Mon Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

It was an ad in Newsweek Magazine that caught my attention because of the first two words: In bold print it said, Sunday Morning; but listen to the ad in its entirety:

“Sunday Morning: Time to kick back, get comfortable, and perfect the art of doing absolutely nothing. The ideal companion? Pioneers new PD-M710, 6-Disc CD player. Now you can enjoy up to six hours of your favorite music without lifting a finger… all of which means you can spend less time changing your music, and more time enjoying it, but don’t wait for the weekend.”

Is that all Sunday is for? Is it just another day to fire up the grill, pop the top off a cold one, kick back and catch the game on the couch? Is Sunday just another fun day?

The first four commandments all deal with our relationship to God, and specifically with our worship of God. The first commandment says we are to worship God singularly. He is the only God to be worshiped; besides Him there is no other. The second commandment tells us we are to worship God spiritually. God is never to be worshiped through an idol, through something that is inanimate and dead, for He is the God of the living. The third commandment tells us we are to worship God sincerely. We are never to take God’s name in a filthy or a flippant way.

This commandment tells us we are to worship God steadfastly. There is a day a week we are to set aside specifically to rest our bodies and to rejuvenate our spirits in worshiping God. This is one of only two commandments given in a positive form. This commandment deals with two concerns of everyday life – labor and leisure. More specifically, it deals with our work and our worship. On the one hand, work, in the will of God, is a form of worship. One the other hand, worship is the highest work we can ever do.

As we will see in this message, we no longer keep the Sabbath Day, technically speaking, for that day is Saturday. It was a day given specifically to the Jewish people in a special covenant between them and God. The principle of one day of the week being given exclusively to the Lord, is still valid, and we ignore it to our peril.

Benjamin Disraeli was once the Prime Minister of England under Queen Victoria. He was a Jewish Christian. He said, “Of all divine institutions, I maintain the most divine is that which secures a day of rest for man; I hold Sunday to be the most valuable blessing conceded to man; it is the cornerstone of all civilization.”

William Blackstone, the incomparable legal mind, who wrote the Standard Law Book, which is still the foundation of all modern day jurisprudence, said, "A corruption of morals usually follows a profanation of the Lord’s Day."

General George Washington issued the following order in 1776: "That the troops may have an opportunity of attending public worship, the General excuses them from fatigue duty on Sundays. We can have little hope of the blessings of heaven on our arms if we insult Sunday by our impiety and folly."

Abraham Lincoln said, "The President, who is Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of Sunday, the Lord’s Day."

This commandment was given to the individual, to the family, and to the nation. Any individual home or nation that will not honor God one day out of the week, has no reason to expect the blessing of God on any day of the week. William Gladstone, who was once the Prime Minister of England, said, "You tell me what the young men of England are doing on Sunday, and I will tell you what the future of England will be." Today 2% of England attends church on Sunday, and she is a shell and a shadow of her former self.