Romans 12:3-8 = 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

"How sould I serve in church?”

#1 Serve with Proper Thinking

In verse 3, Paul uses the word THINK. He says, “I say to everyone among you not to THINK of himself more highly than he ought to THINK, but to THINK with sober judgment.” He repeats himself 3 times.

Paul uses a negative command and a positive one. Paul says not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. But we should think properly, or soberly. He’s NOT saying “don’t think of yourself.” He’s saying don’t think more highly or too highly than you should. The ESV says to use sober judgment. Other translations say sensibly, or with sound judgment, or with an honest evaluation.

What are some ways that someone might have a high view of themselves?

• Some people think the work they’re assigned is beneath them. “I’m not doing that! That’s not in my job description! I don’t get paid to do that!” A high view of yourself may mean you refuse to do certain tasks.
• Some are holding on to their job, and no one else can do it. We don’t want to give it up because they won’t do it the way we can or the way it has to be done.
• Some want to do it all. We say yes to everything. We don’t ask for help. We want to maintain control. And we bottleneck progress because we have to have a say in everything.
• Can show itself is in how we treat others. Or we compare our gifts and our jobs and become impatient with people.

Serving with a high view of ourselves is not the heart of serving like Jesus. Jesus modeled humility and compassion:

• Matthew and Mark both say: “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”
• In John 13:14-15, Jesus washes the feet of the disciples. Then he says: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”
• Philippians 2:3-5 says: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others. . . Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant”

In Romans 12:4 , Paul calls believers a body with many parts. He uses that same analogy in 1 Corinthians 12:21 where he says “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”

When we think highly of ourselves, we are saying that we are more important and more valuable and that we know what’s best. You see this mindset on sports teams.. The kid who always wanted the ball and never passed and only cared about scoring instead of the team winning. I started coaching my kids in soccer this summer and this attitude is always there somewhere. Parents want to see their kid be the one who scores a goal and most kids want to score a goal. Some kids even refused to play the position I asked them to play. Brothers and sisters, this should not be the way we think about serving in the church. So that’s the negative command: Don’t think too highly of yourself.

And then Paul gives the positive command, which is “think with sober judgment.” Another translation says “Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves.” This is the definition of humility. Humility doesn’t mean to think lowly of yourself. It means to have an accurate perception of your abilities, especially in relation to what God has done.

The end of verse 3 says “according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” You didn’t choose your gifting. God did. First Corinthians 1:18 says “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose”

Your abilities, your strengths, your IQ, your physical composition, your intellect, your desires, your personality – these are all given to you by God. You are a steward of them. You didn’t earn them or deserve them. If you have more gifts than others, that shouldn’t produce pride but thankfulness. And it should create a willingness to serve however you can.

So that’s the first response to how we should serve. We should serve with Proper Thinking.

#2 Serve as Part of the Body.

This comes from verses 4 & 5. Paul repeats the idea that the church is one body with many parts: "For as in one BODY we have many MEMBERS (or parts), and the MEMBERS do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one BODY in Christ, and individually MEMBERS one of another."

When we serve, it’s not just that we all go out and do our own thing. We are connected to Christ and we are connected to one another. We belong to each other because we belong to Christ. The end of Verse 5 says: “one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

The question you need to answer before you serve the church is “Am I connected to Christ?” Am I a part of the body of Christ? Ephesians 5:23 says: Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

To be connected to Christ and a part of the body means that Jesus is your Savior. That’s what it means to be a Christian. It is someone who has placed their complete trust for salvation in Jesus. As a church with various ministries, we’re not just looking for bodies to fill vacancies. We’re not trying to hire anyone willing to take a job. We are joining together to serve God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

At the beginning of chapter 12, Paul says: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Our service to God is worship because of how God has been merciful to us. The Bible tells us that God is our holy creator who is good and loving and He is the judge. And because he is holy, those who are sinful and disobedient are under his holy judgment.

Now this creates a problem because we are not perfect. We sin against God daily. We do not love God all the time as we should. We make idols in this world. Out of our hearts comes selfishness, hate, lust, stealing, lies, and coveting. We have broken God’s laws and we will be judged for our disobedience.

But God did not leave us helpless in this condition. God demonstrates his love for us by sending Jesus to take our place. Jesus came and lived a fully sinless life, fully satisfying God’s righteous law. Then Jesus willingly died on a cross, taking the wrath of God that we deserved. And then he rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he now rules and is waiting to return for his people.

Jesus showed that he has power over sin and death. And he invites everyone to come to him for salvation. The response God requires is to recognize our own sinfulness and trust in Jesus to be saved. You can join the body of Christ today by deciding to turn away from your sin, stop living for yourself, and stop trying to earn forgiveness and salvation. Instead, confess your sins to God, acknowledge your need of him, and commit to live your life serving Christ out of love.

For those of us who have done that, we have been adopted into the family of God. You have been transferred from death to life, and from darkness into light. This doesn’t mean you are perfect and never sin again. But the direction of your life is to please Jesus and submit to his word. He becomes the leader of your life. Not your goals or your desires, but his.

And once you are united to Christ, you are also united to others in Christ. You are not left alone to figure things out. You have a new family to learn from, and to serve, and to connect with. And just like a family or a body, we are all different. We have different backgrounds, different tastes, different preferences, different gifts, and different roles.

That’s what Paul says in verse 4: “we do not all have the same function.” To go back to the sports analogy, we have different positions. And even people with the same job do things differently in various styles.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul continues this imagery of serving in the body of Christ and he says this in verse 7: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” This means that your function is for the common good of the church. It is meant to help others.

Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 12:14: If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

If you’re thinking that you want to serve but you don’t know how or what to do, think about how you can serve others. That means you’ll need to connect with the body. Read the announcements. Mark your calendar and attend events, not just to get something out of it, but to intentionally connect with others. Church picnics, Family Life Groups, men’s events, women’s events, the Trunk or Treat, Kids summer Camp, Sunday morning classes, Sunday night classes, Sunday dinners, etc. These are not just to opportunities to get something out of it, but opportunities to connect to the body.

It's easy on Sunday mornings to be here and sneak out quickly. I don’t want anyone to think that that is the extent of what God has designed for his people. I know it’s hard to be the new guy, especially when many here have known each other for decades.

But when you meaningfully connect and serve with others, you will gain brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers in Christ. You will care for them, and they will care for you. Together, we fulfill what Paul says in Ephesians 4:16 = the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love

#3 Serve with your Particular Gift

Particular means that you are unique and there will be certain things that you can do better or more often than would be the average or the norm. Beginning in verse 6, Paul lists seven spiritual gifts: Prophecy, Service, Teaching, Exhortation, Giving, Leadership, and Acts of Mercy. This is not a list of all the gifts that exist. But Paul uses it to show that there are certain abilities that you should be able to recognize in yourself and help others recognize.

This isn’t about taking an exam to see which ONE is your gift. And it’s not like whatever ONE gift you have is yours forever and you can’t do anything else. I like to think of this like the colors in a computer. Colors on a computer screen are made up of red, green, and blue. Every color has a code telling it how much red, how much green, and how much blue. There are 2 characters for each of the 3 colors, so that means every color uses 6 characters. This RGB code doesn’t sound like much, but the code can produce over 16 million different colors.

Don’t think of your Particular Gift as one specific trait, but as a unique combination of various strengths, talents, and abilities. You might be stronger in a couple areas compared to others, and that’s a good things to know. And even if you resemble other people, your specific hue or saturation or brightness will be distinct.

But it’s not enough to only identify your gifting. Before Paul gets to his list of gifts, he gives the Main Point in one sentence. Look at the beginning of verse 6: Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

Yes, we have gifts that are given by God. Yes you are part of the body of Christ. Yes you should identify your areas of gifting. But the point of the gifts is to USE THEM.

Spiritual gifts are tools. They are not trophies. They are not like the books you own but have never read. They are not the fancy pillow that goes on the bed but no one is allowed to use. They are not the pair of shoes in the closet that you never wear but refuse to get rid of.

The point of having gifts is to use them. It sounds repetitive and obvious, but that’s what Paul is saying. Look at the list again in verses 6 & 7. If you can speak the word of God, then do it. If your gift is serving, then serve. If your gift is teaching, then you should be teaching. If you are an encourager, then keep encouraging. If you can give, then give. If you’re a leader, then lead.

You cannot tell yourself you have a spiritual gift but never use it to serve the body of Christ. I am not a POET because I wrote a poem in junior high. You are not a CARPENTER just because you have a saw in your garage. You are not a PHOTOGRAPHER just because your phone has a camera.

You have to put into practice what you’ve been given. And as you begin to do different things you begin to discover what fits you particularly. If you’ve never done something, then you have no idea if you’ll like it or be good at it unless you try it. Trying something new will teach you if you really could do that again, or never want to do it again in your life.

So now, you’re going beyond attending events to connect with others. You can read the announcements looking for opportunities to serve. On a Sunday morning, we have people playing instruments, people singing, receiving offering, watching the parking lot or hallways, teaching the kids or youth or adults, helping in classrooms. We have people running a computer and a sound system.

During the week we have people sending emails, printing and folding announcements. There are people working on the website, working on the budget, meeting in small groups. We have people who help with special events. We have tables and chairs that go back and forth. We have monthly dinners. That means cooking and cleaning and serving.

You don’t need permission to minister to others when you see a need. There are people in our church who can use encouragement. They would love a call or a text message or a hug or an invite to dinner. There are people who need rides. Parents that need babysitting. There are groups that meet to pray.

Every believer has a particular gift that can serve the church your time available and your strengths may change over the years, but that does not diminish your value in the body. In the words of Ecclesiastes 9:10: Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

#4 – Serve with Passion and Joy

This is what we see in the last 3 descriptions of the gifts. Verse 8 says: The one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Three descriptions of how to serve – with generosity, with zeal, and with cheerfulness. The Generosity and Zeal is where I see this passion coming from. The two combined means to do it with all that you have. Give yourself to the task. Do it well. Take it seriously. Be intentional. Take responsibility. It should require sacrifice but it will be well worth it. When you choose to serve, your attitude is not just “ok, I guess I’ll do it” but “how can I do this better.” Spend some time in planning. Think about how you can maximize the effect of your gift for others.

And finally, the last description there is “with cheerfulness.” It is so easy to continue to serve others year after year and grow callous, cold, and distant. We need to fight against this, especially when we serve those who require more grace and more mercy. Because of the mercy that Jesus has shown us, we can show patience and mercy to others with a heart full of cheer. It’s not a cheer based on the holidays, but it is genuine love for our brothers and sisters.

That’s how Paul follows this up in verse 9-11: “Let love be genuine. . . Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Don’t be lacking in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”

All of this is rooted in love. Love for God because God first loved us. And love for our brothers and sisters because we love Christ.This is why we can have joy in whatever task we are given. Whether you are cleaning toilets or mopping the floor or moving chairs or watching kids or responding to an email. Serving is not about you. It’s not about making a ministry as big as at it can be. And it’s not even about the entity known as First Bilingual Baptist Church.

The source of our joy is God, and the glory of our work always goes to God. Remember 1 Peter 4:11, which says: “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."