Sabbath Delight

There is no small amount of debate in the Church today concerning how a Christian is to observe each Sunday. The debate usually revolves around what a Christian may or may not do on Sunday, though some professing Christians deny that we are obligated to follow the Sabbath ordinance since we are in the New Covenant. I should note right away that I am writing this post about the Sabbath/Lord's Day/Sunday from a rather conservative Reformed and Presbyterian perspective. Thus, if there are those who profess Christ and believe the fourth commandment concerning the Sabbath is no longer binding, then be forewarned that this post assumes that it is. Perhaps some other time I will argue the continued obligation of the fourth commandment for us today; for now I want to focus on the matter of actual Sabbath observance.

Even in Reformed and Presbyterian circles there are differences of opinion as to how the Lord's Day is to be observed. Note what the Westminster Shorter Catechism says concerning this matter: "Q. 60. How is the sabbath to be sanctified? A. The sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy." The question of Sabbath observance in my circles centers around the phrase "worldly employments and recreations" and in particular, what is meant or allowed/not allowed by the inclusion of the word "recreations."

The question for so many folks is a question of what is allowable for a person to do on the Sabbath. Can I watch TV? Can I go out to eat? Can I play sports? Can I watch sports? Can I shoot hoops in the driveway with my kids? Can I take a walk in the park? There is an endless number of related questions of allowance on the Sabbath. The difficulty is that there really are a lot of gray areas that can make even the staunchest conservative Sabbitarian say, "I'm not really sure."

My own view, or perhaps more accurately, my own application of the Sabbath principle has changed over the last few years in particular. I would sometimes get bogged down in the "dos and don'ts"of the Sabbath and really miss the fundamental point. Of course, to be perfectly honest, I just wanted to do my own thing, even though I had some standards I tried to follow. What follows is a description of what the Holy Spirit used to sanctify my own thinking concerning the Lord's Day. There was no real list involved, but rather a simple test that I used concerning any activity I thought about doing on the Lord's Day.

This passage of Scripture is a great test, as it were, to help you determine how best to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken” (Isaiah 58:13-14 [ESV]). The key thing to remember as you determine what is entailed in your own Sabbath observance is to call the Sabbath a delight. The activity you are thinking of doing - will it help you to call the Sabbath a delight? Will it help you remember God's greatness and grace in your life? Then by all means, do it! Will a particular activity prevent you from calling the Sabbath a delight? They by all means, don't do it!

Let's take this a step further. The application of the fourth commandment is more than simply concern about your own activities, but concern about the activity of others and their ability to call the Sabbath a delight. Notice that those who are not to work on the Sabbath are your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, or the stranger who is within your gates. Simply put, as far as it is possible with you, you are not to cause others to violate the Sabbath. Apply the above test here as well; any work or activity that you do on the Lord's Day ought to be that which will enable others to call the Sabbath a delight, e.g., the work involved in hospitality. The flip side to this is not to do any work or participate in any activity that would hinder others from calling the Sabbath a delight. People will claim that going out to eat on Sunday is no big deal, but consider that your waiter/waitress at that point is your manservant/maidservant and they, too, are to do no work. Yet there they are working so you don't have to! Interestingly, many Christians lament the fact that too many of the pews in their church are empty and do so during the Sunday brunch at their local restaurant after church. The very act of eating out at a restaurant after church services is a contributing factor in keeping people out of the pews! Many people who work in restaurants need to be there well before it opens, so while you are in the worship service employees of the restaurant have to get ready for you to come to Sunday brunch. This activity does not allow others to call the Sabbath a delight, but rather hinders them from doing so! You really have no justification in lamenting empty pews in Church on Sunday morning if you are engaging in activities that actually keep others away from those pews.

My friends, the Sabbath is not burden, but a delight! Remember Jesus' words regarding the Sabbath: "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath is for you. It is a blessing from God to you. How then can we not seek to use the divinely appointed blessing of the Sabbath in the way God has intended for us? Recognize that the Lord's Day is a blessing, call the Sabbath a delight, and God will surely bless you!