The Lord's Day - Acts 20:1-7 (Part One)

Introduction

Acts 20 gives us one of the clearest windows into how the earliest Christians lived, gathered, and worshiped—and in particular, how they understood the first day of the week.

What we see here is not accidental, not reactionary, and not tradition for tradition’s sake. It is theology lived out.

Paul’s Continued Missionary Journey

Paul continues his missionary journey from Ephesus, traveling north into Macedonia—to Thessalonica, Berea, Philippi, and beyond. From there he goes south into Greece, including Athens, Corinth, and Cenchreae.

He remains there three months, strengthening and encouraging the churches.

During that time, Paul becomes aware of a plot against his life. Because of this threat, he changes his travel plans and returns through Macedonia, arriving again at Philippi. From Philippi, Luke tells us, Paul sails back to Asia.

This is not random travel. Paul is moving with purpose.

The Offering for Jerusalem

Paul is accompanied by seven men, each representing their home churches. These men carried with them funds collected from Gentile churches for the poor saints in Jerusalem.

Paul refers to this collection in Romans 15, where he says he is going to Jerusalem to bring aid from Macedonia and Achaia. He also told the Corinthians about this plan in 1 Corinthians 16, explaining that accredited men would accompany the gift.

This offering mattered deeply to Paul.

Jerusalem was suffering from famine. The church there was caring for widows and the fatherless—many of whom could not support themselves.

Years earlier, Paul and Barnabas had promised the apostles in Jerusalem that they would remember the poor, a promise Paul says he was eager to keep.

This was not the first relief effort, but it appears to have been a significant one, which helps explain why so many men traveled with him. The journey was dangerous, and the presence of many companions provided continuity, accountability, and protection.

Troas and the First Day of the Week

Paul sends these seven men ahead to Troas, while he remains in Philippi with Luke during Passover.

After arriving in Troas and staying seven days, the church gathers together in an upper room.

Luke tells us something very specific:

“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them” (verse 7)

Here we see the convergence of three independent realities:

The first day of the week

Breaking bread

Preaching

This is not incidental detail. Luke is showing us a pattern.

This is the Lord’s Day.

The Lord’s Day in the Early Church

Acts 20 is not isolated.

Later Christian writers describe the same pattern. By the early second century, Justin Martyr explains that Christians gathered on Sunday to read Scripture, hear preaching, pray, and partake of the Supper.

What Luke records in Acts 20 is not innovation—it is apostolic practice.

Is the Lord’s Day the Sabbath?

This raises an important question: Is the Lord’s Day the Sabbath?

To answer that, we must understand what the Sabbath is.

The Sabbath was the seventh day, established by God and given to Israel as a covenant sign. In Exodus 20, it commemorates God’s rest after creation.

Jesus clarifies its purpose when He says in Mark 2:27:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

The Sabbath was a gift, not a burden.

Hebrews 3 and 4 go further and show us that Christ Himself is our Sabbath rest. In Him, we find true rest from sin, striving, and self-justification.

This does not mean our bodies do not need rest—but it does mean that spiritual rest is no longer tied to a specific day.

Historical Christian Views

Early Christian writers consistently emphasized the Lord’s Day as resurrection celebration, not as a transferred Sabbath.

They did not argue that the Sabbath moved from Saturday to Sunday. They treated Sunday as a new Christian day, belonging uniquely to the risen Christ.

Later confessional traditions—such as the 1689 London Baptist Confession—did describe Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, and faithful men like Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones held this view.

Others, like Calvin, rejected the idea of a binding Sabbath rest for Christians.

I do not hold the “Sunday Sabbath” view, though I acknowledge its seriousness and historical weight.

Why Do We Gather on the First Day?

If Sunday is not the Sabbath, and there is no explicit command to meet on this day, why do we do it?

Because:

Jesus rose on the first day

The disciples first saw Him risen on the first day

Pentecost fell on the first day

Collections were taken on the first day (1 Cor. 16:2)

John received Revelation on the Lord’s Day

And here in Acts 20, the church gathers again on the first day

This is not vain tradition. It is resurrection-shaped worship.

The Weight of the Lord’s Day

Does this diminish the importance of Sunday?

No.

If anything, it increases it.

The Sabbath was made for man. The Lord’s Day belongs to the Lord.

When we make it about ourselves—our convenience, our leisure, or even just our rest—we diminish it.

There was once a time when society broadly recognized the significance of the Lord’s Day. And while culture has changed, truth has not.

Sermon Illustration: Eric Liddell and the Lord’s Day

In the 1924 Paris Olympics, Eric Liddell was favored to win the gold medal in the 100 meters. It was his best event. But when the schedule was announced, Liddell learned the qualifying heats would be run on Sunday.

Liddell was a committed Christian and a Sabbatarian. He believed that day belonged to the Lord for worship and rest. And so, without protest or spectacle, he withdrew from the race. No excuses. No bitterness. No attempt to negotiate.

Instead, he ran the 400 meters—an event he was not favored to win—and went on to take the gold.

What makes the story remarkable is not the medal. It’s that his conviction came before the outcome. He had already decided who the Lord’s Day belonged to.

Eric Liddell reminds us that honoring the Lord’s Day is not about what we lose or gain, but about who we have already chosen to obey.

Conclusion

The first-century church—those closest to Christ in time and testimony—understood the unique holiness of the first day of the week.

They gathered not out of rebellion against Jewish practice, but out of reverence for the risen Christ.

The Lord’s Day marks the defeat of death and the promise of our resurrection.

It is a day to rejoice, to gather, to hear the Word, and to remember that Christ died and is risen.

Let us be careful not to lose sight of that when our flesh cries out to be honored and celebrated.

Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and so lightly despise the example that was set by our fathers and mothers in the earliest days of the Church. Let us seek to honor and magnify Christ every day, but most importantly on the Lord’s Day!