has become increasingly common in the ARP Church to disregard our denomination’s Biblical standards regarding the Lord’s Day. Over the years, in the presbyteries in which I’ve held membership, the most com- mon exception taken regards the teaching of the Westminster Standards on the Sabbath Day. I’ve frequently heard men who have trained for ministry claim a “continental Reformed” view of the Sabbath as they explain their exception. I wonder how many of these men are aware that the typical continental Reformed practice included morning and after- noon, or evening, worship services. It was hardly the case that there was a dutiful devotion of the morning to the service of the Lord, and then an abandonment of such devotion through the rest of the day! While we were in Mexico we were told that most IPAR churches have morning and evening worship. It is my observation that only a small percentage of our own congregations gather in the evening. Psalm 92, whose superscript is “A Song for the Sabbath,” declares,
“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your steadfast love in the morning, and Your faithfulness by night.” If we agree with the Psalmist on the goodness of morning and evening worship, and believe, as our Standards state in the Westminster Shorter Catechism #89, that “The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching, of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and com- fort, through faith, unto salvation,” then shouldn’t we desire for more worship and preaching of God’s word? Shouldn’t we long for our church families, for our children, to be exposed to more gospel preaching each Lord’s Day and not less? When the Lord’s Day is framed with morning and evening public worship, and adorned with the practice of hospitality so that our hearts and homes are open to fellow church members and visitors, there is a sweetness to the day that makes it a delight. This is a far cry from what seems increasingly typical in our culture: Once the church morning ser- vice is concluded, the day is considered little more than another Satur- day, given over to what the Westminster Divines call “worldly employ- ments and recreations.” Worldly employments and recreations have their place. But the LORD has claimed propriety over the one day in seven that we might cease from the usual busyness of our lives to delight in serving Him and serv- ing each other in the fellowship of worship. Many of us live life at a frenzied pace through each week, exhausting ourselves. In all the busy- ness of our culture, people feel more isolated from others than in past generations. There is an epidemic of loneliness that has resulted from a combination of busyness and isolation. Coupled with this is an increas- ing biblical illiteracy found throughout the church that is debilitating to faithful Christian life and witness. Our God knows our frame. He is aware of our weakness and our need. In that knowledge, He has given us a day every week for the purpose of call the Sabbath a delight. He gives us the blessing of the Lord’s Day for our good. He has called us to the fellowship of worship that we might
May/June 2024
draw near Him and near each other. In obedience to His call, as we gather for worship, as we pray for one another, and spend time together, even entering into each other’s homes to enjoy hospitality, - est needs of our lives. We grow in our knowledge of Him through the ministry of His word even as we grow in our knowledge of longing for more meaningful re- lationships? Would you welcome increasing intimacy in spiritual re- lationships and friendships? If these things are lacking in our lives, perhaps it is because we have lost a sense of the important biblical priorities of worship and fellowship on the Lord’s Day. Are you devoted to “the apostles’ teach- ing and the fellowship, to the break- ing of bread and the prayers?” Do these priorities mark your family life? Do your children and grand- children know what it means to “remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy?” Or are you content to rush into church, bleary-eyed from a weekend full of activity, only to leave as soon as the bene- diction is pronounced to engage in a “Second Saturday?” The LORD has intended and commanded more and better for us than this! He has called us to delight in Him, and in His gift of the one day in seven spent in the fellowship of worship. In this, we draw nearer to Him and to each other. We come to know Him and each other more intimately. And, we experience a foretaste of heaven. Does this sound remarkably old-fashioned, or remarkably biblical? Is this what you desire?
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