16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. Luke 4: 16 (KJV)
This passage of scripture appears right before a familiar one…”The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me…” You know the one. We often skim over the first portion to get to the familiar one, but doing that would cause us to miss something important. Jesus went to church! Yes, the Son of God; he who was, is, and is to come, actually went to church. Not only that, the scripture says it was his custom. He went regularly. What does that tell us? Do I need to say it? God would not ask us to do something He would be unwilling to do. Psalms 138: 2 says The Lord has magnified His word above all His name. That means even He himself is subject to His Word.
So why then do we sometimes make church attendance an option? We forsake the gathering of ourselves together for the smallest of reasons. “I don’t feel like going today.” “I’m Tired.” “My kids have homework.” “I went Sunday, that’s enough for this week.”And don’t let there be inclement weather. That’s another opportunity for extra sleep.
The only problem with that is we would often-times do more for our employers than we would for God. I know you’d never consciously make that decision, right? Well, rain, lack of sleep, kids having homework, or just don’t feel like going almost never come into play when it’s time to go to work. We work the schedule our employers give us and, all other things being equal arrive on time. Why, because there is a reward of a paycheck at the end of the pay period. We work by faith, trusting that we will be paid when the time comes.
Can we show at least show up at our local fellowship for scheduled services? Can we give God the same consideration that we give our bosses? Why, because there is also recompense at the end of our faith. We don’t go to church just because that’s what we do on Sundays. Church is the place where we learn how to overcome life. It’s where we go line upon line and precept upon precept receiving answers only God can give.
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords made it a custom of going to the place where the Word was being taught regularly. Doesn’t it stand to reason that we who are created in his image and after his likeness would follow his example?
© Fredrick F. Nicholson 2010 all rights reserved
