Regarding the Sabbath, our Confession
states, “The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due
preparing of their hearts, and order in their common affairs aforehand, do not
only observe an holy rest all 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 exercises of His worship, and in the duties of
necessity and worship” (2nd London Baptist Conf. of 1689).
Our
Confession is a Puritan statement of faith. In other words, as subscribers of
the 1689 Confession we are openly Puritan in our theology. The Puritans believed
that observing of the Sabbath was absolutely essential for the spiritual
wellbeing of the church. And for the majority of Protestant churches since the
Reformation, the Sabbath has been consistently taught and practiced. Sadly, we
have seen a great shift in the commitment of the modern church to the Sabbath.
Robert
Godfrey states in his series on the history of the Christian church, “Of all
the changes we’ve seen in the last fifty years in Protestant churches, probably
the most surprising is the near disappearance of the Sabbath as a theological
conviction. Most conservative Protestant churches that fifty years ago would
have had both morning and evening worship on the Sabbath Day, now there is only
a morning service. Think about the implication of this. It means that most
Christians in Protestant America are hearing half the sermons they used to
hear. How can people possibly be as well instructed and well-informed if they
are going to half as many services a year. The level of Biblical knowledge among
lay Protestants in this country in the last fifty years as diminished
dramatically.”
Godfrey
makes a good point. Our culture knows nothing of Sunday as a holy day. Sadly,
the vast majority of Christians today have abandoned the Sabbath, with sad
consequences. Even some who claim to hold to the 1689 Confession of Faith deny
the words, “but also are taken up the whole time in the public exercise of
worship.” The temptation is great for us to conform to the world around us. May
the words of the Apostles ring loudly upon our ears, “We must obey God rather
than men.” Or may we hear God’s words through Isaiah, “If because of the
sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day, and
call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and honor it,
desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure, And speaking your
own word, Then you will take delight in the LORD, And I will make you ride on
the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken” (Isaiah 58:13).
