Exodus 20:8 “Remember
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”
Setting aside a Sunday for
worshiping is becoming harder for post-modern people. We try to cram in as much
as we can each weekend, especially when our families are young. We want to have
wonderful times together, sports to experience, and places to go. Every year,
we get busier and lose the positive impact that keeping a Sabbath can bring. We
are not meant to be hurrying here, there, and everywhere; we are created to
enjoy God’s wonderful works and to praise Him for Life itself.
Some people think that Sundays were
set up by the Roman emperor Constantine as a means of controlling the masses of
folks all over his domain, but Christians had actually been meeting for worship
on Sundays for two centuries before Constantine was born. Early on Sunday
mornings, followers of Jesus met together to re-experience the very First Easter.
Christ’s Resurrection was celebrated and the people basked in the blessings
that God bestowed upon them through Jesus. Their worship centered upon their
faith in the Easter Story – that Jesus had died for their sins and that God had
raised Him from the dead.
I wish that people would make Sunday
morning worship a priority in their lives, not because I want them to be
strictly religious but because of the wonderful blessings that can be experienced
when we give of ourselves to God by devoting that sacred time to Him. Each Sunday
in church brings to each of us an opportunity for increasing our faith,
expanding our knowledge, and deepening our relationship. And, at the end of our
lives, when everything is said, done, and experienced, it is only our
relationship with God through Christ that will survive.
Questions for personal reflection
What does Sunday
mean to me? How do I put God at the center of that sacred day?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the Christ, the
Living Son of God, who died for our sins and rose again to be eternally with
Your Father in Heaven. We have been blessed by Your obedience and saved by Your
sacrifice. Help us and encourage us to honor You on Sundays by worshipping You alongside
of Your people, just like the First Christians. In Your Holy Name, we pray.
Amen.
John
Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian
Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment or ask a
question of this message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.
Today’s
image is one of John’s latest psalm drawings. It’s a Messianic interpretation
of a verse from Psalm 132. If you would like to view a larger version, please
click on the following link: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8363/8402950009_b3fba5c1e9_b.jpg
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