Church "SERVICE" or "SERVE US"

James 4:8
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double- minded."
  I have heard them so many times. Those statements people make about there local churches. You know, statements like,"I like that church better because they have great music," or " That pastors preaching is much better than the one at the other church." There always seems to be something. Either the worship services are too long or the people are not very friendly. Maybe there are age barriers or social barriers. There are many things that drive us to leave, or join a church. Whenever I am faced with this as people either leave our fellowship or join us, my thoughts and my words are always the same. I ask, "Have you considered this in prayer? Is God leading you in this direction?" The bible tells us in1 Corinthians 12:18, "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased." God does this so that we can be a working part of that body. The truth is, we are a consumer driven culture! The serve me generation! "What can the church offer me?" Seems to be the greatest question in Christian circles these days. Even churches get in on this. Instead of promoting Jesus many churches are using programs and activities as their primary marketing strategy. Please don't take me the wrong way. There is nothing wrong with programs or activities. They are great! However the church should keep them as secondary to the one who loved the church so much that He gave Himself for it, "JESUS." (Ephesians 5:25) He told us in John 12:32,"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." We need to be inviting people to draw near to Jesus. Not to our ski trips! Ski trips are great but they don't compel people give  their life to Christ, they just encourage people to take what they can get. Only Jesus can touch a heart in such a way that they will stop thinking about what the church can do for them and start thinking about what they can do for the church. When did we decide that Jesus was not enough to build a great church? Better yet, "When did we start thinking that we are?" It's His church! He said He was going to build it on the simple belief that He is the Son of God. (Matthew 16:16-18) We call Him Lord so we can serve Him and He created the church for that purpose. We should never walk into a church with thoughts about what the church can offer us. We should walk into the church with a heart to worship and serve our awesome God! We need to have a heart to draw near to God. It is a heart like this that can hear Him. A heart like this is sensitive to the direction of God. A heart like this can be shown just exactly were it can be used in service to God. He may place that heart in a church that on the surface seems to be a very unlikely combination. This is actually a probable scenario, however if Jesus is the leader, the dance will be beautiful! "Thank You Lord Jesus for Your church, may we live to lift You up and bring You GLORY!"