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Seven Categories of Volunteers in God's Kingdom
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As I close, I want you to know that God has eternal and great rewards for true volunteers. Peter asked Jesus one day: "We have left all and followed you. What is in it made for us? What is the reward for me?" Jesus's answer was clear and powerful.
When you truly, sacrificially, and genuinely volunteer for God, Jesus said: "There is no man, no woman who leaves mother and father, who leaves all these things and follows me, that I will not give unto reward to them on earth, and then also the unspeakable eternal blessing of reigning with me forever."
Jesus is saying: You are volunteering for me. You are walking. You are making sacrifice. You are giving up your talent to serve me. Yes, I have reward for you. Whatever you have left, I give you here on earth and in heaven. What you get at half year is only temporary. The best is yet to come for those who serve faithfully.
Consider some who have left great opportunities to serve God. One pastor left the opportunity of becoming a lawyer. Another left the position of a successful professor—someone who could have become the vice chancellor of the university—but chose to volunteer to serve. He left the university, left comfortable quarters, just to go and live in faith, not moved by what he saw around him, but moved by faith in a God who will never forget the labor of volunteers that we serve for Him.
Another pastor, a successful professor who left everything to serve, had first-class material, reaching PhD level—someone who could have easily become a professor. But he chose to volunteer instead. Look at their lives now: Are they singing? Are they walking naked in the street? Are they walking barefoot? No. God is rewarding their labor and their sacrifice. Even as God rewards them materially, they are not moved by the material blessings around them. They are still moved by the urgency to win souls and to keep serving God.
I was telling some people at a meeting that if a certain private jet pilot comes back to the world, he would say: "If you want to send me to anybody, don't send me to you." Do you know why? Because the way he uses the private jet is like a mission. He is not moved by the comfort of a private jet, but by the urgency to be at the next place as quickly as possible to be able to witness and do the work of God. He asks the pilot: "Can this jet take us to five nations, five cities over the next five days? Because I need to preach in all those cities every night." The pilot says yes, and they begin to go. That is the spirit that should drive volunteers of Christ.
As I close, I want you to identify where you belong. There are seven categories of volunteers amongst the workers we have today in the church. Let me start from the bottom.
The first category is absent volunteers. We announce meetings and services. We announced yesterday at 11:00. Some are still sleeping now, not knowing they have to go to work, not knowing they have to look after business. They had the announcement but were absent. This is the first category of volunteer—the absent volunteer. We even have a workers meeting on the first Sunday of the month. We announce it again and again. Last Sunday we had a Fresh Fire Service from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., and I instructed the kitchen department to prepare lunch for 150 workers based on our usual attendance.
But when Fresh Fire Service started at 8:00 a.m., we had only about 60 or 70 workers. I said that's good—at least the 150 lunches will be enough. But in the afternoon, when people waited for the workers meeting, 300 people showed up! When we started distributing the lunch packs, we didn't have enough. We counted and found we had 303 or 304 workers who waited, and many didn't get any lunch. I had to tell the elder ministers: "Don't get the lunch yet. Let them give it to other workers first." Nearly 100 people didn't get anything.
I told them: "This is my fault, not yours. When we call the 8:00 a.m. meeting, if all of you who are here for Fresh Fire—a service we've been doing for the past ten years—if all of you workers were always coming, then I would know we have up to 300, and I would arrange to provide for 300. But I made my decision based on those I see." Many of you here fall under the category of absent volunteers.
The next category are show-off volunteers. They go where they can be seen and noticed. If you have a volunteer in your church and you want to know if they are a show-off volunteer, ask them to go and join the traffic department or the children's department. That will tell you everything. Show-off volunteers will not be found in small churches. They would rather be in the massive congregation where they can be noticed and seen.
Category five are seen volunteers. They will only serve well when the pastor can see them. They are good when they are being watched, but you don't know what happens when no one is looking.
Category four are personal convenience volunteers. They only serve when it is convenient for them. Everything has to be at their own convenience. If the pastor tells them: "You must wait to see me, you must not go anywhere," they will say: "Okay pastor, but after work, where have I gone?" He says he has to go because he needed to iron his clothes for work tomorrow.
Only when it is convenient for them do they serve. That's why when they say they want to see the pastor and the pastor says "Come tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.," they say: "Oh, I close from work at 4:30. I can't make you see you at 5." And you have been the one trying to see them for the past four months. When can they see? "Come 5 p.m. tomorrow." But by then they are still doing something else. Personal convenience volunteers make no sacrifice.
Category three are risk-free task volunteers. They only serve when it involves no risk. But the moment there is a risk that you have to take, they disappear. "Oh no, be me, no be me." All workers, we want to move to a new auditor, a new place of worship. Your contributions, your salary—you must put something down for God's building. "What? I put out my rent? Pastor, no, involve me. No, involve me."
Or: "All workers, we are not like everybody else in the congregation. From now on, all workers must make sure we arrive at service at 7:00 a.m. Even at 9:00 a.m. is too much for me. I'm still on stage six of my sleeping." Risk-free task volunteers run away the moment sacrifice is required.
Category two are negotiating or bargaining volunteers. They negotiate and bargain with the gift we have. That's why in Christianity today we have to pay people to play instruments in church—not because we feel the church must help them, but because they negotiate the payment. They will tell you: "You don't pay me one pound per hour? I can't play the keyboard for you. Yes, I'm a Christian, I'm born again, but..." We begin to compete against one another, even as churches and pastors.
Finally, category one—the journey-through faithful, loyal, committed, dedicated volunteers. They are very scarce. My prayer is that you and I will fall into that category. Many are called to be volunteers for God in demonstration of His power, but few are willing to go the whole journey.
I want you to identify where you belong. Which volunteer are you? Ask your neighbor: Which volunteer are you? There are many categories, but the highest calling is to be a true, genuine, sincere volunteer—one who is focused, who has vision, who knows where they are going, who knows what God has called them to do, and who is not moved by what they see around them, but moved by faith in God.
The busiest time at our central office in London is ordination time. That's when they receive the most petitions, the most letters—"Why doesn't my pastor obey me?" "My pastor doesn't like my face." But true volunteers are different. They are not seeking titles or positions. They are seeking to serve God with their whole heart.
Moses focused himself on what God wanted to do for Israel, not on enjoying the benefits of being the adopted prince of Egypt. True volunteers have vision. They know what God has called them to do. They are not moved by what they see around them. They are moved by the faith that they have in God.
So as you leave here today, I want to challenge you: Identify where you belong. Are you an absent volunteer? A show-off volunteer? A seen volunteer? A personal convenience volunteer? A risk-free task volunteer? A negotiating volunteer? Or are you a journey-through faithful volunteer who will serve God genuinely, sacrificially, and completely?
God has rewards for those who serve Him truly. Whatever you leave behind, He will give you here on earth and in heaven. The best is yet to come.
