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Question of the Sabbath

It is interesting that over 2000 years after God divided history by manifesting Himself in human flesh and changing forever not only how we understand God but how we relate to Him, we are still arguing over “legalities” and interpretation of the scriptures. 2 Colossians 2:16 says, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat (what you eat) or in drink (what you drink) or in respect of an holy day (the 7 feasts, minor holidays, yes… Christmas or even Thanksgiving) of the new moon (Heb. - Rosh Hodesh) or of the Sabbath day.” Paul writes in Romans 14:5-6, “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day special, does so to the Lord.” Although the early church of Acts is seen in the scriptures to meet on the Jewish Sabbath, which on their calendar was the last day of the week, we see it was usually at the synagogues where they would share the good news of Jesus the Messiah. (Acts 13:4, 13:27, 13:42, 15:21, 17:21 and 18:4). Since the early Christians were Jewish believers, it wasn’t very long before many in the synagogues that did not believe in the “good news” openly opposed their attendance in the services. Although Sabbath was held on the seven day….the traditional practice in the synagogue was also to gather at the first day of the week to begin weekday prayer (Avoda Sheba-Lev and also later the Shemoneah Esrei). Early church fathers (Irenaeus and Polycarp), and others, indicate the gathering of the believers on the first day of the week (The Lord’s Day), in remembrance of the Lord’s resurrection. They partook of the Lord’s supper (communion) on the first day also. Acts 20:7 states, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and because he intended to leave the next day, kept talking until midnight.” This was almost 200 years before Constantine. The point is…. “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath”. It is a day of the week that is set aside to fellowship with other believers, to gather together for prayer and worship, to support, encourage and care for each other as the Body of Christ. The Pharisees seemed to have forgotten this too when the saw Jesus do His Fathers work on that day. In actuality, we are not even sure what day it really is with the movement of the lunar calendar to the solar calendar, the Julian Calendar, the Gregorian Calendar and additional changes in the Middle Ages. And if you read Isaiah 38:8, God turned back time by almost a day as a sign for Hezekiah. “Come let us reason together” and focus on living for and in Christ…to the glory of God the Father.