquishing broad principles while you cling to the little details, and that's exactly what the Pharisees did.

11:57 Stringing at mass, swallowing candles. We see it, by and large, in the cross-section of American fundamentalism. Thou shalt not attend the commercial motion picture theater. And the same people sit in their own living rooms and watch garbage that was in the motion picture theater on the avenue three years ago, and they watch the same garbage and let their kids watch it night after night in their living rooms, and it never couples their conscience.

12:21 Why? Because that's not part of their little list. Thou shalt not watch a motion picture in your living room. The real evil is watching it out in the avenue and paying a couple of bucks for it.

12:34 Who says it is? The Scripture tells us we're to guard everything that comes into our mind, no matter where it approaches our mind, in the living room or on the avenue. And whatsoever things are lovely and pure, if there happens to be something lovely and pure on the avenue, you are free in Jesus Christ, anything else being considered, to plunk down your two bucks and to see that which is pure and clean and lovely. All right?

The Nature of Sabbath Rest and Spiritual Exercises

13:00 That's the introduction in review. Now it's in your hands. Yes, Paul. I have difficulty formulating in my own mind the concept of rest on the Sabbath.

13:14 There's the problem of resting from my weekly labors and at the same time, giving myself to spiritual exercises. Where does the actual physical rest of the body come in? I don't find much time for that on the Sabbath. All right.

13:34 This brings us, of course, into the whole question of what is the nature of the rest appointed for that day. And certainly, if we take the pattern of the creation ordinance, and the principles that we see in the development of the Sabbath doctrine and the scriptures, it certainly does involve rest from our normal labors. Now, rest does not necessarily mean going off into the land of Nod and sleeping. A mind that has exercised all week with specific disciplines in the place of legitimate employment, whether it's a mother with her washing and her ironing and all of her household duties, or whether it's the father, with his business, be it putting a piece of stock in a lathe, or whether it's feeding information into a computer, whether it's giving direction to a group of employees, etc. God has made us that we need one day in seven in which the mind, the spirit, our whole emotional, mental, and psychological, and physical structure is released from the pressure of our normal labor. And in that sense, rest from the labor does not necessarily mean cessation of all activity, any more than God's rest was the cessation of activity. It wasn't.

14:59 By providence, he upholds all that he has made. In redemption, he works continually. And this was the emphasis of our Lord, of course, when he said, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. And it was the work of redemption that he was doing on the Sabbath.

15:13 So I think we need to face, just from the standpoint of what is obvious even to godless men, that this change from the normal pressures and a redirection of the mind and the emotions and the whole man or woman in a different direction is a form of refreshment. All right, then, if that's so, into what direction should the energies flow? Well, they obviously ought to flow in the direction of the worship of God's people. Obviously, this is the day when we ought to make an effort to spend more time, more time in the word of God, more time with our families in religious instruction, the singing of hymns and, you know, these things, and also in those works of mercy that perhaps we could not engage in during other days of the week because of the responsibilities of our regular employment and our domestic duties, such as the pure religion of James, visiting the fatherless and the widows, doing acts of mercy on this, the Lord's day. Now, if we find to accomplish those things, it is needful for us to have a nap. Then, you see, that physical rest is suited to the higher ends of the spiritual rest of that day. We find in our household that our children are not really refreshed and able to give themselves to hearing the word of God and the rest.

16:40 There's a general letting off because they're usually in bed. The girls are at 8 o'clock and Joel about 9.30, so everybody goes down for a nap for an hour, hour and a half on the Lord's day afternoon. And this is the reason we do so, that we might be refreshed to give ourselves more fully to the further acts of worship that are before us.

16:59 But now, of course, this will differ with every individual. For some people, for whom the week holds tremendous demands of physical labor, they may find that half the afternoon in a nap wonderfully fulfills the overall intention of the Sabbath. But for someone else whose labor and whose drain is not so much physical but mental and the rest, they may find that this day, when they can go out and take a walk with the family and just enjoy God's creation, it's not a matter of the body and the actual physical mechanism being so strained. They may not need that in terms of all these variables.

17:37 And that's why I think, again, we have to be sensitive to what we are, how God has made us, and what our own circumstances are. Does that help at all to give some principles, Paul? Yeah. But I think if we can look at it in the way the old writers, they talked about it as a day of holy rest, not an unholy cessation of activity.

17:58 And there's a world of difference in those two things. And I think sometimes some of us have erred in looking at it in that latter way, that sort of a cessation of activity. No, it is a day that should be filled with those activities that mark this day as the day of holy rest, the holy rest in God, the day when giving us a pledge in an earnest of that day when we'll no longer be encumbered with squeezing sustenance from the earth because of the curse that is upon it. In the sweat of thy brow, he says, it's going to bring forth with thorns and thistles and try to think of it in terms of what it will be when we enter that eternal Sabbath.

Sabbath Consciousness in a Pleasure-Oriented Society

18:41 Could you just mention one more thing that John Spence mentioned last week about the society in which we live, is unaccustomed to laboring six days and resting one. Because I find for myself that I get the physical rest that I need on Saturdays, so that I don't need so much on Sundays. Well, the point that Mr. Spence made last week is that a very powerful contributing factor to the lack of Sabbath consciousness in our day is that we live in a pleasure mat, recreation mat, short week mat society.

19:22 And that if a man is really labored for six days, he'll really look forward to a seventh day as a day of holy rest. But in a society in which men are not laboring for the six days and recreation is the end for which you work. You see, that's the whole mentality by and large across the board in the workforce of our own country. The only purpose, the only practical and worthy end of labor is that you might have enough money to enjoy life with your recreation, whether it's your trip to Puerto Rico or whether it's here, there, whatever.

19:58 That's no reflection upon Mr. Clark. He's not there in that sense on a pleasure trip. He's there on business.

20:06 But you see, that's the whole mentality. And the concept that work is a noble exercise complying with the law of God, that's gone. As much as a part of the Sabbath commandment is six days shalt thou labor. And in this way God is glorified.

20:20 Well, where that's gone, then you see it erodes at the other end. So that I think even someone who puts in his five days a week in his place of calling, certainly anyone who has to keep up a home and a car and these other things has plenty to do that is legitimate labor within the sphere of specific responsibility on the Saturday or whatever other day off we have. Now there's some people like Mr. Bischoff, they only work four days a week.

20:47 You've got it made if you're a fireman, you see. You work four days and you're off three days. Pardon? Forty-two hours a week, though.

20:56 He reminds us it's forty-two hours a week. But I'm only kidding, you see, because I know through the years when the children were younger and there was need for more provision that way that he moonlighted at other jobs and I'm sure felt the responsibility again as a Christian to work those days and then to fill those days with other holy ministries. I was just jesting with Mr. Bischoff.

Works of Necessity and Christian Testimony

21:21 All right? Does that help you? All right? Are there further questions now with reference to some of the branches and leaves and fruit of this matter of Christian Sabbath-keeping?

21:33 Yes? I have this job at school. It's sort of a security job. Nicole?

21:39 Could you turn up the volume about double, okay? Could you? Okay. Those people are always telling me right there.

21:45 Anyway... Well, that's good in most situations, but here's another one.

21:48 This morning we're going to turn you up. All right, Nicole? Good. Thank you.

21:52 I have this security job at school. It's security and it's other things, too, but...

21:56 And two Sunday nights now I had to work from 8 to 12.30. And I guess I could get a replacement. I mean, I don't like...

22:03 I didn't want that to happen, but it just happened to be. But I was wondering, is it right for me to get a replacement because somebody else is going to have to do that work, being it is a security job, too? Now, security job. What do you mean?

22:16 You stand at the door with a gun or something? No. It's not that. I'm a desk assistant for 600 women, and the men and I are allowed to go in the building without a pass and all that stuff.

22:22 I see. And there's been, you know, accidents before. So if they start to come through, you give them a karate chop or something else and you get them out of the way? No, they don't.

22:28 I see. Yeah. Well, I think the question, you see, that you have to wrestle with there, Nicole, is whether or not this is a valid work of necessity. Is the protection of human beings the most important thing that you have to do?

22:36 Well, I think the question you see that you have to wrestle with there, Nicole, is whether or not this is a valid work of necessity. Is the protection of human beings the most important thing that you have to do? I think the question you see that you have to wrestle with there, Nicole, is whether or not this is a valid work of necessity. Is the protection of human life a work of necessity?

22:47 Yes. Well, then, if this fits within that orbit, then, you see, there would be grounds to do this as a work of necessity. But I think, again, you see, for some people it might not be right to do so because their whole motive in doing so might not be what another's is. But I think that's the issue.

23:01 You see, I'm not giving you all the answers to all the questions you're going to ask me right now. I think, again, you see, for some people But I think that's the issue. See, I'm not giving you a yes-no answer. I'm trying to condition your conscience with the principles that I think you ought to wrestle with.

23:18 And this would be it. If it is a work of preserving and protecting human life, is it proper to do that on the Sabbath? And we certainly have the answer to that in Scripture. When the Lord said, you know, here I healed a man on the Sabbath to restore his life, and you Pharisees pick on me, yet if your donkey falls or something else goes into the ditch, you pull him out to preserve your beast's life, and no one says you're breaking the Sabbath.

23:42 Well, I think that principle is the one that ought to be uppermost in your mind as you wrestle with this. Okay, well, there's about, I guess, enough girls to replace me if I ever, you know, so would it be okay to have somebody else working? Yes. Does that also have to do with it?

24:02 All right, well, then this would come into some other principles, namely, can you honorably extricate yourself from that without jeopardizing your Christianity? Christian testimony is being one who's willing to hold up your end of the log in assigned responsibility. You see? Now, that's a question you must wrestle through.

24:20 We're to provide all things honorable, not only in the sight of God, but also of what? Of man, you see? Now, if you can extricate yourself from that, in other words, if there are sinners who don't regard the Sabbath, who don't care in the rest, and they just soon have Wednesday night off, Sunday night off, you know, any other night, it makes no difference to them. And you can adjust.

24:41 If you have a schedule to preserve entire, every Sabbath day, then certainly I think it would be your privilege to do so. Some might adjust their night in order to pursue sinful ends. Certainly it would be right for you to adjust your nights of duty for holy ends. If you can do so without incurring the legitimate accusation, huh, you're supposed to be a Christian, and you throw your job on somebody else, and you're not fulfilling your contracted terms.

25:08 Well, in that case, that would not be honoring to the Lord. Okay? Would someone else want to add to that? Uh, maybe you've wrestled through similar problems.

Sabbath Obligation for Unbelievers and the Role of the State

25:19 Yes, Jerry? I want to know our theme, uh, how the Sabbath applies to the unbeliever. And, uh, you know, if you have the option of an unbeliever taking a job in your place, uh, on the Sabbath, when you know he's not going to use it for worship, uh, anyway, uh, would there be a right to switch there? Yeah.

25:43 Yes. I think, uh, the question, the question that Jerry has introduced is, is one that bristles with all kinds of, of loaded implications. What is the obligation of the unbeliever with reference to the Sabbath? And I think we can take our starting point from the fact that it is a creation ordinance.

26:02 It's in his own best interest. It is part of the moral law. He is therefore obligated to regard it as a day that is different. And therefore, if he does not, it's an expression of Romans 8, 7.

26:16 The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. Neither, indeed, can it be. So that I think in our witness to the unsaved, we have just as much right to bear down upon their consciences in the area of the fourth commandment and say to them throughout your life, you've regarded all seven days as your own.

26:38 And that's been your sin. Monday through Saturday, you've regarded as your own. But now, in addition to that, you have not regarded God's special claims for the one day and seven. He has claims upon all of the days.

26:51 You were made to glorify him. You don't even think of glorifying him, nor do you think of glorifying him by the addition of the other. And that we have a right to bear down upon his conscience, in which case, now you can see the problem that comes up at the other end. Could I encourage someone to break the first commandment or the eighth commandment?

27:11 Well, can I encourage them to break the fourth by switching? Switching dates, switching responsibilities with it. Well, you see, that's another tacky problem. And I don't know what the answer would be in a case like that.

27:23 And I think, again, there is no absolute answer. But I do believe we have the right to rob the conscience of the unconverted man with his violation of the fourth commandment.

27:38 Am I speaking the issue, Jerry, if I missed it?

27:44 In the same line, you know, the attitude Christians should take towards wound loss, is an attempt to legally establish upon the unbeliever. Yes. Now we come into this matter of, what about the state?

28:03 Does the state seek to uphold, or did it at one time, and does it at least in some sort of oblique way, uphold the sanctity of human life, the sixth commandment, thou shalt do no murder? Well, the state feels responsible to uphold it. At least in some degree, as I say, it's not what it once was, but at least some degree. Does it seek to uphold?

28:23 Does it seek to uphold the sanctity of the seventh commandment? Yes. The court will still grant divorces for adultery, et cetera. Well, then, is the state responsible to uphold the sanctity of the fourth commandment?

28:34 Well, last week we had a mini second evening service up here at the front. I had been counseling with some people, and I came out and thought I was on my way home. There was a contingency waiting for me here. And we got into this whole matter.

28:49 And the one principle that is clear to me at this point, in my own thinking, and much of my thinking is still in suspension, it hasn't gelled, is that because the Sabbath is a creation ordinance, and it is in man's best interest, completely now setting aside God's glory, but man's own best personal selfish interest to keep the Sabbath, that there is an obligation of the state in the preservation of human life and seeking the betterment of society to have something to say about, the one day in seven, wherever that structure of the state is sufficiently sensitive to biblical norms. It's obvious that in a Muslim country, where there isn't this concept, you're not going to have this. Or you have a different day, other than the Christian Sabbath, you see, the first day of the week. So there are problems when we get out of a culture that has by and large in the past been tremendously conditioned, by certain biblical norms.

29:57 And there are many cultures that aren't. So I really don't have the final answer on that. This whole area of the obligation of the state to legislate in terms of the moral law, I've got all kinds of problems, because if you say they have every right so to do, and every obligation, then you know what you're moving to. Then they're going to legislate about true religion.

30:22 And therefore heresy can be punished with the sword, as well as, murder and adultery. And then you, then you start moving in areas where I don't want to go. So I just have to say at this point, Jerry, I'm not settled in my own thinking. I think we can, if we back off and look at history, we do see that the nations that have had some kind of legislative respect for the Sabbath, by and large, have been nations that have known a far greater productivity, and a far greater material blessing, than the nations that have not.

30:59 I think there's something significant from a historical perspective there. But we don't teach theology from history. So I don't have the answers there. Someone else have light there that I don't have?

Positive Suggestions for Children on the Sabbath

31:13 Yes, Bob? Oh, all right. More questions then? Yes.

31:18 Bob, and then Ed, and then Peter. Yes. Last week, the question was brought up about children playing, you know, very young children, to get away from things that they can't play out. They play outside, very young children.

31:33 We give positive to positive direction for a family. Yeah. All right, Bob's question is, or request is, some positive suggestions as to what to do with younger children, so that they don't dread the Christian Sabbath as a day when they have to sit on their haunches and twiddle their thumbs. Well, here again, you see that there are so many variables.

31:59 How many children? What is proper at one age? Stage of development, excuse me, would not be at another. The temperament of your children.

32:07 I mean, you may have a child who will sit down for hours on end in the living room with two or three toys and play with them. Someone's shaking their head, and I know what that is. You may have a child that can't sit still for five minutes. The only way they sit still is even in their sleep.

32:26 You think they're half awake. I mean, they flopped and flipped and all the rest. Well, it's obvious, then, that you're going to have to take different measures from others. But I think the fundamental, the fundamental principle, Bob, is that if we, as the heads of our household, feel the weight of our responsibility to administer the Sabbath, and that's so clear in the Fourth Commandment, where God lays upon the head of the household this responsibility for his children, his servants, strangers that come within his gate, that when we feel that responsibility, and we begin prayerfully and earnestly to plead with God for wisdom to know how to conduct our family life on the Sabbath, I believe that's 90% of the battle. Because much of our failure here is just a reflection of laziness. And I'm not directing that to you personally. I don't know what you do.

33:20 But I'm just, you know, saying this generally. And I know when there have been failures on my part, it's been because I've just been too lazy, or I've rationalized it and said, well, I have to do further preparation, for the ministry of the word, etc. It's right for me then to just throw this responsibility off on my wife. Well, it isn't right to throw it off on my wife.

33:40 It isn't. God lays that upon me as the administrative head of the home, as the father and the husband within that home. Now, once that thing is established, then I think we have to, by trial and error, discover what's there. We have to use some sanctified imaginativeness and ingenuity.

33:57 There are certain times of the year we have found it very profitable. There's a lovely, walking trail over there on right off Bradford Avenue, between Ridge and Upper Mountain. And just pull your car in. No, no, it's not there.

34:12 I'm sorry. You go behind the reservoir. And is it Normal Avenue that goes up over to the Montclair State? A lovely walking path in through there.

34:20 And we just had some wonderful times on a Lord's Day afternoon, enjoying God's creation and just sharing together in family intimacy. There's that type of thing where you can try to think of the opportunities. If there are children who have an unusual measure of physical energy, you may have to give them some opportunity to play outside, but it must be governed. Maybe that's the time for you to be out playing with them.

34:47 And the very fact that you are there marks those times as different from the weekly times when just the, you know, neighbor kids are there and they do whatever comes naturally from kicking each other in the shins, the fighting and all the rest. You see, there's a whole different atmosphere. Without, you know, sitting down and structuring something, Bob, in a logical way, just sort of off the top of my head, I would say that these are the basic principles and some practical suggestions. Does that give you at least something tangible to lay hold of?

35:19 And you see here again, this is where we must be very careful about judging one another in the outworking of this. I know my children better than you do. You know your children better than I do. And therefore, we must be very, very careful, you see.

35:34 You might drive up to my house on any given Lord's Day and find my son riding up and down the front street on his bicycle. You'd say, isn't that a shame? A pastor can give those studies on the Sabbath and his son is out riding his bicycle. Well, do you know why he's out riding his bicycle?

35:52 Do you know the circumstances under which he's doing it? Do you know what kind of thought and prayerful concern has gone in to directing him to go out and ride his bicycle? He may even be doing it reluctantly. You see?

36:10 You see, there are all these variables. And therefore, we must be very, very careful that we do not pass judgment on other parents who are seeking to administer a general spirit of Christian Sabbath-keeping when the integrity of their conscience is before God. All right? And then, Ed.

Navigating Sabbath-Keeping in Mixed Households

36:31 Should I ask you a question or not? It might take a whole month to answer this question. If it will, I'll tell you, Ed, and then we'll wait. All right?

36:38 Well, you hit me a nail on the head between what Jerry's saying and what you're saying. You hit me a nail on the head as far as non-Christians. I don't want to get into that. I think we've got to take some of them.

36:50 Non-Christians in your own home. Yeah. Yeah. I know the question.

36:56 Yeah. Yeah. And that's the problem you have right at the family. This is what hit me on the head, you know.

37:01 Yes. So, mine's going to have to be taken with the Lord. Yeah. Yeah.

37:08 Ed's question is a very, very difficult question. What do you do when the head of the home has not been a Christian for years, and after family patterns have been set, and children are no longer three or four, but they're teenagers or young adults, and then the Lord saves you, and you want to start administering the rule of Christ in your home? Well, you see, you have other commandments other than to keep the Sabbath. You have a whole set of new commandments with reference to seeking to win them, with seeking to be wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove, and these things get to be terribly, terribly involved, and that would take us a long time, Ed, so I concur with you.

37:47 We won't take up that question now. All right? Very good. Okay. Phoebe had her hand raised. Yes.

Commuting and Societal Complexity

37:57 ...the church, and even if I went to my old church, it would be at least about a mile or two away, and I would have to take a bus or whatever.

38:07 How would... I have no problem, you know, commuting.

38:13 It is wrong for me to commute on a Sabbath, but what about the bus driver, who has to drive you around? Yeah. Or, let's say, the bus station has to be open to collect the money from you. Yeah. Well, here again, you see, we come into one of the factors.

38:27 Those of you who were here last week will remember I said that Sabbath-keeping has been made more and more difficult because of the complexity of a mechanized society. Back in the rural town, where nobody ever went, you know, beyond the boundaries of that town, or seldom did, I mean, everything...

38:47 just pretty well shut down. I mean, there was no electric power. You had no power plant generating electricity, which, if it went off, then food would get spoiled and people would be bumping into one another and splitting their head open in a dark house and all of the rest. It was relatively simple.

39:04 Now, you couldn't somehow push a button on a cow and tell it to hold its milk till Monday. I mean, you'd still have to go out and milk the poor cow on the Lord's Day, as a farmer does today. But things were a lot more simple then. And here again, I don't think there is any answer to that question, Phoebe.

39:27 For instance, suppose you're in a community, and I think now of a very clear example of this, where for years there has been no transportation on Sunday. The instance I think of was ferry service in a place way up in the Highlands of Scotland, and they had no ferry service on Sunday, which, in turn, discouraged...

39:48 unnecessary travel, etc. Well, when they were going to begin to have Sunday ferry service, some of the old Highland Scotsmen who have a very strict view of the Sabbath, one of them, this was my introduction to him, I met him at my first Leicester conference, but before I ever got there, I saw his picture in the London Times or one of the big papers. What he did is he just lay his body right down where the chain usually was drawn across and where the ferry would come in and land. And in protest, and others joined him, he just laid himself right down there and said, literally, over my dead body, you're going to start prostituting the Sabbath this way.

40:27 Well, if you're in a situation where, as a Christian, you can exercise legitimate civil liberties and responsibilities to enforce legislation that will recognize the sanctity of the Sabbath, then I think, as Christians, we would have a responsibility, in every single way possible, to throw our weight into that. But in a situation such as we are in this metropolitan area, if you stop taking that bus, you're not going to do anything to change the system. I mean, it's unreasonable. And in so doing, you would cut yourself off from some more weighty responsibilities.

41:05 Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, and the responsibility to fellowship with God's people. So here again, many times the issue is not a black and white one, but there are larger issues. And issues of higher priority which must take precedence over matters of lesser priority. Yes, John?

Shift Work and Individual Conscience

41:26 In regard to that, I think it gets down to, if you could speak this way of whether God would judge the man for driving the bus on that day. My thinking in wrestling is true. I don't believe he would. He would judge the man on his day off if he did something else on his day off.

41:42 In other words, our society is so conditioned now to this seven-day work week, that we call it shift work. And in the shift work roster there is still regard for, not necessarily the Sabbath, but the concept of one day each seven being a rest day. And men who usually are required to work over the weekends on a continual roster basis, are given by their companies the days off during the week. Their day off may not necessarily be the Sabbath as we consider it, but it's on a shift work basis where they work so many days, they have so many days off.

42:15 I believe in that time if the man does something else on that day off, when God has given it to him through the company, through his union, and the day rests from his specific labours that he prostitutes that day then, I believe God's hand of judgement will come down upon him. That man is still getting his day of rest even though he may be driving the bus on the Sabbath. It's the same with the holograms, it's the same with the petrochemical complexes now. They're all on a seven-day working week. You cannot afford to shut these complexes down.

42:43 However, the companies recognise it and do give the men the days off, so that they do get their rest day. It may not necessarily be the Sabbath, the worship day of God's people. I think this whole concept that Mr. Spence has shared with us must be thrown in the hopper as we wrestle with that.

43:01 And you see, what we're doing is we're recognising there are no simple answers to these things. But the complexity of the problems does not negate these three roots. You see, that's why we keep coming back to them and we say, we're never going to just throw our hands up and say, man, this thing's so complicated, why bother? No, no. God is worthy to be obeyed and his law to be respected, even if we have tremendous problems in resolving the outworking of those principles in the practical experience of life. I may add to that that here again the individual conscience is involved. Some people can ill afford to be absent from the place of worship, even in a work of necessity, once or twice a month. Say it was a nurse.

43:47 A fireman. Somebody else. Who draws weekend duty every other week. Two weekends a month.

43:54 If this person finds that he or she cannot make spiritual progress in that situation, then it's obvious they must look for a change of employment for the interest of their souls. However, there are others who are able to engage in those works of necessity and are able, and this would be again a variety of factors, a spiritual growth, a growth and development, a measure of spiritual independence. Some people have a greater dependence upon the supportive influence of their brethren and their sisters than do others. All of these variables enter in, and that's why again we cannot legislate in these things, but seek to have our own consciences kept sensitive before God in the light of his law, trusting the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom in the specific application of those principles to our specific branch and leaf and fruit circumstances. Yes, now, Mrs. Brown. We have friends who have unconverted husbands and whose husbands say you may not attend church, and is it right to say to them that the higher the law is to obey their husband than to attend church on Sunday?

Wives and Submission to Unbelieving Husbands Regarding Church Attendance

45:11 Well, that's a good question. We all get the question. Here's a woman who is, obligated by the law of God, by the word of God, to be submissive to her husband even if he's not a Christian, 1 Peter 3. Now, the husband says you cannot attend the house of God with the people of God on the Lord's day.

45:34 Should the woman submit to her husband, or should she violate his law because of higher laws? I'll hear again. I don't think there is a yes-no answer. Some women ought to.

45:49 I believe there are situations where there are women who ought to disobey their husbands. I believe there are other cases where they ought not to. And I don't think we can absolute that, because there are too many variables that enter into the picture. For instance, a woman who has proven that she still loves her husband on principle, biblically.

46:10 She loves him. She meets his needs. She cares for his home. It may be a proper thing for her to do, to say, Dear, the reason you're giving that directive is simply to be spiteful.

46:21 I've shown my submission to God in caring for the home, caring for your needs, being a submissive, obedient wife, in all of these areas. But my God tells me I am not to forsake the assembling of myself with his people. And at this point I must obey God rather than you. And I do this in obedience to God, because you are making a requirement that God does not lay upon me through you.

46:48 However, if it's a situation where someone says, it's a situation where someone perhaps has just been freshly converted, and the poor man, his head is reeling, I mean, the wife drank with him, cursed with him, chased around, and all of a sudden he doesn't know how to make, you know, he can't fit this whole thing together. And he may say, Look, that crazy religion business, it's robbing me of a wife. For a period of time, it may be the part of wisdom for her not to be found regularly with God's people, so that he begins to see, well, she's gone nuts on religion, but it's made her a better wife, and all of this. Then she begins to say, Now dear, am I a better wife?

47:26 Well, I can't figure out your crazy religious kick, but I'll tell you one thing, you keep the house neater, the kids are sweeter, and all the rest. She says, Now dear, that's what the Lord's done for me, and if there's going to be that continuous work in me, I need to be found with his people. You see? And then it may be proper then to ease into this matter.

47:44 But there's so many variables, that to say the moment a woman is saved, she ought to defy God, she ought to defy her. No. But I believe there are times when people have given directives that a woman, you know, ought under any circumstance, she ought not to disobey her husband, and to say, I believe it's been unsound counsel. So I've never given blanket direction.

48:04 I've always tried to look at the situation with all of its variables before giving any counsel. And I'm not avoiding the issue and trying to be diplomatic in the wrong sense. Yeah? If there was a higher body, you had to...

48:25 Yes. Well, I do think, I do think we have that classic example there in Acts chapter 5 when Peter said, we ought to obey God rather than man. And there are situations just the same way where God commands general submission of employer to employee. We don't have employer-employee, we have slave-master from which we deduce those principles.

48:42 And Peter says, be submissive to the master, even the one that's nasty and froward. But suppose the same unregenerate heart that made you a slave to God. And Peter says, be submissive to the master even the one that's nasty and froward. But suppose the same heart that makes him unreasonable makes him ask you to do something that's dishonest.

49:00 Well, at that point you have to say, Mr. Employer, Mr. Master, I am sorry. I will not, I will not violate the law of my God.

49:08 Yes, Pastor Grace. I think the answer is correctly put, no or yes. Let me give one example. There was a lady once, the Lord graciously saved her.

49:22 And very well the lady said, well, the Lord graciously saved her. Well, the first thing she did was this. She was in church Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Sunday school, Thursday Bible study, Saturday prayer meeting, Monday prayer meeting. Okay?

49:42 She was there and her husband not saved. Very well, she did that for six weeks. I didn't say anything. I keep on kicking every week.

49:52 So one day I went to her and I said, Madam, I have a word of discouragement for you. So what do you mean? I said, you come to church a bit too often.

50:06 I said, but I am reminded to assemble myself with the saints. I said, yes, Madam, this is a prayer command, but I have discouragement. You are coming to church too often. One, and then I gave the directions.

50:22 I said, well, I have to obey God rather than my husband. I said, yes, Madam, that's true. But that does not work. So she took the principle very graciously.

50:35 But it so happened within six weeks the husband was thinking of a divorce. And so, therefore, the seventh week she stayed home and lived. And the husband said, are you going to church this week? She said, no.

50:54 The pastor has spoken to me and he has said to me, I come to church a bit too often. And he said, why not? And then he laid the direction. He said, that was the seventh week when there would be the end of our household.

51:13 Because I didn't marry church, I married you. Now, then she began implementing the principle. You know what God did later? God honored her by honoring his word.

51:25 And then not only, every morning, he takes her to church, he lifts her from church, and he sits under the table. So therefore, the question is yes and no. And to listen is difficult really to have solidified in a situation like this. Well, thank you for sharing that with us, Pastor Blitz.

Personal Testimony and Concluding Thoughts on Sabbath Work

51:52 Now, we have just about two minutes left. Who had his hand raised first back there? I did. You did.

52:03 All right. Let's go up first, Doug. Fire. Okay.

52:09 Now, you were talking about both the bus drivers and petrochemicals. So, in the past eight and a half years, I've spanned both. And I've had to wrestle starting out as a bus driver with so many drivers. And although I took a lot of people to work, I cringed so we wrestled with this in prayer.

52:37 And the Lord, having brought me through the riots and the works and things that changed my job at the refinery. And for about five or six years, we wrestled with Sunday shift work. And suddenly, where I had no seniority, some Puerto Ricans threatened to bomb the place and had double the job. And I tried to when we came to the point where I wanted to quit the job.

53:10 But with the money being pretty good and the benefits, the Lord used that to hold me still and just to wait upon me. And so, finally, with all this seniority, I gained some new money, just like that. Where I tell us, in years and this brother's all that's about petrochemical companies and things like that, jobs like that, which oblige men to work in the South. Now, this isn't my question, but I personally feel that years ago it was impossible to design this plant so that they could have been shut out on Sunday. But that's besides the point. I've talked to John Spence about this a couple of times. If I understand his position, he's saying that it's all right if the Christian regards another day of the week, the third, the fifth, or whatever it is, as the Christian Sabbath.

54:25 I personally feel that this is a weakening of the position that unconverted man gives his body and mind the opportunity to have a day of rest from his normal activity. He will not be putting himself in that way a built-in judgment upon him by destroying himself, by refusing to acknowledge it. If Mr. Spence was saying that the Christian can just as well keep one day of rest from the Sabbath, then that is a good thing.

55:07 I think that what we're asking for is a time to think about the current situation and to think about what the future of the Christian faith will be.