The deadly, #1 difference between you and your pastor in church

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).