Part 1
“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”
“The first day of the week”—that is a characteristic day. In Judaism it was the Sabbath—Saturday—but not so with us. How unsuited it would be to us to select Saturday—the Sabbath—as the day of our rejoicing, triumph, worship. During the whole of Saturday—during the whole of those twenty-four hours—the Lord Jesus lay in the power of death—in the grave. What mockery it would be to use that as the day that is characteristic of our blessed position as Christians—those who belong to new creation. No; with us all starts from that memorable morning when the blessed Lord broke the bands of death and came out on the first day of the week—came forth victorious and gave that blessed message, “I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God and your God” (John 20:17).
It is a new position, a new relationship, the blessed Lord Himself in a new position as Head of the new creation. How fitting that we find in Scripture the first day of the week is the one sanctified by the Spirit of God, the day on which believers assembled and worshipped, thinking upon the sufferings of their blessed Lord.
So, it is the first day of the week. Here, the disciples came together for a specific purpose—to break bread. It so happened that they came together in the evening. I judge that is merely owing to the fact that that was the most convenient time of the day for them. We are accustomed to thinking of Christendom where we have Sunday given by the government, but we must not think that that is all it indicates. It isn’t so in heathen countries today. Many were in the position of servants, and would be occupied with various duties, and the evening gave the suitable time of freedom when they could come together.
They came together to break bread. If we can always think in the simplicity of Scripture, we will be saved from many an error. Dear young folks, I am supposed to be addressing those young in years and perhaps young in the faith, too; if we can keep before us the simplicity of Scripture, God will bless us accordingly, but if we become wise and turn aside to human inventions and our own thoughts of things, we can expect to become a prey of our own fancies, and none can tell how far we are going to go. Those that have risked departing from the simplicity of Scripture, have been led step by step, farther and farther away from the truth, until much of that which professes the name of Christ today, has become an abomination to Him.
How simple this is, “On the first day of the week...the disciples came together to break bread.” How many of us here are in the good of that? You are a child of God, aren’t you? Does this scripture have an attraction to your heart: “Upon the first day of the week...the disciples came together to break bread”?
As I go about among the different little gatherings, I find a certain class of professing Christians, and often among those who are younger, are those who say,
“Yes; I belong to the Lord; I am a Christian—I am saved.” And yet, I see them “sitting back” on Lord’s Day morning, week in and week out, month in and month out, and year in and year out, and yet they say they are Christians! Dear young Christian, how can you do that? Didn’t the Lord Jesus say, “This do in remembrance of Me?” Wasn’t it almost the last thing He said as it were to His own—at the very end of His life? It isn’t your brethren that ask you, but the blessed Lord Himself.
Dear young people, remember, all the service in the world that you can do for Christ, will not make up for that simple obedience of love, doing what He asks: “This do in remembrance of Me.” It would seem that we had accepted it among us, more or less as a matter of course, that there are two classes of Christians in Scripture—one class that is found breaking bread at the Lord’s Table, and those who are not breaking bread.
Dear young folks, we have been hearing this morning about testing everything by the Word of God. Have you ever tested that by the Word of God? Can you find anywhere in your New Testament, a class of believers, of those that confess the precious name of the Lord Jesus, that are not at the Lord’s Table—that are not breaking bread? I confess I know of no such class. If we are going to test things by Scripture, and we test that by the Word of God, and find out that it has no place in Scripture. Isn’t it a bold thing to do—for you to take the place of denying the Word, and saying you are a child of God, but when the first day of the week comes, and others can come together to break bread, and not you! Think of it! Look well to it! This is the precious Word of God.
We have been having brought before us the nearness of the Lord’s coming. Events around us in a special way remind us of the Lord’s coming. Our hearts should be made to tremble. He has asked us to remember Him; you are allowing time to slip by, and are not doing this. The Spirit of God would exercise us about these things.
They came together to break bread, and Paul discoursed to them. “Preaching” in Scripture is in connection with announcing the gospel, but here Paul is instructing believers. That is so needful. That is the reason we have come together in these meetings. I trust none have reached that point where they think they do not need instruction. Every one of us can learn from the rest of us. No one is ever going to reach the point where he knows it all, and all the rest can learn from him! Even the great Apostle Paul, in writing to the Church at Rome, looked forward to the time when he would come there, and they could enjoy mutual profit together.
So he discourses to them, ready to depart on the morrow. I never read this that I don’t think of it as being characteristic of his ministry. It just leads us right on the verge of departing. If we are in the good of it, it keeps us always on tip-toe, expecting the coming of the Lord.
(To be continued)