The year is winding down and the holidays are upon us. Some of you may have led worship or served in your ministry/ministries without missing one meeting or service all year. This is a great feat that many people can't do. We all get tired and may even burn out, but those of you who work hard in your ministries look past this for the joy of serving Christ and His body of believers. Your reward in heaven will be great... But now let me propose an idea to you that might be foreign to you. It might even sound selfish or sinful, but rest assured that it is perfectly biblical.
Take a step back and look at your life, spiritual and physical. Ask yourself when was the last time you took a break and was refreshed by someone else's ministry. The best example I can give is about being a worship leader, but I think it can be applied across the board.
Leading worship week-in and week-out can become a tiresome and stressful ministry (no matter how big or small the band is). Much of the time we can get so focused on how we need to nail that one song transition perfect so the song doesn't start off awful or whatever that we forget to worship. Even if everything goes as smoothly as possible, most of us still don't/can't usually focus 100% on worshipping God. This can become a hindrance to your spirit during corporate times of worship. Yes, God blesses us for pouring out lives and hearts into this ministry, but we need to be served also. We need to take a break sometimes.
Now this is where I think I differ from a lot of people. A lot of people think taking a break from ministry (even if it's for one Sunday) is staying home to watch the game, going away on a vacation, or just sleeping in. I'm not saying that it is a sin to do these things. I mean, it's definitely needed to refresh your body from the stresses of life, but I don't think that's how one can be fully refreshed in their spirit.
Before I go on I need to make one thing clear. When we gather together to worship God and hear from His Word, we do so as one body. The purpose of this is to serve one another and refresh one another in the Spirit, but this is not where we gain most of our spiritual strength and nourishment. That comes from spending time alone with God and seeking His will through reading the Bible and prayer. We all should be doing this on our own. After all, we claim to have a relationship with God, don't we? When I say we need to be refreshed in the spirit by being served, I am not taking away the importance of being separate from others to spend time with our Lord, but rather we can still grow weak and need the ministering of others to help us stay strong.
With that being said, worship leaders, you should take the time to gather with the body while someone else leads worship. Maybe that means you have take a break one Sunday to let someone else lead. It might even mean going to an earlier or later service than the service you lead in to worship our Lord with the body of Christ. You may even have to go to a sister church during the week to be be served in this way. Trust me, you need this more than you think you don't.
For too many years I have watched those in ministry gather with the body of Christ when it is their scheduled time to serve and they only serve. This burdens my heart. I don't profess innocence to this, but rather that I know what my fellow brothers and sisters are missing out on. Yes, ministry can be tiresome. We have to sacrifice time out of our lives to serve others, but that doesn't mean that we can't be served either. We aren't Super Worship Leader Man, Wonder Sunday School Teacher Woman, or Aqua AWANA Man.. We get tired and weary, but I encourage you not to quit. Rather serve and be served for the bettering of the body of Christ.
Jesus gave the purpose for His ministry on earth in Matthew 20, "...the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” But being human He had a finite body. He was God, but He had flesh. He was able to become tired and weary. In Matthew 4, after He fasted for 40 days and was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, the angels came and ministered to Him. They came to refresh Him for the ministry He was about to begin.
So don't neglect the fact that you need to be served and refreshed in your spirit. Take the extra time to be served by others for the refreshment, encouragement, and strengthening of your spirit so you can better serve others.
To those of you who may not be serving in ministry but are rather served by others when we gather together, seek out a ministry to serve with so those who are serving week-in and week-out can be served also. I pray that God will open these doors for you to serve. If you are not willing to serve, I pray that He would convict you so you can repent of not being a servant to others. There is great joy in serving your brothers and sisters in Christ. If we work together, we can build each other up and as one body have strength in the Spirit.
Worship Christ through service. Worship Him with each other. Serve one another in the love of Christ.
Blessings,
Nick
