Ah! Did you catch it? It was not money, but FRUIT that was being sealed for shipment to the poor saints at Jerusalem!
Now turn back to 1 Corinthians 16. Paul is speaking concerning a collection FOR THE SAINTS. Upon the first day of the week each of them is instructed
to do what? Look at it! Does it say drop a coin in the collection plate at a church service? Not at all!
It says "let everyone of you lay by him in STORE." Note it! LAY BY! STORE UP! Store up BY HIMSELF—at home! Not lay by at the church
house—lay by HIM---at home.
Now WHY? "That there be no GATHERINGS when I come." Men GATHER fruit out of the orchard—they GATHER vegetables out of the ground, to be
STORED UP. But putting coins in a collection plate at church, or handing in your tithe- envelope could not be called a GATHERING, but an offering or collection.
Notice further: "And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.
And if it be meet that I go also, they (more than one) shall go with me." (verses 3-4).
Apparently it was going to require several men to carry this collection, gathered and stored up, to Jerusalem. If it were tithe or offering for the
minister or the spread of the Gospel, Paul could have carried the money alone.
So, once again, the last and final text in the Bible where we find "THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK" mentioned, it is a WORK DAY—a day for gathering
fruit and food out of the orchards and the fields and gardens, and storing it up. It was to be the FIRST labor of the week, hence the first day of the week, as soon as the Sabbath was past!
No Bible Authority
So, finally, we find upon honest examination that NOT ONE of the texts speaking about "THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK" sets it apart as a rest day. Not
one makes it holy, calls it the Sabbath or by any other sacred title. In EVERY case, the first day of the week was a common work day.
In NONE of them was there a religious meeting and preaching service being held on the hours we now call SUNDAY. In NONE of them can we find a single
shred of BIBLE AUTHORITY for Sunday observance! There is no record in the Bible of celebrating the Resurrection on Sunday.
Sometimes Revelation 1:10 is used as Bible authority for calling Sunday "The LORD'S DAY." It says: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and
heard behind me a great voice." But this does not say the "first day of the week," or "Sunday" is the "day" here called "the Lord's day." As a matter of fact, it is not speaking of ANY day of the week at all, but of "the Day of the Lord,"—the time of the coming PLAGUES, climaxing in the coming of Christ, and the millennium. This is the THEME of the
Revelation. But, if one wants to argue, and insist upon this text applying to some definite day of the week, he shall have to look elsewhere to see WHICH day THE BIBLE calls "The LORD'S
DAY." For this text does not designate ANY day of the week.
But Jesus said He was Lord of the SABBATH, and if He is LORD of that day, then it belongs to Him, and is His day, and therefore the Sabbath is the
Lord's Day (Mark 2;28). Isaiah 58:13 calls the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) "MY HOLY DAY." God is speaking. So the Sabbath is THE LORD'S DAY.
In the original commandment, in Exodus 20:10, we read: "The seventh day is the Sabbath OF THE LORD THY GOD." No MY day, or your day. Sunday is
MY day. So is Tuesday, and every other weekday, for my labor and my own needs. But the seventh day is NOT mine—it is THE LORD'S! It belongs to HIM, and He made it HOLY, and commanded
us to KEEP it that way. We have no right to use it for ourselves. It is HIS DAY !
The TRUE SABBATH of the NEW Testament
Now briefly let us look thru the New Testament to find WHICH DAY Paul kept, and taught Gentile converts to keep.
Notice which day Paul and Barnabas used for preaching to Gentiles:
(1) Acts 13: 14-15, 42-44: "But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue ON THE SABBATH
DAY, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, ye men and brethren, if ye have any work of exhortation for the
people, say on."
Then Paul stood up, and spoke, preaching Christ to them. "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the GENTILES besought that these words
might be preached to them THE NEXT SABBATH."
Now since Paul was preaching "the grace of God," (verse 43), here was his opportunity to straighten out these Gentiles, and explain
that the Sabbath was done away. Why should he wait a whole week, in order to preach to THE GENTILES on THE NEXT SABBATH? If the day had now been changed to Sunday, why did not Paul tell
them they would not have to wait a week, but the very next day, Sunday, was the proper day for this service? But notice what Paul did.
"And the NEXT SABBATH DAY came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God." Here Paul waited a whole week, passing up a Sunday, in
order to preach to the GENTILES upon the Sabbath day.
Gentiles Met on SABBATH
(2) Acts 15:1-2, 5, 14-21: Study this whole passage carefully. Certain men had come down from Judea to Antioch, teaching that the Gentile
converts there must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved. Quite a dissension arose between them and Paul and Barnabus. So it was decided Paul and Barnabus should go to
Jerusalem to the apostles and Elders about the question.
At the conference at Jerusalem, James gave the decision.
"Wherefore my sentence is," he pronounced, (verses 19-21) .... that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from
fornication. and from things strangled, and from blood."
He did not say they should not keep the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were not in question—but it was circumcision in question, (Acts
15:1), which was an altogether DIFFERENT law than the Ten Commandments.
But why WRITE this sentence to them? Note it!
.... "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues EVERY SABBATH DAY." (Verse 21).
Do you see it? Judaizing teachers were reading the Law of Moses and teaching people in the synagogues EVERY SABBATH DAY. The apostles were WRITING
this decision concerning the Law of Moses, BECAUSE GENTILE CONVERTS WERE GOING TO CHURCH ON THE SABBATH DAY, and would hear this false teaching. In order to counteract it, and protect the
Gentiles from it. the written message was sent. It shows that the GENTILE CONVERTS HAD STARTED KEEPING THE SABBATH DAY, AND WENT TO CHURCH ON THAT DAY! And the Apostles' letter did not
reprove them for this Sabbath-keeping, or even mention it.
This is very significant, since GENTILES HAD NEVER KEPT THE SABBATH. Therefore it is something these Gentiles had STARTED doing after they were
converted under the teaching of Paul and Barnabus!
A Sabbath in Philippi
(3) Acts 16:12-15: Here we find Paul and Silas at Philippi. And "we were in that city abiding certain days. And ON THE SABBATH we went out
of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the
city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, . . . and when she was baptized . . ."
Here again Paul and his companions waited until the Sabbath, and then went to a place of worship, and preached, and this woman, probably a Gentile,
was converted. The passage indicates it was the CUSTOM to meet there on the Sabbath, and that it was CUSTOM for Paul and his companions to go to a place of prayer and worship when the
Sabbath day came.
Paul Worked Weekdays, and Kept the SABBATH
(4) Acts 18:1-11 : "After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila . . . with his
wife Priscilla . . . and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought; for by their occupation they were tentmakers, and he reasoned in the
synagogue EVERY SABBATH, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks."
If we could find one text in the New Testament giving as strong authority for Sunday observance as this one does for Sabbath-keeping, we
should certainly have Bible AUTHORITY for it! Here Paul WORKED weekdays, but went to church and taught GENTILES as well as Jews every SABBATH.
Now the Commandment says: "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work," just as much as it says "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy." There is just as much command to work six days as there is to rest the seventh. And so if the day had been changed, Paul would have had to work Sabbaths, in order to go to church
and preach every Sunday. But here he WORKED week days and went to church and preached EVERY SABBATH—not just on one particular occasion—it says EVERY SABBATH.
He preached Christ, and the Gospel of the Kingdom. And when the Jews became offended and blasphemed, he turned away from the Jews altogether, and
from then on preached TO GENTILES ONLY, (verse 6), and he continued there a year and six months (verse 11),— working week days—preaching to Gentiles ONLY— EVERY
SABBATH!
What MORE conclusive proof could we desire? What STRONGER Bible evidence than this, as to the true Sabbath of the NEW Testament? For a year and a
half Paul continued working week-days—six days— including Sundays—and preaching to GENTILES exclusively EVERY SABBATH! Certainly it was his custom and manner! Certainly he
could not have done this had the Sabbath been done away, or changed.
Paul COMMANDS Gentiles to Keep the Sabbath
To these Gentile-born at Corinth, Paul COMMANDED: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."(1Corinthians 11:1).
And Paul "as his manner was, went in unto them, and three SABBATH DAYS reasoned with them out of the Scriptures." (Acts 17:2) It was his
MANNER--his CUSTOM, as we have seen by ample evidence showing a total of eighty-four different Sabbaths Paul is shown specifically to have kept.
Did he follow Jesus in this? Why, CERTAINLY! Jesus, as His Custom was . . . went into the synagogue ON THE SABBATH DAY." (Luke 4:16).
It was Jesus' custom. Paul followed Him, and COMMANDED the Gentile converts to follow Him, even as he followed Christ.
The question for us, today, is, "Are WE willing to follow in His steps?" Jesus came to set us an example, that we should FOLLOW HIS
STEPS. If we, like Paul, are CRUCIFIED with Christ, and HE lives HIS Life IN us, Christ IN us will still keep the Sabbath, for He is the SAME, yesterday, today, and forever!
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