Reader,
I think I've been guilty of being the skeptic.
These past two years I've watched my church almost triple in size. We went from having one service in a small church building, to having two in a room that can fit 400 people. Honestly, that's a great blessing! Sometimes, it's a blessing I'm not really sure how to deal with. More people means more sin, but it also means more joy, more salvation, but it could mean more division. More people to me used to mean more work.
We're called the body. In the book to the Corinthian church, Paul preached about how we are each different members of the body with different gifts, but all equal parts with Christ as the head. He talks about not diminishing each other or yourself in your gifting, thinking that one part of the body is greater than the other.
I bring this up because I think I have a tendency to forget, and I think you do as well, just what this means for all of us in the church.
When you become a member at a particular church, you're pledging responsibility as a member of the Body of Christ. Whether your gift leads you to be like the eyes or the hands or the mouth, you have a part in the church. But just like Paul warns the Corinthians, we forget who we are in the body, we take on too much responsibility, judge the body, and we can stop functioning altogether.
I've played the skeptic. I've sat back from the body and looked it over, with all it's new additions, and wondered if our body could handle the massive surgery it's undergoing. Will these new parts fit? Will the leaders change because of this? What if we get infected, will we just flat out die?
It wasn't until Christ changed my heart that I realized it is not my job to be skeptic of the great Surgeon. He showed me my life, that I wasn't serving my fellow members. That I was expecting much of everyone else around me and taking from a buffet of service, but I played no part in preparing the great feast.
So I began to pray over where my place was in service - what part of the body am I anyway? I asked my pastor for advice and he said if I wasn't satisfied with the general call to serve my brothers then I would never find joy in a specific calling either. So I texted my lot family leader and begged to have a part in serving our lot family. That's when it hit me.
Our leaders don't get requests like that often. We are expecting so much of them, but we have no part in building them up, being behind the scenes, or stepping up to serve alongside them. We think the "glorious" jobs are the ones that should be filled (worship leader, youth group leader, you name it). Yet, all those roles are filled, so there's nothing we can do in the church, because we don't have a title.
I've found something different. I love encouraging my pastor and my worship leader and our discipleship coach and bringing people into my home. Discipling and admonishing the believers is my calling. I have no clue what title that give me in the Body, but that's what I do. No one has to tell me to do it, but instead I see that need and it's my job to pursue it.
However, I do not think we are called to be the only one doing what we do. It's not good for man to do his duties alone. I can't disciple the whole church, I need people to admonish me at times. If I overburden myself I'm not doing anyone any favors. Jon Foreman explains by saying that we aren't called to take the whole mountain by storm, but instead we strive to conquer our own piece of that mountain.
So what about the rest of the church? That was my question this morning. If I'm not to take the whole mountain by storm, the rest of them should be serving too. Yet we all can get so complacent. The wonderful thing is this: the more we serve, the more we encourage, the more we do this the more they will want to follow our lead. We can't force them to be the part of the body their called to be, but we can encourage them and pray God brings life to these bones. Don't get me wrong, we should be calling out the members who aren't functioning. We should not be the skeptic though.
So this is my call of encouragement to you. You may not have a title in the church, but what areas are you most keen to noticing the church struggle in? That may very well be the area you have a heart for. What do you love to do? Find creative way to implicate that in your small groups, or in times where normal church functions aren't scheduled. Open up your home, your free time, your job, and all of you. The worst things we can do is think we aren't gifted, that our part isn't important, or worst, to think it's someone else's responsibility.
Don't down play other's gifts, but encourage them in it. Where would we be with out even the smallest parts of our members.
This will build unity. This will glorify the Lord. This makes us the light to a lost and dying world, if we serve with joy and fervency.
Chelsy.
I think I've been guilty of being the skeptic.
These past two years I've watched my church almost triple in size. We went from having one service in a small church building, to having two in a room that can fit 400 people. Honestly, that's a great blessing! Sometimes, it's a blessing I'm not really sure how to deal with. More people means more sin, but it also means more joy, more salvation, but it could mean more division. More people to me used to mean more work.
We're called the body. In the book to the Corinthian church, Paul preached about how we are each different members of the body with different gifts, but all equal parts with Christ as the head. He talks about not diminishing each other or yourself in your gifting, thinking that one part of the body is greater than the other.
I bring this up because I think I have a tendency to forget, and I think you do as well, just what this means for all of us in the church.
When you become a member at a particular church, you're pledging responsibility as a member of the Body of Christ. Whether your gift leads you to be like the eyes or the hands or the mouth, you have a part in the church. But just like Paul warns the Corinthians, we forget who we are in the body, we take on too much responsibility, judge the body, and we can stop functioning altogether.
I've played the skeptic. I've sat back from the body and looked it over, with all it's new additions, and wondered if our body could handle the massive surgery it's undergoing. Will these new parts fit? Will the leaders change because of this? What if we get infected, will we just flat out die?
It wasn't until Christ changed my heart that I realized it is not my job to be skeptic of the great Surgeon. He showed me my life, that I wasn't serving my fellow members. That I was expecting much of everyone else around me and taking from a buffet of service, but I played no part in preparing the great feast.
So I began to pray over where my place was in service - what part of the body am I anyway? I asked my pastor for advice and he said if I wasn't satisfied with the general call to serve my brothers then I would never find joy in a specific calling either. So I texted my lot family leader and begged to have a part in serving our lot family. That's when it hit me.
Our leaders don't get requests like that often. We are expecting so much of them, but we have no part in building them up, being behind the scenes, or stepping up to serve alongside them. We think the "glorious" jobs are the ones that should be filled (worship leader, youth group leader, you name it). Yet, all those roles are filled, so there's nothing we can do in the church, because we don't have a title.
I've found something different. I love encouraging my pastor and my worship leader and our discipleship coach and bringing people into my home. Discipling and admonishing the believers is my calling. I have no clue what title that give me in the Body, but that's what I do. No one has to tell me to do it, but instead I see that need and it's my job to pursue it.
However, I do not think we are called to be the only one doing what we do. It's not good for man to do his duties alone. I can't disciple the whole church, I need people to admonish me at times. If I overburden myself I'm not doing anyone any favors. Jon Foreman explains by saying that we aren't called to take the whole mountain by storm, but instead we strive to conquer our own piece of that mountain.
So what about the rest of the church? That was my question this morning. If I'm not to take the whole mountain by storm, the rest of them should be serving too. Yet we all can get so complacent. The wonderful thing is this: the more we serve, the more we encourage, the more we do this the more they will want to follow our lead. We can't force them to be the part of the body their called to be, but we can encourage them and pray God brings life to these bones. Don't get me wrong, we should be calling out the members who aren't functioning. We should not be the skeptic though.
So this is my call of encouragement to you. You may not have a title in the church, but what areas are you most keen to noticing the church struggle in? That may very well be the area you have a heart for. What do you love to do? Find creative way to implicate that in your small groups, or in times where normal church functions aren't scheduled. Open up your home, your free time, your job, and all of you. The worst things we can do is think we aren't gifted, that our part isn't important, or worst, to think it's someone else's responsibility.
Don't down play other's gifts, but encourage them in it. Where would we be with out even the smallest parts of our members.
This will build unity. This will glorify the Lord. This makes us the light to a lost and dying world, if we serve with joy and fervency.
Chelsy.
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