For the next two Sundays we are going to do something different. We are going to have an emphasis on a Christian understanding of service. This week we will look at service within the church and next week we will look at service outside the church. These sermons will also be different than normal because they will only be about twenty minutes. We have shortened the worship service for a very specific reason that I will explain later. 

It’s really interesting to me, and I hope not too telling, that last week we had the largest attendance in the 32 year history of this church, but one of the lowest offering to attendance ratios in a very long time. Now, that might just be a fluke, time will tell, but it does raise a flag for me. I do want to say that we decided months ago that we were going to do this series so last week had nothing to do with this series. I also want to say that this isn’t a sermon on giving specifically. But there is a common thread here that I want to pull on. 

When I was at my former church, Grace Bible Church in Oxford, MS, we had a season of what felt like huge growth. If I remember correctly, we went from 150 to about 800 in less than two years. The other pastor and I were younger then and while we could feign humility, it felt really good to see all those people on Sunday. But, not long after that, a new flashy church came in and projected their hologram pastor into our city and over half of those attending our church left and went there. 

Our church at its peak was a mile wide and an inch deep. People were not substantively connected and they weren’t, generally speaking, growing and these two things go together. The church is designed to serve each other and it is through that service that we as a church grow in our walk with God. This ‘come and be entertained’ model of church that has developed over the second half of the 20th century may fill seats for a time, but it limits the growth God desires in His church. And that is what this passage is about. I won’t break down the passage as much as I normally do, but I want to look at this passage and see that God's desire for the church is that we would grow and that serving each other out of our spiritual gifting is how that will happen.

So that raises two questions. What is spiritual gifting and what is growth? I’m going to use Tim Keller’s definition of spiritual gifting which actually answers both questions: A spiritual gift is an enablement to meet the needs of people; it is given by the Holy Spirit on the basis of God’s free grace in such a way that people are brought more under the lordship of Christ with the result that the body of Christ is built up in quality and quantity. 

God’s desire is that we would grow in the unity of our faith, that we would grow in the knowledge of Jesus, that we would grow to maturity, and that we would grow in number. There is both breadth and depth to God’s plan for His church. Early on in this passage Christian growth is spelled out even more. Paul desires that we would walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, with humility, gentleness, and patience. And that we would be one. And this is where the imagery of us being one body comes in. Paul says we are one body and there are five poignant, but very logical implications to this. 

First, because we are a body, we grow together. This is why all Paul’s desires for the church are communicated in the plural. Y’all grow in unity, y’all grow in patience, y’all grow in maturity. We’ve all seen or heard of the guy at the gym who always focuses on the upper body, but never does leg day and as a result he looks weird and top heavy. In the same way, it would be odd for us as a church body to grow in some parts, but not all the parts. We aren’t supposed to have a small core who are growing, but not the rest. No one should be excluded in this growth. But, as a church, we aren’t supposed to grow in only one area either, like head knowledge, but not gentleness. We are to grow together in every way.

Second, because we are a body, we need each other. Paul has no concept of a private spiritual life that is cut off from the body. What happens to a body part that is cut off from the body? It dies. Even if modern science can put it in a jar and preserve it, it is never going to grow. But the opposite is true too. Not only will the body part suffer from being separated from the body, the body will suffer too. Can you imagine if you lost your thumb or your eye or your foot? Some of you might know what that’s like. There’s suffering involved in not being able to use that part of your body. It can actually impede the growth of other parts of your body. And the same thing is true of the church body. 

Just like our body has different parts, so does the church. We are not supposed to look the same. We are a compilation of very diverse gifts, yet we are one body. Do you realize that as different as we are, we have more in common with each other than we do with anyone outside the church? When I was 23, I lived in Pisa, Italy and internet and email was just starting to be widely used, but we didn’t have it in our homes or on our phones so we would go to an internet cafe in town. And, for a variety of reasons, it was usually foreigners who came there to use the internet. So, we would be there with people from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, but we often were there with the American Mormon missionaries and we actually really enjoyed being with them. For all our differences, we shared a common American life experience. We would lament not having air conditioning or ice in our drinks at restaurants and we would celebrate the things we got to experience there that we didn’t get to experience back home. One of the guys actually told me, “Man, I don’t believe any of this, I just have to do this two-year mission so I thought I might as well go somewhere cool.” For all our differences, there was a shared experience and US citizenship that created a very unlikely friendship. 

How much more true is this then of our heavenly citizenship? No matter how different we are from each other, we have all recognized that we are sinners in need of saving. Not just that we make bad decisions here and there…many people can do that…but we realize that we live lives opposed to the love and will of God. We repent that we have looked for joy and satisfaction in our work, in our families, in our bank accounts, and so many other areas that can only be found in God. And we have repented of this and we cling to Christ as our only hope in this life and the next. Our eyes have been opened to the reality that only Jesus can redeem us and redeem us he has. He has made us a new creation and dwells in us changing our desires, our hopes, and our longings. So we aren’t united in our pride that we are more moral or religious or wise than other people. Quite the opposite, we have repented of our pride and self-righteousness and we are united in our hope in what Jesus is doing and will do for us. 

And because of that we have more in common with a persecuted, incarcerated Chinese believer on the other side of the world than we do with unbelievers in our own socio demographic group. We even have more in common with a Christian farmer in India than we do with our own biological unbelieving family. And some of you feel this acutely. I was with a pastor this week who grew up in an Iranian family and when he put his faith in Jesus, his father disowned him. It was horrible, but you better believe he felt more unity with his American Christian brothers and sisters than he did his own biological family at that time. We are one body and we need each other. 

Then, third, because we are a body, we serve the church in ways only we can. We are collectively, somehow, the body of Christ, even with and especially with all our unique differences. Why do I say especially? Because when we believed, the ministry powers and abilities of Jesus were distributed between us. This is what Paul is saying in verse 7: 7 But cgrace was given dto each one of useaccording to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high ghe led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.”1 - Eph 4:7,8 Paul is talking about spiritual gifts, not talents. This is important. We are all born with talents. Some of you were born with intelligence. Some of you were born athletic. Some of you were born organized. Some of you were born, let’s just say, more spontaneous and free spirited. Those are talents. Talents come at birth, but giftings come at rebirth. Paul is talking about gifts God has given each of you at the time you believed that are intended to bless the body.

Paul gives a list in this passage, but it isn’t exhaustive because we have other different lists in other places. Some of you are gifted to teach the word of God. And this doesn’t just mean that you’re smart or studied, it means you have a supernatural ability to bring the word to bear in a way that grows the body. Others of you are gifted to listen well. Others of you are gifted to encourage. Others are gifted to bring others into the faith. 

I have a friend named Isaac who embodies the gift of evangelism more than anyone I’ve ever seen. The reason he embodies the gift is because his evangelism works despite himself. I’ve seen him give an evangelistic presentation to someone who I was unsuccessful with in sharing the gospel and he did it in a manner that didn’t seem to me to be the most compelling, but it worked! I’ve seen him lead someone to Jesus while calling this guy by the wrong name the whole time! But, because it is God doing the gifting, it just seems to work over and over again as Isaac exercises the gift. 

Sometimes spiritual gifting works out of talent, but sometimes it doesn’t. I do think God has given me the gift of preaching and teaching, but he didn’t give me the talent of public speaking. Many of you know that, to this day, I struggle with deep anxiety of public speaking. I’ve learned to hide it, but just last week, I was asked to read a small part in my youngest son’s play and although I could hide my anxiety in my voice, I was holding a piece of paper and my hand was shaking uncontrollably. Public speaking is NOT my talent, but preaching is a spiritual gift and I have learned to lean into that. 

And because we are each gifted in unique ways by Jesus, we serve in ways that would leave the church lacking if we don’t. Each one of us is as unique as a fingerprint or a snowflake and we can’t be replaced. Your brain can’t cook dinner. Your thumb can’t walk. Your feet can’t tie your shoes. All parts of the body are unique and needed and the same is true in the church. It isn’t enough to show up on Sunday, consume what you want and leave. The church is lacking if that’s how we look at church. If you stop coming, we will feel it. No one loses a finger or an eye and says, “It’s fine, I have other body parts.” No. They may live, but they will feel the loss of the body part and the same thing is true of the church. 

Fourth, when we serve the church, not only does the church grow, but so do we. Paul says that by exercising these gifts we are all built into maturity and that includes you. Often it is through our service that we are stretched and we are blessed. We won’t grow the way we are intended if we serve too little in our gifts or if we serve a lot, but out of our flesh. Let me explain. If we don’t exercise our gifts in the local church, we will become spiritually out of shape. Have you ever heard someone say, “I can’t go to the gym because I’m too tired.” Or, “I can’t go to the gym because I’m too out of shape.” Well, the gym is the way we get more energy and get back into shape. The same is true spiritually when we exercise our gifts. It is one of the main ways God conforms us into the image of the Son and the more we are conformed, the more joy and satisfaction we will experience and the result is more spiritual energy. 

But, I’ve also seen people (and this is most often true of people in vocational ministry) who go go go and then spiritually crash. I was at a council meeting for The Gospel Coalition this week and I was looking around the room and thinking about how many men sat in that room who have totally crashed and burned since. It wasn’t because they weren’t working hard on spiritual things, it was because they were working out of the flesh and the result can be even worse than not doing anything. It’s like a tire losing air. You may not notice it when you’re driving 60 miles per hour, but when you stop, you really notice it. Serving the church out of our spiritual gifting and doing so in the power of the Holy Spirit nourishes not only the church, but us as well. 

Then, fifth and lastly, when we serve the church, we maintain our unity. It’s very interesting that Paul doesn’t say that we attain unity, but maintain it. We keep it. It’s like the unity we have with our arms and legs. We don’t work to begin or attain that unity, we work to maintain it and the same thing is true in the church. Again, we are made one not because of our morals, politics, or education. We are made one in Christ and our job, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is to maintain the unity that has supernaturally been given to us. 

We got a clear picture of this during the pandemic. Not only our church, but all churches. We weren’t around each other, we weren’t serving each other the way we were intended, and what was the result? We grew apart. The unity suffered. And in some cases, we doubted each other’s motives or character and the unity was fractured. We are called into and baptized into the one body of Christ which is why Paul says, 4 There is uone body andvone Spirit—just as you were called to the one whope that belongs to your call—5 xone Lord, yone faith, zone baptism, 6 aone God and Father of all, bwho is overall and through all and in all. - Eph 4:4-6 

Jesus has made us into a beautiful mosaic. I grew up at First Pres. Orlando and behind the pulpit there is this massive mosaic stained glass window. It has all these different stories from the Bible, but when you look at the whole picture, it becomes the face of Jesus. Now, second commandment aside, this is such a good picture of us. We are all different people with different gifts, but together we are the body of Christ and as we serve and build each other up, we display Christ to each other and the world. 

I would go so far as to say that much of the dechurching today isn't because the church is asking too much of its people, but because we are asking too little. We turn church into Cold Play and a Ted Talk and that’s it. We at OGC don’t want to make the same mistake. We want to call each of you into service in the church that will bless both the church and you. Some of you may be thinking, “But, Jim. You haven’t told me how to know what my spiritual gift is.” You’re right. And I don’t think the best way to find out your spiritual gifting is by going and taking some online test either. You can do that with talents, but not as much for spiritual gifts. I think you’ll best figure that out as you serve in community with other members of this church. 

So what we want to do today is after the service to ask you to go into the lobby where we have tables set up. These are not the only ways to serve in the church, but they are the major areas that are the most accessible and easiest to get involved with. Some of these are open to everyone, but some require that you are a member of our church. I hope you can appreciate that we aren’t going to open the doors wide for just anyone to be with our children each week. But, maybe the next step in your service is to go on our website and register for the next Discover OGC on May 5th and make OGC your church family. We are asking every member to seek out one internal service area to commit to this year and our hope is that this sort of festival of booths will make clear how you can serve. Next week we’ll also ask you to pick out one external area to serve but we’ll get to that. Just know it’s coming. We are trying to grow our Heads, Hearts, and Hands. 

We have been saved by Jesus - not by good works but to good works and added to the mosaic of the body of Christ. This is as much a part of the gospel as justification is. Will we embrace our place in this body the way God intends and, as a result, see our joy and satisfaction in him and each other increase and display the beauty of Jesus to each other and the world?