Celebrating Sunday
Mark 2:23–3:6
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27
How should we celebrate Sunday? Consider the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “What is the chief end of man?” The answer given is: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” Joy is to be the first characteristic of the Lord’s Day. May I suggest that you are not really celebrating Sunday at all if you do not enjoy it?
The second important characteristic of the Lord’s Day should be activity. Jesus said that real worship is done “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Truth involves content. Thus, worship is above all else an active, rational activity. It must engage the mind.
The second highly significant activity that ought to characterize the Lord’s Day is our witness. Do you do that on Sunday? You can do it on any day, of course. It is of the essence of our day that anything done on Sunday can and should be done on other days also. But do you at least bear a witness on Sunday? This is a day to invite your friends to go with you to hear God’s Word proclaimed. At the least it is a day on which you should teach your children what you know about Christ.
Sunday should be characterized by a great spiritual expectation.
I love Sunday. One of the reasons why I love Sunday is that I never know in advance what will happen. As I leave my house on the way to the church, I never know precisely whom I will meet or what will take place. I do not know who will be present or who will respond to the preaching. I never plan messages to preach at problems that I imagine to be present in the congregation, and yet it is often the case that what I say is used of the Lord to speak precisely to some problem. Lives are changed. What is more, not infrequently that day is the turning point in someone’s entire spiritual experience.
Do you go to the company of God’s people with such expectation? If you do, it will increase your joy and cause you to work even harder. You will thrill to God’s grace. And you will know in a personal way the burden of these words that summarize most of our Sunday activity: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31); “be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2); “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17); “rejoice always” (v. 16); “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.