Gifted Service

A few years back, Kelly and I got into the show Madam Secretary, which is about the ongoing crazy world that the female Secretary of State lives in. In the show, there are many scenes of her meeting with the President of the United States and with the Chief of Staff, and one thing they say frequently, especially when things happen at the absolute worst time is: I serve at the pleasure of the President. I really like that phrase… not because it sounds cool, but because of the loyalty and dedication behind it.

These characters don’t just work with the President, they have a long history with him. Outside of the office, they are on a first-name basis with one another, and because they respect him, they will do whatever it takes.

That is service at its finest, at least from a human perspective. Today, we are going to see what that looks like within a church context and see exactly what serving at the pleasure of the King of Kings looks like.

Outline

I - Who We Serve

II - How We Serve

III - In What Spirit We Serve

IV - For What Purpose We Serve

I - Who We Serve

We Serve God

The parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:14–30 ESV

14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Here, it is plain to see that the servants are serving their Master, but it’s not always as easy to see who we serve in our own lives. How many of us have days filled with things like dirty diapers, shuttling kids from one event to another, grocery lists, house cleaning, trash runs, budgets, and all the little mundane tasks the day throws at you. Those things don’t feel like you are serving God. It just feels like you are trying your best to keep things afloat.

It’s times like these where I try to remember the verse that I am bought with a price… a price that is infinitely more valuable than anything I can afford. That price was the blood of Christ that was spilled to redeem me and everything I have in my life, including the dishes that never stay clean and the house that never stays in order, is from His hand and given to me to steward. I am serving the Lord in those moments.

Another prime example is last Sunday, when so many of you cleaned up after the Fall Festival. You swept the floor, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed the carpet, and put the chairs back into place. That is amazing servant-hearted work. You weren’t serving me in those things. You were serving the God that has called us together as a family and stewarding His house well.

We Serve One Another

In his first letter to the Church in Corinth, Paul likened the congregation to a physical body, and more than that, Christ’s very own body:

1 Corinthians 12:12–26 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

No part is too small or insignificant. The one body needs all the parts to function in unison, or else it will encounter issues. If your nervous system had rebellious nerve-endings that really wanted to be cuticles, then a major function of the body would be completely inoperable!

Think about this church. We are relatively new. Virtually every need we have can be served by someone in this church. This body has eyes, ears, hands, feet, and mouths. Where do you fit in? How can you serve in the way God made you so that His body in Ashe Alliance can function properly? Is it teaching adults or children? Is it related to food or facilitating events? Are you musically gifted? Do you have a knack for hospitality? How about reaching out to others and making them feel seen and acknowledged? There is a place for you to serve here… a place that is satisfying to you and beneficial to others.

This isn’t just a nice thought. It’s the reality of 1 Cor. 12.

II - How We Serve

We Serve with God-given Gifts

1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 both have lists of spiritual gifts, such as:

wisdom

knowledge

faith

healing

miracles

prophecy

discerning between spirits

tongues

interpretation of tongues

serving

teaching

exhortation

generous giving

leadership

mercy

These are all done through the Spirit (each given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good as 1 Cor. 12:7 says), and given by the Spirit as He wills.

These aren’t natural talents that you are born with. They are supernatural enablements that are given to you specifically to build up the Body of Christ.

Do you know how you are gifted? If so, are you using what you have been given, or are you allowing it to waste away and rust like an unused tool in the back of the tool shed?

If not, there is no better way to discover your gift than to begin serving. It doesn’t matter where. Just begin. Be willing to step out in faith and watch how God will use that intentionality and guide you to where you will be most fruitful!

We Serve in the Power of the Spirit

We are gifted at the will of the Spirit (as stated above). It’s not our gift or power to begin with. We must rely on His direction and empowerment.

As we’ve seen already, this was the model of the early church in Acts :

Acts 4:31 ESV

31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

How many times have we seen this play out in the first 5 chapters alone? As we do our part to remain open to the Spirit’s will, filling, and direction, we will see Him move in the ways we can serve one another.

We Serve Through Specific Offices

Acts 6- Deacons selected to serve and tend to the everyday needs.

Acts 20 - Paul speaks with the Ephesian Elders commanding them to oversee, protect, and feed the flock.

1 Tim. 3 - Lists qualifications for Elders and Deacons.

Eph 4 - Lists gifted people to fill the offices. We are built on the foundation of the Apostles, Prophets, with Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers added to it.

Praise God that He gifts His church with talented and faithful followers who dedicate themselves to the work of the church. Amen?

III - In What Spirit we Serve

We Serve in Love

Not only is it the core of the Great Commandment:

Matthew 22:37–40 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

But it is also the culmination of the spiritual gifts found in 1 Corinthians 12:

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is the crescendo of the Christian life.

We don’t serve God out of obligation. That isn’t a real relationship. We serve God because we adore Him. Even if I was the spiritual heavyweight champion of the world and possessed every spiritual gift there was… if I could heal every sick person I touched and raise dead children back to their parents… if I possessed all the knowledge in the world and taught it with perfect clarity but I lacked having love… them I am nothing.

Do you see that in our world today? Do you see that level of love for God and for each other? Do you see that sacrificial love as we see in Acts 2, or do you see a lot of in-fighting?

Brothers and sisters, Jesus made it abundantly clear that the unbelieving world would be able to identify us by the love we have for one another. So, my question to us today is, if someone followed you around for one whole day without you knowing, could they tag you with certainty as Jesus’ follower?

We Serve in Humility

Luke 17:7–10 ESV

7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ”

I serve at the pleasure of the King of Kings.

And see the response to James & John’s request to sit at Jesus’ side in heaven:

Mark 10:42–45 ESV

42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

After we have expended ourselves and have done all we can do for our King, and even though we are exhausted and worn thin, our response should always be, “I serve at the pleasure...” We get to serve the King of creation!

We Serve as Jesus Served

Philippians 2:3–8 ESV

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This is an amazing passage of scripture and I don’t want us to miss the richness of what is here. Jesus - who is God incarnate - left the throne room of heaven and all of the heavenly privileges He enjoyed there to take on the form of a servant. A lowly servant, who obeyed His heavenly Father all the way to the cross!

Can you imagine any of our politicians doing that today?

We serve because our Lord served us. He modeled perfect servanthood and submission so we could follow suit. That is what it means to be made in the image of Christ.

IV - For what Purpose we Serve

For God’s glory

1 Peter 4:11 ESV

11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Romans 11:36 ESV

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

All of our efforts are spent on magnifying our great God!

For the Benefit of the Body

Acts 4:32 ESV

32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.

We have an obligation to one another as brothers and sisters to care for each other’s needs before our own. This is to fulfill what we call the ‘One Anothers’ of scripture… over 40 of them (love one another, forgive one another, bear one another’s burdens), all commanded (not suggested) so that each person in the family is taken care of. When a kid falls off a bike and scrapes her knee, what happens? Doesn’t the hand immediately grab the hurt knee in comfort? Don’t the eyes inspect and the body surround it for protection from further harm? That is what we do for one another!

For the Advancement of God’s Kingdom

Acts 1:8 ESV

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

We are the means by which God orchestrates the ends of his eternal plan. Let us never neglect or take for granted such a high calling and purpose!

Conclusion

We were created to serve. It is in our nature, so let’s move forward together knowing whom we are serving, how we are serving, the spirit in which we serve, and for what glorious purpose we are serving.

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