I just spent a few days with my little nephews and niece who had early bedtimes. Having older children, myself, it was amusing to watch their bedtime routines. The cousins would be in the midst of play, laughing, screaming, yelling, running, jumping, having the time of their lives, when suddenly a killjoy would yell from the living room, “it’s time for bed!” “Noooooo!” the children would scream. Instantly smiles were turned upside down, laugher and merriment were replaced with weeping, wailing, and the gnashing of little baby teeth. One of the more rebellious babes took off running in the hope of evading his malicious mother. Another reasoned that if his mother could not get the pajamas on him she would be forced to let him stay up and so he wiggled and squirmed as she pulled and stretched. “Why do we have to go to bed”, they whimpered. “I’m not sleepy”, they yawned.
Reluctantly, good night kisses were given, the little ones were tucked in, prayers were said, and mommies and daddies wished their little angels sweet dreams and a good night’s rest. Exhausted from the ordeal, the mommies and the daddies collapsed on the couch hoping to enjoy a few moments of peace and quiet. But no sooner had they sat down then one by one little ones needed to use the restroom again, or a glass of water, or a Kleenex, or a fan, or a blanket. For some it was too dark for others too light. Having already paid my parental dues, I sat back thoroughly amused. You could feel the tension in the room rising higher and higher as my little nephews and niece invented more and more ways to delay the inevitable. That is until their frustrated fathers finally snapped and screamed, “Go to bed!”
As a little boy, I remember not wanting to go to bed. I remember feeling like I was being punished. It felt like I was being kept from having fun. Lying in bed, I was convinced I was missing out; I imagined the exciting things that happened after 8pm. I just knew my parents were eating chocolate peanut butter ice cream and drinking coke through a red licorice straw while watching Lee Majors use his bionic implants to save the day. Do you remember how it felt when someone told you to go to bed?
As a little boy, I hated going to bed. But, fast forward a few decades and now I fanaticize about it. Now my bed is a magical place where weary bones can be restored, and the worries of the day are replaced with sweet dreams. I’m always excited to get into my bed and sad when I have to get out of it. Sometimes I think about how amazing it would be to take a nap. Like in the middle of the day, right after lunch. Maybe my wife says to me, “dear husband, you work so hard and deserve a few hours of rest. Why don’t you go take a nap? I’ll finish cleaning the garage and the boys will mow the lawn for you.” These days I wish someone would tell me to go to bed. Don’t you?
Today, God our Father calls to us from the heavenly living room and tells us to do something even better. Through the prophet Moses, He tells us, “12 Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.” He tells us to go to church. Now, there are two ways you can look at this command. You can view this command with a childish faith and imagine that your heavenly Father is being mean to you, trying to keep you from having fun, and causing you to miss out. Or you can view this command with a more mature faith and recognize that by commanding you to go to church, your heavenly Father is offering to restore the weary and reassure the worried.
I don’t know about you, but I spent many years being childish when my heavenly Father told me to go to church. Now a small part of that was the preacher’s fault. I had some pretty good pastors as a child, but honestly, most of what they said went over my head and judging by their somber tone and serious faces I wasn’t missing anything terribly enjoyable or exciting. So, if from time to time you find yourself acting like a child when your heavenly Father tells you to go to church, I’ll take a bit of the responsibility. I’ll own that my job is to talk not at you or above you but to you in a meaningful and engaging manner. But I can’t be responsible for all your childish behavior.
You are going to have to own up to your childish attitude that causes you to think that your heavenly father is being mean to you when He tells you to go to church. “Mean God making me go to church” makes me think of this billboard on I65 in southern Alabama. It had a giant cut-out of a devil complete with pitchfork, horns, and tail and it said in blood red letters “Go to church or the devil will get you!” I think sometimes we forget that going to church is not a requirement of salvation. We get confused and think of church as the lesser of two evils; a price we have to pay to avoid the flames of hell. (We somehow forget that Jesus already met the requirements and paid the price for our salvation on the cross.)
You are also going to have to own up to your childish attitude that believes your heavenly Father is trying to prevent you from having fun when He tells you to go to church. You know you are acting like a child when you hear the words “have to”. As in “I have to go to church.” These words are most often spoken on a Saturday night when you are explaining why you can’t go out and have fun with your friends. “I would love to stay out late with you, but I have to go to church tomorrow.” And we parents are just as childish. We treat church like it is the vaccination for fun when we say to our children, “No, you can’t do that fun thing you want to do, we have to go to church tomorrow.”
Finally, you are going to have own up to your childish attitude that is convinced your heavenly Father’s command to go to church is causing you to miss out. I know that many of you work Monday through Friday. I know that Saturday is spent doing laundry, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, running children to sporting events, and catching up on all the things you could not get to during the week. I know for many of you Sunday is the only true day off that you get. I know you want to sleep in, go to the pool, order a pizza and binge watch Downton Abby. I know that sometimes it feels like going to church is causing you to miss out.
I also know we have only known each other for a few months now, so I pray you will forgive me when I tell you, … grow up. Stop acting like a child. Your heavenly Father is not being mean to you, He is not preventing you from having fun, He is not causing you to miss out. That’s a very childish view of your heavenly Father’s command to go to church. If that is your view, it’s time to grow up.
Mosses offers us a much more mature perspective when he writes, “13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 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 manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do.” When your heavenly Father tells you to go to church, He is offering rest for the weary. The heavenly Father is not opposed to hard work. Indeed, we were created to work. In Genesis 2:15 we read, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” The work God places before us gives our lives meaning and purpose. The very context of this command assumes that we are working. But, as He is the one who created us, it should come as no surprise that our heavenly Father knows what we need in order to accomplish our work. He knows we need rest; physical, mental, emotional, spiritual rest. And there is no better place to get such rest than at church. Here, you are encouraged, equipped, and motivated to work at loving your neighbor by the God who has first worked to love you. Here, God reminds you that your labor in the Lord is not in vain, that even in the most mundane tasks, God is using you to work good for those who love Him. Here, you learn that whatever you do for the least, you do for Him. Here, laborers in the Lord are called good and faithful servants. When the heavenly Father tells His children to go to church, He is not being mean, trying to prevent them from having fun, or causing them to miss out, He is offering rest for the weary.
Mosses increases our maturity even further when he writes, “15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” When our heavenly Father tells you to go to church, He is offering to reassure the worried. Your heavenly Father knows that the worries of your day are not just about making deadlines and meeting expectations. You worry about sin and the effect your sin has on your salvation. You worry that sooner or later your sin will be so great and numerous that your heavenly Father will turn His back on you. Your heavenly Father knows you need reassurance of His love. And there is no better place to get that reassurance than at church. Here, He invites you to remember what you were; slaves, not slaves in Egypt, but slaves to sin. But even in this reminder we are reassured of His love because it is a reminder of what we were. The past tense reassures us, slaves is what we were, but it is not what we are. Here, we are invited to remember His mighty hand and outstretched arm that not only parted the Red Sea and delivered the Israelites from Egypt, but also the mighty hands and outstretched arms that were nailed to the cross. Here, we are invited to remember that the one and only Son was given because God so loved the world. When the heavenly Father tells His children to go to church, He is not being mean, trying to prevent them from having fun, or causing them to miss out, He is offering to reassure the worried.
If I am doing my job, and you are being mature, you will recognize one hour at church is better than eight hours in bed. At church your heavenly Father restores the weary. At church your heavenly Father reassures the worried. Therefore, as the Lord our God has commanded, we have come to church. Amen