All of us have customs. Some are related to the culture we come from and others are related to personal conviction. Secular culture has influenced Christian customs to the point where very few people see the Lord’s Day (if you like, the Christian Sabbath Day) as special, set apart and intended for what God ordained it to be. Others again are so rigid that they view the Lord’s Day as the Jews Old Testament Sabbath Day was viewed. We can argue and debate our views and how our position effects our culture and more especially our custom.
Without getting into a detailed thesis on the Lord’s Day and how Christians ought and ought not to use (celebrate) it, allow me to share my position and custom. I see the Lord’s Day exactly as the Early Church did. It was a special day, set apart from all other days for the worship of God in particular (Church Worship and reflection), the meeting with family (own household) and the fellowship with believers or to reach the lost through some form of engagement. Included would be helping and assisting the needy, sick and poor. Within the above, we would as a family always make certain we attended a Church Gathering.
For many of us who believe the Lord’s Day includes Church attendance, we struggled through the hard lock downs during COVID. We missed the fellowship with God’s People … but more especially we missed sitting under the Word of God, singing His praises and children missed their Sunday School lessons and friends. A video service / sermon can never replace the actual thing! When we travelled, we tried as far as possible to work out our journey so that we could always be in Church on the Lord’s Day. I feel, too often believers use travelling, visits and holidays to escape the Lord’s House on the Lord’s Day. The custom of Church attendance is not a legalistic approach to spiritual disciplines … rather it comes from those who went before us … as we shall see in the passage today. Please read:
Ac 17:1 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,’” he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. 5 But the Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
1) The journey. In leaving Philippi, Paul, Silas and Timothy travelled towards their next mission station, Thessalonica. Although Luke had joined the missionary team, we don’t read of him including himself in the team leaving Philippi for Thessalonica.
Ac 16:10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Note the “we” (10-18) which we only find again in 20:6-21:10.
Ac 20:6 But we sailed from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and five days later joined the others at Troas, where we stayed seven days.
Then there is another break before we find the “we” again in …
Ac 27:1 When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.
Whether Luke was with them or whether he stayed behind to assist the local Church (such as Philippi) we don’t know. It seems as though they travelled on land, close to the coast, going through Amphipolis and Apollonia, a two day journey before reaching Thessalonica. In Paul’s day this city was the principal city in Macedonia (part of Greece). Why did they move from Philippi without stopping longer than at night? Because Thessalonica was a vibrant city with many people … meaning it was ripe for intensive evangelism.
2) The synagogue. The city lasted a synagogue. This would mean there was at least 10 Jewish men (families) which qualified for an official place of worship.
3) The custom.
Ac 17:2 As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue.
Remember Jesus’ marching orders to His disciples (and you and me)?
Ac 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The ends of the earth started once away from Judea and Samaria. In many of the countries in “the ends of the earth”, Jews were to be found … and apart from being business people with contacts … often there were synagogues and synagogues meant Paul, having studied at the feet of Gamaliel and now a follower of the Christ, would use every opportunity to preach from the Old Testament Scriptures, proving Jesus is Messiah.
For Paul, the Lord’s Day was the Lord’s Day, yet being a missionary, he never lost an opportunity to evangelize. What better place than a synagogue? It is likely he was invited to preach as he was in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. (See Acts 13:14ff). For three consecutive Sabbath’s he preached the Gospel to them. I love the words … “he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” There are three words here … “reasoned”, “explaining” and “proving”. Each word has its own meaning, yet used the way Luke does, he means that Paul opened the Scriptures to their understanding. That is, he expounded the Word of God, showing from Biblical facts that Jesus is the promised Christ … and that He has come and fulfilled His mission, returning to heaven.
The beauty of this sermon is that it was to people who knew the prophetic promise about Messiah. They could easily understand that what Paul explained matched perfectly to what the various prophets had promised. Did you notice the Gospel? The Christ needed to suffer … this includes Him dying substitutionally because He rose from the dead! Correct Biblical exegesis never leaves the Gospel out of an exposition. And note another important fact … Paul did not issue an altar call. He taught the Word and allowed the Word to do what it does best … convict a dead soul to the reality of what God has done in and through Jesus Christ! The Gospel does not need a preacher’s help to get a sinner to repent. Without coercion, a soul responds or does not respond to the Gospel.
Our Father, thank You once again for showing us that the Gospel is powerful and capable of doing what You intend it to do without the help of man. Amen.