Glad Someone Else Is Here
1 Corinthians 9:18 - What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
Someone is sitting in your usual seat. You find another one, but now you’re closer to the speakers and the music is too loud. The room feels cold. The opening song is unfamiliar, and you wonder why we can’t sing something old or something everybody knows. By the time the sermon begins, you’ve already collected several things to mention on the ride home. Meanwhile, a few rows away, someone is attending church for the first time in years. They almost stayed in the car and they’re wondering whether God could want anything to do with them after the life they’ve been living. You’re in the same room, but you’re having very different mornings.
Paul helps us reconsider what makes a morning worthwhile. After explaining his right to financial support and his decision to forgo it in Corinth, he asks, “What then is my reward?” His answer is the opportunity to present the gospel free of charge. He finds satisfaction in making Christ known, even when doing so means giving up something he could rightly receive. Paul obviously isn’t talking about church seating or musical preferences, but his choice does reveal a priority that reaches into those ordinary moments: he values another person’s opportunity to hear the gospel more than the full exercise of his own rights.
What might happen if that priority shaped the way we arrived at church? Because it’s easy to become so occupied with what we would change that we barely notice whom we could serve. We complain that the parking lot is crowded without considering the people represented by those cars. We complain that nobody greeted us while walking past someone we could have welcomed ourselves. We grow impatient with a crying child without noticing the exhausted parent who made it to church after a difficult morning. We wish the pastor would move past something we already know while someone a few seats away is beginning to understand it for the first time. We rush toward familiar friends and leave the person standing alone to find their own way.
Our attention can become so fixed on our own experience that another person’s need barely registers. But the gospel we gather to hear draws our attention outward again. Jesus gave Himself for us when we had nothing with which to repay Him. We’re here because He has been merciful to us, and the person a few rows away needs that same mercy. Perhaps they’re hearing that forgiveness is available through Christ and wondering whether it could include them. Perhaps the familiar truth we’re ready to move past is the very truth they’ll remember all week. We can’t see everything God is doing as His Word is heard. But we can be glad someone is here to hear it!
At Bayside, a Joyful Worshipper says, “I glorify God by delighting in Who He is and what He does.” That delight grows as we remember His grace toward us and consider what He may be doing in others. An unfamiliar song may give someone words for a prayer they couldn’t express. A passage of Scripture may confront a destructive habit or bring hope to someone who feels beyond forgiveness. Their opportunity to encounter Christ is part of the goodness of this morning. And Jesus can make us attentive to those opportunities. When irritation begins narrowing our attention, we can bring it to Him and ask for His love to shape our response. Then we can introduce ourselves, make room in a conversation, or walk a confused parent to the children’s check-in area. Your usual seat may be occupied this morning, but the person sitting there will need to hear about Jesus. You can be glad they came.
Head: Someone else hearing the gospel is a reason for me to rejoice.
Heart: What do my Sunday complaints reveal about what I expect church to provide for me?
Hands: When you notice something you would usually complain about this morning, pause and look for someone you can help.
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, thank You for welcoming me into Your family through Your death and resurrection. Forgive me for becoming so occupied with my preferences that I overlook the people around me. Give me gratitude for Your grace and attentiveness to someone who needs help hearing about You. Amen.”
-PK