Honouring the Lord on His Day 10 April 2011 Elder Boaz Boon

How have we been honouring the Lord on His Day? To a great extent our view of God is reflected in how we treat the Lords Day. Let us pause and remind ourselves of this privilege in keeping the Lords Day holy as His Word teaches us, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is , and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8-11)
The Jewish Sabbath is the seventh day of the week and God has set aside that day to commemorate the completion of His creation as recorded in Genesis 2:2-3, And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made. Similarly, God has set aside Sunday which is the first day of the week to commemorate the completion of the work of redemption by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. John 20:1 records thus, The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. After the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Sunday became the Christians Sabbath. Acts 20:7 records thus, And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And again the apostle Paul exhorts, Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:2) God said in the fourth commandment, Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. (Deuteronomy 5:12) Our Lord Jesus Christ explained further that the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. (Mark 2:27b) Liberty is therefore granted for special and exceptional duty of necessity and for works of mercy. But this should not be stretched to minimize the focus of the believers dedication to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why in Mark 2:28, the Lord Jesus further emphasized that the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. The vital essence of the fourth commandment remains unchanged! We are therefore commanded specially to honour the Lord on Sunday. It is a special holy day (one in seven) which is set aside for us as Christians to: 1) worship God and be instructed in His Word both in edifying the saints and evangelizing the unsaved; 2) commemorate Gods creation of the world and witness to the unsaved; and 3) shape and sanctify the priorities of our lives. In obedience to His Word, we should rest the whole of Sunday from our work, studies, words and thoughts about our worldly employment and recreation. Sunday is not given to us to do as we wish. God has given it to us that in all we do He may be honoured and glorified. Our Sunday rightly belongs to God and in it we need to do all things that are in accordance with His will. The apostle John wrote in Revelation 1:10, I was in the Spirit on the Lords Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet. Sunday is the Lords Day. Let us therefore honour Him on His day. When we start to have a low view of the Lords Day, that will be the beginning of our spiritual backsliding. The blessings of keeping the Lords Day holy will be bestowed by God to us because this is pleasing in His sight. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and

I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:13-14)
In Tengah, our worship service is in the afternoon. We should prepare ourselves in the morning, at the least. Let our whole morning be a wonderful quiet communion between us and the Lord. Set our hearts aright by reading His Word, meditating upon it and praying which we have so little time to do during the weekdays. Fill our hearts with godly Christian hymns. Have a light lunch and arrive at church early to join in the pre-service prayer and pre-service singing with the singular purpose of helping us in our worship of God. Focus and meditate on the message and pray for spiritual revival in repenting from our sins. Do fellowship with Gods people in mutual encouragement in the Lord and in the study of His Word through one of the many classes conducted after the worship service. Do not be distracted by our daily chores and employment. Rest from these and draw close to God. Also do not get distracted by entertainment that might draw our focus away from God. Avoid bringing such distractions into the church which may distract others as well. It might be a stumbling block to those who are unsaved whom we have invited. More importantly, when we desecrate the Lords Day in the church, we are testing Gods discipline in our lives. Man may not see how you desecrate the Lords Day. But God sees and knows. He will deal with us which can be rather painful. Our view of God is reflected in the way we worship Him. Are we early for worship? Are we dressed appropriately to meet the King of kings and the Lord of lords? Do we behave appropriately in the house of the Lord? Are we worshipping the Lord with much gratitude in our hearts? The Lord God is our Creator. Let us obey Him and show Him our utmost reverence and respect. Let us always seek to honour Him on His day in our worship of Him.