Recently, a little girl in the kindergarten/first grade class was a little early getting there on Sunday morning. She visited up and down the hall with the other classes and then went back to her classroom. Someone came to check to see that all the teachers were there, and this little girl was “supervising” the other students that had arrived. Her remark was, “don’t worry, I’ve got this”. And she did.
I think back to when I was a little girl, coming home from worship on Sundays, lining my dolls up on the stairs, and “teaching them what I had learned in Bible class that day. I wonder how many children do that today. I think about all the children, not only in our congregation, but in congregations we have worshiped with in the past, that miss Bible class because their parents won’t stay or get up an hour earlier to get them there. There were two children in my Vacation Bible School class last summer that told me they want to come, but their parents won’t come.
I know that many people use as an excuse not to attend Sunday school that it is not commanded. I agree. It is not commanded. But consider the origin of the Sunday school.
According to Britannica.com, it has been around since the 1700’s. A man named Robert Raikes, a newspaper man in Gloucester, England became concerned about the children. Many were working in factories six days a week, and he believed that they could be saved from a life of crime if they had some basic religious education on Sundays. In 1780, the first Sunday school began with ordinary people teaching children in their homes.
The idea of Sunday school “has been the foremost vehicle for teaching the principles of the Christian religion and the Bible.
In the 1600’s the Puritans, according to learnthebible.org., had Sunday morning and evening worship as well as a Thursday morning lecture. Mid-week meetings began as prayer meetings with Charles Finney and D. L. Moody. Moody had noon prayer meetings to coincide with his preaching campaigns. In the mid-1900’s , prayer emphasis meetings mid-week became common. By the end of the century, these prayer meetings became opportunities for teaching or preaching.
None of these additional services or gospel meetings, vacation Bible schools, campaigns, etc. are commanded. They are, however, blessed by the Scripture. Following Pentecost and the establishment of the church, the believers were “day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes” (Acts 2:46). “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus” (Acts 5:42). “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 10:24-25).
The church of our Lord has, over the years, looked for ways to better meet the needs of the members and overcome the challenges faced through the centuries since the Lord’s church began. Nothing is more evident than the adjustments that had to be made when we were hit with the pandemic and forced to isolate away from family, friends, and fellow Christians. Our elders and preachers acted with our needs in mind, as well as adhering to the commands of Scripture. Sunday school and other teaching opportunities have met needs through the years in edifying the saints.
Why do we look for ways to not put the Lord first? Why do we complain when Christmas or some other holiday falls on Sunday? Sunday is the Lord’s day. Every day belongs to the Lord, and we should consider it an opportunity to worship Him whenever we can. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
Making excuses not to participate in opportunities to worship God really have nothing to do with the fact that there is no command. Truly, it is a heart problem. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21).