“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
Exodus 20:8-11
The commandment to observe the Sabbath is still valid for us today because it is in the moral law. This means that part of pursuing godly morality is pursuing a life that observes the Sabbath. God gave us the Sabbath to be an entire day where we are washed over1 with the floods of His grace for us in Jesus Christ.
The Sabbath is not merely about resting physically. The physical rest is meant to give a picture of the spiritual rest that we have in God’s deliverance. We rest from work to seek rest in Christ. Spiritual rest does not find us by default. It does not happen because without seeking out the means of grace. And that makes sense, doesn’t it? How do we grow in our understanding of God’s grace unless His grace is applied to us through the means of grace?
We are creatures who were made to depend on God. Partaking in the means of grace exhibits our dependence rather than our self-sufficiency.
Above all other days, the Sabbath is a day of setting aside everything else in order to pursue focused attention upon the means of grace. And what are these means of grace? The means of grace are God’s Word (“the reading and especially the preaching”2), prayer, and the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. All these means are to be experienced in the covenant community. In private, we continue to use the Word and Prayer while reflecting on how we have received the Sacraments.
What Are The Means Of Grace For?
It is in the means of grace that Christ continues to “communicate”3 to us more of the benefits of the redemption that He has accomplished for us.4 The means of grace don’t earn or purchase the benefits — they are the means that Christ bestows upon us more of the blessings that are already ours through union with Him. These benefits of of justification, adoption, sanctification, and (eventually) glorification are the core four benefits that Christ purchased for us. In all of these benefits, we see the abundance of grace that is in Christ for us.
It is Christ’s grace that justifies us, adopts us, sanctifies us, and glorifies us. Grace is not only pardon but also power. The Christ that we have in our justification doesn’t change once we begin sanctification (Gal. 3:1-6). The same Christ who justifies us is the same Christ who sanctifies and glorifies us. That is why the far and away emphasis of the Christian life is to consistently and frequently gaze upon the glory of Christ (John 17:3, 24; Rom. 1:16-17; 5:12-21; 6:1-23; 8:1-39; 10:17; 1 Cor. 2:1-5; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 2:20-21; Col. 1:15-3:4; 1 Tim. 3:16; 2 Tim. 2:1; Tit. 2:11-14; 3:4-7; Heb. 1:1-4; 1 Jn. 1:8-2:2; 2:28-3:3; Rev. 2:1-7; 4:1-5:14; 21:1-22:5).5 We look to the same “whole” Christ to pardon us and to empower us to repent.6
What’s The Big Deal?
If looking upon the glory and grace of Christ is what saves and sanctifies, converts and changes, regenerates and renews, then how do we look upon Christ? Through the means of grace. And what day of the week is “expressly” to be a holy day unto the Lord wherein we drink deeply of these means of grace? The Sabbath day which is Sunday.
As we observe the Sabbath, we become incredibly refreshed in the freeness and fullness of God’s grace for us in Christ as the Holy Spirit works through the means of grace. This is why protecting and prioritizing our Sundays needs to be integral to the Christian life.
Because this is true, how can we practically observe the Sabbath? This is where Jon Payne’s article “Recovering The Lost Treasure Of Evening Worship” is a helpful guide.
The Evening Service Bookends the Lord’s Day with Worship
In order to see the “treasure” of Evening Worship, we need to understand that the Sabbath is a day instituted by God.
The Sabbath Day was instituted by God at creation (Genesis 2:3), republished by God in the decalogue (Exodus 20:8), and reaffirmed by Christ - the Lord of the Sabbath - in the Gospels (Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:28). Along with work and marriage, the Sabbath Day is a part of the very order and fabric of creation. Though it is true that the ceremonial and civil dimensions of the Sabbath are abrogated in Christ, the moral aspect remains in force. Thus God’s children are still obligated to sanctify the New Covenant Sabbath / Lord’s Day and keep it holy.7
The Sabbath day is not merely a Sabbath morning. It is a full day. The Sabbath does involves rest and sleep but most importantly the Sabbath involves worship. Payne shows us through several Scripture texts that one of the biblical ways to keep the Sabbath as holy is to have morning and evening worship. “The Sabbath was designed to be an entire day of delighting in the triune God and celebrating His works of creation and redemption. Faithful attendance to both morning and evening worship bookends this special day with God-centered worship, and helps us not to turn the rest of the Lord’s Day into something which God never intended.”8
The Evening Service follows a Biblical Pattern of Worship
Payne observes the following:
This emphasis upon morning and evening worship was also underscored by the Old Covenant administration of the morning and evening sacrifices (Numbers 28:1-10). The Sabbath Day was to be a “holy convocation” or sacred gathering of God’s people for the purpose of corporate worship (Leviticus 23:3). Though the New Testament does not explicitly command morning and evening worship on the Lord’s Day, we do see proof that God’s people gathered in the evening for worship on the first day of the week, namely, Sunday (Acts 20:7).9
In both Old and New Testaments, we see that this practice of morning and evening worship was practiced. It is also very telling that in Acts 2:42 that we see the disciples gathering more frequently rather than less frequently once they realized that there was abundant grace for sinners. See how as legalism is killed by the power of the gospel of grace that they are transformed and want to gather to hear more of this grace.
Maybe it’s just me (although I have a feeling it most certainly is not) but the more I see my sin the more I want to hear of God’s forgiving, restoring, cleansing, and transforming grace. Maybe it is just my over-sensitive conscience but I’m desperate to hear about God’s infinite grace for me in Christ more than just 30 minutes on one day of the week.
As Katherine Hankey wrote years ago: “Tell me the story slowly, That I may take it in, That wonderful redemption, God’s remedy for sin. Tell me the story often, For I forget so soon; The early dew of morning has passed away at noon.”
The Evening Service is a Second Helping of the Means of Grace
A healthy diet makes a healthy Christian. “How does God, in the most concentrated and efficacious manner, communicate His saving promises in Christ to His redeemed Bride, the Church? Answer: The faithful proclamation of His Word and the right administration of and participation in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper (I Cor. 1:21; I Peter 3:21; John 6:54).”10
I love his thoughtful application of this:
By attending morning and evening worship on the Lord’s Day our families get a double helping of everything mentioned above. Indeed, when we put ourselves in the way of God’s ordained means of grace, in both morning and evening worship, we will, on an annual basis, worship God and receive His precious promises 104 times rather than 52. We will hear an additional 52 carefully prepared expository sermons, receive the Lord’s Supper about 25 more times, sing hundreds more Psalms and hymns, and pray hundreds more prayers with the people of God. Again, isn’t this why the Reformed tradition - with its high and majestic view of God, His Word, and public worship - has historically made Lord’s Day evening worship a non-negotiable in the life of the local congregation?11
One great way to boost the Evening Worship service is to have the Lord’s Supper in the evening when you don’t have it in the morning. As Payne talks about at our previous GRN National Conference, the Lord’s Supper should be a frequent observance in our churches because of it being a means of grace. Wouldn’t it be a beautiful Sabbath day if you were able to return to worship in the evening and partake of the Supper?
The Evening Service Fosters Christian Unity and Love
Sometimes people will say they need the night off in order to rest, prepare for the week ahead, do homework, or have family time. Interestingly, we don’t see these things prioritized on the other days of the week even though our Lord said, “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work.” I’m all for prioritizing family time, rest, preparation for the week ahead (which should really be done on Saturday since that is the last day of the week). But, we must put first things first. Matter of fact, by gathering your family with fellows believers and other families on Sunday Evening you not only have family worship but also grow in your friendships.
One of the great reasons why there is the model of morning and evening is because it is as we partake of the means of grace with others that we grow in rich relationships. Things happen when people worship together.
When we gather together before the presence of God on the Lord’s Day there are both vertical and horizontal dimensions to worship. The horizontal dimension is the one we all too often fail to recognize in our present-day individualistic approach to worship. According to Scripture, the Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that we sing should be directed not only unto God but also to each other (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). Our joyful participation in worship is meant to encourage the Body of Christ. The writer to the Hebrews underscores this point when he exhorts Christians to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Therefore, let us be mindful that our participation in public worship, or lack thereof, will either encourage or discourage the gathered people of God.12
Conclusion
The Sabbath is the most beautiful day of the week when it is observed. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, now worship and grace begin our week and send us into the rest of the week. Because of the grace upon grace that is in Christ (Jn. 1:16) we can and should desire to gather frequently on the Sabbath to hear more of the gospel.
Can people be legalistic about the Sabbath? Sure. It happened in Jesus’ day and it happens in ours. But, legalism doesn’t change the Law that is in place. People can be legalistic about missions but that doesn’t mean we stop evangelizing. Legalism twists the Law and takes away the beauty of what the Law is for. We don’t seek to observe the Sabbath to earn or keep God’s love. We observe the Sabbath because it is the special day where we hear over and over again about how Jesus gives us the love of God and secures the love of God for us. This is how the Sabbath day is a day of rest.
I use this language not in the sense of modern emotionalism but in the sense of how in corporate worship we remember our baptism and the fact that by the Holy Spirit we are washed by the blood of Christ.
Westminster Larger Catechism 155 with Scriptures cited: Nehemiah 8:8; Acts 26:18; Psalm 19:8.
See Westminster Shorter Catechism 88.
For more on this, see John Murray’s classic book Redemption: Accomplished and Applied.
I purposely put a plethora of verses here (which still fall short of where all this is mentioned in the New Testament). It is abundantly clear that Christ, His glory and His grace, are to but utterly before our eyes at all times so that we might grow.
For more, see another classic book by Sinclair Ferguson called The Whole Christ.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.