A sermon I listened to yesterday struck a cord with me. Nick Field (the preacher) was saying that often those people who start to say things like 'I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian' are often the ones whose faith is either dying or at least slipping in some way. It basically comes down to arrogance. As well as trying to remove any feeling of accountability, they are no longer thinking about what they can give to the Church, but more about what they feel they are no longer getting from the Church. They are thinking only about themselves, it is selfish. Biblically (very briefly) though, how does this sit?
Jesus Himself said in Mark 9:35 that "whoever wants to be first must take last place and be servant of everyone else." Paul adds in Philippians 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." These pretty strongly suggest that you should always be looking to others, to try and help build them up in their faith, to serve their needs rather than try to service your own. Paul gives Christ as our example Philippians 2:5-11
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As God, Jesus deserves all praise and honour. But instead, He came to serve us, to show us how to live, to teach us, and to die for us. His rights (for He has no 'needs') were put to the side so that He could serve us. We must do the same. Rather than try to get something, we should be looking to give, to build up, and to serve. This means that even though we may feel we are not getting something from church, we should instead be looking at what we contribute to the body of Christ.
The irony is that those who try to put others first rather than let their selfish ambition takes over are in fact put first. Jesus is exalted even more because He humbled himself (Phil 2:9-11) and Jesus said that those who put others first will themselves be put first (Mark 9:35). By letting selfish ambition take hold you are in fact doing the opposite to what you desire.
God obviously knew that His church would work best when all its members focused on each other. A church's and member's faith always seem to struggle when they become self-focused rather than looking to help progress another's walk. The bible really does seem to show us that God wants us to be outward focused - It seems to work so much better when we do what He wants us to do!
So from these verses we can see that we are not called to consume as members of the Church, we are called to serve. How can you serve the Church and put other member's needs first, when you no longer meet with them and are unaware of their needs? You become somewhat arrogant and self-focused right? This is not good. As Romans 11:11-24 states, you should not boast [be arrogant] in your faith. It is not you that supports the church, the church supports you.
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