THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.
GOD'S DAY.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
_What is meant by this Commandment?_
We should so fear and love God as not to despise His Word and the
preaching of the Gospel, but deem it holy and willingly hear and learn
it.
* * * * *
THE LORD'S DAY. Under the Old Testament the Israelites, by God's
command, observed the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as the Sabbath
or day of rest, because God rested from the work of Creation on the
seventh day. [Gen. 2:2-3] For the Christians all days are holy. [Rom.
14:5, 6, Col. 2:16, Acts 2:46] But from the earliest times the Christian
Church set apart Sunday as a special day of worship, [Acts 20:7, 1 Cor.
16:2] because it is the day on which Christ rose from the dead. The
Sabbath of the Old Testament commemorated the completion of _Creation_;
the Lord's Day of the New Testament commemorates the completion of
_Redemption_.
A HOLY DAY. The Lord's Day is to be kept _holy_ by devoting it to holy
things. It is to be a day of rest in order that it may be a day of
worship. Any unnecessary work or any recreation which hinders us from
hearing and profiting by God's Word is sinful.
I. WHAT IS FORBIDDEN.
We are not
TO DESPISE GOD'S WORD AND THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL, [Luke 10:16+] by
1. Making light of God's Word, or regarding and treating it as the word
of man.
2. Neglecting to go to church, and pleading poor excuses for absence.
[Heb. 10:25+]
3. Inattention and lack of devotion in church. [Eccl. 5:1+]
4. Filling the mind with worldly things on Sunday (business, pleasure,
Sunday-newspapers, etc.), so that God's Word cannot be rightly received
into the heart. [Luke 8:5,12]
5. Making Sunday a holiday, lounging-day, or pleasure-day.
6. Making it a working-day, and thus preventing attendance at church.
II. WHAT IS COMMANDED.
We are
TO DEEM GOD'S WORD HOLY, AND WILLINGLY HEAR AND LEARN IT, by
1. Regarding it as God's voice speaking to us. [I Thess. 2:13+]
2. Going to church gladly and regularly. [Ps. 122:1, 2+]
3. Listening attentively and devoutly to God's Word, and joining
heartily in the service. [Luke 11:28+, Col. 3:16, Jas. 1:21,22+, Rom.
10:17]
4. Attending Sunday-school and learning our lessons.
5. Teaching in Sunday-school when we have become old enough and our
services are needed.
6. Reading the Bible and good books.
7. Doing whatever promotes the worship and honoring of God by ourselves
or by others. [Jas. 1:27+]
A DAY OF REST. Sunday is meant for the good of the soul. But a rest on
one day out of seven is necessary also for the welfare of the body.
Sunday is a blessed privilege for body, mind, and soul. Sometimes,
however, both the rest for body and mind and the attendance at church
must be sacrificed in order to perform works of mercy as a duty to our
fellow-men.
THE CHURCH-YEAR. The Church has also arranged a Church-year for the
commemoration of the principal events in the Savior's life. The order of
the Church-year is as follows: Four Sundays in Advent, Christmas, New
Year, Epiphany (January 6), from two to six Sundays after Epiphany
(according as Easter comes early or late); three Sundays called
Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima; Ash Wednesday (the first day in
Lent), six Sundays in Lent (the sixth being Palm Sunday), Holy Week
(including Good Friday), Easter, five Sundays after Easter, Ascension
Day, Sunday after Ascension, Pentecost or Whitsunday, Trinity Sunday;
and from twenty-three to twenty-seven Sundays after Trinity. The
Lutheran Church observes also the festival of the Reformation on the
31st day of October. Each Sunday and Festival Day has its own Gospel and
Epistle lesson, as well as its own Introit and Collect.
QUESTIONS.--1. What is the difference between Sabbath and Sunday? 2. Why
is Sunday to be a day of rest? 3. What does this commandment forbid? 4.
In what way is this commandment broken? 5, What does this commandment
command? 6. How is this commandment to be kept? 7. Why is Sunday a
blessed privilege? 8. When must our Sunday's rest and our attendance at
church be sacrificed? 9. What is the object of the Church-year? 10. Give
the order of the Church-year.
SCRIPTURE VERSES.--Luke 10:16. He that heareth you heareth me; and he
that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him
that sent me.
Heb. 10:25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as
ye see the day approaching.
Eccl. 5:1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be
more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they
consider not that they do evil.
I Thess. 2:13. When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of
God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
Ps. 122:1, 2. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the
house of the LORD.
Luke 11:28. But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the
word of God, and keep it.
Jas. 1:21, 22. Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able
to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves.
Jas. 1:27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is
this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to
keep himself unspotted from the world.
READING.--Jesus in Nazareth on the Sabbath, Luke 4:16-30.
ILLUSTRATIONS.--The Child Jesus in the Temple, Luke 2:42-52. Simeon and
Anna, Luke 2:27 _seq_. Mary, Luke 10:39. The Ethiopian Eunuch, Acts 8:27
_seq_. Lydia, Acts 16:14.
THE SECOND TABLE OF THE LAW.
OUR DUTY TO OUR FELLOW-MEN.
"_Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself._" [Matt. 22:39]
OUR NEIGHBOR means every one. We are to love all men as we love
ourselves; [Matt. 7:12] not only our relatives, friends, and
acquaintances, but strangers, enemies, and people of all nations and
climes. We must be ready to do good to all who are in need of our help
and kindness. Compare the Parable of the Good Samaritan. [Luke 10:30-37]