Keeping the Sabbath Holy to the Lord (Part 1)

Men, as husbands, fathers, and heads of households, you bear a unique responsibility for ensuring that your families follow the Lord:

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15)

One practical way to do this is by ensuring your families observe and keep the Lord’s Day. The Westminster Larger Catechism gives explicit instruction to heads of families on this matter: Q. 118: Why is the charge of keeping the Sabbath more specially directed to governors of families, and other superiors?

A. The charge of keeping the Sabbath is more specially directed to governors of families, and other superiors, because they are bound not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those that are under their charge; and because they are prone oft-times to hinder them by employments of their own.

Chapter 21 Paragraph 8 of the Westminster Confession of Faith gives practical and Biblical advice of how to keep the Sabbath day holy: This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs before-hand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up, the whole time, in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

This paragraph of the Confession contains five items which together form the way in which the Christian would keep the Sabbath holy. These five items can be grouped into a list of two: those responsibilities to be carried out before the Sabbath and those responsibilities to be carried out on the Sabbath. This is the first of two articles which break down these two groupings of responsibilities. This article will deal with those responsibilities to be carried out before the Sabbath: “the due preparing of their hearts” and “ordering of their common affairs before-hand.”

What does the “due preparing of [your] hearts” mean? For the Sabbath to truly be a day of rest and worship, it is essential to prepare your hearts beforehand. Johannes G. Vos, in his commentary on the Westminster Larger Catechism, writes that “We must prepare our hearts, that is, think about the Sabbath and its duties, privileges, and blessings, beforehand, so that we will be in a worshipful frame of mind on the Lord’s Day.”[1] Remember on Saturday that you are about to lead your families into the presence of the triune God the next morning. Do not take this lightly, but instead place upon it the heaviest of importance. It is easy for our minds to be full of worldly things which leads to our hearts being distracted on the day in which we should be worshipping and resting.

I would like to encourage you with a few practical ways to lead your families in preparing your hearts for the Lord’s Day:

1.     Shift the focus from worldly things to heavenly things

Begin directing the conversations with your family away from the concerns of the week and towards the things of God and worship. Most of you know the passage your pastor will be preaching on the next morning, so read that passage with your families the night before. Discuss the passage and pray for your pastor. Remind your children that the next day will be full of worship and rest. Pray that God will remove distractions from your minds the next day.

2.     Resolve as a family to make the Lord’s Day a day of worship and rest

One of the best things I learned in the Marine Corps is to never make a decision when you are going uphill. This means to resolve in your mind your course of action before the trial or hardship begins. The same is true of the Sabbath; resolve ahead of time that you and your family will make it a day of worship and rest. Do not wait to make that decision when you begin receiving invitations to football games and meals at restaurants. Resolve beforehand that you will not go to a restaurant or do chores on Sunday.

3.     Be reconciled to others before the Lord’s Day

If you have an issue with a brother or sister, seek them out and be reconciled before the Sabbath. Do this for the sake of unity in the church, the good of your own hearts, and so that you can both worship with a clear conscience the next day. Do this so your prayers and worship are not hindered.

Now, what does “ordering of [your] common affairs before-hand” mean? This means to make whatever arrangements are necessary to ensure that you can actually rest on the Lord’s Day. In Exodus 16:22-30, God gave the Israelites manna from heaven as food. In this passage, God tells them to gather in a double portion of food on the sixth day of the week so that they would have enough food for the Sabbath. Likewise, you are to prepare your affairs ahead of time for the Lord’s Day to ensure you do not have to work on that day.

There are some practical ways to lead your families in this responsibility:

1.     Complete your weekend chores on Friday and Saturday

If your car is low on fuel, fill it up on Saturday. If you know you need groceries for your meals on the Lord’s Day, go grocery shopping on Saturday. If your grass needs to be cut, do it on Saturday. Prepare your Monday work clothes on Saturday so you do not have to do it on the Sabbath. Carry out your responsibilities on Saturday so you are free to rest the next day. This also allows your minds to rest from worrying about these chores on Sunday.

2.     Prepare your body the day before the Sabbath

Have a night in at home on Saturday. Spend time with family and friends that evening in a relaxing atmosphere. Get a good night’s sleep on Saturday night after a hearty dinner. Eat a filling breakfast on the Lord’s Day to give you energy for worship. These things will help you enter into a worshipful and restful state of mind the next morning.

Gentlemen, remember that you bear a unique responsibility and calling to lead your families in all manner of things, one of which is leading them in keeping the Sabbath holy. As husbands, fathers, and heads of households, you set the spiritual tone in your families. If you have been neglecting the Lord’s Day with your family, let this be the day in which you resolve to keep it. Act like men, mount up, and observe the Sabbath with your families.

Part Two will deal with the three responsibilities you are to carry out on the Lord’s Day itself.

[1] Johannes G. Vos, The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary, ed. G. I. Williamson (Philipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002), 328. 

Jared Dean serves as Assistant Pastor of Liberty Presbyterian Church in Owings Mills, MD, as a police officer and chaplain with a county police department in Maryland, and serves as an editor of Reforming Men.