Why do we worship on Sunday?

[zingiber]

I came across a post by a Seventh day Adventist recently arguing that Saturday is the day we are to rest (the Sabbath), It seemed convincing, because the sabbath is of of course commanded in the fourth of the Ten Commandments. Yet now we worship on the Sunday. Does anybody now why?

 

[xapis]

See here: http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/ch_XXI.html

 

[arunma]

First of all, the Seventh Day Adventists seem to get it wrong simply by equating Sunday worship with celebration of the Sabbath. Nowhere does the Bible prescribe Sunday church services. It can perhaps be inferred from Acts 20:7, in which Paul gathered church at Troas together to share the Lord's Supper and to hear a teaching of the Word. Many times the Bible says that we should be in fellowship with other believers, but I would hardly call modern day worship services "fellowship" (this happens more in the context of smaller groups), so this doesn't seem to be what is intended in Scripture. Let me be clear in saying that I am not saying we shouldn't have Sunday worship. To worship as a church on Sunday mornings is a wonderful and godly thing, and I almost never neglect it. It is also a most ancient church tradition, dating back to New Testament times, and continued even in the second century (St. Justin Martyr wrote about it in his apologies). But it is not a Scriptural commandment.

But I think your question can be distilled down to: why has Sunday taken such importance in the church? It can be shown from Scripture that after Christ's resurrection, the first day of the week began to take prominence as the day when God inaugurated his new creation through his Son. Acts 20:7 is one example. Others are John 20:19 and 1 Corinthians 16:2. Revelation 1:10 specifically calls it the Lord's day. It appears that the early church had no problem worshiping on the first day of the week. So why should we? The Biblical commandment is to rest on the Sabbath, not perform corporate worship. So really, it seems to me that the question is moot.

Besides that, for many of us Sunday is hardly a day of rest. On Sundays I give several people rides to church, go fellowship for dinner, and sometimes I even cook. It's a rewarding and edifying day to be sure, but not always a day of rest. Likewise, Sundays are not my sole day of worship. My church's college ministry does corporate worship on Thursday nights, and I attend this as regularly as Sunday services (a bit more, since once or twice a semester I'm travelling on Sunday). It seems rather premature to equate the Sabbath with the day of corporate worship.

 

[zingiber]

Thank you for that. I suppose it is a bit too easy to get so used to tradition and then give it scriptural authority!

 

[arunma]

It is, isn't it? I have a friend at church who has made me aware of this simply by challenging me to defend all of our traditions from Scripture (interestingly, he nonetheless sees great value in these traditions). There are many things that modern evangelical churches do, including our style of worship, small group fellowship, Bible study, and other forms of ministry, the details of which are not taught specifically in Scripture. Now all of these are wonderful things which fulfill Scriptural commandments. Small groups fulfill the command to meet together for mutual upbuilding. Bible study allows us to feed on the words that proceed from the mouth of God. Sunday worship allows us to do what we were designed to do: to worship God in spirit and truth. As such, it seems we need to allow for innovation and creativity in the ways that we do these things, while remaining anchored to God's word and not being doctrinally innovative.

 

[Maasive10]

Here are some reasons I worship on the "Lord's Day" Sunday.
1) In commemoration of Christ's resurrection.
2) The example of Christ's post-resurrection appearances (He did not appear to His disciples on the 7th day, but always on the 1st day). John 20:1 / Luke 24:1 / Luk 24:33-34 / Luke 24:13 / John 20:19 / John 20:26
3) The example of the Holy Spirit's outpouring. The Spirit was poured out on the 1st day of the week.
4) The example of the apostles - The apostles established the practice of gathering on the 1st day of the week, calling the 1st day of the week the Lord's Day (Acts 20:7 / 1 Cor 16:2 / Rev. 1:10)
5) The Sabbath could commemorate God's creative works. The Lord's Day remembers more... it remembers the work of Christ's redemption.

 

[bradfordl]

Why do we worship on Sunday?

I was gonna say to <staff edit> off the SDA, but I guess there's more to it than that...

 

[Hammster]

Because I have to mow the lawn on Saturday.