For the sake of honoring God in everything that we do, and for the benefit of those who might be wrestling with this very issue this week, and for our general instruction, I thought it would be good to ask the following question for reflection and prayer before this coming Lord’s Day.
Here is the question: “Sunday is the Super Bowl in Atlanta. And I like watching the Super Bowl. But I also know that the game will be played on a Sunday. And part of me wants to stay home and watch the game and another part of me is still conscious of the Christian’s duty to sanctify the day by going to Church for the Worship of God. Like in the time of Elijah (1 Kings 18:21) I am limping between these two opinions. What should I do? Is it okay to miss Sabbath worship once in a year to watch the great event of the Super Bowl or it is still an act of breaking the Fourth Commandment?”
If any one of you is wrestling with this very issue this week, I will first let the Prophet Isaiah speak to you from Isaiah 58: 13-14, and then share my Pastoral challenge and encouragement with you all.
But first, let’s let Scripture speak through Isaiah. “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways , or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
So according to Isaiah (the Scripture), the first danger that you need to be aware of as you wrestle with the dilemma of either using your Sunday for watching the Super Bowl or worshiping the Lord in His house is, if you end up staying home to watch the game than going to the public gathering of God’s people for worship, your act will be “going your own ways”, not the way that the Lord wants you go, especially regarding the fourth Commandment. It will be you seeking your own pleasure than seeking for the greener pastures that are promised for you in Psalm 23:1. Have you noticed how Isaiah echoes the same promise that we have in Psalm 23:1 when we forsake everything that this world would offer for us in order to take us away from our spiritual nourishment? In Verse 14, Isaiah said, “Then… you shall take delight in the Lord and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.”
Hence, the implication that the preference of watching the Super Bowl on a Sunday over the worship of God has is that we forfeit the very spiritual food and refreshment that the Lord prepares for us in His house through the ministry of the Word and Sacrament. These were both the promises and warnings that Isaiah expresses to us in Isaiah 58. But what is sad about this important section of the Book of Isaiah on the Sabbath is, many people, including believers, tend to disregard it as an instruction and reminder that was given only to the people in the Old Testament but not to believers in the New Testament time.
People even argue that the Fourth Commandment is not applicable today and Christians in the New Testament era are no more bound by this Commandment. If you happen to be one of those people, I encourage you to just remember two things. First, what Jesus said concerning His relationship to the Ten Commandments and then, what James said about the relevance of the moral law in the New Testament time.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Matthew 5:17)
Now does this mean that because Jesus has fulfilled the Law for us we are no more obligated to keep the Law of God? No! Because James also said, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2:10)
What does this mean? Jesus kept the Law for us because all our efforts to keep the law for ourselves in order to be justified in the sight of God failed, and Jesus kept the Law for us and justified us by faith in His death and perfect obedience on the Cross. He then requires us to keep the commandments, not for justification, but to express our ultimate loyalty and love for Him. Remember what Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my Commandments.”
To put it simply then, to make a brave determination to be in the house of the Lord to worship God, to be fed by His Word and the Sacrament, rather than choosing to be entertained by a temporal enjoyment of a Super Bowl event is to express your greater love to God rather than to another god. Not to do this means you do the exact thing that the first Commandment forbids you to do: to have another god before the Lord God who brought you out from the slavery of Sin.
And I know that people always makes this excuse in order to do what they want to do on a Sunday: It is just one day in a year. I still love God and He would understand if I miss Church just for this Sunday to watch the Super Bowl. Just one Sunday in a year… not a big deal… is it? Well, is it okay to steal once in a year? Is it okay to take another man’s wife once in a year? I don’t expect any one of you to say yes. I am sure you are saying OF COURSE NOT. If that is the case, don’t you think it is biblical and fitting to say “no” to the notion that says it is okay to miss Sunday worship once in a year to enjoy the Super Bowl?
In the love of Christ I encourage you all to be like Mary this coming Lord’s Day. To choose the best part, of sitting under the feeding of God’s Word morning and evening and even partaking on the double blessing of being nourished by the Sacrament of the Lord Supper during the Evening Worship, rather than Watching Football which is not heavenly manna and the recording of which can be watched on a Monday.
“But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42) Choose that good portion this Sunday!
In the love of the good Shepherd!
Your friend and Pastor,
Zecharias