I know how hard it can be to get a family ready for worship on Sunday mornings. People are tired and want to sleep in! Sunday morning seems an interruption on rest we would otherwise gain from the “church of the inner springs” in the bedroom. While rest is what we are to do on the Sabbath, it is not just any rest. It is of a kind that is meant to retune your identify and your life. It is of a kind that gives you a compass to navigate your week. It is of a kind that refreshes your soul as well as your body.

Sadly, our culture does not encourage a Biblical Sabbath. This is not to say that it doesn’t adopt its own kind of Sabbath. Friday night and Saturday become the Sabbaths of our culture. TGIF and the old song, “Everybody’s Working Toward the Weekends!” capture the spirit of the Sabbath our culture pushes on us. We consider what we do on Friday nights and Saturdays to be the thing that “fills our tank” for the long week ahead. In this setting, Sundays become a day to recover from Saturday activities and prepare for Monday. For kids, this translates to holding homework from the week for Sunday night.

When God gave the command to keep the Sabbath day holy (number 4 of the Ten Commandments), it was a gift. The Israelites had been slaves for the past 4 centuries and were never given rest. One day of seven set aside to remember his great work of rescue from this slavery was a gift they delighted in. This is the intent behind the Sabbath. Jesus said, “man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man.” It is meant not as a burden that we must endure for the sake of keeping God’s commands, but a gift God gives for the sake of our own delight!

We want to get back to that, and we want to use the summer to help us. Here’s how we hope to do that. We will be publishing a series of articles on the Sabbath, corporate worship, and the ordinary means of grace this summer that you can use to read with your family through the week and discuss. We want to stimulate your thinking for how you might make Sunday a day your family (including your kids) looks forward to. When our kids go to college and move away from home, we want them carrying with them an appreciation for the Sabbath and corporate worship. We want their memories of our time together on the Lord’s Day to be memories that are filled with delight and real refreshment, a true foretaste of the Sabbath rest we will one day experience with God more fully.

Please use this article as your first discussion starter. Read the texts and ask:

Read Ex 20:8-11; Dt 5:12-15.

1. What reasons are given to remember the Sabbath in these two passages?
2. Why do you think the Israelites might appreciate such a day, given their history?
3. What does their slavery symbolize for us? (see Ro 6:22)

Read Mk 2:23-28.

1. What is the reason for the Sabbath according to Jesus?
2. When you think of the fourth commandment, do you resonate more with the Pharisees (something you must do as prescription for righteousness) or with Jesus (as a gift for you)?
3. If your feeling about the Sabbath is negative, how might you change it?