The Lord’s Day is a Feast Day, never a Fast Day!  That has always been Christendom’s creed.  Even when long, protracted penitential fasts were the fashion of Medieval Christianity, the Lord’s Day was always excluded from the fast.  The Lord’s Day is to be a day of celebration, joy, and fellowship.  It is not the day for downcast faces or despair.   Any solemnity that marks the Lord’s Day is due to sheer awe for the graciousness of a Holy God of whom “mercy is His proper work.”   Any sorrow sown by conviction of sin is wiped away for the forgiveness and cleansing which are ours in Christ.  The Lord’s Day is a Feast Day, never a Fast Day! 

Our forefathers were apt to call the Lord’s Day, “the Market Day of the Soul.”  It was not a day for buying and selling the commodities of temporal life, but a day to traffic in the commerce of higher things, better things – eternal things.   While our lives today blur the distinctions between the Lord’s Day and every other day, we are most blessed and at rest when we “remember the Lord’s Day and set it apart.” 

The Lord’s Day is not like every other day.  Quite the contrary it is unlike any other day.  When the Lord was creating the world, He rested from His work, not just on the first day after he finished, but He finished by creating the seventh day – actively making it and setting it aside to celebrate, rejoice, and fellowship with His creation.

Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Genesis 2:1-2

Is the Lord’s Day a feast day for you?  Is it the Market Day of your Soul?  Is it unlike any other day?  Or has it become like any and every other day?  Is it distinguished by the pursuit and enjoyment of the things that really matter, that last forever?  Or only the pursuit of more of what will fade away? 

Undoubtably, for most of us, the week is the unit of time that most defines our lives, yet it is the only unit of time not defined by some celestial or environmental cycle.  It has no exemplar in nature.  It is simply given to us by God and delineated for us by the Lord’s Day.   Whether you observe it or not, your life revolves around the Lord’s Day.  

Growing up, Sundays were always unique.  The usual biscuits that adorned every breakfast at our house, were replaced with blueberry muffins.   Lunch was a grand affair, usually grilled steaks, baked potato and salad – a meal we never ate except at lunch on Sundays.   My father always included me in his duties at the church.  Some weeks we drove a church van into downtown Atlanta to pick up a spunky group of elderly ladies who lived at a distance from our church.  Other weeks, I would carry the Sunday School boxes to each classroom before anyone else arrived.  My service made me feel important and useful.  

After lunch, was “rest time.”  We could play quietly at home, but it was not a time for the usual kinds of play with friends and neighbors.  And then in the evening we would return to church for choir, and Royal Ambassadors (a Christian boys club), and worship.   It was a full day, different from every other day.  Full of feasting, fellowship and rest – all centered around worshipping and celebrating who we were in Christ.

When Christians lose delight in enjoying the “thousand sacred sweets” of the Lord’s Day, then life begins to lose its savor in every other area as well.  Just as the Lord’s Table defines how we live at every other table in our lives, the Lord’s Day defines how we will live every other day. 

The Lord’s Day with its corporate worship, fellowship, feasting, resting and serving is the heartbeat of the Christian life.  It is one of two “positive commands in the Ten Commandments.” It comes with great promise.  Jesus reminds us that “man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man.”  The Lord’s Day is a Feast Day and never a Fast Day.  It is the Market Day of the Soul.

Today the Fourth Commandment is viewed by many as repressive and strict.  A tedious day when our fun is forbidden.  A day for stiff collars and uncomfortable seats.  But what if we saw it for what it is. As the first positive command in the moral law. And as a gift of rest, made for man by the Lord God who desires to rest with his people. 

Do you love the Lord’s Day?  Is it a Market Day for your Soul?  Is it a day for feasting?   Join us as we examine Exodus 20:8-11 and consider the Lord’s Day – a day like no other.  We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube. 

Some people don’t stand a chance.  Some names are just not easy to remember.  Perhaps they are uncommon or have an unexpected pronunciation.  Or worse yet, maybe they are middle names.   ‘Middle-namers’ are doomed to the fate of David Allan Coe’s classic country lament, “You Never Even Called Me By My Name.”   Constantly mistaken for other country musicians, Coe laments.

“Well, I’ve heard my name a few times in your phone book.

And I’ve seen it on signs where I’ve played

But the only time I know I’ll hear “David Allan Coe”

Is when Jesus has his final judgment day.”

And for me I have the double curse of going by a middle name that is unfamiliar to modern man.   When telemarketers and ‘well-meaners’ aren’t calling me William or Bill, they invariable call me ‘Harold’ or ‘Hal’ and surprisingly even, ‘Brian.’  But I rarely hear ‘Howard.’  While I get it, it still leaves me feeling a bit unseen.   Everyone wants to be called by their name.  Recognized, Seen. 

A name is more than a label.  It forms the core of your identity.  When others use your name, it is profoundly meaningful.   Your name may come from your family or character, but ultimately your name grows to reflect your family and your character.  It stands for who you are.  It becomes your logo.  

Good or bad your name forms an association.   New parents may love a name for their baby but choose not to use it because ‘they knew someone with that name.’  Wise King Solomon noted that a “good name is to be chosen more than great riches… and a good name is better than precious ointment.”

Names are important.  And no name is more important than the name of God.  And no name is more unused and misused than his name.   Like each of us, his name is much more than the word we used to call him or refer to him.   The Westminster Larger Catechism notes that in the Bible, God’s Name refers to “His titles, attributes, ordinances, the Word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, His works, and whatsoever else there is whereby He makes Himself known.” 

When we consider this list of all the ways whereby God makes himself known, hallowing his name and not taking it in vain becomes a significant concern for the man whose main purpose is to glorify and enjoy this God.  The Third Commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” is often overlooked in importance when discussing the Ten Commandments.  Or relegated to a caution against cussing like a sailor.   But just as God’s name is far more than a title, to “lift up his name to emptiness” is a most egregious affront to his glory and betrays rank unbelief.  

The Third Commandment is foundational to the formation of our attitude toward our God.   Far from being tucked in between warnings about idolatry and sabbath-breaking, the Third Commandment calls us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and mind.   And the warning annexed to it is no small matter.  “The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” 

Our guilt in taking God’s name in vain cannot be hidden.  It will not go undetected or unjudged.  We live our lives coram Deo, before the face of God.  He knows the thoughts and intentions of our heart.  Our sweet words and pious deeds cannot conceal what is in our heart or mind.   As God noted of his people in Isaiah’s day.

[T]his people draw near with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    while their hearts are far from me.

Isaiah 29:13

So, what does it mean to hallow, and not lift up to vanity, all of God’s “titles, attributes, ordinances, the Word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, His works, and whatsoever else there is whereby He makes Himself known?”  Join us as we examine Exodus 20:7 and consider what it means to keep and to break the Third Commandment. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.