My dear readers,

Life in the Church after Worship Service

What is the God-honouring way to observe the Lord’s Day in church after the worship service? This is a good problem faced only by churches that worship the Lord on church premises. This is not an issue for churches that worship the Lord on rented premises where rushing off after service is the norm since another group might be waiting to use the premises. Their worshippers will disperse for lunch or other activities.

For us who worship the Lord every Lord’s Day in church premises, we need to know from Scripture what the acceptable behaviour of worshippers of all ages is, from the youngest to the oldest. This is important because the Bible is clear that, when it comes to worship, we are to worship the Lord as a family, whenever possible. Old and young adults and children behave differently by nature. Therefore, the manner in which we understand and apply this important issue has to be based upon this reality.

The Sabbath Day for the nation of Israel as part of their civil laws: Exodus 31:12-18: “¹²And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ¹³Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. ¹⁴Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵Six 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. ¹⁶Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷It 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. ¹⁸And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”

As a national witness, Israel was given many sabbaths to observe including Sabbath year and Jubilee year. Thus, the plural is used in verse 13, the word “sabbaths.” For our context, we shall be looking only at the weekly Sabbath which is what the Fourth Commandment emphasizes that is applicable for us today as a church witness, even though the day has been changed from the last day of the week to the first day because Christ rose from the dead on the third day after He died which is also the first day of the week. The Sabbath Day commandment was to stop all labours so that the nation would have rest and focus on their spiritual relationship with the LORD and fellow Israelites. What these Sabbath Day activities were would probably be part of their Jewish culture like singing, rejoicing, sharing of lives and relationships in their homes and farms or towns, villages or cities and worshipping in the Tabernacle or Temple. But labour must stop. No business must be conducted. The death penalty was the consequence for breaking this important Fourth Commandment. This was part of their civil law.

The church witness will be different from the national witness.

The Sabbath Day for the church as part of their witness for Christ: All local churches exist in a secular government. The Bible regulates our lives in our respective societies where the Bible and the law of the land guide our civil responsibilities before God and man. It is in this context that we shall look at and apply the Fourth Commandment. It states in Exodus 20:8-11: “⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: ¹⁰But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: ¹¹For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

It is clear from verses 8-10 that the Sabbath Day applied only to the twelve tribes that laboured in the Promised Land. It did not apply to the tribe of Levi, especially the priests whose “work” is always holy. They studied and taught the Word of God as they were not given any land to farm or grow crops. Their duties were before God in the Tabernacle, and later the Temple. They were to not “rest” from their labour, for to do so would be to rest from “holy” work so as to do “carnal” work. It is because of this understanding that pastors and fulltime workers in the church ought to find themselves the busiest on the Lord’s Day than on any other day of the week.

But for the congregation, they are to stop their labour, i.e. the work they do from Monday to Saturday, and are to keep the Lord’s Day as holy unto the Lord. A student ought to stop studying and focus on the Lord. A housewife should rest from her labour of housework and keep the Lord’s Day as holy unto the Lord. This applies to the helpers in every Christian home where they are to rest from their housework since they labour in the Christian home. They do not need to be believers to be given the rest. The reason is that God said that all the slaves in the Jewish home were to also keep the Sabbath Day holy as stated in verse 10 including the animals. It is important that Christian employers explain to their helpers the Christian understanding of the Sabbath Day rest. It is not because of the requirement of the Ministry of Manpower, but the LORD’s teaching. It has a spiritual significance.

In both the Old and New Testaments, there is no detailed description given on what the Israelites or the early Christians did in the observance of the Sabbath Day. However, the general guideline was given by Christ in Mark 2:27: “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” The Sabbath Day was meant to be enjoyed and not a burden. The general principle of no labour is clear. God’s people gathering for worship every Lord’s Day is one of the best ways to keep the Lord’s Day holy unto the Lord. The worship is to be reverential and Christ-centred. This means that the order of service must be Bible-based, including the music and the lyrics of hymns sung, and all who serve the Lord must do so with clean hands and a pure heart. Christ must be the only focus, for He must increase and all God’s servants must decrease. Keeping the Lord’s Day holy does not end after the worship service.

After service, there will be the lunch fellowship where God’s people gather as God's family. We have our lunch together and share our lives as adults; whereas the children will fellowship and share their lives together their way. There will be running, playing and laughing and the whole church atmosphere is one of sweet fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters-in-Christ making sweet memories. Christian families share a common experience during service and they will continue to share their lives after service. These are special times that we used to take for granted before COVID hit slightly more than three years ago. During the final moments of the COVID lockdown, when the government relaxed some of the necessary draconian rules and we could return for worship but fellowship lunch was still forbidden till more were vaccinated, the church was silent after worship service. It was without life as worshippers dispersed and went their separate ways. The longing for lively lunch fellowship with all its joy, din and laughter can probably be likened to a lonely man wandering in the desert longing for cool refreshing water.

Now that it has returned, let us not take it for granted but cherish every Lord’s Day worship with its follow-up lunch fellowship and view this as a foretaste of our eternal heavenly fellowship in the presence of our holy heavenly Father with all the joy, din and laughter.