三：因为最早的基督徒时常聚会敬拜神
基督教的特征之一是基督教只有一个权威和标准，那就是圣经。历史上，以耶稣基督为神的儿子的人都承认圣经是基督徒的生活指南，是基督教的蓝图。这篇短文以圣经为基督徒唯一能够得着神之旨意的书籍。
圣经记载告诉我们早期的基督徒时常聚在一块儿敬拜拯救他们的真神。耶稣基督在世的最后几句话之一，是他从死亡复活了之后，在他将要回到天上去时说的，耶稣面对他的使徒，就说：“天上地上一切权柄都赐给我了。所以，你们要去使万民作我的门徒，奉父子圣灵的名，给他们施洗，我吩咐你们的一切，都要教导他们遵守。这样，我就常常与你们同在，直到这世代的终结”（28:18-20新译本）。最早的基督徒什么时候才可以聆听使徒和其他教师的话而得着耶稣的训诲呢？就是在他们聚会做礼拜的时候，以及其他聚会的时间。难怪，使徒保罗交待门徒提摩太，说：“应当把你在许多见证人面前从我这里听见的，交托给那些又忠心又能够教导别人的人”（提摩太后书2:2新译本）。从此可知，基督的教义要一代一代的被传留下来一直到今天。传留下来的不是人的话，不是人的假设、旨意和教导，乃是神的真理。
早期的基督徒都重视敬拜神的聚会。最初的时候，他们天天聚集聆听使徒的教训，敬拜神。地点是耶路撒冷，犹太人的“圣殿”以及基督徒的家里。基督的教义被传到耶路撒冷之外以后，基督徒聚会在家中，在河边，在山洞里。基督徒开始受到逼迫之后，他们聚会在墓窖里。无论如何，连冒生命的危险，他们还是要聚会。这些基督徒就是我们的榜样。他们聚会敬拜神，我们也应该这样做。
耶稣基督建造教会以后的头几年，基督徒都是犹太人。因为犹太人已经有几百年的教导、习惯和历史使得他们前往神的圣殿或会堂读经、祷告、敬拜，所以他们从犹太教的敬拜礼俗和信仰转为基督教的教导和敬拜方式是不太难。但是，非犹太人开始成为基督徒以后，也许情况大不相同。离开异教的非犹太人必须养成新的习惯，就是每当星期日要跟别的基督徒聚会，荣耀、感谢那位在天上的天父。他们要读经、祷告、领用圣餐、唱诗歌赞美神。使徒不但教导他们如此作，使徒也表示千千代代的基督徒也要这样做。包括您和我。
最早的基督徒有他们的问题和不道德之行为，没错。他们不是完全人，他们犯了很多罪。在犯罪的过程当中，他们不能当做我们的榜样。但是，新约的作者写信给他们，劝他们悔改，纠正他们的坏行为时，给他们的教导就变成后代基督徒的指南，变成万代基督教会的教义。所以，希伯来书的作者写信告诉那些对信仰不热心的基督徒说，“我们不可放弃聚会，好像有些人的习惯一样；却要互相劝勉…”（希伯来书10:25），等于告诉万代的基督徒，不可以停止聚会。
最早的基督徒时常聚会敬拜神，所以今日的基督徒也应该如此行。包括您和我。
Why Christians Attend Worship Every Sunday
03: Because the First Christians Set an Example
By Edward Short
One of the special characteristics of Christianity is that there is only one authority and standard in Christianity, and that’s the Bible. People who confess Jesus Christ to be the Son of God accept the Bible as their compass for life, and as the blueprint for Christianity. This article presupposes that the Bible is the only book wherein Christians can find the will of God.
The Bible records that the earliest Christians often met together and worshiped the true God of heaven, the God who saved them. After his resurrection, and before he ascended back to heaven, some of the very last things that Jesus said on earth were directed to his apostles. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:18-20 NRSV). The worship assemblies were major opportunities for the earliest Christians to hear the apostles and other teachers speak, and thus learn the teachings of Jesus. No wonder that the apostle Paul told his disciple Timothy, “…what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well” (2 Timothy 2:2 NRSV). From this we can see that the teachings of Jesus Christ were to be transmitted from one generation to the next, all the way to today. The teachings were not the words of men, not the assumptions, will or doctrines of men, but were the truths of Scripture.
The early Christians emphasized the worship assembly. At the beginning of the church they met together daily and received instruction and worshiped God. The venues were the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and the homes of Christians. After the teachings of Jesus were spread beyond Jerusalem, Christians met together in homes, on river banks and in caves. After Christians began to be persecuted, they met in the catacombs. Whatever the situation, even when their lives were put at risk, they still wanted to meet together. These Christians serve as examples to us; they worshiped God, and we should do the same.
For some time after Jesus established his church, Christians were all Jews. Jews had several hundred years of teaching, history and habit of going to the temple or synagogue to learn Scripture, pray and worship, so it was not difficult for them to transition from Jewish ceremony and faith to Christian belief and worship. After non-Jews started becoming Christians, however, perhaps the situation changed. The Gentiles who came out of paganism had to acquire the new habit of attending the assembly each Sunday with other Christians to glorify and thank their Father in heaven. They read Scripture, prayed, partook of the Lord’s Supper and sang praises to God. Not only did the apostles teach them to worship in this way, but they also indicated that thousands of generations of Christians to come were to do this as well. Including you and me!
It’s true that the earliest Christians had their problems as well as their moral failures. They were imperfect people and they committed many sins. They don’t serve as our examples in their sins, but when the New Testament writers penned letters and urged them to repent and change their sinful ways, those instructions became the guide for later generations of Christians, and the doctrine of the church of Christ. So when the author of Hebrews wrote to a group of Christians who had lost their enthusiasm for their faith, and said, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” (10:25 NRSV), his words had the effect of telling Christians of all ages that they should never stop worshiping God.
The earliest Christians assembled often to worship God, so Christians today should do the same. Including you and me!