The problem of thinking too small in the kingdom of God …

Over the past couple of decades, I think some church leaders have become very afraid to ask the people in the congregations they lead to serve, to do something in the kingdom of God.

One sign of that is it used to be if an elderly lady needed some work done around her house, the pastor might ask a man in the congregation who had handiman skills to knock out the tasks, something he could do all by himself in just a few hours. A little work on a Saturday and the needs of the lady would be met. Today, we turn the same kind of need into an all-church event so that people have to spend only a fraction of time doing very little, or just write a check for a bucket of paint.

It seems like we’re thinking smaller in the church … certainly much smaller than did the early Christians in the first church.

The Bible, specifically in places like the Book of Acts, chapters two and four, show us when a single Christian didn’t have the means to meet all the needs of someone in need, THEN the whole church rallied together to make sure no need was left unmet. If it was something one Christian could take on and accomplish, then he or she did it; but if the need was bigger than one person could handle by themselves, we see the early Christians going so far as to sell property to raise funds needed to meet needs.

The result of this much bigger thinking was this:

“All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need,” Acts 4:32-35.

Did you catch that key line? “There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.”

How many needs of members of your congregation are left unmet by your church family?

We’re thinking too small in God’s kingdom, which on the face of it is a silly thing to do since what God calls for us to do in His kingdom is oftentimes much bigger than any one Christian can handle alone.

But instead of following the example of the early church and first doing all we can, then rallying our brothers and sisters in Christ when more help and resources are needed, we often do the following:

• • We ignore the needs of others, thinking we don’t have the resources to help anyone beyond our own immediate family.
  • We see the needs but do nothing, rationalizing we could do a little but not nearly enough “to make a difference.”
  • We at least offer to pray for the person we see in need, but take no further action beyond that even when we could if only we would.
  • We do all that we can and then walk away instead of going for more help to fully meet the need.

What if we started thinking bigger in God’s kingdom? What if we started thinking about rising to the example of the early church and so care for one another that no needs remain unmet?

To be like those early Christians, we have to care enough to individually minister to needs of others as fully as we have the means to do, AND THEN if that isn’t enough, rally our brothers and sisters in Christ to come help fulfill the remaining needs so no needs remain.

That would be highly uncharacteristic of us, wouldn’t it?

But it shouldn’t be.

Scotty