Why Sunday (13 views)
From:  David (DavidABrown)    4/16/2003 8:36 pm  
To:  ALL    
 
  583.1  
 
Why does the Christian Church specifically gather for Worship on Sundays? How and why did this practice begin?

These are questions often asked and very easy to answer.

It is Jesus that started Sunday Worship as that is the Day the that He Rose from the Dead and it is the "same day" that He began His Church.

It is the Glorious life giving Resurrection of Jesus and the birth of His Church that the Church gathers to commemorate every Sunday as it gathers and worships Jesus.

What is Worship?

The word worship literally means to acknowledge the source and sustaining of our life, the Christian acknowledges that life comes from God as God is the creator and sustainer of all life, the embodiment of life is the Resurrection of Jesus, as it is now the Resurrection Life of Jesus that we the Christian live in and take part in having been rescued by Jesus from our own certain death through sin therefore it has been since the first Sunday and continues until this day that the Church gathers to Worship God on Sunday by acknowledging His Life giving Resurrection.

What is the Church?

The Christian Church is a unique gathering of people whos sins have been paid for in full by Jesus on the cross. The word Church means "out  gathering" those that are taken out of this sinful world and gathered together into the sinless image of Jesus by receiving His Spirit, and having receiving the Spirit of God the Christian has passing from death in sin to Life in Jesus.

Why hasnt the Church always existed?

True Christianity means a Relationship with God and a Relationship with God is as old as Creation so it is accurate to said that Adam and Eve are the first Christians but then Sin separated mankind from God and therefore postponed Christianity until after the Redemption of mankind via the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus.

The Church did not exist during the Old Testament times. In other words, Noah, Abraham, King David, Solomon, and even John the Baptist, although each was in a relationship with God, were not Christians, and for a very good reason, each of theses people lived and died prior to the Cross of Jesus. Before the Cross of Jesus the remedy for Sin had not yet occurred and with sin a "Gathering of the Sinless (in Image)" was not available as Gods Spirit is not intimately available with Sin.

Once Jesus came into humanity in the Virgin Birth and then died on the cross as full payment for all of the sins of the world then on His "Resurrection Day" the Church age could then begin. The Church could not be gathered prior to the cross and without the resurrection there would not be the Living Leader.

The Church / Christians are Identified as the ones who have Received the Spirit of God and by receiving the Spirit of God are now in the Sinless Image of God our Father the Christian is now a Child of God. This event of Jesus giving the Spirit and the individuals each receiving the Spirit of God began on Sunday the very day of the Resurrection of Jesus.

John 20:19-23 Then the same day (Resurrection Day) at evening, being the first day of the week (Sunday), when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, "Peace be unto you." And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me , even so send I you. And when He had said this , He breathed on them, and saith unto them, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: (Become a Christian) Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

 

Did the Church actually start at Pentecost?

Sometimes people think that the Church did not start until fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus during a Feast called "Pentecost" Acts 2:1-4 but remember it is the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus that paved the way for the Church and the individual receiving of the Holy Spirit of God, and not the waiting of Fifty days by the disciples that paved the way for the Church, besides there is a Feast of Pentecost every year but there is only one Cross and Resurrection of Jesus so there is not a fifty day gap between the Resurrection and the start of the Church, and the same people gathered together in Acts 2:1-4 had already received the Holy Spirit back in John 20:19-23.

 

Is Sunday now also the Sabbath day of the Church?

It is also important to note that Sunday is not a Sabbath Day and therefore the Church is not resting on Sunday when it gathers to Worship but is Rejoicing in the Living, Loving, Jesus.

Saturday is still the Sabbath day proscribed by God for the Jewish people to physically follow by physically resting but for the Church our rest is Spiritual we rest in complete faith of the accomplished, completed work of Jesus, His Cross and His Resurrection.

Exodus 20:10 But the Seventh day (Saturday) is the Sabbath ..

Luke 24:1 Now upon the First day (Sunday) of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher (tomb), bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in , and found not the body of Jesus.

In establishing a time for the Resurrection  the disciples arrive at the tomb at about Sunrise, just prior, so we know that Jesus did not Resurrect later than sunrise and some might wonder is He rose earlier than Sunrise but the Biblical answer is no as it is exactly at sunrise that Jesus is revealing Himself to be Alive.

Also many of the Bibles names, references, types, and prophecies all reveal that He is the "Sunrise from on High." For example Jesus physically entered into the world in His Virgin birth at night into the darkness of this world  representing that Jesus is the light that shined and came into the dark world.

Continuing, Jesus (the Light of the world) Resurrected at Sunrise as His Resurrection is the new Dawn of Everlasting Life.

Luke 1:78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Dayspring (Sunrise) from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feat into the way of peace.

Isaiah 60:1 Arise (sunrise), shine; for thy light is come, and the Glory of the LORD is Risen (Resurrected) upon thee.

2 Corinthians 4:3,4 But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face (appearance) of Jesus Christ.

Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand (sunrise): let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

 

Could the Church have stopped for a while and then restarted?

Since it is the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus and Only the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus that paved the way for the Christian Church the Christian Church has continued and will continue until Jesus receives His Christian Church unto Himself in Heaven where He is. In order for the Church to have started and stopped and started again it would Require that the Holy Spirit would no longer be available and then Jesus would have to be re-Crucified and the Holy Spirit re-given, events that could never happen again and would never happen again as the one Crucifixion of Jesus is sufficient for ALL Time.

It really is a common Christian tenant that The Christian Church began with Jesus, the Leader and Founder, giving His Spirit to His followers on the day of His Resurrection Sunday and that the Church has continued and will continue until Jesus Himself returns and Receives His Christian Church up into Heaven where He currently is.

God Bless you,
David Anson Brown



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
