Title: Joyful Days, Precious Days/Isa 58:13~14
A Korean-Korean couple who immigrated to the United States are troubled on Sunday mornings. The wife said, “How can a deacon in charge of his office go out to play without going to church?” The husband said, “I made an appointment to go to the beach with other friends to relieve stress from the week, so let’s go there.” will be It was a trip planned to relieve the loneliness, homesickness, and fatigue of immigrant life, so it was not enough for the wife to break her husband's stubbornness. Reluctantly, the wife went to the beach with her husband.
A report from the religious circles in Korea reports that Korean church members do not have a clear 'Julian view'. According to this report, 24.3% of church members who said they must attend the day and evening services on Sundays, 41.6% said that they only attend the daytime service, and 10.3% said that they often do not attend any worship service. The reasons for not keeping Sundays were negligence and lack of trust (58.2%), work relationships (36.5%), and leisure or sports (5.2%).
What should I do to keep the Lord's Day well?
Sunday is the day when Christ was resurrected (Mark 16:9, John 20:19), which is the first day after the Sabbath (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:1,2) and the day when the early Christians gathered ( Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:1~2), the day of the Lord (Revelation 1:10), and the day the Holy Spirit came down.
Therefore, in the text, in order to keep this day of the Lord well, the first thing is to ‘forbid your feet. This means don't go your own way. Calvin said, “If we wander freely in our own sinful desires, without any restrictions, we are turning our backs on the Sabbath.” To turn your back on the Sabbath is to turn your back on God, the Lord of the Sabbath. The meaning of “foot” in the text is implied. To abstain from feet means to refrain from arbitrariness on the Sabbath and from going to any place arbitrarily. We must tie our steps toward sin, toward pleasure, and our steps toward negligence and greed, to the feet of Jesus, and lead a life of walking at the same pace as Jesus went. On the Lord's Day, we should run a lot and walk a lot, but we should find and do things that please the Lord. We should gather together to worship and fellowship, study the Bible and visit the home, and practice godliness, such as comforting and giving relief to the sick, evangelism, prayer, and praise.
He also said, 'Do not engage in entertainment on the Lord's day.' Sunday is a day to meet God, a holy day, an honorable day, and a precious day. However, its meaning is gradually fading, and it is reduced to a day of play. But we must immerse ourselves in meeting God. This day is the most enjoyable and honorable day above all. This is not a boring, boring, burdensome, painful day. It is a happy and honorable day. Happy day. Just as the day to meet the person you love the most is a good day and a joyful and joyful day, the Lord's Day, the day to meet God, is a joyful day. Therefore, the Lord's Day should be better than meeting friends, better than going on a picnic, than going anywhere else.
In addition, he said, “Do not speak privately on the Lord’s day.” What this means is that you must not sin with your words. Especially on this day we must refrain from useless words, words of anger. Some words are poisonous to those who hear them, with fatal consequences. Moreover, words of anger are bound to hurt the listeners deeply. Therefore, please do not spend time gossiping or slandering others. Just as a stone unintentionally thrown into a lake can be a deadly weapon to a frog, a word thrown without thinking can shake a person's entire life. Therefore, on the Lord's Day of course, let's cover the faults of others and build them up. More love is better and less words are better.
If you keep the Lord's Day as a joyful and honorable day, you will be blessed.
Keeping the Lord's Day brings not only physical health, but also mental and spiritual health. In verse 14 of the text, three promises are recorded.
First, it is said that you will find joy in YHWH. If I do not regard the Lord's day as a day of torment and pain, but enjoy it, God will give me joy. If you feel tired of coming to church on a Sunday or come to church with reluctance or compulsion, but come with joy and joy and serve, faithful, and dedicate yourself, God will give you grace, give you peace, and prosper.
He also said, “I will lift you up on the high places of the earth.” If we keep the Lord's day as an honorable day, God will lift us up so that we can conquer places that are difficult to climb on our own and that are difficult to conquer with our own strength. Even if we do the Lord's work correctly and draw close to the Lord, the God who loves us very much will solve the problems we cannot solve on our own, and lift us up to a higher place.
He further said, “I will raise you up for the inheritance of your father Jacob.” As God promised to bless him, he blessed Jacob, protected him, protected him, and made him victorious. Dear brothers and sisters, to those who love the Lord and rejoice and honor the Lord's day, God gives greater blessings than the blessings that He gave Jacob. The text says, “The words of the mouth of YHWH.” This promise is God's faithful promise. It is not a passing word, it is not the word of a bluffer. It is the true word of God. Therefore, those who fully keep the Lord's day as a joyful and honorable day will receive a great inheritance (Isa 58:13-14) and the Promised Land (Nehemiah 9:14, 15). It will make you miserable. To rejoice and honor the Lord's Day is to rejoice and honor Jesus, the Lord of the day. Therefore, we must keep the Lord's Day, the day of meeting God, as the happiest and most joyful day, do good, and become saints who glorify Jesus, who loved and saved us. As the psalmist professed, may I be a saint who truly confesses that one day in the Lord's palace is better than a thousand elsewhere.