Sunday Is the Lord’s Day Wherever You Are

Berean Baptist on September 10, 2018

During the year, many of our church members are traveling on Sundays. This thought comes to mind that Sunday is the Lord’s Day no matter where you are. All days should be used to honor the Lord, but Sunday is especially set aside for God’s people to honor Christ in corporate worship.

Many times, you have heard me tell stories of the scores of Baptist churches located in my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. This should make it very easy to find a good one to worship in while I visit there. It is true that in my hometown there are several that I have full confidence in to visit and enjoy worshiping on Sunday. However, I am not usually in Lexington on Sunday. I go to Lexington to see my mother who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and then for several days I travel to other parts of the country. These are places with churches that I am not familiar with. I am still in the South with many, many Baptist churches, but finding a good one is an unbelievably hard adventure.

I remember last year looking on the internet for one in southwest Virginia. There were many to choose from, but I found none that weren’t seriously bothersome to me. Since I am well versed in what to look for and can decipher a lot of adverse language in doctrinal statements, I know what to expect if I choose the wrong one. Sometimes the clues are on the surface where they blast BAD EXPERIENCE. For example, I look at the pictures of leaders on the web pages. Do I see the choir director’s name? Is it he or she? Is there a picture of a deaconess? This tells me what the church believes about leadership.

Several years ago, when I came to California, I attended a Baptist church in Petaluma. I have always used this church as an example of how going to church can be a nightmarishly bad experience. It is very difficult to worship when your stomach is turning like an agitator in a washing machine. I think Paul may have described it as his bowels were yearning (that is if he spoke King James English as some believe!).

The scriptures say we must worship God in spirit and in truth. Very simply, if we do not, we do not worship. While I believe corporate worship is best on Sundays, I know there are times it is not profitable to join yourself to a congregation that pretends with their lips, but their hearts are far away from God and His truth. It is best not to listen to a sermon from a preacher who is a mockery of the God ordained profession. It is certainly awful to hear sermons from preachers that do not preach salvation in Jesus Christ alone. If these are your choices, stay away. There are some fundamentals that cannot be compromised, and worship is not possible without them.

One of the things I love about Berean is our location. We have a prominent easy location in the city which makes our church attractive to visitors from other areas. Almost every Sunday we have visitors from other cities, states, or countries. They witness a good confession by their desire to worship on the Lord’s Day even though they are away from home. I am especially gratified when we have repeat visitors. They are back in our area again and because their first experience was good they desire to return and hear the word of God faithfully preached once more.

When you travel, look for opportunities for corporate worship if possible. Some bring back bulletins as proof to show the pastor they tried. Thanks! I am always happy to hear there are others that still preach the truth of God’s word. Remember, you can worship God no matter where you are. If there is no good church, Sunday is still the Lord’s Day!

Pastor V. Mark Smith

 

Violating the Fourth Commandment

Berean Baptist on September 3, 2018

Exodus 20:8-11

The fourth commandment may well be one of the most neglected and least convicting of all the commandments in the Decalogue. This is not because of lack of seriousness in what God demands, but because the modern Christian has become so complacent about reserving time for God. I also believe the modern pulpit holds much culpability for this unhappy phenomenon. The interpretation that the fourth commandment is not a part of the moral law written on the heart is the major contributor to the problem. Many preachers who are otherwise stellar in their interpretation of scripture tell us this command is not binding on Christians today. They teach there is no such thing as a Christian sabbath which seems from my research of historical positions not to be the consistent teaching of Baptists or others.

To be fair, these preachers do not teach you are not obligated to give time to God, but rather they say there is no special day to for it. Sunday is more of a convenience based on Christian agreement that it is a good easy time for us to get together. It is by mutual consent rather than a commanded time. I fear that when the observance is taught this way it is much easier for the individual to say Sunday is not convenient for them, and since there is no command there is no need to concern themselves. We see the convenience card played too much as churches offer Friday night services for those whose weekend plans are too much encumbered to accommodate what they don’t much like doing anyway. It is not exaggeration that many Christians treat church as if they need only a light dose to assuage their conscience. After all, they do claim to be Christians, don’t they? They go to church for the minimum time to put in their appearance and while they are there it is not worship they think of. Boating, fishing, football, shopping or a hundred other plans run through their minds. In all fairness, most of the time the Friday night churches are not giving anything worth thinking about anyway.

If we have a hard time keeping Christians on track when we have a command, what happens when there is none? Evidently church attendance has been a problem from the beginning. Hebrews warned early Christians not to forsake the assembly. No doubt some of this was advice for Christians who were fearful of persecution and thus would not come, but surely there must be at least a modicum of instruction for Christians who were lax and lazy about attending. Some of them did what many of us do—seek other venues to spend our Sunday time.

We are determined to get the exposition right, and so we will follow the historical interpretation that God has not changed the principle of the sabbath. The New Testament did nothing other than change the day. If we argue there must have been some change because we don’t follow the rigid requirements of the Jews and that Jesus chastised the Pharisees for their abuses, we only need concede their practices were wrong. This does not mean there isn’t a sabbath and a right way to keep it.

The important point to realize is its status as a command. Arguably because it comes at the end of the first table of the law, it stands in a special place of importance. There should be more conviction over its violation. We will not tolerate repeat offending adulterers nor repeat thieves and certainly not mass murderers. Where is the censure of Christians over repeat violations of this command? I hope there is conviction after this little miniseries on the fourth commandment. Baptists surely need more contrition because of it.

Pastor V. Mark Smith