2. _Why do we Christians celebrate certain days as holy-days though God has not commanded us to do so?_ It is God's will that His children should come together for services of _preaching and hearing His Word,_ that they should come together in their churches for public worship. In order to do this, it is necessary to set aside a _certain day._ That is the reason why the Church celebrates Sunday and other feasts. _We celebrate them not by divine command, but in order to have time for public worship,_ for going to church, for services of preaching and hearing the Word of God. To the question, "What does this mean?" namely, to sanctify the holy-day, our Catechism rightly answers: _"We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it."_ 3. _We should not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred,_ that is the will of God according to the Third Commandment. Remember, it is _His_ Word, the holy Word of our _heavenly Father,_ whom we should fear and love. It is God Himself who speaks to us in His Word, in the Bible, when we read it. It is God Himself who sends His messengers to us, our pastors and teachers, to preach His Word that we may the better understand it. Our Savior says concerning His messengers: _"He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me."_ Luke 10, 16. In despising His Word, we despise our Lord, yea, our God and Father Himself. A child does not despise the words of his respected and beloved father. How deeply would we, then, offend our heavenly Father by despising His Word!--If we really fear and love God, we shall not despise His Word, but hold it sacred. We shall not forget that we are hearing our dear Father's voice when we are reading our Bible. When God's Word is preached to us in our churches, we shall hear and receive it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God. 1 Thess. 2,13.