You are Here for the Benefit of the Church

"And He gave some as apostles and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." 

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NASB)

We have an interesting way of looking at things in our culture that is sometimes wrong and even against Scripture.  I have been a pastor in some capacity now for over 15 years (only a few years compared to some) and I have noticed in that time that people tend to treat church like it is a fast food restaurant.  They will go regularly and call it their favorite place until they stop serving the food they like.  Or they have a bad experience with one of the staff and they decide to go elsewhere.  Or someone is not as friendly greeting them as they think they should be and they go elsewhere.  Or they drop their kids programming and they decide they have to leave.  The problem with this view is that they are the consumer of church and the church is simply there to provide goods and services for them to consume.  Even people who are serving in the church can succumb to this idea.  The problem is that this view that the church is something that is to provide for my needs is flat out wrong. 

These verses in Ephesians (alongside many other Scriptures) remind us that the church is not for us - instead, we are for the church.  God has gifted each believer with a gift that is to be used to the benefit of others in the context of the church.  And if you are not using your gift for the benefit of others, you are missing a major part of your calling as a Christian.  In other words, church is not something that exists solely to benefit you, but it exists for you to benefit the people who exist as the church.  You exist to benefit God's people! 

The question then should move from, "What is my church doing for me?" to , "What am I doing for my church?"  It is a major shift in focus.  This is not to say that you get nothing from the church, but these verses also define what we ought to look for when we are being church together.  It lists three benefits that we should receive from service.  We should attain unity with our fellow believers, we should attain a greater knowledge of the Son of God and we should attain maturity.  May I suggest that we use these things as the mark of considering churches - will I be unified with the believers, will I attain a greater knowledge of the Son of God and am I going to be matured here? 

It is interesting that musical styles and children's programming are not mentioned here. 

So, how are you doing?  Are you serving?   Are you seeking to be a benefit to the body of Christ that develops unity, knowledge and maturity?  If not, perhaps it is not the church that is doing it wrong!