For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:3-8)
Ken Aschenbrenner just finished teaching a year-long Sunday School class on the Gospel of John. Ken combines a wealth of knowledge with a teaching style that not only conveys that knowledge but does so with a little humor, sharing some past experiences, quoting various leaders of the past and present church, pulling lines from some old movies, and generally making the class enjoyable for those attending. As I sat through that class listening to Ken for the past year, I realized how much I still need to learn.
When I write these articles, I do so with a sense of humility. I often think there are more knowledgeable people, like Ken, who are more qualified than I am, that should be writing these articles instead of me. Then I think, God has put me in this position and has instructed all of us, including me, to be prepared to give a defense of what we believe, to be His royal priests, His ambassadors, His representatives to a fallen world. Therefore, I, to the best of my ability, try to do just that, so I speak from my heart, and I talk about things that I think are important to you. Hopefully, I do so in a way that is faithful to the Word of God and to the doctrines of the Lutheran church.
This is what God calls all of us to do. As Christians, we are called by God not only to witness, to share what we believe by our words and actions, but also to be contributing members to His body, the church. In the passage from Romans, prophesying (preaching), serving, teaching, exhorting (encouraging others), giving, leading, and showing mercy are identified as ways that we can contribute to the welfare of His church. Other passages in the Bible add to this list the utterance of wisdom, strong faith, discernment, and the apostolic gifts of speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, performing miracles and miraculous healing.
Every Christian has something to contribute to the body of Christ, to the church. There are many needs in our church that are going unfilled. Boards are lacking members. Sunday School teachers are needed. Additional workers could assist in the maintenance of the church grounds. The choir could use additional voices. People with the talent to play musical instruments can contribute positively to the worship services. Volunteers are always a benefit to the child development center. The mission outreach to Regency and HHR could use additional individuals. The Rose of Sharon social outreach needs more help, more servers. The list goes on and on.
Financial support is needed to support the church’s budget. World missions and other worthwhile charities can always use whatever we can contribute. People around the world are hurting and, while we may not be able to directly assist them, we can give financial support to groups doing just that. Members of the congregation have a variety of needs. Handymen, who know how to perform a variety of necessary tasks, can assist these members with some of their needs. Others just need to hear a compassionate voice, an individual willing to listen and provide emotional and spiritual support. Others need help with rides to and from doctor appointments, grocery store trips, etc. Others are struggling financially and/or physically and need a helping hand.
Everyone, even those that are homebound, can be prayer warriors. In the arsenal of Christian weapons, prayer is the most powerful. The fervent prayers of Christians can have a major impact on the lives of others (Recommended viewing: War Room movie). Every Sunday there is a long list in the bulletin of members, friends, coworkers, and relatives that are hurting. These people need your prayers.
Remember, we are all poor, miserable sinners. We have all sinned against God in so many ways. We have done many, many things we should not have done. We have also remained silent, unmoving, when we should have spoken, when we should have done something. For all our sins, we deserve God’s wrath, God’s judgment, God’s righteous punishment in this life and the next. We deserve eternal damnation. That is how awful our sins are, how much God abhors all sins, including the ones we have so freely committed.
Thanks be to God that He has not left us in this miserable state. By sending His Son, and our Lord and Savior, into the world, to become one of us, to live a perfect, sinless life, to suffer and die a horrible death on the cross, God has provided a path of reconciliation between Himself and us. By exchanging His perfect righteousness, the requirement for entrance into Heaven, for our loathsome, sinful lives, God has promised eternal life to all who believe and trust in Him. This is an incredible, wonderful gift, one that we certainly do not deserve.
Our response to this undeserved act of love is to reflect that love to others. We show that love by our words and actions. To a world that is spiritually dead, we can provide a lifeline, we can share the Good News of salvation with them. We can share our compassion, our kindness, with those that are hurting, with those that are lost, with those that desperately need our help. We can, by our words and actions, try to follow Jesus’ example and be a light, a beacon of hope, to a world walking in darkness.
We can also contribute to the wellbeing of our local church and to the invisible church worldwide. The ways previously listed are just some of the ways we can positively impact the body of Christ, both locally and globally.
As the Bible states, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. The body of Christ, His church, needs you. You have a role to play.