Northern Ireland v The Lord's Day

On 29th March the Northern Ireland football team will play their first ever home international on a Sunday with a European Championship qualifier against Finland. Whilst there have been several occasions in the past where Northern Ireland have played games abroad on the Lord's Day (including the 1982 World Cup where Glentoran winger Johnny Jameson would not play in the Sunday game against France), this will be the first occasion that international football has taken place at Windsor Park on a Sunday. Although this is a sad development it is hardly a surprising one as respect for the Lord's Day has been in rapid decline for many years, not only among the unsaved, but also among professed believers.

The Irish Football Association have stated that the scheduling of this game is beyond their control as the fixture dates are dictated by UEFA, and this may well be the case, however the lifting of the IFA's ban on Sunday football in 2007 cannot be ignored. Either way it is a matter about which Christians in Ulster should be grieved as it is further evidence of declining biblical standards in our land. The event does however also call us to consider our own attitude to the Lord's Day and contemplate how we have sought to keep it holy. It is clear that Northern Ireland as a whole is more and more rejecting the setting apart of one day in seven as holy to the Lord, the question is whether Christians have actually contributed to this decline.

Calling the Sabbath a delight

'If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it'. (Isaiah 58:13-14)

When the subject of the Sabbath is considered it is very often done from the negative point of view. The focus will be on what we ought not to do, those things which we should refrain from on the Lord's day. And it is true that observing the Sabbath does require us to cease from particular activities. In Exodus 20:10 the fourth commandment says of the Sabbath that 'in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:' Question number sixty one in the Shorter Catechism says that 'The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.' Clearly a right observance of the Sabbath includes ceasing from particular activities, yet if we only focus on the 'negative' commandments regarding the Sabbath then there is the danger that we will consider the Lord's Day in a negative light, and even regard it as an inconvenience. The prophet Isaiah says that we are to 'call the sabbath a delight'; it is a day which should be viewed positively by the Christian because of the great benefits which it holds.

The Christian living for the weekend

Many people today live for the weekend. Their employments and duties during the week can be endured only with the prospect of 5 o’clock on a Friday evening when they can once again engage in their social life. The entertainment of the world is all that keeps them going during the week; once Saturday night has ended it appears to them that those things which they enjoy most are finished for another week. Next Friday cannot arrive soon enough for them. When we make this statement you might imagine that we are referring to unbelievers, yet it is equally the case with many Christians. They too, like the world, look forward more than anything to those social events at the weekend when they can get back to enjoying themselves. Whilst a time of lawful recreation and relaxation is not to be denied, the spiritual benefit or appropriateness of that which many Christians involve themselves in is questionable to say the least. Are our weekends spent more in the company of the unsaved than with our fellow believers? Do we find ourselves at ease with, and desirous of the atmosphere and pleasures of the worlds entertainment? Is this not a cause for concern? The weekend ought to be a time that the Christian looks forward to, yet for a different reason to the world, for the reason that it includes that one day in seven set aside for the worship of God. Do we look forward to the weekend because we have a hunger for the preaching of God’s Word, or do we live for the weekend in the same manner as the world?