Service Outside The Church Walls
I remember as a teenager, I was taught that it is good to serve in the church. I was told that it is a way to serve God not only with our time but also with our gifts/talents. However, I often perceived that the only way I could truly serve God was in a church department. For me, it seemed like a no brainer that I would become part of the church choir. So I joined the church choir. But what happens when we focus so much on what we can do within a church building that we forget about and often neglect the service outside of these church walls?
Many of us often believe that acts of service mainly occur only within the church walls. Oftentimes this has caused many to believe that service ends at the church forgetting the need to extend the same acts of service out there in the world. How else do we Christians spread God’s love to others who may not necessarily be within the church? You may be the only representative of Christ people will ever see and if that encounter is not a good one, what picture would we be painting in their head?
I remember listening to a sermon online and the preacher mentioned how he visualized the church as a place of preparation and equipping because the work, the main job, is out there in the world. This made me realize that while my voice and other gifts from God may be used in a church setting, they could also be used for service and influence others outside the church. This led to the birth of my podcast.
Many of us fear stepping out into the world because of the feeling that it will taint us. We do not want to be involved in worldly activities because of the fear of being negatively influenced. But when Jesus came into this world, He was not confined to a church when He spoke and performed miracles. The Bible says we should not be conformed to this world, and what this really means is that we shouldn’t behave according to socially acceptable conventions or standards of the world. You might say, “Yes, so that means my theory of not getting involved in worldly activities is right”. Wrong. See the next part of that verse says, “but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” which in the AMP version is “[as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes]” (Romans 12:2, AMP). This means that we should not be conformed to the worldly way of thinking, but it does not mean we should not be involved in worldly affairs.
Although the Bible does not give a full account of Jesus’s youth, it does provide a little account of Jesus when He was 12 years old. In Luke Chapter 2 specifically, we see Jesus as a boy in the temple. To set the scene, He and His earthly parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover as they did every year. But after the festival was over, His parents could not find Him. In verse 46 it reads “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46, NIV). What this highlights to me is that Jesus was in a season where His focus was on His spiritual growth and preparation which seemed to be taking place in the temple and He was less focused on what you could call the worldly activities, not because they were not important, but because He needed to grow within Himself first before He would become equipped to handle the world. As many of us know, Jesus began his ministry at 30 years old. At this point, He taught and preached at the temple but not only that, His ministry of service went past the temple walls as he travelled from one place to another (Mark 7:24-36, Luke 7:1-17).
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13, NIV.
Let us yearn to serve others just as Jesus did. Remember in John 13:15, Jesus sets another example of service outside the church walls after washing His disciples’ feet. Here He encourages us to follow His lead and serve one another (John 13:15, NIV). Jesus served not only in words but also in action, including casting out demons and healing the sick. Everything He did and said had a message, a lesson to be learnt for those who are willing to listen and understand. Jesus’s ministry and acts of service on earth is a perfect example of how we should view any type of service God has called us into. God uses the church to prepare us not just to serve the church community but to serve the world in the area of our calling when the time is right. You cannot be consumed by the world when you serve a God who overcame the world. For many of us, the training wheels must come off and we must step out into the world and perform good works. We may be in the world, but we are not of the world, there is a huge difference.
One of my favourite bible verses is Matthew 5:14-15, NIV which says that we are “the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house”. As the sun shines both on the church and on the rest of the world, so should our light shine in both. We have a responsibility while we are on earth to spread not only the good news but also the light that shines within us as children of God. As we continue to serve in our churches which is in itself a beautiful and honourable thing, we should not forsake acts of service that exist outside the church walls. Let your service be extended outside the church walls in your behaviour, your works, your character and your good spirit. We are light. Let us shine everywhere.
