Matthew 9:35-38, “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’”
On April 21stthis year is the celebration of Easter Sunday. We know that both Christmas and Easter are not dates commanded in Scripture that believers in Christ are required to celebrate. Our only Holy Day that is required of us is the Lord’s Day every week. In many ways, each week should be a celebration of the incarnation (Christmas) and the death, burial, and resurrection (Easter) of Christ. In fact, with weekly communion we do remember the Lord’s death each and every week.
That being said, while not commanded, we are not sinning if we take time to celebrate the resurrection of Christ in the spring and His birth in December. The sin would be if we elevate these days to a greater importance in our lives of faith than we do the Sabbath day. That would be elevating man’s days above God’s day. May our excitement for these other days not be greater than our excitement to gather for worship each Sunday for we gather in the presence of God to give Him glory.
These other days of the year do provide for us a great opportunity to focus our attention on the Lord of the Harvest. There are many people in our culture today who will still attend a worship service on Christmas or Easter even if they don’t attend any other time of the year. As Jesus told his disciples to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out laborers into his harvest, let us take advantage of the opportunity that still presents itself to invite friends, neighbors, and co-workers to come and worship with us on the 21st. And pray for preachers who proclaim messages of truth each Sunday. May Churches be filled to overflowing with those who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. And may we pray that God, through His Spirit would draw people to Himself.