And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day …
Sometimes Christians fall a little short (or even a lot) by attending church on Sunday, but letting that be about all there is to their Christian life. More regular or deeper fellowship with other believers is not high on their list of priorities. Daily encounters with God through the Bible or prayer are seldom had.
And then there is another kind of problem. One frequently encounters professing Christians who rarely if ever go to church at all. Once in a while a person is willing to admit that it is just through negligence or laziness or what used to be called sloth. If you’ve ever had the good fortune to see a genuine mammalian, tropical sloth in action, or sloth inaction, you understand why the word applies. If this is your problem, take this as a simple reminder that Christ normally went to synagogue services on the Sabbath. It was his custom according to Luke 4:16. Make it your custom too.
Worse yet is the person who says in a somewhat self-satisfied way, “I am a Christian and think highly of Jesus, but I do not take part in a church.” This person sees no need for the fellowship of the saints, the regular teaching of the Scriptures, or the exercise of his or her gifts in the context of a local body of believers.
Frequently, this person has been wounded by a church or its leaders and sometimes more than once. That’s sad, really, but so often true. We should not lightly brush off a person’s deep struggles or too quickly minimize their experience.
The same truly wounded person should still take a lesson from the custom of Jesus. If anyone knew of the hypocrisy of religious people, it was Christ. If anyone could afford to do without an empty religious tradition, it was Christ. He was rejected in the synagogue in Nazareth, where he grew up, and almost killed by those people here in Luke 4. Later, in Capernaum, he encountered a demonized man at a synagogue service, who then began shouting at him and made Jesus the center of attention.
The truth is, we need a weekly dose of God’s people, with all their good, bad, wonderful, stupid and terrible qualities. Since the days of the New Testament, Christians have gathered together on the first day of the week and there is no compelling reason to change that custom now. Learning to get along with all these imperfect people is one of the main ingredients in our spiritual growth.
If you don’t find encouragement with other believers, find a church and go there to be an encouragement to them. If you find hypocrisy, make it a point to be the least hypocritical person in the room.
And then, on top of everything else, humbly admit that you may have a problem. Perhaps your previous wounds have made you overly judgmental or somewhat too critical of others. This is understandable, but it still is not good. Maybe you are a little too afraid of what may or may not happen again. Understandable again, but it is no way to live. If you honestly talk about your issue you are likely to find someone else there who will know exactly what you are talking about and might have some encouragement for you on that level. In other words, this sort of wounding happens a lot, so you are not alone in your experience.
Once again, take this as a simple reminder that Christ normally went to synagogue services on the Sabbath. It was his custom according to Luke 4:16. Make it your custom too.
