Most Joyful Day

Great blessings are enfolded in the observance of the Sabbath, and God desires that the Sabbath day shall be to us a day of joy...

This is the very first sentence in the chapter "The Observance of the Sabbath" in 6 Testimonies p 349, and reinforces a strong theme relating joy and worship.

I had to fly interstate this week, for reading I took Luther's "Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans". It was inspiring reading, but only after I'd started underlining it and making notes in the margins. It had something to say on the matter of "joy" and its origins in the Christian life.

Talking about family worship on Sabbath (p 357) Mrs White says:

Make the season one of interest and joy.

On page 359 after lots of good advice on Sabbath worship with children she finishes the section, Sabbath in the Home, with:

As the sun goes down, let the voice of prayer and the hymn of praise mark the close of the sacred hours and invite God's presence through the cares of the week of labor.

Thus parents can make the Sabbath, as it should be, the most joyful day of the week. They can lead their children to regard it as a delight, the day of days, the holy of the Lord, honorable.

I counsel you, my brethren and sisters: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." If you desire your children to observe the Sabbath according to the commandment, you must teach them by both precept and example...

Obviously we are to model a joyful religion all day on Sabbath, at home. But what about in church... Surely church should serious?

On page 364 in a quote I gave you a few weeks ago:

God desires His obedient children to claim His blessing and to come before Him with praise and thanksgiving... He has done for His chosen people that which should inspire every heart with thanksgiving, and it grieves Him that so little praise is offered. He desires to have a stronger expression from His people, showing that they know they have reason for joy and gladness.

God wants worship to be joyful. And I'll bring Luther in here. He really hammers the point home about the difference between "doing" the law and "fulfilling" the law. He emphasises that even perfect outward obedience (doing) the law without our heart being in it, is sin. So if our Sabbath keeping is for any other reason than that we delight in it and love the day and our Lord, we are sinning!

If we try to manufacture this joy, Luther would call that "a lie, hypocrisy and sin". But he does give us hope and I'll get to that later.

Our whole life should be joyful, even in trials. On pages 366,367 Mrs White says:

The bright and cheerful side of our religion will be represented by all who are daily consecrated to God. We should not dishonor God by the mournful relation of trials that appear grievous. All trials that are received as educators will produce joy. The whole religious life will be uplifting, elevating, ennobling, fragrant with good words and works. The enemy is well pleased to have souls depressed, downcast, mourning and groaning; he wants just such impressions made as to the effect of our faith. But God designs that the mind shall take no low level. He desires every soul to triumph in the keeping power of the Redeemer.

Near the end of the section she says on p 368:

... The reason why we are not more joyful is that we have lost our first love. Let us then be zealous and repent,..

Luther tells us where we can get this joy from:

Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God's grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God's grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. It is as impossible to separate works from faith as burning and shining from fire... Ask God to work faith in you; otherwise you will remain eternally without faith, no matter what you try to do or fabricate.

To be Inspiring, our worship services need to be joyful. That joy will only come from hearts made joyful from worshipping God at home and seeing God at work even in our trials. As Luther says "no one can give such a heart except the Spirit of God. Please ask God for just such a heart and see our church services and daily life become "more joyful".