day no. 17,485: labor days (exhortation outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Call to Confession

September 6, 2026

"Labor Days"

THE TEXT

Our text this morning is Exodus 20:9-11, these are the words of God.

“Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

INTRODUCTION

Tomorrow is the first Monday of September, which means that it is Labor Day weekend. According to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Labor Day is quote “an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.” In other words, once a year we set aside a day to honor the irreplaceable and essential efforts of the American worker by proving that we all can go a day without them. During COVID some of us discovered that our contributions to the economy were not essential, but on Labor Day, everyone gets to join in on the fun.

All jokes aside, labor is a gift of God and something that ought to be honored. God provides us with life, breath, and everything else so that we might turn a profit on it in providing for ourselves and for our loved ones. So, the question is not “SHOULD we honor the labors of others?,” but “HOW should we honor them?” Is one day a year adequate? No. God sees our Labor Day and He raises us a Lord’s Day. If you think the government is good for giving us one day off per year, wait ‘til you hear about the goodness of God is giving us one day off per week.

We have been celebrating Labor Day as a nation since June 28, 1894, when President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday of every September a federal holiday. That means that tomorrow will be the 122nd Labor Day in our nation’s history, which is nearly half of our existence. Labor Day is “a long standing tradition.” But you know what’s an even longer standing tradition? The Sabbath. God created it on the seventh day of existence. It is as old as time itself. There has never been a week in our world that did not have its Sabbath.

And why did He do that? Jesus tells us in Mark 2:27-28, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Man was made before the Sabbath and the Sabbath was made for the benefit of man. God does not need a break, but men do, so He saw fit to give us a day off and reinforced its importance by taking the day off Himself. At that point, remember, everything was very good. So, if it is good for God to honor the Sabbath, how much more good is it for man to do so? Every day of every week  belongs to Christ – always has, always will. He is the Lord of them all and He is a good Master. Christ is King and He is kind. So, He gives us six days to work and one to rest. That is one of the many things we are doing here this morning. We are enjoying the fruit of our labors and we are glorifying the God who makes us fruitful. This, saints, is the chief end of man and it is a foretaste of things to come.

We have gathered to worship our God with our people and to offer back to Him the first and best of what we were able to produce over the course of the last six days. 1 Cor 16:2, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.” Every week God gives us six days to prosper. Some weeks are more prosperous than others and some people are more prosperous than others, but however prosperous you are in general or this past week was in particular, we all set aside the first and best of it as a way of saying, “Thank You,” to God for all of it. We prosper according to His will. He does not bid you to bring what you do not have, He bids you to bring the first and the best of what He helped you produce.“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Cor. 15:58). 

The command to rest one day is predicated upon the command to work for six. Honoring the Sabbath is not merely a matter of NOT working today, it is a matter of working hard the other days. We do not work five days for two days of rest. We work six days off of one day of rest. Note the difference. In the modern mind, work is what you do to earn some rest. In the mind of God, rest is what we do to get ready for work. Consider this: what day was Adam made? The sixth. So, when Adam saw the sunset for the first time it was on the night of the sixth day and the first sunrise he ever saw was on the morning of the seventh. In other words, Adam’s first full day was a Sabbath. So, what did he do that first full day? He rested. He entered into the joy of his Master. He filled his soul up with gratitude and when the sun rose on the eighth day of existence, he got to work. This is the pattern of God’s people: we work from rest, not for it. We do not join the rest of the world in working for the weekend, we join with the saints to huddle up before we break to get back to it.

Consider Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Just as we work out our salvation, not for it, so we work from rest, not for it. Faith and work go together, but faith always comes first and work always comes next. We live in a world where a Man has risen from the dead. This is His world. So, we rest on His Day and then we work for Him on the other six.

So, how does this all relate to Labor Day? Good question. If your employer only requires five days of work from you, great. Give to your employer that which belongs to your employer, but understand that you still owe God a sixth. The labor unions do not determine our work weeks, God does. Christ is the King of the calendar and the Lord of labor. So, corporate may not require anything of you tomorrow, but Christ does. Colossians 3:22-24, “Obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” So, enjoy the days away from your employer’s oversight, but remember, you do not ultimately work for them, you work for God, and He never looks away.

If that sounds like a threat, consider 2 Chronicles 16:9 “The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, (why? to look for people who are slacking off so He can zap ‘em? or to look for people who look like they’re having too much fun so He can bust up their party? No!) he eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him.” God offers His strong support to those who are blameless in their labor. So, are you blameless? We are all about to confess that we are not. So, where does that leave us? Flat on our faces and feeling bad? No. After kneeling to accept the blame for our sins, we will rise to hear the Good News that Jesus has taken away all of that blame. So much so, in fact, that in Him, we are blameless in the eyes of God. And that means He is looking to help us, not to punish us. He is looking to reward whatever He can, not looking to condemn whatever He can’t. Far from looking to catch you out, He is looking to bless you and to keep you and to make His face shine upon you and to give you peace.

So, tomorrow is a federal holiday, but is it a holy day? That depends on who your Head is. If Christ is your federal head, today is a holiday and tomorrow you get to work. If Christ isn’t your head, enjoy your day off; you have your reward – eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die. But we do not live by the days off of our employers alone, but by every Sabbath that comes from God. So, do not neglect to rest as is the habit of some. Come to His Table with His people every week and enjoy the meal He has worked hard to prepare for you. Six days a week the rule is, “Those who won’t work, don’t eat,” but on the Lord’s Day, the rule is, “Those who won’t rest, don’t eat.”

CALL TO CONFESSION

Well, since we are often more driven by the concerns of the corporate calendar than we are by the blessings of the Christian week and more anxious to work for those who watch down here than we are to work for the One who watches from above, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins. So, if you are able, please kneel with me to confess your sins, first privately, then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.

CORPORATE CONFESSION

Most holy and merciful Father, we acknowledge before You our sinful nature and our many offenses. We are prone to do evil and slow to do good. You alone know how often we have sinned in wandering from Your way, in wasting Your gifts, in forgetting Your love. Lord, we are ashamed and sorry for all the ways that we have displeased You. Father, teach us to hate our rebellious acts, cleanse us from our secret faults, and forgive our sins for the sake of Your Son. Help us to love You with all our heart and mind and strength. And give us the power of Your Holy Spirit so that we may walk in Your ways and serve You all of our days.

DECLARATION OF PARDON

Arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from Galatians 2:16, “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” We do not work for anything so small as a three day weekend, we work for the glory of God and the Christian calendar. Christ is Lord of our labors and in Him we hear the Father say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” So, today we rest because Christ is Lord and tomorrow we will work because Christ is Lord, because in Him our sins are forgiven…THANKS BE TO GOD!

Now, let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise!

day no. 17,484: principles govern princes

"For princes are ordained to do good, not to do evil: to take away evil, not to increase it: to give example of well doing, not to be the procurers of evil: to procure the wealth and benefit of their subjects, and not to work to their hurt or undoing." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Princes are commanded by Christ to prosecute evil and to promote good. So, if they refuse to prosecute evil or even worse, promote it, they are disobeying God and any of their people who disobey them and their wicked promotions do so by obeying Christ. Furthermore, if the princes are indifferent to what is good or even worse, prosecute it, they are disobeying God and any of their people who disobey them and their wicked restrictions do so by obeying Christ.

Romans 13:7

Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

Princes are people too. They owe tribute to God and are obligated to conform to His customs. They must fear Him before anything else, including the fear of losing power, and they must honor Him before they seek honor for themselves.

"Antiochus, the third king of Asia, considering that he was above the people, so the laws were above him, wrote general letters to all the cities of his country, that if they should perceive that any letters should require anything contrary to the laws, they should think that those letters were obtained without his consent, and therefore they should not obey them." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

The king is not above the law, but is bound to it as any other men. The order is lex rex, not rex lex. In other words, the king is not above the Law, the Law is above the king,

"It will be said that although kings and princes cannot make laws, but with the consent of the people, they may dispense with any positive law, by reason that a long time ago they used to, and prescribed so to do: for long custom makes a law. To this it may be answered that evil customs (be they never so old) are not to be suffered, but to be utterly abolished: and none may prescribe to do evil, whether king or subject." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Long customs do not make laws. Old societal habits ought to be considered just as any fence, as Chesterton once reminded us, was put up for a reason; and so, we must understand that reason before we make the decision to move it or take it down completely. If a country has a long and storied history of consenting to its king as the highest authority beyond which there is no appeal, that custom ought to come down. There is a King of kings and a Lord of lords and a nation with a track record of ignoring that needs to have its records expunged and a new foundation laid upon which to build a new history going forward.

"If princes and governors would show themselves to be half as wise as they would have men take them to be, and by the example of others learn what mischief might happen to themselves, they would not (if they might) claim, much less execute any such absolute authority. No, neither would their counselors (if they loved them) maintain them in it: nor would the subjects suffer their prince to do what he lusted for." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

If the elites were as elite as they try to convince us they are, they would be the first to acknowledge and aggressively confirm the limits of their authority. Only authors have ultimate authority and no one made himself anymore than any nation can claim to be its own maker. A child cannot be his own forefather, but he can walk in their footsteps.

Good laws derive from a good God. Any system that does not go over the king's head is doomed for his crown cannot bear the weight of the world even if he aspires to rule it.

day no. 17,483: the walking dead

"God's word, will and commandment is, that he that willfully kills a man, shall also be killed by man: that is, the magistrate. But this law has not been observed and all ways executed, but kings and princes upon affection have dispensed and broken it, granting life and liberty to traitors, robbers, murderers, and etc." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Letting the dead live is a surefire way to destroy a society. We live among the walking dead. We have mothers who have murdered their children walking among us. They work in the cubicle next to us. They teach our children. They cut you off in traffic. We have rapists living a few doors down from us. They hand you your order through the drive thru window and sit in the computer lab at your local public library. We have kidnappers and child molesters occupying officers or political power and playing parts in our movies and television shows. All of these, in a God-honoring, just society would be in the ground. Blood guilt struts around in broad daylight and we all suffer for it.

When the magistrates refuse to execute their office, the land it flooded with guilt and shame. They are responsible for the ruin of the world. Not all sins are crimes and not all crimes are sins, but some sins are crimes that render the life of the offender forfeit. The fact that they are walking around means our debts roam around unpaid and we are morally bankrupt.

"No, God and the commonwealth have had no greater enemies. They have added murder to murder, mischief to mischief, and of private malefactors, have become public, and of men killers, they have at length grown to be destroyers of their country, yes and many times those that have been saved from hanging and other just pains of the law." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

Ecclesiastes 8:11 (ESV)

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

day no. 17,482: luciferian presumption

"That a man's servant may be wiser than his master, that he may be more just than his master, that he may see what is more profitable and necessary to be done than his master, as commonly happens: and therefor he may have some apparent cause to alter or break his masters commandment. But to say that any creature is, or that any creature would seem in word or deed, to be more wise than God, more just than God, more prudent and circumspect than God, or knows what is better for the creature than the Creator Himself (as it must be said, that He does, that takes upon himself to break or dispense with God's will and commandment) what a horrible blasphemy is it? What Luciferian presumption is it?" — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

No earthly authority is absolute. It is easy to imagine a command you cannot in good conscience obey or a prohibition you must in good conscience break. Anyone can see the caveats when saying things like, "Children, obey your father and mother," (unless they command something God forbids or forbid something God commands), "Wives, obey your husbands," (unless they command something God forbids or forbid something God commands), and "Servants, obey your masters," (unless they command something God forbids or forbid something God commands).

So, why is it hard for some to see the same logic when it comes to the magistrate? He can see the caveats when he surveys the landscape, but misses them when it comes to himself. He should not be obeyed without exception. He should only be obeyed inasmuch as he is commanding what God commands and forbidding what God forbids, but if he gets out of his lane, he should not be obeyed. He is not God and He is not a priest or a prophet. Kings are not owed unquestioned allegiance, and to Ponet's point, neither should they expect, or even worse, demand it. That is the kind of presupposing that rivals only Satan.

day no. 17,481: a rocky start and a rockier ending

"Of the popes power (who believes himself one, yes, the chief of these kind of gods, yes, above them all, and fellow to the God of God's) we mind not now to treat: no other is a requisite. For all men, yes half women and babes can well judge, that his power is worthy to be laughed at: and were it not bolstered and propped up with the sword and faggot, it would (as it will notwithstanding) shortly lie in the mire, for it is not built on the Rock, but on sand, not planted by the Father of Heaven, but by the devil of hell, as the fruits manifestly declare." — John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power

All men, most women, and some kids can see that the pope is a joke. The only reason they did not laugh at him back then was because he had the sword and the flame at his disposal. Now that he no longer holds them within his power, everyone is free to laugh.

The papacy is not built on the Rock of Christ, but on the traditions of power hungry men taking advantage of the ignorance of humble men. When Jesus nicknamed Peter the Rock, He did not mean that the church would be built on him. There is only one foundation and that is the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus, who is the Chief cornerstone of the teaching of the prophets and apostles.

day no. 17,480: inventing division

“The most entertaining thing in the world is watching a man make up a theological reason for leaving a church that his wife had long ago determined to leave because of hurt feelings.” — Tilly Dillehay, My Dear Hemlock

The devils love artificial divisiveness. They despise the kind of divisions that are caused by genuine theological disputes, discipline, and matters of conscience (the kind that Scripture confirms as good and necessary, cf. 1 Cor 11:19), but they delight in those which stem from the love of sin or the cowardice that cannot confront it. 

When a man's wife does not like a particular church and that husband doesn't want to deal with the attitude of that particular wife, he will find a theological reason to leave so that he can look like a man of principle while being a cowardly cuck. His wife is upset by the men in leadership at this church, but she likes the men who servant lead at a different church, so the husband is circumvented and ends up at a church of men he doesn't respect, including the one now looking back at him in the restroom mirror before service starts.

day no. 17,479: image bearers bearing arms

"A man can make a gun and a gun cannot make a man." — G.K. Chesterton, Lord Kitchener

Image bearers may bear arms, but bearing arms does not always bear the image best.

A man is not more manly for having a weapon in his hand. He may be more bold, but he is not more brave, if his trust is in the weapon. A brave man may make and procure for himself instruments of war, but any man may steal a weapon of a dead soldier. Brave men may die and cowards may conceal weapons and God knows which are which.

A man may be a gunsmith, but only God is a mansmith.