Delight in the Lord’s Day

By Andrew J. Barnes

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 

—Isaiah 58:13-14 

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

—Exodus 20:8-11

Revelation 1:10 states, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” John was speaking of the first day of the week, the day we know as Sunday when we gather in our local churches to worship the Lord just as the apostles did on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). But the Lord’s Day is so much more than going to church. The Lord’s Day is that day when our souls are nourished by the pure milk of the Word of God. Jesus speaks directly to us!

In the twenty-first century, there seems to be widespread thought that the command to keep the Lord’s Day holy is a heavy burden (Ex. 20:8-11). To some it has become the forgotten commandment and is perceived as simply another legalistic regulation. Happily, the Lord created the Lord’s Day to bless man, not to oppress him (Mark 2:27). This day is a blessed day, a happy day, a joyful day, a glad day; not one of oppression but one of freedom in the Lord, for He has said, “Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” If the church and our own souls are to flourish unto holiness, then we must actively learn to delight in the Lord’s Day.

The Lord’s Day: A Burden?

We must answer this question, “Is the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day, a burden or a delight?” How did God design it? In our culture today, in the church, the assumption is that the Lord’s Day is a burden. There are all these regulations: lists of things to do and not to do. But what is a burden really? The Lord defines it for us when He says in Nehemiah 13:15, 19:

In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals…. And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. (emphasis mine)

The burden upon the people was their working on the Sabbath, specifically treading winepresses, bringing in goods, and loading donkeys. Another way to look at this is that the burden is not following the Lord’s command when He says, “in it thou shalt not do any work.” The Lord has created the Lord’s Day to be a day of delight. He blessed the day and tells us to rejoice in it. To ignore the command of the Lord and thus ignore the way of holiness is to curse the day and to burden man and self. When we remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, the Lord promises that we will be blessed. But if this day is not kept, if we do not remember and rest in Christ, then surely we will receive discipline from the Lord. That is what happened to Israel in Nehemiah 13:18 (see also Neh. 9:13-17; 13:15-22). The burden is following man’s way instead of God’s way. Man’s way will always be bent towards sin and self-pleasure.

Because of this, we approach the Lord’s Day wrongly. We ask the wrong questions. Is it okay for me to eat out at a restaurant? Can I play a game of golf on Sunday afternoon? We assume that the Lord’s Day is a day that restricts and burdens us. Before we really understand the Lord’s Day, we are trying to apply it to our lives. When we do this, we have to base our practice on something, so the basis of how we live on the Lord’s Day is based on our experience. We make the foundation of the Lord’s Day ourselves. Is this man’s day or the Lord’s Day? If it is man’s, let man decide how it should be, but if it is the Lord’s, let Him show us what His day is all about.

The Delight of the Lord’s Day

The Lord’s Day was not designed to be a burden to you who are in Christ, but a delight. Therefore, to see how this day is a delight and how it can be a delight for us, let us try to understand the meaning of this day. Of the Ten Commandments, the one most often forgotten is the fourth, which states, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work…. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Ex. 20:8-11). Why did God create the Sabbath day of rest for man?

First, God created the Sabbath day of rest for man to give us rest from our work. “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.” The Lord designed us to work, and gave us six days in which to do all our work. Before sin entered this world, described in Genesis 3, God gave man work to do. Genesis 2:15 tells us that He placed man in the garden “to dress it and to keep it.”

Just as God labored for six days, so too He rested on the seventh day, and not because He needed rest but because it was fitting and right to do so. Genesis 2:2-3 states that God ended His creating work on the seventh day and rested, and then He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because He rested from all His work on that day. Man, therefore, through the Lord’s example, is to follow Him in keeping the fourth commandment (Ex. 20:8-11), and to rest from his work because it is fitting and right. Our Lord designed one day of seven to be more special than all the other days.

Consider the giving of the fourth commandment in order to see how powerful this day really is. The Lord had just delivered Israel from Egypt where they were slaves. The nation of Egypt did not celebrate the Sabbath; they had no day of rest. The Israelites were made to toil and labor every day. Do you see how sweet and precious a day of rest is in a context of never receiving such a rest, but always working? They would still work, but only six days. The seventh would be a day of rest from their work. What a blessing! A. W. Pink states of working and resting, “He who never works is unfitted for worship. Work is to pave the way for worship, as worship is to fit us for work…. The more diligent and faithful we are in performing the duties of the six days, the more shall we value the rest of the seventh.” [1]

Yet, for many Christians this blessing is missed. One of the first temptations we have coming home from worship is to work or do our own pleasure. [2] We fill the remainder of the Lord’s Day with thoughts of the work we do on the other six days, planning for the week ahead. Some of us will go into work or do work around the house. The Lord calls us to work, but He has graciously given rest from it as well. Praise the Lord we do not have to be slaves like Israel in Egypt; He has given us freedom in Christ!

Second, the Lord’s Day is designed to give us rest for our souls. The Lord has commanded this day to be especially holy; consequently, we gather together in public worship. As we worship, we are given the great opportunity of having our souls filled by God with His Word. When we worship we pray the Word, sing the Word, read the Word, hear the Word preached, and feel and see the Word in the sacraments. The Word, therefore, fills our mind, which ultimately, if received in faith, fills our souls.

As the Word fills us, we see the love of God in Christ Jesus who saved us from all of our sin and guilt. We become more aware of our sins from the past week and understand they are forgiven in Christ. The sins that we will commit in the week ahead are covered by Jesus’ blood, and our souls find rest before His mercy seat. In worship, we are granted in our souls that which is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, that each one of us who is in Christ may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). There is a blessed rest for our souls on the Lord’s Day.

Finally, the Lord’s Day is intended to give us rest in the Lord. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. [3] Yet, most of our lives are focused on our work, our home, our time, our plans, our pleasures. We are certainly able to glorify God and enjoy Him through our work, home, time, plans, and pleasures, but the point is that six days of the week are focused on us and what we do and like. That you would see your need for the Lord, see your need to rest, see your need to repent of your sins and be blessed eternally, the Lord created the Lord’s Day—a day focused not on you, but on Him; a day not where you work for yourself to receive physical benefits now, but where you submit yourself to your Savior and Lord and receive benefits that will last for eternity.

How can resting in the Lord be a burden? Just try to grasp the love of God through His giving of this day. It pleases Him to give to you one day out of seven for the very purpose of blessing you in a special way. God gives you fifty-two holy days a year, one each week, to celebrate Him. Right now look forward with joy in your hearts each week to the Lord’s Day, the day of sweet delight, which the King of the universe has made for you.

Now you certainly have questions and thoughts just as I did when I began studying the fourth commandment. When I began seminary, I remember on a few occasions other students challenging me not to do my studies on the Lord’s Day. Of course, there were excuses I made when it came to studying on the Lord’s Day. “But the books I am reading for class are good biblical books that are edifying” and “How would it be possible for me to get all this work done on time if I do not study on the Lord’s Day?” After the first semester, I had grown in my understanding of the Lord’s Day and I greatly desired to keep the Lord’s command in Christ because He promised blessing. I was also recently married so there was a greater need to support ourselves. I had four part-time jobs and I was attending seminary full-time. One of those jobs required me to cut down trees on Saturdays from sunrise to sunset. Since I could not study on Saturdays, I studied between Monday and Friday between working the other jobs.

So you ask the question, “How will I get all my work done, if I do not work on the Lord’s Day? I am not going to have enough time.” The answer to this question and excuse is simple and often overlooked. God is sovereign over our work, time, and strength. For the next couple of years, as I began resting in the Lord on Sundays rather than working, my studies actually improved, because we work better when we have truly rested from our work. I worked harder Monday through Saturday; I was more diligent and disciplined to the praise of the Lord. He also strengthened me. Every Saturday, I was wiped out. Yet He used the Lord’s Day to preserve and strengthen me for worship and the week ahead. Truly, it was and still is a day of blessing and delight.

The Lord’s Day was made for us. Let us live as if the Lord’s Day is the Lord’s and not ours. Let us not dictate what we do, but let us follow the Lord in what He wants. He gives us rest from work, rest for our souls, and rest in Him. Let us live as if the most important day of the week is the Lord’s Day, because it is; it is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead where He secured our justification and won the victory on our behalf (Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:57). He made us more than victorious over death and gained for us eternal rest (Rom. 8:37; Heb. 4:1-13). Each week, as it comes, let us remember that it is the day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. 118:24).

Is the Lord’s Day a delight? There is one key text that answers this question:

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it (Isaiah 58:13-14).

The Lord’s Day is not about our own pleasure, it is not about doing things the way we want to do them, it is not even about speaking the words we want; rather, it is a day to delight in the Lord. Let us turn from trampling upon and turning our foot from His day. Robert Murray M‘Cheyne said of the Lord’s Day, “We love the Lord’s day, because it is His. Every hour of it is dear to us—sweeter than honey, more precious than gold. It is the day He rose for our justification. It reminds us of His love, and His finished work, and His rest. And we may boldly say that that man does not love the Lord Jesus Christ who does not love the entire Lord’s day.” [4]

How Do We Delight in the Lord’s Day?

The first step is to see the Lord’s Day as Scripture shows us and call it a delight. If in our hearts we do not cling to the Lord’s Day as the chief day and His day, then we will never truly delight in it. Secondly and practically, we must prepare physically beforehand. If the most important day of the week is the Lord’s Day, then ideally you will always be looking forward to the following Sunday. It is like looking forward to a vacation a week prior to its arrival. Your thoughts are constantly, “Please, vacation, come quickly!” That should be our focus towards the Lord’s Day. Just as we prepare in advance for a delightful vacation, let us prepare in those six days for the Lord’s Day. As Israel was commanded in the wilderness (Ex. 16:2-30), so we too should prepare beforehand, especially the day before, so that we will not be unnecessarily burdened on His day. Keep your meals simple, and if you are going to have a house full of guests, try to do as much preparation the day before. Make Saturday your cleaning day. Fill up your gas tanks in your cars. These are not legalistic requirements but good suggestions.

In other words, the principle here is to do all those physical things that are unnecessary on the Lord’s Day in the six days prior to Sunday. Matthew Henry says, “The Sabbath day is a market day, a harvest day for the soul; it is an opportunity,—it is a time fitted for the doing of that which cannot be done at all, or not so well done, at another time: now, if this day be suffered to run waste, and other business minded than that which is the proper work of the day, our souls cannot but be miserably impoverished and neglected, and the vineyards we are made keepers of cannot but be like the field of the slothful, and the vineyard of the man void of understanding.” [5] This is why we must prepare physically for the Lord’s Day: it will produce a body that is ready to leave off all other thoughts and acts, and worship the Lord. If we clutter this day up with other things, it will be like the person who is constantly working on vacation.

Moreover, we must prepare spiritually. Richard Steele, talking about being distracted in worship, says that one reason for being distracted is because we are not prepared. [6] He quotes from Job 11:13-15, “if thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him; If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear.” We must prepare our hearts. Before the Lord’s Day, go to the Lord in prayer. Search your heart for sin and turn from it unto God. Put it far from you so that when you come prepared to worship the Lord, you will be without spot, steadfast, and without fear. Be in prayer for your pastor and elders that the Lord would use them for His glory and for your edification. If it is known, read the Scripture verses that will be used for the sermon(s) and meditate on them throughout the week. Prepare especially the day before; as Thomas Watson states, “[Saturday] evening preparation will be like the tuning of an instrument, it will fit the heart better for the duties of the ensuing Sabbath.” [7]

When the day comes, we are to spend the day in public acts of worship. We go and worship together in our local congregations (Heb. 10:24-25), and we hear Jesus Christ speak to our hearts and minds. But to you who have thought or at least lived as if the Lord’s Day is only the Lord’s morning, let me offer some helpful suggestions. Some of you will have only one worship service in the morning, so what do you do after worship? The truth is it is easier to keep the Lord’s Day up until the time of morning worship ending. However, you really want to delight in the day and not just a part of the day, but you do not know what to do. I would submit to you that there are many things for us to do to honor the Lord, not seeking our own pleasure, but keeping the day holy.

First, cultivate your own soul privately with God. Spend some extra time in prayer, Scripture-reading, meditation, and the reading of a variety of sound Reformed literature. Treasure this time alone with God.

Second, worship God in the evening in His house of prayer. If your church has no second service, try to find and attend one in your locality that does, providing it is sound. If that search is fruitless, worship God in your home by reading sermons or listening to sermons online of well-respected pastors. If you know none, then ask your pastor for some suggestions. Lead your family in prayer and engage in singing so that your time together feels as much as possible like a worship service.

Third, do what we should be doing each day of the week and that is family worship (Deut. 6:6-7). If you are single, meet with your other single friends or other families in the church and study Scripture together. You can even study that morning’s sermon further. Following morning worship and lunch, spend the afternoon hours with your family and friends. This implies hospitality, which is great to do on the Lord’s Day. Aim to engage in godly and edifying conversation. Families, seek out those who are single or widows and invite them over for fellowship and prayer. Pray and read Scripture and edifying books together. Sing hymns and psalms together. Take the time to catechize your children. My wife and I found that some of the most enjoyable Lord’s Days are when we have company over. Take the time to be hospitable. [8]

Fourth, you can also take the opportunity to go and visit those who are not able to come to worship due to health or age. Matthew Henry says, “Reading the Holy Bible and other good books, repetition, catechising, singing psalms, praying, praising, profitable discourse; these are the exercises which, if they meet with a heart piously and devoutly affected toward God, will furnish us with such a pleasing variety of good works, to fill up those hours of the Lord’s day which are not spent in public worship, or in works of necessity and mercy, and will turn so much to our advantage that we shall complain of nothing so much as the speedy returns of the Sabbath evening, and the shadows thereof….” [9]

To delight in the Lord’s Day is vitally important, not only for yourself, but for your spouse and your children. Listen to what Robert L. Dabney said about his experience growing up:

How sacredly was the Sabbath improved! My father went about making the best of the sacred day just as seriously and systematically as any wise business man planning to put in the best work possible on some favorable day in the middle of harvest. 

He evidently acted on this clear, rational and conscientious conviction, “I have a great and urgent work to do for my own soul and others; the one day in seven which a kind Heavenly Father has endeavored to secure for me, for this task, is none too much, if improved to the best. So I must make the most of it.” [10]

Think of the possibilities, not only for you but also for your children. Fifty-two days a year spent consumed in the Lord! For your children, by the time they graduated high school, that is 936 days filled with delight in the Lord. That is two and a half years with nothing but the Lord for your child to prepare them for this world. Oh, that we would delight in the Lord and not bring burdens upon our lives because we desired our own pleasures or our own ways. If we want to do all for God’s glory, if we want to live lives pleasing to Him, if we want to grow in Christ in our hearts and minds, if we want true unending rest, then let us now delight in the Lord’s Day.

Suggested Reading

• Chantry, Walter. Call the Sabbath a Delight. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1991.
• Dennison, Jr., James T. The Market Day of the Soul: The Puritan Doctrine of the Sabbath in England, 1532-1700. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, Inc., 1983.
• Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship. Eds. Philip Graham Ryken, Derek W. H. Thomas, and J. Ligon Duncan III. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R Publishing, 2003.
• Henry, Matthew. Daily Communion of God. New York: Robert Carter, 1848.
• Knecht, Glenn. The Day God Made. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2003.
• Pink, A. W. The Ten Commandments. Lafayette, Ind.: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 2003.
• Pipa, Joseph A. The Lord’s Day. Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2001.
• Ray, Bruce A. Celebrating the Sabbath: Finding Rest in a Restless World. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R Publishing, 2000
• Steele, Richard. A Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in the Worship of God. Harrisonburg, Va.: Sprinkle Publications, 1988.
• Watson, Thomas. A Body of Practical Divinity. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2006.

Notes

1. A. W. Pink, The Ten Commandments (Lafayette, Ind.: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 2003), 28.
2. Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 61 states, “The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission, or careless performance, of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.”
3. Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 1.
4. Andrew Bonar, The Life and Remains, Letters, Lectures, and Poems of the Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1849), 325.
5. Matthew Henry, Daily Communion of God (New York: Robert Carter, 1848), 287.
6. Richard Steele, A Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in the Worship of God (Harrisonburg, Va.: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 72.
7. Thomas Watson, A Body of Practical Divinity (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2006), 295.
8. Joseph A. Pipa, The Lord’s Day (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2001), 176-80.
9. The Miscellaneous Works of The Rev. Matthew Henry, ed. J. B. Williams (London: John Ogle Robinson, 1833), 1:502.
10. Thomas Cary Johnson, The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1977), 10.