The Sabbath was Created for Man
Proponents of Sabbath "recreations" nonetheless have a duty to give rest to others and not unnecessarily require others to work to support their "recreations," entertainments, and pleasures.
We are told this Lord’s Day has a big game happening. Brad Isbell informs us it is called a “Super Bowl.” We gather from Facebook that some Presbyterians will be watching this game at a Brewery.
The Presbyterian Church in America confesses that the Scripture teaches the Lord’s Day is the Christian Sabbath and a day for both resting ourselves and giving rest to others.
Yet perhaps the most common difference stated by ministerial candidates in the PCA is with the “recreation clause” in the Westminster Standards. Most PCA Presbyteries will grant a man some sort of an exception to that aspect of our Confession.
The Sabbath or Lord’s Day is to be sanctified by an holy resting all the day, not only from such works as are at all times sinful, but even from such worldly employments and recreations as are on other days lawful; and making it our delight to spend the whole time (except so much of it as is to be taken up in works of necessity and mercy) in the public and private exercises of God’s worship (WLC 117).
Many officers in the PCA, in good faith, believe the Scriptures do not require people to abstain from worldly employments and recreations on the New Covenant Sabbath, the Lord’s Day.
The “Recreations” Exception
Understandably many PCA Courts have judged such a difference with our Standards does not strike at the vitals of religion. Who could object to a father and son throwing a ball between morning and evening worship or letting the little kids run in the yard after lunch while mom and dad get a nap?
While there is lively debate about whether such practices are what was intended by the Puritans at Westminster when they referred to “worldly…recreations,” that is usually what is cited by officers holding this view.
Nonetheless, some are more broad in their views of what is permissible “recreation” on the Lord’s Day. I recall a candidate coming before the Presbytery of the Missippi Valley (MVP) who asserted he would have no problem with people attending an early service on the Lord’s Day so they could make it to the beach for the afternoon. The members of MVP asked him a lot of questions about his view, but they let him in and he ministered fruitfully for years in that presbytery.
All this to say, there is wide latitude afforded by the PCA Courts to those whose views and even practices differ from what the PCA confesses the Bible to teach about the Christian Sabbath and recreations on the day.
Social Justice & the Sabbath
The Sabbath is not simply about a cessation of activity. In Mark 2 Jesus begins to correct the legalistic and burdensome Sabbath doctrines of the Pharisees. His disciples were criticized for eating grain from the field. Jesus famously rebuked the Pharisees explaining: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
When God instituted the Sabbath at Creation, He did so - according to the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28) - because mankind needed rest. The rest was especially to be given particularly to those in lower and vulnerable stations of life. Moses is explicit in his final sermon that the Sabbath was not only for householders and the wealthy but also children, enslaved persons, foreign workers, and dumb beasts. God’s people are to provide rest to all who are within their societies:
…your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you (Deut. 5:14).
Even slaves were entitled to receive rest from God’s people on the Sabbath. Moses explains the reason for this is Israel’s own experience:
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day (Deut. 5:15).
In the Sabbath, God gives His Church the opportunity to imitate Him by providing rest to the poor, oppressed, and vulnerable especially on the Sabbath Day.
The Westminster Standards recognize this aspect of the Sabbath explicitly:
The charge of keeping the Sabbath is more specially directed to governors of families and other superiors, because they are bound not only to keep it themselves, but to see that it be observed by all those that are under their charge; and because they are prone ofttimes to hinder them by employments of their own (WLC 118).
It is remarkable the Westminster Divines recognized those who are considered “superiors” (the privileged?) have a duty to ensure that they do not hinder people from observing the Sabbath by employing them to work unnecessarily. It seems Westminster recognizes a social justice aspect of the Sabbath is vital to the right observance of the Lord’s Day: by directly confronting the tendency of “superiors” to impose burdens upon the poor on the Lord’s Day.
Accordingly, in nearly a decade and a half of attending presbytery meetings, I have never once heard a candidate state a difference with WLC 118. Surely such a difference would strike at the vitals of religion.
The “Entertainment and Commerce” Exception?
While many presbyteries will grant an exception to the Westminster Standards to a man who believes worldly recreations are permissible on the Sabbath, are presbyteries granting exceptions also for worldly entertainment and commerce on the Sabbath?
And are candidates and officers in the PCA stating the full extent of their differences?
A difference with the “recreations clause” that asserts it is lawful to go on a walk or participate in a pickup ball game is quite a different category from a difference with the “recreations clause” that asserts it is lawful to pay money to watch professional athletes exhaust themselves on a ball field. In that case, one’s “recreation” seems to be simply watching others engage in recreation; this is “vicarious recreation,” I suppose.
But in that case, it is not only the professional athletes who are being employed. It has been at least a decade since I have entered a professional sportsball arena. But from my recollection, it was not only the professional athletes who were employed. There were large numbers of foreign workers employed taking tickets, directing traffic, and selling hot dogs, beer, pretzels, souvenirs, soda pop, and candy. There were a great number of other people employed in running cables and cameras. There were still more people employed in other unseen jobs. And while those employments and recreations are likely lawful on the last six days of the week, can the same be said for such work on the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath?
Is it not still our duty as God’s people to give rest to others on the Christian Sabbath, the Lord’s Day? The Presbyterian Church in America confesses that it is. But why have so many Christians abandoned this idea and instead insist that other people work for us on the Lord’s Day so we can have fun?
Super Bowl Lord’s Day
I have about as much interest in watching a sportsball game as watching paint dry. So for me abstaining from employing others in sporting events on the Lord’s Day is no difficulty.
But I hope to encourage those who do desire to engage in recreations on the Lord’s Day to consider whether their recreations cause others to be employed on the Lord’s Day such that they are unable to spend the day in holy rest and worship, such that they are deprived of the physical rest God intended those made in His image to enjoy on that day.
The Sabbath is a creation ordinance and therefore not only for Christians, but all people. There is even a prohibition in Deut. 5 and Exod. 20 against using domestic animals, presumably to prevent slaves or foreign laborers from being employed on that day. The Sabbath is given for mankind, not only Christians or the native born.
I remember a deacon in a former congregation who was putting a new roof on his house. The contractor said he would start on the following Sunday. But my deacon declined to have them start work on the Lord’s Day. The contractor explained his workers were “Mexicans” and they did not mind working on Sunday. But my deacon explained, he was not going to be paying people to work on his house on the Lord’s Day; even if they were willing to do the work, my deacon understood that God had given the Sabbath so that even vulnerable foreign workers could have a day of rest.
I do not know what your practices are regarding the Christian Sabbath, but I encourage you to solemnly consider how you remember the day that was created for man to be a day of rest and gladness.
Do your practices cause others to be employed unnecessarily for your convenience or pleasure? Does your rest on the day also provide rest to others? And does your rest on the day make you more eager and joyful for the heavenly rest Jesus has prepared for His people in the New Creation?
I hope these questions will help you better enjoy, better rest, and better worship on this and every Lord’s Day.
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience (Hebrews 4:8–11).