Working on Sunday

[IM4given]

This is what Dwight L. Moody preached on the subject of keeping the sabbath, a short excerpt from his sermon regarding the Ten Commandments:

http://biblebelievers.com/moody_sermons/m15.html

HOW TO OBSERVE THE SABBATH "Sabbath" means "rest," and the meaning of the word gives a hint as to the true way to observe the day. God mated after creation, and ordained the Sabbath as a rest for man. He blessed it and hallowed it Remember the rest-day to keep it holy. It is the day when the body may be refreshed and strengthened after six days of labor, and the soul drawn into closer fellowship with its Maker. True observance of the Sabbath may be considered under two general heads: cessation from ordinary secular work, and religious exercises. 1. CESSATION FROM SECULAR WORK A man ought to turn aside from his ordinary employment one day in seven. There are many whose occupation will not permit them to observe Sunday, but they should observe some other day as a Sabbath. Saturday is my day of rest, because I generally preach on Sunday, and I look forward to it as a boy does to a holiday. God knows what we need. Ministers and missionaries often tell me that they take no rest-day; they do not need it because they are in the Lord's work. That is a mistake. When God was giving Moses instructions about the building of the tabernacle, He referred especially to the Sabbath, and gave injunctions for its strict observance; and later, when Moses was conveying the words of the Lord to the children of Israel, he interpreted them by saying that not even were sticks to be gathered on the Sabbath to kindle fires for smelting or other purposes. Inspite of their zeal and haste to erect the tabernacle, the workmen were to have their day of rest. The command applies to ministers and others managed in Christian work today as much as to those Israelite workmen of old. WORKS OF NECESSITY AND OF EMERGENCY In judging whether any work may or may not be lawfully done on the Sabbath, find out the reason and object for doing it. Exceptions are to be made for works of necessity and works of emergency. By "works of necessity" I mean those acts that Christ justified when He approved of leading one's ox or ass to water. Watchmen, police, stokers on board steamers, and many others have engagements that necessitate their working on the Sabbath. By "works of emergency" I mean those referred to by Christ when He approved of pulling an ox or an ass out of a Pt on the Sabbath day. In case of fire or sickness a man is often called on to do things that would not otherwise be justifiable. A Christian man was once urged by his employer to work on Sunday. "Does not your Bible say that if your ass falls into a pit on the Sabbath, you may pull him out?" "Yes," replied the other; "but if the ass had the habit of falling into the same pit every Sabbath, I would either fill up the pit or sell the ass." Every man must settle the question as it affects unnecessary work, with his own conscience. No man should make another work seven days in the week. One day is demanded for rest. A man who has to work the seven days has nothing to look forward to, and life becomes humdrum. Many Christians are guilty in this respect. SABBATH TRAVELING Take, for instance, the question of Sabbath traveling. I believe we are breaking God's laws by using the cars on Sunday and depriving conductors and others of their Sabbath. Remember, the fourth commandment expressly refers to the "stranger that is within thy gates." Doesn't that touch Sabbath travel? But you ask, "What are we to do? How are we to get to church?" I reply, on foot. It will be better for you. Once when I was holding meetings in London, in my ignorance I made arrangements to preach four times in different places one Sabbath. After I had made the appointments I found I had to walk sixteen miles; but I walked it, and I slept that night with a clear conscience. I have made it a rule never to use the cars, and if I have a private carriage, I insist that horse and man shall rest on Monday. I want no hackman to rise up in judgment against me. My friends, if we want to help the Sabbath, let business men and Christians never patronize cars on the Sabbath. I would hate to own stock in those companies, to be the means of taking the Sabbath from these men, and have to answer for it at the day of judgment. Let those who are Christians at any rate endeavor to keep a conscience void of offense on this point. SABBATH TRADING There are many who are inclined to use the Sabbath in order to make money faster. This is no new sin. The prophet Amos hurled his invectives against oppressors who said, "When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?" Covetous men have always chafed under the restraint, but not until the present time do we find that they have openly counted on Sabbath trade to make money. We are told that many street car companies would not pay if it were not for the Sabbath traffic, and the Sabbath edition of newspapers is also counted upon as the most profitable. The railroad men of this country are breaking down with softening of the brain, and die at the age of fifty or sixty. They think their business is so important that they must run their trains seven days in the week. Businessmen travel on the Sabbath so as to be on hand for business Monday morning. But if they do so God will not prosper them. Work is good for man and is commanded, "Six days shalt thou labor"; but overwork and work on the Sabbath takes away the best thing he has. NECESSARY AND BENEFICIAL The good effect on a nation's health and happiness produced by the return of the Sabbath, with its cessation from work, cannot be overestimated. It is needed to repair and restore the body after six days of work. It is proved that a man can do more in six days than in seven. Lord Beacons field said: "Of all divine institutions, the most divine is that which secures a day of rest for man. I hold it to be the most valuable blessing conceded to man. It is the cornerstone of all civilization, and its removal might affect even the health of the people." Mr. Gladstone recently told a friend that the secret of his long life is that amid all the pressure of public cares he never forgot the Sabbath, with its rest for the body and the soul. The constitution of the United States protects the president in his weekly day of rest. He has ten days, "Sundays excepted," in which to consider a bill that has been sent to him for signature. Every workingman in the republic ought to be as thoroughly protected as the president. If workingmen got up a strike against unnecessary work on the Sabbath, they would have the sympathy of a good many. "Our bodies are seven-day clocks," says Talmage, "and they need to be wound up, and if they are not wound up they run down into the grave. No man can continuously break the Sabbath and keep his physical and mental health. Ask aged men, and they will tell you they never knew men who continuously broke the Sabbath who did not fail in mind, body, or moral principles." All that has been said about rest for man is true for working animals. God didn't forget them in this commandment, and man should not forget them either. 2. RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY But "rest" does not mean idleness. No man enjoys idleness for any length of time. When one goes on a vacation, one does not lie around doing nothing all that time. Hard work at tennis, hunting, and other pursuits fills the hours. A healthy mind must find something to do. Hence the Sabbath rest does not mean inactivity. "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." The best way to keep off bad thoughts and to avoid temptation is to engage in active religious exercises. As regards these, we should avoid extremes. On the one hand we find a rigor in Sabbath observance that is nowhere commanded in Scripture, and that reminds one of the formalism of the Pharisees more than of the spirit of the Gospel. Such strictness does more harm than good. It repels people and makes the Sabbath a burden. On the other hand, we should jealously guard against a loose way of keeping the Sabbath. Already in many cities it is profaned openly. When I was a boy, the Sabbath lasted from sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday, and I remember how we boys used to shout when it was over. It was the worst day in the week to us. I believe it can be made the brightest day in the week. Every child ought to be reared so that he shall be able to say that he would rather have the other six days weeded out of his memory than the Sabbath of his childhood. PUBLIC WORSHIP Make the Sabbath a day of religious activity. First of all, of course, is attendance at public worship. "there is a discrepancy," says John McNeill, "between our creed about the Sabbath day and our actual conduct. In many families, at ten o'clock on the Sabbath, attendance at church is still an open question. There is no open question on Monday morning--'John, will you go to work today" A minister rebuked a farmer for not attending church, and said, "You know, John, you are never absent from market." "Oh," was the reply, "we must go to market." Someone has said that without the Sabbath, the Church of Christ could not, as a visible organization, exist on earth. Another has said that "we need to be in the drill of observance as well as in the liberty of faith." Human nature is so treacherous that we are apt to omit things altogether unless there is some special reason for doing them. A man is not likely to worship at all unless he has regularly appointed times and means for worship. Family and private devotions are almost certain to be omitted altogether unless one gets into the habit and has a special time set apart daily. A REMINISCENCE I remember blaming my mother for sending me to church on the Sabbath. On one occasion the preacher had to send someone into the gallery to wake me up. I thought it was hard to have to work in the field all the week and then to be obliged to go to church and hear a sermon I didn't understand. I thought I wouldn't go to church any more when I got away from home; but I had got so in the habit of going that I couldn't stay away. After one or two Sabbaths, back again to the house of God I went. There I first found Christ, and I have often said since, "Mother, I thank you for making me go to the house of God when I didn't want to go." Parents, if you want your children to grow up and honor you, have them honor the Sabbath day. Don't let them go off fishing and getting into bad company, or it won't be long before they will come home and curse you. I know few things more beautiful than to see a father and mother coming up the aisle with their daughters and sons, and sitting down together to hear the Word of God. It is a good thing to have the children, not in some remote loft or gallery, but in a good place, well in sight. Though they cannot understand the sermon now, when they get older they won't desire to break away, they will continue attending public worship in the house of God. But we must not mistake the means for the end. We must not think that the Sabbath is just for the sake of being able to attend meetings. There are some people who think they must spend the whole day at meetings or private devotions. The result is that at nightfall they are tired out, and the day has brought them no rest. The number of church services attended ought to be measured by the person's ability to enjoy them and get good from them, without being wearied. Attending meetings is not the only way to observe the Sabbath. The Israelites were commanded to keep it in their dwellings as well as in holy convocation. The home, that center of so great influence over the life and character of the people, ought to be made the scene of true Sabbath observance. HOME OBSERVANCE Jeremiah classified godless families with the heathen: "Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate" (10:25). Many mothers have written to me at one time or another to know what to do to entertain their children on the Sabbath. The boys say, "I do wish 'twas night," or, "I do hate the Sabbath," or, "I do wish the Sabbath were over." It ought to be the happiest day in the week to them, one to be looked forward to with pleasure. In order to this end, many suggestions might be followed. Make family prayers especially attractive by having the children learn some verse or story from the Bible. Give more time to your children than you can give on weekdays, reading to them and perhaps taking them to walk in the afternoon or evening. Show by your conduct that the Sabbath is a delight, and they will soon catch your spirit. Set aside some time for religious instruction, without making this a task. You can make it interesting for the children by telling Bible stories and asking them to guess the names of the characters. Have Sunday games for the younger children. Picture books, puzzle maps of Palestine, and such things can be easily obtained. Sunday albums and Sunday clocks are other devices. Set aside attractive books for the Sabbath, not letting the children have these during the week. By doing this, the children can be brought to look forward to the day with eagerness and pleasure. PRIVATE OBSERVANCE Apart from public and family observance, the individual ought to devote a portion of the time to his own edification. Prayer, meditation, reading, ought not to be forgotten. Think of men devoting six days a week to their body, which will soon pass away, and begrudging one day to the soul, which will live on and on forever! Is it too much for God to ask for one day to be devoted to the growth and training of the spiritual senses, when the other senses are kept busy the other six days? If your circumstances permit, engage in some definite Christian work, such as teaching in Sunday school, or visiting the sick. Do all the good you can. Sin keeps no Sabbath, and no more should good deeds. There is plenty of opportunity in this fallen world to perform works of mercy and religion. Make your Sabbath down here a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath that is in store for believers. You want power in your Christian life, do you? You want Holy Ghost power? You want the dew of heaven on your brow? You want to see men convicted and converted? I don't believe we shall ever have genuine conversions until we get straight on this law of God. SABBATH DESECRATION Men seem to think they have a right to change the holy day into a holiday. The young have more temptations to break the Sabbath than we had forty years ago. There are three great temptations: first the trolley car, that will take you off into the country for a nickel to have a day of recreation; second, the bicycle, which is leading a good many Christian men to give up their Sabbath and spend the day on excursions; and the third, the Sunday newspaper. Twenty years ago Christian people in Chicago would have been horrified if anyone had prophesied that all the theaters would be open every Sabbath; but that is what has come to pass. If it had been prophesied twenty years ago that Christian men would take a wheel and go off on Sunday morning and be gone all day on an excursion, Christians would have been horrified and would have said it was impossible; but that is what is going on today all over the country. THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER With regard to the Sunday newspaper, I know all the arguments that are brought in its favor--that the work on it is done during the week, that it is the Monday paper that causes Sunday work, and so on. But there are two hundred thousand newsboys selling the paper on Sunday. Would you like to have your boy one of them? Men are kept running trains in order to distribute the papers. Would you like your Sabbath taken away from you? If not, then practice the Golden Rule, and don't touch the papers. Their contents make them unfit for reading any day, not to say Sunday. Some New York dailies advertise Sunday editions of sixty pages. Many dirty pieces of scandal in this and other countries are raked up and put into them. "Eight pages of fud"- that is splendid reading for Sunday, isn't it? Even when a so-called sermon is printed, it is completely buried by the fiction and news matter. It is time that ministers went into their pulpits and preached against Sunday newspapers if they haven't done it already. Put the man in the scales that buys and reads Sunday papers. After reading them for two or three hours he might go and hear the best sermon in the world, but you couldn't preach anything into him. His mind is filled up with what he has read, and there is no room for thoughts of God. I believe that the archangel Gabriel himself could not make an impression on an audience that has its head full of such trash. If you bored a hole into a man's head, you could not inject any thoughts of God and heaven. I don't believe that the publishers would allow their own children to read them. Why then should they give them to my children and to yours? A merchant who advertises in Sunday papers is not keeping the Sabbath. It is a master-stroke of the devil to induce Christian men to do this in order to make trade for Monday. But if a man makes money, and yet his sons are ruined and his home broken up, what has he gained? Ladies buy the Sunday papers and read the advertisements of Monday bargains to see what they can buy cheap. Just so with their religion. They are willing to have it if it doesn't cost anything. If Christian men and women refused to buy them, if Christian merchants refused to advertise in them, they would soon die out, because that is where they get most of their support. They tell me the Sunday paper has come to stay, and I may as well let it alone. Never! I believe it is a great evil, and I shall fight it while I live. I never read a Sunday paper, and wouldn't have one in my house. They are often sent me, but I tear them up without reading them. I will have nothing to do with them. They do more harm to religion than any other one agency I know. Their whole influence is against keeping the Sabbath holy. They are an unnecessary evil. Can't a man read enough news on weekdays without desecrating the Sabbath? We had no Sunday papers till the war came, and we got along very well without them. They have been increasing in size and in number ever since then, and I think they have been lowering their tone ever since. If you believe that, help to fight them too. Stamp them out, beginning with yourself. PUNISHMENT OR BLESSING? No nation has ever prospered that has trampled the Sabbath in the dust. Show me a nation that has done this and I will show you a nation that has got in it the seeds of ruin and decay. I believe that Sabbath desecration will carry a nation down quicker than anything else. Adam brought marriage and the Sabbath with him out of Eden, and neither can be disregarded without suffering. When the children of Israel went into the Promised Land, God told them to let their land rest every seven years, and He would give them as much in six years as in seven. For four hundred and ninety years they disregarded that law. But mark you, Nebuchadnezzar came and took them oh into Babylon, and kept them seventy years in captivity, and the land had its seventy sabbaths of rest. Seven times seventy is four hundred and ninety. So they did not gain much by breaking this law. You can give God His day, or He will take it. On the other hand, honoring the fourth commandment brings blessing: "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words [thine own as contrasted with what God enjoins]: then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it" (Is 58:13-14). I do not know what will become of this republic if we give up our Christian Sabbath. If Satan can break the conscience down on one point, he can break it down on all. When I was in France in 1867, I could wt tell one day from the other. On Sunday, stores were open and buildings were erected, the same as on other days. See how quickly that country went down. One hundred years ago France and England stood abreast in the march of nations. Where do they stand today? France undertook to wipe out the Sabbath, and has pretty nearly wiped itself out, while England belts the globe. A FIRM STAND We have a fighting chance to save this nation, and what we want is men and women who have moral courage to stand up and say: "No, I will not touch the Sunday paper, and all the influence I have I will throw dead against it. I will not go away on Saturday evening if I have to travel on Sunday to get back. I will not do unnecessary walk on the Sabbath. I will do all I can to keep it holy as God commanded." But someone says: "Mr. Moody, what are you going to do? I have to work seven days a week or starve." Then starve! Wouldn't it be a grand thing to have a martyr in the nineteenth century? "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." Someone says the seed is getting very low; it has been a long time since we have had any seed. I would give something to erect a monument to such a martyr for his fidelity to God's law. I would go around the world to attend his funeral. We want today men who will make up their minds to do what is right and stand by it if the heavens tumble on their heads. What is to become of Christian Associations and Sunday schools, of churches and Christian Endeavor societies, if the Christian Sabbath is given up to recreation and made a holiday? Hasn't the time come to call a halt if men want power with God? Let men call you narrow and bigoted, but be man enough to stand by God's law, and you will have power and blessing. That is the kind of Christianity we want just now in this country. Any man can go with the crowd, but we want men who will go against the current. Sabbath-breaker, are you ready to step into the scales?

[Anon]

Very good point.

Not really, because in doing so he is still assembling with God's people.

[Jerry]

Two problems I see with Moody's article - just from a quick skim through it - 1) he is equating Sunday with the Sabbath, and it is not nor ever has been the Sabbath. Nowhere in the Bible are we given authority to change the day that the Sabbath is observed. 2) As Christians, we are NOT commanded to keep the Sabbath. The OT makes it very clear that it is a covenant between God and Israel, not between God and the world or God and the Christian.

If he and his family want to abstain from work on Sunday, they are certainly welcome to do so - but to teach that as fulfilling the sabbath command or to teach that commandment as binding on Christians today is wrong.

[IM4given]

Well, I guess I am just an old fashioned hillbilly that grew up with this belief, and also in a world where they still have such laws as this on the books:

Law Summary

No work may be done on Sunday.
Title 53 - Sundays, Holidays and Other Special Days
CHAPTER 1.
SECTION 53-1-40. Unlawful to work on Sunday.

On the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in worldly work, labor, business of his ordinary calling or the selling or offering to sell, publicly or privately or by telephone, at retail or at wholesale to the consumer any goods, wares or merchandise or to employ others to engage in work, labor, business or selling or offering to sell any goods, wares or merchandise, excepting work of necessity or charity. Provided, that in Charleston County the foregoing shall not apply to any person who conscientiously believes, because of his religion, that the seventh day of the week ought to be observed as the Sabbath and who actually refrains from secular business or labor on that day.

P.S. They still don't allow anyone to buy liquor there either, so you can go into any grocery or gas station in the whole county and not be confronted with row upon row of wines and chardonnay and beer by the cases like they have here.

[bibletotingunslinger]

me 2, except I being the chief of sinners fault now and again.

[JJJ4given]

Two problems I see with Moody's article - just from a quick skim through it - 1) he is equating Sunday with the Sabbath, and it is not nor ever has been the Sabbath. Nowhere in the Bible are we given authority to change the day that the Sabbath is observed. 2) As Christians, we are NOT commanded to keep the Sabbath. The OT makes it very clear that it is a covenant between God and Israel, not between God and the world or God and the Christian.

If he and his family want to abstain from work on Sunday, they are certainly welcome to do so - but to teach that as fulfilling the sabbath command or to teach that commandment as binding on Christians today is wrong.

:amen:

[speerjp1]

Very good point.

I teach and am a leader in my church and have never considered anything that I do for the ministry to be on the same level as temporal jobs and earthly work. IMO any pastor or deacon or officer of a church who views their ministry simply as "work" just like any other man's job or as their own other job, there is a problem.

I guess it's just all in how you look at it.

[JJJ4given]

I teach and am a leader in my church and have never considered anything that I do for the ministry to be on the same level as temporal jobs and earthly work. IMO any pastor or deacon or officer of a church who views their ministry simply as "work" just like any other man's job or as their own other job, there is a problem.

I guess it's just all in how you look at it.

According to that Christ must have a problem:

John 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

2041 ergon ergon er

[speerjp1]

According to that Christ must have a problem:

John 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

[IM4given]

Okay, just to show how truly backwards I am, I do not understand how Christians can go to church on Sunday morning (taking their day off) and then go to a restaurant on Sunday afternoon, thus forcing the staff at the restaurant to work on their day of rest?

I got a kick out of Bro. Moody's sermon about walking to church, because he would not hire someone to take him to church, thus forcing them to work on Sunday. How many Christians even care what other people do with their Sundays - they go to church, and then they go to the restaurants, to the movies, to the mall, and so forth and they don't see anything wrong with that. I wonder how many Christians would ever walk to church, if it came down to that, for that matter?

Let them go to Kentucky, where everything is CLOSED all day long on Sundays, and see how they would react to that! You can't even get a flat tire fixed on Sundays. If your house burns, you will be able to call the volunteer fire department, but other than emergencies, you will have to wait until Monday morning. BTW, even though there are no blue laws here where I live now, I still do not go to restaurants, stores, etc., on Sundays. I don't think it's right, so I won't go. I will go to visit my family, or take my children to the park for a picnic, but not any where that would cause others to have to work for me.

[jchahl]

I thought about that yesterday when I went to Bob Evans. But, I was hungry didn't have time to go home between services, and had to eat somewhere.

[JJJ4given]

[jchahl]

He actually said "simply as work." Very imortant difference.

[IM4given]

I thought about that yesterday when I went to Bob Evans. But, I was hungry didn't have time to go home between services, and had to eat somewhere.

Maybe start packing a sack lunch?

@jjj

Bro. Moody stated in his sermon that pastors ought to take at least one day a week off. He emphasized that according to God's plan, that human are supposed to work 6 days a week and take at least one day a week off, and that it really does not matter which day of the week one takes. however, those who are choosing to work for the WORLD and are forsaking church services are serving Mammon and not God, which is wrong. You sound like you are just wanting to be argumentative about this issue.

If you choose to work a secular job on Sundays, that is fine and it is between you and God. But you should not condemn others for wanting to use that day to serve the Lord in what ever capacity they choose , either as a congregant or as a pastor. Pastors and their families deserve a break too, so they may choose another day to relax and rest.

[lettheredeemedsayso]

The Bible does not teach we shouldn't work on Sundays nor that it is wrong to do so - that position comes from mixing up the Sabbath commandment (the seventh day) with that of the first.

Amen!!


And, behold, there was a man which had [his] hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift [it] out?
And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift [it] out?
Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched [it] forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. Matt 12:10-14