Beloved,
It has been a decade since Tessa and I stepped into our first worship service in an Orthodox Presbyterian congregation. It was quite a shocking experience! After weeks of brushing shoulders with these brothers and sisters in worship, it became apparent that they had a fundamentally different view of Sunday than we did.
To put it simply, they actually believed Sunday was a holy day.
Think about that in light of our sermon from Isaiah 6 this past week. What does it mean to be holy? To be set apart unto the service of God.
When it came to Sunday, the members of this little church believed it was a day distinctly separated from the rest. It was set apart by God for God. And hence, they filled it with God’s worship and God’s people. Tessa and I had never seen anything like it. And to be honest, it was a little off-putting at first, smelling of legalism and extremism. Despite the encouragement of the pastor and others in the congregation, we never attended evening service, and I actually worked on Sunday afternoons (work that was neither of necessity nor mercy).
Over a period of time, however, we came to embrace the biblical teaching on the Christian Sabbath. As our doctrine slowly reformed according to Scripture, our practice slowly transformed. I quit working on Sundays, and we began rethinking the first day of the week and how we spent it.
All these years later, we are still a work in progress, being continually reformed and transformed. We have certainly not arrived in the way we carry out a typical Lord’s Day, but God has grown us dramatically. And one very simple practice that has been most helpful in that regard is morning and evening worship.
Ten years ago, I had no concept of the Lord’s Day. I wouldn’t have admitted this (for it would have been embarrassing!), but what I believed in was more like the Lord’s Hour. “Yes, public worship is important. So go to church early, get ‘er done, and then spend the day doing whatever you want!” But as we began to attend morning and evening worship, that practice subtly reshaped my understanding. By bookending the day in public worship, I began to grasp increasingly that God has set apart a day, not an hour, and He wills that day to be devoted to Him!
As we continue to consider our second core principle, God-ordered worship, it is vital for us to recognize that God has not only prescribed the elements of worship (word, sacraments, singing, prayer) and the place of worship (the assembly of His people as His temple), but also the day of worship which post-resurrection is the first day of the week. And just as sacrifices were offered up in the old covenant temple morning and evening, so too we offer up spiritual sacrifices morning and evening as the new covenant temple, declaring that the day (not the hour) uniquely belongs to God.
Of course, you can keep the day holy without attending an evening worship service. But in my experience, it is extremely difficult to do so. And seeing that you are in a congregation with an evening service, unless providentially hindered, why wouldn’t you come? What could possibly be a more fitting way to close out this holy day?
The evening service is not something we have to attend; it is something we get to attend. It is a precious gift, and almost without exception I find it to be sweeter than the morning service. The word is sweeter. The singing is sweeter. The prayer is sweeter. The fellowship is sweeter. And that is, I think, because it takes almost an entire day of intimate contact with God and His people to warm my cold heart. By the time of the evening service, my heart is finally awaking to the glory!
God-ordered worship entails keeping the fourth commandment, not as a legalistic extremist, but as a set apart saint in Jesus Christ who lives and breathes to affectionately exalt Him.
How might you grow in doing that by His grace and for His glory?
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Nick
