Wednesday, August 27th

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Wednesday, August 27

Nehemiah 10:28-39

“The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God's Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes. We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day.

Over the past decade or so pastors like me have noticed an interesting trend in their congregations. The simplest way to summarize the trend is that people are attending weekend worship services with less frequency than they did just a few years ago.

Just 10-15 years ago the average “church family” attended weekend worship just over twice a month. Now before you start to argue with me about that, remember that I am talking about attendance over a whole calendar year, including summers, spring break and Christmas vacation. The numbers were very consistent year after year. Another way to say it is, on any given weekend we had just over half of our total church family in attendance. If there were 4000 people worshiping over Easter weekend (Easter is a time when pretty much the whole church family shows up), the very next weekend that number would drop to right around 2000.

But just a few years ago we noticed the pattern starting to change. Now the average family attends a little less than twice a month; and on any given weekend we have only about 45% of our church family in attendance. So if Easter weekend saw worship attendance of 4000, the very next weekend would drop to about 1800 or so.

So one of the curious things happening at FBCG these days is that we are growing as a church family - we can tell through giving and a few other metrics - but our weekend worship attendance is flat or slightly declining.

What is going on?

While we don’t understand all the dynamics fully, the simplest explanation is that we live in a hyper-busy suburban subculture that no longer respects Sunday as a day reserved for rest and worship. Between work and kids sports there’s always something competing for time on weekends, so it is more and more difficult to make corporate worship a priority.

Another factor is that technology now allows us to watch sermons on line after the fact, or give our offerings at times other than Sunday morning; and with many mid-week ministry options available, we don’t feel like we miss very much by missing a weekend worship service.

So what do we make of all this; and what guidance can we get from God’s word?

Here we notice that Nehemiah is clearly calling people back to a commitment to observe the Sabbath day as a holy day.

And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day.

He is reminding the people of God’s commandment back in Exodus:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  Exodus 20:8-11

God wanted his people to know the importance of resting from their work to worship together and to experience the holiness and comfort of his presence.

Then Jesus further explains the purpose of the Sabbath in the New Testament when he says:

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27

Jesus was teaching that God established the Sabbath for our benefit not just as a religious law to be kept. Sabbath is about refreshing and enriching our relationship with our God through worship, praise, celebration and rest.

Back to the trend of decreasing church attendance. I think Jesus would be concerned about that trend. But I don’t think he would be concerned because, as Christians, we are supposed to go to church! I don’t think he would throw the Sabbath commandment at us and say, “Hey, go to church because I said so!” That’s what legalism would say, but it’s not what Jesus would say.

I think Jesus would be concerned because he knows what the hectic pace of our culture does to our souls and our relationships. I think Jesus wants us to want to come to church! I think he would say something like, “What could be better than acknowledging the glory of  God in the company of a worshiping church? What have you found to do with your weekends that is better than that?”

Is our busy suburban North American culture increasingly robbing us of our weekends? Yes, it is.

Can we worship God on Tuesday, by ourselves, while walking on a bike trail? Absolutely! Do we have to go to church in order to receive God’s grace and salvation? No.

So why is it important to gather with the body of Christ as often as we can to share worship together?

Perhaps Jesus said it best:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Pastor Brian Coffey