Jeremy Walker
Chapter 22: Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
At its root, worship is giving someone or something the honour and glory due to them, behaving toward them in the manner of which they are worthy. In an absolute sense, religious worship is giving to God the honour and glory due to his name, and of which he alone is worthy. The primary concern of Chapter 22 is the warrant for and nature of the worship of God in the new covenant in Christ Jesus.
The light of nature reveals that there is a God: Jeremiah calls him the “King of the nations,” and says that to fear this God – and therefore to respond to him with appropriate worship – is his rightful due (Jeremiah 10.7). Paul confirms that men are without excuse, because “since the creation of the world [the Lord’s] invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead” (Romans 1.20). His justice is reflected in the conscience (Romans 2.15), his mercy seen in his provision for all men (Matthew 5.45). He alone is entitled to the absolute and complete worship and adoration of all his creatures (Mark 12.29-30). Man was created a worshipper, and the universal impulse to worship is evident in the false religions and empty rites of sinful men. Whether men worship God, themselves, or some idol of their own devising, all men worship.
While the duty and fact of worship are established in the light of nature, the acceptable ways and means of worshipping the only living and true God are established only by the light of revelation. God has instituted in the Bible the acceptable way of worshipping him, establishing how men are to approach him. He does not desire to be worshipped according to the minds and designs of fallen men – however well intentioned – nor by the suggestions of Satan, nor under visible representations, nor by any way that he has not prescribed. Israel was warned, “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12.32). The man who comes to God according to his own whims or imagination can have no complaints whatsoever if he is turned away. The Lord God is entitled to set the requirements and standards for his own worship, and he has done this in the Bible. In one sense, the writers are simply applying Chapter 1 (“Of the Holy Scriptures”, particularly paragraph 6) to the matter of worship.
Historically, some have argued that we are free to do anything in worship not forbidden by the Bible (this is called “the normative principle”), but this opens the door to all kinds of abuses and perversions in worship. By contrast, our spiritual forefathers, jealous for the glory of God and the purity of true worship, and convinced that God has instituted in his Word the only acceptable way of worshipping him, show that we are free to worship God only in the way that he has actually commanded and required (“the regulative principle”). If two men constructed a building called Worship, one using the materials of the Word of God, but considering himself free to use other materials and to build to his own design, and the other builds to God’s design using only the materials of God’s Word, how different will those buildings look? Which would be pleasing to God? Surely the latter.
The seriousness of these issues is underlined by such terrifying episodes as those recorded in Leviticus 10.1-3, when Nadab and Abihu bring to God something which he has not commanded. The Lord’s response is immediate and devastating: fire goes out from before the Lord and devours them. We might not suffer the same immediate consequences, but we displease God to an equal degree by concocting our own modes of worship.
All this is not an argument for form over substance: God is not pleased with an accurate but empty shell of worship. The mind and heart and soul and strength must be engaged for worship to be acceptable, but they must be engaged in the way in which God has commanded. To worship God in the way that he has prescribed is not a recipe for narrow legalism, for there is some legitimate scope for variety within the Biblical boundaries. As the writers again make plain in Chapter 1, “there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God . . . which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the word, which are always to be observed” (for example, while the required elements must be present, there is no rule for the order in which they must come, or how many times one must sing, or pray, or read, or preach in any one worship service). The general rules that inform us include those of edifying the brethren, and doing things decently and in order (see 1 Corinthians 14).
In paragraph two, we learn to worship the Triune God alone, carefully described in terms of his trinity and unity. He is the one God, Father, Son and Spirit. The whole Godhead – considered together and as three persons in one (Matthew 28.19) – is to be worshipped. By contrast, nothing and no one else is the legitimate object of our religious worship (Matthew 4.9-10). Two possible errors are explicitly excluded. The first is the temptation to give to a creature the worship due only to the Creator. The Roman Catholic church (among others) makes all kinds of divisions and distinctions in the matter of worship, and in so doing falls into idolatry and heresy. Worship is not to be offered to any creature: not to angels, not to men and women, dead or alive (however Christlike they might have become through obedience to the Word of God, or how close to Christ they were in their life – this includes Mary, the mother of our Lord), and not to demons, idols, and false gods. The second error is the idea of being acceptable to God without the “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2.5). For men to worship God acceptably, a mediator is required. The sinfulness of man and the holiness of God require a suitable mediator between the two: no one comes to the Father except by Jesus Christ (John 14.6). The Word of God abolishes all attempts to put anyone but Christ between God and men, but – because this has not stopped fallen men attempting to do so – the writers state it here plainly, excluding Mary, any other men and women or “saints,” angels, and any other creature from any role in mediating between the holy God and fallen men. In other words, no one comes to the Father without a mediator, and the only one capable of this mediation is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (For a fuller study of the mediation of Christ, see the treatment of Chapter 8 of the Confession.)
This established, we turn to prayer (paragraphs three and four). God requires that all men pray (Psalm 65.2; 95.1-7; 100.1-5). Our responsibility to pray is not measured by our knowledge or ignorance of moral truth, nor our moral ability to obey the command, but by the clear command itself. In order for our praying to be acceptable to God, it must be made in the name of Jesus Christ: it is only through the Son that we approach the Father in prayer (John 14.6, 13-14). All religious worship is acceptable only through Christ, in reliance upon his merits, and in dependence upon his intercession on our behalf before the Father.
Furthermore, acceptable prayer requires the help of the Holy Spirit. We are weak creatures, weak even when that weakness is not in itself sin. Confusion and bewilderment, sometimes disappointment and distress, and a multitude of other concerns, all threaten us in our weakness, and undermine our capacity for prayer. It is in this weakness that the Holy Spirit helps us (Romans 8.26). The same Spirit by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father” (v15) helps us in other ways. Both the second and the third persons of the Godhead are called our paraclete: the title is applied to Christ in 1 John 2.1, when he is called our advocate; it is applied to the Spirit of Christ in John 14.16, where he is called our comforter. Christ Jesus is an advocate for us, interceding on our behalf before his Father in heaven; the Holy Spirit is an advocate within us, making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, directing us, helping us, upholding us, expanding the capacity of our minds and our hearts for the purpose of prayer, and conforming our wills to God.
We also need the Spirit of God to help us in illuminating the Bible, revealing what is acceptable to God in our praying, and guiding us into truth. John 14.13-14 is not a blanket declaration that we will simply receive anything we ask, but must be understood in the context of other qualifying considerations: acceptable prayer must be according to the will of God. What we ask in the name of Christ, with the help of the Spirit of Christ, must be in accordance with the will of Christ (1 John 5.14). Although “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,” such prayer must be according to God’s will.
It is possible willfully or with wrongful ignorance to ask things contrary to God’s will: “you ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4.2-3). For example, a man might pray for something that is obviously sinful, or for something that appears holy but which has at its root a proud desire. Under such circumstances, we must repent of our sinful desires. It is also possible to have legitimate desires which are contrary to the will of God, and in which our wills must therefore be subjugated to the will of God. Examples of this include David’s request to God that he might build a house for the Lord (1 Chronicles 17.1-15; 28.2-3) and our Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane, when he legitimately pleaded with his Father that if possible he might not drink the cup before him, but nevertheless subjugated his own will to that of the Father (Matthew 26.39). Under such circumstances, we must labour to conform our wills to God, and express that conformity in prayer. Additionally, it is possible to be in a situation in which we cannot certainly discern what is God’s will, or to have several options all of which appear to fall within the general principles of God’s revealed will. Under these circumstances, we find safety and security in submitting ourselves to the will of God, whatsoever it might be, and pleading with him that he would be true to his promises of bringing glory to his own name, and doing good to his people: these things we can be sure are his will!
A further characteristic of acceptable prayer concerns our heart attitude and disposition as we pray. The Confession reminds us that, unless the heart is properly engaged, all our efforts – however acceptable they might appear to other men – can be empty. We can wreck prayer by a wrong disposition (Psalm 66.9). To be acceptable to God, our prayers must be made “with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance.” Fine words with flawed hearts are a bad recipe for prayer. There must be a righteous correspondence between the words uttered, and the heart from which they come (Matthew 12.34-35).
We should learn from the hearts and words of the godly what should be the frame of our hearts as we pray. However, we should never imagine that just because prayer (or anything else) comes “from the heart” that it is acceptable to God: many men in desperation might offer a form of prayer to God with great feeling and intensity, but if they do not come by Christ, they are not heard.
The final characteristic of acceptable prayer mentioned here is the practical requirement that public prayer should be easily understood. That means that we should pray “in a known tongue” i.e. in a language that can be understood by those with whom we are praying. The writers have in mind 1 Corinthians 14.13-19, 27-28. We should not pray in a language known only to a select few, and in a mixed gathering we should seek to pray in a language known to the majority, providing, where appropriate and possible, translation. The great principle is edification, and edification generally requires understanding. When others understand us, they can pray with us, add an intelligent “Amen”, and benefit from and be edified by our prayers. This is especially critical for those who regularly lead the people of God in prayer. Further, our vocabulary and the concepts we use should be intelligible. As a general rule (and leaving aside the issue of degrees of spiritual discernment), when we pray, we should speak before God in such a way as to be understood by and edifying to those with whom we gather. The children in the congregation or gathered at family worship, the less educated and the well educated, the street sweeper no less than the university lecturer, ought to be able to enter into our praying to a reasonable degree. That does not mean that it should be simplistic and shallow, but rather simple, clear, and straightforward.
Paragraph four deals with the substance of prayer. Positively, we are to pray for “things lawful, and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter.” This general principle corresponds with what we have considered about praying according to the will of God, and is drawn from passages such as 1 Timothy 2.1-2 and John 17.20, where we are specifically enjoined to pray over a range of matters, and given a particular burden for the people of God.
The Word of God provides us with a treasury of “lawful things” upon which we should draw in prayer, both general and specific. We should pursue a comprehensive sense of what is lawful matter for prayer. Reading our Bibles with an eye to this should enrich our praying, and enable us repentantly to root out unlawful desires and to address matters of concern to ourselves and others which might otherwise be passed over entirely. All that is lawful falls within the boundary of legitimate prayer, even if others think it mundane or insignificant. When uncertain as to God’s desire or intention in any given matter, we are safe in making all our requests and prayers conditional upon his sovereign will (as did our Lord in Gethsemane), knowing that – in doing so – we are utterly safe and secure, embraced by a wisdom, power, justice and goodness as far above our own as the heavens are above the earth (Genesis 18.25).
Having given us a positive declaration, the writers state some errors to avoid. Firstly, the Bible gives us no warrant for prayers for the dead. Scripture teaches us plainly that men die once, and after that the judgement (Hebrews 9.27 c.f. Matthew 25.31-46). Although death is not the end of our personal existence, it is the point at which our eternal destiny is forever fixed. When a man dies, if justified through faith in Jesus Christ, he is received into heaven, or – if he dies in his sins – he is subject to the unspeakable and eternal torments of hell (see, for example, 2 Samuel 12.22-23 and Luke 16.19-31, and Chapters 31 and 32 of the Confession.)
The Roman Catholic church (and some others following her) has suggested a kind of middle state between heaven and hell called purgatory. According to this heretical teaching, there are a few who are good enough for heaven at the point of death, while others go straight to hell. In between are imperfect Christians who must undergo a further purging through pain and suffering in order to be fitted for heaven.
Historically, this opened a door to many abuses, because Rome teaches that the living can alleviate the sufferings of the dead by reducing the length of time for which they must endure purgatory (for example, the offering of prayers and masses, among other things, are said to be means by which souls in purgatory can be released or have their sufferings shortened). The great reformation of the church in Europe during the fifteenth century was prompted, in part, by a reaction against these despicable practices.
Given that purgatory does not exist, and understanding how death fixes a soul’s destiny, we see the folly and sin of praying for the dead. If they are in heaven, no intercession can profit, for they are already made perfect, awaiting the resurrection of their bodies; if they are in hell, we can do nothing to alter the sentence of God. It is both futile and presumptuous to approach the Lord of heaven and earth on such an errand: he has fixed a great and unbridgeable gulf between heaven and hell (Luke 16.25-26), so that no one can pass from one to the other. Who dares assail his throne with demands or requests for a contrary judgement? But – if his state at death fixes a man’s eternal destiny – how much ought we to cry out to God for men while they are alive, that God would deliver them from their sins!
We are also prohibited from praying “for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death,” drawn from 1 John 5.16. While this is a difficult passage (see footnote for a more detailed discussion of the issues) the writers ultimately provide a legitimate route out of any potential conundrum by prohibiting only prayer “for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death”. Practically, it does not seem at all likely that any one of us will ever find ourselves in a situation in which we are so confident that someone has “sinned unto death” that we will be justified in ceasing to pray for him. To use an example, most of us might have been ready to put Saul of Tarsus into such a category . . . until his conversion by the abounding grace of God in Christ Jesus. Sin is to be viewed accurately – as an offence to our all-holy God which carries death in its train – but salvation is also to be viewed accurately, in all the sufficiency of Christ’s person and work, and the power and wisdom and mercy of God displayed in it. We are therefore to pray for those who sin, especially as it seems that we are not in a position to know if or when that would no longer be appropriate.
One final matter: can or should an unconverted person pray? Are they not necessarily lacking the characteristics required for prayer to be acceptable? If this is the case, how can one ever be saved? In answer, we remember that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (1 Peter 3.9). The prayer that is appropriate for a sinner is a sincere prayer of repentance and faith: such a prayer can only be offered in the name of Christ; it is evidence of the help of the Holy Spirit; it is according to our merciful God’s will; it will come from a heart in which the Holy Spirit is already at work. Christ never turns away a penitent sinner; someone wrestling with these concerns might find help in the plain words of John 6.37-40. Given the beauty of that promise, who need fear that a genuine going to God by Christ will be rejected?
Paragraph five details other elements of Biblically constituted worship. The writers give less detail about these than about prayer, possibly because they perceived fewer errors creeping in during their time. They further mention the attitude of true worship and address some matters that ought to be a part of our Christian experience, and a means of worship in their own right.
Biblically ordered worship always and everywhere has the same elements, which are not culturally determined. Although outward appearances may sometimes differ – the ordinary dress of the worshipper (no special uniform is required, although clothing should conform to the Scriptural standards of decency and appropriateness), the language (familiar and intelligible to the worshippers), the manner of singing (but always God-exalting and reverent rather than man-exciting and carnal) – the various Biblical elements will always be present, irrespective of the culture, offered through the same Lord Jesus Christ, with the same heart-attitude of the worshipper.
In reading the Word, a profitable practice is for the whole Bible to be read in the hearing of the congregation, as a separate exercise from preaching. Many churches adopt the warmly commended practice of reading consecutively through both the Old and New Testaments (2 Timothy 3.16). This reading should be accompanied with appropriate explanations and carried out with clarity and distinctness so that it is understood (Nehemiah 8.8). This exposes the people of God to the whole counsel of God, and equips them better to understand it. The Word of God is a central part of worship (Acts 15.21; 2 Timothy 4.1-3; Luke 8.18), and is to be read, explained and applied by men called and qualified for the task. When the Word of God is heard being read and preached, the Lord God addresses himself to us plainly and directly (1 Thessalonians 2.13): the glorious privilege and fearful responsibility of having and hearing the Word of God should never be underestimated.
In singing we return praise to God, singing with grace in our hearts and teaching and admonishing our fellow worshippers (Ephesians 5.18-21; Colossians 3.16). What we sing must therefore be substantial and accurate in its content, as we give praise to God with thanksgiving, instructing and edifying one another. We give legitimate expression to holy affections (Psalm 66.1-2; 95.1-2; 100.1-2). Increased volume is not equal to increased praise, but singing should be hearty and vigorous. Public singing is congregational: there is no place for soloists or choirs in the church of Jesus Christ: the whole church is the choir, and everyone is to sing in such a way as to reflect our union with Christ and with one another in praise to God.
Baptism and the Lord’s supper – the only two ordinances which Christ left for us – take their place in public worship, carried out with strict adherence to Scripture (Matthew 28.19-20; 1 Corinthians 11.23-26; see Chapters 28, 29 and 30 of the Confession). These elements are non-negotiable: they are a matter of obedience to God. Like prayer, they are to be undertaken with an appropriate disposition, consisting of “understanding, faith, reverence and godly fear.”
Used Biblically, wisely and appropriately, humiliation with fasting (restraining to some degree the physical appetites, usually with regard to food and drink, in order to seek the face of God, usually for some particular reason [Esther 4.16; Joel 2.12; Matthew 9.15; Acts 13.23; 1 Corinthians 7.5]), together with thanksgivings upon special occasions (Exodus 15.1-19; Ps 107), ought also to constitute a part of our religious worship and Christian experience.
Paragraph six deals with the place of worship. While “the light of nature and Christian prudence” suggest that – wherever possible – our places of worship should be simple, without distractions for the eye or heart, clean, light, allowing the various elements of worship to be undertaken with the greatest possible freeness and fullness in adherence to the Biblical models, the Confession reminds us here that worship is not made more or less acceptable by the place in which it is offered. No place is made holy by worship, nor is our worship made holy by any place. Under the law, Israel’s worship was tied to a geographical location and to a physical structure: the temple at Jerusalem. The temple was the centre of Jewish religious life, for which the people of God in exile yearned (e.g. Daniel 6.10) even though they knew that God was not restricted to it (2 Chronicles 6.18; Isaiah 66.1-2). This typical and ceremonial pattern of worship passed away with, was abolished in, and was replaced by Christ Jesus (John 4.21; Malachi 1.11; 1 Timothy 2.8; see Chapters 7 and 19 of the Confession). It is not by worshipping in or toward any particular building or place – not a chapel, cathedral, temple, city, or any thing or place – that our worship is made acceptable. God is to be and can be worshipped everywhere, so long as that worship is offered in spirit and in truth (John 4.20-24), is founded upon the pure truth of God’s Word, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and is offered entirely and only through the mediation of Jesus Christ, by whom alone is any worship made acceptable to the All-holy God.
The church of Jesus Christ is not a building taking up space on earth, but is composed of the blood-bought children of Jesus Christ, living stones cemented together by the shed blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 2.4-10), Christ Jesus himself being the head and chief cornerstone (Colossians 4.18; Ephesians 1.22-23; 2.19-22), believers themselves being the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6.19). The church – the people of God – is the place of God’s special presence (Matthew 18.20; 1 Corinthians 3.16; 14.25).
Furthermore, religious worship – and this is true of its various elements, with the exception of those restricted to the gathered church – is to be offered in private families (Acts 10.2) on a daily basis (Matthew 6.11; Psalm 55.17): this is the responsibility of the head of the household to establish and maintain. Each individual believer is to worship God daily alone and privately (Matthew 6.6). Particularly and pre-eminently, the public worship of the church – considering all the means of grace bound up in the worship of the gathered people of God – is to be a priority for all believers, its assemblies not to be carelessly or wilfully neglected or forsaken (Hebrews 10.25; Acts 2.42). The finer detail of these matters can and ought to be worked out with prayer and a deep and abiding concern for the glory of our great God.
Paragraph 7 addresses the institution of a day of worship – what it is and why it is to be observed – and paragraph eight its practice or observation. Men of God have long observed that where regard for the Lord’s day declines, vital religion declines with it.
The writers state that the sabbath principle is “the law of nature.” It is true by definition that such a duty as the worship of God requires a “proportion of time.” Given that the Lord has left nothing to chance in the way in which he is to be worshipped, we expect this proportion of time to be established “by God’s appointment”, and so we find it. The Lord has revealed in his Word a “positive moral and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages,” appointing “one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him.”
We call the sabbath principle a ‘creation ordinance’ (Genesis 2.1-3, established by God alongside marriage [Genesis 2.20-25] and work or labour [Genesis 2.15] before sin had ever entered the world). Rest implies not weariness or inactivity, but God ceasing from the particular work of creation.
From the beginning God patterned in himself one day’s rest in seven. He established it by divine act for men as men: it belongs to our nature as men made in the image of God to have a sabbath. While man continues to be human, he will have a sabbath. (Consider, too, that Exodus 16.22-30 shows a sabbath observed before the Law was given.) This “proportion of time, by God’s appointment” was codified in the Law delivered at Mount Sinai: “from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ [the sabbath] was the last day of the week.” We also see what the writers mean when they talk about a “positive moral and perpetual commandment.” The ten commandments – the summary of God’s moral law (see Chapter 19 of the Confession) – are perpetually binding: they have not and never will be abrogated, in whole or in part, and include keeping a sabbath (Exodus 20.8-11). Can we act as if there are nine (or fewer) commandments? Which Christian permits or promotes blasphemy, idolatry, covetousness, murder, or adultery? What, then, of the fourth commandment? Some seek to ignore it, but this perpetual rule of holiness (now written on the hearts of the new covenant people of God) reminds Israel that – having been freed from Egypt – the nation is to observe the creation ordinance of one day in seven, set apart to God. From the creation of the world until the resurrection of Christ – as affirmed in the fourth commandment – that day is the seventh day of each week.
Deuteronomy 5.14-15 shows this command’s redemptive and covenantal significance in addition to its creative purpose. Grace redeems man from the slavery of sin, and liberates him to obedience to righteousness (Romans 6.17-18), which becomes both duty and delight. The sabbath was never a harsh legal imposition: man was not made for the sabbath, but the sabbath for man (Mark 2.27). Man enjoyed the sabbath as a created being, and his opportunity and capacity to do so are restored by God’s redeeming power.
While our Lord never once undermined the institution in his practice or in his teaching (Luke 4.16; Matthew 12.1-12; Mark 2.28), the confession focuses on the significance of Christ’s resurrection. This seal of God’s approval, and the great manifestation of Christ’s triumph over sin and death, made no change to the purpose of the sabbath, but did alter the day of its celebration.
How did this alteration take place? While we have seen several reasons for considering this commandment “perpetual”, we need to remember that it is also “positive” i.e. it is something specifically declared and enacted by God. Christ, the Son of God and Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2.28), rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and appeared on this day repeatedly (John 20.19, 26 – counting eight days, including the ‘first day’ of v19, brings us back to the first day). The church called it ‘the Lord’s day’ (Revelation 1.10). Established at creation, affirmed in the great lawgiving dependent on the redemption from Egypt, so the great day of re-creation and redemption – our Lord’s rising from the dead – was, by Christ and his church, adopted immediately as the new, divinely instituted day of worship. As a divine act established the principle at the beginning, so a divine act ushered in its new covenant form. The Day of Pentecost also occurred on the first day of the week. The Holy Spirit – Christ’s victory gift to his people – was outpoured on the Lord’s day.
To illustrate: if, having a lump of clay, I make one form but, for good and valid reasons, subsequently re-shape it into a different form, without taking from or adding to the clay, then I have not changed the substance of the material, simply its outward form. Similarly, there is one lump of sabbath “clay”, the same from the foundation of the world, as a law of nature. God, “from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ,” gives that lump the form of the last day of the week; “from the resurrection of Christ” the Lord changes the substance into a new form – “the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s day.” The creation ordinance is altered in accordance with the new creation in Christ Jesus.
The New Testament church (composed almost exclusively of converted Jews in its early days) adopted the day of Christ’s resurrection as the Christian sabbath with a seamlessness suggesting that they realised its significance (Acts 20.7; 1 Corinthians 16.2; when Paul, in 1 Timothy 1.8-11 speaks of the lawful use of the law, he covers the content of both the first and the second tables of the law, including the still-relevant sabbath principle). John assumes understanding of his reference to the Lord’s day (Revelation 1.10), and so gives no explanation. The apostolic church recognises and sanctions the first day of the week as the one hallowed by Christ’s rising from the dead, and therefore the day not just best suited or most appropriate but divinely appointed to be set apart for the worship of the Triune God. The sabbath principle is not abolished in the new covenant: it is heightened in the Christian sabbath, the Lord’s day!
The writers move on in paragraph eight to consider the proper employment of our time and energies on the Lord’s day sabbath. They give a general declaration that it is to be “kept holy unto the Lord.” When something that God has called to be or designated holy is profaned (despised or desecrated, see Exodus 31.14) it is an assault on the values that the Lord God imposes as Creator and as Redeemer. To profane the sabbath is to reject the divine authority of God, to try to throw off his lordship over our time and our labour, asserting would-be human autonomy in its place.
The casual ignorance and laxity characterising not only the world but also the professing church of Christ is no less grounds for God’s continued displeasure than it was in the days of men like Moses, Ezekiel, Nehemiah, Amos, and Isaiah. God has clearly established a definite purpose for this day, and we are no less culpable – given the light we have, much more so – for our disobedience. To profane the Christian sabbath – the Lord’s day – is rebellion. There is a pitched battle being fought for the soul of the church, and the Lord’s day remains one of the more potent symbols of that fight: who has authority over our time and energy? The two points of assault are precisely what they were in the days of Nehemiah and Amos: erosion from within, and assault from without. The Lord our God takes with awesome seriousness the proper observance of the sabbath day; his underlying purposes for the sabbath are set out in Isaiah 58.13-14. This day was a day to be set apart (‘sanctified’) to honour God and to glorify him. It is God’s day, set apart by God himself, and to be observed in a manner pleasing to him i.e. in the manner which he has indicated will please him.
Isaiah commends a perspective on the Sabbath that is utterly contrary to the mind of sinful man. This day is given for man to glorify God, and only a Biblical view of the chief end of man – glorifying God and enjoying him forever – puts the sabbath in the right perspective. When we put the day to the purposes for which God intends it “then you shall delight yourself in the Lord” (Isaiah 58.14a). This true pleasure far transcends our “own pleasure”, from which we are to turn away, delighting ourselves in God. True, spiritual worship delights the heart, and demands and consumes the entirety of our redeemed humanity in the glorious and God-glorifying work. This requires application from us, turning our feet from doing our own pleasure on this day; we are to call it a delight, the holy day of the Lord honourable. New spiritual exercise can be as painful as new physical exercise – too often our spirit is flabby, weak, and malnourished – but it is not until we put our souls on a spiritual exercise regime that their endurance will improve, their capacity will develop, and true delight in worship will be more known and felt.
Just think for a moment how much more holy and happy we might be if we truly and entirely gave ourselves more to the God-ordained means of sanctification. It is when we behold the glory of the Lord that we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3.18). For what greater blessing, or for what higher motivation and purpose, and what greater peace and joy, could we ever ask or seek? This is the foretaste of glory, when the earthy man that we are shall take on completely the character of the Spiritual man.
How ought we practically to pursue such delights? The writers of the confession set out basic Biblical principles, which are to be applied with a true Christian spirit, pursuing obedience but recognising a brother of weaker conscience. We need to be sensitive to character, maturity, and tendency, but fierce in our underlying obedience. One old writer characterises Satan as standing at our side as we seek to write a perfect script of obedience, jogging our elbow. That does not mean that we stop writing, but it means that we have to take account of the fact that there will be efforts made to undermine our attempts at holiness. We need to arm ourselves for the battle, and prepare as adequately as we are able, in dependence upon the Spirit of God and in obedience to the Lord’s revealed will.
The best preparation for the Lord’s day will be the persistent pursuit of a distinctive and consistent walk before God throughout all the week. At the same time, there are things we can and ought to do so that we put in and get out as much as we can to and from the day on which we particularly look and long for deeper communion with God. We ought to prepare the outward and the inward man.
The confession provides four basic principles for our Lord’s day activity. Firstly, we are to “observe an holy rest all day” (Exodus 20.10; Isaiah 58.13; Nehemiah 15.22), consciously putting aside even those things which are legitimate on the other six days of the week (following our Creator, who ceased from his six-day work of creation on the seventh day). Exodus 20.10 tells us that we are to do no work on that day: the idea is of customary activity, the things that we usually do. Most regular, normal activities are to be entirely set aside on the Lord’s day, and this requires a conscientious effort in the mind and heart as well as in the body. We need to school our thinking and feeling, as well as our doing, so that we are free from the things which legitimately take up our time and attention on the other six days, but which often intrude into the Lord’s day. Exodus 20 also implies the sinfulness of creating work for others, requiring us to provide for others to ‘rest as well as you’ (Deuteronomy 5.14).
This does not make Sunday a day of inactivity; God was still engaged in sustaining and guiding his created world on the seventh day. Our ceasing from our customary activities frees the day for holy activity. There are, accordingly, three areas of legitimate activity on the Lord’s day outlined in the confession. These are often called acts of piety, acts of necessity (or conscience), and acts of mercy.
We are to be “taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of [God’s] worship”: these are ‘acts of piety’ (Exodus 20.8; Deuteronomy 5.12; Isaiah 58.13-14; Luke 4.16; Acts 20.7; 1 Corinthians 16.2; Revelation 7.9ff.). The great focus of our time and energy on the Lord’s day should be private, family, and public worship. We are to “keep it holy,” taking all pains to use it for the purposes for which God intended it. This means an active and definite seeking after God with prepared heart, mind, and soul, in the various acts of worship which make up the day. It does not mean that we drift along and seek to catch the spirit of others.
Public worship was clearly one of the key appointments of the new covenant church on the Lord’s day, and we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10.24-25). Our public worship should exemplify the activity of our day, not be the exception to it. In private, and in our families, we are to pursue that spirit and activity of worship here on earth, which we anticipate as our privilege and duty above (Revelation 7.9ff.). We must seek out Biblically legitimate ways of pursuing God, celebrating our blessings in Christ, exercising our blood-bought liberty in the worship of God, dwelling upon who God is and all that he has done. This pursuit of God begins when we wake in the morning: it is a whole day of worship, and everything we do ought to revolve around that (remembering the particular difficulties that some have, for example, brethren with unconverted family members, especially parents or spouses). Worship is to be our priority and our delight on the Lord’s day.
We can also engage in acts of conscience or necessity (Matthew 12.1-8; Luke 13.15-17). The two great examples of Scripture are eating and caring for animals. A family must provide food for itself, a farmer must care for his animals (milking cattle, for example, is both necessity for the farmer and mercy for the cows). Depending on the society in which we dwell, other tasks might be added, but tasks simply put off until Sunday are not necessities. If that is a pressure for us, we might need to look at our whole schedule and reconfigure it according to what ought to be our priorities. This means, at its deepest level, looking carefully at all areas of our employment and recreation, and – where necessary – making sacrifices for the glory of the Lord, so that what we do on the Lord’s day is genuinely a matter of conscience or necessity.
Finally, we can undertake works of mercy (Matthew 12.9-14 c.f. Luke 14.1-6; Luke 13.15-17; 1 Corinthians 16.2). Ceasing from our customary work, and actively engaging in worship, does not issue in cruelty to others. The Lord Christ used the example of a sheep in a ditch to illustrate the lawfulness of doing good on the Sabbath. Members of the emergency services, the military, and medical personnel, for example, need not worry on account of their work if it demands their attentions on the Lord’s day (though they might actively pursue, whenever possible, their full engagement with the people of God wherever possible). It is not wrong to do good on the Lord’s day, and there may be acts of mercy that Christians can actively pursue on the Lord’s day so long as these things do not override the principles of performing works of piety and conscience. However, ‘mercy’ is not an excuse for doing what could have been done at some time during the week.
These, then, are some of the thought processes and decisions that characterise a believer seeking to honour the Lord’s day. Obedience to God is our priority, even at the expense of other legitimate labour and recreation. If necessary, those with God-given authority, e.g. heads of households, might need to make those decisions and explain to others – such as the wider family, or family friends – why those for whom he has responsibility will not and cannot be take on extra things, or must give up something that has been part of their schedule up to this point.
In any thoughts as to what would be appropriate, positive activity for the Lord’s day, we should go back to the purposes of it. Does it contribute to the glory of God? Does it help me to enjoy communion with God? Am I likely to be blessed of God in it?
Am I really resting from my normal pursuits, works, and recreations? Am I actively engaging in (or contributing to my active engagement in) the worship of God by doing this? Is this a work of necessity, or should I have done it during the week, or could I leave it until tomorrow? Is this a genuine work of mercy?
The way to preserve and protect the Sabbath is not to revise it, to over-regulate it, or to reject it. It is to restore it to its proper, Biblical place, to keep it as God intended it to be kept, on the basis he gives us for it, for the purpose for which he intended it, by the guidelines he provides for us. Obedience to God and nonconformity to the world has always been costly (Luke 14.25-33; Matthew 8.34-38), but we are to consider both the reward and the warning: “those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed” (1 Samuel 2.30).
Remember that our Lord requires all this on the basis of our redemption. We have been freed from the bondage of sin and liberated from the world in order that we might obey God, being slaves of righteousness, and obeying from the heart that form of doctrine to which we were delivered. We are to stand, strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, trusting in him to help us in all the glorious privileges and duties of our lives as children of the living God. We are to keep the resurrection day of Christ in resurrection power. The worship of God on the Lord’s day should be an ever-increasing delight to our souls, and to the souls of the fellow-members of our churches, the body of Christ, bringing glory to God and blessing to Christ’s church, ages without end.
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