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How Much Church Can I Miss to Serve? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Good Monday morning. Yesterday most of us were at church, probably,
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  Speaker 1: but not all of us at church were in church though,
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  Speaker 1: because some of you were busy serving yesterday and not
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  Speaker 1: able to be in the main gathering. As one of
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  Speaker 1: the realities of church life, and it's the topic today.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, we've talked a lot about finding a good
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  Speaker 1: church and leaving a not so good church, but I
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  Speaker 1: don't think we've ever talked about missing gathered worship in
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  Speaker 1: order to serve somewhere else in the church on Sunday mornings.
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  Speaker 1: That ends today with Trevor's question to you, dear Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: I have been greatly blessed by listening to every single
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  Speaker 1: APJA episode since twenty seventeen. Wow, that would be by
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  Speaker 1: my count, that's a one two hundred episodes since then.
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  Speaker 1: That's a lot, Trevor, Thank you. I have a question
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  Speaker 1: regarding serving during the Sunday morning worship service. Is it
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  Speaker 1: appropriate to miss the service if you're serving in another
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  Speaker 1: area of church, such as in the nursery. I've heard
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  Speaker 1: one of my pastors suggesting alternating weeks between attending the
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  Speaker 1: worship service and volunteering. While I understand the servant can
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  Speaker 1: be an active worship. According to Romans twelve to one,
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  Speaker 1: I'm struggling to make peace with the idea of missing
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  Speaker 1: the service. Is attending the worship service and sitting under
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  Speaker 1: the teaching of the pastors say fifty percent of the time,
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  Speaker 1: truly enough. Thank you for any guidance you can offer me.
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  Speaker 2: Let me start with making a case for how beautiful
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  Speaker 2: it can be to serve some real need in the church,
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  Speaker 2: like caring for the infants in the nursery, at the
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  Speaker 2: cost of missing some worship services. And then I'll make
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  Speaker 2: the case for why this is not ideal and how
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  Speaker 2: you might move toward minimizing the absences. Trevor mentioned one
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  Speaker 2: of the key passages about our lives being worship all
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  Speaker 2: of our lives being worshiped Romans twelve to one. I
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  Speaker 2: appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,
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  Speaker 2: to present your body, he says, a living sacrifice, holy
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  Speaker 2: and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Making
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  Speaker 2: sacrifices for the good of others in the name of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus really does manifest his worth, and that's why we
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  Speaker 2: call it worship. That's true, but we must be careful
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  Speaker 2: not to equate the worship of daily life with the
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  Speaker 2: gathering of God's people in corporate worship. They're not the same.
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  Speaker 2: One cannot simply take the place of the other. So
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  Speaker 2: I'm not justifying the absence from corporate worship by saying
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  Speaker 2: that practical service is, in God's eyes, the same. It's
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  Speaker 2: not my argument. It's not the same. Both are beautiful,
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  Speaker 2: both are worthy. God is pleased with both, but they're
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  Speaker 2: not the same, and doing one does not accomplish all
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  Speaker 2: that the other does. So let's take nursery work, for example, Karen,
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  Speaker 2: for the infants. It's hard to exaggerate the value God
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  Speaker 2: puts upon receiving children in his name. Here's the breathtaking
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  Speaker 2: thing that Jesus said about working in the nursery. I
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  Speaker 2: used to quote this to recruit for nursery work on
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  Speaker 2: Sunday morning. Whoever receives one such child in my name
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  Speaker 2: receives me, And whoever receives me receives not me but
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  Speaker 2: Him who sent me. It's Mark nine thirty seven. That
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  Speaker 2: is simply staggering if you believe it. Receiving a child
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  Speaker 2: in the nursery in the name of Jesus is to
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  Speaker 2: receive God Almighty into the nursery. That's what it says.
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  Speaker 2: This is not rocket science, that that's what it says.
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  Speaker 2: So I have zero doubt that God is smiling upon
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  Speaker 2: Trevor if he works in the nursery during corporate worship
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  Speaker 2: and receives children in the name of Jesus. Few things,
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  Speaker 2: it seems, made Jesus more angry than the gnats, draining camels,
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  Speaker 2: swallowing pharisees who pulled their sheep out of the ditch
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  Speaker 2: on the Sabbath, and yet got mad at Jesus for
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  Speaker 2: healing a disabled man on the Sabbath. Oh did he
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  Speaker 2: get angry. Jesus summarized the whole point when he said
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  Speaker 2: in Matthew twelve twelve, So it is lawful to do
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  Speaker 2: good on the Sabbath. Indeed, when Luke tells this story
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  Speaker 2: about the healing of the crippled man on the Sabbath
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  Speaker 2: in chapter six, Jesus asks, is it lawful full on
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  Speaker 2: the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? To
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  Speaker 2: save life or to destroy it?
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  Speaker 1: Now?
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  Speaker 2: Why in the world would he say that? Is it
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  Speaker 2: lawful to harm? Is it lawful to destroy life? Why
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't what's he stand that?
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  Speaker 1: For?
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  Speaker 2: Nobody was suggesting that anybody destroy life, or were they?
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  Speaker 2: I think Jesus was saying, if you really do have
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  Speaker 2: a heart that opposes my healing this man right now
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  Speaker 2: on the Sabbath, you have a heart that destroys, destroys life.
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  Speaker 2: That's what your heart is. It's a destroyer, whether you
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  Speaker 2: know it or not. So the upshot is that Jesus
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  Speaker 2: loves to see his people doing good in the name
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  Speaker 2: of Jesus on the Lord's Day. He loves to see
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  Speaker 2: them gathered and with all their hearts, singing and praying
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  Speaker 2: and preaching and listening to reaching in the name of
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  Speaker 2: Jesus and for the glory of God. In fact, he
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  Speaker 2: commands us in Hebrews ten twenty five, don't neglect to
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  Speaker 2: meet together, and all the more as you say the
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  Speaker 2: day drawing near, and Phesians five seventeen, don't get drunk
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  Speaker 2: with wine. Be filled with the spirit, addressing one another
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  Speaker 2: in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making
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  Speaker 2: melody to the Lord with your heart. This is corporate worship.
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  Speaker 2: They are singing to each other, and they are singing
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  Speaker 2: to the Lord, and it's coming from the heart. This
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  Speaker 2: is corporate affection expressed in outward forms of worship. And
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  Speaker 2: the reason I stress affection is because that's what makes
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  Speaker 2: all the outward things like singing and praying and confessing
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  Speaker 2: and preaching. That's what makes all of the outward things worship.
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  Speaker 2: It turns them in to worship rather than hypocrisy. There
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  Speaker 2: is real affection for God. And two of the reasons
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  Speaker 2: for being part of this gathering instead of just expressing
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  Speaker 2: your affection at home alone are One. Affection in unified
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  Speaker 2: expression is a greater glory to God than affection in isolation.
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  Speaker 2: And second, affection begets affection. Something happens to us in
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  Speaker 2: the midst of corporate affection. God does something for His
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  Speaker 2: sake and for our souls when we stand in the
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  Speaker 2: midst of a people pouring out their admiration and trust
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  Speaker 2: and reverence and gladness to God. I have said many times,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm sure you've heard it more than once, Tony.
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  Speaker 2: I've said it many times that I believe I owe
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  Speaker 2: my ministry and my marriage and my very soul to
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  Speaker 2: the way God has met me in corporate worship for
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  Speaker 2: the last sixty years. So I hope you can see
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  Speaker 2: that I think working in the nursery during corporate worship
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  Speaker 2: is a glorious and God pleasing thing, and I think you, Trevor,
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  Speaker 2: and everybody else needs to be in that gathering of
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  Speaker 2: corporate affection for God as often as possible. So what
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  Speaker 2: does that mean for you? It means that you will
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  Speaker 2: work together with the leaders of your church to see
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  Speaker 2: to it that the infants are cared for in the
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  Speaker 2: name of Jesus, and that this is done in creative
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  Speaker 2: ways that maximize the possibility of people being in corporate
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  Speaker 2: worship as often as possible. So here's one practical idea, Trevor.
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  Speaker 2: Supposed that you are working in the nursery every other
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  Speaker 2: week for eleven weeks, that means you will serve six times.
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  Speaker 2: What if you found one other person who agrees to
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  Speaker 2: take your place every other time so three Sundays in
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  Speaker 2: eleven weeks. That means in those eleven weeks, that person
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  Speaker 2: and you would only miss three of the eleven worship
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  Speaker 2: services instead of six. Now I know that all the
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  Speaker 2: nursery overseers listening to this are saying as they roll
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  Speaker 2: their eyes, Piper, if it were.
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  Speaker 1: Only that.
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  Speaker 2: I understand, I understand. I've done this for forty years
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  Speaker 2: I understand how difficult that is, but it may be
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  Speaker 2: with this understanding of how utterly wonderful both of these
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  Speaker 2: ministries are, it just may be that more and more
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  Speaker 2: people would be willing to share the load.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, Pestor John, and thank you to all
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  Speaker 1: the precious church volunteers who make our Sunday gatherings possible.
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  Speaker 1: I know many of you are listening who serve regularly
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  Speaker 1: and make the sacrifices behind the scenes, maybe without ever
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  Speaker 1: getting acknowledged for your service. Well, I want to say
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  Speaker 1: thank you, thank you for your service in the local church.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord certainly sees it, all of it. And in
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, your labor is not in vain. Who are
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  Speaker 1: told that he will never overlook your work and the
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  Speaker 1: love that you have shown for His name in serving
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  Speaker 1: the saints, which is what you do. Those are great,
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  Speaker 1: precious promises. Well, what practical challenges do you face on
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  Speaker 1: Sunday mornings? Ask Pastor John to find a link to
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  Speaker 1: email us and find our complete episode archive at askpastor
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  Speaker 1: John dot com. Well, from six am in the morning
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  Speaker 1: until ten pm at night, we make a thousand little
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  Speaker 1: choices every single day, and almost none of those decisions
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  Speaker 1: can be made with a chapter and verse biblical principle.
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  Speaker 1: So how do we glorify God in those thousand small
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  Speaker 1: decisions a day. That's next time. I'm Tony Ranky. We'll
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  Speaker 1: see you on Thursday.