So…What Are We Supposed To Do?

So…What Are We Supposed To Do?
By: Dr. Danny Purvis

There are two general categories related to what God’s will is for us. First, there is the specific will He has for specific individuals. This will is manifested in a variety of ways that differ vastly from person to person. For example, even though His will for me was to go into full time ministry…He exercised that will in a very different way than most who do this. His will for me was to spend 20 years in the Navy as a chaplain whereas most of my fellow seminary students did no such thing. His will for who I married is different than His will for you and who you married. That is one of the amazing things about God’s will. He exercised specific will in a myriad of different ways that are as varied as there are people on the planet. In other words, He tailors His specific will to different people in different ways in different places and in in different circumstances.

Secondly, there is His general will that applies equally to all Believers. These are elements that are universal to the saved church and that He will funnel through using His specific will. And though there are many things that clearly fall into this category…for our purposes I want to generalize it under one umbrella. I can say without hesitation and with Biblical clarity that God’s will for you is to serve…in some capacity. In the Bible, the word translated as “church” is never used to denote a building. It is always used to describe the people (Believers) in the building. In fact, the word in the original language translated as “church” literally means: “the called-out ones”. It is constructed from the preposition “out” and the verb “to call”. And we are called out, in part, to serve the One Who saved us. Simply put: We were saved, in part, because He has a job for us. That is His general will for all of His children. What that looks like for each person is His exercising this through His specific will.

In other words…He has work for each and every one of us. Nowhere is that more clearly seen than in Romans 12. In yet another genius analogy, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, refers to the body of Believers as a literal, physical body. Paul writes: “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:4-5). Here we see His general will and specific will in play. We are all members of the Body (general will) but we do not all have the same function (specific will). The way these aspects flow together is nothing short of amazing. In fact, the very idea that we could be useful to God is nothing short of a miracle. But…we are. He makes that completely clear.

No one sits on the bench in God’s kingdom. No one. Famous University of Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson was quoted once as saying: “Football is 40,000 people in the stands who desperately need exercise watching 22 people on the field who desperately need rest”. That quote could easily apply to the church today. I’ve heard it put in church that 10% of the congregants do 90% of the work. I don’t know how accurate that is…but it is probably not too far off. If so, I think it comes from people misunderstanding what it means to serve the Lord. People have a tendency to see the “higher profile” service in a church (pastor, SS teacher, Elder, worship team) as the only “legitimate” type of service. But the Romans passage mentioned above is not the only time Paul references this analogy.
In 1st Corinthians Paul expands on this analogy even more. He writes: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’. And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts that seem to be weaker are indispensable(italics mine)” (1 Corinthians 12:21-22). He goes on to say that we seem to treat these “weaker” services with “less honor”. His point is clear. Every service is vitally important to the Body. In fact, the Body cannot function with even the “smallest” part not working properly. I had gout a couple of times. Worst pain I have ever felt. If you’ve had it…you know what I mean. It literally affected one joint on one toe. That’s it. One joint of one toe. There are roughly 360 joints in the human body. And it had a horrible effect on my entire body. It can be incapacitating. See the point?

At HCC one of my driving desires is to encourage every single person to serve. More than my desire…it is my mandate. In Ephesians Paul clearly states this. God tells me that one of my directives as a pastor is to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ”(Ephesians 4:12). And everything we do at HCC is ministry. Everything. No matter how “behind the scenes” it is. You ask any pastor to name the person or people that are most indispensable in the carrying out of the work of the church…and I guarantee you most of them will mention people who are not in the limelight. The ones that do the sound…take care of the logistics of making the church work…setting up…tearing down…taking care of the facilities…working in the nursery…cleaning and straightening up…helping with VBS…setting up for Communion. The things most people do not see. God has gifted you to serve. You are part of the Body. The only question is: Are you a functioning part of the Body? How would you answer that question? Use the gifts and the desire that God has given you. That’s why He gave them to us in the first place. We all have work to do in His kingdom. So let’s do it.

-Dr. Danny Purvis