Service Masters
1st Corinthians Series
CCCAG February 8th, 2025
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:27–31
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Introduction: We Think in Ladders—God Thinks in Bodies
>>One of the most natural—and most dangerous—things we learn early in life is how to assign a person’s worth by their position.
From childhood, we are trained to think in hierarchy’s:
• Top students, bottom students
• Management, staff
• Officers, enlisted
• Doctors, nurses, aides
• Star players, benchwarmers
And if we’re not careful—if we don’t intentionally resist it—we drag that same ranking system into the church.
We don’t say it out loud in church, but we unconsciously think it:
• “Because of this title, that person is more spiritual.”
When I was 13 or 14, I was going through confirmation classes in the Lutheran Church. As part of it, we all had periodic meetings with the youth pastor. Pastor Dave was a Godly man, who I admired because he was very approachable and not as severe looking as the senior pastor.
During one of those times, I made mention that I’m glad he had a ticket to heaven that the rest of us didn’t have.
His head kind of tilted to the side and he asked what I meant.
I said, “Well, the bible says that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of God.”
Pastor Dave laughed, and in terms a 14 year old would understand, explained that scripture and the meaning of what the Gospel message meant.
I was mistaken in believing because he had the clerical collar on, and had “earned” the title of pastor, that he had a guaranteed ticket to heaven that the rest of us do not have.
It shows how even at 14 years old, I already had a mindset that was framed in believing that title and rank mean something to God.
I think in many ways, we all have that to a degree.
In the scripture we are reading today, Paul steps into that mindset with a theological crowbar and starts ripping it apart.
This morning, we’re going to talk about service—not as a stepping stone to importance, but as obedience in its purest form.
This sermon is called Service Masters.
People who have mastered their calling in service to Christ and each other.________________________________________
Let’s anchor ourselves in the Word.
1 Corinthians 12:27–31
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it. 28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, leading, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in
tongues? Do all interpret? But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.
Prayer
This morning we want to examine this scripture and see past our human thinking about rank and structure, and see something even more beautiful- the economy of the Kingdom of God, and it’s earthly expression- the Church of Jesus Christ.
The first thing we will look at is that this passage is not about ranking.
It is about function.
And confusing those two things has quietly damaged churches for centuries, and one the biggest ways it has done so is to create a false dichotomy between what we call clergy and everyone else in the body.
Let’s look at the first point-
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I. The Church Is a Body—Not an Org Chart
In most of the jobs that I have ever had, somewhere in the paperwork received during orientation, you see a flowchart showing who answers to who and where you fit within a hierarchy of authority.
It’s just a consequence of living in this time and place, all of us are wired to think that way.
But the bible flips that.
“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
No one here should be an individual attenders.
No one here should be a selfish consumers.
The most perfect example of the Body of Christ is an interdependent body.
Throughout this chapter, Paul uses the example of our bodies to make this point.
No organ wakes up in the morning wondering if it’s more important than the others.
Your heart doesn’t resent your lungs.
Your liver doesn’t demand respect and recognition from your kidneys.
They just do what they were designed to do.
No fanfare
No recognition
No applause- each one doing what it was designed to do, to support the whole organism.
The church is the same way-when every part does what it’s designed to do, we call that being healthy.
But, when one part fails, the whole body suffers, and we call that being sick.
Given that it’s Superbowl Sunday, let’s do a sports analogy
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If you are on offense, the linebackers are not going to be very useful to you.
If you are on defense, the quarterback is pretty useless on the defensive line.
Everyone has their place, and within that role and responsibility- they shine, and then and only then will the team succeed.
Everyone working together to make sure the mission is accomplished.
Paul is saying: That’s how the church works.
The next thing that drives this point home further is
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II. God Assigns Roles—then Humans Invent Rankings
The reason that the church in the world today is sick, is because people misunderstand Verse 28
28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, leading, various kinds of tongues.
This is the problem when Christians only read the bible on a surface level, and don’t take the time to understand the original languages it was written in, and this verse highlight that.
If you have a person filled with ego and a need for recognition- that person will use this verse to claim apostleship because it’s the first in this list.
But that’s not the only meaning of what the words in Kione Greek mean. And that is what has caused these words first, second, third to be abused for centuries.
These words do not designate only rank.
They designated timing.
The bible is not so much describing spiritual hierarchy.
He is describing functional order, especially in the early church.
The apostles came first- laying the foundations of the early church.
As more believers matured and the church grew, God then sent Prophets to clarify direction.
After that, more and more people became experienced in the Word and it’s truth, God then sent Teachers who increased understanding for the body.
This is as more about sequence, not just superiority.
This error is a huge error.
In some ways, this error contributed to abuses of power that gave us the dark ages-over 500 years of darkness when the church centralized power in itself, separating the hierarchy in the church from the common people.
But before you think that those were just ignorant people living in thatch huts with dirt floors.
We do the same thing today-
Celebrity “pastors” (Some of them-we should call them by their biblical term- wolves) with estates larger than some counties owning multiple private jets, while they demand more and more offerings from their followers.
They are able to exist as a result of this false focus on titles and hierarchy within the church-
When we mistake sequence with status, you end up with:
• Clergy worship
• Platform obsession- worship leaders watering down biblical truth for emotionalism
• Gift jealousy-
• Burned-out volunteers
• Passive congregations
And none of that looks like the church described in the book of Act, and none of it elevates Jesus.
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If we can simply this a bit more
God appoints:
• Roles
• Functions
• Assignments
Humans create:
• Titles
• Pedestals
• Prestige
Those are not the same thing.
Let’s look further into these scriptures-
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III. Notice What Paul Sneaks into the List next
Paul lists spectacular gifts:
• Miracles
• Healing
• Tongues
And then notice—almost quietly—he includes:
• Helping
• Guidance
• Administration
That deserves a moment of our time this morning.
Because Paul puts administration in the same breath as miracles.
Meaning:
• The person balancing the books
• The person cleaning the church, or helping with grounds
• The person organizing outreach or meals for sick members in the church
They are not less spiritual.
They are obedient servants operating in their calling.
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Modern Translation
If Paul were writing today, this list would include:
• Nursery workers
• Cleanup crews
• Van drivers
• Treasurers
• IT volunteers
• Prayer warriors
• People who never touch a microphone, but make huge eternal impacts in the lives of others
The beauty of what the bible is showing is that
The church doesn’t collapse because there’s no preacher.
It collapses when the invisible servants stop serving.
Pause
God has a different way of placing people in authority, and in a different timing than we expect.
Often, it requires a prolonged time of preparation.
ILLUSTRATION
I was called to the ministry in July of 1999.
However, I didn’t preach the next Sunday. I didn’t stand on the platform and no one started calling me “pastor”.
What did happen- Over the next several weeks, the senior pastor helped me sign up for bible school, and I just made that my whole life, as my calling from God told me to “Study to show myself approved”.
As I studied, God had me join the cleaning crew for a season, then the usher team.
Then the pastor asked me to serve as a liaison to the district’s men’s ministry team. Not the leader- just someone who periodically met with the district leader in charge of that ministry.
Through that, the next year the HonorBound conference came to our church. I took all of my vacation time from work to organize, clean, and set up for the three day conference that saw almost 1000 men to come to come to our church and be challenged to become men of honor.
After that, I was invited to teach the senior adult Sunday school once in awhile. Then occasionally, the Wednesday night bible study.
It was a long progression. As Paul warned Timothy- do not be hasty in the laying on of hands.
Fast Forward 25 years, now I’m a senior pastor.
What does this have to do with what we are talking about this morning?
It shows that God is wise in slowly forming within us a foundation that will hold greater things. He often does it through teaching us to excel in what most would consider “The little things”
The scripture reminds us-
Zech 4:10- Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin
Too many people today want to go from calling- to immediately recognition.
That’s why we have many celebrity pastors with no character- because they ran immediately into the pulpit, without ever scrubbing the toilet, or emptying the trash.
It further shows us that-
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IV. Visibility Has Never Been the Measure of Value
One of the quiet lies in church culture is:
“If God really valued what you do, people would see it.”
That lie destroys faithfulness.
Jesus Himself warned against self promotion:
• “They have received their reward in full.”
Some of the most anointed people in church history:
• Worked behind the scenes
• Never preached publicly
• Never led crowds
• Never wrote books
And yet heaven knows their names.
I’m convinced that ladies who have cleaned, changed diapers, and cooked meals will received much richer rewards in heaven then men who have preached for decades.
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Hard Truth
So please hear me this morning- If your joy depends on recognition,
your service will not last.
1 Cor 3 says when you stand before God, and HE applies the fire to your works…anything done to serve self will vaporize in the blinding fire of HIS Holiness.
But if your service flows from obedience and worship of HIM.
For eternity, you will be recognized by the beautiful gold, silver, and costly stones that adorn your crown and robes of righteousness.
We see this further emphasized in Paul Asking the right questions-
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V. Paul Asking the Right Questions
Verses 29–30:
“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers?”
The answer is obviously no.
That is because one of the purpose’s of this text is to dismantle and destroy the comparison game.
The wrong question to ask is:
• “Why don’t I have their gift?”
• “Why don’t I have their platform?”
• “Why don’t I get noticed like them?”
The right question to ask is:
• “Am I faithful with what God gave me?”
• Am I worshipping HIM through the gifts HE has given me?
• Is God being glorified in what I am doing, and how I am living?
Asking the right questions show us
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VI. Faithfulness Is the Currency of the Kingdom
Scripture never says:
• “Well done, famous servant.”
• “Well done, highly visible servant.”
• “Well done, gifted servant.”
What does it say?
“Well done, good and faithful servant.” (repeat)
Let’s be honest- Most of the time-
Faithfulness is not glamorous.
It is repetitive.
It is often boring.
It is rarely applauded.
But it is holy, because it glorifies Jesus in our faithfulness.
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Quote This Slowly
“In the Kingdom of God, faithfulness outranks visibility—every time.”
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Let’s look at the result of faithfulness-
VII. The Greater Gifts
Verse 31:
“Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.”
In our human weakness, this verse has been used to justify ambition.
It’s been twisted to “Make sure you have or develop these greater gifts so you can outshine others.”
That’s not the bible’s intent.
The “greater gifts” are not:
• Louder gifts
• Flashier gifts
• More public gifts
They are body-building gifts.
And then Paul immediately moves into 1 Corinthians 13—love.
That is not an accident.
APAGE Love is the framework that gives gifts their value.
Without love:
• Preaching is noise
• Service is resentment
• Leadership is ego
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VIII. A Needed Culture Shift
This morning’s sermon isn’t about correcting one person.
It’s about correcting a culture.
From focusing on:
• “Who’s important?”
• “Who’s in charge?”
• “Who’s gifted?”
To focusing on:
• “Who’s faithful?”
• “Who’s serving?”
• “Who’s strengthening the body?”
The healthiest churches are not celebrity-driven.
They are servant-sustained.
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IX. Closing Challenge
Let me ask you some honest questions:
• Where has God placed you?
In that position-
• Are you serving—or comparing?
• Are you faithful—or frustrated?
• Are you chasing affirmation—or embracing assignment?
You don’t need a different gift.
You don’t need a different calling.
You don’t need a bigger role.
You need to master faithfulness in the one God gave you.
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Prayer/Altar Call
