The younger grandkids were playing “church” with their dolls yesterday on the porch during our 4th of July family gathering. One four-year old pointed out the preacher and a second child picked up the doll, moved it as if it were speaking, and said, “Blah! Blah! Blah!” to which the four-year-old girl replied, “Amen!”. The scene was reminiscent of a time when their mothers played out the same scene with their Barbie dolls when they were little. As I laughed on the inside, I also felt vindicated because all these grandkids attend other churches with other preachers! Yes!
Though gathering for worship and listening to the preacher may not reflect a great impact on their lives at this point, the fact that they are playing “church” reveals it is a habit in their family. They are growing up with a keen awareness that God is a major part of their life and home. They are also learning to pray, fellowship with other believers, reverence the Bible, and understand that there is more to life than what we see. Their parents are being very intentional about planting seeds of the gospel in their heart at a young age and establishing a weekly routine that involves public worship. Such intention will bless these children as they grow.
Jesus attended worship each Sabbath day. Luke’s Gospel records, “Jesus went back to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as usual he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath” (Luke 4:16, CEV). His parents deliberately raised Him to honor the Sabbath day and gather with other believers for fellowship and the study of God’s Word. If weekly worship was important in the life of Jesus, it is certainly important to every boy and girl in the world.
It should be noted, as well, that those in the synagogues and temple in Jesus’ day were far from perfect. The leaders and worshipers were sinful people who struggled with the same temptations and faults we struggle with today. A young father recently explained to me that he would not attend church in his particular town because those in the church were so flawed. Yes, the church is full of flawed people. In fact, if you find a perfect church with perfect people, please do not join it because you will mess it up. We are all flawed. We are all sinners. Attending church in no way declares perfection; it confesses need. I do not attend Bible study and worship because I am sinless. I go looking for help, encouragement, guidance, and mercy. There simply are not any perfect churches.
The author of Hebrews was blunt. In the Contemporary English Translation it states, “Some people have given up the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord's coming is getting closer” (Hebrews 10:25).