Serving and Spiritual Gifts (2)

Well good morning Forest Glen, my name is Dan Osborn, one of the Pastors over at the Near North location. It’s good to be with you all again. If you have a bible, go ahead and open with me Romans, chapter 12. It’s on page 811 in the house bible. .

Only at FG

We’re going to be doing texting this morning, so if you have any questions that come up from the message, we want to give you a chance to ask them! Really no question is off limits. We think its important to be able to talk about difficult questions in community! The way to ask you question, is with you phone, in the message section you have to write ‘AskFG’ the write out your question. Send it to the number 62953. You’ll know it worked because you’ll get a text back from us.

What’s the difference between volunteering and serving?

We live in a volunteer culture.

Think about it for a moment, volunteering is just about everywhere you look. It’s a popular thing to do right now! In the workplace, a fast growing trend in companies is something called VTO—Volunteer Time Off—time set aside for you to volunteer in your community. You can volunteer at a growing number of local organizations depending on your particular interests. Volunteer at PAWS for animal lovers, Boys and Girls Club—for kids, World Relief—for refugees, CPS for parents. Homeless Shelters, teaching english, tutoring with underprivileged students and the list goes on!

Volunteer at PAWS for animal lovers, Boys and Girls Club—for kids, World Relief—for refugees, CPS for parents. Homeless Shelters, teaching english, tutoring with underprivileged students and the list goes on!

On top of that there are now entire organizations and companies specifically designed to connect interested Volunteers with Opportunities.

One Good Deed or Chicago Cares

And on one level it makes sense that Volunteering is popular, doesn’t it? Everybody has their own reasons for it and who doesn’t love that feeling of contributing to something bigger than yourself…of helping someone who might be able to help themselves.

There is a lot of good happening in our city because people are deciding to roll up their sleeves and volunteer time and skills to meet very real needs in their communities.

Friends, volunteering is good.

But again, what’s the difference between volunteering and serving?

PAUSE

And maybe you’ve never thought about it before.

At first, there probably doesn’t seem like much of a difference, does there?

In fact, what we do when we’re volunteering or serving probably looks exactly the same.

And we use both words pretty often, right? Serving or Volunteering.

But let me ask you a question. What is the difference between volunteering and serving? It’s interesting isn’t it? I mean most of the situations where you would use the world Volunteer, it would be pretty easy to substitute the word serve, right? Like you can volunteer for a project…you can volunteer on a team or serve on a team…you can volunteer for a project or you can serve the city.

Most of the time when we use the word volunteer, you could easily substitute the word serve, right? Like you can volunteer for a project or serve on a project…you can volunteer on a team or serve on a team…you can volunteer in the city or you can serve the city.

In fact, what we do when we’re volunteering or serving probably looks exactly the same.

BUT you can’t always do it the other way around. You usually can’t substitute the word volunteer for serve?

Think about it.

For example, guys I would suggest that when you talk about caring for you wife, you don’t describe yourself as a volunteer! Right?!

We’d never say that! And it’s funny, right? But play that out in a number of different ways with friends and family members...

Why?

There’s something about those closer and deeper relationships that makes the word “Volunteer” just sound a little cold, right? And don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying that volunteering doesn’t come from a place of genuine concern!

Even though many of us have A TON of volunteer opportunities and experiences...We rarely talk about volunteering when we’re doing something for someone we love.

But when you really stop to think about, there’s this subtle, but profound difference between volunteering and serving.

See, we rarely talk about volunteering for someone we love.

We rarely talk about volunteering when were talking about doing something for someone we love.

That’s when we serve.

And like I said, serving and volunteering may look exactly the same on the surface.

And like I said, serving and volunteering may look exactly the same on the surface. Both Volunteering and Serving can be defined as looking to the needs of others and working to meet those needs…but the difference lies not in WHAT we do, but HOW and WHY we do it!

Volunteering opportunities are all over the place in Chicago.

Define what I mean by serving. Serving is seeing and caring for the needs of the others.

For the first two years, it did not seem like much changed with her…she needed help with reading or remembering where she’d put things…and eventually she lost the ability to drive.

Then things started to go down hill—quickly. Over the next year, my grandma lost her ability to do anything for herself…and for the last 8 years of her life, she couldn’t take care of herself anymore than my 9 month old daughter could.

But for 8 years, I watched my grandpa serve and care for his wife…for every need he could see she had. He bought all the medical equipment he needed so she could stay at home with him. He bathed, clothed, and fed her…you do the math and that’s almost 3,000 days…9,000 meals…most of the time by himself…and all this for his wife who could do nothing in return for him…could not say thank you.

Both of them do the SAME TWO THINGS:

And I remember finally asking him, ‘How do you keep doing all this?’ I mean he was in his late 70’s at this point…and the family wasn’t sure how long he could keep all this up.

And I’ll never forget his response. He said, ‘She’s my wife—I do this because I love her.’.

We’re in the middle of our series called, The Glory of God on Display, talking about the church. And the last few weeks we’ve started to focus in on the life of the church…or what this community of people is like. We talked about Partnership—partners are the people who make up the community. We talked about small groups which was the way we experience the community together, but this morning we’re going to look at what we do in community together.

They SEE THE NEEDS

AND

at least try to MEET THE NEEDS of others.

But the difference lies not in WHAT we do, but HOW and WHY we do it!

This morning, we’re going to be talking about serving in the church! And my goal is that, by God’s grace, many of us would move from the exhausting work of volunteering, to the life giving work of serving.

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to .

Let me pray and we’ll get started.

PRAY

Rising Action

The Church as the Body—.

The Body.

The way Paul talks about serving here is interesting because he doesn’t just say, “You should serve and here’s why!” Instead, he uses a picture to talk about how we interact with each other in the church—that the Church is like a body.

And in body, there are different parts that serve different functions. His point is that as a follower of Jesus you have a role..a function in the church AND you have been gifted by God to serve in that role!

See, when we looked at Partnership in , Paul, was talking about the Church as the Body of Christ, but his goal was to emphasize the unity of the partners, or members of the Body of Christ.

But here in , when he talks about the body, he’s emphasizing the roles or functions that each member of the Body has. His point is that as a follower of Jesus you have a role to play here in the community AND you have been gifted by God to serve in that role!

In other words, as a follower of Jesus, you’ve been gifted to:

see the needs

and

meet the needs

of the Body…the church

We have been gifted to serve.

Makes sense? Good. Let’s look at how he does this.

See the Needs ()

Look with me starting at v. 3 , “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more HIGHLY than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

The first thing he says is that we are gifted to see the needs in the body.

Now, Paul’s going to tease out the different roles we play in the body and how we care for the needs of the body, but what we’ve got to see it that it’s essential for Paul to start this conversation by talking about the way we see ourselves—with sober judgment.

Why?

Because how we see ourselves necessarily affects how we see the needs of others, doesn’t it? I mean, how easy is it to see ourselves as having a more important role or making a bigger/better contribution to the community than someone else! And we really never flat out say that—we usually just talk about how busy we are…but we know, if we’re honest with ourselves…busyness is SOMETIMES just code for it’s not worth my time.

But when we do that, it has a devastating affect on how we serve! Because when we think to highly of ourselves, like Paul is warning against here, we FOCUS on ourselves and fail to SEE THE NEEDS of anyone else.

I know that because I do a whole more often than I’d like to admit!

Just the other day, I got up really early to finish working on a sermon and my daughter woke up about 2 hours earlier than normal…so she starts crying and everything, and you know what my first thought was? Man, how does Courtney NOT hear this?! She knows I’m working on a sermon! I wanted to be able to work, think, and write in quiet because there’s this belief…this mindset that what I do is more important than what she does! And AS I WAS ON MY WAY TO WAKE UP COURTNEY TO ‘DEAL WITH IT’…God gently reminded me that I needed rethink what I was about to do and instead of waking up Courtney so that she could serve me, this was actually an opportunity for me to serve her.

I wanted to be able to work, think, and write in quiet because there’s this belief…this mindset that what I do is more important than what she does!

And it was AS I WAS ON MY WAY TO WAKE UP COURTNEY TO ‘DEAL WITH IT’…God gently reminded me that I needed rethink what I was about to do and instead of waking up Courtney so that she could serve me, I needed to change what I was doing to serve her.

And you see problem is that we have this subtle belief that our role is more important and it quietly prevents us from serving one another because we end up only seeing OUR needs!

And we end up seeing our selves not as the ones who should serve but as the ones who should be served.

But here’s why Paul is bring up this point—that we not think too highly of ourselves.

Why?

Because that’s not how a body works.

Look with me at v. 4. “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.”

You see, Paul says this is how the church is made up…of people who have different functions, just like in a body. And each body part has a different function, not a better one, just different.

It means each person has something different to contribute to the body.

That means if you’re sitting here, as a follower of Jesus, God has equipped YOU to serve in this community in a unique way? That’s amazing. All of us want to be doing something fulfilling, right? Friends, there’s something right here in this community that God has for you to do.

All of us, just like in a body have a different role to play.

That plays itself out in a bunch of different way just on a Sunday morning here. You can walk in and be greeted by someone, grab some coffee, maybe you drop the kids off at the loop, the kids ministry…do your thing here and not even consider that you can only do those things because someone is serving you!

So before Paul can even tell us how we meet the needs of others and serve in the body, he’s first got make sure that we see the needs of others in the body! And says you do that by, ‘Being careful not to think you are more important than you are!’ And it’s when we do that, that we begin to turn our attention away from ourselves and see the needs of those around us.

There is a mindset that we’re supposed to have in the way that we relate to each other. It’s really this idea of HUMILITY And he’s saying, ‘Be careful not to think you are more important than you are!’

It doesn’t matter what your role is…what your job is…how much money you make…how busy you are...as a follower of Jesus serving is not beneath you.

You see, Paul is saying there’s a mindset that we’re supposed to have in the way that we relate to each other. It’s really this idea of HUMILITY And he’s saying, ‘Be careful not to think you are more important than you are!’

And what Paul’s saying in v. 3 is when we begin to turn our attention away from ourselves and recognize that we are part of a larger body, THEN we begin to see the needs of those around us.

And only then can we ask, ‘How do I meet those needs?’

Because when we think too highly of ourselves, it’s a whole lot easier to look at something as not my job.

Jesus did not look to his own needs, but looked to ours. This might be a place to go to the Gospel.

Because that’s not how a body works!

But when you keep reading here, it becomes clear that Paul is specifically talking about thinking this way because of what we do. Keep reading with me in v. 4, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

You see, each body part serves a different purpose, but it does what it does for the sake of the body!

And this is where Paul begins to talk about how we meet the needs of others. Look with me at v. 4, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function...”

so each one of us has a way in which we can uniquely

“...so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

He uses the body to emphasize the role we each play in the body. So I have

Look with me at what Paul says in . It says this, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

You see, each body part has a different purpose, but that doesn’t mean a better purpose!

1 Peter 4:10 ESV

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:

Keep reading with me at of v. 6, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” This is where we get the idea of serving in our passage! It’s when we’re using the gifts we’ve been given by God that we are able to meet the needs of the body!

We’re going to be looking again at Paul’s metaphor for the church as a body.

It means each person has something different to contribute to the body. But what’s so profound about this is that in serving the body, we are fulfilling our purpose in the body! We’re doing what God has equipped us to do!

1 Peter 4:10 ESV

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:

The point is that we put into use what God has gifted each one of us with! And all of these different functions are ways in which we serve the Body! It’s not a matter of if we’ve been gifted, but what we’ve been gifted to do!

Do you know that if you’re sitting here, as a follower of Jesus, God has equipped YOU for to serve in this community in a unique way? That’s amazing. All of us want to be doing something fulfilling, right? Friends, there’s something right here in this community that God has for you to do.

And before we even look at how God gifts people differently, we have to see that Paul’s point here in is that

It’s obvious, I know, but just like an arm’s best contribution is to the body…in working with and supporting the body, the same thing is true of our gifts! It’s as we are using them, not for ourselves, but for the body, that we are serving the body!

All of us, just like in a body have a different role to play.

Meet the Needs ()

Look with me at v. 4. And this is where Paul begins to talk about how we meet the needs of others. “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another”

You see, each body part has a different purpose, not a better purpose, just different. And Paul says this is how the church is made up…of people who have different roles, just like in a body.

It means each person has something different to contribute to the body. But what’s so profound about this is that in meeting the needs of others, in serving the body, we are fulfilling our purpose in the body! We’re doing what God has equipped us to do!

Do I have anything about who has spiritual gifts?

All of us, just like in a body have a different role to play.

Remember our big idea this morning is that followers of Jesus have been gifted to serve, and here is where he goes into more detail about how we’ve been gifted. And he begins to talk about what are called Spiritual Gifts.

But that begins up the next question. How do we MEET THE NEEDS of the Body.

Look with me at the first half of v. 6. “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them...”

As followers of Jesus each of us has a specific role in the body, and here’s where Paul begins to tell how we MEET THE NEEDS of others and serve the body.

He says we serve by using the gifts we’ve been given. And he brings up the idea of “Spiritual Gifts”.

What are Spiritual Gifts?

What are spiritual gifts? One author put it this way and I think this is a really helpful little definition of Spiritual Gifts,

What are spiritual gifts? They are those things that as followers of Jesus, we are empowered by God to do. One author put it this way, “A spiritual gift is a god-given ability for service.” It’s the idea that as followers of Jesus, we have all been gifted by God with any ability to serve the church in some capacity!

“A spiritual gift is a god-given ability for service.”

And this captures really well what Paul is talking about; that God is the source of the gift or ability AND the purpose of it is for serving the rest of the body.

As followers of Jesus, all of us have all been gifted to serve!

And if you look at vv. 6-8, Paul specifically mentions 7 of these gifts or abilities.

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Prophecy—which, let me just say, doesn’t really mean the ability to know the future. Yes, all throughout the bible—especially in the Old Testament, we see the Prophets telling God’s people beforehand what God was going to do…but that was only a part of their role! You see, Prophecy has SO MUCH more to do with who you’re speaking FOR rather then just what we’re saying. That’s why at Park, in part, we see the sermon as something more of a prophetic moment in the life of the church today because God uses His word through the preacher to speak to us today!

Service—which is interesting isn’t it? This whole passage is about serving, and he specifically calls out serving as a spiritual gift.

Service

Teaching

Exhortation which means a ‘calling to action’....

Exhortation which is a Call to Action.

Contributing—which has to do with our resources and and finances and Paul specifically says that gift shows itself in our generosity.

Leading and

Mercy

And what he’s saying is that Followers of Jesus in the church have been given the ability to to serve the body in unique ways!

Now, this isn’t an exhaustive list here in …there’s actually not place in the NT that gives a complete list of all the spiritual gifts. But if were you were to collect all the different place the bible talked about them, you’d get a list like this:

Now, this isn’t the only place Paul talks about spiritual gifts. There are really 4 different places in the Bible we see spiritual gifts talked about: , , , .

Serving is low, but it’s in serving

You’ll notice that none of these lists is exactly the same. There’s some overlap especially between and , but they’re not the same. Part of the reason, I think, is because Paul’s not really concerned with giving us a comprehensive list of all the Spiritual gifts…what he really wants us to see is that with whatever gift we have, we are using it in serving the Body! That’s why he only talks about Spiritual Gifts when he talks about the church! They’re not for us individually, but for us in community.

What’s interesting when you look at all thNow we can’t talk about each one of these specifically, but the point is, God gives the different members of the body different gifts. That means the way we will serve best will look different from person to person! That’s why he goes on to list a couple different examples. This isn’t an exhaustive list here in …there’s actually not place in the NT that gives a complete list of them. If were you were to collect all the different place the bible talked about spiritual gifts, you’d get a list like this. [SLIDE].

But what’s common between all the different places the NT talks about Spiritual gifts is that it’s always talking about how we use them in the Body. It’s the idea that as followers of Jesus, we use what God has given us, not for our selves, but for the body.

The implication of that, though, is that we know what spiritual gifts we have.

So how do you find out?

Paul only talks about spiritual gifts in the context of serving. They are not given for our benefit, but for the church—that we might use them for the benefit of others.

Now let me just say this, knowing your spiritual gift doesn’t therefore mean you can always say ‘no’ to serving opportunities just because they don’t fit your gift. You can’t walk into the sanctuary here and say, wow someone with the spiritual gift of service should come in here and clean this up! Go pick it up yourself! The reality is that followers of Jesus are ALL called to do many of these things

How do I know what gifts I have?

That brings up another question for us, how do I know what Gifts I have? Let me give you two ways.

Start Serving Somewhere!

The first way is just to start serving somewhere.

I was having lunch this week with a guy who serves regularly at Park—every time I see him he’s very welcoming, always has a smile on and is eager to connect with folks who are new to Park or just people he hadn’t met yet. And so I was asking him about his experience serving at Park as a greeter and his response really surprised me. He said, ‘Dan, you know I’m really an introvert—not too out going. And I never would have just signed up to greet people at the door if it weren’t for my wife! But as I started to serve in this way, something came alive in me! I began to love welcoming people!”

And it wasn’t until he began serving that he saw how God had given the gift of hospitality!

Joe Thorn, a Pastor in St. Charles says when you’re thinking about where you’re gifted, ask yourselves these 4 questions:

What are my strengths?

Look at the things that you are already good at doing? Those things are necessarily your spiritual gifts, but they may be a hint or an indication in the right direction!

What are my Passions/Interests?

Ask you self what you particularly find joy in doing! Now, that by itself doesn’t tell you it’s a Spiritual Gift, but is there something you currently do or desire to do that is particularly life giving!

Where is God currently using me?

Spiritual Gifts are not just the things that you’re good at and enjoy doing, but you also look at how God is using those things in the lives of others!

What do others say?

Talk with your small group, or other folks who know you well ask what they see in you. In fact ask them the three questions and see how they’d answer them for you!

Spiritual Gifts Test

Here’s a second way to find your spiritual gifts. Take a Spiritual Gifts test. I suggest Giftstest.com. It’s a test that goes through 66 questions and based on your answers it will indicate your top 5 spiritual gifts. Now you know how these tests work, they’re definitely NOT perfect, but they are a good way to begin the conversation!

The point is with both of these ways, they help us understand how God has wired us to function best in the body!

Another way is just to start serving somewhere.

I LOVE hearing stories like that! But you see, point is he NEVER really would have known he had the gift of hospitality if he hadn’t just started doing it at some point! It was through serving that God began to make it clear how he had actually gifted this guy!

And again, the point of Spiritual gifts is not just knowing which ones we have, but knowing them so we can USE THEM to meet the needs of others to serve the Body!

Are these the only Spiritual Gifts?

Paul only talks about spiritual gifts in the context of serving. They are not given for our benefit, but for the church!

I don’t think these are the only spiritual gifts.

Should I only serve where I’m gifted?

Here’s the third question that comes up with Spiritual Gifts: should I only serve where I’m gifted?

No.

Knowing your gift isn’t a free pass to say ‘NO’ in serving anywhere that doesn’t exactly fit your gifting. God often calls us to serve in things we may not be gifted in as a way to help us grow!

In fact, what’s interesting is that while the bible teaches that every Follower of Jesus has some specific spiritual gifts, we’re ALL called to do a lot of these different things! Let me show you what I mean on the screen behind mean: On the left are specific spiritual gifts in the New Testament, but on the right are general commands given to ALL followers of Jesus.

Yes, some of you have the gift of Service, but we are ALL called to “serve one another” in ! That means if you walk in the sanctuary here and you see some garbage on the floor…the chairs messed up…we don’t go looking for someone who has the gift of service, we come and pick it up ourselves!

Some you have the gift of giving and you are VERY generous with your finances, but says ALL of us are called to give and be generous!

Some of us have the gift of evangelism, of sharing our faith well, but just because you don’t have it doesn’t mean you don’t share your faith at all! and reminds us that ALL of us are called to participate in the telling people about the Good News of Jesus!

Knowing our gifts helps us know where we function best in serving the body!

Climax

And you see, when we put all this together, what we see in vv. 3-8 here is that as followers of Jesus, we are called to see the needs AND meet the needs of of others…this is what it means to serve the Body! But even more than that, we have each been given a role in the body, a way we best serve the body. Friends, what we can’t miss is that as followers of Jesus we have been gifted to serve. If there’s anything I want you to walk away think about it, it this! God has gifted each one of us to serve the body and in doing that we find joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction in serving! Doing the very thing we’ve been gifted to do!

And let’s be honest, being a part of a community like that is really what we want, isn’t? To be part of a community where we don’t need to focus on ourselves, where we are genuinely freed to see and meet the needs of others because others are doing the same for us? At the heart of it, this is what serving is all about! We serve to this end! It’s when we come into this place with our eyes open…looking for the ways we can care for each other…provide for each other! And in this kind of community, serving is not exhausting, serving beautiful! Serving is LIFE GIVING because for followers of Jesus we are at our best...fulfilling our purpose, thriving in our work when we’re serving!

And it’s as we are genuinely serving according to our giftedness,

Friends, as followers of Jesus, we are gifted to serve!

Falling Action

And yet if we’re honest, there’s something about that vision of serving that actually sounds draining.

Now, hear me on this. I’m not trying to attack volunteering! Volunteering is a good thing

Serving is often in the little areas of life, the unseen ways in which we love and care for one another!

Why?

It’s because we often confuse serving with volunteering.

Husbands, you are serving your wife well when you get up and refill her water.

Let me ask you again, what’s the difference between serving and volunteering. And here’s where we’ll begin to see how radically different they really are.

It’s when you get up to get the kids before your spouse does.

We don’t have this rule in our house: whoever cooks doesn’t clean. Why? Because it’s not about what is done for us anymore!

Think about it for a moment…volunteering is voluntary! Doesn’t mean it’s not hard…it just means you don’t have to do it! Volunteering is what we do with the excess of our time! It’s when we find something compelling enough that also works with our schedule, when we have some flexibility!

Serving is low, but it’s in serving that we actually demonstrate the Gospel.

And so you may volunteer in the Loop once a month—because it’s convenient for you right now. Or maybe it’s on the connections team right now because that’s what works for your schedule right now. Next month, who knows. But for whatever reason, you know you’re volunteering when being involved here feels morel like filling a slot than using a your gift!

We are volunteers when we know we can just

When we’re volunteers, in a very real sense, WE are still in charge because WE decide when and where we’re going to do it.

And again, I’m not saying that Volunteering is BAD! But think about it for a moment…volunteering is voluntary! You volunteer your time out of the excess of your time! Doesn’t mean it’s not hard…it just means you don’t have to do it! But at the end of he day, WE are the ones making the choice! When we are volunteers, in a very real sense, WE are still in charge because YOU are the one who decided to do it. And you see, the reason this is so damaging in the church is because we can hardly see the difference!

The sinister side of volunteering is that it can easily mascaraed as concern for others, while at the same time it actually serves ourselves. It might not be true of everybody, but perhaps the reason you post of FaceBook what we’ve been up to in our free time is because we really want some kind of recognition for what we’ve done! keeping us in control! Volunteering will have you come and give your time but only when you have some extra!

You know you’re volunteering when being involved here feels more like filling a slot than using a your gift!

But why volunteer at all?

Everyone has different reasons. Because we want to be apart of something…because we want to give back…because we want to make a difference. Whatever the reason is, the bottom line is we’re looking for some kind of fulfillment in what we’re doing.

But there is a sinister side of volunteering [PAUSE] because it can easily mascaraed as concern for others, while in reality…deep down…we’re actually serving ourselves. You see we want something from volunteering…we want some kind of acceptance or recognition! It might not be true of everybody, but perhaps your motive for posting on FaceBook what we’ve been up to in our free time! Because we need some kind of recognition for what we’ve done!

See the real reason why volunteering can be so draining is because it will always ask for more…to give more…to do more…but it will never actually it will never actually satisfy!

And friends, eventually all our volunteering will be draining because it will always ask for more…Volunteering will always call you to give more…to do more…but it will never actually it will never actually satisfy!

At the end of the day, volunteering can only call you to come and give of your time and resources.

The reason we get stuck in volunteering and NOT serving is because deep down, we know serving will actually require even more!

You see, ultimately serving will not just call us to give our time…it will not just call us to give our resources…serving requires much more than that

And perhaps thats more than we’re willing to give.

But the real reason we can often fail to serve is because we forget what being a servant will first require of us. Look with me at v. 1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

It can be life-giving because as a follower of Jesus, serving not a duty, but an act of Worship!

You see, right before Paul talks about the church as the Body and they way we work together, Paul gives us the reason why were able to work together like this in the first place.

And this is a striking picture, isn’t it? That word sacrifice is taken right from the Old Testament when it talks about animal sacrifices—the animals that would be killed as a symbol of God’s forgiveness towards the people. It’s only when I’ve first come before God and have said,

For us to know our gifts, have an opportunity to use our gifts, and then do nothing is sin. It’s being disobedient to God’s calling on your life in the Body!

Serving is often in the little areas of life, the unseen ways in which we love and care for one another!

Husbands, you are serving your wife well when you get up and refill her water.

It’s when you get up to get the kids before your spouse does.

We don’t have this rule in our house: whoever cooks doesn’t clean. Why? Because it’s not about what is done for us anymore!

Serving is low, but it’s in serving that we actually demonstrate the Gospel.

Story of my grandpa might be a good fit here.

Look with me at v. 1 because this how Paul starts off this whole section about serving in the body…he tells us what it requires. “I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God...”

Serving calls us to give our very lives!

PAUSE

Why?

PAUSE

Gospel

Because that’s how God first...served...us!

It’s the story of the Gospel!

You see the story of Gospel reminds us that Jesus served us by giving His life for us!

While you and I had focused on ourselves, neglecting the needs of other, Jesus showed us what true service looks like!

The gospel reminds us that…Jesus became a servant on our behalf as he took our sin and shame…our selfishness and obsession with control…everything that stood in the way of our relationship with God…and he took these things upon himself as if they were his own!

See he because of our sin and brokenness, Jesus had every reason to simply look past us! But to demonstrate His love for us, he died on the cross for our sin

We give our lives for others because Jesus first gave his life for us! That’s the only reason this vision of serving in the community is possible! We can’t do it on our own strength, we will get caught up in this endless cycle of volunteering, not even realizing that it will be antithetical to the call of the gospel on our lives! We do not serve in order to earn anything from God, but as a reflection of our worship to God! The death-to-self life can only be achieved in the Gospel!

And yet because He lived the perfect life…the life we should have but failed to live…being obedient to all of what God commanded…in His death on the cross he first presented himself as a perfect sacrifice…holy and acceptable before God…IN OUR PLACE, FOR OUR SIN!

But because he rose again from the dead, the hope of the Gospel is that when we, by faith, trust in HIS work, we actually find LIFE!

Friends, because Jesus first served us and sacrificed himself we don’t need to fear serving others, being living sacrifices ourselves! But look how Paul ends v. 1…we present ourselves as living sacrifices “…as our spiritual worship.” You see, in the Gospel, serving will cost us our lives, but it does not lead to our death…it leads us to Worship!

Friends because of the gospel, this grand vision of serving in the community is not exhausting, but serving is life giving!

shows the the model for the Gospel here as Jesus did not consider HIS needs but ours, and then took ation to meet our needs. In this He first served us!

And perhaps thats more than we’re willing to give.

Jesus did not just volunteer his time, but served us by giving his life!

This idea of serving is NOT possible until we see that in the Gospel we live a death-to-self life!

Resolution

The question here will be how does the gospel help us serve differently?

Finally Paul begins to address the question, ‘How do we serve?’ Remember our big idea this morning is that sacrificial serving is our act of Worship, so it makes sense that Paul would start to get more practical here. And he begins to talk about what are called Spiritual Gifts. What are spiritual gifts? They are those things that as followers of Jesus, we are empowered by God to do. Charles Ryrie, who is considered one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century define Spiritual gifts this way: “A spiritual gift is a god-given ability for service.” It’s the idea that as followers of Jesus, we have all been gifted by God with any ability to serve the church in some capacity!

Look with me at v. 6. It says this, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Now, this isn’t the only place Paul talks about spiritual gifts. There are really 4 different places in the Bible we see spiritual gifts talked about: , , , . But none of these passages are exactly the same! I’m not sure Paul is super concerned with giving us a complete list of spiritual gifts…because if that’s what he wanted to do, then you’d expect to find the full list everywhere he talked about them. But what is common between all the different places the NT talks about Spiritual gifts is that it’s always talking about how we use them to

Spiritual Gifts

So we can rejoice and celebrate that as followers of Jesus, we have been gifted to do SO MUCH MORE than volunteer! We’ve been gifted by God to SEE THE NEEDS and MEET THE NEEDS of others! We have been gifted by God to give our lives! We have been gifted to serve! And friends, how amazing, that as we serve, even in what may feel mundane—it’s a way we worship!

Paul only talks about spiritual gifts in the context of serving. They are not given for our benefit, but for the church!

How do you know if you’re volunteering or serving?

That as your welcoming folks here on a Sunday morning, that is your Worship!

We are all called to carry one another’s burdens, but what looks like for each of us might be different! It might mean that one of us with the gift of administration first steps in to set up the Meal-Train. The one with the gift of mercy steps in to sit with you in your pain. The one with teaching gift may be able to help us process through this season. Don’t you see that while we’re all called to serve, it might look different for each one of us!

When we live like Paul says in v. 1—as living sacrifices…we realize that we aren’t not just giving our time because we’ve already given our lives!

As you change a diaper in the Loop, that is your Worship!

How do you know if you’re volunteering or serving? Ask yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?’

As you make coffee for everyone, that is your worship!

Friends, in the body of Christ, we need to be more than a volunteer, we need to be servants.

As you set up a classroom, that is your worship!

As you click through slides, that is your worship!

As you play in the band, that is your worship!

As you teach in the Kids ministry, that is your worship!

As you are leading your Small Group, that is your worship!

Friends, because of the Gospel serving does not have to be draining, it is our worship!

Application:

So what does this all mean for you? Let me close with this!

Let me close with this!

I know that there are some of you here this morning that just need to hear the words, ‘Thank You’. Because you’ve been faithfully working here with sacrificially serving this community—maybe even for years! And you’ve been doing a lot! You’ve been showing up early, staying late, opening your homes, and being incredibly generous with your time and resources. Perhaps you need to be reminded that your service has been your act of Worship. Thank you.

And there’s others of you that need to hear something else. You need to hear ‘Join Us’. And what I hope you’ve seen is that serving is not something we do out of excess, it’s not even something we do because of what we get out of it, but sacrificial serving is our act of worship. And if you’re not apart of that right now, then you’re missing something! You are neglecting what God has specifically equipped YOU to do! Join one of the serving teams here!

Serving will look different depending on what season of life you’re in. Sometimes the issue we have is that we need to learn to say NO to things rather than just saying yes! It’s

Think about the opportunities to serve in this community! Having two services means that never have to miss a full gathering!

For some of you, your next step is take out your phones right now and text ‘ParkServe’ to 62953. It will take you to a form, you can fill it out and maybe even start serving NEXT week!

Friends, volunteering is nice, but as followers of Jesus, we have been gifted to serve…a serving is beautiful. And you see when we serve we put the Glory of God on Display.

Serving and Spiritual Gifts (2)

Introduction—Final

Rising Action

Rising Action

The Church as the Body—.

The Body.

See the Needs ()

Meet the Needs ()

What are Spiritual Gifts?

How do I know what gifts I have?

Start Serving Somewhere!

What are my strengths?

What are my Passions/Interests?

Where is God currently using me?

What do others say?

Spiritual Gifts Test

Spiritual Gifts Test

Are these the only Spiritual Gifts?

Should I only serve where I’m gifted?

Climax

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Falling Action

Gospel

Resolution

Spiritual Gifts

Application: