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In our study we've examined a few of the
characteristics of God and considered examples of vain worship recorded in
the scriptures.
We've examined in detail Matthew 16:18 and Jesus' statement that He will
build one church. In the Bible we learned that the one church Jesus
was going to build would become the one body over which He is the Head.
We now know that this one body is made up of individuals who have been
obedient to the commandments of God and have fulfilled the requirements
for Jesus to add them to His body. Throughout the world there are
congregations of individuals who gather regularly to worship God.
These congregations are overseen by a group of elders, whose authority is
limited to the congregation of which they are a part. The eldership
must authorize nothing beyond that which Jesus taught. We considered
warnings against those who would hold fast to any head other than Jesus
Christ. Many sincere people are drawn away from Christ by false
teachers, thereby losing their eternal reward. We've seen how it is
entirely possible for one to worship God in vain through exercising the
commandments of men in worship rather than the commandments of God.
God demands that those who worship Him do so in spirit and in truth.
As we close our study of the church we
will look to the scriptures and identify those worship practices that are
authorized by God. Once we do so, each of us must critically
evaluate our own practices and determine if we are faithful to the
commandments God has given us. God through his mercy has told us
exactly what He demands from us in worship. He hasn't left us
without a guide, hoping we will stumble on that which He finds pleasing.
All we have to do is study the scriptures and determine to obey what they
tell us.
When does the body of Christ meet to
worship?
To my knowledge,
the majority of religious bodies within the global religion referred to as
"Christianity" meet to worship on Sunday, which is also known as
the "first day of the week." There is only one body within
"Christianity" which meets on Saturday (again, as far as I am
aware); the Seventh Day Adventists. What do the scriptures say
regarding the day God expects us to assemble? Let's begin by
identifying which day of the week is the "first day" of the
week.
We can identify the "first day of
the week" by considering the day Jesus was crucified and the day he
was resurrected. In Luke 23 we read of Jesus crucifixion. Verse
54 states that the day on which He was crucified was the
"preparation." Mark
15:42 tells us what this day of preparation was: It was the day
before the Sabbath. A website entitled everythingjewish.com (http://www.everythingjewish.com/Shabbat/Shabbat_Origins.htm)
tells us that Shabbat (Hebrew for Sabbath) begins at sundown on Friday and
continues until sundown on Saturday. Turn to Matthew
28:1. We read, "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to
dawn toward the first day of the week,” Now we can apply a modern
name to this "first day of the week." If the Sabbath was
Saturday, and the day after the Sabbath was the first day of the week,
then the first day of the week falls on Sunday.
Within the NT there are two references
to the day of the week upon which the disciples gathered together.
In Acts
20:7 we read, "And upon the first day of the week, when the
disciples came together to break bread,". In 1
Corinthians 16:2 Paul tells us, "Upon the first day of the week
let every one of you lay by him in store,". So on Sunday the
members of the body of Christ are recorded as having come together to
"break bread" and to "lay by him in store." (See
below for a further discussion dealing with these two activities) So
we see by example and by command when the members of the body of Christ
assemble together.
Why do the Adventists meet on Saturday?
Pasted below (from a Seventh Day Adventist website, http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/index.html)
is a paragraph outlining their reasons for meeting on Saturday:
The
beneficent Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh
day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation.
The fourth commandment of God's unchangeable law requires the observance
of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in
harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It
is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a
token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God's
kingdom. The Sabbath is God's perpetual sign of His eternal covenant
between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from
evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God's creative
and redemptive acts.
In our study of the old and new
covenants we learned that the old law was given only to the Jews.
The Gentiles were never subject to the law of Moses, which contained the
ten commandments. Therefore the fourth commandment to observe the
Sabbath was a commandment a Gentile would never observe. But what
about modern-day Jews? Again we learned that the law of Moses was
destined to cease even before it was written! It ceased being a
valid covenant between God and man upon the death of Jesus Christ.
So the position the Adventists take regarding both the day of worship and
the unchangeable nature of God's law is in error. It's true that the
law didn't change while it was in effect. The error lies in the
position they take regarding the ongoing application of the old covenant
in our relationship with God today.
In the scriptures we learn that the
members of the body of Christ meet upon the first day of the week.
However, we are not limited to meeting on Sunday only. The elders
have the responsibility of feeding the flock. To do so they may
schedule other days throughout the week for us to meet. So, if the
elders decide that the congregation should meet for Bible study on
Wednesday night, the members have a responsibility to meet then as well.
If a gospel meeting is scheduled for the week of May 5-12 (for example),
then the members of the Lord's body are to meet on those nights to study
God's word. The Hebrews writer warns us against forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together in chapter 10,
verse 25. When the elders decide the congregation needs to meet,
faithful members of the body of Christ will do all they can to meet on
those occasions.
Prayer and Preaching
I'm not going to evaluate these two worship practices in this study.
We have studied prayer in-depth in our lesson entitled "Does
God Hear a Sinner's Prayer?". With regards to preaching,
every "Christian" religious organization teaches its doctrine in
one form or another during their services. The important point
regarding preaching is not the act of preaching, but rather what is
preached. If the doctrine taught by the preacher is of man then it
is of no use in our efforts to worship God as He demands. Please
review our lesson entitled "Why
must we use the Bible only?" to see the necessity of preaching
only what God has authorized in His word.
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