And speaking of feeding....I have been in ministry for a lot of decades and one thing I have heard many times as a reason to remain or leave a church has to do with "being fed." If we are fed, we stay. If we are not being "fed," we leave and go elsewhere to find food. I totally get it. God would have to really work to convince me to stay at a church with dry, meaningless teaching... or where I didn't feel a connection with anyone... or where they didn't serve coffee (Kidding!). But, church becomes the Church when we all participate in the lives of others, rather than just pulling up to the table and stuffing our face with the richness of the Word.
In the sermon Sunday, Chris talked about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and how Jesus wasn't just speaking of gifts or resources as we may think, but also of experience and information and wisdom and life skills. All the things that we gain through the years as we walk with the Lord. Every week we come back to take in more and more, being fed the richest spiritual food around, but if that "meal" isn't strengthening us to serve, we are not building the Church. We are essentially burying our talents in order to keep them "safe."
If you are reading this and are part of a congregation that is feeding you and you aren't using that nourishment to serve others and grow God's Kingdom, how are you different from the servant who buried his talent and didn't grow it for the Master? Hoarding the Truth you have learned is exactly what the servant did with the one talent he was given.
If we bring it home, what are you doing under your own roof to put into practice the truths you are learning at church? When the pastor speaks about loving others, running to the messy places to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and you nod in agreement but then stay in your comfortable home, with your beautiful children without regard to where God could be using you every week, you bury your talent, because you have received a truth but do nothing with it. What are your children learning about being a follower of Jesus if you take His truth and hide it in your heart .... so deeply that it never turns into action? During times of tension between you and your spouse or kids, do your kids see you work through it with the love you acknowledged on Sunday? Or do their see rage and bitterness boiling?
Perhaps your children are grown and you feel pretty secure that you have served and "done your time" by teaching a class when they were young. If you feel comfortable coming to church to be fed and are not feeding others from your wisdom and knowledge and life experience gained through the years, then you are missing the point of being nourished from the Truth of Scripture. We are ALL called to be disciples that make disciples. And there is no retirement plan for that. How are you doing in that arena?
God isn't looking for Biblical scholars or people who live in spectacular, spotless homes that always smell of homemade bread and chocolate chip cookies. He is looking for people who have been fed to open their arms and their hearts and their calendars enough to allow Him to create a connection for you. There are so many people at church that come and never get connected and never even feel invited to the table because we get there first and don't set a place for them.
So, what are you doing with what you know? Are you learning how to follow Jesus? Are you teaching others what you know? What does He see when He looks at your investment of time, knowledge, wisdom, life experience? Is it at all important to you to invest that, rather than bury it? I can tell you one thing for sure...
It is important to Jesus.
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