Saturday, June 9, 2007
Consistency
This last March I was up in Kentucky preaching a gospel meeting for the New Providence church. During an adult Bible class we were talking about consistency in worship and in life as a Christian. A comment was made by Bobby D. Osbron that I haven't forgotten. He said, "It's like those folks who talk about how folks shouldn't work on Sunday and then they go out to eat after services and make the folks at the restaurant work." I had never thought about that, but it put a new thought in my mind about the first day of the week. Many of us go through the motions of Sundays and do the same things week after week. While Christians must recognize this as the Lord's Day (Rev. 1:10) and never forsake the assembly (Heb. 10:25), we must also evaluate our approach to what we do with that day before we criticize others. If we are going to preach the gospel than we need to be consistent. If we are going to expect others to live up to the standards of Biblical teaching than we must not put up any stumbling blocks. If there is nothing wrong with going out to eat on Sunday, then there is nothing inherently sinful about working on that day. However, God must be first place in all things, and we must assemble with the saints. And as for blank statements, proceed with caution. You may end up convicting yourself.
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Good post, Jeremiah. I've thought about the eating out/working thing before as well, but it hasn't stopped me from going out to eat on Sunday. Do you think Christians should seriously consider a prohibition on Sunday commerce? It's an interesting thought for sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Derek. This is a good question. If my wife went into labor on a Sunday morning I would not expect the doctor to be at worship that morning. On that occasion the doctor belongs at the hospital delivering our baby. There certainly are reasons for working on Sunday. This is why Jesus gave the principle of rescuing the donkey in the ditch on the Sabbath. One other statement by the Lord in Mark 2:27 says it best - "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." I understand this to mean that holy days were created by God for our benefit, and yet they do not trump that which is associated with our nature as created beings. Forsaking the assembly is a sin, and yet there are times when by missing we would not be forsaking. I don't think food preparation would excuse me out of my obligation to the Lord. At the same time going to a restaurant on Sunday is not sinful. Even a brother could run a restaurant on Sunday, but I am convinced that such a business would not excuse him from worship. There is a difference between falling into a ditch and jumping into one.
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