Luke 4:28 “And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,”

Luke 4:29 “And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.”

Luke 4:30 “But he passing through the midst of them went his way,”

If you’ve had a bad church/Christian experience, here in Luke 4 you can read about when Jesus Christ himself went to church and had a bad church experience.

Yeah sure, it was a Jewish synagogue, not a new testament church that he went to, but essentially the same thing, that is, a congregation of believers of God assembled to hear the word, worship God and fellowship.

It’s become incredibly common to hear people blaming Christians and churches to justify their rejection of Christ. Maybe you’ve got a legitimate grievance, I don’t know, but if you actually had your own walk with God, how could someone else’s hypocrisy or evil affect your relationship with him?

In truth, most people who are knocked out of Christianity by mistreatment at church or by Christians… it’s because they were following the wrong thing to begin with… people, people who hurt or disappointed them as they inevitably do.

Jesus had a very poor “church experience” not just here, but repeatedly. Yet none of that translated to him becoming a victim and getting his nose out of joint with God because some people were mean to him.

Imagine if Jesus had said after what happened here… nah I’m not going to the cross, I’m not dying for you, I’m not obeying my Father anymore because some religious people tried to kill me!

Truth be told, Jesus had bad experiences not just “at church”, but also in every part of his life. He got treated bad by his family. He got treated bad by friends. He got treated bad by the government. So it wasn’t just at the synagogue where the hypocrisy and mistreatment was.

What was the common thread in it all? Humanity. Sin. Where man is, you get problems. So if you’ve got it in for God based on some religious experience, at least be consistent and have it in for everyone and everything else as well.

What does that mean? Well, if you’ve been hurt playing sports, did you stop playing sports? If you were hurt by someone at the bar, did you stop going to the bar? If you were hurt by someone who was drinking, did you stop drinking? Probably not, am I right?

But if you have been hurt at church, was it as bad as the congregation stopping the service halfway through to grab you and try chucking you off a cliff? Probably not, at a guess.

Why did this happen? Well surprise, surprise, it was the preaching of scripture that made them hot. Turns out Bible doesn’t sit so well with most people, even at church, the place where scripture is supposed to be taught and lived.

It shouldn’t surprise you to learn you that Jesus himself isn’t very popular in most churches. There are many churches just as keen to escort him off the premises and headfirst him in some gorge as back then.

But for us, the most important thing to learn from this story is how Jesus dealt with his bad church experience. He passed through the midst of them and “went his way”.  Because “they” can only carry you off as far as you let them.

Don’t be a victim. Jesus wasn’t, and you don’t have to be. Remember in the book of John, how Jesus said “But now I go my way to him that sent me”. So should you. Don’t let a bad church experience take you headfirst off the cliff in your life.

Blog Bible Christian Church God Jesus KJV Salvation