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Scott1 · #7 (**permalink**) 06-30-2008, 12:31 PM

From the Westminster Confession of Faith XXI:

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VIII. This Sabbath is to be kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their wordly employments and recreations,[38] but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.39

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[38] EXO 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. EXO 16:23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. ISA 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. NEH 13:15 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. 16 There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath. 19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. 21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath. 22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

[39] ISA 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.

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how should hospitality on the Lord's Day differ from what is done on other days?

The fourth commandment still applies on the Lord's Day. "Hospitality" needs to conform to your focus on God and resting from your worldly employments and recreations. That means not doing, thinking, or talking about your job and entertaining yourself, even when you have company or are travelling.

This is impossible to do without God's grace. However, I can testify blessing comes with obedience to God in this.

It's even more important that you not abandon this when you have company- it is an opportunity to influence people for the Kingdom.

I cannot be dogmatic about every aspect of keeping the Sabbath because I'm not entirely sure on every point. I struggle with doing the right thing. For example, we try not to use the computer (our computer needs a sabbath rest, believe me) or use the telephone for casual conversation. In a necessity, we would, but I try to take leadership in my household in resting from these ordinary activities to create an environment in which we can focus on the Lord's Day.

When we had company recently, I sat down with our guest Saturday night and explained how (and why) we try to keep the Fourth Commandment. I told them we realize not everyone does this, and that they were not constrained to join us but that we would welcome them to do so in any part they wished to do so.

Our guest ended up going to Sunday School and Church with us and then joined us for lunch where we tried to focus our conversation of Scripture and explaining our Church practices. They had lots of questions. They did not join us for Bible reading but later did joined us for prayer time in the evening. After sundown on the Sabbath, we pulled out the scrapbooks and went into discussing a vacation.

Our guest left us requesting a list of churches "like ours" so they could see if there was something like this near them.

Be faithful on the Lord's Day!