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First
Things First
Habits
and routine are a vital part of discipleship. We make time
for those things we deem important. God has decreed that
we work six days and give the seventh to rest and worship.
This was so important to God that He gave us an example
to follow, by resting after creating the universe.
“By
the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing
; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And
God blessed the seventh day and made it holy …”
Genesis 2: 2-3
Why
does our week consist of 7 days? Why not make it 10 or 12
for that matter? The Basic Everyday Encyclopaedia states:
“The seven day week came in from Old Testament sources
and the Christian influence.”
The
seven-day week is a testimony to the fact that God created
the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. The fact that
Sunday, the first day of the week, is our day of rest instead
of the Jewish Saturday, is a weekly reminder that Jesus
rose from the dead on the first day of the week.
For
that matter, the reason why we date our years as we do,
this being the year 2003 AD, is a monumental testimony to
the incarnation of Christ. The birth of Christ utterly altered
the way we measure time. He turned aside the river of the
ages out of its course and lifted the centuries off their
hinges. Now, the whole world counts time as before Christ
(BC) and AD (Anno Domini), in the year of the Lord. It is
ironic that even the most vitriolic atheists have to acknowledge
the centrality of Christ every time that they write the
date!
In
fact, the Revolutionary Convention, during the French Revolution,
attempted to abolish the Christian calendar and introduce
a 10-day work week, counting the years from the establishment
of their “Republic”, beginning 1792. It needs
hardly to be pointed out that they failed.
The
French Revolutionary and atheist, Voltaire, declared: “If
you want to kill Christianity, you must abolish Sunday.”
(To show how God has a sense of humour, the Geneva Bible
Society bought Voltaire’s house and printing press
to produce Bibles in French!)
As
Christians, we should repent for allowing the Lord’s
Day to become so encroached upon and desecrated by shopping,
sports and worldly entertainment. D.L. Moody observed: “No
nation has ever prospered that has trampled the Sabbath
in the dust. Show me a nation that has done this and I will
show you a nation that has got in it the seeds of ruin and
decay. I believe that Sabbath desecration will carry a nation
down quicker than anything else.”
Any
relationship needs quality time and we need to devote at
least one day a week to developing and deepening our relationship
with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
“If
you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing
as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a
delight and the Lord’s holy day honourable, and if
you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as
you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your
joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights
of the land and to feast on the inheritance ...” Isaiah
58:13-14
Setting
aside the first day of the week as a special day is good
for our body, mind and soul. We need time set aside for
relaxation, reflection and restoration. It is a matter of
rhythm and routine, but also a matter of revelation and
remembrance of the Lord’s great work of Creation (Exodus
20: 8-11 and salvation (Deuteronomy 5: 12-15).
By
ordering our week to set apart the Lord’s Day as a
special day for the family to rest and worship the Lord
– we proclaim to the world that Jesus Christ has risen
from the dead and He is Lord of our lives.
Resting
one day in seven is also healthy – spiritually, emotionally,
physically and economically. It is good for businesses,
good for families and good for any country.
“Remember
the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour
and do all your work, but the Seventh Day is a Sabbath to
the Lord your God ... “ Exodus 20:8-9
God
has given this commandment, like all the other commandments,
for the benefit not just of Christians, but of society in
general. “We ignore the Sabbath at our peril. We keep
it to our inestimable benefit.” Professor Verna Wright
The
pattern of having one special day of rest and worship in
every week, does not come from the giving of the Law (Exodus
20), but from the time of creation (Genesis 2:2). The practice
of one day of rest in seven began as a gift from God at
creation, and was later made a commandment from God as well.
This Day of rest and refreshment was to benefit servants,
visitors and one’s animals as well (Exodus 20:8-11).
This Day of rest was also given as a reminder that God is
the Creator and the Redeemer.
The
early Christian Church gathered for worship “on the
first day of the week” (Acts 20: 7; 1 Corinthians 16:2;
Revelation 1:10).
“Let
us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and
good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some
are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another
…” Hebrews 10:24-25
Aside
from it being a Day of rest, remembrance and worship, the
Lord’s Day also is a day of hope.
“There
remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”
Hebrews 4:9
Every
Lord’s Day, when we spend time with God’s people
in worship, fellowship and ministry of the Word, we are
reminded that we have something even more glorious and wonderful
to look forward to in eternity.
Some
Christians reject any suggestion that Sundays are special,
claiming that we are not “under Law but under grace”
and therefore free to do as we please. However, that suggests
that the Lord’s Day is some kind of terrible bondage.
God’s commandments should not be seen as limiting our
freedom, but on the contrary, as giving us great freedom
to enjoy God’s best for our lives. The Law brings an
obligation, but grace brings in opportunity. The only people
who would find the fourth commandments as some kind of bondage
are those who have never really understood its purpose.
Listen
to some of these insights from great leaders of the past:
“Sunday
is a divine and priceless institution, the necessary pause
in the national life. It is the birthright of every British
subject, our responsibility, privilege and duty to hand
on to posterity.” Sir Winston Churchill
“Experience
shows that the Day of rest is essential to mankind –
that it is demanded by civilisation as well as Christianity.”
Theodore Roosevelt
“On
the Lord’s Day, Christians should, in honour of the
resurrection of the Lord, defer all worldly business.”
Tertullian
“The
profanation of the Sabbath is an inlet to all impiety. Those
who pollute holy time will keep nothing pure.” Matthew
Henry
“There
is nothing in which I would recommend you to be more strictly
resolute than in keeping the Sabbath holy; and by this I
mean, not only abstaining that Day from all unbecoming sports
and common business, but from consuming time in frivolous
conversation, which often leads to a sad waste of this precious
day.” William Wilberforce
“The
city will be safe if God be truly and devoutly worshipped
and this is attested by the sanctification of the Sabbath
... “ John Calvin
“A
man shall show his heart and life, what they are, more by
one Lord’s Day than by all the days of the week besides.
To delight ourselves in God’s service upon His holy
Day gives it better proof of a sanctified nature than to
grudge at the coming of such days.” John Bunyan
The
pioneer inventors of the aircraft, the Wright brothers,
had this to say: “We were brought up to have respect
for the Lord’s Day … we would never fly on a Sunday.”
Of
course, our Lord Jesus taught that it is good and right
to do works of mercy on the Lord’s Day (Matthew 12:11-12).
Christians have always recognised that there are necessary
emergency services, which are required to do good on the
Lord’s Day. We don’t abandon speed restrictions
on the roads simply because the police and emergency services
have to go faster. We make laws that will be for the good
of society in general, and then discuss the necessary exceptions.
The
point is – the Lord’s Day should be a special
day without any commercial activities. We are to make every
effort to ensure that the minimum number of people are forced
to work on Sunday’s. Nobody should be forced by legislation
to go to church on Sunday, but it would be right for governments
to make legislation to keep people free from commercial
obligations on Sunday. Just as there is legislation such
as compulsory wearing of seat belts for motorists and crash
helmets for motor cyclists, against drug abuse and other
protections, it would be appropriate for the state to pass
legislation, allowing people the freedom not to work on
Sunday’s, although, no government may tell people what
to do with their free time.
Benjamin
Disraeli, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, declared:
“I hold the Day of rest to be the most valuable blessing
ever conceded to man, it is the cornerstone of civilisation.”
Eric
Liddell, the Olympic gold medallist whose refusal to run
for the main Olympic race on a Sunday, was the subject of
the film Chariots of Fire, declared: “There are many
people today who think of those who honour Sunday in the
old-fashioned way as killjoys. They feel that during the
years of youth they ought to have a chance to ‘have
their fling’. Give me the Day of rest, when all that
savours of organised games can be put to one side, and all
of life’s joys will be greater because of it. To me
personally, it is a time of communion and fellowship with
God – a time of quiet, in fact, a time of recreation
and fellowship with God. I believe that Sunday as we have
had it in the past, is one of the greatest helps in a young
man’s life to keep all that is noblest, truest and
best. That is why I say: young person, stand for the Lord’s
Day, for by losing it you will lose far more than the Day:
you will lose the Spirit that it stands for.”
Eric
Liddell went on to win an Olympic gold medal for a race
he had not specifically trained for, and then became a missionary
to China, dying in a concentration camp.
Bishop
J.C. Ryle wrote: “My advice to all Christians is to
contend earnestly for the whole Day against all enemies,
both without and within. It is worth the struggle. The Sabbath
breaking of the present day is one among many proofs of
the low state of vital religion. The observance of a Sabbath
Day is part of the eternal Law of God. The Sabbath is Gods’
merciful appointment for the common benefit of all mankind.”
Dr. Peter Hammond
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