The Lord\u2019s Day<\/b><\/p>\n
John\u2019s reference to the Lord\u2019s Day (v. 10), generally regarded as referring to Sunday, suggests that to first-century Christians the first day of the week was particularly significant. That raises the question of whether Sundays are special today.<\/p>\n
We know that the early church gave special honor to Sunday, the first day of the week, as the day on which Jesus was raised from the dead. Every week on that day they celebrated His resurrection and met for worship and instruction (1 Cor. 16:2). This observance of a special day was both a parallel and a contrast to the Jewish Sabbath, or day of rest, at the end of the week. The Sabbath celebrated God\u2019s rest from creation (see \u201cThe Sabbath,\u201d Heb. 4:10\u201313).<\/p>\n
Some Jewish Christians continued to observe the Sabbath, as well as the Jewish festival days. But many Gentiles in the church did not. Apparently this created tension, especially when the observance of Jewish practices began to be linked by some to salvation. A council of church leaders at Jerusalem did not include a demand for Sabbath observance in its decision regarding Gentile converts (Acts 15:20, 28\u201329).<\/p>\n
Likewise, in writing to the Romans, Paul urged everyone to decide for themselves whether one day should be esteemed above another; but by all means, no one should judge another for his convictions (see \u201cMatters of Conscience,\u201d Rom. 14:1\u201323; compare Gal. 4:10; Col. 2:16\u201317).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s interesting that the phrase \u201cthe Lord\u2019s Day\u201d occurs only this one time in Rev. 1:10. In Asia Minor, where the churches to which John was writing were located, people celebrated the first day of each month as the Emperor\u2019s Day. Some believe that a day of the week was also called by this name. Thus, by calling the first day of the week the Lord\u2019s Day, John may have been making a direct challenge to emperor worship, as he does elsewhere in the book.<\/p>\n
The Word in Life Study Bible, New Testament Edition, (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville; 1993), pp. 878-879<\/p>\n
The Command to Keep the <\/p>\n
Q. What is meant by the command to \u201cKeep the Sabbath Day holy?\u201d And, why isn\u2019t it included in the New Testament?<\/p>\n
A. <\/b>To keep it \u201choly\u201d meant to observe the day according to God\u2019s instructions. The central idea was rest from labor, as specified in Deut. 5:12\u201315.<\/p>\n
In the Deuteronomic account of the Ten Commandments, the Lord reminds the people that they had been slaves in Egypt and that He had brought them out from there. Therefore, He explains, He commanded them to observe the Sabbath. The weekly rest would remind them of a time when they could not rest when they were slaves.<\/p>\n
The link between slavery in Egypt and the Sabbath is reiterated in Ezek. 20:5, 12: \u201cOn the day I chose Israel…[the Lord says] I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy.\u201d The Sabbath was essentially Jewish, which explains, in part, its absence in New Testament instructions to Christians.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that nine of the Ten Commandments are both moral and timeless. It will always be wrong to lie or steal\u2014on earth and in heaven. But in heaven, there will be no Sabbaths. Observation of a Sabbath was moral only as an act of obedience to a command limited to a specific earthly people.<\/p>\n
C. Donald Cole, \u201cQuestions & Answers,\u201d Today in the Word, October 1997, p. 12<\/p>\n
How do We Honor the Lord\u2019s Day?<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cNot doing thine own ways\u201d (Is. 58:13) not doing your normal work, making it a day of rest<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cNor finding thine own pleasure\u201d including amusement, entertainment, self-seeking fulfillment<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u201cNor speaking thine own words\u201d frivolous conversation or meaningless talk<\/p>\n
\u2022 By realizing that the Lord\u2019s Day begins the previous evening (Gen. 1:5)<\/p>\n
\u2022 By entering into teaching, fellowship, self-examination, prayer with other Christians at church (Heb. 10:24\u20135)<\/p>\n
\u2022 By giving as God directs and blesses (1 Cor. 16:2)<\/p>\n
\u2022 By making it a day of spiritual refreshment and physical rest (Is. 58:14)<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Quotes<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Every now and then go away\u2014even briefly, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power. Leonardo da Vinci<\/p>\n
\u2022 The ability to calm your soul and wait before God is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life. Our old nature is restless…the world around us is frantically in a hurry. But a restless heart usually leads to a reckless life. Warren Wiersbe<\/p>\n
Sources unknown<\/p>\n
Resource<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 G. McDonald, Ordering Your Private World, pp. 173ff<\/p>\n
I Was Sharpening My Ax<\/b><\/p>\n
One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get it,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.\u201d\u201d But you didn\u2019t notice,\u201d said the winning woodsman, \u201cthat I was sharpening my ax when I sat down to rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
L. S. Chafer, Grace<\/p>\n
Saturday Is the <\/p>\n
J. Vernon McGee told of a man who came to him and said, \u201cI\u2019ll give you $100 if you will show me where the Sabbath day has been changed.\u201d McGee answered, \u201cI don\u2019t think it has been changed. Saturday is Saturday, it is the seventh say of the week, and it is the Sabbath day. I realize our calendar has been adjusted, and can be off a few days, but we won\u2019t even consider that point. The seventh day is still Saturday, and it is still the Sabbath day.\u201d He got a gleam in his eye and said, \u201cThen why don\u2019t you keep the Sabbath day if it hasn\u2019t been changed?\u201d McGee answered, \u201cthe DAY hasn\u2019t changed, but I have been changed. I\u2019ve been given a new nature now, I am joined to Christ; I am a part of the new creation. We celebrate the first day because that is the day He rose from the grave.\u201d That is what it means that the ordinances have been nailed to the cross, Col. 2:14.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Lord\u2019s Day John\u2019s reference to the Lord\u2019s Day (v. 10), generally regarded as referring to Sunday, suggests that to first-century Christians the first day of the week was particularly significant. That raises the question of whether Sundays are special today. We know that the early church gave special honor to Sunday, the first day … Continue reading “Sabbath”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}