Why Rest on Sundays? The Reason We Take a Sabbath on the First Day of the Week

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Taking a weekly sabbath is something that’s floating around in most people’s minds, even if they don’t know anyone who actually practices it. Nearly everyone has an idea that perhaps we need a day of rest, whether it came about from Biblical study or just observing culture.

In the history of the United States, there was a general observance of the Sabbath – including attending worship services and refraining from work one day per week. Many states still have “Blue Laws” that restrict certain activities on Sundays, such as selling alcohol and hunting.

Sadly, the practice of resting in accordance with the Biblical command has really puttered out for most people in our culture.

Both my husband and I grew up attending church each week, but outside of that, the idea of resting on Sunday was fairly foreign.

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About 6 years ago, the Lord convicted us that perhaps we were missing something. My wonderful husband began learning more and realized that not only were we missing out on one of the Lord’s great blessings to us, but more importantly, we were not being obedient to His command to rest.

It was right around this time that we bought our first home – a foreclosure – and found out we were pregnant with our first child. The house was a bigger project than we had ever had to er undertaken, and we had 9 months to complete it (or, most of it, ha!).

With both of us already working (him full time and me almost full time), resting one day a week felt more like a curse than a blessing.

Looking back, it was a vital means that the Lord used to preserve us, save us from complete exhaustion, and bless us greatly.

Why Rest on Sundays?

Because the Lord commands us to rest, and rest is a gift from Him!

Genesis 2:2-3 – And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Exodus 20:8-11 – “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Isaiah 58:13-14 – “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; ¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

white church in the country with steeple and red door in front of a blue sky

Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A 59: Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?

From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week, ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath.

The practice of resting one day out of 7 is rooted in creation. The God of the universe Himself modeled it, and He commanded us to follow suit in the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:8-11) as well as other places in Scripture.

In the New Testament, we see the Lord’s people worshipping on the first day of the week after Jesus’ resurrection. (See Revelation 1:10, Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2).

Resting on the first day of the week also demonstrates the rest we have in Christ. Rest precedes work. Christ – the Lord of the Sabbath – has finished His work of redemption, allowing us to enter into God’s rest.

(As this blog post is by no means meant to be a comprehensive theological argument, I would encourage you to study the Bible for yourself as well as these helpful resources to find out more about this Biblical command.

These have been the most invaluable resources to me in studying this topic!)

The Blessings of Taking a Weekly Sabbath for Our Family

Back to our story….

After we bought our house in 2019, we worked 16+ hour days for weeks ripping out and replacing flooring, fixing holes in the ceiling, installing drain tiling, painting, and more.

On Saturdays, we tried to tidy up as much as we could, and on Sundays, we came home between morning and evening services and did our best to rest while looking at the mess.

In the beginning, I was admittedly not excited about this arrangement. There was so much to do. Resting is hard. I didn’t want to do it.

Looking back, we can see now that we probably would have worked ourselves into sickness had we not rested on the Lord’s Day.

Praise God, this was a rhythm that was well-established in our family before any of our children were born. They have reaped the blessings of the Lord’s faithfulness to us in teaching us to obey Him by observing a day of rest.

fresh sunflowers in front of an open door with sunshine streaming in

All of our children know…

On Sunday, we will get to enjoy fellowship with the saints as we worship the Lord in His house both morning and evening.
On Sunday, Dad doesn’t work, and neither does Mom (except necessary duties – changing diapers, washing a few dishes, etc.)
On Sunday, there’s time to rest, read, make lattes, talk about Bible stories…
On Saturday nights, the house will be clean. We’ll get everything ready so we can rest well (we’ve gotten much better at this, thankfully!)
Sundays are sweet. We’ve found many ways to make the day sweeter with easy blessings like pancakes for breakfast (made the day before), our favorite meals (we try to schedule our favorites for Saturday so we have easy leftovers Sunday), hosting friends when we can, taking time to unhurriedly talk with the kids, enjoy special drinks together, and take long naps if needed…

There are definitely measurable benefits of taking a day of rest. But in addition, the Lord has poured out so many other blessings on us since we’ve surrendered this part of our lives to Him. We don’t obey to be blessed, but obedience in itself brings us immeasurable blessing.

How to Schedule in a Day of Rest and Worship

In our hustle culture, scheduling in a day to rest does not come naturally. It takes scheduling and carefully guarding the day!

Resting one day out of the week necessitates that the other 6 days are given to us to work. Work is a gift, and one that should be stewarded well!

Planning to rest on Sunday necessitates a careful and diligent plan for accomplishing all of the weekly duties in 6 days. For our family, this means…

Preparing food on Saturdays or earlier in the week (or planning super easy meals on Sundays – leftovers, crock pot pulled pork, etc.)
Getting all of the cleaning and house chores done during the other 6 days
Making a plan to do all occupational work during the week, or fit in extra on Saturdays if necessary
Doing all shopping on the other 6 days (so that we don’t have to make other people work, either!)

More in this post: Preparing for the Christian Sabbath – How Our Family of 6 Gets Ready to Rest and Worship on Sundays

It also means saying “no” to unnecessary work that comes up on Sundays. This excludes acts of mercy – if there’s a car in the ditch, we’re going to help! If a child wets the bed, we’re starting a load of laundry.

But we’re not going to fold extra laundry, respond to non-emergent client emails, or go shopping (even if the store is right next to church).

What Do We Do on Sundays?

What are Sundays for? Worship. Feasting. Rest. Mercy. (Another favorite book on this topic is Worship, Feasting, Rest, Mercy by Daniel Howe.)

Sundays are for being in the Lord’s house (so thankful we have morning and evening service at our church!). We have a good system for getting out the door in the morning, and then come home and enjoy a good meal of leftovers for lunch.

In the afternoon, there’s time for the littles to nap, the bigs to listen to Bible stories, color, or work on Sunday school homework with us, walks and sunshine in the summer for the kids to get their energy out, and naps or reading for us. Then it’s time for an easy dinner (often just a charcuterie board if we’re not too hungry) and back to church for evening worship. Then bedtime! (We usually enjoy some more reading by the fire after the kids go to bed.)