Rev. Harlan G. Vanden Einde is pastor of the Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“SUNDAY OBSERVANCE”
The author of this question expresses his deep concern regarding a group of people from the church who are making it a practice to get together every Sunday morning for breakfast and Bible study in a restaurant. The last paragraph of the letter states: “I can‘t see reading the law every Sunday and then encouraging people to go to the restaurant on Sunday. I would like your opinion on this matter.”
Perhaps some will interpret my answer as no more than an opinion, but I intend it to be more than that. Though there are peripheral matters of religious conduct which may indeed call forth a variety of “opinions” from Christian people, I believe that my response is shaped by the Word of God, and not my own personal opinion.
The practice referred to in the above question does not stand up very well in the light of the Bible’s directives for “keeping the sabbath day holy.” I would be the first to admit that some of our practices in Sunday observance have been shaped more by the letter of the law than by its spirit. And that has not always resulted in a healthy attitude toward the Lord’s Day. But the danger is real that the pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction so that we begin to justify anything we desire to do on the Lord’s Day in the name of Christian liberty. We are told to “rest” on the seventh day because “work” in itself, which is legitimate and even commanded on the other six days, becomes “sinful” on Sunday. Our work per se doesn’t go from “God-honoring” on Saturday to “sinful” on Sunday to “God-honoring” again on Monday. But that work is to be set aside on that one day a week, so that we as God’s people can be spiritually refreshed and nourished through our worship of God in public assembly with His people.
Of course there is certain “work” that has to be done on Sunday. Care for the sick in hospitals and nursing homes, fire and police protection, etc., are necessary services seven days a week. There are other services which we may feel are “convenient” when available on Sunday, but not necessary. I am assuming that the restaurant referred to in this question is a regular commercial restaurant open for business as usual on Sunday. Is it necessary for a group of church members to contribute to the decline of the Lord’s Day by meeting there for breakfast on Sunday morning before church? I would find it very difficult, in spite of a busy schedule, to justify an affirmative answer to that question. To argue that the place is open for business anyway, and so the employees have to work whether we use their services or not, and so the employees have to work whether we use their services or not, is hardly a valid consideration. Could not the same be said of many business places which remain open on Sunday, thus justifying any kind of employment on the Lord’s Day?
It appears that the moral tenor of our society is on a continuous decline, and although we still want to cling to the name “Christian” as a nation, one of the obvious contributing factors to the decline is an ever-increasing desecration of the Lord’s Day. When we confront a national crisis, we rather piously turn to God in prayer, asking for His help; but most of the time we give little evidence of respecting His law which commands: “keep the sabbath day holy.” And we who confess the Name of Christ as Savior and Lord surely ought not to be contributing to an already depreciated view of the sabbath, but rather ought to be giving positive example showing what it means to honor this commandment of God.
I remember reading somewhere of two men who were debating the sabbath question. One of them was seeking to justify his work on the Lord’s Day by pointing to the words of Jesus in Luke 14:5, “And he said unto them, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw him up on a sabbath day?” And he hinted that Jesus was implying that it was okay to work on Sunday. The other man responded to that by saying that he was quite sure that if this happened to the ox every sabbath day, Jesus would have advised the owner to either fill in the well, or sell the ox.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable; and shalt honor it, not doing thine own ways, not finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah; and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth; and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it” (Isa. 58:13, 14).
We are confronted with many decisions about keeping the sabbath day holy. It has become more and more difficult for Christians to obey that commandment in a secular society. That’s all the more reason for us who confess Christ to give a positive testimony about the day which He claims in a special way. Let us ask God to lead us in our use of it.
