This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Christians & Their Vows” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 18, 1990.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but think soberly, according as God has given to each one the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them accordingly. If prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. If ministry, let us serve in our ministry. If teaching, let us teach. If exhortation, let us exhort.
Let the one who gives do so with simplicity. Let the one who rules do so with diligence. Let the one who shows mercy do so with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Do not be lazy in work. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in affliction. Be constant in prayer. Share with the needs of the saints. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your minds on lofty things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Repay no one evil for evil. Provide for honest things in the sight of all people. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people.
Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him drink. For in doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
And then, Psalm 15: “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.”
Pray with me now. Our God, we have given ourselves, we have given all that we have. We have come today and presented not only our offerings, but we have come today presenting ourselves. And Lord, we have come that we might receive of your word, that we might be filled, and we pray, our Father, that we might be filled and satisfied. May it be, Lord, that your word is proclaimed today from your pulpits throughout the world, for the glory of your name and the well-being of your church, that your saints everywhere may rejoice in you and delight in those good things which you have given to them. O Lord, help us, help us as we offer ourselves, but help us also in our hearing, that we may hear aright and then live in keeping with what we have heard. May we not merely be hearers of the word, but doers as well. For Christ’s sake, amen. Is your worship for only one day in the week? Is your worship only for one day in the week? Perhaps only for a few hours in that one day in the week.
Now, to be sure, we hold that our worship is specially focused, it is specially concentrated, and it is specially expressed on that given day, the Lord’s day, which is set apart from all other days. And truly, in this regard, we are part of a noble tradition for which we need not apologize, about which we need not be embarrassed. Our tradition is that of the Reformed Church and the Reformed faith. And by and large, within that tradition, the principle has been constant and uniform. The Lord’s day is in fact set apart, not just a portion of it, but the whole of it, for the worship of God and for the rest of those who belong to him.
As I say, it is a distinguishing trait of this heritage of which you are a part. Your heritage in the Reformed Church and in the Reformed faith is the entirety of the day devoted to the public and private exercises of worship, and a day given to God so that you may rest in him, following his example. All you need do is consult the Westminster Confession of Faith on this subject. Consult the Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism on this subject.
What about our practice? I suppose that, to varying degrees, it is the same for all of us. As we read through the confession and rehearse the catechism, we know that we do not fully live up to what we read there. The principles are clearly set before us, but our practice does not match the principle. If we are humble before the Lord, if we are contrite regarding our practice, and if we are striving and making effort in accordance with what we know to be right and true, then well and good. How gracious and how merciful God is toward us when we approach him with humility and contrition. But what a clear tragedy of our day: that the day set apart by God for the special activities of worship and rest is now desecrated by those who belong to the tradition that has long affirmed this day as one of the hallmarks of their commitment.
It is one thing to recognize a principle and then have your practice fall short of that principle. It is another thing to allow your practice to determine, if not destroy, your attitude toward the principle, and even to destroy the principle itself. Do you see the difference? When your practice becomes the determining factor, and you make allowances for yourself, you then make allowances in all circumstances and for all people. I am off the hook, and so is everyone else.
But the tragedy of our time is not only about practice. It is also about the practice of those who know better, who have abandoned the principles in order to preserve their own customs. The tragedy is profound. For the understanding that once guided our forefathers in regard to this special day of worship and rest has now been lost from our collective memory.
We do not understand. Our children do not understand. “Dad, why can’t I? Why can’t I do this or that on the Sabbath? Dad, why do I have to be different? Why is it only our family in the neighborhood that’s so different?” I do not know how far you have progressed. I understand that it is a source of frustration for my sons that I do not let them watch the NFL on the Sabbath. Although I think they are grateful for radios, I do not truly know what they do with them. That is a man’s day.
What, in fact, informs our devotion to this day and establishes the principles regarding it? We call it the Lord’s Day because we believe that this day is especially marked by what happened to Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion—that on that day Jesus Christ entered into his rest and into his glory.
We believe that all that the Old Testament Sabbath pointed to now finds its fulfillment and culmination in Him and in what occurred with respect to Him on that day. The hope of the Old Testament Sabbath was realized in Him. Yet this does not minimize our obligation; rather, it accentuates it. We are bound by this obligation more fully now, in light of what has happened to Christ. If we love Him, we are constrained by Him, and if He has set His seal upon this day, we are bound to it in a special way.
Could you say that your attitude toward the risen Christ is connected to your attitude toward the Lord’s Day, the day that commemorates His resurrection? Could you say that if you do not clearly understand the significance of this day, you do not clearly understand the significance of His resurrection? Therefore, our principles regarding this day are informed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and by what took place with respect to Him on that day.
But we are Presbyterians and Reformed in our outlook, and therefore we are not merely New Testament in our orientation; we are Bible in our orientation. This means that we do not look at the New Testament without also considering the Old. We see the threads woven throughout the entire fabric of God’s revelation as we move from the Old to the New, and we apply in the new context what has been given to us in the old. We do not believe that the church began on the day of Pentecost. We believe there was a church in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. Thus, we affirm the unity of the Testaments and the unity of the Church.
We believe in a continuity of obligation as you move from the Old Testament to the New Testament, so that as we appreciate the significance of Christ’s resurrection in light of the change of the day, we also appreciate the original intention with regard to the day itself, as that has been revealed to us in the Old Testament. Our appreciation for the day is therefore based on Christ’s resurrection, but also on God’s own work of creation. God worked for six days and rested on the seventh. God gave the commandment at Sinai with respect to His people. This commandment set His people apart. How are you set apart? Let me ask you that. How are you different? If you are not different in your observance of the day, then tell me, how are you different? How is there any distinguishing mark for you in the world?
In part, what informs us with respect to the day is Christ’s resurrection, God’s work of creation, and the revelation He gave to His people at Sinai. But there is something else as well, and this is often overlooked. Consider the phrase “the Lord’s day.” Let us say it differently. Let us rephrase it. If we reconstruct the phrase and supply the preposition, what do we have? Not the Lord’s day, but the day of the Lord. Do you see what is informing our principles with respect to this day? Yes, Christ’s resurrection. Yes, the first creation Sabbath. Yes, God’s revelation at Sinai. But even more than all of these, the day of the Lord. Why? Why?
Because on the day of the Lord, you will enter into the presence of God. You will appear before Him. Your praise and your worship of Him will be perfected. And already in this world, you are practicing for that event. The Lord’s Day is practice for the day of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord’s Day, being the day of the Lord, brings into view the final fulfillment.
That is the end. But that consummation, which is the end, is also commencement and beginning. The Sabbath in the Old Testament ends the week. The Sabbath in the New Testament begins the week. It speaks of both consummation and commencement, of both end and beginning. The significance of this is that the Lord’s Day is practice for the day of the Lord.
You should gather in this way. You should assemble in this way—as if it were the day of the Lord, and you were being brought directly into His presence and were living before His face at this very moment. What kind of behavior is appropriate? What kind of activities are appropriate?
What should you be doing in light of this consideration? I can say this much: One question that should not be occurring to you is, “Do I have to go to church?” Another question that should not be occurring to you is, “How often do I have to go?” You mean I have to go tonight too? Look, you are preparing yourself for eternity. Is this not registering? You are preparing yourself for eternity.
It is a fact, is it not, that we of the Reformed faith, of the Reformed Church, have held that our worship is specially focused, specially concentrated, and specially expressed on that day which God has assigned, designated, and set aside. But the question with which I began this message was this: Is your worship for but one day only in the week? We have established that it is for one day, but is it for that one day alone? This, then, brings before us one of the great hallmarks of the tradition of which you are a part—what that tradition has maintained and proclaimed.
For you see, it is the Reformed faith, among other expressions of Christianity, that has held that we are obliged to the general form and structure of life to the full-orbed expression of worship and service in our daily existence. The Reformed view has been a comprehensive worldview. Not one day, but all the days. Not just a portion of life, but the whole of life. So that the worship experience among the people of God becomes a crowning event and experience for them, consistent with the fabric of their life throughout.
And it is truly this that the New Testament emphasizes wonderfully and helpfully. That is why I read for you this morning Romans chapter 12. Some people have thought, as they have moved through that chapter, that the Apostle Paul has specifically in mind the activities taking place within the confines of the institutional church, within the walls of the church, as it is assembled. Not so. That is a misreading.
For it is a whole-life vision that the Apostle Paul presents to the people to whom he writes. He approaches them with the same attitude that we have already identified with respect to the Lord’s Day. That is, the Apostle Paul approaches life in general with a day of the Lord attitude, just as we are to approach the Lord’s Day with a day of the Lord attitude. This is what he means when he tells us that we are to offer our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship. This worship is not confined to the activities of a special day set apart in the week, but is the very fabric of our entire existence. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in keeping with the attitude that has in you the day of the Lord, the world to come. Then you may prove what the will of God is—what is good, acceptable, and perfect in His sight. Therefore, read the concluding chapters of Romans with an attitude appropriate to the day of the Lord, and see that the entirety of your life is lived before the Lord who is coming.
In another part of this epistle, the Apostle Paul tells his readers that they are to present themselves as alive from the dead, as stated in Romans 6:13. They are to render their members as instruments of righteousness—not specifically confined to the worship services of the Church week by week, but applicable to the entirety of their existence. And thus it is throughout the entire range of Paul’s epistles that he has this vantage point in mind. I know how Ephesians 5 is often read. I know how Colossians 2 is often read. You may wish to look at those passages for a moment. Consider verses 15 and following in Ephesians chapter 5.
A passage that speaks about speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. Some have claimed that specifically in view here is the worship service of the Church. Not so! This is to be the continual attitude of those who believe, trust, and live for God. It is a whole life vision that is laid out before you here. It is even more clearly stated in Colossians chapter 3, verses 12 and following. The same kind of language is used there. Look, for instance, at verse 16.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. I know how this passage has been interpreted. It has been interpreted to mean that it applies specifically to the worship services of God, so that everyone in the congregation is welcome to teach and admonish, just as they are called upon to sing hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs.
That is not what Paul is saying at all. The passage applies to the totality of life, to the character of the people of God as they live day by day. This is confirmed by verse 17. Read on to see what he says. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. It is a whole life vision and prescription.
The same sentiment is expressed in Hebrews 13. There, in verse 15, the writer says, “Through Him then let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” He goes on to say, “And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
And I might add, despite the misinterpretations that are often given, this is precisely what the Apostle Peter has in mind in the second chapter of his first epistle, when he says, “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” This is chapter 2, verse 5. Do not let the temple imagery confuse you. You, in all of your life, are the temple of God, not only on the Lord’s day but on every day, as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And this is specifically what Peter has in mind when he says that the people of God are a priesthood, a royal priesthood, in verse 9.
It is not to limit these things to the day of worship or to the services of worship conducted by the church. Not at all. As if the laity were welcomed to all the responsibilities and duties of the clergy, as if that were what the priesthood of all believers means. No, not at all.
It is a call for a life consistent with the coming of God, a life lived in light of God’s appearance, the coming of God on the day of the Lord. Full Lord, complete, full. Yes, one day, but every day. Especially on that one day, according to the ordinances which God has established for us in His Word. But then every day, in keeping with that attitude, it keeps before us the day of the Lord, and also the fact that we are to be living sacrifices to God. Now you may be wondering by this time, what in the world does this have to do with vows? And I will speak of that matter briefly here. In conclusion, I will do so by asking you a question that parallels the question I asked at the beginning of the message.
Are your vows for the church alone? Are your vows for the church alone—those vows which you have made in worship services? The Reformed view does not allow you to limit either your understanding or your practice of worship to a single day. Neither does the Reformed view allow you to limit your vows and the seriousness of those vows to the confines of the institutional church. As if, when you leave this building, what you promised no longer matters, and you are no longer bound by your commitments. As if you could make vows here with a sense of seriousness, yet once you go outside these doors, you no longer take them seriously. Thus the importance of Psalm 15.
The man who swears even to his own hurt and does not change. This should be an attitude of life, the entirety of his life. So I sit in the company of men on Tuesday night discussing the state of the church. And here is an elder telling me about the stress he experiences at work. It is time for the annual review. There is a man in his group who is not performing. Yet this man is a Christian. It is not that he lacks ability, but that he does not consider the work important. After all, Christ covers all things. It does not matter how I perform on the job. It does not matter whether I have given my word.
There is a church in Dayton, Ohio involved in a building project. Where are they now? They are out $17,000. Why? Because a Christian contractor broke his contract. And still, to honor his vow. You owe bills. You keep one step ahead of the creditors. You throw yourself into a way of life that continually accumulates debt without real responsibility or accountability?
Does your word mean anything? You give your word to your spouse and then lie. You lie. You promise something to your children and do not follow through. This happens not only in the church but also in the world. And this is of great importance: if you give your word, keep it. If you promise something, follow through.
Even if it is to your own disadvantage. God is well pleased with this. But I know that your conscience may have been pricked by what I have said. And that is intentional. Yet I also want you to be comforted. Not so that you can make excuses for yourself, but in all humility, to recognize your failures. To see how far you have fallen short. And today you are not offering excuses. You are saying, yes, I have not been what I ought to be before the world. I have not kept my word.
But you also realize that the God you serve has kept His word perfectly, and all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. The one you serve is the one who invites you into Himself, so that His righteousness is credited to you, and all His faithfulness and promise-keeping are accounted to you.
Now that is not to make you lazy, nor to make you presumptuous, but to make you glad, to make you rejoice. It is to make you praise Him for His great grace and love toward you. For you see, rightly, God can send you straight to hell for the breach of one little promise. With humility and contrition, we look to this glorious Savior who is fully adequate and wonderfully sufficient for us. Let us pray: Hear us, God. We have faltered and failed in our promises, oaths, and vows—to the world, to our duties, and to our God. And we pray, our God, for Your forgiveness and grace, that we, with all humility, may appeal to You and live before You. But we also plead with You, Father, that we may be appreciative of the depths of mercy and love exhibited in Christ, the one who is indeed Your banner. This testifies to the fact that all the promises of our God are yes and amen in Him. May we glory in Him. And, Lord, by Your Spirit, may we do better. And may we strive, Lord, to keep our word, to speak truthfully, so that no idle word may come from our lips.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.