Good Evening, Lord!
Words of Comfort
May the LORD give strength to
his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace! (Ps. 29:11 ESV)
Prayer of Confession
Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my
God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, you hear my voice, and out of your grace you
welcome me into your presence, in humble faith I come before you with praise,
taking refuge in you who protects me and covers me with your favor. Lead me, O
Lord, in your righteousness and make your way straight before me. Amen.[1]
Catechism Reflections - The Third Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we
do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and
learn it.
In all this talk about the
Sabbath day, we haven’t actually defined what day it is. When you read the
Scriptures and it speaks of the Sabbath day that refers to the seventh day of
the week which is … you got it, Saturday. So pause on that for a moment and see
if any problems come to mind like, for instance, the fact that the vast
majority of Christians worship on Sunday.
Wait! Does that mean that we are
violating the Third Commandment? No. Jesus makes it very clear that the Sabbath
was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. He gives us freedom to worship
apart from that particular day of the week. Paul teaches us in Colossians
2:16-17, “[L]et no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink, or
with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the
things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” He is saying that the
Sabbath’s purpose was not restriction but making sure that there was time set
aside to be with God and to receive his gifts. The purpose of the Sabbath was
to help people know God’s love and peace.
Very early in the history of the
Church, Christians began moving from Saturday as their regular day of worship to
Sunday. Why? Because Sunday is the day Jesus rose from the dead. They
recognized that Jesus’ resurrection was their salvation, their life, and their
peace. So they began calling Sunday the Lord’s Day and gathered to hear God’s
Word, for prayer, fellowship, and to receive the Lord’s Supper.
But in the end, the day doesn’t
matter. We could gather on Tuesday if that was convenient. What matters is
coming to God’s presence so that he might serve us by forgiving our sins,
strengthening our faith, and encouraging us with his Holy Spirit. And then we
in response serve him in our worship and carrying God’s love and forgiveness
out into the world in our day to day lives.
Questions for Meditation
What does this reading teach
you?
What does this reading lead you
to be thankful for?
What behavior, thought, or
attitude does this reading challenge? What sin does it lead you to confess?
How might you pray for God to
have a richer impact on your life through this reading?
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily
bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
Verse of Benediction
To the King of the ages,
immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
(1 Tim. 1:17 ESV)
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