Thursday, August 18, 2011

"As His Custom Was"

Photo Courtesy of Microsoft Office Clipart
I'm currently reading The Trials of Theology, a compilation of lectures and sermons from great men of faith of the past and present.  This selection by Benjamin Warfield reminds Christians of the necessity to meet with a local body of believers to worship our Savior. 
"Surely, if ever there was one who might justly plead that the common worship of the community had nothing to offer him it was the Lord Jesus Christ.  But every Sabbath found him seated in his place among the worshiping people, and there was no act of stated worship which he felt himself entitled to discard.  Even in his most exalted moods, and after his most elevating experiences, he quietly took his place with the rest of God's people, sharing with them in the common worship of the community.  Returning from that great baptismal scene, when the heavens themselves were rent to bear him witness that he was well pleasing to God; from the searching trials of the wilderness, and from that first great tour in Galilee, prosecuted, as we are expressly told, 'in the power of the Spirit'; he came back as the record tells, 'to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and' - so proceeds the amazing narrative - 'he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue, on the Sabbath day' [Luke 4:14-16 ASV]. 'As his custom was!' Jesus Christ made it his habitual practice to be found in his place on the Sabbath day at the stated place of worship to which he belonged."  (pg. 62)
While I'm not advocating you remain in a church that does not teach the Gospel,  we will never find that  perfect church body to become a part of.  Our pastors will always be lacking a little in one area or another.  Perhaps he's a better teacher than a preacher.  And you may not get along with every member.  There may be hypocrites and heretics amongst the flock.  But these aren't excuses to avoid meeting regularly with other believers to worship and learn from God's Word.  Make weekly worship your custom and follow our Lord's example. 

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