Take back Sunday

As the Scottish runner Eric Liddell prepared to run the 400m race in the 1924 Olympics, an American masseur slipped a piece of paper with this quotation in his hands, “Those who honor me, I will honor.” (1 Samuel 2:30). And Liddell ran the race holding that paper in his hand, winning the gold medal and breaking the existing world record.

“Those who honor me, I will honor,” says the Lord.

The amazing part of this story, that some of you may remember from the movie “Chariots of Fire,” is that the 400m race wasn’t Liddell’s best race. He was the fastest man in the world in the 100m, yet he refused to run the 100m in the 1924 Olympics because the race was scheduled for Sunday morning. He also gave up a chance to win a medal in the 4x100 m and the 4x400 m because they also were on a Sunday. He would have been the first person from Scotland to win an Olympic medal, but he refused to run his best race. Imagine an athlete of today, like Michael Phelps, refusing to swim a race in the Olympics simply because the heat would be run on a Sunday morning!

In our contemporary world, can any of us even imagine sticking with our beliefs and morals at the expense of trying to win a gold medal at the Olympics? Obviously, Liddell’s faith wasn’t simply something he carried with him when it was convenient. It identified who he was, and therefore, he wasn’t willing to sacrifice or compromise what was so central to his self-understanding. His identity as a follower of Jesus Christ came before his identity as an Olympic champion in the 100m.

“Those who honor me,” God says, “I will honor.”

In our day of being politically correct, unfortunately we don’t think too much about honoring God. In fact, too often we are more conscious of not offending others, than we are about honoring God.

God’s Third Commandment to Moses was quite clear – “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” The Old Testament Sabbath Law required rest on the seventh day (Saturday). The Sabbath rest was to foreshadow the true and complete rest that we have in Christ (Hebrews 4). New Testament Christians are not required to rest on the Sabbath Day. So what kind of rest is God talking about then? Luther explains: “We should fear and love God that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but regard it as holy, and gladly hear and learn it.” Luther’s explanation says that our worship is important.

The Old Testament Church celebrated their Sabbath on Saturday, the last day of the week. The early Christian Church transferred this Lord’s Day of rest to Sunday, marking our Lord’s Resurrection from the dead. Then, in the year 321 Saint Constantine the Roman Emperor, declared Sunday, the Lord’s Day, as a day of rest for the entire Roman Empire, a practice that was adopted by our Western Civilization basically up until our present generation!

Older members surely remember a time when no stores were open on a Sunday morning; when Sunday was a day for families to gather together after church for a special meal. Sunday was something different than the other six days of the week. Our society will probably never go back to those days, and Christians may not impose our beliefs on our secular society. We can, however, control our own actions and make decisions that go in line with our faith and fundamental tenets.

Again, let’s be clear that Scripture no longer dictates a specific time and day of the week that we must worship. We worship our Lord in Christian freedom. We have set aside Sunday mornings for our worship time. At Epiphany we have even tried helping you by setting aside Wednesday evenings if you cannot make it on a Sunday morning.

Let’s be honest and recognize that when we have set a time to worship and the world begins to schedule its events at the same time, then what we choose says something about what we believe is most important. Our choices are difficult. The basketball coach chooses Thursday evening for basketball practice – the same night the church has chosen for public school confirmation classes. The soccer coach has an away soccer tournament scheduled for Sunday morning – the same time your child would normally be sitting in Sunday School and singing in the worship service. Your boss has asked you to work overtime on a Wednesday evening – and you need the extra money.

Our choices are difficult — especially since our children are often victims of a world that sees little use for Jesus and has no qualms about scheduling a senior prom on Good Friday evening. Yet if we sit back and let the world continue to schedule without voicing our protest, then soon there will be no time that is sacred for worship.

Perhaps the reason the world keeps scheduling on Sundays is because we keep on letting them.
When I asked one parent if they would make a stand with their child’s coach who holds practices on Sunday mornings, they said they didn’t want to offend the coach. It’s interesting how in today’s world, we seem so careful not to offend our child’s coach who holds practices on Sunday mornings, yet we don’t think too much about dishonoring God and disobeying His commandment.

Look at how contemporary Christians have watered down our faith commitment, and compromised our Christian beliefs – simply because our Christian faith is no longer the central, directing force in our lives. Our children’s sports and activities, our passion for golf, our desire to sleep in on Sundays, and many other reasons take precedence over honoring God on the Lord’s Day, and placing Him first in our lives.

Now is the time for us to speak up. But more importantly, now is the time for us to act. We need to make choices that show our children that worship time is important.

The Lord commanded us from the beginning of time to keep one out of seven days holy – a day not only of rest, but of worship; a day when we don’t participate in our usual activities, but when we focus on God. We worship Him in His temple. We take the time to study His Holy Word. We try to create time in our busy and hectic schedules to focus on what is holy and eternal.

Our years on earth are so short. Keep your eyes on eternity.

But how can we keep our eyes on eternity when we don’t carve out time in the week to think about such things?

“Those who honor me, I will honor” says the Lord. Let us think about these words the next time we plan on sleeping in on Sunday,working some overtime, hitting the golf course, or skipping our worship service for a kid’s sporting event.

I think it’s time for Christians to take back Sunday. When we hear about events scheduled on Sunday mornings we might write a letter asking for this to be changed. Maybe you should talk to your child’s athletic coach and tell the coach in no uncertain terms that your child will miss that practice/game/tournament because your child’s faith is more important than athletic accolades! Perhaps you have to tell your employer that you’ll be in to work late, after you have worshiped your God!

Take part in worship. Take back Sunday.

“Those who honor me,” God says, “I will honor.”