Please remain standing this morning for the reading of God's Word. The reading this morning will begin chapter 6 of the Gospel of Luke. Hear now the Word of the Lord. Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that he went through the grain fields, and his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them with their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them, Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath? But Jesus answering them said, Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him, how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat. And he said to them, The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Now it happened on another Sabbath also that he entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. And so the scribes and Pharisees watched him closely, whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise and stand here. And he arose. and stood. And then Jesus said to them, I will ask you one thing, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? to save life or to destroy. And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. But they were filled with rage and disgust with one another what they might do to Jesus. Let us pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we pray that Your Spirit might be with us this morning to instruct us rightly from Your Word, that we might know what it is to live the joyous life that You give us in the salvation of Your Son. We ask and pray this in His name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, this morning we're going to consider what it means for Jesus to be the Lord of the Sabbath. As we continue our journey through Luke, we enter into chapter 6, and we need to remember that Luke told his friend Theophilus that he was going to give him an orderly account. Now, the way this section this morning relates to the other three Gospels, we know that he did not mean a strictly chronological account. This happened on the first day, and that happened on the second day, and then on to the third, etc. What Luke is doing is presenting to Theopolis an orderly account of how Jesus came to save His people from their sins and to establish His kingdom that it might fill the whole earth. In doing so, he'll show us who Jesus was and explain the mission that He came to accomplish. Now, we're going to touch on a lot of things with that next week. We're going to look at who the disciples were and how they're called, and they're contrasted with the crowds that have been following Him. But this week, we're going to see not once, but twice the enemies of Christ trying to find fault with Him in the activities that He and the disciples did on the Sabbath. And both accounts will teach us much about the proper use of the Sabbath. And it should lead to some very practical discussions and applications for us today. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all three of the synoptic Gospels, put these two events together. So the emphasis should not be missed in what the Spirit is trying to teach. What he's teaching us is that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. And he's doing that by surrounding this statement that Jesus made, not with lists of do's and don'ts, but rather with stories, true stories, that challenge our thinking, or should challenge our thinking about what that means. So first, we'll look at what Luke presents here in the text. I want to then briefly just touch a little bit on some creeds that have been written down through church history, so that we get a little bit of a perspective on the Lord's Day. And then I want to spend the bulk of our time this morning really looking and talking about what it means for us today here at Church of the King. Because by and large, In American churches, the proper use of the Lord's Day or tithing have fallen on very hard times. Both of these things have been neglected under some concept of the new covenant where we have freedom and grace instead of being under the old covenant and law. And I think it will become clear this morning as we look at these passages and what the Spirit is teaching us that that's not exactly what the Bible has to say about living under new covenant grace. I've often had discussions with people about tithing. When they raise objections to someone teaching that Christians should tithe today, and it's couched in this, we're now under grace instead of law, the simple question that I ask them is, okay, if I grant that premise, then how much more do you give under grace and freedom than was required under the old covenant law? And that's sort of the perspective that we should enter into with the Lord's Day as well. You see, because faithful obedience in these areas should not and must not lead to legalism. I think we see that pretty clearly in the text this morning. The warnings and the dangers if we go down that route. However, obedience in these areas should and will bring blessings in our lives, when we come to understand that it is Jesus who is Lord of the Sabbath, and how that impacts what we should do on the Lord's Day. So with that in mind, let's dig into the text that we have before us this morning. What we find is Jesus and His disciples on the Sabbath, that's a lesson that is throughout both of these accounts that might be missed, they're always with Jesus. Jesus is with His disciples and with His people on the Sabbath, and His people are with Him. The only place I could think of in the New Testament where they're not with Jesus on the Lord's Day is Thomas. And we know the trouble that Thomas got into when he missed the meeting. So it should be an example to us that the disciples are with Jesus. Now, Matthew tells us that the disciples were hungry. They're walking through a wheat field. And we want to make sure the kids understand because most of us have probably not walked through a wheat field that is ripe unto harvest. and been able to pick the grain and roll it in our hands and enjoy that fresh kernel of wheat. But if you're hungry, that's a good thing to do. The closest example I could think of in my own life is I remember back in Chico with those vast orchards of almond trees. Boy, when the fall came and they They finally ripened to be able to pick them off of the tree and eat one fresh. That was a real treat. And if you were hungry, it was certainly something that you would do. So this is what is being done. And we need to understand that it was not wrong for them to be walking through someone's field and picking the wheat. That was allowed in the law. You were to allow gleaners. You were to share with those who were in need, especially if they were hungry. So the Pharisees could not object on that point. It wasn't illegal to eat on the Sabbath if you were hungry. But you see, somehow in the Pharisees' minds, getting a bowl of cereal out of the cupboard and putting it in a bowl and adding some milk was not work when picking it off of the grains and rolling it in your hand was. You see the kind of insanity that this legalism leads to. But that's the setting that we have as we come to verse 2. And some of the Pharisees, instead of enjoying whatever Jesus was teaching the disciples at that time, the Pharisees said to them, why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? You're rolling that grain. You're harvesting wheat. That's work. Even though these false shepherds were really trying to find accusations against Jesus Himself, I want us to notice that Jesus quickly comes to the defense of His disciples. He is their advocate, just as He is our advocate, and He makes sure that any doubts are removed from their minds that they have not been violating God's law. In verse 3, Jesus answers them and says, Have you not even read this? I'm sure he sort of said that with a sarcastic tone. You know, you that have vast, if not the entire Old Testament memorized, you who have all these laws and details, haven't you read the book that you said all these things come from? Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? Hungry like the disciples. And those who were with him. How he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him. which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat. Now you see, what he's talking about is not violating the sacramental system or entering the Holy of Holies or any of the things in the Old Testament that we might see people getting into big trouble with. What David and his men did was partake of the food that was the showbread after the sacrifices that would normally have gone to the priests. And under law, it was all supposed to go to the priests. And the point is that when David and his men were hungry, it was merciful of the priests to share their provisions. And thus, God, as we learned when we looked at the book of James, rewards a spirit of liberty in the law when it is merciful. Now, Matthew adds other things that Jesus also explained to them. As a matter of fact, he confronts these teachers of the law who love to go into the details of whether rolling that wheat is work on the Sabbath, and he says, excuse me, but all of the priests have to do work in slaughtering and cutting up and preparing animals that are required to be sacrificed. on the Sabbath. And yet that's not a violation of the Sabbath laws. Mark's account relates that Jesus also told them that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So this was quite a discussion that went on, and it is in this context that Jesus, in all three of the accounts, turns to the Pharisees and says, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Now these simple statements and teachings have certainly been abused down through the centuries in the church. We've seen Christians become as legalistic about Sabbath keeping as the Pharisees were back in these accounts. But we've also seen the Lord's Day neglected and abused by those who don't seem to understand what it means for the Sabbath to be made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Using that as an excuse to do just about anything we want on the Lord's Day. Now here at Church of the King, we have tried to strike the proper biblical balance, and we'll discuss that after we look at the second account and take a quick look at some creeds from church history. In the second account this morning, it again is Important to note that it is included in the same order in all three of the synoptic Gospels. This is a teaching about the Lord's Day that the Holy Spirit is giving us. He does not want us to miss the importance of understanding what it means for Jesus to be Lord of the Sabbath. Now, in the second account, Jesus is going to use the situation at hand to make His point about Sabbath activities and especially mercy. very, very strongly. Now it happened, picking up at verse 6, now it happened on another Sabbath also, that He entered the synagogue and taught, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. Now, that's a scene that we've seen several times in the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus goes into the synagogue and He reads from the Scriptures and He teaches. In this particular morning, it says that there was a man whose hand, his right hand, normally the hand that you right handers use all the time, but that hand was withered. Now, for the kids, again, if you can't picture a withered hand, we don't know whether this man was born with some sort of deformity or if his arm was injured so that he lost the use of it, but if you can't use your arm, It withers, literally. It just gets small and shriveled up and becomes totally useless. If you've seen someone sitting that has spent most of his life in a wheelchair, his legs will look that way. Very weak and useless. In this case, the man had no use of this withered arm at all. And it's important that we understand the severity of that. And I think the Spirit says right hand to point out how crippling this would be. to this individual. We have a man before us now that has a need, and it shows the true motive of these false shepherds of Israel. Because in verse 7 it says, so the scribes and the Pharisees watched Him, not the man with the withered hand, but Jesus. They watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. They've seen Jesus in action. They've heard the stories. They're here at a synagogue. It's the Sabbath. Jesus out-argued them in the field about the harvesting of the wheat, but they think, we've got Him now. If He heals this man, that is certainly work on the Sabbath. You see how their mind is working? No compassion for the man. No hope. just looking for some reason to accuse Jesus. The Scripture tells us that Jesus knew their thoughts, and He chooses to challenge them very directly at this point. As a matter of fact, He turns to the man who was probably sitting somewhere in the synagogue, and He says, Arise and stand here. If I was going to use somebody in one of our families this morning to illustrate something in a sermon, And I said, Phil, come and stand here. And Phil came up and joined me on the stage. He'd sort of be the center of attention all of a sudden, wouldn't he? In other words, you would have rapt attention as to what's going to happen with this man. And that's what Jesus has done here. And having placed this man front and center, Jesus then turns to these scribes and Pharisees and asks them a simple question. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy? Now, as Jesus asked these questions, I really think that He expected the disciples and us to notice the contrast between these scribes and Pharisees, leaders of the church of Israel, The contrast between these scribes and Pharisees who were looking for a way to accuse Jesus, and the men who were the friends of the paralytic, who did everything they could to carry Him to a place where He could be put before Jesus to be healed. What a contrast of their hearts. What a contrast. should weigh heavy on our hearts. And here again, the Spirit uses all three of the Gospel accounts to give us a complete picture of Jesus' actions and attitudes at this point. We can really understand the heart of our Lord, Matthew simply says that he spoke to the man that he had had come and stand at the center. It's Luke in the account that we just read who adds that when he had looked around at them all. But it is Mark who says that he looked, quote, with anger. being grieved by the hardness of their hearts. Jesus understood the hearts of these men. And it angered Him. And He took the time to look at each of them. Because here is a man with great need. Here is a man that Jesus can help. And Jesus had asked them the question, is it better to do good or to do evil? To save life or destroy? And those are questions that we need to keep central in all of our considerations of how we should act on the Lord's Day. But Jesus is grieved by the hardness of their heart. Mark says He's actually angered. or angry, and he takes the time to make a point of looking around and eyeballing every one of them, and then simply turns to the man that he'd put in the center of the room and said, stretch out your hand. And just as we'll see later in the ministry of Jesus when he calls Lazarus forth from the grave, this withered hand, is made whole, as the man simply obeys in faith. And also, just as the religious leaders later would seek to kill Lazarus, rather than to believe the miracle that had been done before so many witnesses, we see no repentance with these scribes and Pharisees this morning. Verse 11 says, but they were filled with rage and disgust with one another what they might do to Jesus. Here's a man whose hand was made whole before them and their hearts are hardened, they're filled with rage and not a glimmer of compassion. Hard hearts indeed. So we see that the Gospel writers have used these two events to drive home two important points. The center of our sermon, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. And more importantly, that the Sabbath is a time to do good rather than evil. To serve God in liberty rather than be in the bondage of regulation. And I want us to keep these in mind as we quickly look at how the Sabbath has been handled down through history in the various Christian creeds. And then we're going to review how we're doing today. here at Church of the King. Now, as we move alphabetically from the Augsburg Confession down to the Westminster, I think you'll see that there are certainly places where the church has been lax, and there's probably places where the church has been too strict, and maybe some where it's been just right. Now, I've actually reprinted what I'm about to read in the Order of Worship, and that's there so you can follow along this morning, but also so that you can take it with you today and read through these and discuss how we do things today on the Lord's Day and look for strengths and weaknesses in the wisdom that we can glean from the church history. Beginning with the Augsburg Confession, for they that think that the observation of the Lord's Day was appointed by the authority of the church instead of the Sabbath, as necessary, are greatly deceived. The scripture which teaches that all mosaical ceremonies can be omitted after the gospel is revealed has abrogated the Sabbath. And yet because it was requisite to appoint a certain day that the people might know when they ought to come together, it appears that the Christian church did for that purpose appoint the Lord's day. Seems like they couldn't quite make up their mind which way they were going to go in that one. The Heidelberg Catechism, which is familiar to many of us, does with the fourth commandment as it does with most of the commandments, gives a very broad expanse of what the meaning is. Very instructive and something that we can study. In question 103, the Heidelbergs simply ask, what does God require in the fourth commandment? First, that the ministry of the gospel in schools be maintained, and that I, especially on the Sabbath, that is on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God to hear His Word, to use His sacraments publicly to call upon the Lord, and to contribute to the relief of the poor as becomes a Christian. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by His Holy Spirit in me, and thus begin in this life the eternal Sabbath. The Irish Articles of Religion say, The first day of the week, which is the Lord's Day, is holy to be dedicated unto the service of God, and therefore we are bound therein to rest from our common and daily business, and to bestow that leisure upon holy exercises, both public and private. The New Hampshire Baptist Confession of 1833, and this is kind of an example of what I mean about carrying on discussions. My wife and I have already had one on this one, in the way they phrased the sinful recreations that should be abstained from on the Lord's Day. And you go, well, if they're sinful recreations, shouldn't we abstain from them all seven days of the week? I don't think that's what they intended, but it wasn't worded. as well as it could have been, and that's where we need to be careful of how we do these things. So the New Hampshire Baptist Confession says, We believe that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day, or Christian Sabbath, and it is to be kept sacred to religious purposes by abstaining from all secular labor and sinful recreations, by the devout observance of all the means of grace, both private and public, and by the preparation for that rest that remaineth for the people of God. Now, the next one comes from the Confession of the Free Will Baptist of 1868. I doubt if there's going to be very many chances that I'll be quoting this confession from our pulpit, but I think they did a pretty good summary on the Lord's Day. This is one day in seven. which from the creation of the world God has set apart for sacred rest and holy service. Under the former dispensation, the seventh day of the week, as commemorative of the work of creation, was set apart for the Sabbath. Under the gospel, the first day of the week, in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ and by the authority of the apostles, is observed as the Christian Sabbath. On this day, all men are required to refrain from secular labor and devote themselves to the worship and service of God. And one of the more detailed Statements come from the Westminster Confession of Faith. This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men, after due preparing of their hearts and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe a holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship and in the duties and necessities of mercy. After that quick survey, I think it gives us a picture of where the church has been down through history. And we never want to just dismiss what the saints before us have done in studying these things. But now, I want us to focus on how it all applies to us today. What does it mean for Jesus to be Lord of the Sabbath? What are we to do with what the church has given us in history with these creeds? As we review our practice, thinking about the text that we've read this morning from Luke, thinking about what we saw in the creeds, I would suggest that there are three important principles that we should keep in mind. Three things that we should have in our minds when considering our actions on the Lord's day. The first one is rest. I think you can see that flowing through. not only the accounts in the Scriptures, but certainly with all of the creeds. God calls us to rest one day in seven. This is pictured both in the creation account and the deliverance from Egypt, that it's a practice that is continued into the New Testament. And you can see that throughout church history in those creeds. The second thing is worship. That's as simple as being with Jesus on the Lord's Day. understanding that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. God calls us into His presence to renew His covenant with us and to prepare us for another week of service, reminding us, as I said, that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. And finally, we should have vision. He noticed that as well, especially the Heidelberg and some of the other creeds. We rest in worship in the Lord's day, the first day of the week when Jesus rose from the grave and demonstrated the power of His resurrection, knowing that His kingdom will fill the earth as we go forth and disciple the nations. This should be a day of vision as we think on these things. We've tried to incorporate these principles into the covenant statement that those who join Church of the King have signed. In the covenant vows that people take, the first and fourth are relevant to our discussion today. The first one simply says, I will attend this church's worship services unless providentially hindered, worshiping the triune God of the Bible only and honoring His name and avoiding all idolatry. The fourth vow says, I will keep the Lord's day, the Christian Sabbath, worshiping and resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, refraining from unnecessary commerce and labor, enjoying the opportunities of Christian fellowship and benevolent activities as the Lord provides. And I want you to know that as elders of the church, our goal in giving instruction regarding appropriate practices on the Lord's Day is meant to be encouraging rather than legalistic. The words that were chosen in these vows were chosen carefully and prayerfully, looking at the scriptures in church history. And I want to just I want to quickly touch on a couple of examples so you can see some of the thinking that goes into that. When we talk about regular church attendance, we use the phrase, unless providentially hindered. And that's a matter of conscience and understanding. Obviously, if you have a sick child on Sunday morning when you wake up, that is a providential hindrance. You're not expected to drag the child to church or leave them alone at home. One of the parents is going to have to stay and care for that child and be providentially hindered, and the rest of the members will be thankful that you do that. But that's a good example of being providentially hindered. Now, someone who tells me on Monday morning, I was just too tired to come to church because I worked so hard the week before, that's a little harder to explain as a providential hindrance. Now, it might happen on occasion, but if it was a regular practice, I think it would be something that we should be concerned about. The other phrase that is used when we talk about activities on the Lord's Day, and ceasing from our labor, and ceasing from causing others to labor, we use the phrase, unnecessary commerce. And that again, is allowing for issues of conscience. What is necessary commerce? The example that I always use, because I think it illustrates both sides, is the local gas station. We've got a pretty good little gas station just a couple blocks from the church. It always has good prices. If someone fails to do what they should do on Saturday in getting everything ready to go to church, and you wake up Sunday morning and the car is empty, you do not fail to come to church because you can't buy gas on Sunday. Because that would be commerce. That would be labor. The Pharisees would tell you that probably. They would never allow an excuse. But you see, under what we learn from the Scriptures, no, it's time to repent of forgetting. You should have put gas in the car on Saturday, but you didn't. So now you're going to have to stop at the station, coming or going, and put some gas in the car so that you can faithfully attend the worship service. But on the other hand, If we found out that a family every week went down and filled up their car at that station on Sunday while they're at church, I mean, not while they're, but you know, in coming or going, because, you know, it's a nickel cheaper there than the gas station near my house. You see, does that meet the standard of unnecessary commerce or necessary commerce? See, these are things that we have to wrestle with and to deal with as we deal with. We talk about Christian fellowship, and this touches, and you'll probably notice as you read through these creeds, recreation and what to do has been controversial down through the ages on the church. Is it or isn't it prohibited on the Sabbath? Now, this is going to be shocking, but despite the fact that I think the Chariots of Fire movie is probably the greatest movie that Hollywood has ever been able to produce, I have to say that I think Eric was wrong when he told the little boy to put away his soccer ball after church. That came out of the Westminster Convention. You're not allowed to have any recreation even if it's after church. You see, we don't take that stand. I have no objection to the chess games that break out after fellowship dinner here on Sunday or at my house on Sunday night. There would be some who would say that that's not a practice that we should have. And that's why we use the phrase Christian Fellowship. Now, what's the flip side? Someone coming to me and saying, you know, we're not going to be in church on Sunday. We're going to go up on Lake Folsom and hang out with our Christian friends. And we'll probably, you know, remember to say hi to the Lord at some point during the day, but we're just going to fellowship and have a good time together. That would be a sin. Those are the contrasts. Those are the things. And I'll guarantee you, as soon as you think you're a Pharisee and you've got it all figured out with all the jots and tittles, the Lord will give you one more example. that'll test the limits. We can't be legalistic. We have to be principled. And we have to lay down things that we can understand, and then things that we can wrestle with. And then we come to a morning like this, and it's time, the Scripture leads us to this, and I have to, as our pastor, say, well, how are we doing? How are we doing? Well, it's like most things in the Christian life. I think we're doing pretty good. We've made some good progress, but we've got a long way to go. And we should almost always have that attitude. The moment we think we've arrived is probably the time the Lord's going to have to start disciplining. Again, our desire here at the church is to be encouraging and not legalistic. And I think we can learn from the Scriptures this morning that when the Holy Spirit is teaching us about Jesus being the Lord of the Sabbath, He doesn't give us a list of do's and don'ts. He tells some stories. He gives accounts of how the disciples interacted with Jesus, and what happened on the Sabbath, and certainly some illustrations of what not to do with the scribes and the Pharisees. And I guess the best way that I could share from my heart and try to help you to understand how passionate we are in some of these areas is to maybe tell some stew stories. My wife didn't know about this, and she'll get real nervous at this point, but I promise not to embarrass her. It just helps to relate. Now, I've been walking with the Lord for 31 years now. I keep track with my youngest son's birthday. And we became Reformed through reading the Bible, which is an interesting way to do it. We didn't come out of a Reformed tradition. We were in one of those evangelical churches at the time. And we picked up a lot of Reformed doctrines, but also our practices of tithing and the Lord's Day. were biblically driven. You know, I remember dealing with the issue of tithing. I'd gotten myself in just a big old mess financially. And in the midst of trying to figure all this out, the Lord told me two things. Get yourself out of debt and start tithing. I said, I'm a math guy. The Lord just doesn't make any sense. You know, I can understand getting out of debt. I'm convicted about that. I'm going to do that now. To start tithing now sent me back another 10 years with getting out of debt. And I drove back and forth on the Dumbarton Bridge and had lots of arguments, but decided that it's what it says, so I'll obey. And we did. And what was probably conservatively a 10-year plan to get us out of debt happened in about 18 months. The Lord was incredibly gracious. And the Sabbath was the same way. We were floundering. We were trying to do things the right way. And we tried to set an example as parents. Because you see, it's what the parents believe and do with their attitude and their practice. That's what the kids are going to pick up on. That's what the next generation is going to know about how we deal with the Lord's Day. We practiced not working. I didn't work on Sundays. I also made a point of seeing that the children saw that Linda didn't work on Sunday. Now, moms know they never get a day off, and dads, we need to understand that, but we can take steps to help. I became a pretty good waffle maker because all through the years, I did Sunday morning breakfast, and I was a one-shot cook. They had waffles, and it was fun. But the point was, I made a point of cooking the breakfast and cleaning up the dishes and doing things on Sunday, so Linda didn't have to do what she did the routine for the other six days of the week. And that's an important example to make. We have to be faithful. And Linda and I have tried to do that down through the years. I think I can probably count on one hand the Lord's days that we've missed services. And that probably counts providential hindrances. I mean, it's just, I think the Lord honors our commitment to be faithful. But more importantly, that's what the children are going to be watching. If we find excuses for not being in service and not doing what we should do on the Lord's Day, I can guarantee you that our children will find even more. They'll take our standard and they'll step it that much further. And that's what we need to be careful about. The other thing is that we need to be excited about the Lord's Day. It's contagious. If we see the Lord's Day as the high point of our week, the children will too. And I think you see that in our congregation. There's no dragging them in and, oh, not another day at church. And our service is pretty long and the kids sit through the service. But you see, it's because the adults set the example, and that's so important. And we've even done it down through the years with our vacations. You know, you learn to just want to be with your home church on Sunday. And if you're providentially hindered and you've got to be traveling someplace, you make provisions to make sure that you're in the Lord's service. on the Lord's day. That's just the way it is. Now, you may think, well, okay, John, you've got 31 years, you're a pastor now, real easy for you to say. You don't understand the conflicts and the problems that come along. And we'll have new people, and we'll have young couples, and there's going to be all kinds of things. And we have to recognize that those things happen. Just like the financial crisis that I got myself in. I had the same problem when I worked at Long's. I had to work every other Sunday. And it was a nine to eight. kind of shift with a commute. I mean, there was no way to make a morning, evening, or any kind of service. And as I became convicted about these things as a young Christian, that was devastating to me. I really struggled with that. But you see, we often become conflicted between biblical commands. I am the breadwinner. I'm struggling to make it on one income. I just recently moved to the Bay Area. I don't do anything but retail. So to just suddenly take a stand and say, I quit because I won't work on Sundays, is suddenly going to put me in violation of the worse than an infidel for not providing for my family. And that was a real struggle and it was a real concern for us at that time. And again, we took it to prayer. We said, Lord, we need to deal with this. I'm not sure how. And again, miraculously, within a very short period of time, it would take much too long to tell the story today, I was moved in ahead of a whole bunch of people that should have been there other than me, to the headquarters of Long's, where I got to work Monday through Friday, and had every weekend off. So the Lord will provide, but we need to sometimes be patient as the Lord is working this through with people's lives. And sometimes, it's just... because we're not where we should be. And again, we have examples of that. You know, we've had two of our annual meetings at a little Chinese restaurant called Louie's, which I think you've all enjoyed. But the reason we picked that restaurant is because we've gone there for years. And for many years, we went there for Sunday lunch after church. Now, that's something today I would not be comfortable doing. And yet for the many years that we were doing and inviting other people to join us and encouraging other people to do it with us, and our kids enjoying it, we were looking at it from a fellowship standpoint and dealing with Christian fellowship on the Lord's Day. It was not something that we were convicted about. And I would not want to jump the sun down somebody's throat for a practice that I might look at and say, how can they do that? Without really walking in their shoes and making sure that we're being merciful in how we deal with people. Let's deal with the stark examples of what's wrong, and then try to bring people along, and then let's also recognize that there may be people in our congregation, the people that the Lord brings, that we need to help in these difficult times. But the goal should be that we be a people of God that enjoy the Lord's Day. The Lord's Day is the first day of the week. It's the first day of a new week. And if we get it right here, then we're off to a great start for the rest of the week. If we get it right, it's a blessing in our lives. But to get it right, we have to remember the focus that we had in the Gospel accounts. is Lord of the Sabbath. It's the old Sunday School answer. If you keep Jesus at the center, you're probably doing it right. The Sabbath is a time to do good rather than evil. To serve God in liberty rather than in bondage. In doing this, as we learn to challenge each other and discuss our practices, we should remember the principles that I outlined. I put some key words down at the bottom of the order of worship so we can think and discuss this. They should be reminders to help us walk properly on the Lord's day. Rest. God calls us to rest one day in seven. Worship. God calls us into His presence to renew His covenant and to prepare us for another week, and vision, so that we can be the people of God who have a vision. We rest and worship on the Lord's day, on the first day of the week, the day that Jesus rose from the dead, knowing that His kingdom will fill the whole earth as we go forth to serve and disciple the nation. If we do this faithfully, we will demonstrate to our covenant children and to a watching world that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Let's pray.