The Lord's Day is a Demand to Repent

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exod 20:8).

Great point to reflect upon from John Piper as we approach the Lord's Day. On the issue of why so many seem to regard the priority of the Lord's Day and the sabbath command as a burden, Piper responds:

The reason that so many people feel it as a burden is partly that we have so much leisure, we don't feel the need for the sabbath rest; but more important, I think, is the fact that not many people really enjoy what God intended us to enjoy on the sabbath, namely, himself. Many professing Christians enjoy sports and television and secular books and magazines and recreation and hobbies and games far more than they enjoy direct interaction with God in his Word or in worship or in reading Christian books or in meditative strolls.

Therefore, inevitably people whose hearts are set more on the pleasures of the world than on the enjoyment of God will feel the sabbath command as a burden not a blessing. This is what John says in 1 John 5:3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." The measure of your love for God is the measure of the joy you get in focusing on him on the day of rest. For most people the sabbath command is really a demand to repent. It invites us to enjoy what we don't enjoy and therefore shows us the evil of hearts, and our need to repent and be changed.

- "Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy"

In a climate of leisure and recreation - and that being in the Church, as much as outside it - the command for direct communion with God is indeed "a demand to repent." Given my own propensity to enjoy the world before the Savior, I am grateful for the weekly call to trust that what He offers is more than any other.

Related Posts:

• Holiday or Holy Day?
• Fight the Despising of the Lord's Day
• Guarding the Lord's Day for Kids
• Approaching the Lord's Day

We Are Not the First Readers

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers (Eph 4:10).


Presuming objectivity appears to be a leading occupational hazard for biblical scholars. For example, consider this recent reflection from a well-known NT commentator and scholar:

As a professional biblical scholar, I always try hard to resist falling into such 'ruts,' though I am much aware of my fallibility in this respect. My goal, at least, is always to let scriptural exegesis more than presuppositions, 'functional nonnegotiables,' or theological traditions determine my conclusions.

I actually laughed out-loud when I read that line, "As a professional biblical scholar..."! There's even a little " :)" in the margin of the book to mark the moment of hilarity.

What tickled my funny-bone is that the guild of "professional biblical scholar" is wedded to more presuppositions and "nonnegotiables" than any other demographic of Bible-readers. Do not misunderstand, holding tenaciously to presuppositions is essential to the scholar's job security, advancement, and plain ol' r-e-s-p-e-c-t from their peers. Just because their presuppositions do not appear in any creed or confessional statement does not mean they are objective (as they strangely often assume).

So, for this reason, I was so refreshed to read the following in the introduction of Thomas Schreiner, Galatians (my copy arrived on Saturday to great fanfare!):

Amazingly, Gordon Fee writes from quite a different perspective, saying that his goal is to help people read Galatians 'as if the Reformation had never happened' [citing Fee, Galatians [2007), p. 1). On the one hand, Fee's goal is laudable. He wants to read the text on its own terms. On the other hand, it is remarkably naive and ahistorical, for he pretends that he can read Galatians as a neutral observer of the text apart from the history of the church. I am not suggesting that we must read Galatians in defense of the Reformation, nor am I denying that the Reformation may be askew in some of its emphases. But it must be acknowledged that none of us can read Galatians as if the Reformation never occurred. Such a reading is five hundred years too late. Nor can we read Galatians as if the twentieth century never happened or apart from the works of Ignatius, Irenaeus, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, and the like. We can consider whether Reformation emphases were wrong (I will argue that they were not), but what we cannot do is read Galatians as if we were the first readers (p. 21).

Preach it, brother! It takes courage for a "professional biblical scholar" like Schreiner to write that paragraph. Courage he likewise showed in the preface, when he wrote:

I know it is out of fashion in some circles, but it seems to me that Martin Luther and John Calvin were substantially right in their interpretation of the letter and that their pastoral application of the letter still stands today (p. 13).

I can already tell, this commentary is going to be worth every penny.

But more to the point, not only can we never read Galatians as if we were the first readers, but we should not even lament this fact! We are privileged to stand on the shoulders of two millennia of faithful Christian teachers who yet lead and equip us by their writings.

They are gifts to the Church, and gifts not to be implicitly despised under the guise of presumed objectivity.

Israel: Careful Divine Crafting

He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut 26:9).


Once again from Beitzel's Moody Atlas (see preceding posts: 1, 2, & 3):

God prepared the Promised Land for His chosen people to the same degree that He prepared His chosen people for the Promised Land. Although various biblical accounts and theological statements rightly describe how God set about preparing the Israelites to become the special benefactors of His grace by reason of inheriting the land, the following discussion will underscore that it was a certain kind of land that was selected and prepared by God, positioned at a particular spot, and designed to elicit a specific and appropriate response. In fact, God's craftsmanship has been vividly manifested both in the character of His chosen people and in the characteristics of His chosen land. He has been at work in both history and geography. A most helpful insight is lost for one who fails to realize that the Promised Land itself has been the object of careful divine crafting (p. 27).

Even though it goes without saying, it is often helpful just to say it: our God leaves nothing to chance. The Land of Promise is at the very center of the world (here) and devoid of nearly all natural resource and defense (here) in order to fulfill His design. Specifically, that the people of promise might come to trust the God who had promised.

I was struck by that point again while reading Deuteronomy 26 - 29 this week. In this lengthy enumeration of the blessings and curses of the Mosaic covenant, Israel was reminded that their flourishing in that Land would never be owed to their own "military prowess nor environmental ingenuity," but their faith in their Covenant Lord.

If God's people trusted their God who redeemed and delivered them,

The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD , and they will be afraid of you (28:9-10)

However, if they trusted in their own ability or ingenuity,

The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand... It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the LORD your God has given you (vv. 49, 52; emphasis added).

Many, many instructions are given to us about the Lord's providential ordering of our lives today. Maybe some further thoughts on them later.

Israel: The Land that Fosters Faith

We continue our thoughts from yesterday's post on God's sovereign strategy in the Promised Land. Specifically, what was the salvific intention behind Israel's geography?

Again, Beitzel's observations are helpful:

Unquestionably during the biblical period, the destiny of this tiny but strategic land was largely one determined by outsiders... [survey of ANE Empires].

Consequently, someone living in this land unavoidably was faced with a combination of geographic and military hostility. Possessing meager physical and economic resources and being inescapably caught in a maelstrom of political upheaval, one residing in these surroundings, even under ideal circumstances, might have been able to eke out the barest of existence. Life in this land would have been simple, mystifying and precarious. In the final analysis, survival in such terrain depended upon neither military prowess nor environmental ingenuity... In a word, this was a land that fostered faith.

- Moody Atlas of Bible Lands, pp. 26-27.

Israel: The "Land Bridge" at the Center

Now the LORD said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country... to the land which I will show you' (Gen 12:1).


"From Dan to Beersheba" (e.g., Judges 20:1; 1 Sam 3:20) is a land of admittedly small significance in terms of its size, natural resources, and even its inhabitants from ancient times up to the present-day. A very unlikely place for the Holy Land. Yet, as we posted yesterday, Scripture testifies that it lies at the very center of humanity and the world.

Barry Beitzel, in his superb Moody Atlas of Bible Lands, comments on the counter-intuitive prominence of the Promised Land:

At first blush, therefore, this stretch of geography would seem to be an unlikely candidate to become the center stage for a divine drama that would eventually affect all of humanity.

Upon closer examination, however, one discovers that this land mass is poised in an amazingly strategic position. Actually the Promised Land represents the only intercontinental land bridge that connects Africa with Asia and Europe, and that links the Indian Ocean, via the Red Sea, with the Atlantic Ocean, through the corridor of the Mediterranean. Since high antiquity, mighty powers with international political and economic aspirations have been positioned at either end of the bridge. What happened in Palestine was almost always a reflection of what was occurring or had just occurred in one of Israel's neighboring countries. It was on this land bridge that east met west (pp. 25-26).

Why did our God select this land as the stage for His redeeming purposes? It is at the intersection of humanity; a land bridge connecting society to society and - by His sovereign design - reconnecting men to their God.


NB: You cannot do much better than Beitzel's Atlas. We have found it a trustworthy companion in study, as well as travel to Israel itself.

And, even better, Beitzel gave it a full revision and update two years ago as The New Moody Atlas of Bible Lands. You can read reviews of this new edition by Todd Bolen (biblical geography scholar) and Kevin DeYoung (pastor).

Jerusalem on the Big Screen

Jerusalem is a new IMAX film, slated to release in 2013. You can view the short trailer online or below. It takes some sweeping vistas from Caesarea, to the Dead Sea and Masada, down the Jordan to Galilee, with the Capernaum synagogue on its northeastern shore, and over the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem itself. Some great shots - and memories, from our own visit in 2007.

And, despite the implicit comment at the introduction to the above-trailer, Jerusalem still is the center of the world.

Jerusalem | Filmed in Imax 3D from JerusalemGiantScreen on Vimeo.

Note: If you are able, save and plan to visit Israel. It is indispensable to seeing much of the biblical narrative in "full color." Or, as Todd Bolen has remarked, "Go on a Study Tour of Israel. I wouldn’t say that one cannot teach the Bible without such a study, but neither would I say that a one-legged man cannot snow ski."

Schedule It on Saturday

I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day... (Rev 1:10)


Since we brought up the topic of Father's Day yesterday, would you kindly consider joining a new movement? Right now, it's just me and the family I shepherd, so there is plenty of room for grassroots activists! For the time-being, we're calling this movement "Schedule it on Saturday."

Specifically targeting Christians, this is largely a movement of awareness; that the smorgasbord of American celebrations (i.e., Father's Day, Mother's Day, etc.) may be observed on Saturday. Practically, it does not really involve much additional planning, you just... schedule it on Saturday.

Just move it up one day. Even if you risk disappointing "Dad" on Father's Day (and, equally, "Mom" in May). In fact, that simple disappointment might actually preach the Gospel (a la Matt 10:37-39; Luke 14:26-27).

As you can see, our platform at "Schedule it for Saturday" is simple: the first day of the week has been named by God's Word as the Lord's Day. And what a testimony to the Gospel of Christ to prohibit other recreations or celebrations from crowding-out all that we give to and receive from our Father (Mal 2:10) on His day.

We have yet to secure a lobbyist yet, but I know a few, so we'll see where this goes.