A Christian Sabbath

I've been thinking about blogging on this issue for a few weeks now. I'm just about finished with other issues of worship. This issue, I believe, is very important when considering what is true worship.

For many, the day of worship is merely a circumstance of worship. Roman Catholics have opportunity to attend Mass every day; Evangelicals in recent years may attend a weekly service on a Wednesday, a Saturday, or a Sunday. Within Evangelical circles, especially, Sunday has some significance, but it's traditional.

I believed this. I grew up under Dispensational teaching that taught that the Fourth Commandment had no significance under the New Testament. Attending worship on Sunday was more of an obligation not based on a direct commandment from Jesus Christ. Regarding the sanctity of the day, attending one church service and Sunday school made it semi-holy. I played outside with my friends on Sundays, went to City Park with my family, and did all sorts of things. There was really no sanctification of the day in household based upon the Dispensational teaching.

This is not to say that non-Dispensationalist traditions observed the day any better. I knew no family that really treated Sunday as a holy day. The city I grew up in is primarily Roman Catholic. I knew that Catholics flocked to High Mass on Sundays, but I also knew that bingo was held on Sunday afternoons, and people did whatever they wanted to do.

It wasn't until I was converted that I began to think about how I observe Sunday, which I began to refer to as the "Lord's Day." I happened to read through the New Hampshire Declaration of Faith, which African American Baptist churches subscribe to that I found a very clear teaching on the "Christian Sabbath." Article XV begins by stating that the first day of the week is the "Lord's Day," or "Christian Sabbath." It further teaches that the Lord's Day should be "kept sacred for religious purposes." In the negative, no Christian is to work, and no Christian is to engaged in "sinful recreations." Judging from the proof texts, the writers thought of any type of leisure recreations based on Isaiah 58:13-14. In the positive, Christians are to observe public worship and private worship.

This is a clear Protestant Reformed position. What happened? Let's talk about it.