The Sabbath Should be a Delight

How should we keep the Sabbath holy?  We need to make it a delight.
In Isaiah 58:13-14 it says:

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:

 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

There is a school of thought that says it does not matter what you wear to church, and this is evidently the view of our new prime minister , vicar's daughter Theresa May, and her husband.  

But if Sunday is to be a delight it needs to be special. In some churches worship services have become increasingly relaxed and informal affairs. You can see it in what is worn. Church for many worshippers today is not a dress-up event. Whatever is clean and comfortable seems sufficient. Christian students in particular have been taught by their seniors — or has it been the reverse?— that when it comes to church, attire doesn't much matter. They understand there is nothing particularly spiritual about a dress or a jacket and tie. God is scarcely impressed by such things.for "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7). Both the inward thought … and the heart, is deep: Ps. 64:6 . "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Prov. 23:7 . In Matthew 22 it says:

 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 

From these words we understand that both the heart and the mind must be fully engaged in this holy process,

By our clothing we express to God and those around us what this occasion means to us. This is why, when we come to church, our clothing matters. Wittingly or unwittingly, our clothing gives us away. God certainly does not need this expression to know our hearts. But as for the rest of us, we do indeed look on the outward appearance, even when peering into our own mirrors. In this way the clothes we choose for church may have things to tell us about our hearts that God already knows, but that we need to hear.

So how do we hallow the Sabbath day? We can learn from these scriptures that our conduct and attitude on the Sabbath constitute a sign between us and our Heavenly Father.¹² With that understanding, we do not need lists of dos and don’ts. When we have to make a decision whether or not an activity is appropriate for the Sabbath, we simply ask ourselves, “What sign do I want to give to God?” That question makes our choices about the Sabbath day crystal clear.

Thus, we learn that the Sabbath needs to be a special day to us, so what of our worship attire?  We deceive ourselves when we breezily claim that God does not care what we wear to church. God cares about our hearts, and what we wear is often an expression of our hearts. So what does our relaxed worship attire say about us?

A bride would be insulted if we cared so little as to show up for her lovely wedding in cut-offs and trainers. Instead, we "dress up" for her wedding to express our regard for her and the significance of the event. What, then, are we saying when we see no need to treat our corporate worship with similar or even greater regard?"Give unto the LORD the glory due his name," says the psalmist; "worship the LORD in the beauty of his holiness" (Ps. 29:2). Surely the "holiness" of our public worship should influence how we dress for the occasion. There is nothing remotely "casual" about the worship taking place in heaven, where appropriate clothing seems to matter (Rev. 7:9–12). What internal disposition are we revealing when we dress no differently for church than we do for a trip to the shopping centre or hanging out with friends around a barbecue grill? Could it be that our casual dress, chosen merely for our own comfort and convenience (that which "cost me nothing"), is a reflection of an equally casual, can't-be-bothered ("what a nuisance this is!") attitude towards worship itself?

So we need to give the Lord a Sign that the Sabbath is a delight to us, in the same way as we do to the bride when we attend her wedding.   

And what about when we leave church? 

Should we go straight to Waitrose or should we strive to continue to keep the Sabbath holy by having, for instance, a bucket list?

Here is how we spent a Sunday recently.  We visited Salisbury:

wearing our Sunday best -

and then we had lunch by the river and went to visit the cathedral.  

 Ted Heath's house

This trip to Salisbury after going to church on its outskirts covers at least one of the items on the bucket list: going for a walk.