O Worship the LORD in the Beauty of Holiness

THE REFORMERS & THE SABBATH

This Reformation Sunday, Ps. Charles will be teaching about the Protestant Reformation during the Sunday School Open Sunday. For our weekly chat, the topic is about the sabbath and the practice of having an Evening Service, something that the reformers were very familiar with. 

So, from W. Robert Godfrey, we shall see his answer to the question “Is there a Biblical warrant for Sunday evening worship?” As he answers this question, we will get an idea of the reformers’ attitudes regarding the Sabbath. He gave some good suggestions on how to spend the Sabbath, even as a family 

I choose to share this article because I think it would also help us to have a meaningful in-person and on-site prayer meeting on the first Sunday evening of the month. So, it is my prayer that the 3 minutes you spend reading this article would help you consider coming to our church Sunday Evening prayer meeting as one of the better ways to end the LORD’s Day.

– Joel Seah

Is there biblical warrant for Sunday evening worship?

by W. Robert Godfrey

When people ask, “Should we have two services on the Lord’s Day?” my inclination is to say that I think we as the people of God ought to rise up in righteous revolt against the parsimony of our preachers and ask, “Why can’t we have three?” The day belongs to the Lord. We rest on that day, we worship on that day, and surely it’s a good thing to have morning and evening worship. Presumably, it would be an even better thing to have an afternoon service as well. 

I’m being a little bit facetious. The spirit may be willing, but the flesh may be weak. And I don’t think there is a verse—not even Psalm 92 that talks about morning and evening sacrifice on the Sabbath—I don’t think that’s actually a proof text for evening worship. 

I do think it’s a prudential matter, and I think if we are committed to Sunday as a Christian Sabbath—which I think we ought to be as a day belonging to the Lord for distinct resting in Him and worshiping Him—then we have to ask, “How should that day be used?” And it ought to be used in rest, Christian fellowship, and service, but also in worship. 

If it is to be used in worship, then we have to ask ourselves, “How much worship is good for us?” And, speaking as a historian, one of the things that strikes me is that I think you can draw a pretty close corollary between the decline of Sunday evening worship in Christian churches in America and a decline in Bible knowledge, a decline in disciplined Christian living, a decline in Sabbath observance, and a decline of general cultural influence. 

I don’t see how any good thing has come out of abandoning Sunday evening worship. What are you all doing with your Sunday evenings? Are you all sitting at home and watching Ligonier DVDs? As long as you don’t buy them on Sunday that might be legitimate. But I mean that as a very serious question. If Sunday is the day for the Lord, what are we doing with our Sundays? And how are we using our Sundays to draw closer to the Lord? 

I have met in my lifetime one or two people who did not go to church Sunday night who were home studying the Bible and catechizing their children, and I don’t know that I necessarily want to criticize those people. But most people who are not going to church Sunday night are not going to church and not doing really spiritual things with that time. 

I want to blame particularly—not exclusively, but I want to blame particularly the ministers who too often find life easier if they write one sermon a week instead of two. They are giving in to pressure very often from people. And I think any of us would know if you went to a teacher of algebra in high school and said, “We want you to produce students knowing just as much algebra as they always learned, but we’re giving you half as much time to teach them,” that you would end up with a lot of trouble. But that is what we’re doing in our churches for, as far as I can see, no good reason at all. 

Church history isn’t useful for much other than illustrations, but it’s very interesting that the great Synod of Dort, which was an international gathering of Calvinist theologians and ministers in the early seventeenth century, was asked the question, “What should we do if nobody wants to attend the second service?” (So at least we can be comforted it’s not a new problem.) And the answer of the Synod of Dort was that the second service must be held even if only the preacher’s family is in attendance. That advice was taken, and the Dutch Reformed in the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth-century became a very Sabbath-keeping, worshipful, and Bible-knowing people because of that advice, in part, being taken. 

My feeling is, no, you are not absolutely required to go to church on Sunday the second time. But what are you doing with that time? Use it for the Lord, with the Lord, and tell your preacher you want two or maybe three sermons a Sunday. 

(Lightly edited for readability, this is a transcript of W. Robert Godfrey’s answer given at the 2017 National Conference of Ligonier Ministries.)

Here are other useful resources on this topic:

1. Recovering the Lost Treasure of Lord’s Day Evening Worship

https://gospelreformation.net/recovering-the-lost-treasure-of-lords-day-evening-worship/ 

2. Let us keep our evening service.

https://opc.org/new_horizons/evening_service.html 

3. A Call to preserve the evening worship services.

(https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2024/a-call-to-preserve-evening-worship-services/?srsltid=AfmBOopfQV0-S0YLX_e84IbuhcNppxTHJoo0DpfPu-j0Hpgte0o_qHtm) 

Shorter Catechism Question 19

19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

Appointments for the Week

Monday, Oct 28

        7.30 pm     No ERBL Lecture

Tuesday, Oct 29

        8.00 pm     Prayer Meeting (Mok Chee Cheong)

Thursday, Oct 31

      10.00 am     Ladies’ Prayer Group

        7.30 pm     ERBL: The Book of Proverbs (Rev Lim Chee Boon)

Saturday, Nov 2

      10.00 am     FEK Concert (Sanctuary)

        4.00 pm     SF Meeting

Sunday, Nov 3

  8.00 am Stand Firm Against Satan’s Schemes Nehemiah 6:1-19 (Rev Charles Seet)

  8.00 am Choir Practice

  9.15 am Library (Sanctuary Balcony)

  9.40 am Sunday School

10.15 am Coffee Corner

11.00 am Stand Firm Against Satan’s Schemes Nehemiah 6:1-19 (Rev Charles Seet, with Holy Communion)

11.00 am Children’s Ministry

11.00 am Chinese Service (MPH)

12.15 pm Library (Sanctuary Balcony)

  2.30 pm Thai Service (LMH)

  4.00 pm Indonesian Service (Rm 1-6)

  5.00 pm In-Person Church Prayer Meeting (Rm 2-1)

Announcements

In-Person Church Prayer Meeting

Date: 3 November 2024 (Next Sunday)

Time: 5.00pm

Venue: Beulah Room 2-1

Door to Door Evangelism

3 November 2024 (Next Sunday)

Meet in Beulah Room 2-11, 12.30pm

Contact: Desmond or Amos 

Traffic Warden Service

We welcome all church members to join in this work. Our TW’s role is to provide godly service to facilitate worship. We need help in following time slots for Sunday: 7.30-8am or 10.30-11am with a frequency of once or twice a month.
Please contact Dn Chan Yong  or Bro Kelvin

Senior Fellowship Quarterly Meeting

Date: 2 November 2024 (this Saturday) at MPH

Time: 2.30pm to 5.30pm followed by dinner

Speaker: Rev Philip Heng

Topic: Behold I come quickly (Rev 22:12)

Register with Ong Beng Hong or Lee Chee Weng ). 

Holy Communion Elements Preparation

Lifers are invited to serve in the Holy Communion elements preparation, clean-up and washing.

Those interested may contact Jenny or Wendy .

Mailbox Club Bible Correspondence Course (MBCC)

Another Church Outreach Ministry invites Lifers to register their young children, teens, or grandchildren with our MBCC. Those whose loved ones, friends or colleagues who are either young in their faith or being non-believers, are interested to know and explore more of Christianity, are also invited to register with us by filling in the registration forms which are now available at the Church front counter and post them to:

Life B-P Church

No.10, Gilstead Road

Singapore 309064

Attention: Mrs Ong Chuay Yin 

MM Thanksgiving Meeting

23 Nov 2024 @ Beulah MPH, 4pm. “Were there not ten?” by Bro Joel Seah

YLM: Word made Flesh, Food made Fresh

21 Dec 2024 @ Life B-P Church Beulah MPH. 6.30pm. An evening of feasting, fellowship, and the Good News of Jesus Christ. All are welcome! 

LTF Camp: Sed or Blessed

2-6 Dec 2024 @ Life B-P Church. Age Grp: 12-17. Speaker: Rev David Wong

YF Camp: To live is Christ, to die is gain

16-20 Dec 2024 @ Life B-P Church. Age Grp: 16-25. Speaker: Eld Chin Hoong Chor. 

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