Is it compromise to cancel Sunday night services for the Super Bowl? Does the idea of getting God's people out into the homes of their neighbors/coworkers this Sunday night sit well with you?
What are your thoughts on canceling church services for the Super Bowl? We're not, but I've heard of others that do, and I've had some thoughts about the positives and negatives of doing so.
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12 comments:
Good question Jim.
Remember a few years ago when some churches cancelled Sunday morning servies when it fell on Christmas day? Most of them used the argument: We want people to spend time with their family.
I think both can be done. Have a service and then go to parties afterward. It shows that we care about gathering to worship with others and hear from God's Word.
However, whatever one decides, lets not condemn others for their decisions.
"I can't believe that church is having services. They must not care about evangelism."
"I can't believe that church cancelled its services. They must not care about God."
I think is an intriguing topic. You will get very emotional responses from people in both parties. I think we need to see each church' situation. For instance, I was on staff at a small church and if we had elected to cancel church and have a Super Bowl party/function instead, the attendance would be bad.
However, at the larger church I am at now, we have over 100 people coming to just one ministry's outing.
Now...canceling church on a Sunday morning is a bigger issue...
"If you turn your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going you own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Isaiah 58:13-14
tcl
tcl,
I guess that means no college football games, since the Sabbath referred to in Isaiah was on a Saturday. ;-)
Well that would be the case if the Christian Sabbath were on the seventh day. However, it is on the first day of the week, Suday. This is evident from the New Testament.(Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1-2). There is an obvious perpetuity and change of the Sabbath day from the Old Testament to the New Testament. If you would like for me to explain more just let me know.
tcl
Are the people in your churches as faithful to and as serious about the services each week as you, their pastors, would like them to be? Is it more important to them than anything else on the Lord's day? What does your attitude towards this "special exception" say to them about the real significance of Lord's day and the Lord of the Sabbath?
tcl,
I'm not so sure the "natural transition" of the Sabbath from Saturday in the OT to Sunday in the NT is as biblically clear as you think...
But what I do know is that the verse you picked out was one where Isaiah was referring to Saturday.
Don't want to get off topic too much, but I'm resting in Jesus.
jim u. said...
"Don't want to get off topic too much, but I'm resting in Jesus."
I fear that the comment may be off topic if it is a reference to rest in Christ relative to the Lord's day based on Hebrews 3 and 4. There the rest is future rest about which the writer looks you as a Christian straight in the eye and says "if we hold fast until the end" (3.6), "take care" (3.12), "if we hold fast" (3.14), "let us fear" (4.1), and "let us be diligent to enter that rest" (4.11) - all of which indicates that the rest of Hebrews 3 and 4 is still future. This is confirmed by the example given: the people have been delivered from bondage but are still on the journey towards the promised land which they are yet to enter - exactly where you are in your spiritual journey at this point in your life. Did you have something else in mind or was your comment based on this passage?
I was going with the already/not yet theme of the kingdom. I've entered his rest already, but it remains to be completed until Jesus fully establishes his kingdom.
And yes, I was taking it from Hebrews, where it appears to be "already/not yet."
Jim U. -
It is interesting to me how differently we all think - an observation - not a criticism. One of the most persuasive arguments to me for the Sabbatarian view is the "already/not yet" view of the kingdom which you have expressed.
We are “already” baptized into Christ death and resurrection as evidenced by our mortification of sin and walking in newness of life but because we are “not yet” completely sanctified nor glorified in our bodies at our conversion we continue to practice Christian baptism until he comes.
We “already” feed at Christ table, fellowship with him and love him but we are “not yet” at the marriage supper of the Lamb and in full communion with him so we continue to practice the Lord’s Supper until he comes.
We “already” rest in Christ and worship him but we are “not yet” safe in glory and fully entered into his rest so we continue to practice the Christian Sabbath until he comes. It is interesting however that now instead of working and then resting on the seventh day, we rest in Christ first and then work.
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