How do you biblically approach Sunday?

An old acquaintance of mine recently wrote a blog post on the question of whether or not it was sinful to have a wedding on Sunday. His name is Blake Rispens and you can find that article here http://blakerispens84.blogspot.ca/?vm=r . I am not so concerned with the issue of whether or not a Sunday wedding is permissible. Full disclosure, I have no problem with a Sunday wedding as it has happened for hundreds of years in Reformed churches. A modern reception might be another question. But, I hope to elucidate the pitfalls of Rispens argument to show where such a misguided hermeneutic will lead an interpreter of scripture.

His argument is six-fold and it is explained very clearly. His desire is not to determine what has happened historically or in someone's own tradition, but rather what does the Bible say concerning this issue.

He summarizes his argument under six points:
1. "Sunday is not the Sabbath. So we can all take a big sigh of relief. Having a wedding on Sunday would not be in violation of the 4th commandment because the Sabbath is Saturday."
2. Since this issue of a wedding on Sunday is not addressed in the Bible, it is a "gray area" which is therefore inconclusive either way.
3. There is no biblical demand for a gentile (non-Jew) to keep the laws and rituals of the Jews.
4. Jesus clarifies the proper interpretation of the "Sabbath" in Matt. 12; Mk. 2, and Lk. 6.
5. Romans 14 makes it clear that it is wrong to place one day higher than another and then impose your position on someone else. There is liberty here, but when the line is crossed into imposing a personal opinion on someone else, then you become "the religious legalist that everyone hates." 
6. Our obedience to God's law does not add anything to our salvation. Rather, trust in Jesus Christ who is our righteousness. 

((The first issue on the Sabbath being Saturday I have spoken about before. Here is the second half of my lecture http://vimeo.com/40136312 . This is taken from Jochem Douma's The Ten Commandments which is an excellent book.))

To summarize the argument , in the Old Testament the Sabbath was Saturday. And therefore, Rispens argues, that if you want to keep Sunday holy, you are actually not following God's law (Ten Commandments) "to a tee." Rispens says, "Since we aren't observing Saturday anymore, hopefully we're starting to see some differences between the OT and NT." Here is where the argument becomes dangerous. The question the reader is left with at this point, is why aren't we keeping Saturday holy? He says that if you are keeping Sunday holy as an observance of the Sabbath, "you're probably defaming the actual Sabbath which is technically Saturday." To bolster his argument Rispens uses the example of Jesus who broke the Sabbath according to the religious leaders false interpretation by picking heads of grain, healing on the Sabbath, etc. What should we make of this argument?

Sunday is the New Testament Sabbath. It is better to call it Lord's Day as opposed to Sabbath, but it can be called "sabbath" as a word simply meaning rest. This is true for three reasons. 

First, the pattern of working six days and resting the seventh was established by God when He created the heavens and the earth. In fact, in Exodus 20:8-11, (a text cited by Rispens interestingly enough) God bases the argument on the foundation that, "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." (NKJV) However, if we are to argue that the honouring of the Sabbath is creational, why do we first read about it in Exodus 20? The fact is, is that God's people already were keeping the Sabbath day holy. This is clear from when God gave the people manna from heaven in the wilderness and commanded them to gather it for six days, but on the sixth day to gather twice as much so that they would have enough for the 7th day. Exodus 16:26 says, "Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none." The 10 commandments are abiding and valid (though in a different way for us as we will see short). The fourth commandment is rooted in creation, not merely in liberation and the establishment of the nation of Israel.

Secondly, the observance of the Lord's Day was of such extreme importance that the penalty for breaking it was death. This is why the Pharisees were so quick to jump on Jesus and the disciples. It wasn't a small trivial matter. Rispens was right, that the pharisees misunderstood the Sabbath and the purpose of the Sabbath being a blessing for "rest and well-being." The fact of the matter is that Pharisees were legalists who were trusting their own obedience to put them in a right relationship with God. However, because of the seriousness of Sabbath observance, we had better be quite sure about our position concerning its validity or disuse and misuse today.

The third argument is a historical argument in light of Christ's relationship to the law. In Matthew 5:17 Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to destory the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." The word used there for destroy could also be translated at abolish. Rispens is arguing that the Sabbath is abolished. It is not abolished, but rather fulfilled as is all of the law of God. By Christ, fulfilling the Sabbath, as Lord over all, He, through His apostles, continues to rest one day in seven, no longer on the seventh day of the week, but on the first day of the week. This is why we see the saints gathering on the first day of the week in Acts. (By the way, being a member of the apostolic church, we confess that we base our practice on the teaching, practice, and example of the Apostles). This was carried on throughout the early church throughout history. More about this in a moment. 

At this point, and recognizing that my review, not of a book, but of a blog post is getting quite lengthy, I will skip responses on the questions of "Did Gentiles have no obligation to keep the 10 commandments? What about the sojourner or proselyte? Were they permitted to work in Israel on Sunday? There is also the question of what did Jesus mean by, "If you love me you will keep my commandments....or....You will know them by their fruits." However, there are two other issue I would like to address.

The first issue is that of a dispensational hermeneutic. For a dispensationalist the most important page in the Bible is that page between the OT and NT. Now, don't get me wrong, there is something New about the NT and there is something old about the OT. As the church father said, "The New is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed." There is one people of God and there is one church of God from creation until Jesus Christ returns. Rispens himself said that he is "spiritually speaking" a Jew. Good, we are children of Abraham and as the entire book of Romans makes clear "not all Israel is of Israel" or as Paul says in Galatians 3 "There is neither Jew nor Greek..." All people at all times are either saved or condemned for the same reason. They are saved through faith alone in the work of the Messiah (Messiah to come or Messiah already come: hint....its the same God-Man). Dispensationalists often thumb their nose at the Old Testament and find themselves in the unorthodox land somewhere between the everlasting covenant of grace and the early church heretic Marcion. They aren't Marcionites, but they fall between covenant and Marcion. This is dangerous and unfounded (though reasonable) in light of the whole of the scriptures. For instance, look at how the New Testament uses the OT (e.g. I Cor. 10; Jer. 31 and Acts 2; etc.) Without a covenantal reading of scripture, it should not surprise us that someone would be permitted to go out to eat on Sunday, keep their business open, have an open house to sell their home, spend the day on the lake with the family. The question is, why would anyone worship God on Sunday? Has he commanded them? Using Rispens argument, it seems you would have to be a seventh-day adventist or you could never expect anyone to consistently worship God on Sunday. Maybe he agrees, but I doubt it. 

The second important question is the role of the law, liberty, and gratitude. To summarize briefly, Christ has fulfilled the law. As the Beglic Confession of Faith says in Artice 25, "We believe taht the ceremonies and symbols of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished among Christians; yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion. In the meantime we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honorableness to the glory of God, according to His will." The civil and ceremonial law in Israel were full of shadows fuflilled in Christ. The truth and substance of them remain. You can understand that to be the valid principles undergirding those laws in the civil realm. However, the moral law of God remains, as it was not ordained merely for the nation of Israel, but for the whole entire world. This is the law written on the minds of all people. Even though the unbeliever is so depraved that they are unable to properly interpret that law and they suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18-20; 2), nevertheless, this is God standard of living in this world. It is summarized under the theme of love. Love for God and neighbor. 

However, we are dead to the law and alive in Christ. The law was a tutor to bring us to Christ. The law exposes our sin and shows our inability to earn the favor of God. The law condemns us, but Jesus Christ saves us. We are saved, not through law-keeping, but through faith alone, which is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8-10). How then ought we to respond to God's amazing grace living in the freedom Christ has won for us? This is where the third use of the moral law comes in....it becomes a guide for Christian gratitude. I don't honor my father and mother so that I can earn God's favor or grace, but rather, because I already have God's favor and grace in Jesus Christ. The law is for the believer, an expression of thankfulness. Our works show our faith, they do not produce our faith. Does it matter how we live? Of course it matters. We are not antinomians. Rispens argues that our works do not contribute to our salvation. Well, that is true, if he means that our works do not contribute to our justification, but our sanctification, which is also part of our salvation, is allowing the Jesus Christ, who had kept the law, to work in us thankful hearts, so that we may offer our whole lives as thank offerings to God. We must not use Christian liberty as a license to sin. We have freedom in Jesus Christ, but that freedom has the boundaries of the 10 commandments properly applied (as they were by Jesus Himself throughout the whole Scripture). Our freedom is like a fish in the ocean. If you take the fish out of the ocean, is it still free? No, not in the way it is when it is in water. The Spirit working in us secures our freedom and liberty in Jesus Christ. 

So, back to the original question, can you have a wedding on Sunday? Sure, right after the Sunday morning sermon in corporate worship, let bride and groom stand up, here the form read, say their vows, sign the marriage form, and then sit down and worship God. A reception, that is more difficult, but to have it at church as a feast of celebration could certainly be pleasing to the Lord.

Some Thoughts about Synod Nyack 2012

Synod Nyack 2012 of the United Reformed Churches has come and gone. Press Releases can be found at the URCNA website (www.urcna.org) . The agenda for this synod, though fullsome, was not nearly as weighty as synod 2010. However, there was something about this synod which seemed different to me. I came home from Synod Nyack very encouraged by two things.

The first thing is that there was a great sense of unity among the delegates. This did not just affect interaction at meal times or free time, but even on advisory committees and on the floor of synod during plenary sessions. At Synod London 2010 there were a few hot button topics and a couple events that raised the tension going into that synod. In preparation for Synod 2012, these things were quite absent. We could get back to the work of moving forward. What I see taking place in the URC is a growing love for each other. We have a long way to go with this, but the more we get to know ourselves, the greater we can appreciate our brothers and sisters in different parts of the U.S. and Canada in our own federation. 

There was also a great sense of Christian unity for other faithful churches around the world. We heard greetings from the Republic of Congo, the Netherlands, Indonesia, etc. There was a speech by a minister from the Calvinistic Reformed Church of Indonesia. This short native of Indonesia was full of life and began his speech by saying, "Goede morgen! Hoe gaat het met jullie?" It was comical. However, as the speech went on and the brother spoke about God's work in Indonesia, it became personal as we heard about this brother's loss of a son recently at the hands of medical malpractice as he looked on. He ended his speech by offering a gift to our chairman Rev. Ron Scheuers. It was a scarf made by his wife. Chairman Scheuers came down to where the speaker was, and though a head taller than our Indonesian brother, stooped his head down to receive the scarf and then they hugged each other. It was both beautiful and moving to see a small glimpse of the length and breadth of the true church of Christ on the Earth. There is a growing unity among us and among our brothers and sisters around the world. It is my prayer that this continues to grow as we mature.

The second thing I was greatly encouraged by was a sense of our calling in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20). This expressed itself in the establishment of a position of Missions Coordinator who will work full time to connect church planters and missionaries and meet with interested groups of people with Reformed convictions without having a church home. Our discussion on that subject dealt with the details of the position. It was very clear that it is important to the churches to plant churches and to do this faithfully. Along with this was our report on doctrinal committment where we affirmed that in order to make profession of faith, you are assenting to the Three Forms of Unity (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, Canons of Dort). This means that while we seek to use the means God has ordained to build His church, we can do so without lowering the level of faith to, "Do you believe in Jesus" or "no creed but Christ." This was an important synod for the URC in terms of church planting.

There is a love for missions in the URC and that is part and parcel of what it means to be faithful to the Lord of the church. Rev. Paul Murphy in one of his devotions said something that I have been thinking about. He said (paraphrased) "Missions should not be a line item in the budget, it should be our identity as a church. The church is, by definition, missional." He was right on! It is easy to become comfortable and as a consistory to make sure the status quo doesn't change and the boat doesn't rock, but we ought not to be content to merely "polish the brass", but rather to devote our time, energy and resources to grow the church of Christ, by his grace, through the Word and Spirit, as He has ordained.

I left this synod encouraged. I believe we do have some things to learn as churches and we still have a somewhat deficient way of dealing with appeals. However, we are United and Reformed and for that I am thankful.

D-Day 68 Years Later

On June 6, 1944 Allied troops landed on the shores of Normandy, France in the largest amphibious invasion ever. By July 4, 1,000,000 troops had landed on the shores of Normandy. The invasion, called "Operation Overlord" was the entrance of the Allied Forces into France and into the waiting German forces. Casualties were high and there have been a number of movies made about the invasion (The Longest Day, Saving Private Ryan, etc.) Today, I pause to remember this important date in the history, not only of my country, but of the whole world.

The majority of troops who landed on the shores of Normandy were from England, the U.S., and Canada. There was air support from a few other Commonwealth countries. In 2003 I visited Normandy, France and I walked along the beach. I gazed up the high and intimidating cliffs and I thought about the young soldiers landing, pinned along the beach, fighting those who had the upper ground. As I stood on the beach in Normandy I tried to picture what that would be like. Imagine the fear of a young man who in just a moment, the exit would be opened on the boat, the cliffs and beach would be exposed and he would jump from his ship to wade through the water and look for some kind of cover as bullets flew by.

What really got to me was the fact that the forces who landed on the beach initially had not been attacked by the Germans. After all, the U.S. could have just focused on Japan, a more imminent threat. England had not been invaded, Canada had not been invaded, the U.S. had not been invaded and yet they sent their boys to war to defend liberty and justice. The older generation still among us remembers this, but my generation knows little of this. The ultimate sacrifice one can make for his friend (Ally) is to give his life. 68 years ago today thousands did just that. By mid-July, more than 100,000 allied troops lost their lives in Normandy and over 100,000 German forces died as well.

 Today I thank God for those who have gone before me, many of which are not here today because of their sacrifice. Let us never forget!

URC Synod 2012

My friend Glenda Mathes has published a summary of the upcoming items found on the URC synodical agenda. I thought about writing something similar, but since Glenda did such a wonderful job, I will just cite it here. http://ascribelog.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/urcna-synod-2012-agenda-summary/#comments

A 15 minute "must-read"

Hannah G from Moscow, Idaho (I don't know her), has written a cogent, thought-provoking blog entry on defending the unborn. It is an open letter to her "pro-choice" friends. I commend it to all. http://cinnamonrollsandbacon.blogspot.com/2012/02/open-letter-to-my-pro-choice-friends.html

2012 Fraser Valley Bible Conference

Dr. Joel Beeke is coming to Abbotsford April 27 and 28. Every year the URC in Abbotsford is a co-host with 5 other churches in having a conference. This year Dr. Beeke is going to give three speeches on "Cultivating the Christian Life." I am excited to hear Dr. Beeke once again.

I have heard Dr. Beeke speak many times over the years, but I had the opportunity to see this brother in a unique way. When I was in college two of Dr. Beeke's nephews lived at his house, Tom and Mark Beeke, whom I was friends with. It was refreshing to see the family worship that takes place consistently, and possibly the thing that impressed me the most, was every afternoon, at the same time, he would go for a walk with his wife Mary. Every day, same time, in the midst of a busyness, they took that time together.

Beyond that, Dr. Beeke is one of the most gifted preachers I have ever heard. He is a minister at the HRC in Grand Rapids. Everyone is invited to this Friday night/Saturday morning conference. Hope to see you there. For more information, go here www.fraservalleybibleconference.com

Just a snowy dung heap

I have been thinking today about the snow we received over the last few days. It truly is beautiful. We have been singing a few times for family devotions Lord Jesus I Long to be Perfectly Whole which has the chorus, "Now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow."

Today I read that Martin Luther referred to the clean white snow upon a pile of dung is similar to how we are before Christ. The righteousness of Christ covers us, and though we are poor, miserable sinners, we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ through faith. What a glorious picture! What a glorious Savior! And, as I look out at the 20 inches of snow that cover my front yard between two snow men, I can appreciate, not only the beauty of the creation, but the beauty of the re-creation we have in Jesus Christ.