Committed to Mutual Ministry

Once upon a time, the Little Red Hen found a grain of wheat. “Who will help me plant this grain of wheat?” she asked. “Not I,” said the cat. “Not I,” said the goose. “Not I,” said the rat. “Then I will plant this grain of wheat by myself,” said Little Red Hen, and she did.

When the grain of wheat was ready to harvest, she asked, “Who will help me cut this grain of wheat?” “Not I,” said the cat. “Not I,” said the goose. “Not I,” said the rat. “Then I will cut this grain of wheat by myself,” said the Little Red Hen, and she did.

Then she brought the grain of wheat to the mill. She asked, “Who will help me grind this grain of wheat?” “Not I,” said the cat. “Not I,” said the goose. “Not I,” said the rat. “Then I will grind this grain of wheat by myself,” said the Little Red Hen, and she did.

After this, she brought the grain of wheat to her home and asked, “Who will help me bake some bread with this flour from the grain of wheat?” “Not I,” said the cat. “Not I,” said the goose. “Not I,” said the rat. “Then I will bake this grain of wheat by myself,” said the Little Red Hen, and she did.

At last, she pulled the bread from the oven. Then she asked, “Who will help me eat this grain of wheat? “I will,” said the cat. “I will,” said the goose. “I will,” said the rat. “I’m sorry,” said the Little Red Hen, “but since you would not help me plant, harvest, grind, or bake this grain of wheat, then I will eat it by myself,” and she did.

This small fable teaches a large lesson about the importance of participation. It reminds us that there are people who stand on the sidelines and watch, wanting benefits but refusing to do the work. It encourages us to be a team player. Paul explained this when he said, “The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops” (2 Tim 2:6). Having this in mind, I would like to ask you a question: “When you consider the way that you participate with your church, do you resemble the Little Red Hen? Or do you resemble the cat, the goose, and the rat?”

The New Testament teaches us that every believer should participate in the ministry of his or her church. To demonstrate this truth, I will draw your attention to three foundational principles from Scripture. Together, these make a clear case for why believers need to be serious about participating in the ministry of their church.

The Son of Man came to serve us.

This first principle is astonishing because it raises a most surprising fact, which Jesus explained himself. He said, “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). Why is this astounding?

The Son of Man is a title that refers to Jesus. In fact, it was his favorite way of referring to himself, appearing nearly 80 times in the four gospels. The word man reveals that even though he was God, he was also a human being like you and me. At the same time, it describes him as a unique person who is one-of-a-kind. He is the Son of Man, not a Son of Man. There is no other human being like him. More importantly, it describes him as an exalted human figure, the most exalted human figure of all other humans. It identifies him as the one prophesied centuries earlier by the prophet Daniel, who prophesied that the Son of Man would come from heaven and from eternity past to rule all people in the kingdom of God forever (Dan 7:13-14). Daniel also tells us that all peoples, nations, and kingdoms will serve the Son of Man. That’s what makes what Jesus said in Mark 10:45 so remarkable.

Jesus is both a human being and God at the same time, making him entirely unique, one-of-a-kind, and exalted above everyone else and over all creation. Furthermore, the Old Testament prophesied that all people and nations would serve him when he came to Earth. However, when he came, he taught that he had not come to be served by people, but to serve people instead. What’s more, he came to serve them in the most extreme way possible, by giving his life to die for their sins.

This is an argument from a greater truth to a lesser truth. Knowing that we struggle to accept the lesser truth (that we should serve one another), he teaches us by using his example and giving us a greater truth that we cannot deny. This truth of his example as the supreme servant permeates Christian doctrine and practice throughout the New Testament. Philippians 2:7 echoes this by saying that Christ Jesus accepted the role of a servant and urges you and me to do the same thing by “having the same mind among ourselves” (Phil 2:5). When you consider the example of Christ as a servant to his disciples and the world, can you say that you are serving in a comparable way?

God has given you freedom to serve.

This verse connects the freedom that God gave you through Christ to a responsibility God has given you to serve one another. He said, “You, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal 5:13). Notice how Paul says that God has called you who are Christians. This means that God has chosen you for a purpose – to be free! He has freed you from any obligation to obey all the laws that Moses gave.

This new freedom does not mean, however, that you may live a carefree life, feeding your appetites however you please and doing whatever you want to do – throwing off all moral restraints. In fact, living this way is not freedom at all. It is slavery to your physical appetites and the things of this world. Instead, your freedom in Christ means that you are free to serve other people without following laws to do it. As you know, the Old Testament law teaches us how to love God and love our neighbors. Now that Christ has fulfilled those laws and freed us from those laws, we are free to serve other people from a heart motivated by love for the person rather than obligation to a set of laws.

If your local government removed all speed limit signs and laws from your neighborhood, how should you respond? Should you take that as an opportunity to drive as fast as you want at any time? Or should you take it as an opportunity to make wise choices, driving in a safe and responsible way, putting others first because you care about them more than you care about getting where you’re going and getting a thrill out of driving fast?

By making you free from the law, Christ has removed your obligation to obey laws and replaced it with a new obligation – showing love and serving people in a direct and genuine way, on a case by case basis. You no longer look for a law to know what to do. You look to Jesus instead and love others as he loves them. With such freedom comes greater opportunity and greater responsibility, not less.

More than anywhere else, the freedom that results in the slavery of love is exemplified in the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Already Paul had referred to this central fact of the gospel in 2:20, where he spoke of “the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Nowhere in his letters did Paul include an extensive description of Jesus’ crucifixion, although this was a recurring theme in his preaching (cf. 1 Cor 2:2; Gal 3:1). Yet the example of Christ’s self-sacrificing love was paramount in Paul’s ethics of the Christian life. As he wrote to the Philippians (2:5, KJV), “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Jesus was equal with the Father from all eternity yet freely chose to humble himself, becoming a slave (doulos) in his humiliation and death on the cross. For Paul true freedom and true theology were centered in the crucified Christ. In his description of the Christian life Paul never lost sight of this fact.¹

Have you lost sight of this fact? Are you a Christian who takes advantage of your freedom from the law to do whatever you want, no matter what happens to other people? Do you live a careless, selfish life, expecting other people to serve you and to do what you want them to do? Or do you follow the example of Christ and devote yourself to serve others.

Notice how Paul says, “serve one another.” Though you have an obligation to serve the people of this world, your responsibility to serve begins with one another, the men and ladies, boys and girls who are following Christ and who are identified with your church. Christian service begins with Christ, flows through the church, and extends to the world. Sadly, however, many believers participate in church only to receive a blessing and to meet their needs, doing whatever is convenient and helpful to them. As in the story of the Little Red Hen, few believers participate with their church to be a blessing and to meet the needs of one another, doing what is inconvenient to them because it is helpful to others.

God has given you a supernatural ability to serve.

Not only has Christ given us an example of service to follow and the complete freedom to serve one another as believers, he has given you and me a supernatural ability to serve. Paul explained this when he said: “For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Eph 4:12-16).

Christ has done more than serve you and free you to serve with your church. He enables you to serve in two ways. First, he enables you to serve through the ministry of pastors. He gives pastors to churches to “equip” believers “to do the work of the ministry” (Eph 4:11). Second, he enables you to serve by giving you a measure of his grace (Eph 4:7). Just as you add measurements of various ingredients to a cake batter, he has given you and I different measurements and ingredients which contribute to the church, and we need each member to contribute his or her share.

When we each contribute the share of supernatural ability which God has entrusted to us, then we become more “joined” together (like a marriage) and “knit” together like a piece of clothing without holes and missing pieces (Eph 4:16). This happens when each one of us does “his or her own” share. This especially includes serving one another by teaching and reminding one another of what the Bible says and doing so in a loving way (Eph 4:15). When this happens, then we grow more protected from false doctrines and pressures from the world (Eph 4:14), and we become more and more like Christ (Eph 4:13).

Your church needs you to contribute to the ministry of the church. It needs you to be active in serving one another. It needs you to be present and involved, because only then will the gifts and abilities which God has given to you make the difference we all need to experience, and which God himself intends. When you don’t participate, or you merely attend, then “something is missing” and we are not as strong and effective as we need to be, and we are not fulfilling the purpose of God as we should. Another brother or sister cannot step in to fill your place. Your service is necessary because you have a supernatural ability to serve which God has given you and not to someone else.

Opportunities to serve one another as members of a church abound. Depending on how your church functions, opportunities include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Greeter
• Usher
• Scripture Reader
• Nursery Worker
• Sunday School Teacher
• Deacon
• Bible Club Volunteer
• Small Groups Participant
• Building Cleaner
• Set Up Volunteer
• Choir Member
• Outreach Event Participant

It is common for a small percentage of believers in a church to do a large share of the service. This approach leads to spiritual weakness and doctrinal vulnerability over time. It leads to immaturity and carnality among the many who do not serve, and it leads to burnout and frustration for those who do. A healthy church takes a different approach. Over time, more believers join the church and commit to serving one another. These believers know upfront that Christian ministry requires them to say ‘no’ to self and to make some sacrifices for the benefit of others, the church, and Christ himself. Yet they serve gladly and sacrificially, though it may be inconvenient or costly, because they understand that Christ himself served us at the greatest cost, and he has freed them to serve and given them a supernatural ability to serve one another to fulfill the purpose of God.

A children’s doctor, named David Cerqueira, shared a story of how a dying girl showed his church the honor of serving God. He said this:

One Sunday my wife taught a lesson on serving God, and that doing so is worthy of honor. The children listened intently to my wife’s words. At the end of the lesson, the children sat in silence and a girl named Sarah said, “Teacher, what can I do? I don’t know how to do many useful things.”

Surprised by this question, my wife spotted an empty flower vase on the windowsill. “Sarah,” she said, “You can find a flower and put it in this vase. That would be a useful thing.”

“But that’s not important,” Sarah replied.

“Yes, it is,” said my wife, “if you are helping someone.”

The next Sunday Sarah brought a dandelion and placed it in the vase, and she did this every week without reminders. She made sure that every Sunday the vase was filled with a bright yellow flower. When my wife told our pastor about Sarah’s faithful service, he placed the vase in the auditorium beside the pulpit for all the church to see. That Sunday he preached about the honor of serving others, using Sarah’s vase as an example.

That same week, Sarah’s mother called me at the pediatrician’s office. She told me that Sarah seemed to have less energy than usual and that she didn’t have an appetite. I offered her some assurances and made an appointment to see her the following day. After a battery of tests and days of examinations, I sat numbly in my office, looking at Sarah’s paperwork on my lap. She had been diagnosed with leukemia.

As I travelled home, I stopped by Sarah’s home to give her parents the sad news in person. Sarah’s genetics and the leukemia that was attacking her small body were a horrible mix. Sitting at their kitchen table, I did my best to explain to her parents that we could do nothing to save her life. I don’t think I have ever had a more difficult conversation than the one that night.

Over time, Sarah became confined to bed, where people visited her frequently. She lost her weight and her smile, and then it came – another telephone call. Sarah’s mother asked me to visit her, and I dropped everything to go. There she was, a small bundle of a girl who barely moved. After a short examination, I knew that she would leave this world very soon, so I urged her parents to spend as much time as possible with her.

That was a Friday afternoon. On Sunday morning, my wife and I worshipped with our church as usual. The singing, the sermon – it all seemed meaningless as I thought about Sarah. As sadness filled my heart, the pastor suddenly stopped speaking at the end of his sermon. With wide eyes, he stared at the back of the church with amazement. Everyone turned to see what he saw. It was Sarah! Her parents had brought her to church for one last visit. She was bundled in a blanket with a dandelion in her little hand.

She didn’t sit in the back row, has she normally had done. Instead, she walked slowly to the front, where her vase still sat by the pulpit. She placed her flower inside and a small piece of paper beside it. Then she returned to her parents. Seeing little Sarah place her flower in the vase for the last time moved everyone. At the end of the service, the church gathered around Sarah and her parents, trying to offer as much love and support as possible. I could hardly bear to watch.

Four days later, Sarah died.

Unexpectedly, our pastor asked to see me after the funeral. We stood together, he and I, at the cemetery near our cars, as grieving people filed past. Then he said in a low voice, “Dave, I’ve got something you ought to see.” Out from his pocket, he pulled the little piece of paper which Sarah had left by the vase on Sunday morning. Holding it out to me, he said, “You’d better keep this. It may help you in your line of work.”

I opened the folded paper to read these words, which Sarah had written in pink crayon:

Dear God,

This vase has been the biggest honor of my life.

Sarah

Sarah’s note and her vase have helped me to understand what I now realize in a new way, that life is an opportunity to serve God by serving people. And, as Sarah put it, that is the biggest honor of all.²

Christ has given you a supernatural ability to serve. He has given you the freedom to serve with love. Not even the Son of Man himself came to be served, but to serve – and to give his life for the sins of those he loved. If the Son of Man has served you in this way, then are you serving him in return by serving one another, by serving your fellow believers of your church. “I will,” you should say, and you should do it.

Thomas Overmiller serves as pastor for Faith Baptist Church in Corona, NY and blogs at Shepherd Thoughts. This article first appeared at Shepherd Thoughts, used here with permission.

1. Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 376–9. [↩]
2. Condensed and adapted from https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2008/april/5040708.html on July 18, 2018 at 11:40 a.m. David Cerqueira, “Sarah’s Vase,” Today’s Christian (March/April 2008); adapted from Evangel magazine (December 2005). [↩]