And They Rose Up to Play…

I Corinthians 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

This Sunday morning, referred to as the Lord’s day in Revelation 1:10, will unfortunately be a time when many who call Him ‘Lord, Lord’ forsake His altar and instead, like the children of Israel at the base of Sinai, will rise up to worship the golden calf gods of this world ie. the beach, the lake, the ball field. They will, like Paul says here, rise up to play.

Would to God they showed as much devotion to the one they have been known to call ‘Lord’.  Many Christians have supposed in this day and age, possibly due to the humanistic style of gospel preaching and teaching, that their happiness is paramount in God’s eyes and that, as long as they ‘love’ the Lord, they can do what makes them happy.  Faithfulness in their intentions rather than actions is considered sufficient.  They suppose that being faithful to God’s house is not as important as being faithful to tell others they love the Lord and His church.  Many have supposed that being a faithful servant or bearing the disciple’s cross is archaic and no longer required of the modern American Christian.  Why is this?  Why, my friends, would you suppose that when we have scriptural evidence to the contrary?  Take Luke’s gospel for instance:

Luke 9:57-62 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.   And Jesus said unto him,Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.   And he said unto another,Follow me.But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.   Jesus said unto him,Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.   And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.   And Jesus said unto him,No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

We are often like Peter, saying we will fight and even die for our faith.  But most of the time, we are like the would-be disciples in the text of Luke that say “I will follow thee” and yet when given the opportunity to be faithful to His house we go and do what pleases us.

Isaiah 58:13-14a 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: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord…

Sunday is the Lord’s day.  Not ours.  It is not the Sabbath as some have said in the past.  The Sabbath was on Saturday in the Hebrew calendar but the spirit of it, to honor our Lord, and on a day which was chosen in the early church (See Acts 20:7 and I Corinthians 16:2) is still very important and necessary.  We are commanded in Hebrews 10:25 to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.  And it goes on to say to do this even more so as we see the day of His return approaching.  That’s amazing given this was written when the early church was known in Jerusalem to meet every day (Acts 2:46).

In this latter time, when the world is falling further towards damnation, doesn’t the world need to see us put Him first rather than ourselves. Don’t our kids need to see us put Him first more than to see us on the bleachers or beaches worshipping them. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Christian, where will you be on Sunday. And if Christ should return then, will you be ashamed for where your at?

Think on these things …