The challenge for believers is to follow Jesus in serving one another. He has recreated us for this purpose, He has equipped us for service by His Spirit, and He receives the glory for our service to one another.
Observations:
- Christian Service: “The gifted delivery of God’s grace through the strength and truth that God supplies through Jesus Christ.”
- Our gifts are not ours
- Our gifts are ingots of God’s grace
- Our gifts are not all gifts
- Our gifts are revealed in personal inability
- Our gifts are in two categories: (1) What you say (2) What you do
- Our gifts aren’t for us they are for the glory of God
Conclusions: Why serve one another?
- Because service is the stewardship of the gifted
- Because service is our expression of God’s grace
- Because service is the branch that grows into the fruit of worship
Application:
- What is your gift?
- Daily present your gift back to God, as the conduit of His grace
- Start giving Jesus the credit for the gift of your service
Ephesians 4:7
“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”
Romans 12:4-5
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
1 Corinthians 12:7-8, 11
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit… All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”
Romans 12:3
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
John 15:1-5
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Galatians 5:13
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”
Romans 12:6-8
“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
Galatians 2:20
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
1 Corinthians 15:10
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”