Sermons From Acts - The First Day Of The Week (20:7)

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                          "THE BOOK OF ACTS"

                   The First Day Of The Week (20:7)

INTRODUCTION

1. For almost 2000 years, Christians have assembled on Sunday to observe
   the Lord's Supper...
   a. Why on Sunday (the first day of the week)?
   b. Why not on the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week)?

2. In Ac 20:7, we find the first reference to worship on a Sunday...
   a. When disciples came together to break bread
   b. When Paul spoke to them 

[Some might wonder whether this passage refers to a weekly observance,
and whether Christians did in fact assemble on the first day of the
week to partake of the Lord's Supper.  Consider the evidence for...]

I. THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SUPPER

   A. THE BIBLICAL EVIDENCE...
      1. When the church began, they continued steadfastly in "the
         breaking of bread" - Ac 2:42
      2. Disciples came together on the first day of the week to "break
         bread" - Ac 20:7
      3. "Breaking bread" is likely a reference to the Lord's Supper 
         - cf. 1Co 10:16-17
      4. Other indications of a weekly observance:
         a. The church at Corinth was coming together to eat the Lord's 
            Supper, though they were abusing it - cf. 1Co 11:17-22
         b. Instructions concerning the collection suggest their coming
            together was on the first day of the week - cf. 1Co 16:1-2
      -- Seemingly slight, the Biblical evidence weighs more than any
         human opinion

   B. THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE...
      1. The earliest historical evidence outside the Bible confirms the
         day and frequency
         a. The Didache (ca. 95 A.D.) indicates Christians were to come
            together on the first day of the week to break bread 
            - Didache 14:1
         b. Justin Martyr (ca. 150 A.D.) records how Christians assembled
            on Sunday and partook of the Supper - Apology I, 67
         c. "...the early church writers from Barnabas, Justin Martyr, 
            Irenaeus, to Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Cyprian, all 
            with one consent, declare that the church observed the first
            day of the week. They are equally agreed that the Lord's 
            Supper was observed weekly, on the first day of the week." 
            - B. W. Johnson, People's New Testament
      2. Religious scholars confirm this was the practice
         a. "As we have already remarked, the celebration of the Lord's
            Supper was still held to constitute an essential part of 
            divine worship every Sunday, as appears from Justin Martyr
            (A.D. 150)..." - Augustus Neander (Lutheran), History Of 
            Christian Religion And Church, Vol. I, p. 332
         b. "This ordinance (the Lord's Supper) seems to have been
            administered every Lord's day; and probably no professed 
            Christian absented themselves... - Thomas Scott 
            (Presbyterian), Commentary On Acts 20:7
         c. "This also is an important example of weekly communion as the
            practice of the first Christians." - A. C. Hervey 
            (Episcopalian), Commentary On Acts 20:7
         d. "It is well known that the primitive Christians administered
            the Eucharist (the Lord's Supper) every Lord's day." - P. 
            Doddridge (Congregationalist), Notes On Acts 20:7
         e. "We understand v. 7 to indicate that the Breaking of Bread on
            the first day of the week was customary during the apostolic
            period." - F. F. Bruce, (Open Brethren), New International 
            Bible commentary (p. 1302)
      -- The overwhelming consensus of extra biblical sources supports
         the conclusion that the Biblical practice was to observe the 
         Lord's Supper each first day of the week

[But as asked in the introduction, why Sunday?  Why not the Sabbath Day?
Consider the following regarding...]

II. THE DAY OF THE OBSERVANCE

   A. WHY THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK...?
      1. Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday - Mt 28:1; Mk 16:2,9; Lk 
         24:1; Jn 20:1
      2. Jesus appeared to His disciples on Sunday - Jn 20:19
      3. The church began on Pentecost, which was on a Sunday - Ac
         2:1-42
      4. The command to lay by in store was to be carried out on a
         Sunday - 1Co 16:1-2
      5. Jesus appeared to John on "the Lord's Day", later understood to
         be Sunday - Re 1:10
      -- The Scriptures do not explicitly declare the above to be reasons
         why Christians assembled on the first day of the week, but it 
         might indicate why they did

   B. WHY NOT THE SABBATH...?
      1. The Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Exo 31:16,17;
         Neh 9:14; Eze 20:12), whereas Christians are under the New 
         Covenant (2Co 3; He 8)
      2. There is no NT command to keep the Sabbath
      3. The first command to keep the Sabbath was not until the time of
         Moses (Ex 16:23-30; 20:8)
      4. The Jerusalem Council (Ac 15) did not order Gentile believers to
         keep the Sabbath
      5. Paul never cautioned Christians about breaking the Sabbath
      6. The NT explicitly teaches that Sabbath keeping was not a
         requirement (Ro 14:5; Ga 4:10-11; Col 2:16-17)
      -- The above reasons are from The MacArthur Study Bible (Acts 
         20:7), for why Scripture does not require Christians to observe
         the Saturday Sabbath

   C. AS PER ENCYCLOPEDIAS...
      1. "Sunday, first day of the week; in Christianity, the Lord's Day,
         the weekly memorial of Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead.
         The practice of Christians gathering together for worship on 
         Sunday dates back to apostolic times..." - Encyclopedia
         Britannica
      2. "From the apostolic era to the present it has been customary
         for Christians to assemble for communal Sunday services..." 
         - Encyclopedia Americana
      3. "The celebration of the Lord's Day in memory of the resurrection
         of Christ dates undoubtedly from the apostolic age. Nothing 
         short of apostolic precedent can account for the universal 
         religious observance in the churches of the second century. 
         There is no dissenting voice. This custom is confirmed by the 
         testimonies of the earliest post-apostolic writers, as Barnabas,
         Ignatius, and Justin Martyr." - History Of The Christian Church,
         Philip Schaff, vol. 1, pg. 201-202
      -- Both internal and external evidence from the Bible indicates
         that Christians met together on the first day of the week, i.e.,
         Sunday

CONCLUSION

1. Again from Philip Schaff, History of Christian Church, Vol. 1, pg.
   478-479...
   a. "...it appears, therefore, from the New Testament itself, that
      Sunday was observed as a day of worship, and in special 
      commemoration of the Resurrection, whereby the work of redemption 
      was finished."
   b. "The universal and uncontradicted Sunday observance in the second
      century can only be explained by the fact that it has its roots in
      apostolic practice."

2. Some may say that the Biblical evidence is scarce...
   a. But a whisper of God's Word is worth more than a blast of man's
      opinions
   b. The apostolic example is more authoritative than any human 
      tradition

If you are a disciple of Christ, do you assemble with other Christians
on the first day of the week to break bread (observe the Lord's Supper)?
If not, why not...?
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