I Don't Work Here: Are You a Customer or Family at Church?

Picture this. You're at a restaurant with friends, and you get up to use the restroom. On the way back, a stranger grabs your attention and says, "Hey, can you take these dishes for me?"

You'd probably say, "I'm sorry, I don't work here. I'm a customer, same as you." And you'd be a little offended, right?

Here's what I can't shake: a lot of us live that way at church. We come for the good music, the good word, and the good coffee on the way out. Somebody else sets up the chairs. Somebody else notices the hurting person three rows back. That's their thing. I'm just a customer.

I've been that person, so I'm not pointing fingers. But I don't think it's what God had in mind when He called us the church.

Acts is the story of the very first church right after Jesus rose from the dead. In Acts 2, Peter preaches, and about three thousand people respond. Then Luke tells us what they did next:

Notice the order. Verse 41 (they believed and were baptized) comes before verse 42 (they devoted themselves). Nobody earned their way in through devotion. They were rescued first, and devotion was the response. Everything else in the passage hangs on that.

Now look at the four things they devoted themselves to: teaching, fellowship, shared meals, and prayer. You can't do any of them as a spectator. You can't be taught while checked out. You can't have fellowship alone, break bread at a table for one, or pray "the prayers" without other people in the room.

And notice who's doing the work in verses 43-47. It isn't "the apostles ran a great program." It's they, the ordinary members, sharing meals, sharing needs, and sharing life, day by day. Luke isn't handing us a job description for church staff. He's showing us what the people of God look like.

If you've heard that the early church was "basically communist," it's a fair question, but nobody was forced to sell everything. They still owned homes (they were meeting in them). It was voluntary, generous love. The point isn't "liquidate your assets." It's "hold what you have loosely, and let someone else's need matter."

This next part is hard to say, but I'd rather say it plainly.

As a pastor and shepherd, the person I worry about most isn't the atheist or the agnostic. They know where they stand, and so do I. I'm most concerned about the person who's in church every single week and assumes they're right with God.

Jesus had twelve disciples. They ate with Him, traveled with Him, and asked Him anything. And one of them, Judas, was never truly His. Church can be a very comfortable place to hide.

I know this firsthand. I grew up in church. I was there every week, doing the things and checking the boxes. Looking back, I honestly don't know that I had a real relationship with Jesus. Where was the evidence? I could have been born in the church, married in the church, and had my funeral in the church, and still never surrendered to Him.

I'm not saying this to shame you. I'm inviting you to ask yourself honestly:

• Is my faith my own, or did I borrow it from my parents or spouse?
• When God's Word is preached, am I humbled and open to change, or is this just my Sunday routine?

Paul says to "examine yourselves" (2 Corinthians 13:5). That's an invitation, not an accusation.

If you're a follower of Jesus, try one of these:

1. Bring a real question to a Community Group and wrestle with it out loud.
2. Ask someone a real question ("How are you really doing?") and wait for the answer.
3. Host or show up to a meal, and treat it like it matters.
4. Pray out loud for someone by name, in the room with them.

Maybe tonight isn't about trying harder at church. Maybe it's about meeting Jesus for the first time, not the secondhand version, but Him.

The gospel was never "try harder to contribute and maybe you'll belong." Jesus, who owed nothing and was owed everything, stepped into the separation from God we deserved so we wouldn't have to stay there. He didn't clock in and clock out. He gave everything for people who were, at best, customers and, at worst, strangers. That's what turns a customer into family. Not effort. Him.

If that stirred something in you, reach out to us here. We'd love to talk, no pressure and no judgment.

This is from Part 2 of our series The Church Defined. If you missed Part 1, read it here. Find a Community Group near you here, because this life is better together.