A. The story is told of a little boy named Johnny who had trouble pronouncing the letter “R”.
1. To try to help him with the problem, his teacher gave him this sentence to practice at home: “Robert gave Richard a rap in the rib for roasting the rabbit so rare.”
2. A few days later the teacher asked him how he was doing with the sentence, and she asked him to recite it for her.
3. Little Johnny quickly rattled off this sentence, “Bob gave Dick a poke in the side for not cooking the bunny enough.”
4. You see, Johnny did all he could to avoid using the letter “R”. (Story borrowed from “Commitment to Serve” by Marilyn Murphree)
5. That got me thinking about how some people avoid getting involved with words that start with “S”, like serving, servant and sacrifice.
B. I got a kick out of this statement, “Who says nothing is impossible - I’ve been doing nothing for years.”
C. Even though I have begun with something lighthearted, this is not a subject to be taken lightly.
1. Last week we discussed the transforming truth that we have a purpose.
2. God has made us on purpose and with a purpose.
3. We have been saved to serve, and God will surely hold us accountable for our gifts, talents and opportunities for service.
4. Last week we also discussed the fact that God has created us for general purposes and specific purposes, and that we need to discover what those purposes are.
D. One question that I did not address last week that deserves an answer is the question – “How can we discover our specific purposes?”
1. I think it is unfair and downright wrong to assume that the person who is not serving is simply selfish, and rebellious – that they just don’t want to serve.
2. The reasons behind a person’s lack of involvement can be varied and complicated.
3. Certainly, there may be those whose reasons for not serving include the fact that they are unspiritual and self-centered – that is true for some.
4. But there are those who aren’t serving because they lack faith and are fearful.
5. Then there are some who don’t serve because they are overwhelmed by life and burdened down with difficulties.
6. But there are also those who just don’t know where to start or how to start.
7. I would like to address this sermon to those who really do want to serve, but just don’t know how to get started.
E. Our Scripture reading for today is one of my favorite texts about serving.
1. The Bible says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:10-11)
2. We learn a number of important truths from those two verses.
3. First, we learn that God’s grace can be administered in various forms.
a. God’s mission has many forms and aspects.
b. There is not just one type of ministry or way to do ministry.
c. So God’s grace must be ministered in its various forms.
4. Second, we learn that God has gifted each of us in different ways. That seems simple enough, doesn’t it? We each have different gifts.
5. Finally, we learn that God supplies what is needed for us to be able use our gifts to serve.
a. God promises to give us His words, and His strength to accomplish His good purposes, so that God will be praised.
b. What we need to understand this morning is when we step out and trust God and use our gifts, God is going to show up and energize those gifts and do more through us than we ever could have imagined we could do.
c. Keep in mind that God often makes known His strength through our weaknesses.
6. Hopefully, these truths will help us overcome the feeling that we all have to serve in the same ways.
a. That is not God’s will nor His design.
7. And hopefully, these truths will help us overcome our fear of not being adequate for the task.
a. Truth is – we will never be adequate. God is the one who makes us adequate for the mission.
b. We can’t do it on our own – God doesn’t want us trying to do it on our own, in our own strength.
c. But we can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength (Phil. 4:13).
d. Our responsibility is to faithfully use the gifts God has given us to serve others, and then God will make it work.
F. So how can we identify our gifts and figure out where to begin serving?
1. Four years ago, I preached a series that I called “On Purpose” based on Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life.
2. In the 9th sermon from that series, I preached a sermon called “Shaped For Serving God.”
3. I want to review some of those same ideas with you today.
G. In last week’s sermon and in the sermon four years ago, I emphasized the fact that we are shaped for serving God differently.
1. Only you can be you.
2. God has designed each of us so there would be no duplication in the world.
3. No one else has the exact same mix of factors that make you and me unique.
4. That means that no one else on earth will ever be able to play the role that God planned for you.
5. And if you and I don’t make our unique contribution to the Body of Christ, then it won’t be made.
6. Several sections of Scripture lay out these concepts, including 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and our Scripture reading for today from 1 Peter 4.
7. Praise God that He has made us to be different from each other, so that we can minister differently.
H. You might be thinking, “Okay, David, you’ve convinced me that I am supposed to serve, and that I’m supposed to serve in ways different from others, but how can I know the ways I am uniquely created to serve?
1. Rick Warren suggests in his book that we need to look at our unique SHAPE and he uses that word as an acronym.
I. The “S” in SHAPE stands for Your Spiritual Gifts
1. Spiritual gifts are special God-empowered abilities for serving that are given only to believers.
2. We don’t earn or deserve them, that’s why they are called gifts.
3. Neither do we get to chose which gifts we would like to have, God determines all this.
4. And because God loves variety, he gives no single gift to everyone, nor does he give all the gifts to any one person.
5. He does this so that we need to depend on each other.
6. The gifts are not given for personal good, but for the good of the body.
7. Two common problems that occur are what we might call “gift-envy” and “gift projection.”
a. “Gift envy” occurs when we compare our gifts with others and feel dissatisfied with what God gave us and become jealous of how God uses others.
b. “Gift projection” occurs when we expect everyone to have our gifts and to do what we are called to do. Let’s try to avoid these two problems.
8. Unfortunately, spiritual gifts are sometimes overemphasized to the neglect of the other factors God uses to shape us for service.
9. Our gifts reveal one key to discovering God’s will for our service, but they are not the total picture.
10. So the “S” stands for Spiritual Gifts.
J. The “H” in SHAPE stands for Your Heart.
1. The Bible uses the term “heart” to describe the bundle of our desires and hopes, interests and affections.
2. Another word for heart is passion.
3. What kinds of ministries burn in your heart? What do you feel good about doing?
4. What do you get enthusiastic about?
5. These are clues to your heart.
K. The “A” in SHAPE stands for Your Abilities.
1. Your abilities are the natural talents you were born with.
2. Some have natural abilities with language, some with athletics, and others with math, or music or mechanics.
3. What we need to realize is that all our abilities come from God and can be used for God’s glory.
4. So what abilities do you have and how can they be employed in ministry?
L. The “P” in SHAPE stands for Your Personality.
1. Again, let me say that all of us are different and so are our personalities.
2. Some of us are introverts; others are extroverts. Some love routine; others love variety. Some are thinkers; others are feelers. Some work best alone; others work best in with others.
3. There is no “right” or “wrong” temperament for ministry.
4. We need all kinds of personalities to balance the church and give it flavor.
5. Your personality will affect how and where you use your spiritual gifts and abilities.
6. For instance, two people may have the same gift of encouragement, but if one is introverted and the other is extroverted, that gift will be expressed in different ways.
M. Finally, The “E” in SHAPE stands for Your Experiences.
1. We have all been shaped by our experiences in life, and those experiences can be used to minister to others.
2. Think for a moment about the different kinds of experiences you have had: Family, Educational, Vocational, Spiritual, Ministry, experiences that are Joyful, or Painful.
3. Huxley said, “Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you.”
4. Let’s not waste our experience, let’s use it to help others.
N. Now that we understand something of our SHAPE, how do we translate that into service?
1. First, we can bring our desires and questions to God in prayer.
a. God certainly wants to answer the prayer – “Lord, How can I serve?”
2. Next, we can begin by assessing our gifts and abilities.
a. Take a blank sheet of paper and try to list your gifts and abilities. For gifts you can look at the lists given in 1 Cor. 12 and Romans 12.
b. Sometimes a person is blind to their own gifts and abilities, so you might ask someone whom you know and trust about what they see as your gifts and abilities.
3. Next, we can consider our heart and our personality.
a. What kinds of things fuel our passion and fit our personality?
4. Finally, we can give some thought to what are our experiences?
a. What are the lessons we have learned in the school of hard knocks?
b. What can we uniquely offer others. Hope? Help? Healing?
c. Is there some way we can you uniquely help with those in poverty, addition, grief, unemployment, or child rearing because of your experiences?
O. John Maxwell, in his book Developing the Leader Within You, summarized this process in this way:
1. Look above you – What does God want? Seek His guidance.
2. Look within you – What are your gifts, talents, and personality?
3. Look behind you – What are your past experiences?
4. Look around you – What are the needs?
5. Look ahead of you – What fires you up and inspires you?
P. Let me offer a word of caution.
1. This whole idea about finding my shape can turn into an attitude that says, “I can’t serve until I figure out God’s will,” but that can be a trap or a dead end.
2. The pursuit of the ministry I’m best suited for can become an end in itself.
3. If we are not careful, we can get stuck in the discovery mode and never get around to the serving mode.
Q. Sometimes we just need to get going and then let God steer us.
1. Maybe you’ve heard the old saying, “You can’t steer a parked car.” And how true it is.
2. Sometimes we just have to try things out to see if it fits us or not.
a. Finding out that we are not suited for a certain kind of service doesn’t mean we have failed, it just means we need to try something else.
b. You may never know what you would be good at until you try.
R. Another way to get started is to look around the congregation or community and see what is already being done, or what needs to be done.
1. If something is already being done by someone, you can volunteer to help them with that ministry.
a. Most of the time, that person would be happy to share the ministry. Most people and ministries are looking for helpers.
2. As you look around you might notice things that are being done, but could be done in a better way. Maybe you are the one who can improve the ministry.
3. When you look around, do you see a problem that needs addressing, or a need that needs filling?
4. Someone has said, “Find a need and fill it” – that’s the key to ministry.
5. Over my years in the ministry, I’ve seen people get involved in this way over an over again.
6. They step forward and work with a ministry that is already in place and seek to enhance it, or they step forward and provide the spark and vision to start a new ministry.
S. The other issue that comes up is the issue of permission – do I have to wait for permission to get involved or wait for someone to give me an invitation? The answer is “NO.”
1. All I have to say is “You are good to go.” God has given you a “green light” for ministry.
2. We are all already called by God into the ministry – we believe in the priesthood of all believers.
3. God has already called and commissioned us for ministry.
4. Several years back, we elders tried hard to communicate to the congregation that all of us are unleashed for ministry.
5. We crafted a mission statement that says, “As a community of believers, we joyfully offer ourselves to God, so that His mission of reconciliation in Christ, transformation by the Holy Spirit, and loving service to humanity may be carried out through us.”
6. Each of us is unleashed to do that very thing in whatever way God directs us.
7. Certainly there needs to be some coordination and cooperation when a ministry involves the whole church in a way that requires a lot of time or resources, but on an individual basis we are free to serve however and wherever God gives us the opportunity.
T. The truth is - God has SHAPED us for Service and He is pleased when we do so!
1. Also, life is much more fruitful and fulfilling when we live it for the purposes God intended.
U. I want to end with a story I’ve used in an earlier sermon on this subject.
2. One night a man and his wife were getting ready for bed.
3. His wife looked out the back window and noticed that the light was on in the tool shed in the back yard.
4. Evidently some thieves had broken in and were trying to steal some of their tools.
5. The man called the police, but when the dispatcher learned the details of the call, he said, “All of our officers are busy and will get there as soon as they can. Lock the doors, it sounds like there is no present danger for your lives.”
6. So, the man hung up the phone and waited about 30 seconds and called the police again. He said, “I’m the guy who called a minute ago about the thieve breaking into my tool shed. You don’t need to come I’ve taken care of everything, I just shot them.”
7. Three minutes later three police cars, an ambulance, and a rescue squad raced up to the house.
8. They caught the thieves, red handed.
9. One of the officers said the man, “I thought you said you shot the thieves.”
10. He replied, “I thought you said nobody was available.”
V. I might add that giving the police a false report to speed their response is not a good idea.
1. A minister from Odessa, Texas, by the name of Paul Weymouth, found that to be the case in September of 2003.
2. He called the police about a burglary taking place at his church.
3. When they were responding slowly, he called them back and reported that he was holding hostage the thieves and would kill them if the police didn’t get there soon.
4. The police did come quickly and ended up arresting the 63 year-old minister for false reporting.
W. Anyhow, the statement, “Nobody is available” is one that should never be used in the kingdom of God.
1. God’s intention is that His children are available to serve.
2. All of us are put here on the earth to make a contribution.
3. We were not created just to consume resources and take up space.
4. God has designed us to make a difference with our lives.
5. Let’s determine to use our gifts, talents, and experience to accomplish God’s purposes.
6. Let’s figure out our “SHAPE” and then employ it to God’s glory!
