To serve or be served?
Sunday we looked at God’s definition of the church (which may differ from our definition). Once we come to understand that we are created for community and relationship, that sin destroyed this through our selfishness, but God redeemed us so that we embrace one another in love, then we can pursue the community, connection and engagement God desires us to have with Him and with others. As we love others like ourselves, we will desire to serve one another and serve the Lord. This is the logical outworking of the spiritual gift(s) the Lord bestows on each believer.
As I grew up in my home church, the community and connection easily led to wanting to serve. The more I knew and grew to love, the easier and greater desire I had to serve. As I headed off to college, I looked for a church where a similar community and opportunity to serve would be found. At first I attended a large church where there were great social opportunities, great worship and the interim pastor connected with me. Unfortunately, after about three weeks, one of the pastors on staff stopped in our Bible study class (college aged) to inform us that we were welcome to attend their church, but there would be no opportunities to serve at the church since we were only there for part of the year and that college students were notoriously unreliable due to a variety of things in the lives of college students.
This was the last Sunday I attended there.
I began attending a much smaller church where I found community and a pastor excited to utilize the gifts of college students. Community and service have always been linked together in Scripture when teaching about the family of God/the church, and I have seen this play out clearly in my life. Unfortunately, our culture has shifted to more of a consumer mentality when it comes to the church. But when we shift our understanding to how God defines church, we can defeat consumerism and be the community God intends.
Let me speak to one other issue in today’s culture of the church. When looking for a church, many use the term “shopping for a church,” which usually speaks to a church meeting my needs and wants (back to consumerism). May I suggest that it is more appropriate to find the place where God will plant you so that you have community and a place to serve so that you can bloom rather than finding a comfortable place and seat from which to watch ministry happen around you.
Pressing on…
Ron Tipton, Senior Pastor
