Well, my dear friend, my short answer is that I believe it to be most honoring to our Lord Jesus that we make every effort not to occupy Sundays with non-essential work or activities that are simply more convenient for us to do on Sunday. Rather we should want to be occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ-meeting with Christians in our local fellowship for the breaking of bread (the Lord’s Supper), and perhaps also for the ministry of God’s Word.

Having said this, I want to stress that I do not find specific Scriptures that prohibit working, at least not as found with the Old Testament Jewish Sabbath law. We are not under the law, but under grace, so if we are required to work on Sunday, the first day of the week, which I call the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10), we have not sinned. But again, given that we Christians do highly value the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can best honor Him by reserving Sunday for the Lord, rather than for our own personal pleasures and pursuits, at least as much as is possible. Now, what is special for the Christian about Sunday? According to the Morrish Bible Dictionary under the topic “The Lord’s Day” we read: “It was the day of the week on which the Lord arose.  It is the first day of the week, and is suggestive of the beginning of a new order of things, altogether distinct from that connected with the legal Sabbath. It was the day on which the disciples commonly came together for the express purpose of breaking bread, (Acts 20:7) and though no legal enactment is given concerning it, it is a day specially regarded by Christians.”

You’ll notice that I used the term “Lord’s Day” for Sunday. I realize that some Christians today call Sunday the Christian Sabbath, however, it is technically not the Sabbath as discussed under Jewish law. So, what was the Sabbath? Moses brought down the 10 Commandments from the mount.  One of them being “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8). The Sabbath was a holy day, a sign between God and Israel that He was indeed the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and no work was to be done on this day upon penalty of death (Exodus 31:13-14; Numbers 15:32-36; Deuteronomy 5:15; Jeremiah 17:21-22). But Christians are not under the law, as I have said, but under grace. We read in Romans 10:4: “For Christ is the end of law for righteousness to every one that believes (JND). Thus, we do not think of Sunday as the Sabbath, but rather the Lord’s Day. And, more importantly, we are not obliged to follow the OT restrictions on doing work on the Sabbath, and in fact, we would be wrong to follow the Jewish ceremonial laws: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16,17).  (See also Galatians 4:9; Romans 14:5).

But again, in summary, I do believe that it is important for Christians to honor the Lord’s Day (Sunday), not for fear of violating the OT statute regarding the Jewish Sabbath, but because we so love the Lord Jesus for bearing our sins on the cross and purchasing our pardon. That first day of the week, Sunday, is the day that our Lord Jesus rose from the dead, and it is the day He appeared to His disciples in the upper room. It is also the day of the week that the Apostle John received his vision on the Isle of Patmos (Revelation 1:10).   And as stated above, we read that the first day of the week, Sunday, is the day on which the disciples commonly met for the breaking of bread and for preaching the Word as we read in Acts 20:7, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them….”  (SF)  (624.3)