Thank you for being lifesavers There’s a cartoon showing a crazed man being led away from a church in a straightjacket. On the steps of the church building the preacher comments to another, “I’m going to miss Harold – he volunteered for everything.”
As humorous as that cartoon is, there are many people who believe it’s funny because it depicts reality. They believe it’s possible for a person to volunteer for so many things within the church that it can literally “drive them crazy.”
But that’s not true, and I can prove it. If it were true that being “too involved” is what makes people “crazy” then every preacher in every pulpit of every congregation would need to be outfitted with straightjackets.
No. It’s been my experience that the “more involved” a person is in ministry or volunteering, the more satisfied and fulfilled that person is – not the other way around.
Yes, people get frustrated. Sometimes it’s because they are faced with difficult circumstances, or difficult people, or a shortage of resources. But even those frustrations can be overcome if people understand two things:
1. Who they are, and
2. Why they’re doing what they do.
Peter addresses that issue by telling us that God has given us a special status in God’s realm:
“… you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ … and you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of the One who called you …”
You and I are priests of God! A holy priesthood … a royal priesthood!
And because we are priests of God, we have a right to handle the holy things of God.
We have the privilege of coming before God in prayer. We have the right to touch and partake of communion. We have the right to pray for others. We have the responsibility of knowing and teaching and practicing the Good News of God’s inclusive love.
There are people, however, who have problems with this idea of priesthood. They think the pastor has to be the one who visits them in the hospital, the pastor has to be the one who consecrates and serves communion, the pastor has to be the one who teaches and preaches. Yes, I love to do all of these things, but it is just as valid for me or anyone else to perform these holy functions. This is the priesthood of all believers! You are just as qualified – if not even more effective. You can touch people I’ll never be able to!
Many times, pastors do too much around the church! In many smaller churches a lot of preachers end up doing “everything” and they enjoy it as well. And if you’re like me, sometimes, it’s just easier to do it yourself. After all, if you do it, you know it will be done the way you want it done.
But, if I did everything in the church, I’d be robbing the church. I’d be robbing others if I allowed myself to do everything. I wouldn’t be doing my job right.
Ephesians 4 tells me that my job, our staff’s job, our board of director’s job is to:
“Prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature …”
You see, when a person was a priest in the Old Testament – it meant they had a job to do. And not every priest had the “high profile” jobs of handling the sacrifices and burnt offerings before God.
In addition to the family of Aaron, there were three other families of Levites who had other jobs to do (Numbers 4):
1. The Kohathites – who took care of all the furniture in the tabernacle
2. The Gershonites – who cared for the coverings and the curtains
3. And lastly, the Merarites – who cared for the poles, the ropes, the bases and the cross bars
Now you might say, Dan, that’s all very interesting – but why are you telling me this? I’m telling you this because I want you to understand that every priest had a job to do. Every priest ministered unto God, and many of those priests had very basic jobs they did.
Read Ephesians 4 again. It says, if I, the staff and board of directors do our jobs right, we will “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature…”
Part of growing up – part of becoming mature – is learning to take on responsibility.
When I was growing up, I had chores to do. Each of us three boys had our chores. We had daily chores and we had weekly chores. It was part of growing up and part of being a family. And I remember when mom would ask us to do something that wasn’t on our to do list – we’d whine and say, “That’s not my job!” Guess how far that went! Mom was teaching us to grow up!
I love it when your actions speak louder than words. When you say, “This is my church” … and when something needs to be done, you don’t complain about it – you do it.
As a church we’ll only attain our full strength when as many of us as possible realize we are all priests of God. When we realize that as God’s ministers, jobs need to be done – and we’re the ones to do them. And when we realize that we are called by God to work together “… so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature.”
It happened in a Vacation Bible School as a new little boy was brought into the room to join the others in a closing ceremony. The teacher, noticing that the little boy had only one hand, feared that the others might embarrass him by some of their remarks. But she went on with the ceremony because she would have only drawn attention to him if she tried to warn the children now.
“Now, let’s all build our churches,” she said as they came to the close of the service. “Put your hands together now, here is the church, here is the steeple . . .” And suddenly, she was aware that she had done just what she feared the children would do. After a moment of awkward silence, the little girl seated next to the boy with one hand held hers up and said, “Here, let’s build the church together.”
… and that’s how it’s done! Let’s continue to do that. Thank you! I appreciate you!
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the Senior Pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met) in San Diego, California, themetchurch.org
