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!
No comments:
Post a Comment