Our text is Exodus 20:8-11:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Sabbath keeping is an art form in which we resist certain values, refusing to allow them to define our identity and way of life. Within the 10 commandments, it gets a place of prominence, linking our relationship to God with our relationship to fellow humans. It gets the most words. Consider these things with me.

In Egypt, Pharaoh was god, his word was an iron law. But he was an anxious god, worrying about his dreams. Knowing that famine was coming, he gathered resources. When the hungry people came to him for food, instead of sharing his wealth, he sold his resources so that all of Egypt, including its people, belonged to him. God indeed – he controlled everything!

In such a world, everyone worked for Pharaoh. And every person, including neighbours and family, was competitor for the scarce resources that Pharaoh passed out. Competition raged. Everyone was anxious.

At mount Sinai, the Israelites switch allegiance. They commit themselves to the God of Abraham (cf. Ex. 19:8), who freed them from Pharaoh’s clutches. But what kind of God is he?

He is a God who rested (Genesis 2:2-3). After creating, God did not show up to do more, nor did he check on creation in anxiety to ensure it was working. He had complete confidence in the fruit-bearing, blessing-generating processes of creation. Despite sin, this still holds. Jesus pointed to the birds and flowers. They are still provided for, so stop being so anxious (Matthew 6:25ff).

Unlike Pharaoh, God is not a workaholic. He does not keep jacking up production schedules. Instead, God rests, confident, serene, at peace. God’s rest bestows on us a restfulness that contradicts the “drivenness” of the system of Pharaoh and of our own day.

God invites us to a new life of neighborly freedom in which Sabbath is the cornerstone. Such faithful practice of work stoppage is an act of resistance. Our bodies declare that we will not participate in the anxious system that pervades our social environment. We will not be defined by busyness and by pursuit of more, in either our economics or our personal relations. Our life does not consist in production.

Sabbath invites us into a life that does not consist in frantic production and consumption reducing everyone else to threat and competitor. Sabbath permits a waning of anxiety, redeploying energy to the neighborhood, to exchange anxious productivity with committed neighborliness. This practice creates an environment of security and respect and dignity that defines how we live and how we view others.

As you journey on, go with this blessing:

Go to Jesus and he will give you rest and an easy yoke (Matthew 11:30). May the presence of God go with you and give you rest (Exodus 33:14).

Love must be sincere… Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality (Romans 12:9a, 13)

Hospitality, as a practise of the Christian life, means more than opening our homes to people. It is rooted in God’s own character and behaviour. Jesus helps us understand.

First, Jesus came to earth. When we think of hospitality, we often think about inviting people into our spaces. When we do that, we remain in a comfortable place, and largely in control of the situation. We can expect people to play by our rules when they enter our space. But Jesus came to earth. He turns the concept of hospitality on its head. He comes into our space. And he sends us out, he says ‘Go’. Go into other people’s spaces. Part of Christian hospitality then, is to let go of the control that comes from being in our own spaces and learning how to live and move in some else’s.

Are there places we don’t want to go? Are there places that make us uncomfortable and therefore we stay away? I think the honest answer is yes. As a pastor, I have been invited into many spaces that were unfamiliar, in which I really did not know how to behave. I’m sure that I made a mess of some. But in such spaces, I have learned to ask a simple question, why did you invite me here, or what would you like me to do while I’m here. Such questions empower people; it lets them set the agenda. It also reminds me that there is much I don’t know and that people might not need anything from me but my presence.

Second, because Jesus lived as a human, he can sympathize with us. The book of Hebrews makes a big deal about this. How long did Jesus live here? About 33 years. How can we sympathize with people if we don’t invest time in walking with them?

An essential component of Christian hospitality is the ability to sympathize with other people. This can not be rushed. So, hospitality invites us in for the long haul. It calls us to pay attention to people, to set aside our own agendas, especially our answers to people’s problems and to listen. We tend to view people as projects that we get to fix. Once, fixed, we move on to the next. People are not projects. Each human bears the image of God.

Does this understanding of hospitality unnerve us? Does it seem more difficult than just inviting someone over? Of course, it does. But remember this, after Jesus returned to the Father, he sent his Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit now makes his home in us. He empowers us to be hospitable. He helps us love like God loves.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May your day end with rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May you rest in his provision as he brings night, and then new dawn.

Our text comes from Matthew 5:37:

All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Words have value! In a world with too many words, we forget their value. Christians have always recognized that words have power. We believe in a God who spoke the cosmos into being. We believe that ‘the Word became flesh.’ We submit ourselves (not always willingly) to the proclamation of the gospel through preaching because we believe God speaks to us in this way.

But we have too many words and too many ways that words come to us. The multiplication of words has led to the multiplication of lies and fake news. Many words we do not trust. Ecclesiastes describes this well, “The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?” (6:11). We live in a world that often runs on half-truths, exaggerations, and spin.

It is easy to join the fray. But the Bible teaches that “Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues” (Proverbs 19:10). And Jesus teaches us to keep our words simple and short and truthful.

In His day, people often made elaborate oaths to prove they were telling the truth—swearing by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem, even by their own heads. But oaths like that often masked a lack of honesty. If we need to pile up promises and guarantees, maybe our word cannot be trusted.

Jesus cuts through all of that. He says, in essence: Truthful people don’t need oaths to prop up their words. Their speech itself carries the weight of truth. Let your “yes” be yes. Let your “no” be no. In other words, be so consistent, so trustworthy, so transparent, that people know we mean what we say without needing further proof.

Before we make a promise, we ought to plan how we will keep it. This way we be able to determine if we can fulfill what we commit to.

Our God is a promise keeping God. He is well known for it. A disciple of Christ is called to mirror the character of God, and God is the One who never lies, whose promises never fail. If He says “yes,” it is a “yes” forever. If He says “no,” it is unshakably “no.” Our speech, then, becomes a reflection of His faithfulness.

If your co-workers were asked about your character would truthfulness be mentioned? Would they say that you keep your word, you can be counted on? There is great freedom in not having to calculate, exaggerate, or cover your tracks—when you can speak with the kind of integrity that needs no backup.

So let your “yes” really mean yes. Let your “no” really mean no.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Wherever God takes you today, may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.