The Sunday Sabbath

Berean Baptist on May 20, 2019

There are many who believe the Old Testament law of the Sabbath was done away with in the anti-typical fulfillment of Christ’s death. However, this law was given immediately upon the completion of the creation which tells us God intended it as a perpetual law given to all nations to remind us of His power and sovereignty.

            Recently, I listened to a sermon by someone who offers a different opinion. He claimed the idea of a Christian sabbath is not very old but is mostly of English Puritan descent and was not believed by Christians other than the Puritans. One of his arguments said that Baptists are wrong, and we ought to reject the historic confessions of faith that teach Sunday is a sabbath that replaced the Old Testament seventh day sabbath. The argument goes that our most popular confessions do not use the term “Christian Sabbath.” It is true the New Hampshire Confession of 1833 to which we closely adhere in our own statement of faith does not use the term “Christian Sabbath” in the 15th article entitled The Observance of the First Day of the Week. However, the language is very clear a sabbath is meant by the exclusions and duties that are put upon the day. In addition, the last phrase says the day is to be used for “preparation for that rest that remains to the people of God.” This reference is to Hebrews 4:3-11 in which the author says in verse 9: “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Rest in this verse is the Greek word sabbatismos which is derived from the word that means sabbath. The Second London Baptist Confession of 1689 in its article on the Sabbath begins, “The light of nature shows that there is a God…” This confession begins by connecting the sabbath to laws that are written on the human heart. It ends by using the word sabbath: “The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord.”

            The man who preached this message is a Southern Baptist who referred to the Southern Baptist Abstract of Principles which is their confession of faith. He noted the Abstract of Principles does not use the word sabbath. And yet the language in the Abstract uses the same concepts as are found in others that do. James Petigru Boyce, one of the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention asked in his catechism: “Why do Christians keep Sunday as the sabbath?” Answer: “Because it was on that day of the week that Christ rose from the dead.” Further: “What name is given to it on this account?” Answer: “The Lord’s Day.” Likewise, Spurgeon’s catechism emphasis the same point even more extensively in positively declaring the first day of the week is the Christian sabbath.

            It is interesting to note that the Reformers did not regard a Sunday sabbath. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Beza, and others argued against it. However, their opinions were fashioned against the background of the abuses of Roman Catholicism in making Sundays festival days, and of course to their Sacramentarian views of salvation regarding it. Their opinions prevailed over their churches for less than a century when the practice overwhelmingly returned to a Sunday sabbath. Calvin’s arguments notwithstanding that the change to a Sunday sabbath happened about A.D. 60 instead of upon Christ’s resurrection, proves to be only an argument, whereas the law written on the human heart continues to prevail.

            It is therefore disingenuous to assert the Sunday sabbath is a fairly recent invention. It appears the Sunday sabbath did not prevail as practice among Bible believing Christians for only a short interval in the late 16th century. It only seems to hold sway today among those who are bent on returning to the enlightenment of the Reformation, which in most cases is good except when it is not.

                                                                        Pastor V. Mark Smith

Photobombing Jesus

Berean Baptist on November 12, 2018

Last year, I read an interesting article with the title, Photobombing Jesus. The article began with a definition of photobomb. It means, “to spoil a photograph by appearing in the camera’s field of view as a picture is taken.” If you still don’t understand the meaning, ask any teenager with a cell phone. They will be happy to demonstrate for your education.

The article was about a pastor who lamented the beginning of his ministry. He attempted to outshine Jesus. It started with his testimony. God saved him out of a life of drugs, parties, gambling, and women. Everyone knows this testimony is much more interesting than one like mine. I was a preacher’s kid who grew up in church and saved at an early age. No wild parties for me. A testimony like this man’s will help catapult a person to the top 40 on the evangelistic circuit. In his words, the author was ushered on the stage of churches and campus ministries to tell what Jesus had done for him.

With this experience, he thought a good place for God to use him was in a large campus ministry, and soon he was involved in one. To his dismay, he wasn’t put up front. Instead, his job was to raise and lower the curtain for people who were on stage. He was upset at the turn of events because he thought his ministry was more valuable to God than being a backstage hand. It was then the Lord convicted him. He recognized this as his attempt to photobomb Jesus.

From this point, he ended the article with “six glory-stealing confessions.” The first one caught my eye relating to this evening’s sermon. He confessed, “I want Jesus to be glorified, but I want glory too.” Nothing better describes a photobombing pastor. He seeks applause as a way of getting into the picture with Jesus. It is fine if Jesus is in the picture too, but he must be sure he isn’t left out and gets the recognition he needs. His bio will read about how the church has grown since he became the pastor. The numbers in attendance are noted, the value of the buildings is announced, and don’t forget how many books he’s authored. He is a jack of all trades but master of none. He expects the congregation to applaud as he enters the sanctuary with his entourage in tow.

In a similar way, there are preachers such as I who pastor smaller less prominent ministries. We do not expect applause for good reason. If you have heard our attempts, they are too weak to be anything but embarrassing. We seek recognition in other ways. Ours is to photobomb Jesus by seeking compliments. We love to hear someone at the door tell us how great the sermon was that day. We need at least one of these to remind us who is the most important around here. If we get two, there is no doubt Spurgeon was in the building. If there are no compliments, we are grossly under appreciated.

Do we need this affirmation to be successful preaching God’s word? If it bothers us, we need to step back and remember who should receive glory. This author said, “A servant who seeks affirmation steals something that does not belong to them…A preacher who preaches to gain glory for himself is flirting with Christ’s bride for whom he died to have for His own.” This quote works for either the morning or evening message. Let Christ be the only one framed in the picture. This is His church not mine.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

 

 

Children and Confusion

Berean Baptist on March 5, 2018

Psalm 127

In the 127th Psalm, the first verse is a pithy comment on the futility of what we do unless God is in our plans. Spurgeon made an interesting comment on this verse by noting how those who built the tower of Babel said, “Go to, let us build a city and a tower,” to which God promptly replied, “Go to, let us go down and confound their language.” We would surely save much frustration and wasted time if we made sure God is in our plans before we proceed. This works on a personal level and certainly on the corporate church level.

The first verse, however, is not what caught my eye. Verses 3-5 speak of the blessing of children—not just children but lots of them. According to the psalmist, the more you have the better it is. I suppose some would say he was not a mother! I also suppose this is true of grandchildren because you get the love and affection from them and when that part is through you can send them home. Obviously, the parent does not have this luxury.

When visiting our daughter Clarissa in San Diego, I wonder how she makes it work with six children. She doesn’t get any relief since seven days per week they are home. They are home-schooled which means there must be a strict regimen to make sure everything gets done decently and in order. Without observing how her home runs, you may think she wonders how verse 2 fits with the rest. She rises very early in order to have some time for Bible reading, study and prayer. Early bedtime is neither usually an option.

Does God understand these things? He does. He never steers wrongly with bad advice. Most people cannot understand what is going on with God. When visiting the market, there are many stares from those who are thinking, “What in the world is wrong with that woman? What was she thinking?” But that’s not just the world’s reaction. It’s also the same in the church. Initially it was the same from us. “Are you crazy? What could possess you to have six kids?” as if such a preposterous thought must be from the underworld. Here it is—it is biblical. It is as much a part of the word of God as John 3:16. If you can believe one part, can’t you believe it all?

The truth is she likes being a mom. She is fulfilled by motherhood which is eminently biblical. God made the woman for motherhood not corporate boardrooms (or president…). This is the rub in our society. Being parents is not as fulfilling as it should be. The more selfish you are the less time you will want to spend on the hard stuff of building a family. Most of our planning stages do not end with being fifty years old and with young children. Get them grown, get them out, and get it over.

Perhaps we need to take a step back to see if God knows what He is talking about. But don’t forget verse 1. The Lord must be in it which rules out the unconverted and the unfaithful. For members of the church, the Lord does not want many children from those who don’t care to raise them to serve Him. God is never in a plan that does not put Him at the head of every list.

Thankfully, this is what I see in my daughter. She rises early to start her day with the Lord. God is in this plan and it will not fail. Whatever you seek to build just pray you have included God so that He doesn’t say, “Let us go down and confuse them.” You will know the difference. The outcome without Him is chaos and confusion.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith