Don’t be a Spiritual Freeloader

 

Where are the visitors?

Where is the warm welcome?

Where is the comforting hug?

Where is the atmosphere of praise?

Where is the joy?

Where is the love?

Where is the connection?

Where is the community?

Have you ever asked any of these questions of your local church?

Do you want to know a sad reality? It is this:

All too often we come to church expecting something to be there that we ourselves are unwilling to bring.

We become spiritual freeloaders!

We ask these questions about our church and yet we are unwilling to be part of the answer.

We want all of the above.

We expect all of the above.

We sometimes demand all of the above.

And sadly, we often criticize all of the above.

But here is the million-dollar question.

Did YOU bring anyone?

Did YOU greet anyone?

Did YOU hug anyone?

Did YOU worship with praise on your lips?

Did YOU enter God’s house with thanksgiving and joy?

Did YOU go out of your way to connect with others?

We’re not supposed to just come to church. We’re not supposed to go to the church with the mindset, “What can it give me?”. “How can it support me?”

We’re not supposed to just attend church.

We are supposed to BE the church!

To be the church means that we as the church (Grk. Ekklesia – an assembly; called-out ones) are to live out our faith.

We are to carry the mission through worship, love, service, teaching and discipling, sharing the gospel, fellowship, unity and daily faithfulness. Loving the unlovable. Practicing forgiveness. Serving in our communities. Living out the gospel in our everyday lives and reflecting the heart of Jesus in all we say and do.

We’re not supposed to just sit in the pew week after week, taking it all in but never sharing it with others.

We are supposed to contribute. Not just consume.

A contributor gives more than he takes, using his or her talents and abilities, time and energy to positively impact others. A consumer focuses on what they can get often taking more than they give.

Who comes to mind when you hear those two words?

Consumers are spectators. Contributors are participants.

A consumer may sit in church week after week, taking in the truths told from the pulpit, benefiting from the fellowship, the music, the prayers and yet they are like the Dead Sea. It has no outlets. Water flows in but doesn’t flow out again. It is stagnant. It just sits there. They are spiritual freeloaders.

A contributor, on the other hand, is more like the Nile River. The longest river in the world. Flowing through 11 countries and a vital source of life for people throughout history. An active body of water. Moving. Not stagnant but life-giving. A contributor uses what they learn to benefit others.

Consumers often have the gift of ‘constructive criticism’. They love to point out all the problems, but they don’t want to be part of the solution. Quick to criticize, slow to put their hand to the plough.

They want to sit and get. But a contributor wants to go and serve.

Look around you. Better still, look inside of yourself and see where you fit? Is it time you became a contributor? Pouring into other’s lives. Actively serving, loving, giving.

Do you want to be welcomed? Well, make it a point to be welcoming to others.

Do you want to see visitors come along? Well, bring some of your own.

Do you want the church to be more joyful? Well, then stop coming in the door with a long face and a bad attitude!

Do you want the church to feel more connected? Then reach out and get to know the people that sit in the pews. Don’t leave it until Sunday to say hello. Get together during the week. Catch up for coffee. Go and help someone move house. Send that text. Make that phone call.

It really is a sad state of affairs and such hypocrisy when we expect something to be there that we are ourselves not willing to bring.

It’s not just the Pastor’s job to be welcoming, happy, inviting visitors, setting the atmosphere. We all have a duty to contribute to the local church. God has given each one of us talents and abilities. We are all members of the body and whether we’re a hand or foot, we all play a part in building God’s kingdom. (1 Corinthians 12:14)

Too many church members need to stop sitting on the bench whingeing about how the game is being played when they’re not willing to put on the jersey and throw the ball.

It’s easy to settle into being a spiritual freeloader. All take and no give. But it doesn’t really benefit anyone. You could argue that it benefits you. But does it really? How satisfying is it to never help anyone? What satisfaction do you really get by being a taker?

The Word of God is full of instruction on serving and loving others. We are exhorted to be sharing the gospel, teaching what we have learnt, living out our faith in very tangible ways.

So, if we are a spiritual freeloader, we are living contrary to God’s Word.

Give back what you’ve been given. If you are shown love, then reflect it back. God blesses those who strive to imitate him. Those who desire to grow more like Christ. (Luke 6:38)

God loves a cheerful giver. Not one that gives out of necessity, out of a sense of duty or grudgingly. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Start being a contributor instead of a consumer. And watch how your perspective grows and your love for the brethren increases.

Heb 10:24-25 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

1Pet 4:8-10 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.