Question: What’s the #1 difference between you and your pastor?
- Your pastor spends part of his weekend attending Sunday morning services. He prays. He reads. He jots notes.
- You spend part of your weekend attending Sunday morning services too. You pray. You read. Perhaps you take notes too.
Consider it this way: why do you fellowship – why does your pastor?
Answer: Your pastor is involved to give
You are involved to get.
I might be generalizing here. I’m sure some pastors have a more self-oriented approach to church involvement. For example, they might seek reputation points some days. On the other side, you might have a more others-oriented approach. I’m sure some days you might seek to bless others.
In general, though, you come to be fed.
And in general, your pastor comes to feed others.
That’s the difference.
A lesson from eating with others
“Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home…” -1 Corinthians 11:33-34
This passage is totally about eating physical, tongue-tastable food, not “eating” Scripture. Still, I think the lesson can apply.
The lesson is that we should eat together and anyone too hungry should take care of that before showing up. How does this transfer to church interaction? Everyone should benefit together and anyone too anxious to be served should take care of that before showing up.
What I mean is this: our responsibility in the church is to others. Fellowship is an excellent opportunity for finding encouragement for ourselves, but we find it by giving it.
Think of a body…
Does the arm participate for its own benefit or to benefit the whole body? What about the leg? The eyelid? In the same way, our motivation for fellowship should be to serve others.
What would happen if one part decided to quit working for the rest of the body? What would happen if it just wanted to be fed? Deadly.
The church doesn’t exist to feed you – you exist to feed the church. You participate in the church to give, not to get.
This is the perspective your pastor has in the church – it’s probably why he’s the pastor. This is the others-oriented perspective. Is it yours?
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” -Mark 10:45
Serving Others:
(1) Bring something to the table. Don’t be the eater who just sits down to eat. Offer something. Give something.
(2) Give yourself (even in the church).
Twitter Updates
great stuff!
Thanks, Taylor. Thank you for reading too.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Yes man, Thank for the Post.
You’re welcome. I appreciate it.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Hm. I’m a pastor’s wife. This is making me think of what I want and what I should want out of Sunday morning – compared to what other’s expect to get from me Sunday morning.
Yes, I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this. As a pastor’s wife, why do you feel you want to come on Sunday morning… and what do you feel is expected from you (in a very general sense… I know an insanely amount is often expected of you)?
Thank you for reading and interacting. I appreciate it.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Thumbs up.
Thank you, Amanda. It means a lot for film producers to see that… and me too.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
I’m glad that a thumbs up is sufficient, as its what my engery level is allowing these days and I still want to “contribute”
It always goes a long way for me. I’ve been online blogging for over a year, but seeing readers who actually care about what I write still makes me insanely thankful.
So thank you.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
I agree with you 100%.
The way we “do” church sets us up to be spectators. Some come to hear the concert and then the message. A lot of churches leave it to the pastor to be every gift in the body.
I have to say that I get bored easily with church here in America because it seems really hard to fit in. Also it is not as easy to define how we are to serve in the church. Just this past Sunday the pastor said everyone needs to be getting out of their comfort zones and evangelizing. I agree to a point. Because I have read Introverts in the Church what I actually heard the pastor say was: “All you introverts need to act more like extroverts and share Jesus with others.”
God made us all different and their are different ways to share Christ. Sometimes words will be minimal. Introverts don’t feel like being bombarded by an extrovert anyhow. (Sorry if I left the topic, sometimes coffee makes me do that)
In what ways do you think others should serve in the church. How can we bring a “spiritual meal” to our community each Sunday or whenever we meet?
Thank you for your comment. I really appreciate your insight into this.
In reply to your answer, I think it’s different for everyone, and that’s part of why it’s so difficult. For me, serving is about encouragement. We have all the information we need (and if we don’t, we have Google). What we need now is encouragement.
Encouragement, though, looks different to different people. For some, encouragement is standing beside them telling them each step in the process. For others, it’s getting out of the way and trusting them to figure it out by themselves.
That’s why I think serving others is an art. Throughout the Bible when we look at Jesus, we see Him serving in so many different ways. For some, it was casting out demons. For others, it was telling them to go sell everything they had and follow Him.
I think it’s presumptuous to think we can create a method for serving others. When it comes down to it, it’s about getting to know people, getting to know their needs, and meeting those needs no matter what they are. That takes time. Sometime it requires the “in your face” conversation – sometimes it requires just letting someone know you’re there for them.
The trick is in being available to do anything for anyone. We can’t settle for thinking, “Well, he’s the outgoing person – it’s his job to serve that way.” Yes, often God does use the naturally outgoing person to serve that way, but often He wants to stretch us out of our “comfort zones.” (Gotta love that phrase.
) Sometimes He wants to teach the outgoing person to listen.
Yeah, it’s 1:19 am here. This whole comment probably didn’t answer your question. For that I apologize. I’ll have to think about this some more. Thank you for the questions, though – I always appreciate them.
-Marshall Jones Jr.