Introduction

Today I want to discuss how we should think and what we should do about "Keeping Sunday Holy." This message is the last one in a tangent study on glorifying God by the law in a 6-1 pattern. We have particularized a biblical philosophy of history moving from the great end of history to the structure of history in a six and one pattern of work and rest. We are commanded to work six days and to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

Do we as Christians have a holy day, a Sabbath, a holiday to keep unto the Lord? Yes, because Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore, the day that Jehovah God claimed for His own as "my holy day" (Isa. 58:13) is our Lord's Day, the day that belongs to our Savior. The distinct day in the 6-1 pattern of days now belongs to Him. All days belong to Him but this day belongs to Him in a distinct and unique way.

Is Sunday a holy day? Yes, because it is the Lord's Day. This description, Lord's Day, reeks with implications against the backdrop of the OT Sabbath (like the tip of an iceberg). As Lord of the Sabbath He exercises His lordship over the Sabbath on Sunday. By the resurrection, the incarnate Son of God became both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36; cf. Ps. 118:22-24 with Matt. 21:42-43; Acts 4:10-12 and Ps. 2:7 with Acts 13:32-33). His accomplished work as risen Savior is new wine so there is a new wineskin form of keeping the six and one.

To whom do we keep the day? The seventh day is now to be kept on Sunday as a day devoted to Jesus Christ, the Lord our God (cf. Ex. 20:10, "the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God"). In this day we say, "Lord Jesus, you are holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. We come in this day to remember you as creator and redeemer of the Father's elect. You are sovereign Lord and giver of sovereign grace." Under the yoke of Christ (Matt. 11:28-30), we live under the authority of the triune God (Matt. 28:19-20).

This expression of worship is the apex of the day. It is the high point, core, and center. From this location on the "high places of the earth" (Isa. 58:14) we can properly pursue the discussion of how we should think and what we should do in order to keep Sunday holy. All the other aspects of this law must be viewed in light of the high point of worship, that is, in light of this objective: giving Jesus His due on His day.

In this light, we can now turn to principles, difficulties, and suggestions related to keeping Sunday holy.

1A. Principles related to keeping Sunday holy

The Westminster Larger Catechism gives a good summary with which to begin our look at some principles related to keeping Sunday holy.

What is required in the fourth commandment? The fourth commandment requireth of all men the sanctifying or keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word, expressly one whole day in seven; which was the seventh from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since, and so to continue to the end of the world; which is the Christian sabbath, and in the New Testament called The Lord's day (116).

How is the sabbath or the Lord's day to be sanctified? The sabbath or Lord's day is to be sanctified by an holy resting all the day, not only from such works as are at all times sinful, but even from such worldly employments and recreations as are on other days lawful; and making it our delight to spend the whole time (except so much of it as is to be taken up in works of necessity and mercy) in the publick and private exercises of God's worship and, to that end, we are to prepare our hearts, and with such foresight, diligence, and moderation, to dispose and seasonably dispatch our worldly business, that we may be the more free and fit for the duties of that day (117; special duties of husbands, parents, and leaders are discussed in 118).

The teachings of the catechism are drawn from a clarification of the true spirit and intent of the Sabbath given by the Lord Jesus. A good example text is Matthew 12 where works of necessity, piety, and mercy are incorporated into Sabbath keeping.

1) The works of necessity principle arises from the actions of David in regard to the consecrated bread (Matt. 12:3-4). What he did would normally be unlawful but the case is exceptional. Likewise, Jesus clarifies the exceptional principle of necessity as part of true Sabbath keeping.

The complaint of the Pharisees as to unlawfulness needs clarification here as well. They had an abundance of laws for Sabbath keeping that came from the long-standing rabbinical tradition current at the time. As Sabbath Lord (Matt. 12:8), Jesus calls His people away from the commandments of men to the commandments of God. Sabbath clarification is a case in point.

2) There is also a works of piety principle. Priests work on the Sabbath. Thus, they formally "desecrate" the day but they are actually "innocent" (Matt. 12:5). To do works of necessity (like providing for the need of daily bread) and to do works of piety (like providing spiritual food on the Lord's Day) is to formally but not actually break the law of this holy day.

3) With respect to the works of mercy principle, Jesus teaches it by both word and deed.

He does so by word when He argues in a fortiori fashion (in a much more argument) that man is more valuable than a sheep. And all intuitively know that it is good to pull a sheep out of a pit on the Lord's Day. That the day belongs to the Lord does not mean that mercy to sheep in need is excluded. That is a deplorable thought even with regard to animals. It is even more deplorable to conclude that because the day belongs to the Lord it therefore excludes doing good to human beings in need (Matt. 12:11-12).

Then by deed, Jesus showed that doing good on the Sabbath is lawful despite the radical difference of His view of the Sabbath from that of the Pharisees who jealously plotted to kill Him (Matt. 12:13-14). His view of the Sabbath stood in radical antithesis to their view of the Sabbath (they were infuriated by His good work, Lk.6:11). It is proper for a Christian to have this antithetic mindset. This is not anti-Sabbath but anti-Pharisee-Sabbath; it is anti-hypocrisy-Sabbath. This is not "antinomian"; it is "pronomian."

2A. Difficulties in keeping Sunday holy

Throwing out the word difficulty probably suggests a number of things to you. I want to address two related difficulties: the potential of rationalization and the problem of time.

1B. The potential of rationalization

We can begin with this question: "Could not someone take the principle of necessity, for example, and use it to excuse almost any kind of work on the Lord's holy day? Yes, of course, that is possible and probably done in many, many ways. An exception could be turned into the inch/mile abuse: "you give them an inch and they take a mile." Fear of this is why many Christian schools cannot build exceptions into their rules (hence rigid and impersonal). Having exceptions provides more latitude, more freedom, and exceptions are sometimes harder to apply. But before the One with whom we have to do, exceptions prove the rule; they do not compromise or eliminate the rule. They are part and parcel of the true spirit and freedom of the law.

Exceptions reveal that keeping the day is a matter of the heart as well as a matter of the feet (per Isaiah 58:13). How we keep the feet from breaking the Lord's holy day is inseparably bonded to how we keep the heart from breaking the Lord's holy day.

Actually, rationalization is another form of hypocritical Phariseeism. For the Pharisees not only had long lists of "do not's" about the Sabbath, they also had long lists of "do's." Their "do's" reduced the range of the laws applicability so that what they did was thereby deemed righteous. It was simply a lowering of the standard or watering it down: "I can only jump so high, so let's set the bar down here." For example, the Pharisees limited the meaning of neighbor to brother in order to justify hatred of enemies, Gentiles, and prostitutes (cf. the implication of "who is my neighbor" in Lk.10:29). That is how they handled the command to love the neighbor. In other words, they rationalized the law of God by making it fit their lives rather than making their lives fit the law of God. We need to hear this and be on guard.

The Pharisees were guilty of the proverbial Procrustean bed. Recall that Procrustes was a mythical Greek figure who captured people and put them on an iron bed in his cave. If any were too short for the bed, he stretched their limbs until they fit (whatever the damage to the body!). If they were too long for the bed, he cut the limbs down to size! The proverb speaks to how we tend to make facts fit our preconceived notions. We can be like the Pharisees. We are like them when we twist the law of God stretching it and cutting it to make it fit how we are living. For the Pharisee, it is the law that must be changed (modified/distorted) rather than his life.

This is a red flag of caution. We get comfortable in various styles of life and perhaps ruts due to our upbringing and circumstances in life.

So, yes, an exception regarding working on the Lord's holy day can, practically speaking, be rationalized into a rule. We can make the exceptions the rules. By this maneuvering the command is made vain by the tradition of our living.

But there is a positive here. Acknowledging the fact of potential rationalization and misuse is a good step toward avoiding such conduct. It is a word to the wise. We have to be self-critical in the exercise of open-minded humility before the Lord of the Sabbath, before Jesus who owns the day as His own.

We must all prioritize and apply the law to our own setting. The church and pastors cannot tell you that this or that in your life is a work of necessity or a rationalization. You must look to the heart and core of the 6-1 structure. You must look to the author and finisher of your faith. You must judge your life and conduct in history against His commandments emphasizing that they are His love commands to you for your good. You must weigh the principles of necessity, piety, and mercy with an open heart before Him saying, "Lord, your will be done, not mine. Lord, I present my body to you (Rom. 12). By your help I will keep my feet on the path to your honor and glory. Lord help me to honor what you honor, help me to honor this day better and better whatever my circumstances may be." To aim at the center with a prayer for the better and better is the fundamental way to tackle this difficulty.

2B. The problem of time

There is another closely related difficulty and that is the problem of time. How much of the day do we set apart in special dedication to the Lord Jesus? When you think of setting the time aside to the Lord, you could easily conclude that He deserves every second, every minute, every hour, of this day and of every day! And that is absolutely true. Of course, He does not point us in this direction. Though all days belong to Him, there is a sense in which He gives us the six days for our works and pleasures and only requires that one day be set aside for Him.

But how much of the day is to be spent under the umbrella of unique dedication to the Lord? I suppose the range of possibility is from a few minutes to twenty-four hours. But neither of the extremes work a) because there is a day to keep (it can't be minutes), and b) because it is totally reasonable to get a good night's sleep Sunday night so you can responsibly begin the six days of your work on Monday morning (it can't be 24 hours). So we have a holy day but we do not have a precise delimitation of the time factor.

However, there are some general principles that give some guidance in this regard.

1) First, it seems reasonable to interpret the Lord's Day by analogy with the other days of the week. In other words, the command regarding the six days tells us that the primary concern of these days is work. As to the time frame, that means that the prime time of the day is to be devoted to work. Similarly, the primary concern of the Lord's Day is worship. And as to the time frame, it means that the prime time of the day is to be devoted to worship.

Now some people may want to go further and define the specific hours of prime time. But we cannot be more specific. One person may want to follow the Jewish tradition of ending the Sabbath at six o'clock in the evening. Someone else, I'm not sure who, may want to follow Paul who preached past midnight to dawn of the next day (Acts 20:7, 11). Of course, that was a very exceptional case where Paul was departing the next day to face much suffering at Jerusalem and Rome.

2) Second, we can factor in the privilege of rest. It is easy to see that when you end your work of the week including Saturday then you rest until Monday. Rest covers the whole time between every six day unit.

The prime time is worship/rest while all of the time is rest. So you spend the whole day resting from your usual labors of the six days. But it is rest from one kind of work for another, namely, for the work of worship. And the work of worship as primary within the privilege of rest is to be given prime time.

So I cannot tell you that you must be in worship until three o'clock, six o'clock, or ten o'clock. We can think of an apple pie and represent rest by the piecrust (the pie is totally housed within the crust, the day is totally housed within the notion of rest). The apples represent worship, the primary center of the pie. And that's it. That is all that can be said. Each family should have an apple pie Sunday. But how you slice the pie, how much crust you have in relation to how many apples you have is up to you. It all given to you for your enjoyment. It is for your good and for your joy.

Recall the conditional statement in Isaiah 58:13-14, which tells you that if you turn your feet away from breaking the Lord's holy day and if you call it by the name delight and honorable, then two things will result. You will find your joy in the Lord (your joy…in Him) and He will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth as He carries you on the pinions of His wings.

In the true spirit of the law you do not seek the minimum and you do not concentrate on what cannot be done (can't do this or that). Instead, you concentrate on your delight in life, on the risen Lord Jesus who inaugurated His royal rest as sovereign Lord of the universe on Sunday.

By His resurrection He finished His work and sat down on the right side of the throne of the Father. He is there ruling over the heavens with His feet propped on the footstool of the earth. He rules as the redeemer and the lamb that is worthy to receive all dominion, power, honor and glory.

3A. Suggestions regarding keeping Sunday holy

If you are like me, then it is often the case that during the week it is difficult to spend time in the word and prayer. Therefore, we should see this day as a worship-reflection-meditation opportunity. Also, during the week focus is on temporal things in the here and now. In contrast, we should see Sunday as an opportunity to honor Christ and to focus on eternal things, on the not yet. We are to focus on the promise of the coming city of God (of first fruits and fruit).

1) Come to public worship prepared. Prepare yourself in mind and body for this special day of the week. Get a good nights sleep (cf. how tennis is better on Tuesday morning with a prior good nights sleep). Think about it ahead of time and note to yourself that this is the Sabbath, God's holy day. Call it a delight and honorable. And honor it. Look through the preaching to the word preached, to the gospel preached, to the risen Savior preached. 

2) Have the pastor for dinner. At the noon meal have roast pastor but with an open Bible and with an open heart to the voice of the Lord of the Sabbath. Discussion of the sermon in conversation while preparing the meal and while eating is a good way to make miles out of the sermon. Why start there? Start there because that is the center of all the morning activities: hearing the voice of God through the means God has ordained.

Discussion of the sermon can lead to questions, to re-reading the sermon, to reading relevant Scriptures, and to digging around on this point or that. It's like digging for gold or silver or seeking treasures in the storehouse of the gospel.

3) Pray around the table. Worship the Lord and petition His blessing on the word and on your life. Do so together in audible prayer. There is much in the phrase, "those who pray together, stay together." A bond of togetherness is built in the Lord when there is healthy, God-centered prayer together.

4) Study the Scriptures with the aid of the reformed confessions. You might sometimes do this individually and sometimes together. You may want to read a question and answer each week probing deeper according to what you find. You may want to read on a topic in the confessions. For this you can use the harmony of the confessions by Beeke and Furgerson. You can read a unit on prayer, for example, in the Shorter Catechism questions 98-107 (beginning with "What is prayer?" and continuing through the Lord's Prayer).

5) Be ready to do works of mercy.

6) Where possible, spent some of the afternoon or evening with Lord's people. This does not have to involve formal Bible study and prayer. But it is a good opportunity to cultivate conversation that integrates your life and theirs with the gospel. It is sort of transitional to Monday. Matters of work might be discussed and with them principles from the word of God for living daily to the glory of God. As the Sabbath fades the arrow of eternity is sent forth to pierce the six days of work that it may be work as worship.

Conclusion

Obviously, much more can be said about these things. But this should suffice to prompt and encourage you to creatively think of ways to keep Sunday holy unto the Lord your God.

"O Lord Jesus, you are holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty!"

Some comments from reformed writers for further reflection

1) Jonathan Edwards ("The Perpetuity and Change of the Sabbath," Banner of Truth, Works, II 103)

We are on this day especially to meditate upon and celebrate the work of redemption.  We are with special joy to remember the resurrection of Christ; because that was the finishing of that work.  And this is the day whereon Christ rested and was refreshed, after he had endured those extreme labours which he endured for our perishing souls.  This was the day of the gladness of Christ's heart; it was the day of his deliverance from the chains of death, and also of our deliverance: for we are delivered in him who is our head.  He, as it were, rose with his elect.  He is the first-fruits; those that are Christ's will follow.  Christ, when he rose, was justified as a public person, and we are justified in him.  This is the day of our deliverance out of Egypt.

We should therefore meditate on this with joy; we should have a sympathy with Christ in his joy.  As he was refreshed on this day, so we should be refreshed, as those whose hearts are united with his.  When Christ rejoices, it becomes all his church every where to rejoice. We are to say of this day, "This is the day the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." [cf. Ps. 118:22-24 applied to the resurrection in Matt. 21:42-43; Acts 4:10-12; 1 Pet. 2:4-9] 

Geerhardus Vos (Biblical Theology 156-57)

The Sabbath brings this principle of the eschatological structure of history to bear upon the mind of man after a symbolical and a typical fashion.  It teaches its lesson through the rhythmical succession of six days of labor and one ensuing day of rest in each successive week.  Man is reminded in this way that life is not an aimless existence, that a goal lies beyond....the Sabbath is an expression of the eschatological principle on which the life of humanity  has been constructed.  There is to be to the world-process a finale, as there was an overture, and these two belong together.

John Murray (Collected Writings, I 224)

The Sabbath institution in all its aspects and application has this prospective reference; the whole movement of redemption will find its finale in the Sabbath rest that remains.  The weekly Sabbath is the promise, token, and foretaste of the consummated rest; it is also the earnest.

Richard Gaffin (Calvin and the Sabbath 160-63)

The typical element is a permanent aspect of the fourth commandment.  The Lord's Day, as the weekly Sabbath, remains a type until the present created order (the psychical) gives way to one that is consummately higher and better (the Pneumatic).  To say that believers are still bound to keep this type is not to compromise the freedom brought by Christ.  Rather, observing the Lord's Day is an expression of that freedom. The weekly rest day, faithfully kept by the church, is a concrete witness to a watching world that Christians are not enmeshed in the turmoil of an impersonal historical process but look with confidence to sharing in the consummation of God's purpose for the creation, a witness that there does indeed remain an eschatological Sabbath-rest for the people of God (Heb. 4:9).

So far as the church is concerned, it is there each week as a constant reminder that no matter what heights of redemptive blessing are experienced in this life, the new heavens and earth to come will arrive with a splendor and glory beyond the imagination of the most sanctified believer.  The Sabbath is there to remind us that the rich and full blessings we now enjoy in Christ will, by comparison, appear insignificant to those we will possess "when he appears, [and] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).