Romans 14:5-6 — One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
I’ve written before about the official Southern Baptist position on the topic that was traditionally called “Lord’s Day observance”. I pretty much agree with that position, but every so often I like to examine Sunday from one angle or another. Today, I want to talk abut Sunday grace.
I’m going to beg a little forgiveness here, and say that I pretty much see the Lord’s Day (Sunday) for Christians as equivalent to the Sabbath (Saturday) for Jews. If you want to chastise me, or disagree with me, feel free — but I will take the liberty of adopting some if Jesus’s sayings about the Sabbath and apply them to the Lord’s Day. In particular, I think it’s fair to reckon that when We read “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” we can assume He would have said the same about Sunday.
One of the differences between Old Testament Judaism and New Testament Christianity, it seems to me, is that Judaism is very prescriptive about how life should be lived, whereas Christianity provides a framework on the foundation of grace and expects the believer to decide what that says about how life should be lived. This distinction can be clearly seen when instructions for the seventh day are considered. The Jew has precise instructions to follow. The Christian has the merest hints for guidance.
The plainest thing that I can see is that the Christian should not regard himself (or herself!) as bound by a “rule” to do anything special on Sunday — or on any other day.
Some of the clues I see are as follows.
— We should, so far as we are able, neither work nor force others to work.
— We should join with other believers in worship.
— We should not use “it’s Sunday” as an excuse for not serving others.
You may find other clues which I have missed, and which you feel led by the Holy Spirit to take as directions for your Lord’s Day observance. Excellent! But keep in mind that you must “be fully persuaded in your mind” — just and I am fully persuaded in my mind. If you regard the day unto The Lord, you will do well.