On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Acts 20:7
So many lessons in today’s reading — indeed, so many in this one verse — but let’s concentrate on one or two.
Why do you attend worship?
- Is it because you’re part of a family, and wherever the family is, that’s where you want to be?
- Is it because there’s a biblical precedent for doing so?
- Is it to worship and praise and honor The God of Creation?
- Is it to partake of what we call the Lord’s Supper?
- Is it to hear a portion of God’s Holy Word preached?
Maybe all of these are reasons you attend. I’d suggest these are all not only valid reasons to gather together to worship, but also that none of these is the reason we should be there. Yet we’re told the express purpose of the saints at Troas for meeting was to “break bread” — a reference to the Lord’s Supper. So does this mean that when we assemble as a church, the most important thing we do is participate in the Communion service? I’d say that’s arguable, and I’d argue the negative position of that particular premise.
But my purpose this morning isn’t to argue — it’s to make you think.
I believe any time we start to think in terms of being there for the Lord’s Supper, and if we’re there for that, the rest is pretty much a bonus, then it’s time to re-think why we even attend worship in the first place. Isn’t partaking of the bread and the cup something you can do at home with your physical family? So there must be a reason besides this one observance to make a special trip to a special location to meet with a special group of people for a special time.
Here’s my take on it; feel free to disagree in the Comments section below: we are there on Sunday for the same reason we are placed here on earth — to worship the One who put us here. That’s it. It’s my opinion that the reason Luke is telling us the church at Troas met in order to break bread, is not because the Holy Spirit through Luke is giving us a hint that this is the most important act of worship. He’s simply stating a point of fact. So when we meet together tomorrow, let’s sing as if it were the last song of praise we’ll sing this side of Heaven, let’s listen to the Word proclaimed as if it were indeed coming from the lips of Jesus Himself (because it is God-breathed), and let’s partake of the Lord’s Supper remembering that it commemorates the express reason Jesus came to earth — to seek and to save that which was lost.
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