Dear Neighbor,
This is the day that the Lord has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it. God created everyday, but the first day of the week is a special day. The first day of the week is the Lord’s day! Christians regularly observe the first day of the week as being the Lord’s special day of the week. Not in observance of the Sabbath rest, commanded of Israel, in the covenant that he made with them at Mount Sinai in the desert, but because it commemorates the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Therefore, Christians come together on the first day of the week to worship God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
It was on the first day of the week, when the doors were shut, where the disciples were, that Jesus first appeared to the disciples, bodily resurrected from the dead. Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you.” After saying this, he showed them that he was not a spirit but bodily resurrected. The disciples rejoiced when the saw the Lord Jesus Christ bodily resurrected from the dead. (Jn. 20:19-20)
After this, all who received the Word, thus, becoming believers of Jesus Christ were baptized. The believers continually devoted themselves to teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:41-42) The first Christian churches meet together on the first day of the week to break bread and listen to teaching from their elders. (Acts 20:7)
Do not forsake the meeting together as some have the habit of doing. (Heb. 10:25) I encourage you to meet other believers in regular Christian fellowship, on the first day of the week, just as believers have been doing for two millennia. Private devotion and study of the word is good but you have six other days of the week to do these disciplines. I encourage you this Lord’s day and every Lord’s day, hence forth; be devoted to Christian fellowship on the first day of the week.
Michael Peek
Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake
