It happened during a ministers’ meeting, a couple of years ago. The issue was whether or not to have a second worship on the Sunday. Do not worry, they were not ministers belonging to “our” federation. The speaker, a professor, promoted abolishing the afternoon worship service. One of his main arguments was that this service had been instituted during the Reformation to help solve the problem of lack of knowledge among the church people. That was the reason for the afternoon service, where the doctrine was taught following the Heidelberg Catechism. In the opinion of the speaker, today such a lack of knowledge no longer exists among the church people in general. They know much about the Bible. That is the reason why so many no longer attend the worship service in the afternoon. (It is true that in “his” churches the attendance is miserable, possibly 25%). The church people were nourished sufficiently during the morning service, and do not need more. They should not be stuffed with it.

His argument appeared to convince people, and initially there was little opposition. Then one minister stood up who told the following story:

In our congregation, we began a campaign to revive the work of the societies. Happily, we were partially successful, for we were able to activate several people to study Scripture together. The funny thing is, that those people who gradually became enthusiastic for Bible study, also began to attend the afternoon service. They seem to feel the need to hear more about God’s Word. That does not agree with the speech of the professor. If that was true, would we not expect these people to stay away in the afternoon?

The professor could not immediately come up with a response. I was reminded of a word the Lord Jesus spoke after He had told the parable of the sower. He urged them to listen intently to the gospel:

Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you – and even more.Mark 4:24

Perhaps we think first of all of a measuring stick. We can take people’s measure, and find them wanting. In a similar way, other people, or God, will take our measure. However, Christ is thinking of measuring cups as are used in the kitchen. In Israel, too, they came in different sizes. The Lord Jesus used this image. If you come to listen to Him with a small measuring cup, it is filled quickly. True, in that case you do not take home much from Jesus. But the larger your measuring cup, the more you receive and the richer you get.

Is this not similar when we go to church. It depends on your attitude how much you profit. Someone who comes to listen with great anticipation what the Lord is going to tell us on Sunday, receives much. But someone who begins with aversion, or listens reluctantly or even critically, should not be surprised when he or she cannot do much with it. You also notice that people who benefit much from the service because they began expecting much, have a growing desire to receive more. They continue to come with a large measure to take it home filled to the brim. However, those people who after the service leave rather empty since they took along a small measure, go to church expecting less and less. Could it not be that the Lord Jesus meant that with the sentence that immediately follows:

Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him? (v. 25)

Among us, too, the number of people increases who no longer feel the need to go to church again in the afternoon. Why? Because they already spend so much time on God’s Word? Because they are in danger of being stuffed? Are they people who during the week are busy with the Word of God? Are they the faithful members of the societies or the Bible study groups? The people with the largest measures?

Or is it the other way around?