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GIFTED TO SERVE, Part 5
Serving in Mercy
By Rev. Will Nelken
_________________________________________
Presented at Trinity Community Church, San Rafael, CA, on Sunday, October 31, 2021
We’re exploring many of the gifts with which God equips His people—what they are, how they
come to us, what they’re used for, what you can do to develop them, and how to use them
most effectively.
In the first segment of this series, we examined three lists of God’s gifts in the New Testament,
which I categorize as:
Motivational Gifts from God the Father – (Romans 12:4-8)
Leadership Gifts from God the Son – (Ephesians 4:11-13)
Demonstration Gifts from God the Holy Spirit – (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)
The one aim they all have in common is to build up the church (God’s redeemed people) as He
prepares a Forever Bride suited to His Eternal Son.
In the process of building the church, the gifts have two main functions: serving insiders (fellow believers) by emphasizing loving unity, and serving outsiders (the unchurched) by emphasizing compassionate evangelism.
The first of these functions is a response to Jesus’ command to “love one another as [He has]
loved you” (John 13:35), which expresses both a measure and a manner for loving one another.
Also as a response to Paul’s admonition to “make every effort to keep yourselves united in the
Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).
This is family life at its best!
Today, we turn our attention to the second function of spiritual gifts: serving outsiders (the
unchurched) through compassionate evangelism.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are commanded to love one another within the church, and to
present the Gospel message to those who are outside the church.
Pastor Tim spoke last Sunday about discerning between OUR responsibilities in life and GOD’S
responsibilities in our lives.
These two functions fall squarely within the arena of OUR responsibilities.
As to the first, Jesus said, “ “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,
even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this all men will know that you are
My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
(John 13:34-35)
And as to the second, He said, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you
will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
(John 15:26-27)
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the
earth.
(Acts 1:8)
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
(Mark 16:15)
Serving Outsiders
What does it look like to serve outsiders with the Gospel message?
I will show you two expressions of sharing our faith today.
But, before I do, perhaps it will prove valuable to explain concisely what the Gospel message
is.
I say “Gospel MESSAGE,” because it is at its heart, a message—a verbal proclamation—
whether it is couched in a personal testimony or public preaching.
And the word, Gospel, defines the NATURE of the message or proclamation… in this way:
“Gospel” translates the Greek word euangelion, which means “good message.”
The message from God that is good is the message about Jesus Christ—the Son of the Living
God, who became a human and dwelt among us, in order to introduce the Kingdom of God by
His words and works, as the prophets of Israel foretold, and to impart the Kingdom Life as a
result of His death and resurrection, which graciously released from sin’s judgment and power
those who trust God for this amazing gift, and enabled the Holy Spirit to take up residence
within those who have been born again,
transforming their heart and character to be more like Jesus, filling them with the love of
Christ, and
empowering the people of God to serve with Him throughout eternity.
And as Peter said, “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many
as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Acts 2:39)
This is REALLY good news!
The Motivational Gifts from our Father in Heaven play a primary role in sharing the Good News
with others.
But the Leadership Gifts from Jesus the Son and the Demonstration Gifts from the
Holy Spirit ALSO are prominent in sharing our faith, as we shall see.
So how do we serve others with this Good News?
First, we must embrace it ourselves.
Unless you embrace it with all your heart, your words
(even if true) remain powerless.
Quoting Scripture from an unrepentant attitude is hypocritical
religious bullying (modern-day Phariseeism).
To embrace the Gospel in this way means to believe it intellectually, to subscribe to it emotionally, and to practice it actually.
It’s never 100% in all three categories, or totally consistent
in any one category.
Christian living is not about performance; it is about persistent pursuit of
a real relationship with God as Father, Savior, and Helper.
How do we serve others with this Good News?
First, we must embrace it ourselves.
Second, we share it with others.
To keep it to yourself is, at the least, to misunderstand God’s
intent in saving you, or worse, to selfishly ignore the lostness of others.
Without Christ’s saving intervention, humanity is doomed to a graceless eternity apart from
God.
That is a foregone conclusion, not an afterthought.
Jesus Christ did not come to condemn
anybody; the reality is that we were all condemned already—condemned by our own conscience, and also by God’s law.
Jesus Christ came to SAVE all those who repent and believe.
However, no one in this meeting has come to faith in Jesus apart from someone else both living and sharing the Good News with them.
Living it and sharing it.
And that is just what we,
too, must do.
The first aspect of sharing the Good News with others is living it.
If your actions do not back up
your words, then your words sound hollow.
And if your actions do not come from your heart,
then they appear as mere empty ritual.
Evangelism as Mercy
So let’s first think about evangelism as mercy.
Before a word is spoken or a deed performed,
evangelism is expressed as mercy within one’s heart.
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