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Stephen Ministry

We’re at commandment four in our series through the 10 Commandments. At this point, let’s take a moment for some review and reminders.

First of all, we readily acknowledge that none of us will perfectly keep the commandments. For a variety of reasons we fall short of such perfection. The point in this series is not guilt about failing to meet the commandments. The point is to be reminded of the importance of these commandments to our lives, acknowledge the gift given to us in the commandments—God’s protection and provision for us—and to turn from our failures, perhaps even our forgetfulness in following God’s commandments and walk closer and closer with God in our faith journeys. God wants the best for us in life and these commandments come from that desire for us.

The fourth commandment is the last in the opening sequence of commandments addressing the vertical aspect of our relationships—our relationship with God. First, we are to follow after no other gods. Second, we are to not make an image of God. Third, we are not to misuse the name for God. Today, the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-10):

With the exception of one other commandment, the seventh, one could say of this commandment, perhaps more than any other, that our culture today has strayed far away from following. That is after admitting every culture in every time and place has struggled with the final commandment, coveting, because that is where all sin starts. I want something I don’t or can’t have and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get it. So all cultures have and will struggle with the 10^th commandment. But this commandment about Sabbath keeping, along with the 7^th commandment prohibiting adultery, may be one that has most gotten lost in our society today.

How many of you know what a "blue law" is? If you had to define it, how would you define it? One basic definition I came across said this, "Blue laws are laws prohibiting business activities on certain days of the week, traditionally Sunday." That strikes me as a pretty good definition, although I might add "recreational" activities to the prohibition—some blue laws prohibited the playing of sports and the like. Anyone know where the word "blue" comes from in describing such laws? Actually, legend says the laws were printed on blue paper, or bound in blue notebooks, but most of what I read on the subject said that couldn’t be verified and was most likely not the case. There’s some thought that "blue law" is derived from of an 18^th century term that was a disparaging reference to rigid moral codes and those who observed them. Apparently such people were called "bluenoses." There used to be a term for pornographic films—"blue movies"—which references back to rigid moral codes or those who observe them. The codes that is, not the movies! In any case, however the term came about, "blue laws" were put in force as a prohibition against certain kinds of activities on a designated day, usually Sunday.

I’m not sure exactly when "blue laws" began to disappear from society’s regulations, but certainly it was sometime around the 60’s. Up to that time, hard as it may be to believe for those who didn’t experience it, things were mostly closed up on Sundays. Not only could you not go to the store, or the mall, but there was no cable either! I know, hard to believe life was once so primitive! In the heyday of the 50’s, a Sabbath rest was practically mandated by law. However, with the independence of the 60’s and the rising materialism in our society—if I can make a buck or two on Sunday then I want to be open…and ought to be able to open my store if I want to—blue laws began to disappear. And with it went the awareness of the importance of a Sabbath rest. Stores opened and the people came. Youth athletic leagues squeezed a few more games in on Sunday afternoons…and when nobody complained about it, expanded into Sunday morning. And here we are.

Of course, there are still some vestiges of blue laws. For some reason, automobile sales seem to be a particular target of blue laws. While Colorado recently repealed the ban on liquor sales on Sunday, just this month on the first, automobile dealerships are still prohibited from being open on Sunday. Many other states have similar blue laws prohibiting automobile sales. Maryland, for some reason, prohibits auto sales on Sunday…except in three counties! I’m not sure how the dealerships in other counties than those three let that happen. In Texas, up to 1985, it was prohibited to sale housewares and washing machines on Sundays. If you’re a hunter, don’t bother with those plans for Sunday hunting in Pennsylvania…it’s not allowed. And if you’ve ever wondered why South Carolina doesn’t have a professional sports team—not sure why you would ever have wondered about that, but if you had, one reason might be that sporting events are banned on Sundays.

Perhaps the closest to the principle behind blue laws still in existence in America today is Bergen County in New Jersey and, particularly, the borough of Paramus. Bergen County is located in northeast New Jersey close to the New York metro area. Probably due to its location, it is a shopping mecca. In Paramus alone there are four large shopping malls and Paramus registers the largest annual retail sales of any zip code in the United States. And yet, Bergen County, New Jersey has a blue law forbidding all forms of "worldly employment" on Sunday. Paramus has an even more strict blue ordinance—their law adds a prohibition of "white collar" workers being in their offices. The ordinance reads, in part, "the physical, intellectual and moral good of the community requires a periodic day of rest from labor." I want to add the word "spiritual" to the list, but aside from that it comes pretty close to God’s desired protection and provision in His fourth commandment. I’d also like to altruistically believe that God’s protection and provision is what the community has in mind in keeping such a blue law—the law has survived several attempts to repeal it. However, political analysts attribute the defeat of such attempts to repeal the law more on a desire from residents in the area to have one day a week of relief from the traffic that jams their roads when the malls and stores are open. Well, freedom from traffic jams can be a part of God’s protection and provision also!

One could argue the legality and rationale behind such blue laws. And indeed, such discussions have taken place—formally and informally—which is one reason why few such laws exist. Just Google "blue laws" and see for yourself some of the cynical comments that turn up arguing against religion, especially Christianity, being allowed to dictate when someone can buy something. One wonders about the logic in one community having some kind of prohibition when a neighboring community does not. I’m sure there were people crossing over from Texas into Arkansas or Oklahoma to purchase housewares on Sunday before the Texas law was repealed. And there’s that law in Maryland allowing auto sales on Sundays in three counties but not the other counties in Maryland. I’m not sure why or how that law still exists. In any case, in our independent and consumeristic society most blue laws have faded away…to our detriment. We are a worn out, stressed out, fatigued society and it is those very things that God wants to protect us from with this commandment. And in the process, God wants to provide us with a deeper relationship with Him as we set aside a day for worship of God, reflection upon God and relaxation with God.

The reality is…blue laws aren’t coming back. Businesses who are obsessively watching the bottom line, sometimes unethically, aren’t going to give up one day a week of sales—especially a day most people have off and therefore the time and opportunity to shop…the experience of Bergen County notwithstanding. I don’t think athletic leagues—who can schedule more games, or have discovered better participation at games scheduled on a Sunday—are going to give up Sundays on their schedule. I have to admit, there is a part of me that wants our government to save us from ourselves. A Sabbath keeping blue law would need to be introduced and enforced nationally because of the ton of lawsuits that would occur. Business owners in one community prohibited from being open on Sunday suing over the unfair advantage of neighboring communities with no such prohibition. Or parents of kids in one athletic league with a prohibition against Sunday play suing over the disadvantage their children have for future scholarships against children in another league with no such prohibition. You know it would happen. So, there’s a part of me that wants the national government to save us from ourselves.

But, in the final analysis, that’s not the pathway to obedience of the fourth commandment. Yes, we might better keep the Sabbath with a national blue law, but it would be a forced Sabbath keeping…and that would rob it of its holiness. I believe the rhythm of life God created calls for a Sabbath day each week in which we focus our attention upon God. Not just a couple of hours on Sunday morning, but a day, a 24 hour day. And I believe God’s desire is that our Sabbath keeping would be voluntary, something we want to do because He designed life to be that way and not something we were legislated into doing. Yet left to our own devices we tend to fill up every possible hour with something—thinking that productivity is a good thing and Sabbath resting doesn’t accomplish much; and then we wonder why we’re exhausted, anxious, stretched to the maximum and basically unfulfilled with our lives.

Recently, I heard a speaker, speaking on the topic of Sabbath-keeping, identifying our greatest hindrance to Sabbath-keeping being self-reliance, which the speaker said was our nation’s greatest sin. Who needs Sabbath-keeping when we’ve got our lives all planned out and we’re working our plan—even when that plan intrudes upon our finding Sabbath rest? In such a scenario, who needs God? It is a subtle self-deception of the greatest, most tragic kind. We need, first and foremost, God in our lives. And we need the design that He has for our lives which includes a day, one day out of the week, of keeping the Sabbath and finding Sabbath rest. Where is it you are finding a Sabbath rest? It doesn’t have to be a Sunday…certainly I can’t take a Sabbath rest on Sunday. But I’m pretty good at taking it on Mondays. I can be better at it, but I try to take my Sabbath rest on Monday. It doesn’t have to be on Sunday, although worship should be a part of your Sabbath rest. One of the early colonial blue laws, I believe it was in Connecticut, included a fine for missing church! I think we should reinstitute that one! Although I don’t know who received the funds from the fines. Anyway, it doesn’t have to be a Sunday, but worshiping God on a regular basis should be a part of your Sabbath rest. Wherever you can find it, make a conscious effort to take a Sabbath rest. Work more efficiently, be more diligent in your work, but carve out a 24 hour period of Sabbath rest. You’ll be a better person for it, a better worker on the other days from your Sabbath. It’s a part of God’s protection and provision for us.