I was in the supermarket one day, and a lady came down the aisle whom I could barely see over the top of her groceries. I got somewhat frightened because she seemed to be heading straight for me. She screeched to a halt within a few feet of me, peered over her load, wagged her finger, and said, "I left your church. I left your church".
So I said, "Well, if it’s my church, I think that was a very wise decision. If it’s my church, I think I’m going to leave too."
She said, "Don’t you want to know why I left?"
I said, "No, not particularly, but I think I’m going to find out". And I was right.
She said, "You weren’t meeting my needs".
I answered, "I don’t ever recollect seeing you before, let alone talking to you, let alone knowing your needs. Did you ever tell anyone specifically what your needs were?"
She couldn’t recall that she had, so I raised another question. "Can you tell me, if we have 5,000 people sitting in that church, all with your attitude, how anyone’s needs are going to be met? If you reserve the right to have that attitude, then you must give everybody the freedom to have that attitude. And if everybody has that attitude, who on earth is going to do all the need-meeting?"
Standing her ground, she demanded, "Then you tell me who will."
Relieved, I said, "I thought you’d never ask. This is what will work: when people stop sitting in the pew saying, ’They’re not meeting my needs’ and start saying, ’Whose needs can I meet?’ Then needs will be met. When the servant spirit flourishes in a congregation, then they minister to each other as unto the Lord."
Romans 12:3-16 As God’s messenger, I give each of you this warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you. {4} Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, {5} so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others. {6} God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. {7} If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. {8} If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously (2 Corinthians 8:7). If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. {9} Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. {10} Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. {11} Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. {12} Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful. {13} When God’s children are in need, be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night. {14} If people persecute you because you are a Christian, don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. {15} When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their sorrow. {16} Live in harmony with each other. Don’t try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
This is basically saying that we all have a job to do. Many people look to the pastors and leaders to do the work, but a leader’s job is to lead!
Ephesians 4:11-12, 15-16 He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. {12} Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ,
Apostles, prophet, evangelists, & pastor/teacher are not the ones that are supposed to be doing everything. Their job is to equip the Church!
{15} Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. {16} Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
1 Corinthians 12:12-22 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. {13} Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit. {14} Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. {15} If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. {16} And if the ear says, "I am not part of the body because I am only an ear and not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body? {17} Suppose the whole body were an eye--then how would you hear? Or if your whole body were just one big ear, how could you smell anything? {18} But God made our bodies with many parts, and he has put each part just where he wants it. {19} What a strange thing a body would be if it had only one part! {20} Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. {21} The eye can never say to the hand, "I don’t need you." The head can’t say to the feet, "I don’t need you." {22} In fact, some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary.
One day it occurred to the members of the body that they were doing all the work and that the belly was having all the food. So they held a meeting and after a long discussion decided to strike work until the belly consented to take its proper share of the work. So for a day or two the hands refused to take the food, the mouth refused to receive it and the teeth had no work to do. But after a day or two members began to find that they themselves were not in very active condition. The hands could hardly move, the mouth was all parched and dry, while the legs were unable to support the rest. Thus they found that even the belly in its dull quiet way was doing necessary work for the body and that all must work together or the body would go to pieces.
-- Aesop
The human body does not exist to meet the needs of the hand. The hand exists to meet the needs of the body and in doing so gets its own needs met. The Church (Body of Christ) does not exist to meet our needs. We exist to carry out the work of the Body and in doing so our own needs are met.
"You can have everything in life you want
if you will just help enough other people get what they want"
~Zig Ziglar
Colossians 3:15-17 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are all called to live in peace. And always be thankful. {16} Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. {17} And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.
Vince Lombardi tells what it takes to make a winning team.
There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game. Then you come to the third ingredient: if you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another. You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to himself "If I don’t block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken. I have to do my job well in order that he can do his."
The difference between mediocrity and greatness, Lombardi said that night, is the feeling these guys have for each other.
In the healthy church, each Christian learns to care for others. As we take seriously Jesus’ command to "love one another," we contribute to a winning team.
Galatians 6:1-5 Dear friends, if a Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. {2} Share each other’s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ. {3} If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.
How do you think a football team would react to someone that thought they were better than anyone else and didn’t need the team?
What would my church be like if every member were just like me?
Explosive growth?
Data from 78 U.S. denominations (not including Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Roman Catholics) shows that 190,420 congregations registered an annual membership gain of 32,951 people. That averages out at less than two new members for every five churches.
-- 1997 Yearbook of American Churches, In Pastor’s Weekly Briefing, Mar 21, 1997, p. 1.
Percentile of U.S. Church Attendance²
Percent ....... Attendance30% ----- 0 to 40 25% ----- 50 to 100 20% ----- 100 to 175 12% ----- 175 to 225 10% ----- 225 to 400 02% ----- 400 to 700 01% ----- 700 or more
Ratio of churches to people in the U.S.: 1:900
Church historian Martin Marty says that one word defines the difference between churches that grow and churches that don’t: INVITE!
atrophy n 1: a decrease in size of an organ caused by disease or disuse. 2: any weakening or degeneration (especially through lack of use) v : undergo atrophy; "Muscles that are not used will atrophy"
Hebrews 10:24-25 (KJV) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: {25} Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
I know that all of you were saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our church’s most valuable members -- Someone Else. Someone’s passing created a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Else has been with us for many years, and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than the normal person’s share of the work. Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results. Someone Else can work with that group. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone’s lips, "Let Someone Else do it". It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the largest givers in the church. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed that Someone Else would make up the difference. Someone Else was a wonderful person, sometimes appearing super-human, but a person can only do so much. Were the truth known, everyone expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone. We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things Someone Else did? Remember, we can’t depend on Someone Else anymore.
Acts 2:46-47 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity-- {47} all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.
Ninety percent of the new members will stay in their congregation if (1) they can articulate their faith; (2) they belong to subgroups (such as a choir, home Bible study, or Sunday school class); (3) they have four to eight close friendships in their congregation.
The church as a whole is made up of many parts with Christ being the head. The body is made up of hands and feet, but what are hands and feet made of? Fingers and toes. And fingers and toes are made of…cells. Just as the human body is made of cells the living and active Body of Christ is also made of cells.
From a former Lesbian:
Thank you for your recent radio program, "Hope for the Homosexual." which aired in April. I am a former lesbian. After many years in the gay community, I joined a Christian Bible study, where I met happy, healthy, normal Christians who treated me with respect. I’d never had my emotional needs met before. My mother had rejected me and the lesbian community was always looking for "lovers." Being around real Christians was the most healing experience I’ve had.
Galatians 5:13 For you, dear friends, have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love.
General Eisenhower once rebuked one of his Generals for referring to a soldier as "just a Private." He reminded him that the Army could function better without its Generals than it could without its foot soldiers. "If this war is won," he said, "it will be won by Privates." In the same way, the common, ordinary, one-talent Christians are the very backbone of the church. We have our great evangelists, our super congregations led by dynamic elders, and our wealthy brethren who are able to finance great works. But, if the work of the Lord is to be done, if the gospel is to be taken to the lost, it will be the "ordinary" Christians who will do it.
