Should I be in Church on Sunday?

This is something that comes up all the time. People question themselves on this, especially when they go do something else on Sunday. For example ride Motocross.

Let's see what the Bible says:

The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh day he rested.

This is in Genesis:
GE 2:2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

This you can say was the very first Sabbath.

God wanted the Sabbath to be kept holy:
NE 13:22 Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

The above is an example out of Nehamiah as to how God instructed the Levites. If they where to guard the gates to make sure the Sabbath was kept holy, I would say he was pretty serious about it.

Let's look at what "Holy" means.

Depending on the context you read it in it has more then one meaning. Here are some of the definitions:

"Holy" is from the Greek word that means "separated," it means separated from sin and therefore consecrated to God, or set apart for a sacred purpose.

Holy means free from all defilement, pure. "God is holy" means, "God is absolutely pure."

It also means sacred; having a divine quality; exalted.

So when God asked the Levites to keep the Sabbath Holy. What do you think it meant? I think God set the Sabbath apart (separated) from the rest of the week for two reasons. One to give his people a day of rest to recover from the weeks stress and two he set it apart to give his people a day to worship him and be consecrated unto him. There where strict guidelines and rules as to how they where to keep the Sabbath.

So how does this apply to us? Do we have to follow all of this and keep the Sabbath?

If we read the New Testament you will find that the law the Israelites had to live by does not apply to us. We are not required to live by their law.

GAL 3:24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.

So if we are not required to follow the law does that mean we can now do whatever we want? I don't think so. God's principles don't change. If he wanted the Israelites to keep the Sabbath as a day of rest and a day of worship, I believe he would still want us to have a day like that.

The big difference I see is that we are not locked in to do it according to the law. Most Christians usually make this day Sunday. The Sabbath was actually on Saturday. This was done because it was on Sunday that Jesus resurrected.

So is this now a have to? I don't think so. If it is, we would be right back to living under the burden of the law. According to the Bible the righteous will live by faith. Living by faith gives us liberties that living under the law does not. We have to follow our heart and do what we feel God wants us to do. How do we know what God wants us to do? By reading the Bible and prayer. Our conclusion can not contradict what the Bible says.

I believe God wants us to keep a day set aside for him. We need time to worship God, we need time to draw close to God and we need time to rest. Does it all have to be on the same day? Does it all have to be on Sunday? What is God telling you?

Me personally I like to worship on Sunday and I like to rest, relax and recuperate. Could I do the same thing on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday? Yes I believe I could. Could I worship on one day and rest on another? Yes I believe I can. The important thing is that we need to stay refreshed and we need good quality time with God.

So what is my answer?

Should I be in church on Sunday or can I ride Motocross? I believe I can ride Motocross on Sunday. It is okay for me to go ride on Sunday and use another day to worship God.

But what I truly like, is to combine the two.