Once we make the attitude shift from being passive pew sitters and receivers to active workers and givers, there is no end to the difference we can make to others. All of the suggestions below are of the informal type—things we can do at our own initiative. They are the types of involvement that every congregation member can have. The key is to observe what happens around you and respond to people’s needs. Think through Sunday mornings chronologically. What can we do before, during and after the service?

Before Worship

Preparation

One of our great contributions is our preparation. The preacher should not be the only one preparing for church. We prepare by praying for the preacher, the musicians, the service leader, the Bible readers and the newcomers. We prepare by studying the Bible passages so that we maximize this learning opportunity by being sensitized to the issues and questions in the passages being taught. Such preparation also has other benefits. We are better equipped to enter into discussion with others if we have looked at the passage beforehand. It is also a great encouragement to the preacher to know that the congregation is eager to understand the Bible and willing to put in some effort. Preaching is hard work, both for the preacher and the listeners. An intelligent question, comment or observation upon the sermon is an enormous motivating factor for the preacher who, week by week, has to try and engage the congregation’s minds and hearts in the word of God. Those who sit in the pew can make a great contribution to those teaching from the pulpit.

Meeting visitors and newcomers

We enjoy meeting our friends at church, but we need to develop a nose for new people. We need to sit with them and help them feel comfortable in this strange place by introducing ourselves and explaining what is going on. We should greet the non-Christian friends of other members and introduce our friends to others. It’s all about genuine hospitality. The way we welcome and look after people when they visit our homes should be a model for the household of God. And genuine, relaxed hospitality will slowly evaporate some of the prejudices held by outsiders.

Arriving early

All of this requires that we arrive not on time or late, but early. That may be the greatest miracle of all.

During Worship

Active listening

People in the pews have an enormous impact on those who are teaching and leading. Communication is always a two way process. Energetic listening through taking notes, making eye contact with the preacher, sitting at the front, laughing at jokes (even old ones), will spur on the preacher. It is very hard to preach enthusiastically to a sleepy, distracted, fidgety group. Our active listening will also infect others with enthusiasm for learning, just as our fidgeting will discourage them. Unbelievers will also pick up that these ideas are worth listening to if they see rows of regulars eagerly soaking up the Bible.

Singing

Similarly, those in the pew can be a great help to the singing and leading of music. It is everyone’s responsibility to share in the corporate singing of the congregation. The music may be well chosen and played but if it is poorly sung it is disheartening. Our enthusiasm and gusto in singing the great anthems of the faith is of great help to those around us and those leading the music, even if we can barely hold a tune.

Logistics

Each member in the pew also has an important part to play in the smooth running of the service. The devil will use anything to distract people from hearing the word of God. We mustn’t rely on ushers to fix things. If the window needs to be opened, get up and do it. If the microphones are not right, signal to the speaker so the problem can be fixed before they continue on without being heard.

Newcomers

Keep attending to newcomers’ needs. If they can’t find their way around the Bible or the service outline, or they don’t have a Bible, or they need to find the nursery, help them yourself. t’s all about being observant and outward-looking.

After Worship

Discuss God’s word

We have just heard the word of God and we spend all of Sunday lunch talking about the movie we saw the night before. It isn’t right and we know it, but many of us are just uncomfortable starting up ‘spiritual’ conversations. If you get the ball rolling, others will pick it up. During your preparation and the sermon, think up some comments or issues to raise with others. Asking “What did you think of the sermon?” will usually put your neighbor into a coma, but making a specific comment like “I didn’t know Abel was a prophet. What makes someone a prophet?” may generate a fruitful conversation. Even if the conversations don’t always get off the ground, your enthusiasm for learning the Bible will be contagious and non-Christians will see that church is not dull and boring but fascinating and life shattering.

Pray with others

Use the time right after worship to meet others and find out their concerns and pray quietly with them. This will look a bit weird to newcomers with pairs of bowed heads all around the building, but they will know that we love each other and trust God’s providence.

Newcomers

Newcomers tend to leave fairly quickly so we have to move fast by identifying the visitor in our pew and offering them conversation immediately the service ends. It’s all very purposeful: make sure they are welcomed properly by you and your friends, maybe introduce them to the minister and help them see how they can fit in to the congregation. You may have to postpone catching your friends until after the newcomers have been cared for.

Stay late

Once you catch this vision of church, you are always the last to leave because the opportunities to minister don’t end until the last person leaves. Gone are the days of fitting church in between breakfast and brunch. Ministry of the pew takes time. Church requires a lot of effort, if we are to build the body of Christ.

Some years ago a pastor, Ray Ewers, instructed me in the finer art of how to walk into church. To most people, this might appear to be a rather basic accomplishment requiring little or no tutelage. Perhaps a family with five toddlers would appreciate some advice, but most of us would never give it a thought. Ray’s instruction was very brief: “Pray about where you sit”.

Praying seemed like a great way to walk into church, better than grumbling about the full parking lot [or the 110-degree heat]. But of all the things to pray about, why should I be concerned with seating position? After all, I sit in my chair every week.

Ray’s advice was based on a particular view of church. He saw church as a place where Christians go to work. Church is a gathering of God’s people to hear his word and respond in faith and obedience. In this gathering, we are in fellowship with each other, through the blood of Jesus, and, because of our fellowship, we seek to serve each other. We use our gifts and abilities to strengthen one another and build Christ’s Church—‘edification’ is the word often used to describe what goes on in church. All believers are involved in building the church, not just clergy or preachers. The New Testament consistently teaches that in the growth of the body of Christ each part must do its work (see Eph 4; 1 Cor 12-14). Because of this, we aren’t to see ourselves merely as part of an organization called Kaleo Church, but as servants of God’s people, eager to meet the needs of others even if it means sacrificing our own.

Ray’s view of church was spot on. With this perspective, his advice to pray about my choice of pew makes perfect sense. If at church we are working to strengthen our fellow believers, where we sit becomes important since part of our work will be talking to our neighbor in the pew, welcoming people, helping each other understand God’s word and praying with each other.

The ‘Pew Prayer’ was a significant turning point in my understanding of what church is all about. It changed my reasons for going to church. The shift was made from being the ‘helpee’ to the helper, the served to the servant. Church is where we seek spiritual food and encouragement in order to become more godly; but church is also where we go in order to feed other people and encourage them. In God’s mercy, we become more Christ-like in the process, as like him we deny ourselves for the sake of others. But our purpose in gathering with God’s people is to strengthen them and build the body of Christ. We look for opportunities to assist the growth of the church in practical ways, and there are numerous ways in which we can carry out the ministry of the pew.

In the next post later this week, we’ll talk about some really practical ways that God can use you to serve others in the church on Sunday mornings…

Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. (Colossians 3:24-25 ESV)

Paul couldn’t make it any more compelling: God cares about our work, and he will reward us as we serve in our vocations faithfully. Now, let me be very clear – this is not saying that somehow your earn righteousness through your work, that your are saved because you are a hard worker. No, that’s a tenet of American workaholism, not of scripture. We are saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus at the cross. We are saved by his work, not ours.

That being said, we will give an account to God for the way in which we live. And our faithfulness will be rewarded. What will those rewards in eternity be? I have no idea – the scripture doesn’t say. But what I do know is this: they will be amazing. The same God who created golden sunsets and fine wine and ribeye steaks and great sex and white sands against blue water has promised that we’ll be rewarded – and that promise is enough for me.

And what a great promise to trust in!  A servant can know for sure that while he may not receive what his labor was truly worth here on earth (as is often the case), he will receive a proper reward from his heavenly master. In the same way, Colossians 3:25 makes it clear that unfair, lazy, or unethical work doesn’t go unnoticed by Jesus either and will be accounted for. Oppressive, unjust business practice will also be brought before the throne of Jesus and dealt with.

Here’s the temptation we face: We can easily begin to think of these rewards or this discipline in terms of worldly success here and now, rather than from an eternal perspective. We tend to want to baptize the American dream, and say that if you really serve Jesus faithfully, it won’t be long before he gives you success and promotion. Or if you don’t do well, it must be because somehow you are out of line with God’s will or favor.

Let me be crystal clear: this simply isn’t true. We often face difficulties, fail, and are frustrated in our vocations. An entrepreneur’s company might not make it, destroying her savings and dreams of independence. A faithful teacher can be let go for budgetary reasons after many years of investing in children.  An accountant or lawyer can be mistreated and abused by clients whose ethics are corrupt and whose practices are illegal.  This is part of working in a fallen world, and these challenges are why Jesus’ promise of rewards so desperately need to be heard and remembered. We can expect to face difficulty in our work.

We can also expect to experience unique temptations in our vocation. Since God is at work in and through our vocations, Satan actively works against them.  One temptation is to turn our focus from sacrificial service and love for others to self-seeking quests for more money, power, or influence above all else.

Another temptation is to view the success that we do have as sign of our greatness or worth, rather than as the gracious blessing of God that it is. We’re also tempted to use the financial fruits of our work to make our own lives more comfortable and build our own castles, rather than seeking to bless others and expand God’s kingdom.

We’re often tempted to view our vocation as worthless and futile. We are tempted to give up and quit: to quit the job, to give up writing or making music, to drop out of grad school.

These frustrations and temptations are part of working in a fallen world, and are why Jesus’ promise of rewards so desperately need to be heard and remembered.

More importantly, these frustrations and temptations need to be viewed in light of the cross, helping us to realize our weakness and complete dependence on Christ.  The sense of dependence can be resisted out of pride, or we can embrace it and let Christ bring us to humility.

Trials in our work drive us to prayer.  When things are going well, we often think we can handle our life and work on our own. But when we have come to the end of ourselves, we are driven to turn to God – the most intense, passionate, seeking prayer comes when we are struggling. Prayer, from our view, brings God into our vocation. We commit what we do to God, and we surrender to His will and trust in His provision.

A Passion To Honor God

The text is very clear that our work is an act of worship to God. When we work hard and with integrity, it shows that Jesus is our treasure more than money, power, or success. God is glorified in the careers of his people as they excel in their field while demonstrating humility and service. We’ve addressed this a little already in the last post, so I want to highlight another motivation that Jesus gives us that brings passion to what we do…

A Passion To Serve Others

Why would we want to give our lives to serving others? Well, for us to understand this it’s really helpful to understand what Martin Luther called the “Doctrine of Vocation”.

To help us understand, take a look at the section of Colossians that immediately precedes the section we’ve been looking at. It deals clearly with God’s instructions for marriage and parenting, giving insight as to how the gospel informs our family relationships. Now, think about this: God could have decided to populate the earth by creating each individual and each generation separately, from the dust. But that’s not how God chose to work. Instead, he invented families. God ordained that new life come into the world – and be cared for and raised into adulthood – through the work of a man and a woman who come together into a family. Husband, wife, father, mother are the means by which God extends his creation and exercises his love.

At the heart of the doctrine of vocation is this: God bestows his gifts through means. God ordained that human beings live together in relationships and communities existing in a state of interdependence.  God gives each of us talents, gifts, and opportunities so that we can care for one another. We, working in our vocations, are the way in which God brings blessings to others.

For example, in the Lord’s prayer, we ask God to give us our daily bread, which he does. But the way that he does it, is not directly like he did with manna to the Israelites, but through the work of farmers, truck drivers, bakers, chefs, retailers, and many more.

God heals the sick. While he can and sometimes does do so directly, in a spectacular unmediated miracle, in the normal course of things God heals through the work of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and surgeons.

God protects us from evil. He does this through the means of the vocation of police officers, attorneys, judges, etc.

Are you seeing the picture here? We exist in a vast, complex network of human beings with different talents and abilities. Each serves the other. Each is served by others. We Americans have an ideal of self-sufficiency, but our proper human condition is once of dependence. We are to depend on other human beings and, ultimately and through them, on God.

The purpose of your work, whatever it might be, is serving others. It is a way of fulfilling Christ’s great command to love our neighbor. It’s one of, if not the primary way good works are played out in our lives. The Christian’s relationship to God is based on sheer grace and forgiveness on God’s part, but the Christian’s relationship to other people, is to be based on love put into action. One theologian said it his way: “God does not need our good works, but out neighbor does.”

As we understand this, it gives meaning and dignity to whatever work we do. It provides us with motivation that goes beyond simply gaining more money or prestige in our field – it connects us with God’s care for the entire human existence.

There’s a prayer in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer that is meant to be said right before you go to sleep. I love it because it gives a picture of how God is sustaining our lives in ways we usually take for granted – through each other.

O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we live in and the life we live. Watch over those, both night and day, who work will others sleep (in our global economy this is always true – some of you even experience this as you work with other employees on the other side of the globe). Grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other’s toil, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Do you see how our identity in Christ gives new meaning to our work? It completely changes the way we carry out our daily tasks, no matter how big or small. It  brings a worldwide purpose to the things that we do, helping us to live with passion and give our lives to it for the benefit of others. Whether your job is an executive level position or involves chasing toddlers around all day, the work you are doing is God’s way of sustaining and caring for the world!

When we begin to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ, believing that we are saved not because of our good works or effort but because of God’s grace to us in Jesus, it change how we approach our work. The gospel changes the character with which we approach the daily activity of our jobs.

Colossians 3:22 makes it really clear that servants (employees) are to obey masters (employers) with integrity.

Now, “Eye-service” is an odd phrase. It’s not a phrase we use a lot in English. It translates one Greek word that has the idea of only working when the boss is looking. “Eye service” is keeping busy simply for appearances and to avoid getting in trouble, not because you actually care about the work. We may not be familiar with the phrase, but the concept is one that we are very familiar with.

The cult-classic movie for the American worker Office Space really portrayed this clearly. In fact, the movie became so popular because it rang so true to so many people. When asked to describe his daily work, the main character Peter Gibbons gives us these great quotes:

“Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late. I use the side door – that way Lumbergh can’t see me. And, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour. I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.

I have eight different bosses. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That’s my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.”

Sounds familiar? If we’re honest, most of us would have to admit that it does. We have perfected the art of being at work without actually doing much work. The call of Colossians 3:22 is to work with sincerity of heart – giving our all to what we do. But instead, we waste away hours every day – zoning out, checking email, listening to podcasts, Twittering and Facebooking. Now, none of those things are inherently wrong – but when we neglect the jobs we’ve been hired to do they become sinful distractions… the way we give “eye service” to our employers.

When we don’t work hard, or when we do work hard but only to avoid the hassle of getting hassled by our boss or coworkers, we are out of step with the Gospel. When Jesus came, he was sent with a single mission: to seek and save that which had been lost. The serve as God’s Messiah who through his life, death, and resurrection would bring about the renewal of all things. This was Jesus’ work, his vocation.

The beautiful thing is this: Jesus didn’t simply give the appearance that he was carrying out his work. He didn’t simply “appear” to be a human, when really he was just a spirit. No, Jesus didn’t just give “eye-service”, but emptied himself of his divine rights and took on human flesh. He embraced his mission fully, becoming one of us – with flesh and blood, emotions and friendships, laughter and tears. He embraced his calling as Messiah completely, even when it cost him everything – laying down his life in the place of his people.

Colossians 3:22 calls us to serve with this integrity “in everything”. It doesn’t make a distinction between pleasant or unpleasant tasks, dull or challenging, menial or interesting. In everything, we’re to serve with sincerity of heart – to work as if what we’re doing actually matters, because in the eyes of Jesus is does matter. We work hard not because we fear our boss, but it says “fearing the Lord”. With reverence to Jesus, wanting to please him in all that we do.

A great way to approach any task given us is this (as those who do all things in the name of Jesus, according to Colossians 3:17):  How would Jesus do this job if it was given to him? What attitude would he have as he worked? What level of effort would he put into it?

Now all of us who work serve someone else, whether it’s a manager, a boss, or a board of directors. But some of us are also given the responsibility to oversee others – whether you’re a manager of a few other employees on your shift or you’re the head of a department. Paul speaks specifically to this role as well, particularly is Colossians 4:1. In this verse, masters (employers) are called to treat servants (employees) with dignity.

This call was revolutionary – for a master to treat his slaves with equality (which is what that word “fairness” is really saying) was unheard of. It defied cultural boundaries of the day, and it continues to scandalize us today. Essentially what Paul is saying is: serve those who serve you. The position God has given you is not simply so that you can wield power for your own benefit, but so that you can use your influence for the good of those who work under you.

Only when we understand the gospel does this become possible. It’s only the humility that comes from knowing we are all sinful people whose only hope is the cross of Jesus can bring this kind of self-sacrifice and servanthood. Just as Jesus laid aside his right to power (Phil. 2) and served those who followed him, Christian leaders lay down their right to power and work for the benefit of those under their leadership.

This can be as simple as actually caring about employees as people, seeing them as unique men and women created in the image of God and genuinely caring about their lives. It means making sure they are paid fairly and not taken advantage of. It means looking for ways to advance their careers, their dreams, their good even when it might slow down your advancement or progress.

As we think through this together, I’d love to hear back from you: how has the Gospel changed the character of your work?

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” If you ask a young child that question you probably aren’t expecting to hear something like “a nice person” or “someone who enjoys camping”. You’re expecting them to tell you what career they want to have when they get older. We increasingly have come to define ourselves by what we do.  We say things like, “I am a teacher” or “I am an engineer.” Our very being is tied up in our job description.

Work has become the central part of our identity in America – it’s what we give our lives to, it seems. The average American worker will spend an average of 100,000 hours at work in their lifetime – and that’s someone who takes vacations and goes home at the normal quitting times.

Dalton Conley, a New York University sociologist, published a book earlier this year called Elsewhere, U.S.A. It has a great subtitle: How We Got From the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, Blackberry Moms, and Economic Anxiety. That really says it all. The whole book is Conley asking why professionals who were once able to put in a full day’s work at the office, enjoy their leisure time, save up for a house and retire well now find themselves working more for seemingly less.  Here’s a quick quote that gives a snapshot:

“Leisure? The ‘good life’? What are those? Work is the central aspect of our lives. We are lucky that it is fulfilling work — work that we will probably continue to do until we are no longer capable — but it is, unlike that of my parents, all-consuming work. There is always an email to answer, a paper or memo to read, and a lecture to give or receive. Success in today’s professional world doesn’t mean retiring at fifty to play golf in Florida, it means working more and more hours as you move up a towering ladder of economic opportunity (and inequality). Socializing usually revolves around professional colleagues.”

And yet, with all of the technological advances and extra hours that have come our way, many people struggle with whether it’s all worth it. In fact, if you google “dissatisfied with work” you will get just under 6 million results.

Work has been around as long as human existence. It was a gift given in the perfect garden, but when mankind sinned something terrible happened – work was cursed. Instead of being something joyful and life-giving, it became marked by toil and burden. And we’ve been feeling the effects ever since.

There’s a great section of Colossians that is fundamentally about work. I’m not going to reproduce it here – you can grab your Bible and look it up (which I’d recommend) or do the quick thing and read it online.

Now, let me warn you up front – it may not seem that this is about work. It talks of slaves and masters (which, depending on your job, may seem like appropriate terms).  We tend to wince at the concept of slavery, mostly because it brings image to our head of the slave-trade as it existed in America and still exists through human trafficking today. We hear the world “slavery” and expect it to be followed by a quick and sweeping denunciation, not by guidelines as to how Christians engage with it.

But slavery in the ancient world existed in many forms. Slavery in Israel as outlined in the Mosaic legislation was more like indentured servanthood and probably would not be something we today would recognize as ‘slavery.’ It was usually a way of working off indebtedness and was never allowed to last longer than seven years. While many slaves have been mistreated throughout history, many were also treated with respect and even existed as members of a person’s household – which is most likely why it is addressed here directly after instructions regarding marriage and parenting.

The most directly correlation we have is the relationship between an employer and employee. While this is not a direct, one-to-one correlation it is similar enough for us to learn a great deal about how we are to approach work today. If nothing else, we may say this: If these are the instructions given to God’s people who work as slaves where there was little freedom, how much more should we who work in freedom put them into practice.

Few subjects touch so many of us so practically as our work. And we have been quick to separate our work from our faith, believing that they have little to do with each other. Some people feel guilty because they wish they could “do more for God”, but are simply too busy with work to offer more time.  Others simply don’t see a connection, believing that what takes place at the communion table on  Sunday mornings has little impact on what happens at the conference table Monday through Friday. But nothing could be further from the truth.

No matter what your vocation is, this passage makes it extremely clear: your work matters to God. And the reason it matters so much is because no matter what our vocation is, we are actually working for God.

• v. 22 – fearing the Lord.
• v. 23 – as for the Lord and not for men
• v. 24 – You are serving the Lord Christ
• 4:1 – you also have a Master in heaven.

Here’s the bottom line: Because we serve the Lord, our work is given new meaning. When the Gospel of Jesus takes root in our hearts it changes everything about our lives, including our work. It transforms work from something that is a burden back into the life-giving gift from God that it was intended to be – even if it doesn’t always feel that way. When Jesus saves us and transforms our hearts, he also transforms our careers – he gives our work new meaning that we didn’t know before.

We’ll continue exploring this here next week – would love to have you come back and join the discussion…

As you can imagine, this puts me in a pretty big state of flux – I’m working hard to keep ahead so that I can take time off and focus 100% on my family when the big moment arrives. Every day is a waiting game – will today be the day? So I haven’t really given my blog much attention the past few weeks.

Rest assured, when the boy arrives there will be pictures. And after we get settled, I’ll be back to normal blogging.

Until then, here’s some links from around the interwebs that I’ve read recently and thought are worth checking out. Take a look and see you soon.

Would you pray with me for a great awakening that results in hundreds coming to Christ, marriages being reconciled and renewed, wayward children coming home, long-standing slavery to sin being conquered, spiritual dullness being replaced by vibrant joy, weak faith being replaced by bold witness, disinterest in prayer being replaced by fervent intercession, boring Bible reading being replaced by passion for God’s word, and lukewarm worship being replaced by zeal for the greatness of God’s glory?

- Eugene Peterson

Whether his doubt was driven by religious tradition or rational objection, let’s just be honest – we would probably have been just as skeptical. In fact, if we’re going to start throwing the label “Doubting” in front of people’s names, we’d all have to get in the front of the line. “Hello, I’m Doubting Bill – good to meet you.”

But in the midst of Thomas’s doubts, Jesus doesn’t condemn or rebuke. He doesn’t wait until Thomas works through all of the thoughts that are flying through his mind. Instead, Jesus takes the initiative and walks through a locked, closed door and pursues Thomas himself.

Even more interesting, it takes a moment for Thomas to realize that this is indeed Jesus. To help make his identity clear, Jesus speaks simply: “Peace be with you.” And then he invites Thomas to touch and explore the wounds he still carries – the marks from the nails and the spear that only days before had pierced his flesh.

In the midst of our own struggles with doubt and unbelief, God does the same for us. He overcomes the barriers that have been erected – even when we’ve been the ones to close the door to our hearts and lock the deadbolt behind us. No barrier is too great for the risen Jesus to overcome. And in those moments, we may not recognize it at first, but He is there.  Listen to this beautiful explanation from Serene Jones:

When God comes, we will recognize God’s presence in those moments when peace is offered, in those moments when life’s most brutal violence is honestly acknowledged, and when, in the midst of this bracing honesty, we realize that we are not alone but have, in fact, been already found.

In the midst of struggles, doubts, questions, and unbelief Jesus comes to us again and again.

One of the places we see this played out in such a tangible way is in the Lord’s Supper. As we celebrate communion every week, I’ve had people say to me, “Pastor Bill, I don’t think I should take communion this week. I’ve really been struggling a lot with _____…” But the truth is, it’s in those times that we need to come to Christ’s table more than ever.

As we come to Communion, we’re not coming as people who are worthy or good enough, but instead as a confession that we are broken people whose only hope is in the finished work of Jesus in our place at the cross.

As we take the bread and the wine, Jesus himself is offering us again – week in, week out – his peace and his presence. As we hear the words, “This is Christ’s body/Christ’s blood… for you…” we’re reminded that in the midst of our greatest doubts and struggles with faith, he is always with us – we are a people who has already been found.