Pete's Blog

Why should a Christian go to his church's worship service on Sunday? Maybe your first instinct is to go to Hebrews 10:24, 25 ("And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near"). Applying it to this question it says, "Gather with your whole congregation on a regular basis," but it doesn't apply to why a person should go to Sunday morning worship every week. Realistically, in the whole Bible there's probably no explicit command to do so.

I say "probably" because the fourth Commandment is to work six days and to rest one day. One of the things that the Israelites would do on the seventh day was to gather for corporate worship. So some Christians, particularly those following the Westminster Divines as their standard confession of faith (e.g., Presbyterians), would use the fourth Commandment as a justification to say that worship must be a weekly event. They're called sabbatarians. This isn't the camp I fall in. But, if sabbatarianism were true, then it would be explicit that Christians should go to corporate worship on a weekly basis.

One option would be to argue from apostolic example that we should corporately worship every Sunday. For example, the church was gathered in Ephesus on Sunday for worship in Acts 20:7 ("On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight"). And Paul said that the collection was to be taken from the church in Corinth on Sunday in 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2 ("Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up . . ."). I find this compelling, but it's difficult to argue. If this were the only way, I would use it, but I think that there's still a simpler way.

Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." You say, then, that the leaders of the church, the elders, have said that worship on Sunday is the most important program that the church runs every week so all are required (i.e., not optional) to go. QED.

Here's a possible objection. A disobedient person might say that the elders of a local church aren't his leaders. Is he a member of a visible church that other brothers might be able to bring him before if he's in sin ("tell it to the church . . . if he refuses to listen even to the church. . ." [Mt. 18:17])? If he isn't, then he's being disobedient for not being a member in covenant with a local church. If he is a member of a local church, then it's even easier to counter. "So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock" (1P. 5:1-3, emphasis added). Seems pretty obvious that the elders are leaders.

Another objection might be to say that leaders are only allowed to enforce biblical commands. The response to that is to go back to Hebrews 10:24, 25 and say that it is left at the elders' discretion how often the congregation needs to meet in order to not neglect meeting. This is similar to how it is at the elders' discretion how often to celebrate the Lord's Supper—whether it be weekly, monthly or quarterly (though quarterly seems too infrequently in my estimation).

In summary, the argument why a person should go to the main corporate worship service their church has (not just the second service in the evening, if it's a second sermon, different from the morning sermon) is be he is told to by his elders.

--

Loving theology, I am compelled to state where my foot falls concerning sabbatarianism. I'm not a sabbatarian. The only defense (two parts: 1, 2) of the position that I've ever heard was by Dr. John Frame, professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. I found it compelling, but not convincing enough. Colossians 2:16 says, "Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath." So, it seems clear to me that it's not wrong to not practice the Sabbath. Despite Dr. Frame saying that the Colossians passage is the most difficult challenge to his position, more compelling than the Romans one, I find Romans 14:5 even more compelling than the Colossians passage. It reads, "One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." This comes up in a passage where Paul is talking about amoral questions (i.e., questions that aren't morally binding one way or another, see a previous blog post to expand on this). Thus, it stands to reason that neither celebrating the Sabbath is wrong, nor is keeping each day as equally important is wrong. That's why I'm not a sabbatarian.