Recruitment Sermon
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Serving with Purpose: Using Our Gifts for God’s Glory
Serving with Purpose: Using Our Gifts for God’s Glory
Opener:
Last month’s trip to the doctor brought news I didn’t want to hear. Im ok
Now to preface this story, I am a frustrating patient, Im sure.
I prefer going about things naturally if I can.
My Doctor in Ohio was a Pez dispenser when it came to prescript…
However my new doctor, has been very helpful and willing to listen
After about 20 minutes of listening and looking at my charts she said I see that you are doing a lot of good things but lets talk about one more thing that will make a huge difference in your life. You need get some of the weight off you. So I confessed some things… hoping metaphorically.
But when I left her office I felt encouraged because I was heard, she respected my efforts and we built a game plan that I knew was in my best interest.
My old doctor was condescending and had a drug for everything. I usually refused what she prescribed and then we had awkward visits that I hated. Because I always felt she was pro- pharmaceutical industry and did not care about me as an individual or what I value.
My old doctor gave me the impression that what she wanted from me was to do what she wanted to make her life easier
My new doctor seemed to care about me as an individual, her counsel was aimed at me thriving.
I say all that because it is Recruitment Sunday. Some of you may hear this message and think, He just wants me to serve so that his life is easier. Hes the professional not me.
But I want to challenge that conclusion by hopefully, showing you that 1 major way you will thrive in a relationship with Jesus is to serve His church.
Just like pursuing health increases opportunity for longevity and life, serving in the church increases your worship and attitude towards God,
it connects you to others who are real like you,
and finally it draws you into deeper trust with God.
Our passage this morning is very simple.
Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God. If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
THE ROAD TO 1 PETER 4
1 PETER 1 — SAVED INTO A LIVING HOPE
Peter begins with what God has done for us.
He says in ch 1. That according to God’s great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
We have received an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
We don’t serve God hoping He will save us.
We serve because He saved us.
Grace comes first.
1 PETER 2 — SAVED TO BECOME GOD’S PEOPLE
Then Peter moves from what God has done for us to what God is making of us.
He calls believers: “living stones.”
And he says God is building those stones together into a spiritual house.
“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession…”
God takes individual stones and builds them into a house.
Which means there is something God intends to accomplish through us together that He never intended us to accomplish alone.
1 PETER 3 — SAVED TO DISPLAY CHRIST
Then Peter begins showing what this new identity looks like in relationships
He tells believers to pursue unity, sympathy, brotherly love, tender hearts, and humility.
Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t repay insult for insult. Bless instead.
In other words:
The gospel that has changed us internally should become visible externally.
1 PETER 4 — SAVED TO LIVE FOR GOD
Then we arrive in chapter 4.
Peter says in verse 2 that believers should no longer live their remaining earthly lives for human passions but:
“for the will of God.”
That’s the controlling idea.
My life isn’t mine anymore.
My time, abilities, my resources, they aren’t mine.
He says:
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another…”
Now we understand where that comes from.
Peter isn’t suddenly conducting a volunteer drive.
This is the natural consequence of everything he’s been teaching.
God saved us.
God made us His people.
God placed us together.
God gave us grace.
And now God intends His grace to flow through us to one another.
And from these two verses I want you to see four simple truths about serving.
1. EVERYONE HAS RECEIVED A Gift
“As each has received a gift…”
Notice the words:
“each has received.”
Peter assumes something about every believer.
God has entrusted something to you.
Paul says something similar in Romans 12:6
According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith;
And 1 Corinthians 12:4-7
Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person. A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:
Paul teaches that the Spirit distributes gifts throughout the body according to His will.
That means there really isn’t a category of Christian called “spectator.”
There aren’t ministers over here and ordinary Christians over there.
Or the talented people and then everybody else.
There are different gifts.
Different capacities.
Different personalities.
Different experiences.
Different opportunities.
But the New Testament picture of the church is a body in which every member contributes to the health of the whole.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 that a body isn’t one member but many.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you.”
Neither can the hand say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong.”
You may look at someone else and think:
“I can’t sing like that.”
“I can’t teach like that.”
“I could never lead a group.”
“I don’t know enough Bible.”
“I don’t like speaking in front of people.”
Fine.
Maybe that’s not your assignment.
But don’t confuse “I can’t do what they do”
with “God has nothing for me to do.”
Tim Pollitz Basketball Camps
Peter says:
“Each has received.”
God has placed something in your hands.
And there’s joy in discovering what that is.
Some people discover that they love working with children.
Someone else discovers they love greeting people.
Someone realizes they love helping behind the scenes.
Another discovers they love discipleship.
Others discover that running technology
or preparing a room
or giving. Generosity is a gift above and beyond
or organizing a ministry brings them tremendous satisfaction.
And thats you realize:
God wired me in a way that allows me to participate in what He’s doing.
Serving isn’t merely giving something away or seving in the church’s programming,
Often, in serving, you discover something God has put inside you and your walk with Him grows even closer as you serve.
2. EVERYONE IS CALLED TO SERVE
Peter continues:
“…use it to serve one another…”
There’s the purpose of the gift.
We don’t work to earn our salvation
We work to grow in our sanctification
God didn’t give you gifts merely for your enjoyment.
He gave it for their good.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:7:
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
And Ephesians 4: 11-16
And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.
Christ gave leaders to the church:
“to equip the saints for the work of ministry…”
Notice who does the ministry.
The saints.
The role of pastors isn’t to perform all the ministry while everyone else watches.
Pastors equip God’s people so that God’s people do the work of ministry.
And when that happens, Paul says the body grows
and builds itself up in love as “each part is working properly.”
That’s a beautiful picture of a healthy church.
Everybody doesn’t do everything.
But everybody does something.
And this is where serving becomes a joy. It grows you and you serve.
Because you begin to realize that what seems small to you may be enormous to somebody else.
You stand at a door and welcome a family.
You may think:
“I just said hello.”
But you don’t know what it took for them to walk through that door.
You serve in children’s ministry.
You may think:
“I just taught a Bible lesson.”
But that child may remember something you taught them twenty years from now.
You run a soundboard.
Nobody applauds you when everything works correctly.
In fact, people usually only notice when it doesn’t!
But because you served, hundreds of people heard the Word of God clearly.
You prepare coffee.
You help set up or tear down.
You pray with someone.
You lead a rock group.
You sit with a teenager.
You help someone find a classroom.
And none of those things by themselves look spectacular.
But that’s how the body of Christ works.
Ordinary acts of service become instruments of extraordinary grace.
Jesus Himself said in Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Think about that. The King served. The Creator served His creatures.
The Lord washed feet.
And ultimately Christ’s service took Him to the cross:
“…and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
So we don’t serve in order to earn something from Jesus.
We serve because Jesus has already served us in the greatest possible way.
The fruit of the Spirit are: love…
Fruit is not for the tree to enjoy it is for others benefit.
The world sees the fruitful work God is doing in your life when they come into contact with you as you serve Him.
3. EVERYTHING WE HAVE IS A STEWARDSHIP
Peter continues:
“…as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”
That word steward changes the way we think about everything.
A steward manages something that belongs to someone else.
Peter doesn’t say:
“Use your abilities.”
He says you are managing:
“God’s varied grace.”
I love that expression.
God’s grace comes through His church in countless forms.
Sometimes grace looks like preaching.
Sometimes grace looks like prayer.
Sometimes grace looks like someone holding a baby.
Sometimes grace looks like somebody greeting a nervous guest.
Sometimes grace looks like someone sitting beside a hurting person.
Sometimes grace looks like someone arriving early and staying late.
Sometimes grace looks like somebody doing something nobody else will ever notice.
But God sees it.
Peter is suggesting
That is God’s grace moving through His people.
This is where serving becomes a privilege.
Think about what God could have done.
God could accomplish His purposes without us.
He doesn’t need us.
Yet He chooses to involve us.
He allows us to participate in what He is doing in people’s lives.
That’s extraordinary.
When someone comes to Christ, God lets us participate.
When a marriage begins healing, God lets us participate.
When a child learns Scripture, God lets us participate.
When a lonely person finds community, God lets us participate.
When someone walks through these doors carrying grief and discovers that they’re loved, God lets us participate.
You don’t merely “work the nursery, or greet, or run slides, or lead a group, you are stewarding the grace of God.
That changes the way you walk into your assignment.
Instead of:
“I have to serve today.”
You begin thinking:
“I get to participate in what God is doing today.”
4. EVERYTHING AIMS AT GOD’S GLORY
Peter gives us the ultimate purpose:
“…in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
Sometimes we don’t want to serve because it doesn’t serve us.
Peter is saying that God’s glory is the destination, not our own.
Not our recognition.
Or our appreciation.
Or even church growth.
We do it for the glory of God.
Peter even divides service into speaking and serving.
If you speak, speak as someone entrusted with God’s words.
If you serve, serve:
“by the strength that God supplies.”
Why?
So that when something beautiful happens through your service, ultimately nobody says:
“Look how impressive that person is.”
Instead:
“Look how gracious God is.”
That’s Christian service.
God supplies the gift.
God supplies the strength.
God produces the fruit.
And God receives the glory.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
That’s the joy of serving.
We get to spend our lives making much of Someone greater than ourselves.
And there is enormous freedom in that.
Because you don’t have to be impressive.
You just have to be faithful.
You don’t have to do everything.
You simply need to do your part.
CONCLUSION — WHAT HAS GOD PUT IN YOUR HANDS?
So today, I’m not primarily asking:
“Where does our church need help?”
We certainly have needs.
But that’s not the most important question.
Peter says:
Each has received.
And then:
Use it to serve one another.
Maybe you’ve been attending for months and you’ve never stepped into serving.
Maybe you’ve been thinking:
“Eventually.” “When life settles down.” “When somebody asks me personally.” “When I feel more qualified.”
Maybe today is the day to stop waiting.
Because God has invited you into something better than watching.
He’s invited you to participate.
And I want you to discover the pleasure of knowing:
God used me today.
I helped someone.
I encouraged someone.
I welcomed someone.
I taught someone.
I prayed with someone.
I made it possible for somebody else to hear about Jesus.
I played some small part in what God was doing.
And there’s joy in that.
Jesus said:
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
The world constantly tells us that happiness comes from accumulating more for ourselves.
Jesus shows us another way.
There is joy in giving yourself away.
There is joy in serving.
There is joy in becoming useful in the hands of God.
Our model is Jesus.
The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Christian, once you have received that grace, Peter says:
Steward it.
Let that grace move through you.
So Don’t ask, “Do they need me?”
Ask:
“Lord, what have You entrusted to me, and where can I use it for the good of Your people?”
We’re asking everyone to do something with what God has entrusted to you.
And today, you’re going to have an opportunity to take that step.
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Try something and experience the pleasure of realizing that God has chosen to take ordinary people, with ordinary gifts, doing ordinary acts of faithfulness—
and through them dispense His extraordinary grace.
Because ultimately that’s what we’re after:
“…in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
Not our glory.
His glory.
“To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
