In Defense of the Evening Service
Why I am convinced the Lord’s Day evening corporate worship service is an essential Christian practice.
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!” (Psalm 122:1)
The church I serve as a pastor meets for corporate worship morning and evening on the Lord’s Day. Often, we have visitors who gather to worship with us during the evening service. I ask these visitors, “How did you find Redeemer Baptist Church?” For these Sunday evening visitors, the response I get most of the time goes something like this, “I have been looking for a church that has a Sunday evening worship service, and you’re the only one I can find.”
I can’t speak to the validity of their claim nor the extent of their research. I can say that I am personally aware of less than a handful of churches in our proximity that meet together for corporate worship on Sunday evenings.
I am sure that the disappearance of the evening worship service in the local church is due to a multitude of factors. Personally, I have yet to be convinced by any of the factors that Sunday evening should be void of corporate worship. I firmly believe that the forsaking of the gathering of the saints on the evening of the Lord’s Day has been detrimental to the local church's health and the spiritual health of the saints who make up her membership.
In this article I don’t care to discuss the trends and movements that led to the evening service's demise. I also have no desire to argue the differing Sabbatarian positions as I know strict Sabbatarians as well as non-Sabbatarians who have forsaken the evening service. I want to make an appeal, an apologetic, a defense of the evening service. I long to see Thy churches full—both for the morning and evening service. I lament and am bewildered that in most churches that faithfully persevere in maintaining the evening service, her membership often views the evening service as trivial and optional.
In this article, I want to speak to my conviction as to why I firmly believe the evening service is essential for our church, my family, and myself.
The Appeal to the Scriptures
I believe the canon of Scripture contains 66 books, written by approximately 40 different authors in 3 different languages, over roughly 1,500 years. I also believe that these holy men of old were carried along or inspired by the Holy Spirit of God (2 Peter 1:21), and therefore, they wrote the very words of God.
Therefore, I believe both the Old Testament and the New Testament to be authoritative and governing over the life of the individual Christian and the local church. I also believe that we should pay careful attention to the types and patterns we see in the Bible, for our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I also believe that God is the determiner of how he is to be worshipped, and thankfully, he has not left the way in which he is to be worshipped to be determined by the imaginations of sinful men. Just read Leviticus 10, and you will see that God regulates how he is to be worshipped.
When I survey the Old Testament, I easily see a pattern that God has established for his people to worship him both morning and evening.
In Exodus 29, God prescribes a continual regular offering that is to be made both morning and evening. Exodus 29:38-39; 42,
Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day regularly. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight… it shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there.
Then in Numbers 28:1-4, the Lord spoke to Moses concerning the daily sacrifices and offerings,
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’ And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering. The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight;
As King David prepares for the building of the Temple upon Mt. Moriah (2 Chron. 3:1) and commissions Solomon to build the Temple, one of the first things that David does is organize the Levitical Priests and assign them their duties. Concerning these duties, we read in 1 Chronicles 23:29-32,
Their duty was also to assist with the showbread, the flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baked offering, the offering mixed with oil, and all measures of quantity or size. And they were to stand every morning, thanking and praising the Lord, and likewise at evening, and whenever burnt offerings were offered to the Lord on Sabbaths, new moons, and feast days, according to the number required of them, regularly before the Lord. Thus they were to keep charge of the tent of meeting and the sanctuary, and to attend the sons of Aaron, their brothers, for the service of the house of the Lord.
In the days of Elijah, during the divided kingdom and the horrendous reign of Ahab and Jezebel, the few remaining faithful loyalists to YHWH continued to acknowledge the evening sacrifices. On Mount Carmel, as the prophets of Baal cut themselves and gush blood all over the altar of the aloof, absent, impotent Baal, Elijah intervenes and calls the crowds near at the time of the evening sacrifice established in Exodus 29. And then, at the appointed time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah calls down fire from heaven and defeats the prophets of Baal. God is pleased to answer Elijah’s call at the time God had appointed for his people to offer him daily evening sacrifices. We read in 1 Kings 18:28-30; 36-38 (NASB),
So they cried out with a loud voice, and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until blood gushed out on them. When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come forward to me.” So all the people came forward to him…. Then at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that You, Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and the stones and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench.
In Psalm 92, whose superscription states, “A Psalm. A song for the Sabbath,” the psalmist sings of the great joy of worshipping the Lord both morning and evening. For the psalmist, there is no ounce of displeasure or burden associated with gathering to worship YHWH both morning and evening. For the psalmist, there could be no greater joy. He sings in verses 1-4,
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
In Psalm 141, David appears to be in a setting, whether it be in the cave or the wilderness, or on the run, where he is unable to gather for corporate worship with the saints at the Tabernacle at the appointed time to make his sacrifice, so he prays that his prayers with lifted hands would be accepted as the evening sacrifice since he is unable to be at the door of the Tabernacle. Verses 1-2 read,
O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Now, I am in no way arguing that we who are in Christ and members of the New Covenant are required to keep the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant. I affirm with Paul, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17) I also find it incredibly sad and confusing when Christians desire to visit the shadow land of the Old Testament to engage in shadowy things when they have the substance itself, which is Christ.
What I am acknowledging is that there is a pattern established by God and followed by his people in the Old Testament, where they worship God both morning and evening. As we come to the New Testament, John is careful to pay attention to the resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ on the first Lord’s Day in the morning and evening, likely understanding this established pattern. It is during the evening service, locked behind the walls of the upper room, that Thomas makes his climactic confession, “My Lord and my God.”
John 20:1; 19; 28,
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
In the book of Acts, it appears evident that the early church in Jerusalem kept the Temple schedule for gathering for worship. In Acts 3:1, “Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.” This would have been the prayer time at 3:00 p.m. that accompanied the appointed evening sacrifice. Therefore, I would advocate that the early church saw fit to continue to worship YHWH in and through Christ both in the morning and evening.
I am willing to acknowledge that I do not have chapter and verse that says, “Thou shalt corporately worship both morning and evening on the Lord’s Day.” And therefore, you may reject my argument that the established pattern of morning and evening worship should be continued. I will say that as for me and my house, we have come to see a pattern established by God in his law, practiced by his covenant people from the moment God brought them into the Mosaic Covenant with himself, which is acknowledged by the New Testament authors, and practiced by the early church in Acts. We see no reason why we should desire to step outside of the morning and evening worship pattern God desires and establishes for himself.
I would advocate that we still bring sacrifices of worship and praise before God, both morning and evening, on the Lord’s Day. However, because of the all-sufficient, once and for-all-time atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we no longer bring animals to be offered for the propitiation and expiation of our sins, but we do continue to do as the author of Hebrews commands, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)
The Appeal to Church History
Historical theology does not carry the same authoritative weight as the Scriptures. The church has been wrong before, and we praise God for movements like the Reformation and the Conservative Resurgence that brought correction to error.
I personally desire to be very cautious and hesitant to step outside of the historical practice of the orthodox church. If the church has maintained a practice for nearly 2,000 years, who am I to believe that I have somehow discovered some better, new, or different way? Surely, I am not superior to all of the saints who came before me. I want to lead my family to live and practice their faith within the historical orthodoxy and orthopraxy of the church.
As we survey church history, we find that the common practice of the church for at least her first 1,900 plus years was to gather together for corporate worship morning and evening on the Lord’s Day.
We have already mentioned that the early church in Jerusalem kept the morning and evening pattern in the Book of Acts. We also know from Acts and the annals of history that persecution broke out against the church early on. By the fourth century, much of the persecution against the church began settling down, and the practice of morning and evening worship became firmly established.
Eusebius of Caesarea comments, “For it is surely no small sign of God’s power that through the whole world in the churches of God at the morning rising of the sun and the evening hours, hymns, praises, and truly divine delights are offered to God. God’s delights are indeed the hymns sent up everywhere on earth in his Church at the times of morning and evening.” The early church pastor John Chrysostom commented on Exodus 29:38, “That God must be worshiped daily when the day begins and when the day ends…. Our homage to almighty God should be paid as frequently at least, morning and evening to be sure.”
During the Middle Ages, the influence of Monasticism led to a division of the day into seven hours for prayer and devotion to the Lord. The morning worship time was called matins and the evening worship service was called vespers. During the Reformation, this seven-fold division of the day was reduced to Morning Prayer (matins) and Evening Prayer (evensong) in Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer.
W. Robert Godfrey writes, “it’s very interesting that the great Synod of Dort, which was an international gathering of Calvinist theologians and ministers in the early seventeenth century, was asked the question, “What should we do if nobody wants to attend the second service?” (So at least we can be comforted it’s not a new problem.) And the answer of the Synod of Dort was that the second service must be held even if only the preacher’s family is in attendance.”
The Puritans understood that God was to be worshipped morning and evening both in private individual devotions and in family worship. This morning and evening offering of worship was intensified and heightened as the body of Christ gathered corporately on the Lord’s Day to offer sacrifices of worship and praise both morning and evening.
As I survey the church through her major periods, it appears to me that in every age, from the book of Acts to the early church, to the medieval age, to the Reformation, to the Puritans, to the 19th century, Christians have always found it to be right and proper to gather morning and evening on the Lord’s Day for corporate worship. It should be noted that the only time in the 2,000-plus-year history of the church that her members have thought evening worship was unnecessary is our time. This should cause us to pause and consider why we differ from the previous 19 ½ centuries of the Bride of Christ. Surely, it can’t be that they were all wrong, and we finally have it right. And surely it can’t be that this is a trivial issue when the church has given it careful attention throughout her ages. I will lead my family and prayerfully exhort our church to walk in step with all of the saints who have gone before us.
The Appeal to the Preeminence and Priority of Worship
Having argued from the Scriptures and historical theology, I want to make an appeal on the basis of the theology of Worship.
We must come to understand that that which is eternal is preeminent and must take priority in our lives over those things which are temporal. It is the corporate worship on the Lord’s Day that is eternal. Corporate worship is intended to be a foretaste of heaven. In fact, the closest thing to heaven that you will ever experience this side of heaven is corporate worship on the Lord’s Day. Your eternal heavenly experience will consist of gathering with the saints of God to worship God for all eternity. God has woven into the fabric of your life the opportunity to experience this foretaste of heaven morning and evening each Lord’s Day.
All other things, even good things like missions, evangelism, serving the poor, discipleship, small group meetings, home fellowships, other programs, etc., will come to an end. Many Christians and churches forsake the evening service to engage in these other ministry practices. To do so, I believe, is to error. It is to place the temporal over the eternal. We should not give up worship to do other things; rather, every other thing in our lives should be scheduled around the time of corporate worship on the Lord’s Day. We should continue to do these other ministries, for many of these are commanded of us in the Scriptures, but we should do them at other times than the scheduled morning and evening corporate worship services.
I personally understand having busy schedules and the demands upon the modern family, and I want to be sensitive here. I would argue that this principle applies even to good things like spending time with your family. My parenting of my children and my marriage to my wife are temporal things. They will come to an end in glory. However, my wife and children will worship God for all eternity. There is no place upon planet Earth that is more valuable and precious for my family to be gathered together than in the corporate worship of the saints morning and evening on the Lord’s Day. As a father, I’m raising worshippers of Christ. As a husband, I’m striving to present my wife to Christ sanctified. There is no better place for my family to spend quality family time together than in corporate worship because corporate worship is preeminent.
The Appeal to Covenant Fidelity
When I married my wife, we entered into a covenant relationship together. On that day, we made vows to one another. These vows are covenant stipulations we committed to keep till death do us part. Like all covenant stipulations, there are blessings for keeping them and curses for violating them. When I made those vows, I did so with every intention of keeping them until the day I die. 18 years later, I am still striving to keep those covenant vows.
The same was true for when I joined the local church in covenant membership. When I joined Redeemer Baptist Church, I did so by covenant. I read, agreed to, and signed my name on the church covenant as a pledge to keep and uphold with fidelity the covenant agreement with my fellow covenant church members. The day I signed it, I did so honestly.
Our covenant states, “We will labor to build up the church by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, by praying for ourselves and others, and by using the gifts of service God has graciously bestowed upon us.”
The church where I have covenant membership assembles together morning and evening for corporate worship on the Lord’s Day, and I have made the covenant vow; I have agreed to the covenant stipulation to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. I desire to be faithful to my covenantal pledge and not let my brothers and sisters in Christ down with my absence and covenant infidelity. Therefore I make every effort to be present when my covenant family gathers together. I want to be present in the gathering to pray for them and to use the gifts of service God has graciously bestowed upon me and my family to be a blessing to them.
The Appeal to the Practical Needs of the Saints
The Importance of Preaching
Preaching takes primacy in the corporate worship of the church, and I need to sit under the ordinary means of this grace more, not less. The Bible is clear that man does not live off bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The preaching of the Word of God is a sustaining, sanctifying grace in our lives; we must not neglect feasting upon the nourishing exposition of the Word of the Lord.
Life is hard, suffering is real, and temptation lurks around every corner. I need to have my mind renewed by the exposition of the Word. If we were honest with ourselves, I believe we would all confess that we desperately need more preaching, not less.
The brother-pastor I co-pastor with often speaks of reading through Calvin’s sermons on 1 and 2 Samuel. These sermons were dated and show us that Calvin preached nearly daily while in Geneva. Many are surprised that he was able to prepare so many well-crafted, theologically sound sermons. My surprise is that he had an audience to preach to 5 to 7 days a week. I am reminded it was during the Reformation. The Gospel had been lost but then suddenly found. The people were hungry—they were starving for the Word of God. I long for our churches to hunger for the Word of God as they did in Calvin’s day. I long for our memberships to demand of their pastors to offer sermons not just on the Lord’s Day, not just morning and evening, but multiple sermons throughout the week. I cannot imagine being satisfied with one sermon per week. I know that I need more. I know that my family needs more.
We desperately need more preaching and more doctrine. I am convinced the downgrade of the local church, the lack of Bible knowledge among her members, the corrupted ecclesiology of our day, and the theological confusion that abounds are a direct result of the forsaking of the evening worship service. Less preaching and less Bible intake have been detrimental to the local church. I am well convinced when I consider all the world throws at us; one single sermon per week is insufficient to sustain and guard us.
The Needs of the Family
The most important thing for my family is to be gathered with the body of Christ in corporate worship morning and evening on the Lord’s Day. We need to worship together, pray together, sing together, read the Scriptures together, sit under preaching together, participate in the sacraments together, and fellowship with the saints together. There is nothing else under heaven that my family needs more. And we are grateful to have two opportunities each Sunday to participate in God’s ordinary means of grace.
We order our lives around these times. We order the Lord’s Day around these times. We guard these times because we know how important these times are.
My children need more, not less preaching. My children need to see their mother and father delighting in the worship of their God. My children need to see their parents prioritizing corporate worship and sacrificing other earthly things for the sake of worship. My children need to see and experience that the Lord’s Day differs from every other day. My children need to have a day to rest from the bombardments of the world and have the eyes of their hearts fixed upon Jesus. My children need to see other faithful, godly families being built up in the faith. In every way, worship in the morning and evening on the Lord’s Day serves my children in these ways.
My daughters have repented of their sins, confessed Christ as Lord and Savior, and have been baptized. Prior to their conversion, the opportunity for them to hear of the glories of Christ in the Gospel a second time on Sunday evening was an evangelistic motivation for having them in the service. I never wanted to keep them from having the opportunity to sit under preaching.
Concerning my marriage, there is nothing this world offers that binds my wife and I together more than corporate worship. For the sake of our marriage, Emily and I need to be gathered with the saints of God in the corporate worship of God both morning and evening on the Lord’s Day. It binds us stronger together in Christ.
The church is a pillar and buttress of truth that my family needs to guard us at all times.
The Need for Unity in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Practice of It in Our Lives
The author of Hebrews exhorts us, “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.” (10:23-25)
Rather than neglecting to meet together, we are to meet together all the more. I suspect that more here speaks primarily quantitatively. We should desire to meet together more and more often as the day of Christ draws near. The Sunday evening service is an excellent opportunity to keep the charge of the author of Hebrews.
Paul in Romans commands us, “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” (Romans 12:9-13)
I desire the Sunday evening gathering because it allows another opportunity for Christians to stir up one another to love and good works and to encourage one another. I want another chance each Lord’s Day at loving genuinely and hating evil. I want another opportunity to outdo you in showing honor to you. I want a second time in the day to not be slothful but to serve the Lord. And I want another opportunity to contribute to the needs of the saints. The less we gather, the less opportunity we have to do the things we are commanded to do.
And I believe that the more we gather to worship, sit under preaching, serve, and love one another, the more we will be united in the Church. The more we gather together, the more opportunity we have to practice the Gospel together. The more we are shaped into the image of Christ by beholding his glory together the more united we will become. It’s so difficult to be united with people you only see for roughly one hour per week.
The Evangelistic Benefit of Living Countercultural
When we guard the Lord’s Day and sacrifice the temporal things of this world for the sake of gathering with the saints for corporate worship morning and evening on the Lord’s Day, our actions speak volumes to the world around us that we are living for the glory of God and not for our own glory. We are telling the world that we are not our own but belong wholly to God. We are proclaiming that we are living for eternity. We are telling the world around us that there is something more important than mere temporal instant gratification. We are telling the world that God is worthy of our devotion and that our desire to worship him is above all things. We are proclaiming with our practice that we truly believe what we say we believe. When the culture around us hedonistically lives for self, we proclaim we live not for ourselves but for the glory of God.
In Conclusion:
I have sought to appeal to the Scriptures, Church History, a theology of worship, and practical reasons and needs for Christians to give careful consideration to gathering on the evening of the Lord’s Day. Many will disagree with me and some will incorrectly charge me with legalism. What I have offered in this article is a brief overview of what has led me to hold the conviction that my family and myself should unwaveringly be present in the gathering of the saints morning and evening on the Lord’s Day. I hope and pray that you will carefully consider your decision and that you would desire to join us in the evening worship service. And if you disagree with me, I pray that you will do so carefully and not just based on your feelings, wants, and desires.
Let me also offer you a final word of encouragement—subjecting yourself to the ordinary means of grace in corporate worship, more not less, will benefit your sanctification. For this is the means God has ordained for you to be sanctified. Let us not neglect that which God has ordained for our good and his glory.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Chase
Amen, brother - I am with you!