Why We Do What We Do

Regular readers probably have guessed we keep a lot of statistics about our poker playing.  One such stat sparked a conversation Sunday during a National League of Poker tournament....

Me: 　Attendance today 969
Me: 　up 88 from last Sunday
rmwats: 　I thought u meant at church
Dealer: 　PrimeMatador wins Main Pot ($1,050) with One pair, threes
Me: 　No. Here
Me: 　I normally go to church on Saturday
The "attendance" was the number of players in the field.  The day we worship might be surprising -- but it's the day Jesus kept when He was on Earth....

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues.... - Luke 13:10

Jesus met with Jews on the seventh-day Sabbath, since that was His lineage.  He declared the launch of a "church" (Matthew 16:18), but that didn't get going until after the Lord ascended to heaven (Acts 2).  But the chat continues....

Me: 　but tonight is a special Lord's Supper
Me: 　service.
rmwats: 　i see  
Me: 　New Testament Passover
rmwats: 　7 day adventis
Me: 　No. United Church of God
Several small Christian groups held their annual "communion" services Sunday night -- following the traditional Jewish calendar, as opposed to "Holy Week" of mainstream Christianity.  That's not all they do:

Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast -- as you really are.  For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. - I Corinthians 5:7-8

What sort of "Festival" is this?  The answer is found in several scattered parts of the Old Testament.

Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you.... - Exodus 23:15

Long before the Atkins Diet and "gluten-free" menus, worshipers of God went one week a year without leavened bread.  The rest of verse 15 shows it originally was a commemoration of the exodus from Egypt (as in the movie The Ten Commandments).  But in New Testament times, Paul revealed it indicates a switch from sinful behavior (malice and wickedness) to "truth" -- as in....

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

Would you like to know more -- and perhaps try this "one-week diet" for yourself?  This article goes into the Spring Festival in more detail.  We're away from the poker tables in part because of that festival.  But anytime is a good time to put sin out of your life, and draw close to God's truth -- even if your poker style is bluffing.