The Lord’s Day
Romans 14:5-9, Colossians 2:16
Do any of you remember the old ‘blue laws”? For those who are too young to know, laws concerning what could and couldn’t be done and sold on Sunday were referred to as “blue laws”. The first enacted was in Virginia in 1620, and “blue” either referred to the color of paper upon which they were printed or wrapped or “true blue” Americans.
In 1961, the Supreme Court ruled them constitutional, and as recently as 1985, Oklahoma upheld restrictions on boxing, wrestling, bingo, and liquor and motor vehicle sales on Sunday. But really since 1950, blue laws had fallen on hard times. They are really a throwback to a simpler day; almost an oddity to the modern 21st century American.
Because of their enforcement, the vast majority of people did not have to work on Sunday’s because just about everything was closed, with a few exceptions like gas stations and hospitals. In the Bible belt regions of our state people would spend the day with their church families and their extended families. After Sunday services people would go home and have a Sunday meal with their families.
The afternoon would be spent quietly in devotion, worship and prayer in the most devout homes. In other homes people would spend the time playing family games or reading books. It was a quiet day of rest for much of the country.
It was in the context of that culture that Eric Liddell refused to run a race on Sunday in the Paris Olympics of 1924. Eric was a devoted Christian who believed that he must defy his home country, and the Olympic Committee. He was scheduled to run in the 100 meter race, a race he was highly favored to win. But the event was scheduled for Sunday, and Eric refused to run. The government of England did not want to lose their chances at a gold medal, and so they tried to persuade Eric to race. But he wouldn’t budge.
In the end he did not run in the 100 meter, but he was entered on another day in the 400 meter race, a race he had never run in competition before. Many race commentators said that he ran that race like a man on fire. He broke the world record and went home with a gold medal in the 400. In 1981 an Academy award winning movie titled: “Chariots of Fire” was made to tell his story.
Was Eric right to refuse to run on Sunday? Are we to cease from all labor and all sports on Sunday’s? Should shops and restaurants be closed? What does God want us to do with the first day of the week? Should we be keeping the Sabbath for a day of rest? Is the Sabbath Saturday or Sunday? What does the Bible have to say about worship on the first day of the week and as Southern Baptists, what does our confessional statement say?
Article 8 of the Baptist Faith and Message deals with the Lord’s Day.
It says: “The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance.
It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”
As you open your bibles with me this morning, we will begin by looking specifically at two different texts.
First, turn in your Bible to Romans 14:1-9, we’ll begin in verse one with our focus being on verses 5-6. (Read text)
Now turn over to Colossians 2:16 (read text).
The context here in both of these passages is Christian liberty. And that’s the first thing I want us to address this morning, the Principle of Christian Liberty.
The Principle of Christian Liberty –
It is important to remember the historical context into which the Church of Jesus Christ was born. In as much as Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and most of the first Christians were Jews, the early church was heavily influenced by the Old Testament, along with all of the customs and religious observances which were part and parcel of worship under the old covenant.
I think it also important to keep in mind the missionary strategy of Paul. Wherever he went to preach, the first place he usually went was to the Jewish Synagogue.
There he would find people with whom he had the most in common. He would begin by preaching Jesus as the Messiah. This meant that among nearly all of the early churches, there were those within the church who came with their Jewish religious baggage. Some of their observances were perfectly acceptable, others, especially those which tended to teach a works-based salvation or to put people back under the yoke of legalism were dangerous, as was the case in Galatia.
In response to these tendencies to drift back into the legalism of their past, Paul preached a message of freedom in Christ. In Colossians 2, the apostle makes a case for our freedom in Christ, saying that we are not subject to how others may judge us in these areas but, because we are free in Christ;
because He is the substance of our faith and practice, we are to pursue our spiritual life in Him and not in the mere externals of observing religious rituals.
In Romans 14 the argument is much the same, except here he is making a case for us to practice our Christian liberty in such a way that it demonstrates two things. One, a recognition that while we have freedom we are each answerable to God for our actions, and two, a love for one another that seeks to build up the weaker believers among us.
Of particular importance to our discussion is the fact that some Jewish believers felt compelled to observe the Sabbath or other special days which were associated with their Jewish.
On the other hand, there were these Gentile believers, who had once been pagans, wanted to get away from the observance of special days because in their past those were days or paganism and immorality.
The argument Paul makes is that in Christ we are free from such observances and are no longer obligated to keep the law. Thus the Sabbath, which was originally a day set aside for the Jews to remember their covenant with God, was no longer binding on Christians. Jesus was the fulfillment of the law. In effect, every day of our lives is a day that is to be lived unto the Lord Jesus Christ and under His Lordship.
Throughout the history of the Church, the teachings concerning the observance of the Lord’s Day have varied from time to time and from place to place.
It is evident from Revelation 1:10 that the concept of the Lord’s Day, or the first day of the week, was firmly established in the early church, at least by the end of the first century. Church historians tell us that the first day of the week was a natural for Christians because it was the day which commemorated the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
It was not, however, until the time of the Roman emperor Constantine, that the first day of the week officially became a legal holiday for worship. Under Constantine, who ruled in the early part of the fourth century, work was set aside on the first day of the week in order to allow Christians a day of rest and plenty of time for worship.
Again, behind the scenes was the concept of the Jewish Sabbath and the natural temptation to see the Lord’s Day as a Christian substitute for the Sabbath, even though this is clearly not the teaching of scripture.
It was Augustine of Hippo who, perhaps, more than any other theologian, influenced the early church to make this connection between the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day by his strong emphasis upon the Ten Commandments. During the middle ages the Church’s position was that the Lord’s Day was to be treated as the Christian Sabbath and that mentality made its way into the Puritan way of life so that in the early days of our country it was against the law even to take a walk on the Lord’s Day for fear that one might enjoy themselves and thus violate what they understood to be the sacred nature of the day.
So the very legalism for which Jesus chided the Pharisees in Mark 2:27, found its way into the New Testament church and for many continues to be a source of controversy.
It seems that every time you broach this subject you run the risk of offending someone because even today many well-intentioned Christians have strong feelings about what someone should or should not do on the Lord’s Day. For some it is to be nothing but a day of rest and worship, consistent with the view that it is the Christian Sabbath.
For others it is merely a day for corporate worship and private reflection but is not to be accompanied by the legalism the Pharisees had imposed on the keeping of the Sabbath.
Then for others the observance of the day is strictly a matter of individual conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Further complicating the issue is that the 4th Commandment, the one concerning the Sabbath, is the only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated in the New Testament. Furthermore, most scholars and theologians agree in that the day of rest prescribed in the Old Testament ultimately finds its fulfillment in Christ, who, according to Hebrews, is our rest. Thus, the Lord’s Day, they would say, is not a New Testament Sabbath, but rather a time for corporate worship.
This is how the writers of our confessional statement have seen it. They say that it is a “Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of spiritual devotion, both public and private.”
And that any activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Simply put, this means that we are no longer under the law and that the Lord’s Day is different from and not to be confused with the Sabbath. What it does not mean is that we can treat the Lord’s Day like any other day of the week and disregarding the scriptural examples given us for worship on the Lord’s Day.
So what is the Lord’s Day for and how are we to view it?
This brings us to our second point, which is that the Lord’s Day is a day for corporate worship.
The Priority of Corporate Worship –
It is obvious that the early church saw the first day of the week as The Lord’s Day. Paul spoke of receiving offerings on the first day of the week when you gather together. As John recorded the revelation, he said in Revelation 1:10 that he was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day”. It was a day when the church gathered together for corporate worship.
One of the marks of true Christianity is community. That is, authentic Christians are supposed to congregate for mutual edification and corporate worship. Jesus has promised to be present in our midst as we gather and throughout the history of the Church this has been the norm rather than the exception. Simply put this means we are supposed to gather together regularly for worship and fellowship and teaching and sharing together.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews 10:23-25,
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Additionally, Acts 20:7 tells us that the early church gathered on the first day of the week for fellowship and teaching, and if you read it carefully you’ll find that Paul preached till midnight.
And 1 Corinthians 16:2 tells us that the Christians in Corinth gathered together regularly on the first day of the week, on the Lord’s Day and worshiped through the giving of their financial resources.
The Psalmist said, in Psalm 122:1, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”
You see, the normal behavior for people who are in love with God and who are in love with the people of God is to want to be around other Christians and to worship the Lord together. While I may have the freedom to worship God when and where I like, history tells us that those who are passionately in love with Jesus have normally been involved in their local church and attend it regularly. You find me a new Christian who hasn’t had time to backslide or become overly familiar with that which is holy and I’ll show you somebody who is excited about going to church and who has a hunger and a thirst for the things of God.
There is much lamentation these days about the dismal attendance record of many Christians in churches these days. On any given Sunday somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of the people who would consider themselves to be active members of our church, are not here. Some of them are traveling but many of them have chosen to be involved in other activities, like leisure or recreational sports.
Folks, the reason people go to the house of the Lord is because they are in love with Him and want to join with others who are of like mind and Spirit and worship Him together.
From the early days of the Christian Church, this priority of corporate worship on the Lord’s Day has been a pattern, which was sanctioned by the apostles themselves as well as the various first century Christians.
If you are in love with Jesus, if you are as excited about Him and His presence as you should be, corporate worship will become a priority in your life. It will come ahead of sports, ahead of work, and before your family. If you have a passionate love for the Lord it will be reflected in how faithful you are to gather with others and worship the Lord together.
I realize that’s not too popular these days. I know it sounds legalistic. I ‘ve heard all those who say, “I don’t need to go to church to worship God, I can worship God in the forest or on the lake, in the midst of nature. I feel closer to God there.”
Say what you like but you cannot get away from Hebrews 10:25 which tells us that we are not to forsake corporate worship. The Bible is clear, as Christians we are to gather regularly for worship through proclamation and praise, for encouragement, accountability and the building up of one another.
There are, of course, reasons people don’t want to go to church.
Some don’t want to go to church because theydon’t want to have to face the truth about themselves.
They don’t want to hear that they are sinners and need to repent.
Others don’t want to go to church because their church has quit teaching and preaching the truth and others are downright boring.
Some churches are so far stuck in the past, so steeped in tradition and ritual that most people cannot see any relevance in what they teach or preach.
Other churches have forsaken the gospel of Jesus Christ in favor of a message that is more in line with the political correctness of the day. Those kinds of messages have no power to transform lives and sooner or later, they too pass away. Many people don’t go to church because the churches they have been too had nothing real to offer and left them with more questions than answers.
But do you want to know the truth of the matter? Most people don’t go to church because they’ve not seen any real difference in the lives of those who do!
This is not an indictment on everyone who goes to church, but let’s face it, if we lived like we ought to, if our lives were as transformed as God wants them to be, if we truly loved one another as we have been called to, others would be drawn to us in such a way that our services would always be overflowing.
Sunday is the Lord’s Day. It is a day when we, as the redeemed, gather to worship the Redeemer. It is a day set aside for reflection, a day for worship and spiritual devotion. It is a day which should, in a very real sense, be something every born again believer looks forward to each and every week.
And by the way, as a blood-bought born-again child of God, you shouldn’t need a law or a rule or a commandment to get you out of bed and into the church to study the Bible and be with God’s people, and come before Him in worship!
This brings me to my final observation. That is that in the life of a Christian, everyday should be the Lord’s Day, every day should be a day that we are careful to practice a consecrated life.
The Practice of Private Devotion –
When Jesus instituted the New Covenant He fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the Old Covenant and the way men worshiped God changed. No longer was the sacrifice of goats and bulls necessary, the blood of Jesus paid the price, once for all. No longer was God only resident over the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, now God comes to dwell within every believer through the presence of the Holy Spirit. No longer do we have to go to a human priest to take our petitions to God, now there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ the righteous. The New Covenant or New Testament changed things.
One of the things the New Testament changed was the observance of the Sabbath. Instead of one day being set aside for God every week, in a very real sense, now every day is a day which should be consecrated to the Lord. Now, instead of going into the temple to worship on the Sabbath, scripture tells us that our very bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that the very way in which we live our lives should be an act of worship.
All of this calls us to a consecrated life; a life of private devotion which is lived for Jesus 7 days a week, not just on Sunday.
That’s what Paul is saying in Romans 12:1-2.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
While Christians should strive to order their lives in such a way so as not to neglect their regular participation in corporate worship, corporate worship is, in a sense, born out of personal and private worship. Coming to church on Sunday will not transform you unless you are being transformed in your personal walk with God throughout the week. Sunday should be the culmination of worship in which you have been involved in all week long.
Can you imagine the kind of worship service that would be where everyone there has been busy worshiping all week long and they come together to pool their passion on Sunday. Whew! That would be exciting!
Allow me to suggest several things which I think will help you as you seek to live a consecrated life. There are no secrets here, just elementary practical suggestions which will help put feet to your faith. And when you hear these you’re going to say, “so what’s new about that?” the answer is nothing!
This is basic stuff, but then the majority of our Christian walk is basic and most of us already know it, we simply need reminding. Here goes,
Ffour basics of developing a private devotional life:
Read the word of God daily – This is basic, but you’d be surprised at how many Christians simply don’t make time to read the word of God on a daily basis. You don’t have to be legalistic about it. If for some reason you miss a day don’t begin to think you’re a bad Christian. A better way to approach this is to look at it as a discipline, sort of like exercising or eating healthy food. It needs to be a regular part of your life. It needs to be one of the good habits you develop. It’s awfully difficult to follow the will of God if you are not familiar with the word of God.
Spend time in prayer daily – I don’t understand everything I read. The truth of the matter is I can hardly read the bible without going to God in prayer and asking Him to help me understand.
Then, once I understand He usually convicts me and I have to ask for forgiveness, either for something I’ve said or done, or for something I have not said or done. But prayer keeps me in right fellowship with God. Have you ever noticed that it’s hard to talk to someone and allow anything to stand between you, sooner rather than later, if you stay in touch with them, the issue will come to the surface and you’ll deal with it. The same is true in your relationship with God if you’ll spend time in prayer every day.
Attend Church regularly – You need to be in a church where the word of God is preached and the love of God is demonstrated. You need to associate with others who love Jesus like you do; who will encourage and strengthen you in your faith. The devil wants to keep us from fellowship with other Christians and thereby separate us from our support and our accountability.
If he can get us away from the fold, he can attack us at our weakest point. Listen, two thousand years of agreement within the body of Christ concerning the necessity of corporate worship can’t be wrong. Our spiritual ancestors laid a solid path for us to follow. Devoted Christians who are able to, attend church regularly.
Share your faith faithfully – You’ll be amazed how God will speak to you and how you’ll sense His working in your life when you get involved in telling others about His love.
Anne Ortlund, in her book “Up With Worship” writes:
When I was little we used to play church. We’d get the chairs into rows, fight over who’d be preacher, vigorously lead the hymn singing, and generally have a great carnal time. The aggressive kids naturally wanted to be up front, directing or preaching. The quieter ones were content to sit and be entertained by the up-fronters.
Occasionally we’d be mesmerized by a true sensationalistic crowd-swayer—like the girl who said, “Boo! I’m the Holy Ghost!” But in general, if the up-fronters were pretty good they could hold their audience quite a while.
If they weren’t so good, eventually the kids would drift off to play something else—like jump rope or jumping jacks.
Now that generation has grown up, but most of them haven’t changed too much. Every Sunday they still play church. They line up in rows for the entertainment. If it’s pretty good, their church may grow. If it’s not too hot, they eventually drift off to play something else—like yachting or wife swapping.
That’s the problem, isn’t it? Playing church can get boring. You learn the routine, you do the same thing every Sunday. After awhile, it’s not very exciting anymore, so you drift off to find more stimulating pursuits.
Listen: the only key to meaningful public worship is consistent private worship. And the key to vibrant private worship is a love relationship with Jesus Christ.
It all begins with a faith decision, and continues for all eternity. And we invite you to begin or renew that relationship this morning.
