It's Not All About Me: From Consumer to Contributor

Introduction

“We are a Church that prepares for Monday.” This slogan is part of the identity of Église Lille Métropole, and it gave its name to the current series: Good Monday. The week before, the Church had seen that worship is not the end point of the week but its starting point. We come to honor God, but also to be prepared, equipped and sent out.

In this second message, Daniel Pottier goes further with a title he knows is delicate: it's not all about me. “I asked security to barricade the exits,” he jokes. The substance, however, is serious: the heart of the Gospel is an invitation to move from consumer to contributor.

The pastor shows three things that Jesus produces in us: he frees us from a self-centered life, he makes other people's lives better through our presence, and he teaches us to contribute without letting ourselves be consumed. He ends with a word for those whose generosity has been exploited.

Outline of the Message

1. Gathered on Sunday, Scattered on Monday

• We have a calling in this world: to make a difference where God sends us.
• On Sunday, we are the gathered Church. On Monday, we are the scattered Church: in businesses, schools, families, neighborhoods, shops, hospitals.
• That is where faith must “take shape.” Faith is not theoretical, it must necessarily be embodied.
• There are two ways to go through life: by asking what life and other people can bring me, or by contributing to them.
• This theme has often been reserved for the church (moving from spectator to participant), but it goes beyond its walls. The sentence that sums it all up: “Wherever God places us, our presence should leave something better behind.”

2. Jesus Frees Us From a Self-Centered Life

• Philippians 2:3-5, as the pastor reads it: “Do nothing out of rivalry or vain desire to shine, but in humility consider others as better than yourselves. Let no one look only to his own interest, but let each of you think of the interests of others.” “Ouch, that hurts,” he comments.
• From the moment I know Jesus, I must be a contributor, one who seeks the interests of others.
• The goal is not to forget yourself. God also put us on earth to enjoy life, with healthy joys. The Christian is not called to live as a hermit.
• Paul does not say we must not take our own interests into account. He says not to consider only our own. It is a matter of balance.
• Our era pushes toward individualism, and even a Christian can slide down this slope little by little: “It's all about me.”

3. Not Becoming Customers of Life

• We live in a world of evaluation: a package delivered, a technician who came to the house, a restaurant, and right away a satisfaction survey.
• The pastor has nothing against these surveys if they help improve a service. The danger lies elsewhere: by dint of being treated this way, we can become “customers of life,” people who must be satisfied at all costs.
• It is a human tendency. We experience it in society, in business, in church (“Does the church meet my needs enough?”) and sometimes even toward God.
• Having needs is normal, and the Bible invites us to make them known to God (Philippians 4:6). The problem begins when we see nothing but our needs, when they become the center of our life, and even of other people's lives.
• Spiritual maturity begins the day we stop walking into every place as a person who must be satisfied.
• The perfect example is Jesus (Mark 10:45): the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom. He deserved honor, glory, to be served and cared for. He came to serve.

4. Jesus Makes Other People's Lives Better Through Our Presence

• Some teachings have presented the Gospel mainly as a faith that helps us live better: “Receive Jesus and you will be blessed beyond all you can imagine.” There is some truth in that, but the Gospel is not limited to that.
• “The Gospel is a faith that makes other people's lives better through our presence.” The pastor repeats it, because it is very important.
• He quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who resisted Nazism and died in detention: “The Church is only truly the Church when it exists for others.” It is a guiding principle of Église Lille Métropole.
• This sentence has shaped the organization of the Church: when a church is organized only for believers, churches become “clubs of little saints.” We need programs and visions that also bless people on the outside.
• This also applies to the scattered Church during the week: it does not exist only for Christians, it exists for others.

5. Joseph, a Blessing Wherever He Goes

• Joseph's story begins in Genesis 37. His context is dreadful: sold by his brothers to a caravan, resold in a slave market, he becomes the property of Potiphar, who uses him like equipment to maintain his house.
• Yet “from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, Yahweh blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake” (Genesis 39:5). A workplace is blessed by Joseph's presence alone.
• Thrown into prison for an injustice he did not commit, he wins the favor of the prison warden, who entrusts everything to him and “didn't look after anything that was under his hand” (Genesis 39:21-23). “How many bosses dream of having someone like him in their company?”
• In the government of Egypt, the country does better thanks to him and he saves it from famine. Wherever Joseph goes, something is organized, grows, is blessed, because Yahweh is with him.
• The question to ask ourselves: “What works better after I have passed through?” In my family, my company, my university or my high school, my church, my neighborhood.
• A place can be blessed because of your presence. The Spirit of God is not tied to a place but to a person: we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19), and wherever I go, I travel with the Trinity.
• Martin Luther, the reformer, summed it up this way: “God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.” Our good works are not there to impress God or to earn a favor, they are for our neighbor.

6. Contributing Without Being Consumed

• The pastor acknowledges it: this kind of message can be dangerous for those who are generous by nature and never know how to say no. They might hear it as “I must do even more.”
• Being a contributor does not mean answering every request, carrying every problem, accepting every injustice, never resting, or becoming everyone's solution.
• Being a contributor is done with discernment, with boundaries that you set yourself, without feeling guilty when you say no, and without constantly seeking other people's approval.
• Sometimes we don't dare say no for fear of being rejected, out of a need to be esteemed and loved. It is, he says, an identity problem.
• There are seasons: times when we have the strength to carry and to bless, others when we have less. We need to accept these seasons and respect our strength.
• “A contributor is someone who faithfully brings their part without ever putting themselves in danger, but above all without doing the other person's part.” Paul says it: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). Each one contributed, no one did everything.

7. To Those Whose Generosity Has Been Exploited

• While preparing this message, the pastor says he could not stop without addressing those who have been exploited because of their generosity, at work, in the family or in their involvement.
• Some have given a lot without receiving respect. Favors done became obligations, even entitlements. Some have carried responsibilities that were not theirs, and others took advantage of their difficulty in saying no.
• The consequences are many: exhaustion, guilt when saying no, a closed heart so as not to be hurt again, loss of one's rightful place.
• “Do not let those who abused your generosity rob you for good of the joy of contributing.” There is more happiness in giving than in receiving (Acts 20:35): this joy speaks of fulfillment, of a deep inner satisfaction.
• When we have reached that point, we need inner healing and restoration. The pastor invites those who recognize themselves to come forward for prayer. He also thinks of those who raise their children alone and those who have been betrayed by a friend.
• In prayer, he evokes the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37): God makes the sinews, the flesh and the breath return there, and an army rises. He proclaims a new momentum “starting Monday” to be a blessing where God has placed each person.

Key Takeaways

• Worship is not the end point of the week, it is a starting point: on Monday, the Church is scattered where God sends it.
• The heart of the Gospel is an invitation to move from consumer to contributor, without ceasing to enjoy life in a healthy way.
• Like Joseph, you can be a blessing even in a difficult context, because the Spirit of God lives in you.
• Being a contributor is lived with discernment and with boundaries: do your part, and do not do the other person's part.
• If your generosity has been exploited, God wants to lift you up so that you find the joy of giving again.

Personal Application

1. In what area do you behave like a “customer of life”: toward your work, your church, or even toward God?
2. What works better after you have passed through your family, your company, your place of study or your neighborhood?
3. Where has God placed you this Monday so that your presence leaves something better behind?
4. Who or what do you struggle to say no to, and what does that reveal about your need to be approved of?
5. What season are you in right now, and concretely, what is your part, without taking the part of others?

Verses Cited

• Philippians 2:3-5
• Mark 10:45
• Philippians 4:6
• Genesis 37
• Genesis 39:5
• Genesis 39:21-23
• 1 Corinthians 6:19
• 1 Corinthians 3:6
• Acts 20:35
• Ezekiel 37:1-10

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean to move from consumer to contributor?

For Daniel Pottier, there are two ways to go through life: by asking what life and other people can bring us, or by contributing to them. The Gospel invites us to the second, wherever God places us, and not only at church. His summary sentence: wherever God places us, our presence should leave something better behind.

Who said “The Church is only truly the Church when it exists for others”?

It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who resisted Nazism. Daniel Pottier explains that this sentence is a guiding principle of Église Lille Métropole: the Church must not become a club, it also exists for those outside, on Sunday as on Monday.

Does being a contributor mean saying yes to everything?

No. Being a contributor does not mean answering every request, accepting every injustice, or never resting. It is lived with discernment, with boundaries, without guilt when you say no, and while respecting the season you are in. As Paul says: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Do your part, and do not do the other person's part.