17TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

In our Savior, dear Christian friends.

Among the many laws which God through Moses imposed upon the nation of Israel was the law of the Sabbath day and Sabbath year.

The Sabbath day was the seventh day of the week; we call it the Saturday. God speaks of that in the Third Commandment, "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." Ex 20:8-10. From other portions of Scripture we see that the Israelites could make no visits, bear no burdens, gather no wood, nor bake, nor cook, nor kindle a fire on the Sabbath day. All this was so strictly forbidden that the death penalty was passed upon him who worked. Once when an Israelite gathered wood in the desert, he was upon God's express command stoned to death.

Not only did God command the Israelites to observe every seventh day, but as we see from Leviticus 25, every seventh year they had to celebrate a Sabbath year. Moses informs us that even the land had to observe the Sabbath year. The Israelites could neither sow nor reap, neither prune the vine nor gather its grapes. Whether the Israelites were the master or servant, day laborer or family member, an Israelite or an alien, they could eat whatever grew of itself.

Besides the seventh year, the Israelites had to observe a second year at the end of the 49th year. This was the jubilee year, the year of general pardon. Not only were they forbidden to sow or reap, but everyone should regain his possessions. Land purchased from an Israelite had to be returned during the jubilee year. Slaves had to be freed. Debtor and slave were all freed

at once at the beginning of this year; the impoverished and displaced persons were immediately returned to the inheritance of their fathers.

God had four purposes in view in giving this command on the celebration of the Sabbath days and Sabbath years; 1) The Israelites should bear this heavy burden in order to awaken in them a yearning for that freedom which the Messiah would bring; 2) All workers, especially the poor, should have a vacation, and the unfortunate and oppressed should regain their property and thus greed, avarice, and oppression should be controlled; 3) The Israelites should be reminded of the fact that they are called to be a holy people who should bring their time and possessions as a sacrifice to the Lord; and finally 4) The Sabbath days, as well as the Sabbath years, should be pictures of God's rest after finishing the work of Creation and prototypes of the Messiah's rest after the work of redemption was completed, the rest of the believers of the new covenant, and the eternal rest of the blessed in heaven.

You see from this that since the command of the Sabbath days and Sabbath years were partly a disciplinary law, were partly prototypes, we Christians of the New Testament times are freed from them. Of course, we Christians now celebrate the first day of the week, the Sunday, not because God has commanded the institution of the Sunday, but as a free, human, yet good church and Christian ordinance in remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior, from the dead.

That this is true we see from several clear passages in the New Testament Paul writes in Col 2:16-17, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Again he writes in the 14th chapter of Romans that a strong Christian in true knowledge "esteemeth every day alike." He considers no day in itself more holy than another; he considers every day of the week as holy as Saturday or Sunday.

However, you will say, Hasn't God given us the Third Commandment, "Thou shalt sanctify the holy day?" Isn't the Christian of the New Testament obligated to keep this commandment? I answer, Of course; yes, woe to him who wants to be a Christian and not observe the Sabbath! This, however, needs further explanation. Let us consider that this morning.

The text, Luke 14:1-11.

We hear in this Gospel how the Pharisees watched Christ because of the observance of the Sabbath day. and how Christ explained it. Permit me, therefore, to present to you

THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH WHICH GOD DEMANDS OF CHRISTIANS

I. Not an Outward Observance as much as an Inner.

II. Not one Connected with a Certain Day, but a Daily Observance.

I.

If we read the history of the people of Israel as it is told in the writings of the Old Testament, we will find that most of the Israelites were of the opinion that,;when they outwardly observed the works which were commanded them, they had done everything which God. demanded of them. God commanded them to be circumcised,. observe certain outward purifications, offer certain sacrifices, and stop working on the Sabbath day in their earthly calling. If they did this,

most supposed that they satisfied God and pleased him. This, however, was a gross delusion which the prophets of all times often and earnestly reprimanded. They showed the people that God above all looked at the heart, faith, and love. If these were missing, no outward -works would satisfy him. Jeremiah, for example, speaks to the circumcised Jews, "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart...lest my fury come forth like fire." Jer 4:4. "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved." 4:14. Isaiah writes, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord. Who hath required this at your hand?...Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well." 1:11,12,16,17. Therefore Samuel says to Saul, "To obey is better than sacrifice." 1 Sam 15:23. The Prophet Hosea says in the name of the Lord, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." 6:6. David knew this well and says in his prayer of penitence, "Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." Ps 51:16,17. The prophets reprimanded the Israelites just a severely when they supposed that they observed Sabbaths and feast days in a God-pleasing manner merely by resting from all work. The Prophet Amos says in the name of the Lord, "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies...Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols." Amos 5:21,23. Yes, the Lord in the Prophet Malachi calls all outward celebration of the Sabbaths and feast days without a pure heart dung, and says, "I will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts." Mai 2:3.

The Pharisees of whom our text speaks were of the same mind. They were so strict about doing absolutely nothing on the Sabbath, nothing; which did not belong to the public worship on the Sabbath day, that they were even more strict than the law of Moses, and declared that Christ's doing good on the Sabbath day was a most flagrant violation of the Sabbath. When Christ, according to our text, accepted the invitation of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread in his house, we read, "They watched him." V.l. In order to tempt Christ, they had a man sick of the dropsy near at hand. What did Christ do? He immediately put a question to the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" V. 3. No one dared answer; no one trusted himself to prove that it was wrong to heal on the Sabbath but no one wanted to admit that it was right. Since all remained silent, Christ took the man sick of the dropsy, healed him, let him go, and asked this question of these hypocrites, "Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day?" V. 5. Smitten in their conscience, all the guests present observed a deep silence follow upon this question. Their conscience told them that Christ had spoken the truth, and that their outward strictness, in observing the Sabbath was nothing but hypocrisy.

But Christ did not let matters rest. When the guests who acted so piously "chose out the chief rooms,""he reprimanded their ridiculous pride publicly and showed them that only a humble person pleased God, that all their outward strictness in observing the Sabbath was an abomination to God, if the true inward Sabbath, namely, stopping all sinful desires and inclination of their hearts, the thirst for honor, their love of amusements, and avarice did not also come.

My friends, you see from this, the Sabbath law, even in the Old Testament times, had such;a spiritual meaning. Now, if it had such a spiritual meaning then, it has the same meaning in the time of the new covenant even more.

Although a Christian knows that. God did not institute the Sunday, and did not forbid working on Sunday, that this is rather a human church ordinance, every Christian will certainly strictly observe the Sunday. He will never let his daily work get the upper hand. He will carefully stay away from all works which are not a necessity of love. He will take no pleasure trips on this day, much less visit places of public amusement, but go to church and on this day, at home and among his good friends, busy himself especially with God's Word and divine matters. Though a Christian may observe this day strictly by not working at all, this is not the observance of the .Sabbath which the Lord demands of the Christian. Yes, a person may perhaps never have labored,on Sundays, perhaps never took part in worldly amusements, may oh the other hand have attended every church service, and yet he can never have observed the New Testament Sabbath.

Luther briefly and clearly expresses the true, real nature of the New Testament Sabbath in his hymn, "That Man a Godly Life Might Live," in the words, "Keep hand and heart from labor free That God may so work in thee." (287,4). By nature all are in the same boat; sometimes this, sometimes that storm of sinful inclination or passion buffets them about. By nature man wanders about in this world, seeking peace and never finding it. He has an eternal hankering for a lost place of rest which he never finds.: For that reason one seeks riches, another pleasures, a third honor. Yet even this goal few, reach and even if they attain it, they do not find that rest and peace which they hoped for. Man finds true rest and peace only if he rests in God and God in him.

My friends, you see from this, only that man celebrates the New Testament Sabbath who stops chasing after the vain pleasures of this world, stops trying to become rich,stops running after sinful pleasures, stops seeking honor, in short, stops his sinful passions and finds in God, in his grace and communion, the gratification of all his wishes.

You must examine yourself according to this, if; you want to know whether you have begun to observe the true Christian Sabbath; whether you no longer seek your fortune in honor; among men, as the Pharisees, or in earthly things, in worldly lusts, but whether you have already found it in God and his grace; and, even if all earthly things are taken: away from you, whether you can say, I have not lost the best, yes, I have lost nothing, for I still have God and rest in his arms.

Everyone must come to such an inward observance of the Sabbath here on this world; otherwise, he does not celebrate it in eternal rest. Only through true repentance does a person celebrate that kind of a Sabbath. First of all, he must come to a true alarm over his sins and indeed, such an alarm in which, he cannot rest, until he can say:

Now I have found the firm foundation

Which holdsmine anchor ever sure;

'Twas laid before the world's creation

In Christ my Savior's wounds secure;

Foundation which unmoved,shall stay

When heaven and earth will pass away. 385,1)

II.

My friends, the celebration of the Sabbath which God demands also from the Christians of the New Testament, is not only not so much of an external as an inner observance, but secondly it is not one connected to a definite day but is a daily observance.

Over no other teachings are such, false notions held for more than the past two hundred years, even in the midst of the Lutheran Church, than over the teaching of the Sabbath. Most have .believed that as God instituted the Saturday for the Old Testament, he has fixed the Sunday for the New. And there are many who, when they never work on Sunday and if possible go twice to church and at times to the confessional service and to Holy Communion, think that thus they have fully done their Christian duties, even though during the week they strive almost alone for earthly things, conduct no family devotions, yes, even never pray in the morning or the evening, before or after meals. They suppose that they have six days to sacrifice to the world and their flesh and God would gladly be satisfied if they offer him the seventh. Six days during the week they want to be heathen, and on Sunday's be a Christian.

There are still others who know very well that the Sabbath of the Old Covenant has been set aside and that the Sunday has not been instituted by God but by the Church; so they imagine that they need celebrate none, not even the Sunday. To be sure, these are more wicked than the former. For whilst the former at least are legalistic Sunday-Christians, these, on the other hand, are lawless seven-day-a-week-heathen.

Both understand God's Word falsely according to their blind, evil mind and the inclinations of their heart.

Of course, it is true that God did not institute the Sunday as he did the Sabbath; therefore, the worship of all those is lost who place their righteousness before God in their strict observance of the Sunday. However, we dare not suppose that a Christian is, therefore, no longer obligated to God to celebrate any day. Definitely not! In the last chapter of his prophecy Isaiah predicted that in the times of the New Testament there rather would always be "one Sabbath to another," that therefore for Christians all would be a Sabbath. St. Paul confirms this when he says to those who in the manner of the Jews observed, a special day, "For none of us liveth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." Rom 14:7,8.

Consequently you see: our entire life should be the Lord's; therefore, if a person wants to be a Christian, he must celebrate the Sabbath every day; his entire life and all his works must be a service to God, that is, he must do everything in the name of the Lord and to his honor, in faith and in love.

And he who does this will gladly observe the Sunday instituted by the Church; he will freely and without compulsion dismiss all earthly cares and business on the Sunday in order to hear God's Word in the Lord's house, never neglect it to serve his flesh, and then also busy himself the rest of the day with divine matters. But a true Christian is not satisfied with that. He will turn his own house into a church in which he with his family serves God. Not only will he begin the morning and end the evening with prayer to God, not only never sit down at the table nor leave it without praying; he will also read God's Word for himself and with his family daily every time he can tear himself free from his earthly business. Day and night the flame of faith, love, and hope will burn upon the altar of his heart, and his dearest wish is to be and remain in body and soul for time and eternity God's possession.

If you examine yourself on this basis, my dear hearers, what would you find? Are there also such Sunday-Christians among us who want to give God the seventh day but want to offer the six weekdays to the world and their flesh? Moreover, are there perhaps even those among us who understand Christian freedom

in such a way that, besides the weekdays they can also offer the Sunday to their flesh? But where are those who celebrate the Sabbath every day? whose house is a temple, whose chamber a chapel, whose life a continual service to God, whose family a church at home, and whose heart is an altar full of the constantly glowing coals of devotion, faith, and love?

Oh my friends, do not deceive yourselves! The very reason why Christ came into the world is that he could bring into this restless, quarrelsome world that inner, constant Sabbath of the soul, so that we may rest in God and God in us. Only if we let this work in us and preserve it are we true Christians. Blessed are we then! even if here we have not yet entered into perfect rest, even if here our peace of soul is still often disturbed by the remains of our sin and unbelief, by the enticements and threats of the world, by outward tribulation and inner temptations, Scripture calls to us, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God," Heb 4;9, namely in heaven; this will be perfect and undisturbed.

With this comfort yourselves, you tired, warring Christian. Keep on working and struggling confidently; in a short time you will receive your holiday; soon the painful workdays of this earthly life will be ended; if you have remained faithful, the eternal Sabbath in the temple of heaven will dawn with your death; there you will not have to bear the day's burden and heat any more; there you will no longer have to eat your bread in the sweat of your face; for "blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."

True, your body will lie a short time in the grave and decay, but on Judgment Day you will again receive it wondrously glorified and don it as a beautiful festive garment which you will never again lay aside; for then with the angels and the elect, you celebrate the eternal jubilee year in the real promised land, in the Canaan of the heavenly Paradise. Amen.

- - - - - - -