Answer

All of us should be concerned about whether we are following God's instructions or not. God offers encouragement for those who sincerely want to obey Him. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah He says, "This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite [remorseful] in spirit, and trembles at my word" (Isaiah 66:2, English Standard Version).

The apostle Paul clearly stated that we are to obey God's law: "For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified" (Romans 2:13, ESV, emphasis added throughout).

The apostle James, half-brother of Jesus Christ, made the same point that we must be doers of God's law: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves . . . But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:22, 25).

God also gives clear instructions not to change the form of worship He lays down in Scripture: "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:32).

Jesus Christ firmly challenged the Pharisees for altering God's laws and substituting their own traditions and interpretations (Matthew 15:7-9; Mark 7:6-13). He made it very clear that such practices did not have His approval.

With specific regard to the seventh-day Sabbath, Jesus stated of Himself that "the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath" (Luke 6:5). As the Creator on behalf of God the Father, Jesus was the One who created the Sabbath (John 1:1-3, 14; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16). He commissioned His Church to preach the gospel, but that mission does not include any authority to change God's commandments. Instead they were to follow His obedient example and teaching (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus clearly stated, "I have kept My Father's commandments" (John 15:10).

With that established, we can now address who usurped the authority of God the Father and Jesus Christ and taught that God's seventh-day Sabbath had been transformed to Sunday.

The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (Peter Geiermann, 1957) specifically states on page 50:

"Question: Which is the Sabbath day?

"Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.

"Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

"Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."

Clearly, keeping holy God's seventh-day Sabbath (observed from Friday sunset until Saturday sunset) has been replaced by Sunday worship in mainstream Christianity. Indeed Catholic writings confirm the basis for this substitution being the belief that the Church had the authority to overrule the very words of God. But by what authority? To quote the same source:

"Answer: The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of divine power that Jesus Christ bestowed upon her" (ibid.).

Later, Protestant groups split away from the Catholic Church, but they mostly followed Rome's lead in accepting Sunday.

Yet Christ commissioned His disciples to teach obedience to God's law, not to alter it. When confronted by Satan, Christ answered, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:4). God, at Mt. Sinai, spoke the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath commandment.

Throughout the book of Acts, the New Testament Church consistently met on the Sabbath day (Acts 13:14, 27, 42, 44; 16:13; 18:4). Clearly the early Church followed the example that Jesus Christ had set (Luke 4:16). Notice the phrase "as His custom was." Down through the centuries the true Church has followed biblical instruction and example by observing the seventh-day Sabbath.

The New Covenant did not amend the Ten Commandments. Indeed Jesus Christ strengthened and magnified them as prophesied in the Old Testament (Isaiah 42:21). The command to "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8) points us back to Creation, identifying God as our Creator and the one who made the Sabbath day by resting on it (Genesis 2:1-3).

As shown in Hebrews 4:4-10, it also points forward to the coming millennial Sabbath rest when Jesus Christ reigns on earth in the Kingdom of God. The Greek word sabbatismos, translated "rest" in verse 9, literally means "a Sabbath-keeping," "a Sabbath rest" or a keeping of a Sabbath" (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and News Testament Words, 1985,"Rest").

Many church organizations today have lost sight of these facts and reject the Sabbath. But as Jesus said of the religious leaders of His day: "They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch" (Matthew 15:14). We must not follow those who have rejected God's explicit commandments and substituted human tradition in their place. 

None of us can alter the beliefs and practices of the world around us. But what we can do is strive to obey God to the best of our ability. As Christ's apostles said, "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). Inevitably this will put us at variance with many religious practices, customs and traditions of men. But if we want to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and obey God, we must bring our lives into line with the true teachings of the Bible.

And it should be noted that not all churches worship on Sunday instead of the Sabbath. A sizable number, though still a small minority, worships on the Sabbath in accordance with God's instruction. The United Church of God, which publishes The Good News magazine, has hundreds of congregations around the world that observe God's seventh-day Sabbath.

For more information on how and why the Sabbath was replaced by Sunday and how to observe the true Sabbath today, request or download our free booklet Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest. Also helping explain the story is The Church Jesus Built.

Those interested in finding a Sabbath-observing congregation near them can check our website at www.ucg.org/congregations.