Acts
20:7 ¶ 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.
8 And there were many lights in the
upper chamber, where they were gathered together. 9 And there sat in a window a certain young man
named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching,
he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up
dead. 10 And Paul went down, and fell on
him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in
him. 11 When he therefore was come up
again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till
break of day, so he departed. 12 And
they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.
Having taught and
preached I have seen even the most dedicated Christians nodding off
occasionally although most of us don’t fall out of a window. It does make you wonder
what the Holy Spirit is teaching here.
First, though, it is
apparent that Christians did come together to worship and hear preaching on the
first day of the week. This was the time of Christ’s resurrection, so
Christians celebrate the resurrection by fellowship and worship, here breaking
bread.
Matthew
28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as it
began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary to see the sepulchre.
Mark
16:2 And very early in the morning the first
day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun…9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day
of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven
devils.
Luke
24:1 Now upon the first day of the week,
very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices
which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
John
20:1 The first day of the week cometh
Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the
stone taken away from the sepulchre.
As the time of Christ’s
return was always considered imminent and in the latter days as far as they
were concerned uniting as the body of Christ to break bread, eat a meal
together which is a bonding experience, and hear preaching was very necessary.
Note Paul’s instructions to these early Jewish Christians.
Hebrews
10:19 ¶ Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of
God; 22 Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke
unto love and to good works: 25 Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
And so, Christians have
met, for the first two hundred years in private homes and then donated
commercial settings, and finally in buildings set aside for the purpose. The
apostles first visited these churches and sat in chairs. The raised platform or
pulpitum (pulpit) was added in the third century and evolved into the lecture
podium we have now, pews were added in the Middle Ages, offering plates in the
Reformation, a rail often called an altar in the late 1700s, and the middle
aisle dividing the pews first called “the old sawdust trail” at that time as
well although all of these items had precursors, usually used for a different
purpose than these mentioned are now. Our worship structure has changed but
Christians in places like Africa will still walk for days to hear preaching on
the gospel of Christ.
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