Good Morning!
It's been a week. Thankful that Thursday's turn into Friday's and Friday's into Saturday's and then Sunday comes. :)
On that note we are turning today in our Confession time to Chapter 21, Part 2. In our last foray into this part of the WCF we talked about who is to be worshipped (God alone) and why (because He is holy and is the author of our salvation). This morning we are going to look at the last section, on the Sabbath Day, and speak to how the 4th Commandment is a gift to us believers and some ways we can use it to our advantage. Here is the portion:
This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest, all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.
It may sounds like a lot but I assure you that what we have here is a blessed piece of mercy. One of the great challenges facing us today is the lack of quiet time, moments away from the phone, work, life, etc... and in His great love for us God has granted to His covenant people a whole day where we can get some time for ourselves. One of my favorite commercials are the Southwest Airlines bits where someone does something crazy and then the tagline, "Want to get away?" pops up. That is part of the glory of the Sabbath. Our Lord has given us a day during the week when things can slow down, be less hectic, a day of rest. (Heb. 4:9). But that's not all the Sabbath is about. The older divines spoke about Sunday as an opportunity to receive a foretaste of what awaits us in the Heavenly places. A preview if you will of what life will be like when Christ returns and there is no more suffering, no more sin, no more dealing with the thorns of the ground. When we will rejoice forever in the presence of our Savior and God. This is why the Sabbath should always be a blessing to us and not a burden. What more joyous part of your week can there be than being with God's people in God's house on God's day? We intentionally famish ourselves when we miss out on this blessing.
Now that doesn't mean you have to be at Bethany every week to gain the goodness of the Lord's mercy. One of the things mentioned in the section I quoted from the Confession is that due preparation should be made to ensure you are able to get all you can out of the Sabbath. A way we can do that is when we are traveling either for business, on vacation, or to visit family is to check ahead to our destination and find a place to worship with God's people in whatever place that might be. At the end of the day for me at least there is no place I'd rather be than with my fellow believers singing the Lord's songs and hearing of His free grace and His love for me.
So as we close I want to encourage you again to see the beauty of the Sabbath, especially as Christ has intended it for our glory, and make use of this time of fellowship to grow in our love for one another, but most especially for the felicity that awaits our covenant family in the days which are to come in Heaven.
For today's reading here is a short piece from Ian Hamilton on the peace of the Lord's Day.
Link:
https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2011/the-foundations-of-godliness/
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church