Most religious people are aware of the importance of this day that Christians call the Lord’s Day. Many important messages have been presented emphasizing the significance of this day. Considering three major world religions: Muslims meet on Friday, Jews and other Sabbatarians on Saturday, and Christians on Sunday. Perhaps, one of the most basic matters is determining which day we should meet for worship and why.

The first Lord’s Day. The New Testament record shows that Christians met on the first day of the week. Jesus and his apostles were all Jews, but after the resurrection from the dead, Jesus met with them on the first day of the week for worship.

"Then the same day at evening (day of the resurrection), being the first day of the week, 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." (John 20:19.)

This meeting occurred in a mountain in Galilee which Jesus had appointed. (Matt. 28:7, 16.) It was an emotionally charged meeting. Jesus had just been crucified on Friday, now reports came to them from Mary Magdalene that He had arisen from the dead. Thomas called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came to Galilee. He doubted the reports and wanted proof. The next first day of the week, he was present. (John 20:24-29.) He saw Jesus and the wounds. After seeing for himself, he exclaimed, My Lord and my God.

Even though the church had not yet been established, the disciples were meeting with Jesus on the first day of the week. We know that the church was established on the Day of Pentecost, which is always on the first day of the week. There were seven first days from the day Jesus arose to Pentecost. Jesus would have been with his apostles for five of those seven before his ascension.

"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting." (Acts 2:1-2.)

The biblical evidence and that of the Christians following the first century confirms that it was the practice of Christians to meet on the first day of the week to commune. (Acts 20:7.) In first Corinthians 11, Paul often used the phrase, "when you come together in one place." (verses 18, 20, 33, 34.) There is no evidence at all that they met on any other occasion to celebrate the Lord’s death, burial and resurrection in communion, except on the first day of the week.

The book of Revelation is the only book that uses the phrase, the Lord’s day. (Rev. 1:10.) This does not mean that Christians did not have some phrase like this to designate their day of worship, but we should note that this is the first written expression of it in the Scriptures. Some say that in Revelation it stands in bold contrast to the emperor’s day. As paganism had set aside a day on which to honor their emperor, so also Christians called the first day of each week, the Lord’s day, to honor Christ. (The Book of Revelation, Robert H. Mounce, 76.)

It should be noted that early Christians did not choose this day to make a distinction between Jews and Christians. Remember the apostles and first Christians were Jews! They would have special feelings toward the Sabbath, but instead they followed the teachings of Jesus and the direction of the Holy Spirit.

The first day is special. The older preachers among us taught with fervency a respect for the Lord’s Day. It is true that every day belongs to the Lord. "The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:28.) But this day is special for the following reasons: It is the day of our Lord’s resurrection, the day the church was established, the day of the communion, a day of fellowship and coming together. To commune on another day of the week is to misunderstand the importance of the Lord’s Day. It destroys the concept of "coming together in one place."

This day should be set aside. It is not like Saturday, or any other day of the week! It is special in every way. We should not treat it like other days: conducting business, traveling, camping, visiting. Do you treat Sunday as a special day, different from all the rest?

Obvious differences. We cannot possibly duplicate the feelings and emotions that those early Christians must have felt. They met with Jesus after his death and resurrection for forty days until the ascension. Can you imagine the privilege of worshipping with Jesus---God in the flesh, the Savior of the world, One who had just been raised from the dead?? They were eye-witnesses. Their singing and praying must have taken on new significance. They would be the ones who would tell the world what they saw and heard. (John 20:21.) They would produce faith in others concerning Jesus. They were guided by the Holy Spirit. No part of the New Testament had yet been written. Some among them would be the authors guided by the Holy Spirit to preach and write.

We can be like the first century church in what we believe and practice, even though our emotional level can never be as theirs was. As time goes on, customs change and new challenges to Christianity must be met. The further we get from the period of the cross the greater the challenge to keep the cross in the center of our lives and preaching. But that we must do!

It will always be important to go back to the first Lord’s day and see what they did on that day. Their practices and beliefs should set the standard for us today. But I am concerned about the last Lord’s Day. One day will be the last of the Christian era. The end will come and eternity will be ushered in for all. What will Christians be doing on the Lord’s Day on that last first day of the week? Here are some things that concern me.

#1: Will we be focused on things that matter? The older I get the more I am concerned that we may waste too much time on things that do not matter before God. Times passes swiftly. Our lives on earth are slipping away. Years turn into decades; we have witnessed the turn of a century. What are we really accomplishing? What do emphasize in our preaching? What do we hold as being really important?

I heard a man present a message recently listing things that he counted as being important enough over which to divide a church. There were some legitimate issues, but some were not. He said that changing the format of the bulletin could be a signal of coming departures from the faith. He thought that having an invitation at the end of every service had the sanction of Scripture and should always be practiced. He showed concern over how many song leaders lead singing at a time and opposed them using microphones. I recently listened to a taped sermon that someone in the audience gave to me. The preacher spoke on apostasy. He named having fellowship halls and youth ministers as signs of falling away from the Gospel. Some elderships have made decisions limiting which versions (approving of only one) can be used in preaching and public reading.

It was interesting to me to note that neither of the two speakers referred to above named the one thing that Jesus said was our badge of identification. "By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35.) Like the Jews of old who emphasized physical circumcision over the more important circumcision of the heart, many have followed that blunder.

Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy and faith. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone." (Matt. 23:23.) Jesus described their actions as "straining at gnats and swallowing camels." (verse 24.)

On the last Lord’s Day, will we be found emphasizing significant issues? Things that really matter? What we are doing now may be what we will be doing on that last Lord’s Day meeting. Let us resolve to know the heart of the Gospel. To emphasize the heart of man and his relationship with God; to speak about the need for man to love God with all his heart, soul and mind; to love one another; to care about the lost; the live healthy spiritual lives following the example of Jesus.

The heart of our preaching must always be Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul wrote, "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified." (1 Cor. 2:2, see also Gal. 3:1.) The New Testament is the new covenant of our Lord. Every NT book tells something important about who Jesus is. I have always enjoyed the following list:

Matthew---King of the Jews

Mark--the Servant of Jehovah

Luke---the perfect Son of man

John---the Son of God

Acts---our Ascended Lord

Romans---our Righteousness

1 Corinthians---the first fruits from the dead

2 Corinthians---the One made sin for us

Galatians---the end of the Law

Ephesians---our Armour

Philippians---the Supplier of every need

Colossians---the Pre-eminent Christ

1 Thessalonians---our Returning Lord

2 Thessalonians--the world’s merciful Judge

1 Timothy---our Mediator with God

2 Timothy---the Bestower of crowns

Titus---our Great God and Savior

Philemon---the Father’s partner

Hebrews---the Rest of our faith and fulfiller of types

James---the Lord of Saboath (harvest)

1 Peter---Theme of OT prophecy

2 Peter---our Longsuffering Savior

1 John---the Word of Life

2 John---the Target of Anti-Christ

3 John---the Personification of Truth

Jude---the Believers’ hope

Revelation---the King of kings and Lord of lords

On the last Lord’s Day and everyone from now on, we must have Christ as the center of our faith, worship, messages and lives.

#2: Will I Be Found in the Assembly?

Thomas missed that first Lord’s Day assembly because he doubted the report of Jesus’ resurrection. But to his credit, he was present at the second meeting and accepted the evidence presented to him. Do you have questions about Christianity? Ask, seek, find out. (Matthew 7:7.) There are solid answers to man’s questions.

In our study of Ezekiel on Wednesdays, I noticed an answer to an old objection to the inspiration of Scripture. Over the years, there has been a lot of discussion about the book of Daniel and whether Daniel was a prophet. First, the Jews rejected Daniel because it basically foretold their demise and that the Lord would set up a new Kingdom. Before that kingdom would come though, four world empires would arise from Babylon, Medes & Persians, Greek, and then the Roman empire. In the days of this last empire, God would set up a kingdom which would never be destroyed. (Dan. 2:44.) Liberal scholars who do not believe in inspiration and revelation said that Daniel could not have written this before it occurred. This Daniel must have written this in the 2nd or 3rd century BC, but not in the 6th century! This Daniel could not have been the one in captivity in Babylon, even though he said that he was.

The answer comes from a comment by Ezekiel who wrote before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. When he was writing concerning the sinfulness of the Jews, he said, "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord." (Ezek. 14:14, 20.) If Daniel lived in the 2nd century, how could Ezekiel be using him as a figure that everyone would know? Noah, Daniel, and Job had to be well-known godly men for Ezekiel to so use them without further identification. Secondly, Jesus called him Daniel the prophet. (Matt. 24:15.)

If you were present, you would learn the answer to one of the common objections to special intervention of God into our world. Some to this day argue that nothing has basically changed since the beginning of time. Whatever changes have occurred, they argue, have come about slowly. This is known as the uniformitarianism. Yet, the apostle Peter gives a powerful rebuttal to that concept.

Peter wrote, "Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of the God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." (2 Peter 3:4-6.)

How we, like Thomas, need to be present. Some are simply asleep on Sunday mornings while others are a part of Bible classes and worship. The year 2000 is drawing to a close. What does your attendance record look like? Do you ever attend a Sunday morning or Wednesday Bible class? Do you worship on Sunday evenings? Some never do. I am deeply concerned about those who simply do not care enough to be present. This is a fairly easy thing to accomplish. Nearly everyone, with the exception of those who physically cannot, can attend the assemblies.

It won’t matter so much who is leading singing on the last Lord’s Day meeting. It matters whether or not I join in the worship of the Lord. It won’t matter who is presenting the Bible class study or sermon. It matters whether I am interested in the Gospel. Few people really study and search the Scriptures. (Matt. 7:13-14.) People are still destroyed due to a lack of knowledge. God equated rejecting a knowledge of God with rejecting God.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me, seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." (Hosea 4:6.)

No one can have a great faith without a knowledge of God. The two go together. Faith comes by hearing. (Rom. 10:17.) Many do not believe because they do not know. In addition, it is possible to gain a knowledge of truth and God, yet reject it. (Romans 1:21.)