Romans 12:1-8
God has given each of you gifts from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another (1 Pet 4:10, NLT)."
For most of my life, I have had a deep longing to be a part of a Christ-centered community in which those things that usually divide human beings from other human beings will be broken down and we will be able to live in unity and peace. Over the years, I’ve become convinced that this kind of unified and peace-filled community will never be brought about better laws, political maneuvering or military force but only by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ operating within local churches like we long to be here at LAC. Today, I seek to show you that one key to this kind of unity across racial, generational, gender, socio-economic and all other kinds of divisions is something very practical, i.e., that we learn to serve together toward the shared goal of furthering Christ’s kingdom in the world. Listen to what Jeremy Rose said about that:
When I was a freshman in high school, I went on my first trip to Mexico to build houses with other students from the youth group here at Lake. Upper-classmen didn’t typically associate much with lower-classmen and we were always a mix of different grades and different ethnicities, and then we were all from different schools! However, when we spent a few days together camping in the dirt and traveling each morning to the middle of a village to build a house, we became closer than you could ever expect. And from that day forward, when I walked into the youth group room, I had deep bonds with many. I was no longer a mere freshman sitting on the sidelines, I was a core member of the group. And this sense of belonging has had a deep and lasting affect on my life.
I am praying that all of you might experience what Jeremy gives testimony to. So, we come to Romans 12:1-8. That Bible passage has played a central role in how I think about how God does his work in our individual lives, in our church as a whole and through our church to the world. He does it through church people serving. Let’s let this great passage be a primer for us to about “serving God’s mission”.
Lesson 1: When you come to God the Father through faith in Jesus, you also are made a member of his family. In Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others… (12:5)
Look at how the Apostle Paul begins in v.1: “In view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices…” If you read only Rom 12:1 on its own, you might think that following Jesus means that you make a private decision to believe in him and then, as the old gospel chorus said, “It’s just Jesus and me along life’s pathway.” But No! Rom 12:1-2 lead directly to verses 3-8, verses that talk about how Jesus-followers are not only connected to God but also to other Jesus-followers!
The point is that, when we enter into a relationship with God, our Heavenly Father personally brings us into a larger family, into a body of people all of whom have been saved through faith in Jesus, indwelt by God’s Spirit, and called upon to serve one another. That’s what we to be are here at LAC!! So, followers of Jesus are not private religious hermits who sit at home and watch a preacher on TV. Our Father calls us to be actively involved in a church family serving one another.
Ed Dayton, who once was a vital part of LAC, once said that “when we become believers, it creates a ‘You’ shaped hole in the Body of Christ that we are to fill. We use our gifts to enhance the Body for the glory of Christ, who presents us before the Father.
Paul’s analogy of a physical body in Rom 12 is so vivid! The liver and eyeball cannot live on their own. Each one of us must be a part of a larger body functioning together with many other body parts in order to survive. And, beautifully, each has a distinctive contribution to make to the metabolism and function of the body. One needs the other. In the same way, your response to the good news about Jesus is not simply one of coming to Jesus and walking with him alone.
Make note of this: Part of your becoming complete in Christ is an essential connection, a commitment to serve others in the church. Like a limb cut off from the body, you die without living and serving in your God-gifted place in the church. So… do you seem to be making no progress in your walk with God? One thing you that might be lacking is active involvement in his church. When you serve others, you soon find you must depend on the Lord. In that way, you bless others and, as you do, you grow stronger yourself.
Lesson 2: God commands you to evaluate humbly and honestly the role you should play in the church. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment (12:3).
Don't miss the fact in v.3 that each one of us is ordered by Scripture to evaluate humbly and honestly what role God would have us play in the church. We all need to sit down with God’s Word and God's people and say, “At the great cost of the blood of Jesus, God has graciously made me a part of this local church family. What role would God have play in it?” If you don’t do this, the whole church will hurt because the very need you could fill is going unfilled – or must be filled by someone not gifted in that area.
This is what I want you to do today — even as I speak to you: Take a moment right now to ask God what role he would have you to play in service to further his mission in this world. (I’ll pause here.)
We need you and you need us! Evaluate yourself prayerfully and then serve as God leads you and gives you opportunity.
Lesson 3: You have a God-appointed role to play in your church family. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ… (12:4ff).
These spiritual gifts we have: Who has given them? (Not a hard question.) The answer: God. God doesn’t give unimportant gifts!! Each gift He gives is important for the life of the family. The problem we humans have is that we tend to value certain gifts more than other gifts This tendency leads to some service in the church being devalued. Biblically, our gifts are different only because God gave them differently. If we could see with His eyes, we would see that each is significant.
For example, churches like ours have often valued gifts like preaching, teaching and making music. Those gifts are important! That’s true. But other gifts are equally important. Think of the body illustration: It cannot be that this body of Christ should just be a big pair of lips – or one big tongue.
The point is that all God’s gifts are important. No person is greater or more worthy simply because he or she has a particular gift. Let me show you something from Exodus 31:1ff: The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel, son of Uri… and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge to….” To do what? Unexpectedly, God gave a man a gift of His Spirit to be a craftsman – to build a facility of worship.
From this, we see that in the life of the God’s family people like carpenters and builders, those with financial acumen, those who understand matters related to the law, those who can design systems, etc. etc. can be doing God’s work to build up the local church. That kind of service, done simply in service to the Lord, can be as spiritual as preaching. So, today, 1) consider the place God would have you serve within the church. And then, 2) consider also how you can serve the Lord when you leave church — by caring for those in your neighborhood or work, by using your Instagram account to give subtle witness to your love of Jesus, by mentoring kids in the schools, etc. etc. You see, we have to broaden our notion of the gifts needed to further God’s mission. God raises up people within the church and gives us the gifts we need to do whatever he calls us to do. I assure you of this: when you ask Jesus to come into your life, you will discover God gives his Spirit to you. And the Spirit of God empowers you to play a significant role in his mission in the world.
Lesson 4: Begin serving and then let God’s family members help direct and encourage your service.
…if (a person’s) gift is ______, let him…..let him….let him…. (Verses 6b-8)
When I was in high school, I told people I to study law. Over a period of months, several church members came to me and told me they thought God’s hand was on me for the pastoral ministry. It was a small church. They knew me well. And God used the church family to direct me in the use of the pastoral gifts God had given. Their words still rang in my ears as I left the university presidency to return to the pastorate 9 years ago. The Bible teaches — and I’ve experienced personally — that God uses the people in the church family to help direct our lives.
This sort of thing is somewhat challenging for a large church – but it is not impossible. So, here’s what I encourage you to do: Find a place in church where you can begin serving – and then listen as others tell you what they see in you as you serve. Paul says again and again, “If God has given a particular gift, let him, let him….” You need to begin serving in some way so others can see something in you. So, begin serving!
Then, those you serve and serve alongside have to have the love and courage to tell you what they see when you serve. So, church family, please do this: If you experience people being used by God when they serve in church, then tell them how God is using them.
And, I think the opposite is true. If a person is no good at something, don’t let him. This was applied to me in the first church I served. I was living in a church-owned home. One Sunday, after I had preached about Romans 12:1-8, we had a plumbing problem in the personage. I tried to fix it personally. I made such a mess of it that the chair of the trustees had to come to our house and spend hours undoing what I had done. As he left he said, “Pastor Greg, I loved your sermon today on Rom 12. That sermon really spoke to me — so now I’ll apply it to you: You preach the sermons. I’ll do the plumbing.”
No man, woman, boy or girl has every gift. It’s not only impossible to think this might be so – it’s unbiblical. God gives us different gifts in a church like ours specifically so that we will serve one another. Just think about what happens when you serve as Romans 12 calls us all to serve:
- When you serve, you grow spiritually. Over the past three weeks, we have said that the essential parts of growing to become complete in Christ here 1) worshiping in unity, 2) growing in grace-filled communities, and 3) serving God’s mission. Participating in the worship and community life is our spiritual intake -- like eating food and getting the right amount of rest is physical intake. But, physically, if you only eat and sleep, you will not grow to be strong — just large! When we serve, we learn to trust God and we experience seeing the hand of God at work. As exercise is to the body, so service is to your soul.
- When you serve, you participate in something bigger than yourself. Your life counts for eternity because you are doing the work of the Lord. When you see the work of God’s Spirit through you, you experience the joy of the Lord.
- When you serve, you draw closer to those you serve and to those with whom you serve. Our closest and most trust-filled relationships are almost always forged when we work at something together. Serving to accomplish a shared goal forges our lives together — like soldiers seeking to defeat an enemy, musicians creating a new song, athletes struggling play after play to win the Super Bowl. When church people serve one another and serve alongside one another, we are drawn into the unity Jesus wants for us.
This is what Pastor Bill Mead gives testimony to when he talks about alongside Peter Gazanian in the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality ministry or his service in the car ministry with the whole Rich Kasten family — Rich, Bia, Isaiah Talia, Seth and Skyler. Pastor Bill says, “Through serving together, despite our age differences (many decades), we have moved from ministry colleagues to friends."
It’s what Ministry Council member, Kathy Hollimon, spoke of when she wrote me: “Our Mission and Evangelism Division made a decision not just to have meetings together but also to serve together. For example, we sometimes take over serving at our LAC community meal. We prepare the meal — and then we serve it together. This has drawn us together and helped us get to know each other better in ways that sitting in meetings does not. It has also given faces to many of the people in our neighborhood Jesus has called us to care for. And the more we serve, the more we want to serve individually and corporately."
Finally, it’s what the Executive Director of the Lake Avenue Community Foundation, Nancy Stiles, testified to me about: "When I got to know Sandra, my mentee from our Teen Moms program, I went into the relationship thinking I had some things to share with her and teach her—parenting advice, spiritual advice, etc. And while that was somewhat true, I also learned so much from her—resilience, hospitality, and a relentless commitment to making a better life for her daughter. Seeing Scripture through her eyes was so amazing—and my own experience of Jesus’ love was enriched by seeing and hearing her experience HIS love. Walking together through life's challenges--challenges for both of us--has bound us together forever.”
I want each one of you to experience the life-transforming reality of serving in God’s mission as a part of your local church family. So, this week we’re going to show you some opportunities where you might serve at LAC. Your life can make a difference here. And… as you serve, you’ll grow. It’s just the way God has made you. Pastor Jeff Mattesich will now come to tell you how you might take your next step.