Finding Your Serving Spot

INTRO: Have you ever been in a restaurant and witnessed someone treating a server or busboy poorly- like they were less than? None of us like being talked down to like we have no value. And so when we hear the word service, we often associate it with a position that is not desirable.

Instead, we like to think of positions that are more attractive: we want to be in charge or we want to be esteemed in some way. For some of you, that might mean that you want to be outside of the gate- not serving, but not leading. This keeps you out of the firing line- nobody gets to talk down to you and nobody can criticize your leadership.

Jesus had a couple disciples who had a conversation about how great they would be in God’s kingdom. The two disciples, brothers named James and John, actually got their mom involved trying to attain the coveted positions at the right and left of Jesus when He entered his kingdom.

But Jesus taught that greatness in his kingdom was not about a position, but rather a posture. That posture is service. Let me read to you what Jesus said from Mark 10:45 “45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.””

Now, this is God in flesh speaking… and he didn’t just throw out words! The night before Jesus crucifixion, he knelt down and washed the feet of his disciples. Serving them, though if anyone were worthy of having someone else wash their feet, it was Jesus. But he did this to model for the disciples how they were to posture themselves for the sake of the Gospel.

Now, we’ve spent time over the last several weeks looking at the Discipleship Trail. And, as I’ve said before, this trail is meant to be a picture of how we make mature disciples at LRBC. It’s not a process, but a framework that we walk and bring others along so that in the end, we become more like Jesus as we accomplish the Great Commission.

We’ve looked at the first 2 trail markers - conversion and community. Today, we look at the third trail marker: Capabilities. We are called to leverage our lives for the sake of God’s Kingdom. And we do that as we identify our capabilities and employ ourselves in service. There are a lot of biblical texts we could turn to, but I chose Romans 12 because I believe it gives us a comprehensive look at why you and I must find our serving spot for the glory of our Lord.

So, open your bibles with me please. The message is titled, “Finding Your Serving Spot” from Romans 12:1-13.

Romans 12:1–13 NASB95

1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

I’ve provided a sermon guide for you to follow along, so let’s lean in together. We begin with:

The Theology of Service (1)

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V. 1 begins with the word “therefore” - and when we see the word ‘therefore’ in scripture, we have to stop and ask, “What is it there for?”

In this case, we see that it is v. 36 of the previous chapter (READ)

Because God is worthy of all glory; because all created things exist by Him and for Him, then it bears to reason that as followers of Christ, we recognize that God is worthy of our worship and obedience to Him in all things.

And you might agree that because of who God is and because of who we are, then we ought to present our whole selves to God for His purposes. And this is more than refraining from activity that we recognize as sinful. We often describe this as giving our lives in worship. So let me ask you this: What is worship?

If we define worship as singing songs or attending a church service, are we presenting our whole selves and our whole lives to God?

What Paul connects for us is this: our worship of almighty God is connected to our service to people. Think about it: God is spirit, and He uses ordinary people to accomplish His will.

God uses people to comfort with a hug, a kind gesture, and a listening ear.

God uses people to meet physical and financial needs.

God uses people to speak hope and life.

God uses people to connect other people to His transformative power.

Paul ends v. 1 saying that “this is your spiritual (lit. reasonable) service of worship.”

IOW, we cannot reasonably worship God apart from serving people. We cannot reasonably worship God if we are unwilling to put ourselves in the physical places where we can meet needs and speak hope. We cannot reasonably worship God if we are not available for Him to use in His great mission to save the world.

This isn’t some radical idea. Jesus taught this in Matt. 25:40-46

Matthew 25:40–46 NASB95

40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

You see, the end of the parable is this: those who gave themselves in service demonstrated their belief in Christ through obedience. They demonstrated that Christ is so worthy of worship that they willingly gave themselves as instruments to meet needs and reflect the glory of the risen savior into the lives of others.

Chip Ingram describes the church as the only organization that exists, in part, for those who are not yet members of it. This is because Christ established the church to go into all the world and make disciples because He is not willing that any should perish, but ALL should come to repentance!

The bottom line is that if we understand the bible, then we must be willing to serve as Christ has called us. That is why trail marker number 3 on the discipleship trail is capabilities, where we look not only at the duty to serve, but how God created to serve. But a theology of service must be translated into the way we think. So, let’s look not to:

The Mindset of Service (2-5)

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Paul describes that a follower of Jesus, having already acknowledged Christ’s worthiness to worship and obey Him, must adopt a way of thinking that is radically different than what the world is selling. In fact, Paul calls for a mindset that is renewed because we are regularly in contact with worldly thinking. And in renewing our minds, we prove that God has transformed us, not just on Sundays, but in the way we think.

Let me break down how this looks:

First, we must be humble. Another way of saying this is that we must have a realistic view of ourselves. (3) We need to understand who we are- our strengths, weaknesses, biases, etc.

ILL: I know a brother who was very confident in his ability to teach. However, he did not have a realistic view of his gifting, and this led to some painful evaluation later on. Had he exhibited humility and sought feedback, it would have saved him from being so discouraged when his teaching was not received well.

Next we need to judge where our strengths intersect the needs for service. IOW, we need to have a right understanding of how our giftedness fits within the context of the current needs surrounding us. Sometimes we try to serve in areas where we either are not gifted or there is no need.

Third, we need to understand that God has gifted us all a bit differently. Paul uses the language of a body. Not everyone is an eye or a hand. And truthfully, some gifts are such that we only notice when they are not present. For instance, I can’t remember ever waking up and thinking about how grateful I am for a healthy liver, but boy I am! I could technically live without an eye or an arm, but not a liver!

And the point is that we all have a unique function within this body to serve. Some of you are compassionate and have a heart for widows or homebound folks. Others of you are technical and think of all the ways we can organize our missions activities. Still some of you are planners, visionaries, encouragers, educators, musicians, etc.

And we are not in competition. You see, the mindset of service is one that recognizes that everything we do is for Jesus. And He is most glorified when we are all working in our areas of giftedness to bring a lost and dying world to a place where they can meet Him.

I am for you. We are in this together! And as you walk the discipleship trail, I want you to adopt the mindset that at trail marker 3, that it takes all of God’s church serving with humility and commitment to His kingdom. But when I speak of service, I often hear a lot of reasons why people don’t serve or ‘can’t’ serve. So, I want to wrap up this message by getting super practical. This is where the rubber meets the road, so let’s look down to v. 6-13 and discover:

The Practice of Service (6-13)

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I want you to underline in v. 6 “exercise them accordingly.” What does that mean?

ILL: How many of you are familiar with construction tools? I worked in construction for several years as many of you know. And look, I just want to say that a hammer drill is not a tool that you use to drive in a nail. A plumb bob is not a fruit, and circular saws are not meant to cut circles.

Look with me down to v. 7-13

Your gift is to be used according both to its purpose and your faith and ability to use it. Furthermore, your gifts are to be employed with intention, not aimlessly. You are not here on accident. You are not gifted so that you will serve in obligation and hate it.

Instead, God has put in you a desire and ability to serve in His name- honestly and excitedly. So the question is, “What does that look like?”

There are two categories of Christian service: Formal and Informal.

Formal service is when you plug into a ministry or mission that is organized and commissioned by the church. This might be in the role of teacher, greeter, usher, av technician, nursery worker, volunteer coordinator, safety and security, music. You might serve around a church service, through local missions, on short term mission trips, on committees, or in meeting physical needs of the church to do ministries and outreach.

These formal serving opportunities are good because they connect you to the mission of the church and help cultivate the environment that helps others grow in spiritual maturity.

Informal service is when you deploy your gifts outside of a church-sponsored program or event. This might mean that you use your gift of encouragement to write cards to volunteers, make calls to those on the prayer list, or gather a small group for prayer.

This might mean that you are leveraging you hobby to tell people about Jesus. It could mean starting a bible study at your job or school. It might mean going to your neighbors and offering to pray for them.

Let me address the elephant in the room. Some of you have told me that you believe you are too old to serve. You can’t go like you used to. I get that. But let me encourage you in this way: There is no such thing as retirement from obeying Christ.

If you can speak, speak encouragement to others.

Tell the young moms and dads how much you appreciate them being here.

Tell the ministry leaders how much you appreciate their work.

Tell the volunteers how glad you are that they are serving.

Call people you have not seen lately. Encourage them to come!

Talk about Jesus to the doctors and nurses you see, the cashiers and restaurant servers.

If you can cook, invite folks into your home and feed them and build them up.

If you can write, write cards and letters encouraging people as they go where you can no longer go.

If you can drive, visit those who cannot.

If you can pray, pray over each ministry activity. Pray for the lost in our community. Pray for me!

If you can give, sponsor a young person to go on a mission trip. Sponsor an outreach event or a even a date night for a couple.

The reality is that obedience may not look like it once did, but if you believe that Christ is worthy, then you will find a way to serve Him by serving others.

Family, the trail of discipleship isn’t meant to be walked with empty hands. Each of us has been given capabilities by the Lord, and there is no such thing as a sidelined disciple. Some of you are already serving faithfully—thank you. Others may be waiting, unsure, or even hesitant. But God has placed gifts in you that this church and this community need. So here’s the question: will you take this third step on the trail and carry your pack—using your time, your energy, your gifts—to bless others and glorify Christ? Today is the day to find your serving spot, for the good of His church, the hope of the world, and the glory of our Lord.

Discuss: Paul says presenting ourselves to God is our “reasonable service of worship.” How does this challenge our usual idea of worship?

Discuss: Paul warns against “thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.” How do humility and self-awareness help us discover where we should serve?

Discuss: Where do you sense God calling you to find or re-discover your “serving spot”? What’s one practical step you can take this week?