The Second Commandment offers a choice between freedom or slavery. Your choice: either serve the gods of this world or be served by the one true God. You have a choice to serve or be served. That is it, choose either the law or the gospel.
This coming Sunday at 5:00pm come here an exposition on the Second Commandment. Visit missoulaurc.com for more info.
Westminster Seminary California has just published another one of my book reviews:
Martin Luther is perhaps the most popular figure of theological study, outside secondary literature on the life of Jesus Christ. As the foundational character of Protestantism, to control Luther is to control the reformation. For this reason, some historians have done their best to create a Luther after their own theological image. Today it seems the Luther of faith governs the Luther of history seen with the Luther Renaissance and the Finnish School of interpretation. The former made Luther the German idealist and the later the product of Eastern Orthodoxy. Both camps removed Luther from his actual writings and the 17th century confessional scholastics, who carried on his reform.
Modern schools of interpretation fail to understand that Luther’s theology developed over time. He was an “occasional theologian.” He did not write a single summary of theology but wrote as he had “concrete struggles for the gospel in the context of the sixteenth century church and society.” No single tower experience caused Luther to pen, “If the doctrine of justification is lost, the whole of Christian doctrine is lost”—such conclusions came after years of study. Reading Luther’s early works may impress a medieval mold. Further reading, however, produces the Protestant Luther. Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings 2nd Edition was “prepared with the special hope that it might be useful in making the writings of Martin Luther available as a resource for contemporary work in theology,” and in so doing will allow the real Luther to stand up. This book comes highly recommended for those who want to know the man and not the myth…continue.
John Calvin once sermonized,
If, as we would have others believe, we are indeed Christians, we ought to be very familiar with what it means to be justified by faith. Yet, how few of those who claim to love the gospel understand the justification spoken of so frequently in the Scriptures! This being the case, it is very important that we ourselves should know this doctrine, for without it we can have no assurance of salvation.
You should know justification well after hearing our sermon series on Galatians. Want to hear then click here.
Does Sabbath rest include ceasing from various leisurely activities? Our confessions do not prohibit modest leisure or recreation. Modest leisure may be appropriate as long as it does not remove or hinder fellowship, worship, and avoids worldly commerce. Christians should remain separate from worldly pursuits—remember the Lord sanctified the day.[1] The more commerce done on the Lord’s Day, the more Christians have to work on Sunday. The Sabbath consists in performing holy works. In order to do or receive them, we must avoid things that hinder or omit worship. In this hyper-stimulated culture, we face many obstacles to sanctifying the Sabbath. Sunday is the second busiest shopping day in America—ask anyone in the restaurant business and he will tell you that Christians pack the house on Sunday.[2] One cannot do his religious duty at the mall or in front of a big screen, much less, dare I say, at a NFL game. Will the NFL game conflict with your religions duty, acts of necessity, and mercy? That is for you to decide, but if the church officers have called two worship services on Sunday, I don’t know how you will get around your commitment to Christ and his Church if the Dallas Cowboys are playing next year in January? Better to be more committed to Christ’s church than to America’s Team.
If you need a place to worship this Lord’s Day, our service begins at 10:30am and I have NFL rewind so you can watch the game with me on Monday.
[1] Think of the day like your tithe, all your money belongs to the Lord, but a certain amount is specially given to the church for the Lord. Every day belongs to the Lord and you serve him daily, however, Sunday is a special day because the Lord set it apart for a special purpose.
[2]Most restaurants classify them as the most difficult patrons and poorest tippers. The worst of the bunch slip tacky tracks with less than 15% in place of a good tip. Non-Christians with tenure, therefore, often refuse to work on Sunday resulting in Christians to fill the gap, see Clark, Recovering, 324.
Sunday in America has become a day of relaxation, dare I say a day devoted to the NFL. The Sabbath is a day for relaxation, however, and more importantly, it is Yahweh’s Sabbath (Ex. 31:13; 20:10; Lev. 19:3, 30; Isa. 56:4). It is a day of resting and holding sacred assembly (Lev. 23:3). Because it is Yahweh’s Sabbath, it is a gift and blessing for man (Mark 2:27). Sabbath is a joy for man where he finds his deepest delight in the Lord. It is a celebration not to be missed (Heb. 10:25). It is a day to celebrate justification and eschatological hope, to participate in the glorious hope to come. It is a day of learning about the new-creation (heaven) to get accustomed to its ways of life—it is a day to enjoy God. Christians do so by going to church for it is also a day of enjoying others, which is why the commandment speaks of equal rest for family, slaves, animals, and foreigners. Therefore, it is a day of praying together as a family, discussing the service in Christian fellowship, and reaching out to the world.
The Sabbath is a day of Christian liberty not a day of bondage. God did not design it to constrain Christians but to maximize their liberty. It is one day in seven to be free from the demands of this world. It is a day to rest from ordinary duties without feeling bad about it. Christians have six days a week to focus on work and are not obligated to attend church in those days. God has commanded six days a week to live in the common kingdom and to interact with the broader world. Yet, God sets apart one day from this common kingdom and its ordinary cultural activities. In doing so, the Sabbath offers a wonderful testimony to this world.
Christians share life, play, work, trade, etc. with their neighbors six days a week. On the Lord’s Day, however, they do something different. They come together to listen to a half hour monologue about the past, only to eat a tiny meal of wine and bread afterwards. They sing about the blood, pray together, call each other brother and sister. They speak a foreign language of free grace and in so doing show that the ordinary (common) is not their highest end or love in this world. In that place stand this non-ordinary day and its duties. Most Christians get this backwards as they baptize everything in the common kingdom throughout the week making a Christian ghetto with their own music, festivals, magazines, movies, styles, clothing, bumper stickers, etc. Then secularize the Lord’s Day as much as possible. They attempt to rob the unbelievers’ common world six days a week only to secularize the sacred that he might feel welcome. He may but does the Holy Spirit?
I invite you this Sunday to Missoula Reformed Fellowship to enjoy the bounty of the Lord’s Day, to be refreshed by the preaching of the gospel and Christian fellowship. Our worship service begins at 10:30am followed by a potluck and catechism. This Sunday we will hear from Galatians 2:17–21 in the Divine service followed by a class on the Covenant of Works.
Why are Christians forsaking the Sabbath in droves? I believe it has something to do with American Evangelical pietism and mysticism. Pietism and its twin mysticism allows believers to approach God without means (Rom. 10:6–17). “The church with her public mediation is helpful, but it might also hinder my pietistic mystic sanctified devotion,” says the broad evangelical. True sanctity comes from private devotion, rather than public worship. The Christian can therefore skip out on external religious practice for it is not the true means of grace. True grace comes from private experiential devotion not by some stuffy minister preaching the gospel and administering the sacraments.
Pietism and mysticism has hindered or at its worse has made Sabbath duty obsolete. There is no need for a Sabbath when everyday is the same and the church is just a “service agency” that “exists to satisfy people’s needs.”[1] Resting from sin in private devotion is important. It cannot be done, however, without first attending the public means of grace (2 Tim. 2:2; 15; Ps. 40:10,11; 68:26; Acts 2:42, 46) to hear the truth of God’s Word (1 Cor. 14:19, 29, 31), participate in the sacraments (1 Cor. 11:33; 1 Tim 2:1, 2; 8-10), pray to God publicly (1 Cor. 14:16), and give Christian alms for the poor (1 Cor. 16:2) to be renewed after Christ’s image (Rom. 6:13, 12:1, 2; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9, 10; 1 Cor. 6:20).[2]
Another doctrine that hinders proper Sabbath keeping is the evangelical overemphasis on origin of creation in the first chapters of Genesis. This overemphasis misses the point of the entire creation narrative. These chapters are not consumed with pointing out the gross error of Darwinian Evolution. We have to remember that Moses wrote Genesis long before the enlightenment. Creation properly highlights the sovereignty of God over the forces of chaos and how he assumed a position of kingly rest that further reveals his sovereign power.[3] Creation museums evidence their hindrance by donating all their time to the first two chapters in Genesis, yet open shop on the Lord’s Day (http://creationmuseum.org/). Don’t neglect the Fourth Commandment this Lord’s Day and don’t neglect the church that properly preaches the gospel every week. Christ will be proclaimed from the Scripture this Lord’s Day at 10:30am, I invite you to come.
[1] George Barna, Marketing the Church (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1998), 37. Everyday belongs to the Lord, but Sunday is a special day—the “Lord’s Day.” Time as money belongs to the Lord; nonetheless, Christians set these apart to the Lord. Galatians 4:10 and Col. 2:16–17 attacks those who make the OT shadows salvific. Christ satisfied the shadows that believers might be free from the terror of the law. The moral dimension of the OT shadows remains to be enjoyed in a new light. Christian’s are not free to throw out the sacraments; neither can they throw out the Lord’s Day. Hebrews 4 likewise provides no answer. It speaks of God’s rest on the seventh day held out for mankind and fulfilled by Christ. Hebrews quotes Ps. 95:11 to show how God’s wrath kept Israel from entering because they failed the works principle. Rest remains for God’s people for Christ kept the covenant of works, and now believers follow our elder Brother into the Sabbath of the Lord. Finally, Rom. 14:5 does not involve Sabbath but days of fasting
[2]“There is more of the Lord’s presence in public worship than in private…ergo public worship is to be preferred before private,” see David Clarkson, Public Worship to be Preferred Before Private, vol. III of The Works of David Clarkson (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1988), 190–91.
[3]Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God, ed. D. A. Carson (Downers Grove, IL InterVarsity Press, 2004), 62.
Sunday is a day of holy rest, “on it you shall not do any work.” Because God objectively sanctified the day, Christians likewise “keep it holy.” Violating the day offends the whole worship of God, so the Mosaic economy put transgressors to death.
The Sabbath’s negative command is “you shall not do any work.” God does not forbid every kind of work, rather occupational work that would hinder or omit worship, “and the design and use of the ministry of the church.”[1] This becomes evident from Leviticus 23:25, “you shall not do any ordinary work.” The Hebrew word for work in both cases means, “to do one’s daily work.”[2] God prohibits the ordinary work done throughout the week for he gave, “six days” to “labor, and do all your work.” The Sabbath demands that ordinary work cease.[3]
So, what is the Christian’s religious duty? Calvin believed Christians were to take the Sabbath serious and to not treat it as an opportunity for license.[4] The Christian’s duty is to attend “to what God commands us that we might be taught by his Word,” to “confess our faith,” and finally to “participate in the use of the sacraments.”[5] Zacharius Ursinus and the Dort-era scholars agree that to sanctify the Sabbath means to cease from daily labor, to worship, celebrate sacrament, mediate on the Word, and do works of charity. Doing so strengthens faith, piety, the church as a family, preserves doctrine, and makes the church visible to the world. Attending the means of grace and worshipping the Lord should not be hindered or omitted on the Lord’s Day.
Sunday is right around the corner, a day of rest will soon be here. If you need a place to rest, where you can attend the means of grace, please come and worship with us at 1:00pm this Lord’s Day.
