Recent statistics show that among those who attend churches with 2,000 members or more, forty-five percent never volunteer to serve in their church and thirty-two percent give little or no money to the work of their church. This directly contradicts the common thinking among many Christians that large congregations have more than sufficient numbers volunteering to serve and who give to the advancement of the Gospel. These commonly held beliefs simply are not true and are not borne out in any of the studies that have been done in these areas of religious life. Even more striking is the fact that the smaller the congregation the percentage of those refusing/neglecting to serve in the church grows even higher. The old 80/20 principle that was discovered many years ago is still applicable in most of our churches. Twenty percent of the people in a congregation carry eighty percent of the load, while eighty percent carry twenty percent of the load.No matter the size of a church’s membership, what we have today are too many of us who are contented to just sit on the sidelines of God’s work and do little more than cheer on the faithful few. Obviously, encouraging one another is an important part of what we need to be doing, but being a part of a church fellowship means so much more. It means you believe that God is at work in His church and that He intends for you to be a cooperating agent with Him. It means that you invest your abilities and gifts in fulfilling the Great Commission throughout the local area and around the world. It means that you are fully committed to serving others as a means of serving Jesus because that is part of what it means to be Christ-like. How quickly we forget that Jesus didn’t come to be served, but to serve others. It’s only reasonable to assume that following Christ should inevitably result in our willingness to don the towel of service and wash the disciple’s feet, if necessary. Nothing will be beneath us and every opportunity will be viewed as a privilege to care for others as God cares for us. I can’t personally think of anything more honorable than being an instrument in His hands, functioning as His representative while bringing God’s love and help to those He died to save.
The lure of this world in our lives is constantly drawing us to pleasure, comfort, and ease. People are readily willing to set aside their service to God for things they want to do, but hardly ever consider doing the same for the cause of Christ when it comes to their travel, recreation, or rest. This matter of failing to prioritize our Christian service must certainly be classified as a form of idolatry, because it means that something in our lives is more important to us than God and His work. I’m not suggesting that we don’t need recreation, travel, or rest, but stop and ask yourself how many times you have already missed, postponed, or rescheduled your responsibilities of service among God’s people. How many worship services have you already missed in 2009 because you were doing something other than earning a living or dealing with a providential hindrance? If you missed as many days at work or shifted your responsibilities as often each year as you do at church, how would your secular employment fare? Does your level of commitment and dedication to God’s work demonstrate that you believe the work you do for Him is of greater importance than any other work?
Isn’t it interesting that we expect good service when we come to church (or for that matter, anywhere we go), but too often we aren’t willing to be good servants. Great service requires great servants. Consistent service requires committed servants. The excellence a local church achieves will always be dependent on God’s servants recognizing that there is no higher work on earth than the work of His church.
Years ago, the Salvation Army was holding an international convention and their founder, Gen. William Booth, could not attend because of physical weakness. He cabled his convention message to them, which was one word: "OTHERS." That should be the heart’s cry of all who are truly seeking to serve Jesus Christ through His church. It should be that we are devotedly committed to doing God’s work in caring for “OTHERS” as we serve them in the humble fashion Christ taught us by His word and works.
Where are you actively, passionately, devotedly, and sacrificially serving “OTHERS”?
