Is it a violation to not worship God on Sunday and not the Sabbath day?
It is written in Ex 20:8-11 – Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
There seems to be a movement among Christians to observe the Sabbath as part obedience to Torah, the Mosaic Law. This observance would also include the Feasts of the Lord as I have discussed previously.
In the early days of the church, the discussion of non-Jewish worship of Jesus centered around one requirement – circumcision!
While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Paul and Barnabas disagreed with them, arguing vehemently. Finally, the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, accompanied by some local believers, to talk to the apostles and elders about this question. Acts 15:1-2
I’m not sure why the Jews chose circumcision as the requirement for salvation. Perhaps it dealt with the Abrahamic Covenant; then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. Gen 17:9-10
Perhaps it dealt with Passover; no uncircumcised male may ever eat the Passover meal. Ex 12:48
It probably doesn’t matter why it was used at the litmus test for salvation; what is important is it was addressed by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
Their conclusion was this: “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.” Acts 15:28-29
That was it! There is no “burden” of keeping the Sabbath day or observing the Feasts.
Jesus addressed the Sabbath issue; “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” Mark 2:27-28
Also “the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.” Matt 12:12
Though you cannot build an entire doctrinal statement from one verse, it is written in Acts 20:7, on the first day of the week, we gathered with the local believers to share in the Lord’s Supper.
This would have been Sunday and not the Sabbath. It seemed to be okay to meet and share Communion on Sunday, just like it was okay to untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water. Luke 13:15
To live according to the Law would place you completely under the obedience of the Law, a subject Paul addressed in great depth and I’ll look at that next time.