GOING TO CHURCH TO WORSHIP GOD IS NOT OPTIONAL FOR A BELIEVER

When the Israelites left Egypt to the Promised Land in Canaan, God gave them Ten Commandments through Moses their leader.

The third of the commandments states thus in Exodus 20:8-11, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

God uses the word “remember” to begin this commandment because He had earlier informed the Israelites about the Sabbath day when they were in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land.

He gave them manna, food from heaven, daily for six days. They were to eat the food daily and not keep any left-over since it would get spoilt by the next day. However, the day before the Sabbath, God usually gave them enough food for that day and the Sabbath because it was a holy day and God required them to rest from work on that day.

By God's own design and Divine miracle, the food given the day before the Sabbath for two days including the Sabbath never got spoilt.

To demonstrate the value God placed on the Sabbath, let us look at one event in the wilderness in Exodus 16:15,19,23-30 "So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.'

And Moses said, 'Let no one leave any of it till morning.' Notwithstanding, they did not heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

Then Moses said to them, 'This is what the Lord has said: Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.'

So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, 'Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field.

Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.

Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, ' How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?'

'See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.'

So the people rested on the seventh day."

Dear friend, you can now see the value God placed on the Sabbath and its observance as a day of rest for the Israelites since it was a holy day.

Let us consider another Scripture where God spoke to the Israelites concerning the Sabbath that dwells on today's topic in Isaiah 56:6-7 "Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants -

Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant - Even them I will bring to My mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."

Our Lord Jesus Christ still emphasized the importance of the Sabbath but permitted good works to be done in service to God in Mark 2:23-3:5.

So what are we expected to do on the Sabbath? We are to rest from worldly pursuits of luxuries of life. More importantly, we are to go to Church to worship God, listen to His Word as taught by men of God from the Holy Bible.

God has said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word God has spoken (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4). This underscores the importance of God's Word.

Also, God has said in Malachi 2:7 "For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth."

It is in the Church that the priest is found with knowledge of God's laws as taught in God's Word, the Holy Bible; so it is there at the Church that people should go to seek God's every Word by which humans shall live as God has commanded.

Just as physical food we eat is required to nourish the body, so is God's Word the spiritual food we require to nourish the soul and that spiritual nourishment is more important than physical nourishment because the spiritual always takes precedence over the physical as far as this world is concerned.

What this means is that things always first happen in the spiritual realm before they manifest in the physical realm, so an understanding of God's Word is necessary to direct a person's life in the right spiritual direction to manifest in the right direction physically.

After Church, we are expected to go home and meditate on God's Word as God commanded Joshua in Joshua 1:8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.

For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

Dear friend, the Word of God is true forever (Psalm 119:89; Isaiah 40:8) and if God has promised to bless those who take His Word seriously, then the command to keep the Sabbath Holy should not be taken lightly even when we see that God attaches a blessing to it for all nations who observe it.

Therefore, going to Church for a Christian or follower of Jesus Christ cannot be optional. It is compulsory because God even expects us to meditate on His Word day and night so we may observe to do what it commands and get the blessings therefrom.

Moreover, when we go to Church to worship God with other Christians on Sabbath, it is an opportunity to contribute to the work of the Gospel in giving our tithes and offerings as God has also commanded and again, attached a blessing for those who comply in Malachi 3:6-12.

Furthermore, since Christ Jesus has given authority to the Church to bind or loose things on earth and to consider it done in heaven (Matthew 16:18-19), the Church changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday for two major reasons:

The Lord Jesus Christ rose on Sunday and the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost day on Sunday. We see Scriptural reference to the Church meeting on Sundays in Acts 20:7 Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight."

Also Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16:1-3, "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the Churches of Galatia, so you must do also:

On the first day of the week, let each of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. And when I come, whomever you approve by your letters, I will send to bear your gift to Jerusalem."

We can see here that the Churches in Troas, Galatia and Corinth had begun meeting on Sunday, the first day of the week to worship God, to break bread and collect offerings to send to Jerusalem to further the work of the Gospel.

Dear friend, please let it be known to you today as you have seen even from God's Holy Word that is true forever, that Sunday is not a day to pursue mundane things that will pass away but a day God has commanded us to observe as holy to Worship Him, hear His Word and go home to rest and meditate on His Word.

We are only allowed to do works of charity in God's service if the situation warrants but going to Church is compulsory.

Moreover, the Word of God tells us in Hebrews 10:24-25, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

The Day Paul referred to here is the Day of Christ Jesus' second coming. Some people think because it has not come it will never happen. As God's Word tells us, a thousand years with God is like one day (Psalm 90:4) and God is not slack to say what He will do since He wants everyone to repent and turn to Him so that none will perish forever in hell fire (2 Peter 3:8-9).

So the importance of going to Church cannot be overemphasized. It is here Christian believers meet as a group to worship God and plan towards other activities in God's service like evangelism and other works of charity like prayer, counselling, etc.

If no one went to Church, these activities will suffer and God would be offended because His will is for everyone to know Him, love Him and serve Him through Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour.

Dear friend, I believe you now see and understand the value of Church especially on Sunday. God expects us to worship Him every single day but He has in His mercy and love given us six days to pursue our own activities, a total of 144 hours.

He has chosen only 24 hours in one day for us to come together to worship Him and listen to His Word for some 2 to 4 of those 24 hours and use the rest to stay at home to rest and meditate on His Word with a promise to bless us when we obey.

Isn't that a beautiful thing from a loving and merciful Father? All we have to do is simply obey and obtain His blessing because His Word cannot fail to happen once He has spoken and it must surely come to pass.

God bless you as you heed His Word today, act on it and share with others in Jesus' Precious Name, Amen.

Gabriel Ama.