When was the last time you went to church and thought, “How can I be of service to my fellow brothers and sisters today?” or “How can I put other people’s interests before mine?” That is what I mean by serving in the church. A service of humility and love that Christ showed when He was on earth was also shown to His disciples. Logically speaking if we were to imitate Christ and be more conformed to His likeness, we should start having these thoughts. This idea is essentially the message to us in Philippians 2:1-13. Jesus instructed His followers repeatedly to serve one another when He was on earth, the most well-known was the example He set when He washed His disciples’ feet.
Another example that most people hardly mention is the argument among the disciples of who should be the greatest in Luke 9:46. Jesus told them, “The greatest among you will be your servants.”
Don’t you want to be great in the eyes of God? Don’t you want to understand more and more what it means to be more like Christ? Then think about how you can serve the church, coming in with humility to be servants of one another and to love each other.
Serving in the church does not mean one has to be a pastor, an elder or a deacon. Just by being a member of the congregation or the welcoming team is service in itself. Even the simplest task of picking up trash is also part of service. We should start at how we can serve our church members and the body of Christ today. Let us step out and try serving one another. It’s fine to make mistakes and learn from them. Only then will you know where your actual gift lies.
As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:12-20, we are all one body with different parts. We all have a part to play as one body because if only half the body works, the other parts are deadweight. The functioning part would have to pull the whole weight to function. The church flourishes when the whole body recognizes that each has a part to play and work together to ultimately exalt Christ.
Yigal Ang
