Question:
I have recently found through my Father in heaven that Saturday is the day to worship and exalt the Lord, our Savior. But my mom thinks that I’m going to extreme and my dad says that is doesn’t matter when or where you worship. Please help me and my family get back on task with God.
–Albert
Answer:
Hi Albert,
This is Pastor Tim from Unlocking the Bible. Pastor Colin asked me to thank you for your good question and respond to you. Your question, Albert, is a common one:
Here is a great starting point. Peter says:
No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20-21
Peter is telling us that the Bible comes, not from man, but from God.
Now, this raises the obvious question: Is what you have found actually from God or is it from man? (and how do you know?):
“I have recently found through my Father in heaven that Saturday is the day to worship and exalt the Lord, our Savior.”
The only way to test your conclusion is to compare it with the Word of God. Since God never contradicts himself, the question is: Does your conclusion agree with what God has said in his Word?
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.
These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Colossians 2:16-17
The apostle Paul gives us 3 examples of things that Christians ought not judge one another over (and one of them is the celebration of the Sabbath). Keeping the Sabbath, by the way, is often the argument that is put forward for worshipping on Saturday rather than Sunday.
But Paul says that we are not to let anyone judge us over this matter. Think about what Paul is actually saying: We shouldn’t let anyone judge us for keeping the Sabbath and we shouldn’t let anyone judge us for not keeping the Sabbath. Why? Doesn’t Paul know on which day the Sabbath should be kept?
He explains in the next verse. The reason we shouldn’t let anyone judge us in regards to the Sabbath is that the Sabbath was a shadow of something to come. The substance, or the thing that the Sabbath was pointing to, is Jesus Christ.
He is our rest. It doesn’t matter whether you go to corporate worship on Saturday or on Sunday, because that’s not what really matters. What really matters is that you find your rest in Christ! And you can (and should) do that every day of the week!
So, you are both right (and wrong). It is permissible to go to corporate worship on Saturday. And it is permissible to go to corporate worship on Sunday.
Don’t let this issue divide you, my brother!
May God bless you richly as you continue to seek to honor him and his word through Jesus Christ! Amen.
–Pastor Tim