Sunday night is the sweetest church
service of the week. In Bible college, it was my one service of the week to
simply enjoy church. I would show up two hours early, at 5 PM, sit down in the
silence, and let my soul rest and prepare to hear from the Lord. As a pastor
now for the last 25 years, I have had my share of difficult seasons, entire
years where the Sunday night service was nothing more than depressing. But fighting
through that made it all the more sweet when we finally got it humming. Now for
the past decade or so, it has been sweet indeed.
The simple truth is our Lord has commanded
His people to gather together more as we get closer to His coming (Hebrews
10.25). More, not less. Yet all across America the Sunday night service is
withering. What mainline churches abandoned a century ago, and conservative
churches laid aside a couple of decades ago, independent Baptist churches are
now letting go as well. Gently, but letting go nonetheless under the guise of “family
time” or small groups or this or that the other. I realize it is often an
uphill struggle to establish a thriving Sunday night service. I will speak more
to how to do that next week. But in today’s post I want to give you some of the
many reasons Sunday night is the sweetest service of the week.
First, it is the sweetest service of the
week because the Lord’s day is not the Lord’s morning. Yes, I am one of those
people who believe Sunday is the Lord’s day (Revelation 1.10). No, it is
not the Sabbath. It is the first day of the week, set aside specifically by the
New Testament church in honor of Christ’s resurrection on the first day of the
week, Sunday. Each Sunday, morning and evening, I am privileged to assemble
with God’s people in remembrance and celebration of our Saviour’s triumph.
Second, it is the sweetest service of
the week because more preaching is better than less preaching. It pleased the
Lord to reach us and change us through the foolishness of preaching (I
Corinthians 1.18). I cannot speak for other men but I do take the liberty
of speaking for myself – I think my best preaching is my Sunday night
preaching. And I think the messages I have heard from other men on Sunday
nights are generally their best preaching. I have my opinion as to why that is,
but regardless of that opinion or whether I am correct that it is generally
good preaching it is at the least, preaching. Preaching is wonderful. The
saints crave it. The sinners fear it. The Lord uses it. Sunday night means
preaching, and that makes it sweet.
Third, it is the sweetest service of the
week because we get to participate in the offering. Giving is an act of
worship. It is not a commercial, a pause in the service while people re-arrange
themselves for what comes next. The New Testament church service was preaching,
music, fellowship, and giving. God has been so good to provide for my needs
through these years. It is a privilege to honor Him with my substance by
participating in the offering.
Fourth, it is the sweetest service of the
week because the shift worker is able to attend. Some people are blessed with a
Monday through Friday, nine to five job. Many are not. Many of God’s people,
though they desire differently, are forced to work on Sunday morning. Having a Sunday
night service allows them also to observe the Lord’s day, and that is sweet.
Fifth, it is the sweetest service of the
week because people from area churches that desire more preaching yet do not
have a Sunday night service are able to attend. I said above, the saints love
preaching. There is something in us that stirs with anticipation when it is time
for preaching. Like a baby bird, we sit there with open mouths and wait eagerly
for the Lord to fill them. God has many good people in churches other than the
independent Baptist kind. Those churches are often the kind that have
mistakenly laid aside the Sunday night service. I long ago lost track of the
number of times such precious people have walked into our church building of a
Sunday night, sheer delight written across their face as they soak in their
second church service of the day. Sweet indeed.
Sixth, it is the sweetest service of the
week because the whole family can be there. Father. Mother. Children all lined
up in a row. Sharing the same pew, the same hymnbook, turning in their
dog-eared King James Bibles together, having church together. I am not against age-specific
ministries in churches. We have them and I think they have their place. But if the
children are separated from their parents in Sunday School, in the mid-week
service, and again during the Sunday morning service when do they ever get to
sit together as a family? Their concept of church is childish at best, a series
of events catered to them. In such churches, something valuable is lost. As a
pastor’s son, I can count on one hand the number of times I was able to sit
with my father in church. I treasured it. I want that for the families who attend
the Bible Baptist Church in Dubuque. It is good churching, good childing, and
good parenting to share a pew with your entire family every Sunday night.
Seventh, it is the sweetest service of
the week because the whole church family is there. Our desire to minister to
people’s needs has produced a concept of church in which God’s best servants,
those with a heart to serve Him by serving people, are generally busy in other
ways during many of the church services. Yet on Sunday night almost all of that
pauses. Almost everyone who gathers does so in the same room. The family is
together. Like Sunday dinner, when everyone’s schedule finally permits them to
gather round the table, it is sweet.
Eighth, it is the sweetest service of the
week because the more spiritual church members are there. The service is open
to all, but at the risk of being criticized (a risk I accept) I assert that the
more carnal of God’s children generally confine themselves to the Sunday
morning service only. No, I cannot measure any man’s spirituality by his church
attendance. That is ever and always a matter of the heart. But I can measure
when it is absent. If I choose to purposely absent myself from assembling with
God’s people, and I do so on a consistent basis I evidence nothing more than a
lack of desire for God and the things of God. The saints do not have to be
begged or badgered to attend. They delight in that which Jesus shed His blood
for. They come early and stay late on Sunday night. Voices are lifted in song.
Smiles glow. Amen’s echo around the auditorium. Verily, sometimes I think
Heaven is just one big Sunday night church service. How sweet such services
are!
Ninth, it is the sweetest service of
the week because there is not a time limit. In Sunday School, in order to be
organized, everyone must dismiss on time. On Wednesday night, logic tells us
people must get up early for work and school the next day so we are conscious
of the time. On Sunday morning, lunch beckons. As a pastor, in each of those
services I watch the clock. I give myself a time limit, follow a schedule
almost to a T. But on Sunday night all of that goes out the window. I preach
until I am done. And God’s people soak it in and want more. I about preach
myself to death of a Sunday night and they listen like their life depends on
it. It is a labor of love on both sides, a sweet mingling of giving and
receiving, of teaching and learning, of sowing and growing.
Tenth, it is the sweetest service of the
week because it builds a committed church. As American society moves further
and further away from a biblical perspective it manifests itself in a variety
of ways. The ugliness of our political discourse. The violence on our
inner-city streets. The rise of drug addiction. Young people routinely
dishonoring their parents. Greed in business. Corruption in the legislature.
Pride marches. Ball fields full on Sunday while churches are empty. Decreasing
enrollment in Bible colleges. And a thousand other ways.
One of those ways is a decrease in
commitment. Divorce abounds. Job changes proliferate. Quitting anytime
something becomes hard is a veritable pandemic. Including church. It is one
thing to get people involved; it is entirely a different matter to bring them
to the place of commitment. Yet how does this generation of American pastors seek
to produce commitment? By asking less than ever from their church people – less
time in service, less money in the offering plate, and less services in the
pew. Newsflash: you will never raise commitment by lowering the bar. You only
raise commitment when you raise the bar. Troops do not advance when you bring
the flag back to their position; they advance when you move it forward and call
them to follow. The independent Baptist churches of America have more committed
people than any other religious group. I genuinely believe the Sunday night service
is a key contributor to that wonderful fact.
Eleventh, it is the sweetest service of the
week because Paul attended it. And upon the first day of the week, when the
disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to
depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight (Acts 20.7). That
is only possible if you have a Sunday evening gathering. And for a variety of
reasons that is exactly what they did.
Twelfth, it is the sweetest service of the
week because Jesus attended it. Then the same day at evening, being the
first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled
for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them,
Peace be unto you (John 20.19). This is not the first church service. Jesus
started the church the summer before His death in the mountainous region around
Caesarea Philippi. But this is the first church service after His resurrection.
It was on a Sunday night and He was there. Somehow, I feel entirely sure, that
if Jesus was in your town next Sunday night He would not be found strolling along
the riverfront, ice cream cone in hand. No, I am quite convinced He would be in
church. Now would not that be sweet?
We are in good company on Sunday night
when we assemble together. We do so for eminently good reasons. Retreat? Set it
down? Lay it aside? Let it go? God forbid. It is the sweetest service of the
week.
