Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord which engages us this morning comes from our Old Testament lesson (Deuteronomy 5: 12-15, the 3rd Commandment)."Observe/Guard/Keep/Protect the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy." All of you who are here this morning are doing well at keeping this commandment. Your presence here shows it. Therefore I need not preach about this topic. Let us proceed with the offering (leaving the pulpit in jest)�.

Well perhaps there is more to say on the third commandment, both from Scripture and how it applies to us here at Immanuel. To be perfectly honest if someone were to ask me as pastor which of the 10 commandments is most frequently and publicly broken among our baptized membership, it would, in my opinion, be the 3rd commandment. Think of it this way. It's obvious that if our entire membership were here this morning, gladly hearing and learning God's Word, even if you take out those who are ill or shut-in, on vacation, or at the LWML convention, well we'd have to have chairs set up in the atrium and the balcony would be full. Instead we, like so many other churche have less than half our members here. Put still another way. If we had scores of our members who were routinely publicly and unrepentantly murdering and assaulting others, if we had scores of our members publicly committing adultery or stealing, we'd be in congregational shock. We'd be asking the question "What can we do?" Where have we gone wrong? What Scriptures can we point to to bring repentance among our brothers and sisters?

We have somehow elevated the 5th, 6th and 7th (murder, adultery, and stealing) commandments, the "moral" commandments above the others and relegated commandments like the 3rd "Keep the Sabbath Day to the Lord" to a second class status. We excuse ourselves when we fail to hold God's Word sacred. But here in Deuteronomy the 3rd commandment actually holds center stage! In the Deuteronomy listing of the commandments, as well as that in Exodus, the 3rd commandment makes up a full one-third of the word space. It is the longest of the commandments, longer than the 1st and 2nd put together, longer than the 4th through 10th commandments combined. The 3rd commandment is not relegated to some 2nd class status by God. He orders the Israelites, his chosen people, to pause for their own good, to pause every 7th day to remember their spiritual history, to ponder the God who chose them and saved them out of slavery in Egypt. ��

They were to work and work hard for 6 days, but then their Lord provides for spiritual and physical rest. They are not to make work their idol. Even the cattle and the foreigners among them were to get rest. Those who broke the Sabbath publicly were to receive the most serious punishment, the death penalty (see Exodus 31: 15 and Numbers 15: 32-36). The 3rd commandment is not relegated to some 2nd class status, because without keeping the 3rd commandment, we, God's people cannot hear and understand and keep the other nine! But what does this 3rd commandment mean for us today? If we were literally keeping the 3rd commandment like the Jews of Bible times, we'd be meeting on Saturday rather than Sunday. If we were keeping the Sabbath day literally, we'd have to limit how far we could walk and prepare all of our food a day ahead of time. If we were keeping the Sabbath literally we would be spending half our day, not just 1-2 hours hearing and being taught from God's Word. We would spend the other half-day conversing and eating with friends and family. But the Pharisees of Jesus' time had misunderstood and emphasized the "Not Work" aspect of keeping the Sabbath, not remembering that "the Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2: 28) to remember the great salvation and love of Yahweh their God. Jesus chastises them for their legalistic emphasis, declaring that they should rather be listening to Him because He is Lord of the Sabbath.

The emphasis on the Sabbath is modified, but not removed in the New Testament. Christians were taught to avoid making legalistic practices about the Sabbath Day. St. Paul told the Colossians (in 2: 16-17) "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." The first Christians, God's new chosen and saved people, were not to set up legalistic practices as the Pharisees had. But yet they were suppose to meet and teach each other, encouraging one another in Christ. Hebrews chapter 10 (v. 25) "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching." We need that encouragement, we need regular doses of His Word because it is possible to fall away from the faith before Christ returns. Hebrews 2: 1-3 "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?"

Luther encapsulates all of the Scriptural teachings about the Sabbath so remarkably in those words of the Small Catechism: "What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it." (See also the Large Catechism quote). Now I know the questions that come. I was a laymen in the pew for 40 years myself, sometimes asking the same questions: "But Pastor, aren't their legitimate reasons for missing an occasional service?" Sure! If you've got a 101 degree temperature and are coughing and sneezing and nauseous, stay home. Call the church office on Monday and we'll be glad to send out a written copy of the sermon along with a bulletin and other info. Read through a service and God's Word on your own. "But what about vacations?" Please, go worship with other LCMS congregations while you're vacationing. I am always very pleased when a vacationing believer ends up worshiping with us on a Sunday morning. In those situations we get to meet someone who will be a near and dear friend with us in eternity. "But what about work? What if my job requires me to work on Sunday mornings?" Well, that is partly why we have nearly 30 worship services each year not on Sunday mornings as well as hundreds of Bible studies offered at a wide variety of times and days. Also, might it be possible to approach one's boss and request an occasional Sunday morning off? Now, I know I'm preaching to the choir here. Many of you come to hear the Word of the Lord and receive his sacraments 90% or more of the time they are offered. We here today rarely skip an opportunity to come together for His Word, so we don't have any 3rd commandment issues that challenge us. Or do we? If ever, or more accurately, whenever we come to hear God's Word with a smug heart, thinking that we are somehow better than those who do not hear His Word, we come with the wrong motives. Why do we come here Sunday after Sunday? Not because we've earned God's favor by keeping the 3rd commandment or any other commandment. We come because we know we are needy, hungry, sinful. We don't come here to get a pep talk on how to live a better life, or how to win friends and influence people. NO! We come here week after week to be reminded of our need, to be told that we are hungry and in need of the Bread of Life. We come here to know that Jesus is that Bread of Life who gave Himself on the cross so that we can marvel in the eternal Sabbath rest He earned for us. He provides each of us with the privilege of meeting together here to receive his forgiveness.

A few weeks ago I received a phone message from a shut-in requesting that I bring her communion. I had told her that I would be by before I left on vacation and she had read I was leaving on Thursday. She called and left a message late Wednesday afternoon, thinking I was leaving without remembering to commune her. What she didn't know was I was not leaving until Thursday afternoon and was planning to come see her Thursday morning before I left. She apologized for calling, concerned that I thought she was too pushy or something. I said "Please, don't apologize for requesting the Sacrament. I was pleased that you called. Luther actually says in the Small Catechism, 'We (preachers) should preach so that, of their own accord and without any law, the people will desire the sacrament and, as it were, compel us pastors to administer it to them.' I'm really pleased that you recognize your need and so desired the sacrament for the forgiveness of sins and peace with God." Romans 10: 17 "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (NKJV) God knows of our need to hear his word regularly. Our faith is not something that we can maintain internally by our own strength, apart from His Word and Sacraments. Our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven to proclaim and work out this great salvation for us. We have this treasure, this hope in His message (2 Corinthians 4) "to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." Keeping the 3rd commandment is not something we do for God. It is something He has, in His wisdom, given for us to give us His rest and His peace, forever.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7). AMEN.

Closing Pastoral Note: If you are an infrequent attender and listener to God's Word, I strongly encourage you to begin to make time for God and His Word in your life and with us here at Immanuel. The first step, coming back again those first few times, is always the hardest. If you feel guilty about missing, please come and hear of the forgiveness we have in Christ Jesus. Know that when I see someone here who is not frequently here, I am very joyful. I pray that their attendance that Sunday is the beginning of a commitment to hear God's Word frequently. I encourage church leaders and other regular members not to be critical or judgmental when they see someone they haven't seen in a while. I encourage them to rejoice that, like themselves, another fellow Christian has seen their own need to hear from God's Law and Gospel, and to receive the forgiveness of sins that comes through hearing the Word and receiving the Lord's Supper. Your attendance really does help us to reach out to those who do not yet know Jesus Christ. Please come and worship with us, holding God's Word sacred and gladly hearing and learning it. You know that this is pleasing to God. He says so in the Third Commandment.

2nd Note: If you are a non-Lutheran Protestant, you may be wondering why the commandment about the Sabbath Day is referred to as the Third rather than the Fourth. Actually there are three different numbering systems, one Jewish, one Catholic/Orthodox and one Protestant. The sequence is not actually specified in Scripture and each system has its strengths. Luther kept the Roman Catholic system in his catechisms and thus Lutheran have remained with that system. In it the commandment about "Graven images" is not treated as a separate commandment, but incorporated as part of the 1st commandment. We then have two commandments about coveting at the end rather than the Protestant single coveting.