A persistent problem: numbers of good Christian people, identified with the church, who are not among us for Bible classes, Sunday night worship, or Wednesday night meetings. I want to address the problem by asking, "Why did Jesus attend the synagogue?" "And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day. And he stood up to read; and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.' And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.' And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, 'Is not this Joseph's son?'" (Luke 4:15-22.)
-synagogue, Jewish place of worship; congregation of a synagogue; assembly, meeting (for worship); 
-gather together, assemble, call together. The synagogue was an inter=testamental development among the Jews of Diaspora. It wasnot the main worship activity of the Jews' religion. The temple, its sacrifices, and the feasts were the main worship activities.
Thus, very important for us to understand that in a sense, to Jesus the temple worship would correspond to our Lord's Day morning worship, and to Jesus the synagogue would correspond to Bible classes, Sunday night, and Wednesday evening meeting.
Why did Jesus go to the synagogue? It was not because there would be people there who were mrore qualified, knowledgeable, or pious than he. Some people say, "I know more than those teachers at church; I am as good as or better than any of those people who come to every service; I can't learn anythjing from them." Jesus' extraordinary knowledge and ability astounded people in synagogues wherever he went (v. 15), and they did at his home town of Nazareth. (v. 22). And Jesus was without sin. Yes, he was more knowledgeable and pios than them all, yet, he went.
Why did Jesus go to the synagogue? It was not because he thought it would have been a sin for him not to have gone. Some people continually ask, "Is it a sin to miss Bible classes, Sunday night, and Wednesday night?" They don't want to be guilty of sin, so if it is a sin to miss, they want to know. There is nothing whatsoefer to indicate that it was a sin nt to attend the synagogue, yet Jesus attended.
Why did Jesus go to the synagogue? It was not because the local religious leaders, the ruler of the synagogue, or the elders of the people thought he should be there. Whenever the subject of attending the services comes up, some folks talk about elders and deacons and church leaders, as though such were reasons for having Bible classes and gatherings of the believers. Jesus told his disciples that the religious leaders occupied a position of authority which ought to be respected, even though some of them were the worst of hypocrites, but there is not the slightest indication that he attended the synagogue because they thought he should be present, yet he attended.
Why did Jesus go to the synagogue? It was not because he had book, chapter, and verse that said he should be there. Some of our people demand book, chapter, and verse showing them where it is a sin to sikip Sunday night and Wednesday night. There are many commandments in the Old Testament, and Jesus never disobeyed a single one of them. There were commandments which required every Jewish male to attend three set feasts in Jerusalem, and there were commandments about offereing specified sacrifices at the temple. But there is not a single scriptural commandment whatsoever which requres any Jew to attend the synagogue, yet Jesus attended.
Why did Jesus go to the synagogue? It was not because some who regularly went there invited him to come or urged him that he ought to attend. Some people seem to be waiting for some member of the church to urge them that they ought to be present, and others among us seem to think that people ought to come to Bible classes, Sunday night, and Wednesday night meetings because we wish they would and because we think they should. I'm sure that at first some of the people in the Nazareth synagogue were happy to see the home town boy, who was now grown up, amongst them on the Sabbath. Before it was over they were filled with wrath toward him, and threw him out of the city. But none of that had anything to do with why Jesus went.
There is only one reason that is given in the Scripture for Jesus' attending the synagogue. "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day..." (Luke 4:16). HE HIMSELF HAD MADE IT HIS CUSTOM. That is all there is! Cf. Acts 17:2. Why had he made it his custom? The same reason any of us makes anything our custom, our regular practice--because he wanted it to be his custom, because he desired for it to be his regular practice.
In his Essays, Francis Bacon wrote, "Men's thoughts are much according to their inclination, their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinion, but their deeds are after (according) as they have been accustomed." (1625, xxxix).
But what was behind his desire? Perhaps there were a number of things. It could be that he desired to be there because that was where his people, the people of Israel were. Jesus was an Israelite. He could have easily traveled the world, but throughout his whole ministry he worked with his own (see Jn. 1:11, 12; cf. Matt. 10:6; 15:24).
There is a great need for all of us to cultivate a sense of belonging with those of like precious fatih, a sense of belonging to the people of God, a sense of belonging to the body of Christ. "And all who believed were together and had all things in common...And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts..."(Acts 2:44, 46).
It also could be that he desired to be there because that was where the word of God was read to his people.(See Acts 15:21; 13:13-16). Few had personal copies of the scriptures (the more wealthy, such as the eunuch in Acts 8, owned their own); the synagogue was the repository of copies of the sacred writings. To read the scriptures most had to resort to the synagogue.
But it was more than that--the scriptures were addressed not to the individual in isolation, but to the people, together , as a whole. (E.g., when God gave the 10 commandments, he used singulat second person pronoun, i.e., he addressed the whole people as one person. Ex. 20:1 ff; cf. Deut. 4:4-9). All of us who are Christians ought to have a similar sense of God's addressing us in his word not merely as individuals, but as the body of Christ. Havfe you observed how much of the New Testament is addressed to churches? And when an individual is addressed, there is a message for the church with which he was associated.
One thing is certain. Jesus attended because he had something he wanted to offer to those present. Cf. v. 15. In this day of people's approaching religion from the standpoint of "what will it do for me," this consideration is very important. Jesus went to give to those present. (Not much of what he got at Nazareth was desirable!). Everyone has something to contribute to the growth and wee-being of the church (Eph. 4:11-16; 5-19; Col. 3:16). This is NOT to say that there is nothing to receive as the result of our presence at every gathering--Bible classes, Sunday night, and Wednesday night...there is much to receive!
No one questions the principle that we ought to imitate Jesus. It would be well for each of us to take a good hard look toward imitating Jesus in his attendance of the synagogue and what that teaches us about attending Bible classes, Sunday night and Wednesday night gatherings.
The greatest need is to absolutely obliterate and eliminate the mode of thinking which is so prevalent among us, viz., of viewing religion purely from the point of "Is it necessary?" and "Is it a sin?" This way of thinking is pharisaical to the core, and it reduces Christian living to a mere set of rules and regulations rather than a response of faith to the love and grace of God.
It was not necessary either for God to privide a Savior for mankind lost in sin, or for Jesus to be that Savior. God would have been just in sending all sinners to hell. Imagine God's saying, "Well, since it is not necessary for us to save man, let's just forget all about it." Imagine Jesus' saying to God, "If it is not necessary to save man, then let's just not do it." But God was merciful and did that which was not necessary, and which it would have been no sin to have left undone! "And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the price of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, ans so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2:1-6). Far be it from us, who have been blessed by God's doing more than the necessary, to sit around asking, "Is it necessary?" "Is it a sin not to?"
Another step is for us to become the kind of people who operateon the basis of the hightest and noblest of principles. Let us cultivate a greater love for Christ. 2 Cor. 5:14. Let us determine to seek that which is pleasant, desirable, and advantageous. Cf. Matt. 17:4; Psa. 122:1; 133:1. Let us cultivate a love, desire, longing, and craving for the word of God and for the people of God who are gathered, such as was evidenced by Jesus and New Testament Christians. (See, e.g., 1 Pet. 2:2; Lk. 22:15; Phil. 1:8: 2:26; 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:17; 3:6; 1 Jn. 5:1, 2).
It is my prayer that everyone will carefully consider this important customary practice on the part of our Lord. When we truly desire to be like Jesus, we will desire to be amongst God's people whever they meed to hear the word of God. We will come seeking to give, and we will leave having received. Will you look at your custom and look into your heart and determine to be present for all the meetings of the church?
