Without the chairs there is no preaching

Titus 1:1

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with Godliness.

We have just comeback from a weekend away with our church with about 100 other people. God has really blessed me and I have got excited again about what local church should be and the family God has called us to be. I felt challenged, although tired, to open my bible and read a chapter and as I was flicking through I settled on Titus.  This last week my heart’s prayer has been that I would know God’s voice more clearly that He would speak to me more clearly through the Bible that I would read with understanding and that his Holy Spirit would speak to me as I read. God as always is faithful to answer, but what I didn’t expect was that I would be challenged before I even reached the end of the first verse, so I pulled out my laptop and started typing.

Paul states that he is a servant of God & an apostle of Jesus Christ yet what struck me was that he states that this isn’t for his own benefit or even because God has given him a calling but for the sake of God’s elect. So often when we think about serving we think about it benefitting ourselves, some of us think it will earn brownie points with God, some of us do it because it makes us feel good, yet here Paul states that he is a servant of God for the sake of other believers. There is no sense that he will benefit from it but that it is for the benefit of others. We live in a society and culture that teaches we shouldn’t do things unless it benefits us, people even question people’s good work and their intentions asking whether any act can truly be unselfish because at the end of the day if we do good it makes us feel good. What a stressful way to live life always questioning our motivations. But in a short sentence Paul challenges to think not of ourselves but of those we serve. So often with the gospel we take it and make it about us what we are doing, how we are changing and growing, how church is benefitting us, yet Paul's example shows that actually what we should keep in the forefront of our mind when serving is that it’s for the sake of the faith of other believers.

It can be very easy for us to look and say that the benefit of Paul’s servitude to others is evident how it helps with the elects knowledge of truth, Paul had a very public ministry to take the gospel to the Gentiles and to build up the church, but how does someone putting out chairs in church and serving in this way help with someone else’s knowledge of the truth? Imagine turning up to church one Sunday and finding there were no chairs to sit on, many people wouldn’t concentrate, some wouldn’t stay. What use would it be for a preacher to turn up on a Sunday if no one was there to open up the building and therefore the people couldn’t get in. On a practical level It allows others to fulfil their callings but on another level it speaks of the truth of change that God is outworking in our lives, our natural selfishness being shed and replaced with the desire to serve others and to be a part of their walk whether that seems insignificant or not.

Paul’s servitude in the earthly sense had no benefit to him and in fact led to his earthly suffering, many of his epistles were written from prison.  For him life would have been so much easier if he sat back and let someone else do the job. Serving can be uncomfortable for us it isn’t always convenient and yet Paul’s example says do it for others. Paul taught us to love the church. Love includes sacrifice and inconvenience. Sometimes loving my husband means I have to inconvenience myself, I have to cook when I don’t always feel like it I have to wash clothes and keep the house tidy, it would be so much easier to look after myself and yet it demands sacrifice. We are called to do the same for others.

My challenge to you is to change your mindset. If you don’t serve currently then you need to assess why, what is stopping you? Church isn’t there for us to go and consume but there for us to be an active part of, which means more than just turning up to meetings. We shouldn’t avoid it because it’s an inconvenience because actually we are called to give our lives. If you do currently serve then can I challenge you not to serve because it makes you feel good or because you feel you must but actually to serve ‘…for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth…’.