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Jesus Went to Church
Jesus is going to come in, he's going to come to church, he's going to speak wonderful words from God's Word, and then he is going to be completely rejected, abused and they're going to try to kill him. But notice how this section starts out.
Luke 4:14-20
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Surprising truths about Jesus. Today we’re going to move to Luke Chapter 4, beginning with verse 14. And here you just noticed some surprising things. Jesus is going to come in, he’s going to come to church, he’s going to speak wonderful words from God’s Word, and then he is going to be completely rejected, abused and they’re going to try to kill him. But notice how this section starts out. It says
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, news about him is spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day, he went into the synagogue, as was his regular custom. And he stood up to read, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14-20)
And that’s the first surprising thing for them. That Jesus would read the words of the prophet Isaiah seven hundred years before he came and say, It’s fulfilled today, in me. That’s the shocking thing. But I want you to notice one other tiny phrase in this section. Jesus went to the synagogue, as was his custom. Jesus’, regular custom was regular worship of his God.
Patterns are hard to break. Bad habits, bad patterns are tough to break. How is your pattern of regular worship been? Jesus would be rejected today, and it would be a pattern for the Jewish people of that time that they regularly rejected the prophets who came to share God’s Gospel, good news, with them. How have your patterns of worship been? Has it been a regular pattern of being with Jesus and hearing from him? Or has it been a pattern that just isn’t happening anymore? Have you noticed that your kids, you didn’t regularly bring them to worship, and now as adults, they’re not regularly connected? Bad habits are hard to break.
No matter where you’ve been at your spiritual life, I want you to hear this good news today. That Jesus went to the synagogue, as was his custom. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, stood in your place as a perfect human being, keeping every part of the law for you. He regularly attended worship. He was regularly praying to his God, and God looks at the perfect life of Jesus. And he sees that credited to your account, that Jesus sees you as the perfect prayers, the perfect worshiper of God, take that good news and hold on to it and and join him in worship once again. Not because you have to, but because in God’s sight, you are already perfect.
