The Most Important Day of the Week
Preparing Hearts and Homes for the Lord's Day
Every Saturday, we prepare for the Lord’s Day—we prepare all the things we need, and we also prepare our hearts and minds. The Lord’s Day is a special and set-aside day by the Lord Himself. It is a day of rest from our labors, refreshment through like-minded fellowship, revival in our hearts through worship, renewal of our minds through the preaching of the Word, repentance of our sins, and remembering the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection as we take the Lord’s Supper together each week. We get 52 of these most glorious days each year, and we should make the most of them. The Lord’s Day is an important means of grace and growth that God has commanded us to keep.
The Baptist Catechism explains it this way:
63.Q. What is the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy: six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Ex. 20:8-11).64.Q. What is required in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God such set times as He hath appointed in His word, expressly, one whole day in seven to be a holy sabbath to Himself (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-14).65.Q. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?
A. Before the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-14); and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath (Ps. 118:24; Mt. 28:1; Mk. 2:27, 28; Jn. 20:19, 20, 26; Rev. 1:10; Mk. 16:2; Lk. 24:1, 30-36; Jn. 20:1; Acts 1:3; 2:1, 2; 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1, 2).66.Q. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?
A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day (Ex. 20:8, 10), even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days (Ex. 16:25-28; Neh. 13:15-22); and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship (Lk. 4:16; Acts 20:7; Ps. 92:title; Is. 66:23), except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy (Mt. 12:1-13).67.Q. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless performance of the duties required (Ez. 22:26; Amos 8:5; Mal. 1:13), and the profaning the day by idleness (Acts 20:7, 9), or doing that which is in itself sinful (Ez. 23:38), or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about worldly employments or recreations (Jer 17:24-27; Is. 58:13).68.Q. What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, are God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own lawful employments (Ex. 20:9), his challenging a special propriety in a seventh, his own example, and his blessing the Sabbath day (Ex. 20:11).
Source The Baptist Catechism - Founders Ministries
What this looks like in our home.
Gathering with the church is the highlight of our family’s week, and I believe it should be for all Christians. If I could encourage families to prioritize anything, it would be finding a biblically sound local body to gather with each Lord’s Day and then centering your life around the weekly Lord’s Day gathering, fellowship, community, and serving that body of believers together as a family. This is, hands down, the most impactful action that has grown my husband and myself in the Lord. And it is meant to be that way; the Lord designed His Church to be His Body here on earth. It is worth moving to another state, taking a lower-paying job, living in a smaller house, and being separated from extended family to have a good and biblical church. It is much more important than any of those other things; all of those things will pass away, but the Church will be together for eternity and will impact eternity.
So this is how we live our lives, and it has blessed us immensely. It isn’t always easy, and sometimes it takes dying to self and reminding ourselves that this really is the most important thing that we will do this week, even when our hearts are tempted to be lazy or complacent in our preparations or even our attendance.
As a pastor’s family, we do carry some extra responsibilities, but the Lord has graciously used that extra work to remind me of the spiritual preparations that we should be doing each Saturday as well. So, while I am overseeing my children to make sure there are enough paper plates, plastic silverware, and communion cups, I’m seeking to set aside my thoughts about homeschooling and homemaking and blogging, and YouTube, etc.… I’m working to turn down the noise of my weekly employments. As we load heavy totes filled with Psalters and hymnals into our van alongside the musical instruments, I seek to set my mind on things above and not on the things of earth. As I prepare the fellowship meal and load it into the crockpot, I prepare my heart by praying and asking the Lord to begin working in me now. As I pack the diaper bag and lay out the children’s clothing, I pray for either my husband or the other elder who will be preaching, I pray for my brothers and sisters who will be gathering, and I pray for blessings on our day and on our church.
Do I do this perfectly every Saturday? Not even close, but this is the goal and what my heart desires. This is what I’m pursuing because I know it matters for my own heart, for my family, and for my church, and most importantly—it matters to the Lord because He has commanded it.
Admonishment
Maybe you have never given much thought to preparing your heart for the Lord’s Day each week.
Maybe this is the first time you are learning about the Lord’s Day.
Maybe you used to prepare for and prioritize the Lord’s Day, but you’ve fallen into poor patterns of working and planning and playing right up until time to put on your Sunday best and head out the door. It’s easy to fall into bad habits.
Can I gently nudge you to create space for this weekly habit of preparing your home and heart for the Lord’s Day? It is so good and such a blessing when we follow the Lord’s design and set aside this one day in seven; we give it completely to Him, and in order to do that thoroughly, we will need to prepare logistically and spiritually. Sabbath doesn’t just happen—it’s something you have to pursue.
Practical Help
If you don’t know where to start, don’t worry, I’ve got you.
Here are a few journal prompts to help you make a shift into preparing for and prioritizing the Lord’s Day in your home. Grab your journal and process these things. Set some goals and start working towards them.
Prompt 1:
What physical things do I need to prepare ahead of time so that Sunday can be a day of rest and focus on the Lord?
Here are a few possibilities:
· Pre-make your meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). You could load the crockpot with lunch, make ahead some protein muffins, and set aside some fruit for breakfast. You could have a stash of pre-made freezer meals that you pull from each Sunday evening and simply pop in the oven.
· Get caught up on housework so that you will only have to do what’s necessary and the mess won’t be giving you anxiety or stress to look at.
· Lay out all the clothing you will need; go ahead and find the toddler’s shoes so that extra stress won’t be a distraction at the last minute on Sunday morning.
· Pack the diaper bag and your Bible bag and set them by the door.
Prompt 2:
What activities would help you and your family prepare your hearts?
Here are a few possibilities:
· Spending time reading the text of Scripture that will be preached on.
· Setting aside time to confess any sin from that week that is weighing on your conscience and hindering your fellowship with the Lord.
· Waking early on Sunday morning to get some time alone with the Lord before the hustle and bustle of getting everyone ready to go out the door.
· Playing worship music or instrumental hymns while everyone gets ready on Sunday morning.
· Praying for your church and your pastor.
· Praying for other churches and missionaries around the world who will also be gathering on the Lord’s Day, especially lifting up those experiencing persecution and who are risking their lives to gather with the body.
Prompt 3:
Other than attending church and gathering with the local body, what are some other ways you can spend your time on the Lord’s Day?
· Singing Psalms and hymns together as a family the night before or morning of before you leave the house.
· Working on a catechism with your children.
· Reading the Scriptures together as a family and discussing them, allowing the children to ask their questions about the Bible and taking the time to answer, even if that means studying and learning together.
· You could go do an act of mercy or service to help another believer in need.
· You could go do evangelism and share the gospel.
· You could write a letter to encourage another believer, missionary, or pastor.
· You could also simply rest—take a nap, take a walk in nature, sit outside and listen to the birds and bugs chirping and singing.
Have a Blessed Lord’s Day!
Sweet sisters, tomorrow is the Lord’s Day so let’s prepare our homes and hearts for this beautiful and holy day! I hope this helps you to do so, and if you’re reading this a little too late, then keep it handy because the Lord’s Day happens every week!
I pray you have a blessed Lord’s Day tomorrow and that this post was a blessing to you!
Abiding in Christ,
Stacey
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