Why Worship on Sunday?

One of the common desires of people is to meet and they do so in different ways. No doubt those taking part in such events have a variety of reasons for doing so. If we asked them for their reasons, they would be able to tell us. Football supporters cheer on their team, for example. Christians also meet, but why do they do so? Suppose someone was to stop ask you as you leave the building today, ‘Why were you meeting together?’, what would you say? More importantly, what reasons does the Bible provide for why we come here?

 

Why on Sunday?

There are three reasons for doing so. The basic reason for meeting on Sunday is that doing so was the practice of the New Testament churches. Paul reminded the Corinthians to have a collection on the first day of the week, which assumes they met on that day. On another occasion, when he was in Troas, he says that he knew beforehand that the Christians there would meet on together on the first day of the week to break bread. Luke describes the service that took place and it lasted for several hours. 

 

Another reason for this practice is taken from the two occasions when Jesus met with his group of disciples in Jerusalem after his resurrection, one being on the evening of that day and the other a week later. Those occasions are best known because of the experience of Thomas who was not present on the first occasion and therefore did not see the risen Lord; he obviously missed out on a great blessing. However, he was present on the second occasion and saw Jesus. It is unlikely that the disciples met on this second occasion without some indication that Jesus would be present with them.

 

A second reason is that it is connected to the fact that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. I don’t know if you have ever wondered why we don’t meet on Fridays – after all, that was the day on which Jesus suffered on the cross and paid the penalty for sins. Instead, we meet on the first day of the week, the day of his resurrection. I suspect that one reason why they did so was because the resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of his exaltation. It is normally recognised that the exaltation of Jesus has four stages – his resurrection, his ascension to heaven, his enthronement in heaven, and his future role as judge of all. The day that he rose was the first day of the new spiritual age, and so on the first day of the week, we remind ourselves that we belong to the new age.

 

A third reason is connected to the biblical pattern of having one day a week that belonged to God. That was the case in Eden before mankind fell into sin when God created the Sabbath for his pleasure. It was also the case after they fell into sin. One factor that is not often realised is that the children of Israel knew that they should keep the Sabbath before they received the Decalogue at Mount Sinai, as when they received the manna from God. The important thing about the Sabbath is that it was God’s day in a special sense because that was the day when his creatures participated in his rest. 

 

Only God has the authority to change his selected day. This sense of divine ownership is continued after the resurrection because in the New Testament the first day of the week is also called the Lord’s Day, which by any basic interpretation means that it belongs to him in a special way, and that was recognised by the church because it was their day of worship. This name is only given once in the New Testament, as is the name ‘Lord’s supper’. But both usages indicate divine authority of something new – the supper replaced the Passover and the first day replaced the seventh.

 

Why together?

It is possible to imagine a situation in which God could have intimated that he would like each of his people to engage in isolated worship as their priority and not to meet with anyone who had undergone the same experience. The difficulty of such a prospect is that God never commanded such an action. Instead, in his word, he makes it very clear that worship is a communal activity of worshippers. It is the case that individual believers dedicate themselves to serve God all the time wherever they are, but that is a different idea altogether. Therefore, what can we say about worshipping together?

 

Or he could have indicated to his people that they meet daily to worship him or meet monthly or at some other interval. In Israel, there were seven annual festivals instituted at Sinai, and at least one was added later. But God did not make those kinds of arrangement for his people in the post-resurrection period. Instead, he selected one day in seven as the time when public gatherings of worship should take place all over the world.

 

As with worshipping on Sunday as opposed to other days, the basic reason for worshipping together is that God commands his people to do so in his Word. There are numerous examples of such statements in the Bible and indeed there are specific commands not to forsake such gatherings. Meetings are described as coming together in the name of Jesus, a reminder of his authority over his church. Although it is a basic reason, it is an important reason because, after all, God is King, the almighty sovereign, the One to whom we shall give account at the judgement seat. This does not mean that services cannot be held on other days, but worship services must be held on the first day of the week.

 

A second reason for worshipping together is that it is a meeting of the covenant community with their covenant God. That principle has always been the case. It was like that in Eden, it was like that in the days of Seth, it was like that in the days of Abraham, it was like that in the history of Israel, and it was like that in New Testament times. The last detail is the one that concerns us. In what way are we the covenant community? The answer is through baptism. It is very important that we recall that we have this relationship and responsibility because the name of the triune God is on us. Every Lord’s Day, the Lord of the covenant summons his worshippers to report to him. We come to him, we praise him, we confess our sins, we listen to his instructions, and we experience his benediction. This is the privilege of every baptised person, but it is also the responsibility of every baptised person. Even in the Great Commission, it is stated that meeting for instruction as Christ’s disciples is the consequence of baptism. Connected to this is the responsibility of parents to take their baptised children to public worship because children also can interact with God.

 

A third reason why we worship together is that each gathering is a visible example of the much greater gathering that meets in God’s presence. The visible church points to the invisible church. As a group of baptised people meet anywhere to worship the Lord, they are a reminder that the church is something far bigger than we can possibly imagine, but which we are to appreciate is true. We are meant to be a microcosm of the macrocosm that is the church of Christ.

 

A fourth reason why we should gather is that the meeting is one of a family. The heavenly Father delights to have his children meet with him. This was the case in Eden when God met with Adam and Eve. One of the saddest verses in the Old Testament is when God says to his people in Jeremiah 3:19, ‘I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.’ The context is worship and how they abused the relationship he offered them. Jesus told the woman of Sychar that the heavenly Father was seeking worshippers. Here we meet as part of the global, indeed heavenly, family of God.

 

A fifth reason why we should come together is that it is a foretaste of heaven to those who have the eyes to see what is going on. What is the main activity of heaven? It is a place of corporate worship. It is where the number that no one can count will stand together before the throne and travel together to the fountains of the waters of life. The Holy Spirit is described in Ephesians as giving foretastes or earnests of that future experience and one of the locations where he does so is in the gatherings of his people.

 

A sixth reason for gathering is that the church is a means through which God reveals his wisdom to the angels. While we cannot state exactly what they discover from observing us, there is no doubt that it will be connected to aspects of salvation. The angels are always impressed at what they see in a church service and one reason for that is that in the service they are focussed on what God has done for the worshippers and what he intends to do for and in the worshippers. At the same time, we should be aware that such a thing is taking place and it should solemnise us.

 

A seventh reason is that attendance is evidence of a changed life, of new desires, of new priorities. It is obvious from the Book of Acts and elsewhere in the New Testament that attendance was expected from those who became the people of God. Wherever the gospel was blessed, it produced a people eager to meet on Sundays in the name of the risen Christ; and doing so on every Lord’s Day was one essential way in which they recognised his Lordship, his authority and their calling to please him.

 

Why?

There are many reasons for why we should attend worship services on the Lord’s Day, but I will mention four. The first and perhaps the most obvious one is gratitude. We find this reason stated numerous times in the Book of Psalms when the author says that he intends to go to the place of worship to thank God. But he could have thanked God where he was, and no doubt he did. But it was also important for him that his expression of gratitude be performed in the presence of God’s people. It is still the same. Gratitude is expressed when we together thank the Lord for his grace in salvation and for his blessings in providence.

 

A second reason is the question of identity, of indicating to whom we belong. In a sense, when we come to a church service, we are echoing the words of Ruth when she said to Naomi, ‘Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.’ After all, on what other occasion do we have the opportunity of using such words and showing them in action? People have no difficulty identifying Moslems on Fridays and Jews on Saturdays. Can they identify us by what we do on Sundays, the Lord’s Day?

 

A third reason for coming together is to dedicate ourselves to the Lord. It is easy for us in daily life to lose some of our dedication. But when we come to meet with the Lord and hear from his Word and engage in his worship our hearts are stirred and warmed and we find ourselves drawn to rededicate ourselves to his service. I heard a story of a man who went to a church and read above the door the words, ‘Welcome to worship.’ As he left the church by the same door, he read another sign which said, ‘Welcome to the mission field.’ Stepping outside the church building brought him into the mission field. Rather oddly, we often behave as if the church was the mission field because it is the place from where we expect converts. In the church, we dedicate ourselves to serve in the mission field.

 

The final ‘why’ is that in the church we experience encouragement. Encouragement will come from a range of sources. God will encourage us by reminding us of his grace and assuring us of forgiveness; other worshippers will encourage us by speaking to us appropriate words of edification; we will be encouraged when we are reminded of why God wants us to worship him. The fact is, believers should need each other. 

 

Some might ask, how often should we do this on Sundays? That is the wrong question. The real question is, how often does Jesus want us to do it? After all, it is his Day, not ours.