RELIGION









Why do I worship on the first day of the week?


By Dr. W Ray Kelley
Pastor, Live Oak Christian Church

  Generally, most Christians do not con-
sider this question at all. Almost all
Christian churches meet for worship on
the "First Day of the Week," Sunday, or
the Lord's Day, and the members do not
consider any other option.
  Below is a summary of the reasons
WHY I believe God wants us to Wor-
ship him on the "First Day of the
Week."
The Power and Planning of God
  It is vital that we understand that God
did not and does not do anything by ac-
cident.  He planned creation, the com-
ing of Jesus, and the plan for man to be
saved from his sins from the beginning
of time. Through His foreknowledge of
history He knew that Adam and Eve
would sin, that Noah would save man
with the Ark, that Moses would lead His
people out of Egypt, that David would
sin, that Jeremiah and Ezekiel would
prophesy the destruction of Jerusalem
and the return of Israel to Judah, that Je-
sus would come into the world at just
the correct time, and that a new
covenant would be made with all
mankind through the Church.
Facts from Genesis
  In Genesis 2:2-3 we are told that God
rested after the work of creation. God
chose and planned the seven day cre-
ation cycle, but He could have chosen
any cycle that he wished.
  However, after these two verses there
is no record concerning worship on any
specific day. The first six chapters give
us information about the activities of
man's sin and wickedness, but absolute-
ly nothing is said about the failure to
worship on a specific day.
  God did not instruct Noah to worship
him on any specific day. He did not in-
struct Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob to wor-
ship on any given day. It is not record-
ed that He gave them any instruction of
worship - day of the week, types of sac-
rifice, or special activities. There are
no commands of any type and no record


of these men worshipping on any specif-
ic day.
The Mosaic Law
  It is not until the Children of Israel
left Egypt that there is any reference to
the seventh day having any significance
in the lives of his people. In Exodus
16:23-30 when God sent manna for the
people to eat, we have the first use of
the word Sabbath and an indication that
God was going to establish the seventh
day as a special day of rest for His peo-
ple. There is no doubt that God in-
spired Moses to record the days of cre-
ation with God resting on the seventh
day as a foundation for the institution of
the Sabbath Worship in the Mosaic Law.
  However, the Sabbath day worship
was not separate from the Mosaic Law.
It was a new concept given to the Chil-
dren of Israel along with all of the other
rules and regulations for worship. To
separate this one command from all of
the other parts of the Mosaic Law is
adding something to the scripture that is
not there. God made the Sabbath day
special for His people in Exodus 20:8
and established many guidelines as to
how to observe it in the books of Exo-
dus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. The
breaking of the Sabbath was one of the
sins that God condemned over and over
again in the Old Testament.
  If a person insists upon keeping the
Sabbath today, he or she would be re-
sponsible for keeping all of the other
commandments in the Mosaic Law.
Jesus and the Sabbath
  Jesus was a Jew, living under the Mo-
saic Law. The scripture tells us that He
was perfect in every way and without
sin (Hebrews 4:15); therefore, He
obeyed every part of the commandments
including the keeping of the Sabbath.
  Jesus also stated that He did not come
to destroy the Mosaic Law but to fulfill
it (Matthew 5:17).
Jesus and the First Day of the Week
  Please note the first section regarding
the Power and Planning of God. The
Jewish leaders and neither the Romans
nor Pilate decided how, when, or where


Jesus would die. God was in control
and everything was done according to
His will and plan.
  God chose to have Jesus die and be in
the grave for three days and rise on the
first day of the week. God could have
planned the resurrection on any day he
wished (Mark 16:9). He could have
chosen the seventh or Sabbath day.
God chose the "first day of the week"
for a reason.
  Jesus appeared to his apostles on the
"first day of the week," not once but
twice (John 20:26). If God did not want
the church to worship on the "first day
of the week," why did he not have Jesus
rise on the Sabbath and appear to the
Apostles on that day?
The Church and the
First Day of the Week
  After Jesus returned to heaven, the
Apostles were told to go to Jerusalem
and wait for power to come (Acts 1:4).
Since Jesus arose on the First Day of the
Week after Passover, and it was fifty
days from that to Pentecost, it is likely
that the Day of Pentecost when the
Church began was on the First Day of
the Week. Again, God planned all of
these events and controlled the time,
place, and location.
  After the founding of the Church, the
Apostles and the new Christians met in
the temple daily (Acts 2:46). After a
time, the Church began to be persecuted
by the Jewish community, and the Chris-
tians went everywhere preaching the
Gospel (Acts 8:1). At that point, the
Church was Jewish. It was not until
God led Peter to Caesarea to preach to
the Roman Centurion Cornelius did
Gentiles (non-Jews) receive the Gospel
(Act 10). The Church at Antioch was
one of the leaders in sending out preach-
ers to the Gentiles when they sent out
Saul (Paul) and Barnabas to preach in
Asia (modern day Turkey) (Acts 13ff).
  Paul practiced a standard method of
evangelism. First, he went to the Jewish
synagogue to preach the Jews. In Acts
13:46, Paul states that they were re-
quired to preach the Gospel to the Jews
first, but since they (the Jews) had re-
jected the Gospel they would go to the
Gentiles. Paul went to the Synagogue
on the Sabbath Day for a specific pur-
pose -- because that was when the most
people would be present. He went to
the Synagogue on the Sabbath multiple
times before going to the Gentiles. This
was Paul's practice in each city he en-
tered. However, there is no indication
that Paul taught these Gentile Christians
to worship on the Sabbath. As we fol-
low Paul on his missionary journeys, we
see Jews and some Jewish Christians at-
tacking him for not requiring the new
Gentile Christians to obey the Mosaic
Law, which would include worshiping
on the Sabbath.
  As we read through the writings of
Paul, we see that he repeatedly tells his
readers that they are not obligated to fol-
low the Mosaic Law (see Romans).
Nowhere in any of his writing does he
make an exception for worshipping on
the Sabbath. Also, Paul and other writ-
ers provide various lists of "do's" and
"don't's" for their readers; however, in-
struction to worship on the Sabbath or
failing to worship on the Sabbath is not
included. That omission is very impor-
tant. It would not have been omitted if


God had considered it vital to true wor-
ship.
  Two places in the New Testament we
see Paul encouraging worship on the
First Day of the Week. Acts 20:7 tells
us that the Christians at Troas gathered
on the First Day of the Week to worship,
partake of the Lord's Supper, and hear
Paul preach. In 1 Corinthians 16:2,
Paul instructs the church in Corinth to
receive an offering for the Jerusalem
Church when they met on the "first day
of the week."
  Finally, in the last New Testament
book, Revelation, John states that he
was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day
(First Day of the Week). Again, God
inspired the writing of the book and the
actions of John. This could have hap-
pened on any day of the week or it could
have been left out altogether - but it was
not. God chose to tell us that the Reve-
lation took place on the "first day of the
week."
Second Century Christian Writers
  The leaders of the Church continued
to write letters of instruction to their
people after the New Testament books
were all written. Several of them noted
that the church gathered together on the
"first day of the week" or the Lord's
Day.
  Didache (90 AD) stated, "But every
Lord's day do you gather yourselves to-
gether, and break bread."
  Ignatius (110 AD) stated, "(Jews) ...
have come to the possession of a new
hope, no longer observing the Sabbath,
but living in observance of the Lord's
Day, on which also our life has sprung
up again by Him and by His death."
  Barnabas (100 AD) stated, "We keep
the eighth day (Sunday) with joyfulness,
the day also on which Jesus rose again
from the dead."
  Justin (150 AD) stated, "And on the
day called Sunday, all who live in cities
or in the country gather together to one
place and the memoirs of the apostles or
the writings of the prophets are read..."
  It is worth noting that some of these
individuals would be classified as ortho-
dox in their theology and others might
be classified as heretics. Nevertheless,
they all report the known general pattern
of worship by the first century church.
  Those considered heretics were ques-
tioning the doctrine around the person
and characteristics of Jesus. Worship
on the Lord's Day (the first day of the
week), was not questioned, since all of
the congregations followed this practice.
  The only Christians who did not wor-
ship on the Lord's Day were Jewish
Christians who were insisting that Gen-
tiles must become Jews when they be-
come Christians and that they must fol-
low all of the Mosaic Law. This false
teaching was condemned repeatedly by
the Apostle Paul in many of his letters.

Conclusion
  Why do we worship on the "first day
of the week" -- because the New Testa-
ment church did! We see this in the
Holy Scripture and from the writings of
church leaders in the second century
(100 years after the beginning of the
church on the Day of Pentecost).
  There is also no reason from the scrip-
ture to believe that God instructed the
Christians to worship on the seventh day
or the Jewish Sabbath.


Now THAT'S Something

           To Smile About!


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