Sunday Evening Worship

Why should we as a church continue to worship God in the evening as well as the morning on the Lord’s Day? Why should we continue to practice something that so many churches have abandoned for small groups and mid-week programs to meet the needs of families? “Why should you participate in Sunday evening worship?”

1. Evening Worship is Biblical. No, the Bible does not say, “You shall worship me in the evening at 6:00 PM”, but neither does it say we shall worship God in the morning at 11:00 AM. However, God did provide for his people Israel morning and evening sacrifice (Exodus 29:38-41; Numbers 28:1-10). There was to be burnt offerings before the Lord in the morning and in the evening and there the Lord would meet with his people and speak to them. David, the King of Israel and writer of many Psalms penned a Sabbath psalm that reads, It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, (Psalm 92:1-2). David’s life of devotion was based upon God’s design in the sacrificial system. In the sacrifice there was a victim in the place of the sinner bearing the wrath of God for sin, but this substitute did not fully appease the wrath of God. So they were aware of God’s judgment and looked forward by faith through the offering of sacrifice to a Messiah that would save them. And now that sacrifice has been made by Christ the Messiah and God’s wrath is appeased in him as he is accepted by the Father night and day. Now we can offer to him a sacrifice of praise…the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 13:15), morning and evening. We also see the apostle Paul gathered with believers on the first day of the week preaching to them even unto midnight (Acts 20:7), indicating that he had begun earlier in the evening. Therefore, we should seek to worship the Lord from the rising of the sun to it’s setting on the Lord’s Day because evening worship is Biblical.

2. Evening Worship is a Means of Grace. How does God sanctify the hearts of his church? He does this primarily by his word and sacraments. He has meant for us to be holy and blameless in the Son and he has ordained that listening and responding to him by the means of his word, and being nurtured and strengthened through communion and baptism is his primary means. Whenever we choose not to participate in the public gathering for worship we are neglecting God’s ordained means of grace. This is why we as elders are calling upon the congregation to worship twice on the Lord’s Day. We have to give account for the souls whom God has given us to serve and so we believe calling God’s people to worship around his means of grace is the primary means he has given us to keep watch over the souls of his church (Hebrews 13:17). When the apostle Paul outlined the culture and problems that Timothy faced in the first century (which are no different than those we face today) (2Timothy3:1-9), he told him to preach the Word (2Timothy 4:2). Today we are told that things have changed, people are not able to endure preaching and teaching, we need more programs, small groups and other inventive ways to meet the felt needs of those in our culture. But when God has wanted to address the needs of his people he has given them his word and the signs and seals of their covenant relationship to him, the sacraments. We must not be shrinking away from the means of grace into modernity where it seems we find rest in our chosen recreation. We must hold fast to God’s grace in the means he has ordained to communicate it to us, and that happens in the context of morning and evening worship.

3. Evening Worship Helps Us Keep the Lord’s Day Holy. Everyday is the day that the Lord has made and we can rejoice and be glad in it. But the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day that he set apart by defeating sin and death and winning our salvation in his resurrection. Sunday is the Lord’s Day, and ‘Day’ indicates a whole day. It is a day ordained in creation and by redemption that God is jealous over. He has commanded us in the fourth commandment to keep it holy, and we must not treat this command of God with contempt. We have the opportunity on the Lord’s Day to sanctify it, set it apart as holy unto the Lord for worship, rest, doing works of mercy and fellowshipping with God’s people. Morning and evening worship is necessary to us in our weak state. We are created with a need to find our rest one day in seven in God’s presence where he is worshiped, trusted and obeyed. Therefore participating in evening worship is provided for us so that we may carry out the will of God in the earth for his glory and our good.

4. Evening Worship Helps to Propagate an Effective Christian Culture. In our country the church is camouflaged by being patterned more after our culture than biblical precepts. If we want to see God’s glory spreading throughout our community, country and earth, then God’s people must come together for worship morning and evening. Paul Alexander, a pastor of one church for more than 37 years, says, “Those who regularly participate in morning and evening worship over a period of years are the most stable and productive Christians. They are furthermore the most joyful and effective.” (Let’s Keep Our Sunday Evening Worship). We long to see one another built up and strengthened in the faith, equipped for every work of ministry, strong in the faith so as not to be blown and tossed by every wave of doctrine and modernity. We long to see a church full of worshipers and workers who are joyful and effective in our culture for God’s glory. But this will not happen where God’s people are not patterning their lives after God’s designs in corporate worship morning and evening.

On a drive around our community this past Wednesday night I noticed how full the parking lots of the churches were. People had come out for primarily children and youth programs at those churches. But a drive around our community on Sunday night will not afford us with the same picture. On Sunday evening less than a third of the churches in our community will have cars in their parking lots. People are not gathered to hear the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, participate in prayers, the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, the sacraments and fellowship with God’s people. Where have all the people gone on Sunday evening, where has the church gone, and where has the culture gone? Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25).