About Sunday Traditions (Part 2)

11/1987

Yea, I’d agree that our society is set up to allow Sundays to have more free time than other days. But I deny the fact that God has ever set it up that Sunday be a day to have worship services. There isn’t anything in the New Testament that would even give us the slightest hint that Sunday morning services is the New Testament pattern. It was daily in public and from house to house. Paul said, “Day and night I was in your homes and in public.”

The Bible says daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus he continued to teach about Jesus and he celebrated Jesus there. That word daily is mentioned over and over and over again. “…daily in public and from house to house,” “Take up your cross daily and follow me,” “Admonish one another daily so that none are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Daily is a really key word in the New Testament because it is an expression of “in Him we live and move and have our being.”

And regarding Sundays, as Paul said in Romans 14, that some with a weaker faith will esteem one day more highly than another. They’ll hold one day sacred. He said, “Don’t judge them for that.” But on the other hand, he did call them weaker brothers if they held one day more sacred than another. He also said to the Galatians…“I fear I’ve wasted my time on you because you’re missing the reality. You’re missing Christ formed within you and you’re holding to an external form. After beginning in the Spirit now you’re trying to attain your goal by mere human effort.” That was his whole reason for writing the Galatian letter is because they were falling back into externals as the basis of their relationship with God.

So, I’m all for spending all the time we can together - any time we can. And Sundays might be a better day for most of us schedule wise—great. And I think there is something special about Jesus rising from the dead on the first day of the week and we do break bread on the first day of the week and we enjoy that. We’re devoted to the breaking of bread and we wouldn’t have it any other way. But what I’m saying is, a concept that we’ve got to see, is that our time is not our own, we were bought for a price. The blood of Jesus bought my free time. Now my time is invested in living for Him who died for me as it says in 2 Cor. 5. And so I’m a servant of His just like Jesus lived day and night, day and night, day and night for His Father - so, also anyone who claims to be in Him must walk as Jesus walked. We live for Him day and night, day and night, day and night.

Now it so happens that in the Jewish system people got together on the Sabbath day and had worship services. Jesus grew up going to worship services. It wasn’t His way. It wasn’t His heart. The Pharisees hated Him when He finally started to speak His mind about it. But the fact was that there were a lot of people that went to worship services that allowed Him to touch them. What He was doing was bringing them out of the bondage of worship services into a life in fellowship with His Father.

It so happened that all those people were together on that day and He utilized that opportunity to teach in the synagogues. The common people hung on His every word and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips. Sometimes He turned over the pews, and sometimes gracious words came from His lips. He utilized the time when everybody was together on the Sabbath day to reach a lot of people. But His ultimate intent wasn’t to join Himself to empty traditions handed down by His forefathers. His purpose was to instruct them in the ways of God more clearly and to bring them into fellowship with His Father rather than just to departmentalized religion.

So the practical application of that is that when I want to bring someone to Christ or to a deeper relationship with Christ - I’ve got to let them know that daily in public and from house to house is the Way of God. I need to bring them out of the Sunday morning mentality if they are ever going to realize what fellowship with God is.

However, I go to church buildings and speak in the synagogues all the time. I did it last Sunday in Nashville, TN. I spoke in the synagogue to a crowd of believers there. A bunch of people wanted more and a couple of people didn’t. But the fact was that in their way of thinking they were there to have a worship service, and I don’t fault them for that. I think probably that’s all they know, but I was there to help them see more. So I don’t fault them. I don’t judge them for that. I’m not trying to say, “Cancel Sunday morning things,” but I’m just saying there’s a higher way than that.

Once you get out of the sphere of gravitational pull of the Earth out into outer space that doesn’t eliminate gravity down here. Gravity is still valid down here. Sunday morning services are still valid down here, but there’s a higher way that I want to draw people to. That is living life full blast, twenty-four hours a day. Just like Jesus did for His Father - so we do for our Father. I’m not insulting gravity. I’m just saying there is a higher way up there. I’m not saying on disputable matters that you’re not allowed to do that. I’m just saying there is a higher faith that counts every day the same as it says in Romans 14. And that is really what I’m speaking of. I know the world is set up that way, and I intend to utilize the fact that the world is set up that way to do as much as I can to serve God and to serve my brothers and sisters in the meantime. But I’m not going to leave it at that because that is a low way. That is under the Earth’s gravitational pull.

The world is a good way to put that. The world’s gravitational pull has us departmentalize life so we can give all of our heart, soul, mind and strength to our job in this segment of time; all of our heart, soul, mind and strength to our family in this segment of time; and all of our heart, soul, mind and strength to God in this segment of time. And that is wrong.

I can say that without fear of contradiction. That is idolatry. It is missing the mark by far from the way the Father and Jesus lived their life together, which is our example of how to have church. It’s how to live our life the same way Jesus and the Father live life. Jesus was the first church and that is our only example. Any other example is wrong. Even the first century church falls short of the ultimate example of how Jesus lived with His father. That is the only real definition of what pleases the Father is who Jesus was. Even Elijah and Moses scattered and God said, “This is my son hear ye Him.”

The law and the prophets are okay. The Sunday morning services and the religious system might be well and good if it’s sincere, and honest, and fresh, and it’s with penitent hearts. Maybe it’s okay in this gravitational system. But the only ultimate interpretation of all things is the relationship Jesus had with the Father and nothing else is satisfactory.

Even John the Baptist had to have his head cut off in order for the new era to begin. The last of the prophets had to pass and it says that after Jesus had heard that John was beheaded, He began, too. There was a new dawning, a new era that came when John passed from the scene. And that’s really what I’m saying - there is a new era, a new dawning of a reality of all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, daily in public and from house to house.

We saw that happen in the first century church, and it’s not just for them. It’s not a cultural thing to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to lay down our lives for one another as a ransom. That’s not a cultural thing. That is just simply the Sermon on the Mount and the life of Jesus within us being lived out in a practical expressible way. Not trying to accomplish anything, but just simple brothers and sisters that really love each other. We just care. I don’t call somebody because I think I ought to call them, because that is the thing to do; it is daily, today, and I am supposed to admonish one another daily. So I haven’t called anybody yet, so I better pick up the phone or I’d better go over somewhere. That’s external and that’s wrong.

It’s because I love my brothers and sisters and I care about them. And the more I love them, the more I care about them and the more we are going to have lives that are intertwined. You all are going to help me and I’m going to help you, and it’s simple brothers and sisters with one Lord and we are all brothers.

We’re going to rise up and become a habitation of God by the Spirit. We are becoming it says in Ephesians 2 - not became, not will become, but we are becoming a habitation of God by the Spirit. The last two verses of Ephesians 2. So that is really what all this is about. The Old Testament system does not mandate to us what we do. We don’t just move it one day and keep right on going. It is a lofty vision that I’m throwing at you, but it’s important to at least catch a little glimpse of it.