Someone started a discussion thread in one of the Christian forums arguing that we, as Christians, should worship on the seventh day of the week (the Sabbath as specified in the Old Testament) and not on the first day of the week.
Here is my response.
The Lord never said that we are to worship on the Sabbath (the seventh day). The word Sabbath was transliterated from the Hebrew word meaning intermission (period between doing things, rest). The Lord commanded us to keep it holy (qadash) and not work on that day.
Exodus 20:8-11
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (qadash).
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
The Hebrew word in verse eight that was translated to the English phrase "keep holy" is "qadash".
Qadash simply means clean, purify, dedicate, set apart.
It does not convey any meaning which can be translated to worship.
In fact, the Lord gave us the Sabbath for our sake: so that we would have rest.
Mark 2:27
27 Then He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."
The Lord also commanded us to rest on the seventh year.
Exodus 23:10-11
10 For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,
11 but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
Also, the fiftieth year (after seven seven-year cycles), the year of jubilee (battle cry), is set apart to be holy. In addition, bond servants are set free and all property are to be returned to their original owners. (Leviticus 25:8-17)
The irony is that, for most American Christians, Saturday and Sunday are the two busiest and most stressful days of week. We do most of our shopping and catch up on our household chores on Saturday. And on Sunday, we are up to our neck in church activities and after church often there's work that are due on Monday. And we certainly do not observe sabbatical year nor the jubilee year.
It is insane that we should be debating whether to be ultra-busy with church activities on Saturday or on Sunday. We need to rest!
So, when should we worship?
The example set for us by the original church is to worship every day. The original church met twice daily to worship: once in the temple courts with everyone in the church to worship corporately and once in the homes to worship in small groups.
Acts 2:46-47
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Allow me to summarize what the Bible tells us should do:
- Worship corporately daily at the church building (temple).
- Worship in small groups daily in our homes.
- Rest on the sabbath (sun-down Friday to sun-down Saturday).
- Celebrate the risen Christ on Sunday (not just Easter)
- Rest on the seventh year
- On the fiftieth year, rest, forgive debts (free bond servants - those who can't pay their debt), and return properties to their original owners.
If you really want to debate the issue, you should be debating whether we are willing to sign on the doing all of these.
p.s., I'm assuming that we no longer have to celebrate passover since it is for revealing who the Christ is and we already know who the Christ is. It's Jesus!
p.p.s., I'm also assuming that we no longer have to celebrate any of the atonement holidays since Jesus has already atone for all our sins (past, present, and future).
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