Our Finest Gifts we bring! A Christmas sermon series “What makes it hard for you to serve other people?” “Serving is hard when it doesn't fit in to my schedule or plan. Like when I want to go for a walk or take a long bath, but my aging parent needs me to sort their meds, run an errand, or simply be with them.”

Our Finest Gifts we bring! A Christmas sermon series “What makes it hard for you to serve other people?” “It's hard when their need seems endless. I don't want to risk helping/serving because I may get sucked in. Being swallowed up in the serving and not getting to be the me I think I am or should be.”

Our Finest Gifts we bring! A Christmas sermon series “What makes it hard for you to serve other people?” “There is such limited energy left after a demanding workday [and] meeting our basic responsibilities (whether with young kids or in the corporate world). How do you balance the need for rest and self-care with serving others?”

Our Finest Gifts we bring! A Christmas sermon series “What makes it hard for you to serve other people?” “What makes it hard to serve others? Others.”

Serve the King and Serve Him well! Romans 12:3-8

I. God has assigned each and every person in Christ an essential ministry of humble service to one another “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16 The power of the gospel reveals itself in the life of the believer who is, as the NASB translates Romans 12:2, “transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

I. God has assigned each and every person in Christ an essential ministry of humble service to one another We are called to serve humbly because our ministry is solely dependent upon God’s grace and will (verse 3) 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.

I. God has assigned each and every person in Christ an essential ministry of humble service to one another We are called to serve humbly because our ministry is solely dependent upon God’s grace and will (verse 3) Our ministry is an essential ministry of serving one another (verses 4-5) 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. “We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” Verse 5, NLT

I. God has assigned each and every person in Christ an essential ministry of humble service to one another We are called to serve humbly because our ministry is solely dependent upon God’s grace and will (verse 3) Our ministry is an essential ministry of serving one another (verses 4-5) “The Christian faith is essentially a corporate experience. Although each member has come to faith by a separate and individual act of faith, the believing community lives out its Christian experience in fellowship with one another.” Robert Mounce in his commentary on verses 4-5

II. The essential ministry of each and every person in Christ is in accordance with the differing gifts God has given to each Since we have been given gifts to serve, “let us use them!” (verse 6a) 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…” “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom 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.” Ephesians 4:15-16

II. The essential ministry of each and every person in Christ is in accordance with the differing gifts God has given to each Since we have been given gifts to serve, “let us use them!” (verse 6a) “There are questions that beg to be answered. There are dilemmas to be overcome. There are gaps to be filled, and the challenge is for you to fill them. That is the essence of the high call of spiritual leadership. There is a purpose for your being here. You are meant to answer something, solve something, provide something, lead something, discover something, compose something, write something, say something, translate something, interpret something, sing something, create something, teach something, preach something, bear something, overcome something, and in doing so, you improve the lives of others under the power of God, for the glory of God.” Claude Alexander, bishop of The Park Church in Charlotte, NC

II. The essential ministry of each and every person in Christ is in accordance with the differing gifts God has given to each Since we have been given gifts to serve, “let us use them!” (verse 6a) Since we have been given gifts to serve, let us serve well (verses 6b-8) 6 …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.

II. The essential ministry of each and every person in Christ is in accordance with the differing gifts God has given to each Since we have been given gifts to serve, “let us use them!” (verse 6a) Since we have been given gifts to serve, let us serve well (verses 6b-8) 8 …the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. “The final gift mentioned is showing mercy. This would include such helpful activities as feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and caring for the aging. These are to be done cheerfully. The afflicted have troubles of their own. They have no need of ‘helpers’ who carry out their obligation as if they were great crushing burdens.” Robert Mounce

III. Serve the King and serve Him well! Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4 “Command and teach these things” (verse 11) and later, “Do not neglect the gift you have” (verse 14)

Serve the King and Serve Him well! Romans 12:3-8 Teach something Sing something Interpret something Say something Compose something Bear something Lead something Overcome something Answer something Solve something Provide something Discover something Write something Translate something Organize something Create something Preach something