What did Jesus say about going to church?

We are told in Hebrews 10:24-25 to "Consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." By associating with other Christians we stir up each other unto love and good works and in attending Christian meetings our souls are fed together and built up in the faith. When two or three gather together unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is there in their midst (Matt 18:20), and special blessings are obtained thereby which strengthen and develop the new nature. Therefore fellowship in the light with other Christians is vital for the Christian life.

Thus these new-born instincts, which the Holy Spirit develops and strengthens, leads souls to want to gather with one another around the Lord for teaching, fellowship, worship, prayer, and the proclaiming of the Gospel. Accordingly, meetings of the Assembly naturally begin for these purposes. This is as it should be, and Hebrews 10: 24. 25 exhorts us: "let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." In the beginning, the Church met every day, but this did not continue. Now as we see the evil day of apostasy and wickedness approaching, we need all the more to come together often with fellow believers.

There will be love for the meetings. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25). “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). Scriptures such as these are clear and explicit.

May the Lord Jesus so attach our hearts to Himself, that our gathering together, having Himself for motive or object, may become increasingly what it really is, the most precious thing in the world for us collectively. May we know how to appreciate the mercy which, in a time of ruin, gives us the possibility of having a special meeting, as in Acts 20:7, to remember our precious Saviour together, and to enjoy His presence in the midst. How sweet to the heart of the Christian who comprehends the thoughts of God on this subject! In going to the worship-meeting, we may have the privilege of thinking that we do not go there for ourselves, but as being invited thither by the Lord, to remember Him while waiting for Him, and by Him to worship our God and Father, to whom He has brought us. Therefore the intelligent Christian will not readily miss such a meeting, except for reasons which hold good before the Lord.

Immediately He passed from the synagogue where such excitement had been awakened to partake of the hospitalities of the house of Simon and Andrew. James and John are invited also. They knew the commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy"; but could it be kept more holy than in the presence and company of Jesus?

It was the Sabbath day; and, as His custom was, our Lord repaired to the synagogue. Synagogues were not places of worship (there was but one such place in Israel — God's temple in Jerusalem): they were merely buildings in which copies of the Scriptures were kept under the charge of an official, whose duty it was to allow the people to read them, and to expound them to one another. The Saviour descried a man in the synagogue with a withered hand. His whole heart of compassion went forth at once toward him. He had but recently been criticised by the Pharisees for permitting His disciples to relieve their hunger in the cornfield on the Sabbath day; this afflicted man became a fresh ground of objection with them. According to Mark and Luke He put this question to them: "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day, or to do evil." Matthew adds the query: "What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold of it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep?" (Matt. 12:9-14).

Sabbath Service in Nazareth

1913 308 It was the practice of the Lord to teach and to preach the word in the synagogues where the Jews habitually assembled (John 18:20) upon the sabbath. The fact of the people coming together in this manner afforded an opportunity of placing the truth before many at once, and of this opportunity the Lord continually availed Himself (Matt. 4:23; Matt. 12:9; Mark 1:39; Luke 4:44). It was His "custom" to do so (Luke 4:16).

B.C.G. — That passage, “as His custom was,” is instructive. He was accustomed to attend the synagogue service on the Sabbath day, He was a regular attendant, as we say; thus honouring the law of Moses.

This will be seen more clearly if we turn to the teaching of the Scriptures. The woman of Samaria questioned our Lord concerning this subject, or rather as to the place of worship; and in His reply, He vouchsafed to go far beyond the limits of her question. "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:21-24). In the first place, our Lord here plainly teaches that there would be henceforward no special place of worship on earth. Jerusalem had been the sacred place where the temple of God had stood — the place to which His people wended year by year from all parts of the land. (See Psalm 122.) But together with the rejection of Christ, their house, hitherto the house of God, was left unto them desolate (Matt. 23:37-39) ; and never since that time has there been a material house of God upon earth. The Church is now the habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph. 2:22); and our place of worship (as seen in the last letter) is now inside the rent veil, in the immediate presence of God.

These are very weighty consequences, and they demand the serious attention of all the Lord's people. It must be obvious to the reader that it is according to the revealed will of God that His people should assemble themselves together, in His presence. The inspired apostle exhorts us, in the tenth chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. There is special value, interest and importance attaching to the assembly. The truth as to this begins to dawn upon us in the opening pages of the New Testament. Thus, in Matt. 18:20, we read the words of our blessed Lord, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Here we have the divine centre. "My Name." This answers to "The place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there," so constantly named, and so strongly insisted upon in the book of Deuteronomy. It was absolutely essential that Israel should gather at that one place. It was not a matter as to which people might choose for themselves. Human choice was absolutely and rigidly excluded. It was "The place which the Lord thy God shall choose," and no other. This we have seen distinctly. It is so plain that we have only to say, "How readest thou?"