Tag Archives: Service

Why Bother?

Bible General

“Of all the things I have to do every week, attending church is not a priority.” Could that be your thinking? If we believe the most current research that is exactly the thinking of many people. They wonder, “Why bother with church?”

Life pulls in many directions. There are important things like children, school, and work. The mundane never lets up either. There are always clothes piled by the washing machine, grass that needs to be cut, and a meal that needs to be cooked. Why should I bother with going to a church service?

Let me offer 5 reasons why you should bother with church.

Church is a Community

The church is a subset of your local community. Here on the Eastern Shore we are a group working together to improve lives. We help one another but we also reach out to the poor and vulnerable in our cities. This community stands apart from others because it is not based on geography; it is not based on race or gender; it is not based on politics. This is a community solely based on service. Like our Lord’s example, we serve others.

Sure, there are plenty of other communities to join. But only one serves a risen savior and only one seeks to extend its service into eternity.

Church is a Family

You’ve heard it before: Our church is like a family. Everyone says that but few really carry through. We may be exactly what you are looking for. We worship together but we also play together, eat together, travel together, cry together and rejoice together. We engage with one another. We do life like a family.

Maybe your experience with family hasn’t been very good. Let’s change that. The church family is not built upon an earthly concept. No, it’s based on the Godly family as revealed in the Bible.

Church is About Learning and Growth

How important is knowing Jesus to you? How important is it for your children to have a strong moral foundation as they enter life? We can sure help.

Let’s be clear, none of us have made it. We all stumble and fall. But, long the way, we learn to stand back up and press ahead. Our church people are helping us and we are never alone.

We have plenty of classes and Bible studies every week. But more than knowing the facts we are learning to live the life that Jesus has called us to. 

Church is About Service

We are learning that service gives purpose to life. While there are plenty of self-centered people in the world more and more are learning that real value comes by serving others. Jesus was a servant. He taught that we should think highly of others and treat them as we would want to be treated ourselves (Matthew 7:12).

Who can forget the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples (John 13)? 24 nasty feet needed washing and no one was willing to do it…except Jesus. The church is here to serve and we need your help.

Church is Not An Institution

Maybe your experience with church is as a big stodgy organization with a strict hierarchy. No more! God’s people are not part of an institution. Every assembly or congregation is independent of every other. All decisions are made by the people in the local church. Our service projects are developed among the very people you sit next to every time with gather. You know the leaders.

The church was given by Jesus to his people as a place of work and growth. We would like you to be a part of that body too.

Why bother? Because the value of belonging to and working with the church is beyond measure. Your work and talents, blended with the work and talents of others, will produce stunning improvement in the lives of many. Will you help?

“to serve…not to be served”

Church Bulletin, Daily living

Service is a hallmark of our faith. The founder of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) said of his own life that he came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45). His life was a daily reminder that he surrendered the glories of heaven to come here and serve mankind. He did not seek his own will but that of his Father who sent him (John 5:30). His apostles, from Peter to Paul, were servants. The example of Jesus, his apostles and early disciples was one of service.

Service comes naturally to Christians once they begin to appreciate all that has been done for them. As our love for the Christ grows deeper our desire to serve him rises too. It is a natural maturing of our faith that we seek to imitate our Lord in all ways.  As he loved and served so we love and serve; we do things that put others first even at discomfort and inconvenience to ourselves.

The example of the original church in Acts 2 was of service. They served one another by selling what they owned and giving to the needy (Acts 2:42-47). This unselfish attitude continued beyond the first days (Acts 4:32-37) and became an identifying mark of the disciples. By Acts 6 their work had taken on greater organization and men were appointed as leaders of the care of the widows (Acts 6:2-4). As years passed and the church grew the members were always encouraged to serve (Romans 12:11; Galatians 5:13; Hebrews 12:28; 1 Peter 4:10).

It is useful for every Christian to occasionally consider their service record and ask whether there is more that can be done. By its very nature, service is sacrificial. It costs something to serve others. An honest evaluation might mean more sacrifice. It might mean pushing ourselves more to serve the one who saves us.

An honest questioner might ask: “What does Jesus expect of me?” An honest answer is just as forthright: “Everything – hold nothing back.”

We are familiar with Jesus own words when he calls us to seek the kingdom of God first (Matthew 6:33). We remember his call to the young rich man to sell everything and come and follow him (Mark 10:17-22) and the implication that even family must take a distant second place to the service of the Lord (Mark 10:29-31; Luke 14:26). His call is uncomfortable. It interferes with our own tightly scheduled life. We reason that we must have time to ourselves. We figure it is too much to ask to ask a man to do even more. We have convinced ourselves that attendance at Bible study and church worship services is sufficient when in reality we are only beginning to scratch the surface of our service.

Serving Christ is far more important than rest or recreation. Duty to God comes before homework and overtime. We are his servants, owned through his blood which redeemed us from the grip of sin and the power of darkness (Colossians 1:13). We are bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20; I Corinthians 7:23) and that price his blood (Acts 20:28). Our goal is to be a “profitable servant” (Matthew 25:21) which the Lord will reward (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

We will never be able to repay the price of our redemption. A thousand years of serving will not reduce the debt we owe. It cannot be repaid and we cannot, by our own goodness, earn salvation. Let us instead find satisfaction and comfort in serving everyday to the best of our abilities. We will not be disappointed.

The “Smoothing” of the Old Rugged Cross

Church Bulletin, Culture, Daily living, Jesus, , ,

Crucifixion was a horrible way to die. The Romans intended it that way. A criminal might languish for hours and hours as his life slowly drained away. The very public death was also intended to be humiliating. The near naked man was displayed for all to see and to berate with every conceivable insult. There was nothing easy about crucifixion. The Bible writers said that Jesus “endured” the horrors of Calvary (Hebrews 12:2). Oxford says to endure is to suffer through something painful and prolonged with patience. Jesus patiently suffered through pain, agony and humiliation.

As ugly as crucifixion was, it is an event to be shared by those who are followers of the Lord. We are to walk in his footsteps in all areas of life and death. Paul said he wanted to ”share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10; 2 Corinthians 1:5), Peter echoes the same thought that we suffer with Christ (1 Peter 4:13). Men normally do not choose the manner and time of their death and so cannot literally be crucified. But the idea is that Christians still endure suffering as they follow after Christ.  Many examples illustrate the idea. Disciples are to “share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:5). We are to “work hard” (Acts 20:35) to serve the Lord.  We follow the example of men like Paul (1 Corinthians 11:1) who discounted all of life’s pleasures so that he might follow after Christ and come to know him (Philippians 3:7-11). The Christian life is not a life of ease or pleasure. It is modeled after a Savior who wandered the lands seeking the lost. It is modeled after his earliest followers who struggled and died for His cause.

If we now turn to the present day we see a contrast between the lowly, struggling Christians of the early church and the comforted, at ease Christians of today. Suddenly, the old rugged cross isn’t quite so rugged anymore.

Some have sought to turn to a life of deliberate, induced suffering  living as monks or nuns (monasticism) or through self inflicted rituals (asceticism). But such is not taught to followers of Christ. Like our Lord, our suffering comes not from things we deliberately do to ourselves but from things arising from our service to God. Jesus wandered Palestine with few possessions and  then submitted to a cruel death not because of some value inherent in suffering, but because His pursuit of serving God led Him into those things. His devotion was such that it produced suffering – not the other way around. If devotion produces suffering – and there is no suffering – is there devotion? You decide.

The by-word of modern society is “tolerate” and the motto is “you’re ok, I’m ok.” We are taught to blend into society and accept the advance of culture. To violate these societal norms is to bring humiliation and ostracism. Perhaps the ease with which we navigate the present culture should suggest a lack of devotion?

Our churches are ornate and have the finest padding on the pews and the best air conditioning and heating that can be purchased. We drive expensive automobiles from our fine homes to worship. We have convinced ourselves that we can easily fit Christianity into our lives. May we suggest that we should fit our lives around our faith? We have taken sandpaper to the old rugged cross and smoothed it so much that it is no longer burdens us. We have changed it. It has not changed us.