FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 8, number 27, July 2, 2009
And God rested on the seventh day from all the work which He had done, Genesis 2:2.
Why You Need the Lord’s Day
The prominent Harvard professor, economist, and author of thirty-two books, John Kenneth Galbraith, in his 1958 The Affluent Society, stated that due to technological advances in the near future, the average American work week would shrink to thirty hours per week. Obviously that has not happened. In fact the pace of work is far more frenetic and there is no sign of it slowing down. Thirty years ago a business contract agreed to verbally on Monday would be mailed the next by what we now call “snail mail.” It would arrive from the Post Office on Thursday or Friday, and having been signed that day or the following Monday, would then be mailed back. So the life of a business transaction was at least one week. Then came FAX machines that speeded up the process considerably, Then came overnight express mail. Then came legal documents through e mail, but no one had lap top computers so you waited until you got to your office, logged in on the so slow telephone line, and then did your business. But then came lap tops and now the ubiquitous Blackberry that has moved the pace of business so rapidly that now many feel inclined to respond to e mails in the middle of the night when they get up to use the bathroom.
What results from this frenetic pace of life? Modernity is a two-edged sword. The modern technologies make work so much easier and faster, but there is a high price to pay for it. We find it difficult to spend uninterrupted and undivided time with God each day. We feel an urge to peek at our e mails before or during our personal time with God, and when something pressing shows up, we abandon or cut short our time with God, much to the detriment of our growth in grace. The business travel, the long commutes home, the addiction to looking at our e mails and responding to them, the plethora of entertainment options that constantly vie for our affections—all work to rob us of spiritual vitality. It goes without saying that these negatively affect our spouses and our children. We find it difficult to disengage from work, to pray, to meditate on God and His word, to evangelize our neighbors, to care for the needy in our communities. We are physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted.
After the six days of creation Moses tells us that Elohim completed His work and rested. Three times we are told that He rested (the Hebrew word is shabat from which we get Sabbath), and that He blessed the fifth, sixth, and seventh days. Moses also tells us that God sanctified or set apart the Sabbath Day. The Old Testament Sabbath Day is now called the Lord’s Day. In each of the four gospels (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1, Luke 24:1, John 20:1) we find that on the first day of the week the women and disciples saw the resurrected Christ. Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2 make clear that the early church gathered for worship and fellowship on the first day of the week, and John saw a vision of the glorified Christ when he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. Both the Old Testament and New Testament make clear that the Lord’s Day is special, unique, and different from all other days. You, therefore, are to treat it as such. Do you? Do you prepare for it all week by getting your work done so that you can devote your time to God on His day? If you stay up and watch “Saturday Night Live” then you no doubt will be “Sunday morning dead.” Is the Lord’s Day merely a “catch up” day from Saturday and the past week’s frenetic pace?
Generally speaking, the Lord’s Day reminds us of God’s work of creation (Genesis 1) and His coming work of re-creation (Hebrews 4:3ff). As we rest from our normal labors on God’s day, we are looking to the day when we will rest eternally from our earthly and troublesome labors. Why do you work so hard? Is it because you think it all depends upon you? You would do well to meditate upon and apply Psalm 127:1-2 to your heart and mind. More specifically, the Lord’s Day is for worship. The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27 -28). You were made to worship. On the first full day of man’s existence he gave himself to the worship of his creator and sustainer.
In 1793, at the height of the French Revolution, in a desire to distance themselves from any vestige of Christianity, the French jettisoned the Gregorian calendar and implemented the ten day week. There were twelve months, each with three ten day weeks, each day having ten hours. Each hour had one hundred minutes and each minute had one hundred seconds. After twelve years Napoleon gave it up—not because he had a revived interest in Christianity but because nine days between off days was too physically taxing on the French citizens. God knows best. You need rest. He gives you exactly what you need to mitigate the affects of modernity. Go ahead and work your sixty to seventy hours per week, travel around the country on business, but be home on Saturday night, prepare yourselves and your family, both physically and spiritually, for the Lord’s Day and devote yourself to it exclusively.
I know what you are thinking—what about sports on Sunday, eating out on Sunday, watching PGA Golf on Sunday afternoons? I am not concerned about what you cannot do on the Lord’s Day. My concern is more with the privileges. I suggest several of them for the Lord’s Day. You may use the day to slow down and think back over all God has done for you in every area of your life, thanking Him for His many mercies. You may look forward to that great day when you will rest in glory beyond comprehension. This gives you the grace to persevere to the very end. You ought to set aside the day for public worship. There is no excuse for not attending to the public means of grace on the Lord’s Day. You need it and so do your family and the rest of your community of believers. You ought to set aside the day to fellowship with other believers and to do deeds of mercy, like visiting shut-ins, something you find difficult to do during the week. You are to celebrate God’s goodness and to seek His presence. When our children were at home we made Sunday lunch very special, setting a formal dinner in our dining room, requiring our children to keep on their Sunday clothes (yes they had special dress clothes for Sunday), and we ate the best meal of the week, using the time to reflect back over the sermon, and to laugh and discuss things in our lives. I know one family who allows their children to drink colas and eat dessert on Sundays. It ought to be a celebration, not a funeral. And even more importantly you are to use the Lord’s Day to develop your love relationship with your great Savior. You know the necessity of special time with your spouse. How much more so with the lover of your soul! How are you doing in keeping His day? God has given it to you. Use it for your own good and His glory.
FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.
If you would like to add your, or someone else’s, name to the list to receive this weekly devotional (or be removed from it), please contact us at admin@christcpc.org. This and archived back-issues may also be found on our website, www.ChristCPC.org