Have you ever noticed that chocolate melts under pressure & heat?

If you
haven’t, take a piece of chocolate and hold it between your fingers! It will
soon melt! If you are a Christian, you need to be active in your local church
so that you don’t melt under pressure and so you will remain firm in your
faith! Otherwise you will be a chocolate Christian who easily gives up under
the stress and pressure of every day life!

At a church local to where you live, you are needed regardless of who you
are!

Perhaps this is you?

• Interested observer but not a committed Christian

• Not bothered
• Not good enough
• Just want to be left alone
• Don’t know how to be involved
• Don’t know why being involved is important
• Too busy

But why should you be involved? Four words: talents, dependency, service
and following
Why? You have talents to be used!!
When Jesus said to His apostles “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith
in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than
these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14v12), it was through the
promised Holy Spirit (John 14v17), and the impartation of Spiritual Gifts
that His words were fulfilled.

The reason that the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to Christians is so that
the body of Christ is built up (Ephesians 4v12), for the common good of the
church (1Corinthians 12v7, 14v12) and “so that in all things God may be
praised through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 4v12). These three reasons signify
that God wants Christians to be active in service and not still like stagnant
water. That is why we have been given gifts and if these gifts are not used
for God’s purposes, then they are utterly useless and meaningless. And the
gifts are not just the supposedly spectacular gifts but also the supposedly
mundane! Cleaning is as much a spiritual gift as preaching is!

As we are not to neglect our gifts, or let other Christians neglect their gifts,
we are to fan the gifts into flame (2 Timothy1v6). Much like blowing on
embers and stirring them up will restart the flames of a fire! To do this, as
Christians, we are to employ the gifts faithfully and by asking God to
continue their development, strengthening and for opportunities to use
them! Seek gifts that build up others, commands Paul (1 Corinthians 14v1-
12). Ask God faithfully for gifts that give opportunity for service to God and
others!

Why? We are dependent on each other

As Christians, we are dependent upon each other, just as one part of the
human body has dependence on another part. That is why we serve
each other and use the gifts generously given by God. As all Christians
have gifts, we have a responsibility to discover and develop them (1
Timothy 4v14)! God has called Christians and equipped them with
spiritual gifts, and they are not to be neglected!

You are a member of the body of Jesus Christ the church! If you are not
being active that means the Church body is affected aversely! Its like a part
of your body failing to do as it should!
Why? Improve your serve!
They are opportunities for Christians to serve other people. Some gifts like
teaching, helping or leadership quite possibly are enhancements of natural
abilities whilst others like faith, healing and miracles are from the Spirit’s
empowerment alone.

In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), Jesus intimates that

those who follow Him, will be judged according to all that they have been
given stewardship of! This includes things such as Spiritual Gifts (1
Corinthians 12v1-10), acts of service (Galatians 5v13) and material
possessions (2 Corinthians 9v6-8)! These are used to accomplish three
other items of Stewardship: mission, message and people.

Why? To follow Jesus

The Christian life is not to be static or inactive – it was never meant to be!
The Christian life is to be dynamic! It is to be active. The word servant is
key in Scripture. It is used at least 500 times in its various derivatives.
When a Christian serves, God’s honour is released. This is done because
service shows the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ to those being served
and to those watching. That is to be our motive for service. Serving is
never to be about what you and I can get out of it. When that is the
motive, God is not glorified. God’s glory, honour and supremacy are to be
the goal of a Christian’s life. Spiritual growth comes from serving rather
than being served. This is because what ever is given in service of God and
others, your faith grows and Jesus Christ gives back even more.

Jesus speaking in Matthew 25v15-30 tells of the rewards for faithful service
and the penalties for being faithless. Serving others is a sign that you are
trusting in and having faith in God. It’s a visible aspect of your invisible
faith. Service is the outward expression of your inner beliefs. Serving is an
outward expression of your inner faith - an external working out of your
inner salvation. Serving God and others is the mark of a spiritually mature
(or spiritually maturing) Christian and through service, the greatest servant
of all, Jesus Christ, is reflected in our lives. “For Jesus Christ, came to serve
and give his very life for others” (Mark 10v45). As Christians we are to be
as Jesus Christ (Romans 8v28; Philippians 2v5) and to serve. Yet if we are
honest, we sometimes feel incapable, just as Moses did (Exodus 3). When
the church is built up, unity will inevitably prevail and be built up.

So if you find you are currently inactive in your local church, then please go
and make yourself available to serve there! Ask your pastor or church
leader how you can help out! Doing so, whilst submitting yourself to the
Holy Spirit who indwells you, could very well change the lives of other
people! People changed for God’s greater glory because of your acts of
service and worship. Go and don’t be a Christian made of chocolate!