Should we be worshiping on Saturday?

I had a couple of guys pop in last Sunday from a church near the Palms mall.  We had quite a debate about worshiping on Saturday.  My daughter also had a similar encounter on the streets recently.  I’d like to clear up this issue.

Christians have generally been worshipping on Sundays as far back as we know.  There are allusions to this in the New Testament, but there is more mention of believers meeting in Jewish synagogues on Saturdays.  We also met in each other’s homes whenever possible, even pretty much living together, and doing church 24/7.

1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.

Assuming Sunday gatherings were from the start, this reads “On Sundays [when you meet], take up a collection, so that when I come you won’t have to scurry around looking for the donation you promised”

There were problems in the early church with people abusing the freedom Christianity brings and there were problems with people insisting on keeping Jewish law.  There seems to be a common resurgence of both today.  Those insistent on the law appears in various forms, particularly the Jewish roots movement, but we also have well established groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists.  There’s also Messianic Jews, who continue to embrace their Jewish heritage, enhanced by the recognition of the messiah, Jesus.

Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths

Romans 14:1 Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. ²For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. ³Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. ⁴Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

⁵One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. ⁷For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. ¹⁰But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. ¹¹For it is written:

 “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.”

¹²So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. ¹³Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.

So, it’s ok to observe a sabbath (Saturday day of worship), or a Sunday worship day.  However, both of these fall short of God’s law, because we’re commanded to

Matthew 22:37 “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”.

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

But it’s not ok to judge another believer because they express faith in a different way.  It is explicitly forbidden to judge another believer regarding certain foods or holy days.  The foundation of the message our visitors brought was a violation of this command.

That’s not how the conversation started.  It began with “Do you know that the Bible expresses scientific truth?” “Yes, I wrote a book on it.”  They pointed out:

Job 36:26 “Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; Nor can the number of His years be discovered.  ²⁷For He draws up drops of water, which distill as rain from the mist, ²⁸Which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man.  ²⁹Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thunder from His canopy?

This is good stuff, good theology, good science.

They then asked if I knew about the mother nature of God?  “Um, that’s a bit dodgy.”  Christians refer to the three persons of God as He.  There is a heresy derived from pagan ideas of a god mother, which is implied into the Bible because both the Greek and Hebrew word for spirit is feminine.  It’s like saying “Der hund is ein gutes Mädchen” or “El perro es una buena chica” i.e. “[masculine] the dog is [feminine] a good girl”.  However, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are referred to as “He”.

Noticing their insistence on keeping the law of Moses, which did indeed extend to keeping the seven Jewish festivals, I pointed out:

Exodus 12:48 And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.

But circumcision of Christians is prohibited:

Galations 5:2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. ³And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. ⁴You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.

Therefore, we cannot keep Jewish festivals such as the Passover, although they’re great to study.

His reply is that “we’re circumcised spiritually in our hearts, so we can and must keep the Sabbath and festivals.”  I think there’s some leeway, that we can observe parts of the law, particularly in studying their prophetic implications.  However, we are not required to keep laws given to Israel.

This whole idea of gentiles (non-Jews) keeping the law was a core heresy of the Pharisees.  After they’d overthrown the Greek occupation a few centuries before Christ, priests starting to rule the nation and began insisting that common people keep laws for the priests and gentiles also.  This got Jesus furious:

Luke 11:46 And He said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.

When this topic came up in the early church, the gathering of the apostles concluded with this letter:

Acts 15:24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law” —to whom we gave no such commandment— ²⁵it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. ²⁸For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: ²⁹that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Pointing out that the criminal executed next to Jesus was never baptised, nor took communion, was met with “well Jesus specifically excused him from keeping the law”.  What a cop-out.  I can say the same for me too ;-).

The ten commandments, wherein the Sabbath command is given, was given to the Jews, as part of their national law. Shocker: as Christians we are not even bound to the ten commandments.  However, the other nine are repeated in the new testament, as they derive from the laws given to grandad Noah after the flood.  These are binding for all people.  These are included in the letter above. The laws of Moses are for Israel, although they and other anciently contemporary laws are the roots of our own legal systems.  There is no evidence of these laws being kept prior.  Abraham was righteous before he was circumcised, and served guests, including Jesus (the angel of the lord) with meat and milk, contrary to orthodox kosher laws.  Noah was permitted to eat and kind of animal.

After much back and forth, I pointed out we’re not going to agree, so we should move on to another topic.  They decided to depart, but invited me to their gathering on Saturday across from the Palms.  I later thought, “So I have to keep the Sabbath, but you want me to break the Sabbath by travelling to the other side of town, or by igniting the fire in my car to get there.”

I never got around to asking them what time the sabbath started this week.  I suspect they don’t get that right either.  Orthodox Jews use a web site to determine when to start praying and when twilight is complete. For Christchurch, “Light candles at 8:11PM” on Friday, Feb 21, 2020 and “Shabbat ends 9:13PM” on Saturday.

Given that Christians have “always” gathered on Sundays, to argue that this is wrong requires clear proof of early Christians meeting on Saturday (beyond meeting in synagogues when they are open, which is Saturday).  Then we need to show writings from respected early church fathers denouncing the heretical move from Saturday worship to Sunday worship.

Ultimately:

Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths

Beware of legalists, who distract from the gospel by insisting on fulfilling laws and traditions, or even those who insist on fulfilling the “regular program”.  These are symptoms of a lost and broken relationship with Jesus.  They come in their self-righteous piety seeking to ensnare you under the law, undoing the freedom we have in Christ.

Galatians 2:3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. ⁴And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), ⁵to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

I pray that God would richly bless you as you seek understanding of his word.

Shalom

– Brent