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Colin Smith: The Fourth Commandment is almost certainly the most frequently misunderstood. Some Christians have thought that they were honoring God by taking one day of the week and making it especially dull. A day marked by a long list of things you couldn't do, rather than a day that was going to be marked by delight.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith, and Colin, today we're talking about time. We're talking about the whole issue of Sabbath. We're talking about work, a lot of stuff wrapped up in this Fourth Commandment.

Colin Smith: Yeah, and especially today the issue of work, because God begins by saying to us, "In six days you shall do your work, your labor." And what that says to us is that God is as intensely interested in what we're doing in our ordinary work during the week as he is interested in the worship that we bring on Sundays when we gather together and exalt the name of Jesus Christ.

That's of huge importance. Work is not simply a wretched means to an end. It's part of the creative gift that God has given to us. When God made Adam, he put him in a garden, gave him something to do, some work, and that's a gift from God.

Steve Hiller: And some people may be a little bit surprised to hear you say that God is just as concerned about that, and also maybe saying like, "Gift? My job, my work is a gift from God?"

Colin Smith: See, and the idea that somehow, well, if you're a pastor, then God's involved in that. I have folks all the time who will say to me, "Now, did you want your sons to be pastors?" And my answer to that is always, "No more than I wanted them to do anything else."

I simply wanted them to find their gift and their calling because a calling in ministry is not more important than a calling to work as one of my sons does as a physical education teacher and as another of my sons works in trading and in finance.

So, we are to find our calling and to know that all of our callings are from God and that we're to honor him not only in taking opportunities to speak to people about Jesus, but in the sheer quality of work that is offered to him as worship.

Steve Hiller: Well, that right there is a key point, one that we're going to get into a little bit deeper in today's message. We're in Exodus chapter 20, looking at verses eight through 11. So if you can, I hope you'll join us there as we begin a message entitled, Your Struggle with Time. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Well, we're continuing our series entitled Unlocking Your 10 Greatest Struggles, identifying in the Ten Commandments a description of the 10 primary issues with which human beings struggle in our lives. And of course, with the Fourth Commandment, we come to this issue of our struggle with time.

A picture came to my mind thinking about this. Back in London when our boys were young, we used to go from time to time to the Pizza Hut. We were on a bit of a tight budget, and we used to split the pizza and share the salad.

If you ordered a salad, at least over there, they gave you a small bowl and were very strict about allowing you one visit to the salad bar. So I developed a certain expertise to cope with this situation. It is amazing what you can do to fill a small bowl with enough salad for four people as you build to capacity and then construct a ring of tomatoes round the rim of the bowl, which then enables you inside to go on building higher. My wife used to say, "This is embarrassing," but I'm from Scotland.

The problem, of course, comes when you're trying to walk back through the tightly packed tables from the salad bar to where your family is sitting. And with this overfilled bowl, you walk gingerly because you know that at any moment you are just one step from disaster.

And I think that's a picture of how many of us live. The overfilled plate of our lives means that we are unable to walk freely, and so much of the time we feel that we are just one step from disaster.

The demands of working life just go on increasing in our society. More and more people feel controlled by work. The pressure of work leads increasingly, we hear it all the time, to frazzled families. And in the end, a man or a woman can feel like a cog in a machine rather than a person. A family even can come to feel like nothing more than an economic convenience as opposed to a cradle of nurturing love.

Struggle with time is one of the biggest struggles of my life, and I expect that many of us would say the same. How do I decide priorities? What can I afford to leave undone? How do I balance the different responsibilities of my life? I feel like I'm walking with the overfilled plate. Isn't that their common experience?

So I come to the Fourth Commandment today very eagerly because whatever God has to say about this issue of time, I know I need to hear it. And I expect that many of us will come that way this morning.

On the other hand, it's important perhaps to recognize that the Fourth Commandment is almost certainly the most frequently misunderstood. Some Christians have thought that they were honoring God by taking one day of the week and making it especially dull. A day marked by a long list of things you couldn't do, rather than a day that was going to be marked by delight.

And I say that just briefly to clear away any blockages that some of us might have in hearing the word of God today. Some of us were brought up in a legalistic background, and the day of rest became a burden rather than a blessing. It was a day of misery rather than a day of delight.

Some of us, in fact, have been brought up with our whole background being that the Ten Commandments were something that we saw as God loading guilt on us and taking away fun. What kind of God would do that? Not the God of the Bible.

No, if we really believe that God is good, and that is the fundamental conviction of Christian faith, if we really believe that God is good, then we have to start from the perspective of believing that these commandments frame the good life that God wants us to enjoy.

And so let's come to the Fourth Commandment with the right kind of a spirit this morning. God is speaking to one of the greatest struggles of our lives. What he says is good and it's for your good. It's for my good, and following what he says will not be a burden. It will lead us into blessing. Let's come with open ears and expectant hearts.

Now, you notice as we've already seen that the Fourth Commandment is the longest of the Ten Commandments, and we're going to approach it in two parts. First, it speaks to us very importantly about the dignity of work, and secondly, it speaks to us about the blessing of rest. These two things today.

First, then, the dignity of work. "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work." This is a wonderful subject. The Fourth Commandment begins by commending to us the dignity of work. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work." You should work for six days, and it's a good thing.

The dignity of work is rooted in the very nature of God. Right at the beginning of the Bible, think about it, God introduces himself as a worker. God expresses himself by creating. And you and I are made in the image of God, and that means that we express ourselves by creating as well.

And that might mean going from Monday through the week to a building site and creating a home. It might mean turning up in an office and creating a document in Microsoft Word. It might mean being in a home and creating a home for a family. But all work of whatever sort creates and produces something.

Think about it. The person who up the road there each day of the week holds the stop sign for children as they arrive at school, that person creates an environment of safety that would not exist if they were not there. Your work is an expression of the image of God.

And that's, by the way, a great discussion question for later today or during the week. Ask this question: In what way does your work reflect the image of God? You'll find it's a great blessing when you see the answer to that question.

The filing clerk reflects the God who creates order out of chaos. Maybe that's your job. If your work doesn't reflect some aspect of the character of God, it probably means it's illegal or it's immoral and you shouldn't be doing it.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Your Struggle with Time. Now, we're going to pause here, but we'll get back to the message in just a moment. Our message is part of a larger series called The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life, taking a look at the Ten Commandments. And if you ever miss a broadcast in the series, you can come and listen online.

Our website is openthebible.org. There you can stream the program, you can download an MP3 for free. You can also listen if you have the Open the Bible app. You'll find that for free at your app store, and that's a great way to stay connected to Pastor Colin's teaching and listen on demand whenever it fits your schedule. So again, look for the Open the Bible app at your app store or come and listen online at openthebible.org.

Well, Open the Bible Weekend is a listener-supported ministry. We're able to do what we do because of your generosity. So thank you for praying for and financially supporting Open the Bible Weekend. You can give a gift online at openthebible.org or when you call 1-877-OPEN-365.

Well, I know we've got a lot of podcast listeners out there, and so we're excited to let you know about a new podcast. It is a companion to Pastor Colin's book called Hike Through the Bible.

Colin Smith: Yeah, and each week I'll read a chapter from the book and then I get to discuss it with some friends. So if you join us on the podcast in 50 weeks, we'll cover 50 chapters of the Bible together, and in a year, you'll have hiked through the entire Bible story.

Now, if you think hiking sounds like hard work, don't worry. I promise you, this hike will be an easy, gentle pace, and it's not too late for you to get started. So join me. You can subscribe to the Hike Through the Bible podcast for free wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll find more information at openthebible.org/hike. That's openthebible.org/hike.

Steve Hiller: We do hope that you will check out that podcast and that you'll subscribe, not just on the audio podcast but also the YouTube channel as well. Let's get back to the message. Again, here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: Work is not a necessary evil. It is a good gift from God. It has been spoiled and it's been frustrated and sometimes abused as a result of the fall, but work remains a good gift from God.

Now, one writer, and I found this rather helpful, never seen this comment before, but one writer I came across this week points out that in the Bible, God introduces himself both as a manual worker and as an executive worker.

The psalmist describes the creation as the work of God's hands. That's very significant. The God of the Bible is a God who gets his hands dirty. The God of the Bible is a God who, when he takes human flesh, becomes a carpenter. No, not just a carpenter, becomes known in Galilee as the carpenter, presumably because of the quality of his work.

But God is also an executive worker. He works with his hands, but he also works through his words. He makes things happen by what he says. The heavens were not only made by the Lord's hands, but the psalms also say that the heavens and the earth were made by the word of the Lord.

Now, I think this is very important. The Lord gives dignity in his own person both to the manual worker and to the executive worker. And let's face it, there's always a little bit of tension between these two, right?

If we could understand the dignity of both on the basis of the character and the example of God, and that both are a reflection of the image of God, it would be a great help in the whole area of industrial relations. The executive worker can so easily look down his nose at the manual worker, and the manual worker so easily can resent the one he calls a pen pusher. But God gives dignity to both.

Let's look at understanding your work. It seems that that's a very important thing for us to grasp as we delve into the dignity of this great calling that God has given to us. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work." Your work.

Now, if I'm to understand this part of the commandment, obviously I need to understand what is my work? Now, it's a great mistake, it seems to me, to limit your work to something you do in order to get a pay packet. That is, let me suggest, an unbiblical view of work.

Remember, after all, that work began in the Garden of Eden where God gave to Adam the world's first ever job description. It was quite a task. He said, "Fill the earth and subdue it," and he said that Adam was to work the garden that he was to take care of it. Now Adam was given this work. He never got a pay packet, right? No wages in the Garden of Eden. Adam's work was his God-given responsibility.

So if you think of work merely as what you have to do in order to get a pay packet, then you have missed the biblical vision of what work is really all about. It, of course, includes what you do in order to get a pay packet, but it goes far beyond that, and I want to show you the importance of that in just a moment.

God did not create the moon and the stars because he needed the money, right? So that's not where we begin if we're to have a biblical view of work. Work is about more than a way of making money. It is about fulfilling the responsibility, whatever that is, that God has given to you.

Including what you do to gain money, but it's about fulfilling your God-given responsibility in a way that brings glory to him. Now, that's a wonderful thing because you could be flipping burgers or you could be running a multinational company, but if that is what God has given you to do at this time, then you can do it seeing that this also is an expression of the image of God in you and you can begin to do it for his glory.

And that will give you an entirely different view of your work, whatever that is. It will bring you dignity and quality to what you do. It will bring you meaning to the service that you offer and the working relationships that you have. When you see work as a fulfillment of a God-given responsibility, it will change your approach. It will lift your work, whatever it is, to a whole new level.

Now, if we reduce work to something that a person has to do to get a pay packet, one of the problems is that it leads us to a completely unbiblical view of retirement. See, a man earns his money and then he retires, and he says to himself, "Hey, I don't need to earn any more money. That means there's no more work for me to do." Where do you ever find anything like that in the Bible?

The Bible says that God has prepared good works in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), and it doesn't end by saying that they conclude at the age of 65, right?

By the way, I have noticed that the people who retire most happily are those who have discovered a clear sense of what God wants them to do with their retirement. And those who haven't made that discovery are often miserable.

And the reason is that God didn't make any of us simply to sit about, but rather to fulfill God-given responsibilities. As long as I have breath and life within me, there is a purpose that God has for me being here. And to enter into that is part of the expression of how he has made me.

Of course, that will change over time, and there are some circumstances in which it may become severely limited. Though I have to tell you, I've been deeply moved by some folks suffering with acute sickness who've still wanted to get on the phone and to minister to others. You see, that's a sense of purpose. God wants me here, and there's something that I can do.

Of course, another problem with the secular view of work, that it's something you do in order to get a pay packet, is that it undermines the dignity of those who are looking for work. And it undermines the dignity of those who have been called by God to work without pay in their homes.

Some of you would love to have paid work right now, but you're between jobs. Your God-given work is to look for work, and you can do that right now for the glory of God. You need to know that there is dignity in this work, for this also is what God has given you to do at this time. That this is something to be done with vigor and to the best of your ability.

You can glorify God as you pursue this with faith rather than succumbing to the very real pressure of discouragement and of despair. Don't fall into the deadly trap of becoming passive about the search for work. Work is a good gift from God, so glorify God by the way you do the work of looking for work. There's dignity in that.

Some of us are carers. You give yourself to caring for a person in need, and you don't get paid a penny. But your work is a reflection of the character of God, and you'll find dignity and sustenance in that as you see it.

And then some of us are homemakers who choose to give yourself to caring for children and creating a home. You don't get paid for that, but your work is a reflection also of the character of God, and there is great dignity in it.

I think then of all the volunteers who work in hospitals, who work in schools, who work in churches, and there is no pay, but it is work that is a reflection of the image of God and there is dignity in this work because it reflects his character in you.

So the Fourth Commandment shows us the dignity of work as an expression of the image of God. It's very important for us to grasp this.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible Weekend with Pastor Colin Smith and a message entitled Your Struggle with Time. Unfortunately, we do have to pause right here, but really a great look today at the dignity of work and understanding our work, why God gave us the work that he's given us, and how we can use that ultimately to honor him.

Our series is entitled The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life. And obviously, your struggle with time is one of those struggles. We also struggle with purity, contentment, we struggle with religion and with God. And that's what this series is all about. How the Ten Commandments aren't just an arbitrary list of rules that God made up for us, but they actually address the 10 greatest struggles that you and I face each and every day. And ultimately, how we can find the promises that God has for us as we look at these Ten Commandments.

Maybe you want to get a copy of this series for yourself. Ask about the 10 greatest struggles of your life when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or come to the website, openthebible.org.

Well, one of the things that my family and I love to do is to go hiking, and Colin, I think it would be a lot of fun to go on a hike with you. And right now we have an opportunity for listeners to join you on a hike.

Colin Smith: Yes, I am inviting you to join me on a hike through the Bible, and it is going to be a gentle, easy pace of a hike. Each week, you'll read a chapter of the Bible and a chapter of my book, Hike Through the Bible, and in one year, you'll have read 50 chapters of the Bible. You'll have grasped the big picture of the Bible story, and most of all, you'll have grown in your love for Jesus Christ.

Now, there's a Hike Through the Bible podcast to help you on this journey. In each episode, I read a chapter of the book, and then I discuss it with some friends. So get started now. You can subscribe to the Hike Through the Bible podcast for free wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll find more information at openthebible.org/hike. That's openthebible.org/hike.

Steve Hiller: Well, thank you, Colin. I think a lot of us are going to enjoy taking that hike with you. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. Open the Bible Weekend is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Hi, this is Pastor Colin again, and I want you to know about Watch Your Life. Watch Your Life is a six-session course that is geared for leaders but accessible to every believer.

The six sessions will show you how to grow in godliness, how to feed on Christ, how to pray in the Spirit, how to battle temptation, exercise faith, and discern God's will. There are questions at the end of each session, and you can use them on your own or you can discuss them with a friend. For more information, visit openthebible.org/courses. That's openthebible.org/courses.