Sunday: Fun Day Or Son Day?

5. Justin Martyr wrote in his First Apology in A.D. 140, “And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or rural district…But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead.”

D. Turning our attention back to the article by church historian Philip Schaff, he explained that a proper observance of the Lord’s Day, “is a wholesome school of discipline, a means of grace for the people, a safeguard of public morality and religion, a bulwark against infidelity, and a source of immeasurable blessing to the church, the state and the family. Next to the Church, and the Bible, the Lord’s Day is the chief pillar of Christian society.” (pg. 479)

1. In other words, keeping the Lord’s Day has many benefits for the individual, the family, the church and for society as a whole.

2. Now let’s move from the priority of the Lord’s Day to what we might call “The Assault on the Lord’s Day.”

II. The Assault on the Lord’s Day

A. I am not old enough, but some of you are, to remember an era when the Lord’s Day was honored as a day of worship and rest, much more so than today.

1. In that day, businesses were closed and farmers did not work the fields.

2. Today things are very different in regard to the Lord’s Day.

3. Sunday has become for many people “Fun Day.”

4. Unfortunately for many people, their plans for Sunday seem to leave no room for God.

5. The assault on the Lord’s Day comes from at least three sources.

B. First, the Lord’s Day for many is just a time for SHOPPING.

1. In other words, the Lord’s Day is business as usual.

2. Sunday shopping appeals to the materialism that seems to be the basic philosophy of our culture.

3. It is ironic that many businesses now stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but people still seem to need to be shopping on Sunday rather than reserving that day for honoring the Lord.

4. I came across an interesting article by Richard Morin from the Pew Research Center, titled, “The Devil’s New Playground: The Shopping Mall.”

a. He writes, “Who knew Satan worked at the local mall? While bars, cheap hotels and similar places of low repute may remain America’s favorite spots to sin, two economists say that giving people an extra day to shop at the mall also contributes significantly to wicked behavior – especially among people who are the most religious.”

b. “Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Daniel M. Hungerman of Notre Dame discovered the malevolent “Mall Effect” by studying what happened when states and counties repeal so-called blue laws. Those statutes prohibited the sale on Sunday of certain non-essential items such as clothing, appliances, furniture and jewelry typically sold in shopping malls, as well as liquor and cigarettes.”

c. “Gruber and Hungerman found that when states eliminated blue laws, church attendance declined while drinking and drug use increased significantly among young adults. Even more striking, the biggest change in bad behaviors was concentrated among those who frequently attended religious services, they report in a working paper titled "The Church vs. the Mall: What Happens When Religion Faces Increased Secular Competition?" published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.”