Opus 2012-268, Sabbath Observations: Suicide, Murder or Accidental Death?

I was listening to a sermon by Alistair Begg.  Nothing new about that.  I would recommend it.  As he was preaching, he mentioned it was an evening sermon.  It wasn’t a major point, just mentioned in passing.  It occurred to me that, except when he mentions it, I can’t tell the difference between his morning and evening preaching.  What that tells me is that he is just as serious about his evening sermons as he is about his morning sermons.  Possibly he is more serious.

That is not the pattern in America’s churches.   Usually you could tell within the first few minutes if you were listening to a morning sermon or an evening sermon.  I noticed this years ago when I was still pastoring and would have a Sunday off.  I would visit other churches and find that serious preaching in the evening was hard to find. 

You may have noticed that the evening worship service is a vanishing breed.  Most churches have cancelled them.  Some never had them.  The pastors will say that it is because of lack of interest, no one would come.  I say it is because the pastors have stopped putting in serious preparation time.  The pastors of America have killed off the evening service because they have not wanted to put in the time to prepare a message that was worth coming to hear.

Yes, I know that evening services have always been less attended than morning worship.  I know that people have busy lives.  I know that today more wives are working outside the home.  I know all that but it doesn’t keep Alistair Begg from preaching.  He has stated that his church is the only one in Cleveland with an evening service.  I am sure it is smaller in attendance but it is still alive and well.

The evening service has not died because it was useless, it is dying from neglect.

Was it murder, suicide or accident?

homo unius libri