Whose Day Is the Lord's Day?
This month's issue of The Gospel Advocate carries an article by Tom Holland entitled, "The Lord's Day Is Under Attack." I read the piece with enthusiasm. Personally, I am fed up with the way some Christians allow the world to tell them how to spend their Sundays. It is time for us to take the first day of the week back.
Holland's article contains several good quotations, but I liked this one by Philip Schaff, from the first volume of his eight-volume series, History of the Christian Church:
A proper observance of the Lord's Day is a wholesome school of discipline, a means of grace for the people, a safeguard of public morality and religion, a bulwark against infidelity, and a source of immeasurable blessing to the church, the state, and the family. Next to the Church and the Bible, the Lord's Day is the chief pillar of Christian society (p. 479).
In other words, society is doing itself in by keeping its people from church on Sundays.
Everyone wants a piece of the Lord's Day these days. The employers want it, especially those who employ young people. The coaches want it. For some reason weeknights, Fridays nights and Saturdays are not enough for athletic games. They have to have Sunday, too. The golf courses, amusement parks, malls and resorts want it as well. What about the Lord? Does anybody care what he wants?
These attacks on the Lord's Day would be powerless if it were not for weak Christians who allow themselves to be influenced by them. Bosses need to be told that Sundays are off limits. And the coaches need to come off their high horse. They'll stop scheduling practices and games on Sundays when the players stop showing up. Parents may ask, "But what if my child doesn't get to play?" I can think of worse things.
This isn't just about making time for an assembly. This is about honoring God. God must be honored above all else--nothing is more important. He is "the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). If we refuse to honor him, how can we expect him to bless us?
