Introduction

I am going to speak today on an Easter theme but with the firm disclaimer that there is no such thing as Easter if we are speaking of a once a year memorial of the resurrection. Easter is every Sunday because Sunday is the Lord's Day (Rev. 1:10). It belongs to the Lord Jesus in a distinct and special way. It is His day, not ours but His. And it is His day in the cycle of weeks to the end of time.

It has this place in history because it is an inaugural and thus a memorial day. When He rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Sunday), He inaugurated His reign as King in terms of accomplished redemption. There is a sense in which Jesus did not become Lord and King until the resurrection. By the resurrection (Acts 2:32), God made the crucified Jesus "both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36; by the resurrection Jesus was made the capstone in the building of redemption, Acts 4:10-11; by the resurrection He became the Son of God, the only begotten God, Acts 13:30-33 with Jn. 1:18).

Thus by His resurrection Jesus became the Lord of the Sabbath as God incarnate and a descendent of King David. Surely, He is now Lord of the Sabbath in the fullest sense beyond how He exercised that Lordship in the days of His humiliation. He is now the Sabbath King exalted. He was exalted on the day of His resurrection when He was begotten, that is, when He was made the preeminent one as redeemer, having completed His saving work on earth.

This day of exaltation and inauguration of accomplished redemption is clearly the new wine of fulfillment of what had been promised for centuries in the OT promise of the coming of the kingdom. Therefore, the weekly Sabbath of the fourth commandment must like an old wineskin give way to the new wineskin of the Sunday Sabbath. There is still a wineskin, structure, and a law structure of kingdom truth. But it must have a new form that is suitable to the presence of the new wine of the resurrection. So the man Christ Jesus, the Son of Man, is exalted to Sabbath Kingship and He rules the Sabbath on Sunday.

Now remembering the Sabbath Day to keep it holy means remembering the Lord's Day to keep it holy. The Lord's Day is none other than the Christian Sabbath. It is the way that the six and one pattern established for man at creation is now to be observed. As the image of God man is bound to the pattern of working six days and resting one. Therefore, we should fully recognize our obligation to keep the Sunday Sabbath holy unto Jesus, the Lord our God. This is simply a new wineskin form of one of the Ten Commandments.

Thus today I want to address this theme of remembering, which begins deep in the recesses of our thought life. How do we remember the Lord's Day Sabbath? How are we to think about it? What mindset should govern our outlook and conduct on this Day? What attitudes should prevail? How should you and I feel about the day? We remember the Lord's Day Sabbath to keep it holy when we take up the day with faith, love, hope, and joy. Attitude is everything. It is the key to finding the light yoke versus a heavy burden; it is the way to happy holiness, to happiness on the Lord's holy day (with a very different tone from that created by the pharisaic yoke!). We are drawing here from a treasure store of things new and old.

1A. The first attitude is faith

Faith is submission to the Lordship of Christ. Faith acknowledges His Lordship on His day. It means acknowledging His claim to your time in His messianic office as Lord of the Sabbath and redeemer of God's elect.

This is illustrated in the example of Israel with regard to the manna (Ex. 16). They were to gather the manner on six days and none was provided on the seventh. Each day they were to take only what was needed for that day (v. 18), keeping none over to the next day (v. 19). But on the sixth day they were to gather twice the usual amount (v. 22) and keep it over for "a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord" (v. 23; this is not a case for working double time on Saturday for the issue is "as much as is needed" day by day in a six/one pattern).

It was a test to see if they would follow God's instructions for living by means of the "bread from heaven" (v. 4). When they did not follow the Lord's instructions, then the manna became "full of maggots and began to smell" (v. 20).

Remarkably this text travels like an arrow from the OT to the NT to pierce our hearts as people upon whom the ends of the ages have come. (1 Cor. 10:11, "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come," cf. v. 3) Exodus 16 is a reminder to us that God structures our time and the supply of our needs in order to test, to prove, and hence to improve us. Some lessons leap from the text. a) In living out our days and working to supply our needs, there is one need that towers above all others. Namely, we need the Bread of heaven (Jn. 6:32-33, cf. "bread of heaven feed me till I want no more"). We need Him more than we need anything else. b) We need Him in the way that He is given to us. We need Him as Sabbath King. We need Him every day and in a special way we need Him as He is given to us on the Sunday Sabbath. c) We have a warning that shows that all of our trials are controlled trials. When things that we have are eroded away by maggots by loss of income, by increase of expenses, etc., we know that what remains is what we need. We cannot judge anyone else in this regard or make simple comparisons. Each of us lives before the Lord as an individual in a very personal walk. The Lord's purposes for our good and His glory determine what we need. Therefore, the maggots teach us what we really need. They teach us that we need our risen Sabbath King and we need to follow His instructions regarding the six and one pattern and keeping the Sunday Sabbath holy.

Bottom line, it is a matter of faith in living out the days of our lives and in keeping the Lord's day holy. In this way we remember His day to keep it holy.

2A. Second is the attitude of love

It is Jesus who spoke of love to God as the first and greatest commandment with love to your neighbor as second and next greatest commandment (Matt. 22:37-40). All of Scripture hangs on these two commandments (v. 40). His citation of the first and greatest commandment comes from Deuteronomy 6:5 where there is a very specific context indicated by reference to "these commandments that I give you today" (6:6, for you and your children) and "these …commands" (6:1). Moses is referring to the Ten Commandments (Deut. 5:6-21, "these are the commandments," v. 22). The love command is tied inseparably to the Ten Commandments.

Simply ask, "how do I love God and my neighbor?" and you find your answer in the Ten Commandments. These ten principles of life, ten solid stones stretching across the river from this life to glory come to one principle: love. You love God by attending to these ten words.

Therefore the Sabbath commandment (the 4^th commandment) in its new wineskin form as the Lord's Day is a particular way of loving the Lord God (Deut. 6:14, the Sabbath is "to the Lord your God"). Like Thomas you say to Jesus, "my Lord and my God" as you seek to honor Him by honoring His day (the day that belongs to God belongs to this man Jesus, the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath, Mk. 2:28). You remember by setting your affections on the Sabbath King on His day. Love is a wholehearted and affectionate choice for Christ.

3A. Another attitude relevant to keeping the Lord's day holy is hope

Of course, hope is not wishing or wishful thinking. It is a mindset filled with anticipation and expectation (recall my professors example of sampling the chicken soup before going to the dinner table).

As such hope is built into Sabbath keeping from its very institution in creation week. After creating in six days God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it (Gen. 1:1-2:2). Why did He do this? He did this we are told because on the seventh day He rested from His work of creation having placed the heavens and the earth on their foundations (2:3). It was an inaugural day of entering into His royal rest of Sabbath Kingship (cf. Isa. 66:1-2, sitting down on the heavens as His throne and propping His feet on the earth as His footstool). Therefore, every seventh day is to be set aside to remember the Creator; it is a rest of worship with God in His rest. But there is movement from work to rest in recurring cycles showing that history as a whole moves from work on earth to rest with God in glory (cf. Heb. 4:1, 3-4).

Thus the weekly Sabbath is not only an opportunity of worship in a special God appointed way but also a sign of the great goal of history when all our labors and toils will be completed and we will enter into eternal Sabbath rest. It instills hope along the way by reminding us week by week that our life is not going around in an endless and meaningless circle. Our lives have forward movement. The Sabbath teaches us to anticipate the great goal and grand finale of human history. The very heavens and the earth will be rolled up like a scroll and carried away forever into God's rest. So we work, toil; face many trials, ups and downs, and challenging ruts. But the grand finale is coming when all the saints will join together in praise to the Sabbath King.

Sunday Sabbath rest as a new wineskin teaches us that we will reach the grand end of history safely because the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. He finished His work, was crucified, died, and was raised from the dead to give us a great salvation (Heb. 2:3). Because of our risen King we eagerly wait in hope for our adoption as children. As our redeemer, Jesus causes us to anticipate the redemption not just of our souls but of our bodies (Rom. 8:23-24).

So in great hope we set our hearts to keep the Lord's Day Sabbath holy and doing something we need is cultivated. "You've got to have hope, miles and miles of hope." The Sabbath has always been and remains a sign of consummation that cultures hope in abundance. It is a marvelous reminder that you are going somewhere, you are going onward, forward, and upward to rest with Jesus, the Lord your God. You remember the Sabbath Day when you set it aside to do this looking ahead in the way appointed: you look ahead each week to rest with the Lord on His day and weekly you look ahead to promised consummation rest.

4A. Therefore, the final attitude is joy

At its center is the work of Christ, the Bread from heaven. He is the center. It is His day. Because it is the day that He has made, we are to rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24). Psalm 118 speaks of the day that the rejected stone was made the head of the corner, resurrection day (Acts 4:10-11). It is the day that Jesus became Lord and Christ (Acts 13:33; 2:36) in the sense of accomplished redemption.

So we are to come to His day with joy. Hardly separable from love, we are to "call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable (Isa. 58:13). What you call it shows and cultivates an attitude and thus a way of remembering. And our Lord promises that in this way we will find joy in a special way: "then you will find your joy in the Lord" (Isa. 58:14).

If you think of the duty to remember the Lord's day to keep it holy in negative terms, then the problem is not with the day or with the law (as in a false law/grace tension). The problem is in your attitude. At its core, it is not a day of "cannots," "thou shalt nots," and "do nots" The "nots" are simply door openers to the throne room of Christ on His day. You have to accent the positive. It is not a day of strict formalism and rigid lifeless piety. It is not a time of walking on thin ice fearing the chilling waters below. The Lord's Day Sabbath is not a cold damp day. Rather it is a warm and toasty day. It involves gathering in a special way with Christ around the flames of His love knowing like the disciples that He ate the fish and bread after He was raised from the dead. He was raised in body from the dead. He is the fristfruits of all who sleep in the Lord. Note the language of sleep. For the believer, death is like putting a child to sleep. We say good night and as we tuck them in we say "I'll see you in the morning." How much more can it be said when we bury a fellow Christian, "We'll see you in the morning, in the grand finale of creation history. We'll see you again on resurrection morning."

This is the prevailing joy of keeping Sunday holy. It is faith, love, and hope spilling over into abounding joy for we know that death is swallowed up in victory:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (KJV, 1 Cor. 15:51-58).

So my friends in Christ, take up your labors on earth in the six days and rest comfortably with the Lord on His holy seventh day. But do so heartily with great vigor and joy for your labor is not in vain in the Lord. As we march to Zion let us set the Lord's Day aside as a delight and honorable to thus surround the throne with songs of sweet accord. "Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song of sweet accord, join in a song of sweet accord, and thus surround the throne" of Jesus our matchless and marvelous Sabbath King.

Concluding remarks

1) We need these attitudes toward the Lord's Day Sabbath. Let me exhort you to seek to keep the day holy by faith, love, hope and joy. Otherwise you run the risk of turning the day into a dead letter of the law. The Lord is not pleased with mere formalism. That is not remembering unto holiness.

2) Be on guard by means of right and healthy attitudes so that you are not robbed of your treasures both new and old. Recall the maggots that destroyed the manna and be reminded that any loss is a controlled trial to teach you what you truly need, the Bread of heaven and obedience to His instructions.

3) This is a special duty to keep to the Lord your God. It is you with the Lord Jesus in a special time that He has ordained. If you had a special guest come to your home like the President of the United States, you would make special preparations wouldn't you? And when he came, you would give special care as to how your time would be spent, wouldn't you? What would you feel if the President came to your home for a day but you were not there for whatever reason?

Do you have the spiritual eyes to see the majesty of the Lord Jesus who pays you a special visit on His day? As Lord of every day, He owns this day in a distinct way. So should you. Consider this: remembering the Lord's Day to keep it holy is a personal privilege, honor, and delight. Since He has sanctified it, we should not make it common; that is forgetting the sanctity of the day rather than remembering it.

4) Accent the positive

Isaiah tells you not to speak your own words. But the negative is simply a good broom that sweeps unnecessary clutter out of the way. To do what? It paves the way to speak God's word and its application to your life. Speak of the sermon, speak of what you read, converse in the things of God. "Good discourse brings holy truths into our memories, and fastens them upon our hearts" (Watson). Husbands are responsible to take the lead in this (as all in authority).

Then you will find the easy yoke and the light burden of the law. Then you will find the Lawgiver, His love, His nurture and His joy. Then you will find all you need in what you need, that is, in the One you need, Jesus Christ the Sabbath Lord of glory.

Benediction

May we fall down before the majesty of our God in due recognition of our sinfulness, of our need of His grace, and of His provision for all that we need in Jesus Christ. May God teach you by His Holy Spirit to cling to the Lord Jesus, who loves you, gave Himself for you, and was raised from the dead on the first day of the week as the Lord of the Sabbath for you. May the Spirit teach you to honor your risen Savior by remembering the Lord's Day to keep it holy. To God be the glory forever, Amen.