“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” – Galatians 6:10
If you’ve read any of my other articles or my book, you know that I am pretty big on serving. God has blessed us with multiple talents and skills and He expects a return on His investment. Naturally there is nothing wrong with using our talents to make a living or enjoy our hobbies, but the primary reason that God installed these abilities into us is to use them in His service. Not only does serving fulfill a need and satisfy our purpose, but serving also integrates us with the body of Christ. All members of a body must function, and to function we must serve.
However, there are millions of Christians that are doing little in the way of service for God’s Kingdom; either on their own or at their local house of worship. Why? There are a lot of reasons that people refuse to get involved. Many people have no intention of ever doing anything for the Kingdom. Those who come to church simply for status or strictly out of habit usually have no interest in contributing. There are also those who believe the work of the ministry belongs solely to those in leadership and have been taught this (erroneously) their entire life. Ephesians 4:11-12 reads, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Looking to other people to do all of the serving in the church is a concept that should be put to rest in that passage. However, the further I travel with the Lord, the more I see a few different demographics of those who don’t serve. It is those who are hurt (usually by church leadership or other church people), and those who feel unworthy to do anything in God’s Kingdom.
The former group of people is usually either misguided about the purpose of “church” or thinks that hypocrisy in the church body somehow exempts them from being involved in service. The church exists be a hospital for hurting people, but it is still made up of humans and humans are imperfect. Even if in our judgmental seat of righteousness we find fault with 80% of church members, we cannot be throwing stones unless we are living a perfect life. During my 20s and 30s I used “church hypocrisy” as a reason to avoid organized religion. My mother always told me that I couldn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. As I got older, I realized what she meant. There is no perfect church. We’re not going to agree 100% with everything the pastor says. We will always find people in the church that are going to be ignorant, prideful, selfish, or even downright hateful. Luckily, we’re not there for them. We’re there to be a part of the body of Christ and body parts do not function apart from each other. We’re there to experience corporate worship with other believers. There are things that God will accomplish in a corporate service that He won’t do in any other setting. Psalm 22:3 reads, “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” During corporate worship, God’s presence is manifested in our togetherness and unity in an exponential way!
Now this is not to say that God doesn’t care where we go to church or where we serve. He does! God has a house of worship that is specifically picked out for us. It is our job to find it and do our job there. Is it possible to be in the wrong place? Absolutely. I have been there myself. I have overstayed my welcome in churches before just because I was comfortable and didn’t want to move. I knew God was calling me elsewhere, but I didn’t want to spend the time trying to find where. I can tell you from experience that when you ignore the prompting of God, He won’t force you to move, but He will make things incredibly uncomfortable for you until you do what He has asked you to do.
However, I also see a great deal of defiance toward God and what He wants to do in people’s lives. This “I will decide for myself” attitude is flat out rebellion for a Christian. That may sound harsh, but as followers of Christ, we are to seek His will and direction. If we’re calling the shots; He isn’t. That’s a problem. Everyone likes to be in control, but that is what crucifying the flesh really means; to not be in control. I promise you, God’s plan for you will yield far better results than yours.
The latter group of people is the group that feels unworthy, untested, or too unspiritual to serve in God’s house. This is a group that I have been a part of many times. It is easy to listen to others talk about the grace and forgiveness of God, but we live in our own skin. We know the unrighteous thoughts we have. We know the hurt that we have caused others. We know the kind of man or woman we really are. It is easy to absolve other people from their past (or even current actions), but much harder to absolve ourselves. We tend to imagine that God sees us the same way that we see ourselves, and this makes sense in a way. He also knows exactly who we are. He knows exactly what ugly thoughts go through our mind. He knows every evil word or action we have ever committed. Surely we need years of learning and spiritual maturity before we’re ready to serve. How could He possible use us like we are?
Unfortunately, the enemy of our soul loves nothing more than to encourage this way of thinking. Satan lives to accuse and we often make his job easier by accusing ourselves. Even if we don’t live in condemnation and guilt, there is no shortage of people that will jump at the chance to remind us of our pasts. We know the Bible says there is now no condemnation (Romans 8:1), but we live in it anyway. I deal with this battle as often as anyone. I have also had plenty of people (sometimes well-meaning church people) remind me of who I used to be. However, I’d like to remind you of the story of Saul of Tarsus.
Saul was a persecutor of the early Christian church. He had followers of Christ harassed, arrested, and was even present and supportive of a Christian execution. We might be tempted to think he was pretty anti-God; however this couldn’t be further from the truth. He wasn’t a pagan. He wasn’t an atheist. In fact, he was one of God’s chosen people. He was an Israelite with extensive training in the scriptures. He was doing what he thought was the will of God. True evil can be accomplished by those with the best intentions.
Then God finally got Saul’s attention on the road to Damascus. After Saul’s conversion (and subsequent name change) he was blinded and sent to Damascus. A God fearing Christian named Ananias was sent to pray for Saul to restore his sight. Ananias did not want to go anywhere near Saul because of his reputation. He argued with God, but eventually was obedient (Acts 9). For the first few years of Saul’s ministry he was constantly harassed and doubted because of his past. Was it God that was refusing to use him? Absolutely not! God waited a whole 3 days before launching Saul into ministry. It was people (church people specifically) that tried to stifle his new office. God went on to use Saul to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles (us!) and also to write two-thirds of the New Testament. God will not only accept us when we feel unworthy; He will use us to advance His kingdom in mighty ways! It is time to stop blaming other people for our refusal to do kingdom work. Our duty to serve in Christ’s body and make more disciples is very clear in scripture. I Peter 4:10 reads, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” This was written by Peter to the church. Let’s all decide to put away all of the excuses and eliminate all of the barriers to us making a difference for God!