The church is a good works factory. At least that’s how God envisions it. He sees a conveyor belt coming out the front door of your church with one amazing good work after another piling up outside. Inside, believers learn how to create those good works according to God’s specifications and then joyfully – even gleefully – produce them with efficiency and effectiveness.
Sadly, though, sometimes the machinery gets gummed up. Believers inside the church start thinking they’re there to consume instead of produce. Then when things don’t measure up to their specifications, they begin complaining. The ones who are actually still producing get tired and discouraged. As a result, the good works coming out the front door of the church appear less and less often, until finally the conveyor belt stops completely.
That’s where we come in. Our role is to return your church to a producer mentality instead of a consumer mentality. It’s really pretty simple. The writer to the Hebrews states that it’s primarily a matter of encouragement.
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one anotherand all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24, 25, NIV)
Here are some ideas on how we can spur others in our church on toward love and good deeds.
- Attend church regularly and get involved in a small group. We can’t encourage other believers to love and good works if we’re not around them. Church is primarily about worship, learning and fellowship with other believers. That means Christianity is a team sport, not an individual sport. We can’t play tennis alone and we can’t live the Christian life alone. We must develop a habit of going to church and then we have to get involved!
- Learn about, and talk about, the love of Christ. Our primary goal when going to church is to learn how to love like our Savior. Everything else is secondary. We should expect our church to help us develop deeper, more meaningful relationships in every area of our life.
- Be an example. Find out who the neediest people in your church are and start serving them in some practical way. Don’t just talk about doing good works, actually do them yourself.
- Invite others to join you. Find one or two like minded men and ask them to join you in your service.
- Help other believers envision how God can use them. As you talk with others in your church, learn who in their family and social circles have needs and then encourage them to meet those needs.
- Make good works easy and enjoyable. Remember, Jesus’ yoke is “easy” and his burden is “light.” We must always be careful not to overwork our volunteers.
- Avoid using guilt, fear and obligation as motivation. According to Galatians 5:13, we aren’t just to serve each other – that would be slavery. Rather, we are to serve each other through love. The way we serve each other in love is by focusing on relational ministry instead of just project ministry. When churches forget this important principle, their only recourse is to force people to serve with negative motivators like guilt, fear of God’s punishment and feelings of obligation. No service ministry can be sustained with this type of motivation.
So think about it. Consider how to spur your fellow believers to love and good works. You may be the one God uses to get that conveyor belt in your church running again.
Discussion Questions
- Why is it important to encourage others to love and good works and not just do them ourselves?
- In what ways do love and good works go together and what happens when we don’t do them together?
- Can you think of other ways to encourage your fellow believers to love and good works?
- Have you ever tried doing good works out of guilt, fear, and obligation?
- Has there ever been a time in your life when you “gave up meeting” with other believers? What was the result?