You.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Exodus 20, verse eight. The Sabbath day refers to Saturday, the 7th day of the week. The word holy refers to something worthy of honor that is therefore treated in a different way than all other things. When God commanded that the Sabbath day be kept holy, he meant that this day was to be honored and treated in a different way than all the other days of the week were treated. The hebrew people honored the Sabbath day by resting. That meant that they did not do business as they did on other days. They did not travel on the Sabbath, and they did not engage in usual everyday activities. They did pray and worship on the Sabbath day, something they did on every other day as well. But Sabbath prayer and worship were done collectively with everyone gathered together in the temple or in the local synagogue. Because of this, the Sabbath day began being referred to as a day of worship after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Christians began meeting on the first day of the week, that is, on Sunday for prayer and worship rather than on the Sabbath, because that was the first day of the week, and it is on that day that Christ rose from the dead. For the century following Jesus'resurrection, Jews who became christians actually set aside both Saturday and Sunday for prayer and worship. Making prayer and worship the number one priority on Sunday has lost favor in modern America. Many people consider Sunday to be simply a day off on which to party and play. The priority of worship is often absent, and people go to great lengths to justify their absence from church each Sunday. A few years ago, Pope John Paul gave a speech criticizing the casual attitude held by many regarding Sunday. When Sunday loses its fundamental meaning, he said, and becomes subordinate to a secular concept of weekend dominated by such things as entertainment and sports, people stay locked within a horizon so narrow that they can no longer see the heavens. I agree we should hold Sunday worship in honor as both a privilege and a duty. This is not an ordinary day and should be treated with more sacred respect than it is often given.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to [email protected] have a great day, and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve God's word to bring us another thought for the day.