The Lord’s Day

There’s an old story about two men who were fishing one Sunday morning and when the fish weren’t biting they began to feel guilty about skipping church.

One man said, “I guess I should have gone to church rather than gone fishing.”

The other man replied, “Well, I couldn’t have gone to church anyway, because my wife is home sick in bed.”

While we may chuckle at the inconsistency of such thinking, similar rationalizations are not that uncommon in justifying our neglect of Sunday church attendance.

Too often people think of Sunday as Funday. A day to sleep in. To go fishing. Go to the beach. Watch football. Go shopping. Or just generally relax.

Revelation 1:10 says John was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.” This is the only time in Scripture Sunday is referred to as “the Lord’s Day.” But there can be no doubt that is the meaning.

Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday (Lk. 24:1). Pentecost, when the church began, was on Sunday (Ax. 2). Communion was observed on Sunday (Ax 20:7) which is called “the Lord’s supper” (1 Cor. 11:20). And it was the day Christians were commanded to take up a collection in support of others (1 Cor. 16:1-2). Thus, it is “the Lord’s Day.”

Ante-Nicene writers, Ignatius, Justin, Clement, and Tertullian, all referred to Sunday as “the Lord’s Day.”

We need to remember that Sunday is not just a day when churches assemble, or the elders have designed it as a time for worship, or when a preacher presents a sermon, it is “the Lord’s Day.” It belongs to Him.

Maybe a return to thinking of Sunday as “the Lord’s Day” will help us view the day with greater reverence. Attend with renewed purpose. And worship with deeper devotion.

In a world that has lost its way, let us return Sunday to its proper place. It is “the Lord’s Day.” May we each respect and observe it with the Lord in our minds and hearts.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman