Sinclair B. Ferguson

I think people often make the mistake of thinking that the Sabbath commandment is about one day in the week.

But if you read it carefully, you'll notice it's actually about seven days in the week.

Six days you work, one day you rest.

And actually, if you think about it,

Adam's first full day was his day of rest.

So he was called to live on the basis of a day when he could reflect on God's creation, God's goodness, store his mind with reflections on who God is and how great He is, and then work through the rest of the week on that basis.

And that rhythm is really very important.

We need that space to have our minds decluttered and to have our minds filled with the truth of God's Word.

It's the day when our whole beings are intended to be recalibrated into this weekly rhythm of rest and work and rest and work.

I wonder if you've discovered what you do when the cursor on your computer screen freezes up.

I remember how amazed I was after trying all kinds of things when I found the instruction saying, close the program, turn off the computer, take out the plug for 30 seconds, then reverse the process and reboot.

And lo and behold, things worked very smoothly again.

It's saying close the program of the other six days, turn that off, wait for 30 seconds, reboot, and you'll be recalibrated in such a way that you'll be able to live with greater pleasure for the glory of God.

You know, I think it's one of the saddest things about evangelical Christianity that we see that commandment as probably the darkest of commandments.

It's almost the commandment that you don't mention among evangelical Christians.

And I say it's sad not because I think we should get back to legalism or some dark form of Sabbatarianism, but because we've failed to recalibrate our lives that way.

And actually the evidence of it shows in so many different ways.

There are so many things that we forget because of this one thing that we haven't remembered.

So if you're listening to this on a Monday, put something in the pocket of what you'll wear this coming Sunday, just in case you forget to remember.

All this week we've been thinking together about a letter written by the famous English hymn writer John Newton.