The Lord's Day
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Introduction
Introduction
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.
The Baptist Faith and Message, Article VIII
My Life Before Christianity
My Life Before Christianity
VH1 Sunday Morning Countdown
Dad reading the paper
Getting ready for a day of watching football or going shopping
No thought of church
Sometimes I look back at that as some strange existence
Like some previous life where you didn’t drink water and somehow survived
Because that is how foundational Lord’s Day worship is to Christianity and the spiritual health of the soul...
...It is like water!
1. The Lord’s Day is the first day of the week.
1. The Lord’s Day is the first day of the week.
What Christians Do
What Christians Do
Christians gather together and publicly worship Jesus Christ on the first day of the week.
That is what we do.
This practice is communicated to us in the Scriptures
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
It is deeply rooted in Christian tradition.
The day that we gather is not arbitrary.
Jesus died on a Friday and rose again on a Sunday.
Therefore, it is the Lord’s Day and we gather and celebrate the resurrection each week as it rolls around.
Why Sunday?
Why Sunday?
Some traditions have questioned whether or not Christians are supposed to gather on Sundays—the first day of the Jewish week
They say that the Sabbath command in the Ten Commandments was for the final day of the Jewish week—Saturday.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
They are correct that Saturday was the Sabbath day for the Old Covenant Jewish believer
So some groups, such as the 7th Day Adventists and 7th Day Baptists say Christians should gather on Saturdays
There are Two Problems with this viewpoint:
1. We have ample reason to believe that the earliest Christians shifted their day of observance from Saturday to Sunday because of the Resurrection.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Their life changed on that day. It would never be the same. They saw the risen Christ.
In light of that, as they gathered for public worship, they shifted to Sunday.
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread...
One of the earliest Christian documents we have is the Didache.
It is almost like a handbook for the church.
On the Lord's Day of the Lord, come together, break bread and hold Eucharist, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure.
Didache, 14.1
2. We lose the significance of having our gatherings centered on the Resurrection.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith.
Without it, we have powerless faith and should be pitied.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
That would mean we have hope only in this life...
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Christians gather on Sundays because Christ rose on a Sunday and that Resurrection is everything to us.
What other day would we get together to have our weekly holiday?
2. The Lord’s Day is to be regularly observed.
2. The Lord’s Day is to be regularly observed.
Observing Regularly and Why
Observing Regularly and Why
There are some things that Southern Baptists agree on and disagree on when it comes to the Lord’s Day.
What we all agree on is that the Lord’s Day should be observed with regularity.
The Scriptures command it:
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
The primary reason we gather on the Lord’s Day is to worship Jesus and celebrate His resurrection.
But we worship and celebrate Him with God’s people.
And God has obligated us to those people— “to one another.”
The author of Hebrews writes to remind his audience of that obligation
They are not to neglect to meet together
Some had fallen into the habit
Notice the connection between meeting together and stirring one another up to love and good works.
Notice the connection between meeting together and encouragement.
This tells us that there is a sense in which we will not be stirred up and will not be encouraged if we do not meet together.
The New Testament is filled with “one another commands.”
Be at peace with one another
Be humble towards one another
Be kind to one another
Bear burdens for one another
Bear with one another
Build Up one another
Care for one another
Do good to one another
Encourage one another
Fellowship with one another
Greet one another
Honor one another
Instruct one another
Pray for one another
Serve one another
Show hospitality to one another
Submit to one another
When it comes to the Lord’s Supper Table—Wait for one another
Love one another
“One another” in English comes from one Greek word (ah-LAY-loan)
That word is used 100 times in the NT in 94 different verses
55 of those 100 times is in reference to how we engage with one another in the local church
So then—we must gather because we can’t fulfill the “one another” commands without being with “one another.”
This is why the “virtual church” or “online church” trend should not be encouraged.
It is virtually impossible to fulfill the “one another” commands virtually.
Dr. Hopson Boutot
Livestreams can be great supplemental tools for those who are hindered from gathering due to circumstances.
But it cannot replace the actual assembling of God’s people.
How Do We Observe?
How Do We Observe?
Christians and Southern Baptists do NOT all agree on HOW it should be observed
The disagreement tends to fall down two dividing lines.
Regulative Principle of Worship
Sabbatarianism
Regulative Principle of Worship
Regulative Principle of Worship
The Regulative Principle of Worship is born out of the Protestant Reformation.
As they are seeking to reform Lord’s Day worship from all Roman fingerprints, the Reformers developed the Regulative Principle.
The Regulative Principle of Worship according to Ligon Duncan.
God’s Word itself must supply the principles and patterns and content of Christian worship.
Ligon Duncan
In other words—God has not been silent on how we should worship and we should pay attention to what He has said.
The Lord tells us what to do when we gather together on Sundays.
But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan...
The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, Chapter 22, Paragraph 1
Everyone agrees on Five General Actions that should be taken if the Scriptures are regulating our worship:
Read the Word.
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
Preach the Word.
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
Pray according to the Word.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Sing the Word.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
See the Word.
The Lord’s Supper and Baptism
Personally, I like to add a 6th.
Giving according to the Word.
Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
The idea is...
The more you are obedient to what God has explicitly commanded, the more God will be exalted and the church will be joyful in worship
This is part of why we structure our service around Isaiah 6.
We believe God will bless a Word-shaped worship service.
And what we do within the elements of our worship service is never incidental or accidental.
We are purposefully doing what God has prescribed.
The opposite of the regulative principle of worship is the Normative Principle.
Normative Principle: Anything not forbidden in Scripture is permissible in worship
If you ever wonder how you end up with churches have ribbon dancers and stage games built into their Sunday worship, this is how.
Those who hold to it claim that the Regulative Principle restricts worship
My response is:
Lebron James regulates his body.
Michael Howard does not.
If you followed us around for a day and watched him eat spinach and lift massive weights...
...Then you watched me drink Slurpees and take leisurely walks...
...You might think that I am more free than Lebron. You might think his life is restricted.
But put us on a basketball court and who looks more restricted?
His regulation over his body causes him to flourish at the job of playing basketball.
Scripture’s regulation over the church causes the church to flourish in the job of worshipping the Lord.
So our pastors would be in disagreement with churches who follow the Normative Principle
...And yet, there are normative principle churches in Southern Baptist life, whether they realize it or not
Sabbatarianism
Sabbatarianism
The issue at hand is this:
Is Sunday a Sabbath to the New Testament believer the same way Saturday was the Sabbath to the Old Testament believer?
And if it is, then how does that change what we do on that day.
There are three main views on this that you will find in the Southern Baptist Convention.
In many ways, how a theologian sees it is dictated by their view of God’s Law.
Full Sabbatarianism
Full Sabbatarianism
Sees God’s Law as having a three-fold division
Ceremonial Law: Regulated and governed Israel’s worship as a nation
“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.
Civil Law: Regulated and governed Israel’s society as a nation (Marriage, divorce, crime, property, etc...)
“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.
Moral Law: The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20)
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
The Full Sabbatarian says that:
Ceremonial Law was abrogated and ended when Jesus died on the Cross
It had been pointing to Him; no use for it now
Signified in the tearing of the curtain in the Temple
Civil Law fulfills its purpose with the end of national Israel in 70 AD
Moral Law REMAINS
Sabbath is a part of the Moral Law, therefore the Sabbath must still be observed
The Sabbath has now shifted to Sunday in the New Covenant because of the Resurrection
On Sundays you should treat the Sabbath just like the OT Jew
No work
No sinful recreation
Nothing that resembles your routines and labors from the other 6 days of the week
The Lord’s Day, from morning to night, should be spent always either in private or public worship.
Samuel Rutherford
We have to say that this is what our Baptist forefathers believed because they were directly downstream from Puritans like Rutherford.
The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe a holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.
The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, Chapter 22, Paragraph 8
We certainly have churches in our Convention that we would call good brothers and sisters who believe this.
But if you belonged to their church and regularly watched NFL football on Sundays, you might find yourself under church discipline
Progressive Covenantalism
Progressive Covenantalism
The Progressive Covenantalism is specifically Baptist view.
They do not divide the Law up into three parts.
Instead, they say that God progressively revealed the New Covenant throughout the Old Testament in the various covenants He made with His people.
It culminates in Christ coming and inaugurating the New Covenant.
When that happens, the entirety of the Law is set aside
Ten Commandments
Laws about Society
Laws about Worship
It is all the Law and it is ALL abrogated by Christ’s death!
Now the only thing binding on the New Testament believer is the Law of Christ, which is the teaching of the New Testament
The Law the Spirit of Christ empowers us to fulfill
The New Testament repeats nine of the Ten Commandments, so those nine would be binding.
The New Testament is silent on the Sabbath, therefore the Sabbath is not binding.
Therefore the Progressive Covenantalist says, “There is no straight line to be drawn from Old Testament Saturday Sabbath to New Testament Lord’s Day worship.”
We certainly have wonderful brothers and sisters in our Convention who believe and teach this.
This is the predominant view taught at THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
I like this view!
It is simple!
But I am not sure I agree with the way it lumps the Ten Commandments with the other 608 OT Laws.
They seem to stand out!
Only ones written with the finger of God!
The High Holy Day-ism
The High Holy Day-ism
This was John Calvin’s view for most of his life
This was John MacArthur’s view
Calvin and MacArthur agreed with the three-fold division of the Law.
They agreed that you can generally divide the Law up into:
Ceremonial
Civil
Moral
They agreed that the Sabbath was part of the Moral Law
However, Calvin argued that the Sabbath was unique even among the Ten Commandments.
It has a ceremonial aspect: Set aside this day for the ceremony of worship
It also has a moral aspect: God deserves worship and it is sin not to give Him a day dedicated to it
What Calvin and MacArthur argued is that when Jesus died, He abrogated the ceremonial Law—curtain torn!
That means that with Christ’s death the ceremonial aspect of the Sabbath is put to death.
It is not binding as ceremonial Law in the way it once was
However, the moral aspect hasn’t changed.
In other words—The NT believer may do or not do everything the Old Testament Jew did on the Sabbath ceremonially
But they will continue to hold to the moral principle of the Sabbath—they will set aside a day for public worship and treat it differently from the other 6 days.
There is no longer any need for the ceremonial aspect of the Sabbath.
It pointed beyond itself to a rest that was coming in the Messiah—the Lord of the Sabbath.
Now that Christ has died, that rest is provided for you as a Christian and you have it every day.
But the moral principle remains—God must be worshipped primarily and purposefully!
This was the view of the Heidelberg Catechism:
First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained,
and that, especially on the festive day of rest,
I diligently attend the assembly of God’s people
to learn what God’s Word teaches,
to participate in the sacraments,
to pray to God publicly,
and to bring Christian offerings for the poor.
Second,
that every day of my life
I rest from my evil ways,
let the Lord work in me through his Spirit,
and so begin in this life
the eternal Sabbath.
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 103, 1563
Here we see Calvin’s view captured.
On one hand, I have rest in Christ every day of my life.
Rest from evil ways
Rest in Christ
An eternal Sabbath that will never end
On the other hand, I am still going to set aside a day for public worship and assembling with God’s people because the moral principle of the Sabbath remains.
Notice the Heidelberg doesn’t do what the 1689 Confession does...
It does not bind the Christian’s conscience on exactly how the Sabbath should look.
But it does bind the conscience on the principle of gathering for worship according to the Scriptures.
This is the view that I have come to hold.
It is a little more complicated to explain, but that is the way it is with good theology sometimes.
The Baptist Faith and Message is quiet on this issue and simply leaves it to the conscience of the individual and the different local churches.
Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
3. The Lord’s Day is for worship and spiritual devotion.
3. The Lord’s Day is for worship and spiritual devotion.
There are two ditches we are prone to falling into as Christians.
The first is the Sunday Funday Mentality.
Check the church box
Head off into Sunday Funday, never giving another thought to the Lord
We have to avoid this pitfall at all costs
The Lord’s Day is a day that is meant to be given as much as possible to God. We ought on this day to put everything aside as far as we can, that God may be honoured and glorified and that His cause may prosper and flourish.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, 205
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)
Your life and your unbelieving neighbor’s life should look different on Sundays.
The only difference should not be that you sang hymns and they drank mimosas
There should be some difference in the rest of the day as well
Wherever we land on the Sabbath argument, we all believe it is the Lord’s Day
Therefore it should be distinct and your observance of it should be distinct
Here are some ways that Christians I know have told me they make the Lord’s Day meaningful over the years:
Not doing household chores
Not doing anything that has to do with my job
Having an extra quiet time with the Lord at night
Having a family dinner where parents always say YES to extra dessert
Purposely gathering with others from the church for fellowship
Returning to church to sing in the choir
None of these mean you can’t watch football
None of these mean you can’t have fun on the Lord’s Day
But they all reflect a desire to treat it differently
The second mistake we must avoid is a Legalistic Mentality.
Your observance of the Lord’s Day should not be artificial
It is not a day for ritualistic law-keeping divorced from real sincerity in the heart
And if it is law-keeping to you, it will end up lacking sincerity
We have to remember the type of worship that Jesus said we would get to participate in as NT believers:
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
True worshippers exalt God according to WHO HE IS (Spirit) and WHAT HE IS (Truth)
And they are to worship with a sincere heart
God despises empty-hearted worship
“When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
Why does God call the people’s worship a “trampling of His courts?”
Because their hearts were filthy and far from Him
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
Instead, let us heed the words of the Confession and commit ourselves to heartfelt public AND private worship on the Lord’s Day.
Order your life so you do not neglect Lord’s Day worship
Prepare your heart for worship
Pick up our Sermon Schedule Card which has a guide for Lord’s Day Preparation on the back
Count gathering with the saints as a privilege
Order your life so that the Lord’s Day includes a a time for special private worship
I challenge you to start giving private time to God on Sundays that you are not currently giving Him
Or maybe to incorporate some new habits into what you currently do in order to give your activities on the Lord’s Day worshipful meaning
Conclusion
Conclusion
I will close with this story to drive home the importance of the Lord’s Day for the Christian.
We have a church member here who is over 95.
His wife passed away about a 18 months ago.
It is really hard for this brother to get out and about.
He is homebound.
But on the Sunday after he laid his wife in the ground, he came hobbling into this church.
We all said we didn’t expect to see him here.
He said, “Well, I needed to be at church.”
That is a man who has come to understand how special and important the Lord’s Day is.
If you have underestimated its significance in your life, then let tonight be the night that comes to an end.
Turn your eyes to Sunday and starting getting ready.
