When Jesus goes to church

A while ago I heard about a local church that had an interesting sermon topic for their morning worship service: Dental Hygiene. No lie, that was the message. Now please understand that this "church" was really just a gathering of people who believed that there was no such thing as absolute truth and that everyone eventually went to heaven, so what better topic to discuss than how to take care of your teeth? After all, listening to a sermon from the Bible would make no sense if you believed that all religions and beliefs systems were equal and valid.

I was not raised in a church like that. I can remember passionate sermons from the Bible delivered by pastors who greatly influenced my spiritual formation. As I have grown older and responded to God's call to full time ministry I have made it my goal to study God's word carefully so that, whenever I was called upon to preach, I would be able to preach using the Bible as my authority and not someone or something else.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of it effect. (1 Corinthians 1:17)

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified...so that your faith might not be based on men's wisdom but on God's power. (1 Corinthians 2:2,5)

Paul nailed it with those words. If you are a member of a church or its pastor, these words are a sober reminder of what must be proclaimed and heard from the pulpit each and every time the body of Christ gathers together for worship.

So what did Jesus say to the people when He went to church? Keeping in mind that our idea of church today is a thoroughly Western concept, Jesus didn't walk through the doors or stained glass buildings but rather He was faithful to attend local synagogues on the Sabbath along with His fellow Jews. There is such an instance in Mark 1:21-28 where Jesus entered a synagogue in Capernaum and, being a rabbi (Jewish teacher) Himself, began to teach. Although we don't have recorded the exact words that Jesus preached on this occasion, the response of those in the synagogue to Jesus' teaching was most revealing:

They were astonished at His teaching because, unlike the scribes, He was teaching them as one having authority..."What is this? A new teaching with authority!" (Mark 1:22, 27)

Make no mistake when considering the content of Jesus' message. Just a few verses earlier in Mark 1:15 Jesus' very first recorded sermon was summarized thus:

"The time is now fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news!"

Throughout the New Testament, whenever Jesus had the opportunity to preach in the synagogues, He always preached a message of truth. If His teaching that day was met with such surprise, it makes one wonder exactly what was proclaimed on a weekly basis from this synagogue. Maybe fanciful opinions of Jewish leaders who thought more of themselves than they should or perhaps creative stories that made the audience feel warm and fuzzy before they left. Did Jesus use stories to illustrate His messages? Absolutely, lots and lots of them. Yet any illustration that Jesus used was a means to the end of expounding on the greater message of the kingdom of God and the salvation through the cross that Jesus came to bring.

I'm sure that Jesus cares about such things as your teeth and your basic health. Were we all alive 2000 years ago we no doubt would have been amazed and even mesmerized by the power of His teaching. Yet Jesus wasn't all about putting on a show or settling for life lesson messages that did little more than fill His hearers with basic knowledge of the mundane. When Jesus went to church, His message was filled with truth, calling men and women to repentance and to stand upon the gospel. What are you hearing in your church this Sunday?