The Lord’s Day

Introduction

Wow. I am completely invigorated by our singing together today. And some awesome thoughts that we have sung. Ed asked me on Wednesday night what the lesson was going to be about, and that’s why we sang 177 and 163 back to back to Lord’s Supper songs. We don’t sing 163 much at first. Ed, I don’t know that I know that one, but you did. And it’s a wonderful song. And I’ve sung beautiful robes of white. I can’t tell you like Ed how many times, but never really stopped to think about that last phrase in the second verse. Let me cross over there. This is my prayer. And that indeed ought to be a daily prayer for us as the Lord’s people. And have I said lately how privileged I think I am to get to preach to this audience and teach this audience every week.

I truly mean that. I am so blessed to work with this group of people. And if you’re visiting today, this is a testimony to them. This group that meets here at Decker Prairie. And it is a thrill to do the work of a preacher in this place. Thank you. This morning, we are going to look very briefly at one verse of Scripture that is intriguing to me, a fascinating verse in John’s apocalypse in the introduction when he says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. And I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet. And then those awesome visions begin.

I have in the Spirit highlighted because that phrase appears three additional times in the book of Revelation. I remember studying the book of Revelation several years ago with a good number of preachers in the Metroplex and David Holder. Angie and Amanda listen to him every Lord’s Day nearly. They’re visiting with us today. David Holder pointed out these four occasions in which the phrase in the spirit is used, and it must be some kind of structural marker for the material, but as of this date, I haven’t figured it out, and I’m not sure David has either. But the phrase in the Spirit certainly testifies to being under the influence or direction of the Holy Spirit as these visions are coming to John. That’s just a little bit extra that the sermon’s not about.

Okay, but that’s just a little bit extra for you on the book of Revelation. What I want us to focus on is the phrase the Lord’s day in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10, because it is the only time that this phrase is found in the New Testament. To what does John refers? You might immediately start to think of a phrase similar as we have partaken this morning of the Lord’s supper. And the two are most likely connected. Because the only logical explanation of what day John could be talking about as he talks about the Lord’s day. I mean, some have tried to explain this away. Okay, it’s a day of inspiration. He’s in the Spirit, so thus it’s the Lord’s day. But that could be true of any day in which he happened to be moved by revelation.

No, there’s some special significance attached to the day that he received the revelation. And the only thing that makes sense is that this was a special day to the believers. This was the day the Lord was raised from the dead. Every one of the gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, make it a point to emphasize that Jesus was raised upon the first day of the week, the day of Pentecost, the day where the first 3,000 converts to the gospel of Christ, that account is recorded in Acts chapter 2, was on the day of Pentecost, which was always a first day of the week. And as we continue to read throughout the New Testament in Acts 20 and verse 7, Paul tarried seven days in Troaz, and he says, when the disciples came together on the first day of the week to break bread.

This seems to be the day. Every first day of the week that the Lord’s Supper was observed, further buoyed, incidentally, by a passage regarding giving. In 1 Corinthians chapter 16, when instead of making a collection for the poor saints in Judea, when he gets there, he says, you need to do this on a weekly basis. He says, upon every first day of the week. Why choose that day? Because they were already meeting that special day to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Thus the giving was regulated to that day as well in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses 1 and 2. Is there any more special day for the believer than this day? A special remembrance of the Lord’s death and its meaning. Worship among his church. And to begin each week with this rejuvenating spiritual activity together.

And to begin each week of our lives spiritually focused, indeed, the Lord’s day is a special day.

The Lord’s day is a day of reverence. It is a day of homage. It is a day of selfless service for his people. Unfortunately. Attitudes have been dramatically altered in our times by our affluent and hedonistic culture. If you don’t know what the term hedonistic means, it means self-indulgent, pleasure seeking culture. Traditionally, the Lord’s people in most places have met two times on the Lord’s Day, or two assemblies, one in the morning and one in the evening, though we don’t have a biblical record or account of believers doing that. But obviously, the number of times we assemble or the amount of time that we assemble is largely up to us. And so we have considered it expedient to do so. And yet many churches have experienced a massive drop off, especially in Sunday night attendance, and with the Super Bowl looming next Sunday evening.

Some churches will experience a greater drop off than normal. Don’t these people have DVRs? Some recording device? There’s commercials to pass forward through anyway. You get caught up. Tim, I hope you know how to work the DVR this year. But to be sure, a second service is an expedient. We’re going to meet again tonight at 5 o’clock, and we’re going to sing as designated for our last Sunday night of the month. Why do you think believers started doing that? Perhaps it was driven by the Lord’s Supper more than anything else to give people an expanded time period on the first day of the week to partake of the supper. There are all kinds of things that interfere with the times of assembly. Whatever time you choose might not be the most conducive time for everyone.

And so perhaps two services on the Lord’s Day were done so that would provide a larger window of opportunity for saints to do this important communion with the Lord on the first day of the week as instructed by the Scripture. But listen, regardless of why it started, spending more time in worship together, is a good thing. It is a helpful thing. It can only aid us spiritually, and our elders still consider it. Our present elders still consider the number of times we assemble, even Sunday night and Wednesday night, as valuable opportunities for us to benefit spiritually, to grow, to become more in the image of Christ like we need to be, to be more spiritually focused and spiritually attuned in our life. I think I can say this, and you’re going to agree with this.

We don’t need less worship.

Don’t have to come Sunday night. Scriptures don’t, you know, just first day of the week. I was there Sunday morning. Don’t need to come Sunday night. Well, there’s this whole matter of obey your leaders in Hebrews 13, 17. You might want to consider that. Our leaders, our elders, our shepherds, for some reason, as they’re trying to guide us, they think it’s important and needful for us. Or they wouldn’t have us do it. So you need to consider that. Hebrews 13, 17, and submitting to the shepherds. But seriously, who could argue? I need less time in worship. After all, I spend so much time in worship when I’m not here. Worship is obviously not something that is confined to this building. But really, people that only darken the doors on Sunday morning.

You’re telling me that their lives are sprinkled with worship Monday through Saturday. A very rare case indeed. Churches are considering canceling Sunday night services in some places. Lack of interest. People don’t want to come, cancel. Will that ever be true of us? Cancel because of a lack of interest. And boy, Sunday night’s a problem. What about Wednesday night? Consider the actions of the early disciples in Acts chapter 2. They were meeting together daily. From house to house. There was a connection, there was an excitement about their newfound faith. There was a sharing of their faith with one another. They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, Acts chapter 2 and verse 42. One of the reasons why we need these periodic assemblies twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday is our circumstances really prohibit us from meeting every day.

1. The Lord's Day Is a Day of Dedication

We’re not together enough. As the Lord’s people as it is, and so if I don’t make these assemblies, that’s even less. I don’t want to talk to you this morning about your attitude and my attitude toward the Lord’s Day. And I want to mention three things for you to think about. What is this day about? This day, the Lord’s day, is a day of dedication. I got this idea talking to my sister Annetta. I have two sisters, but I talk a lot more to my younger sister, Annetta. She was always the annoying one growing up, but my older sister did her own thing, and as a result, my younger sister and I are a lot closer. But I love my older sister too. But I was talking to my younger sister, Annetta on the phone on Tuesday.

And we always share what happened on the Lord’s Day. She worships in Temple Terrace and tells me what Don preached. It was another great lesson, Don Truex. And then I try to reveal what I preached. It wasn’t as good as Don’s, but it was okay. And so we talk about our assemblies. Then she started talking about attitudes toward worship, some things she’s seen there in Temple Terrace among some of the members. They’ve experienced some growth, and they’ve got some spiritually immature members and some things that she has begun to see. And she talked about attitudes toward assembling and Sunday night attendance and how it’s falling off. And she said, You know, Tony, sometimes on Sunday night, I don’t feel like going. She goes, I’m tired, worn out.

She teaches at Florida College, has a very busy and demanding schedule during the school year. And she said, I’m I’m tired, don’t feel like going. She goes, she goes, but if I don’t go to the assembly, what am I going to do instead? Is it going to be spiritual? She said, you know, sometimes you go just for discipline. Just because it’s a sacrifice. And when she said that, I said, sermon. Our daily lives are consumed with non-spiritual things. We need the Lord’s day. It is always good for us, always, to say no to the flesh and yes to the spirit. If you sow to the flesh, you shall love the flesh, reap corruption, but he that sows to the spirit shall love the spirit reap life everlasting.

And when you make the decision, regardless of you don’t feel like you’re on top of the world, you’re tired, it might be easier to sit back there and put that recliner in third gear and watch television, watch the Super Bowl, watch whatever. Go shopping, choose something else other than serving the Lord and with his people. It is always more profitable. There are eternal implications to sowing to the Spirit. And here’s another observation she made that I thought was good.

If we give the Lord just a few hours on Sunday morning, can we really say it’s the Lord’s day?

Have we really given him a day? That’s an interesting thought. Is it really asking so much of us? Look, we’ve got time to go home and maybe even get a nap. Before we come back on the Lord’s Day evening. Is it truly the Lord’s day? Weariness is going to plague us from time to time. But look, that’s why the writers talk about the rest that’s coming. A Sabbath rest remains for the people of God, Hebrews chapter 4. Let us fear so that we may enter that rest. Blessed are those who die in the Lord, for they shall have rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. In what sense are we laboring? Is even two assemblies on the Lord’s Day really laboring that much?

Tell you what else happens here in this day of dedication. And I’m reminded of the words D. Bowman used once, and I love this. He says that we are making ourselves fit for divine association. I mean, think about that. That’s a wonderful way of putting it. All the learning that we’re doing and the studying of the text and trying to understand what the Lord is calling us to be and to mold ourselves after his image, we are trying as sinners to make ourselves fit for divine association. To be equipped to come into the presence of a perfect and awesome and holy God. And just worshiping with the Lord’s people three times a week. Seems hardly sufficient, even at that. We were also discussing in our phone conversation, casual dress, and she’s noticed more casual dress.

My sister, though she’s younger than me, which means she’s very young, obviously. Why did I know you were going to laugh? She is a throwback on dress to the assemblies. And her little girl Olivia was within earshot, and she always has to wear a skirt or a dress to services. And she goes, I don’t find that on anybody else. And but she says, this is special. That’s what it all goes back to. This is special this day. And yes, there’s no dress code, and I’m the first to say, I can’t read about any dress code in the New Testament. I don’t know that what they wore to services was substantially any different in the first century than what they wore in their everyday lives. But there is a tradition in our culture, at least there was, about dressing up on the Lord’s Day, and it was special.

I remember as a little boy, Saturday nights, we might turn on the television. We had four stations at it. Catch about three.

I remember it’s clear, it happened every Saturday night. The newspapers were rolled out, and here were his dress shoes.

And we would get out the shoe shiner. And we’re going to shine the shoes. And the question was asked. You got your lesson for Sunday morning? There was preparation. Even the day before, can you imagine it? It’s the Lord’s day. It’s a day of dedication. So I’m going to call on you to think about these terms, discipline and sacrifice, because it’s about the development of our character. If you do it just out of sheer discipline and self-sacrifice, it’s going to enrich your character. You’re going to become more like the Lord. Do you think the Lord would say, I just can’t wait to get on that cross and die for everybody? It’s going to be fun. He said, let this cup pass for me. The night of his betrayal.

But he did it for us. Is this dying on a cross? Seriously? Is it that bad? But for some people it’s like pulling teeth and they’ll give a million, a hundred million excuses why they don’t need to be there. Oh, we can’t do it. It’s impossible. It’s impossible. Really? Is it that hard? Jesus died for us. Are we willing to die for Him? How dedicated are we? I haven’t even talked about commitment to the body. When you sign on to serve Jesus Christ, you sign on to be a servant of his people. It’s not just about me. I’ve got to come on the Lord’s day because I’ve been instructed to come, and now Tony’s really making me feel guilty because he’s saying the elders expect me to be there, and he expects me to be there, and that the sacrifice of Christ expects me to be there.

Okay, I’ll come. It’s not just about you. What would this singing have sounded like? Would it have been invigorating if half of you hadn’t been here? The number of voices that we put into this building create an impact even in our atmosphere of worship. How we sing. All of our involvement together. Hey, these people believe what I do. They have faith like me. They believe in the necessity of baptism for their mission of sin. It’s hard to find folks like that these days. They think like I do about the Bible. It helps me. I’m alone. Our souls are purified in obedience to the truth unto an unfeigned love of the brethren. 1 Peter 1 and verse 22. We don’t do this thing by ourselves. Three important things right there, folks.

2. A Day of Meditation

But further, it is a day of meditation. I said already. It is about rejuvenation. It’s a time to think about my relationship to him and my obligations to the body and my holiness before him. And I would change. That’s just an ennobling pursuit.

We spend more than enough time thinking about things that do not contribute to our spiritual well-being. I get sufficient time to think about sports. And money matters. And other this world responsibilities, I need time to reflect. This is built in. This helps me. It’s built in. I know every Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night and times of gospel meeting, this is going to be further time. And stuff beyond that goes on with the Lord’s people. Further time for spiritual reflection and devotion. And that is positive. Well, I know it’s positive because Psalm 1 says, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.

And I’ll tell you, when I’m with the Lord’s people, I’m not doing that. But it further says, and in his law, he meditates day and night. The blessed man meditates in the law of God continually. And if you do that, the more time we spend in meditation of spiritual things, you shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water that yields its fruit and its seasons and whatever he does, it shall prosper. It doesn’t matter how grand and glorious it is on the whole scale of human achievement. If you are anchored in the word. Your life is about prospering. Whatever he does, it shall prosper. Ominous part of the last part of that Psalm. But the wicked are not so. They are like the chaff that the wind blows away.

Let us be righteous. Psalm 19. Are you in the Psalms? Psalm 19, that passage that talks about we can know God from two ways, the creation around us, and from his revelation. The revelation part of that starts in verse 7 of Psalm 19. We sing this song, the law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul, and that section in verses 7 through 9. They’re more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey, if they’re properly apprehended, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them thy servant is warned. And finally, in verse 14, this is the way we need to regard our worship. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Two other verses in the Psalms in that large Psalm 119, verses 97 and 99. Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. I have more insight than all my teachers. You’re ever thankful for that? There are a lot of people smarter than me. A lot of people.

But you know what? If I know truth, then they don’t, who’s really smart?

3. A Day of Transformation

I have insight more than all my teachers. For thy testimonies are my meditation. Is this a special day, folks? This is a day of dedication. This is about your character. This is about these things. This is a day of meditation. This is a day of transformation. Transformation for the believer is ongoing. Just like the butterfly and its remarkable transformation from what was to what now is. Even more remarkable is the transformation of the believer. You see what these assemblies do? Is they help us to accomplish Romans 12 and verse 2. You see, we struggle with the world, right? And it says, do not be conformed to the world. Don’t make yourself after the world. Do not be conformed to the world, but be ye transformed. Changed into something else, transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And that goes back to the meditation, the kinds of things we’re thinking about. By the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I want to tell you how special this day is. It goes a long way in my transformation. We are constructing a way of thinking and a way of living consistent with our high and noble calling as God’s people, as I said by way of introduction, this is a day of rejuvenation, reconstruction, renewal, revival. Wonderful words. A lot of things have conspired during the week to crowd God out of my thinking. Isn’t that true, folks? Don’t a lot of things happen after we’re together on the Lord’s Day that work to crowd God out of our thoughts.

And to produce as a result, I’ll tell you what happens when that happens. Two awful things. Apathy. When God gets crowded out of your thinking, apathy comes. Passion and caring for the Lord decreases. Apathy and selfishness. Those are the two things that happen when God gets removed from our thoughts. That’s why these days are important. These occasions, more than any other, help us to set our affections on things above and not on things of this earth. Where are our affections set? There’s an interesting verse that follows in Colossians 3 and verse 4. Can this be said of you?

After all, we have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. You have died. You see, when we say, nah, I’m not going to sacrifice that much. I’m not going to extend myself. That’s too hard. That’s too difficult. There are other things that are more important. Can we really say that we have died and our lives are hidden with Christ in God? For Christ, when Christ, who is our life, without Him, I am not alive. Without Him, I have nothing. I have hope of nothing. And if in this world we have hoped only, my how miserable. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. That’s amazing. That’s an amazing phrase. You can’t begin to grasp it, nor can I.

Conclusion

When He is revealed, when that day comes, you will be revealed with Him in glory. Boom. That’s the best thing that could ever be. Nothing close to that. Anywhere. Anytime. No excitement in this world. It’s comparable to that. I’m done. But I want to ask you one thing right now. Can you say confidently, I am right with the Lord.

Can you say that right now? If you can’t, you are in spiritual trouble of great magnitude. If there’s any time that we ought to be able to say, I am right with the Lord, it’s now, on the Lord’s Day, with his people, after we have prayed, after we have worshiped, after we have heard his message. If you’re not sure of that, you need to get sure. And it’s only the truth that sets you free. And then I want to tell you if you are.

Remember when Thomas saw the evidence of the resurrection of the Lord? And he said, Lord, I believe. Jesus said, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. These things are written that you might believe in him, and in believing you might have life in his name. John, the gospel of John is for us to cultivate belief in Jesus. And if you believe not having seen, I want to tell you the Lord highly regards your faith. Hang on to it. Don’t ever let it go. Keep building yourself up in the most holy faith. Jude 20. Keep yourself in the love of God as long as you breathe his air. Are you right with the Lord? Can we assist you in getting right with him? If so, come now as we stand and see you go.