When my eldest son Michael was about four years old, he graduated from watching me mow the lawn to actively helping out. Donning over-sized protective wear – gumboots, gardening gloves, and a full adult face shield with earmuffs – he bravely ventured out onto the lawn at Blakehurst to “help” me with the mowing.
The lawn mower was loud, the progress was slow, but we finished the job, and I could see by the serious-but-radiant look on his face that this was a special moment for him.
It’s much the same with God. Our Father in heaven could do all the work of announcing and growing his kingdom without our help, but he calls us to join him in the task. He is patient with us. He engages with us as a father engages with a child he loves. And we have the unspeakable privilege of sharing with God in the work of building the kingdom, one person and one day at a time.
Over the past few weeks, we have considered three of the basic purposes of the church: why it exists, what it does, and how we may become personally involved in its vital activities. In his book, The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren outlines five reasons for the church’s existence:
- Magnification: celebrating God’s presence and power in public worship and private devotion;
- Membership: connecting with others who follow Jesus – finding my place among God’s people;
- Maturity: growing deeper through spiritual practices, and discovering biblical principles to live my best life;
- Ministry: discovering my gifts and serving others – putting faith into action in my world;
- Mission: sharing the good news of Jesus with others – finding a purpose to live for beyond myself and my small world.
All this is grounded in a beautiful mutual commitment between me and my local church community. As Warren puts it, “My church family gives me:
- God’s purpose to live for (mission)
- God’s people to live with (membership)
- God’s principles to live by (maturity)
- God’s profession to live out (ministry)
- God’s power to live on (magnify)”[1]
Today, we are focusing on ministry, or service: a profession to live out.
In the New Testament, there are many references to the Christian imperative to engage in active service in the interests of others. A service orientation, a willingness or keenness to engage in active and often sacrificial work with the goal of blessing others, is central to the vocation of Jesus, and by implication to the vocation of all who seek to follow Jesus.
Among these passages in Holy Scripture are four texts that list various “spiritual gifts” or “charisms” that God has dispensed to God’s people today: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. Reflection on these texts yields gold in understanding the needs of our time, and the variety of personalities and experience latent within the church, and the wisdom of God in resourcing the church in these ways.
For now, let’s look briefly at the list in Romans 12:3-8.
The first thing to say is that this passage comes immediately after the seminal teaching in Romans 12:1-2, where Paul begins to outline our response to the amazing theological treatise that fills chapters 1-11.
He writes, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
Paul then urges all of us to eschew pride and think of ourselves with appropriate humility and wisdom (v. 3). And, I should add, we should also guard against thinking too lowly of ourselves.
Then comes the list (vv. 4-8). It’s not a complete list. The other three lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament refer to various other gifts. And if we make a list of all the gifts, or Spirit-empowered abilities, mentioned in the Bible, that list too would not be exhaustive.
As culture develops, and human ingenuity flourishes, and technology progressively makes more things possible, we see more specialisation in the use of culture, knowledge, and technology, and alongside these advances God continues to impart Spirit-driven skills and abilities to the people of God, for the work of ministry or service to others.
How do we discern our own spiritual gifts?
First, read and reflect on the biblical lists. They are in Scripture for this purpose! As Timothy Keller observes in his commentary on this chapter of Romans, “It is hard to discern your gifts without some categories of spiritual ability through which to assess yourself.”[2]
Second, examine your life and achievements. What gives you joy? What delivers a sense of fulfilment? What kinds of ministry do you find satisfying and attractive? And what activities do you not enjoy?
Beyond this, ask: Where do I perceive needs in my world that I can help address? Where can I make a difference? Where am I needed? Go there, and get to work, meeting real needs, for the glory of God.
Third, recognise the importance of personal experience as a wise teacher. As you serve in areas of perceived need, you will find that the needs of the moment reveal gifts you had no idea you possessed.
And those gifts you were aware you possessed are constantly being honed, stretched, and developed in ways that enable you to serve in the kingdom of God, doing what would have been impossible earlier in your life. Through this process of growth and change, you discover your spiritual aptitudes, and train to bring out your best, and bless others in the process. Everyone wins.
Many of the spiritual gifts listed in Scripture harness or enhance natural talents and abilities, but some are completely supernatural. And some change over time: you may find that you gain or lose a certain aptitude depending on your outlook and environment.
No one – not even Jesus – has all the spiritual gifts, but every one of us has at least one. The gifts God has graciously given us enable us to minister to people’s physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs. A healthy, biblically functioning congregation will have a variety of gifts operating to meet the diverse needs of the time and place.
What spiritual gifts has God given you?
What gifts are you not currently using?
What areas of need do you observe around you where you, or someone you know, could invest time and effort in making a positive difference?
What would this local faith community look like if all the gifts God has given us were functioning smoothly, at capacity, for the right reasons, in the service of others?
How would the city of Sydney be transformed if all the gifts of all the Christians in all the churches were operating just as God intended?
Some of you may have heard of John Henry Newman (1801-1890), the brilliant English theologian who famously converted from Anglican to Catholic faith, and was made a Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879.
Newman achieved new fame this week when Pope Leo XIV proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church and co-patron, with St Thomas Aquinas, of Catholic education: something of a big deal for my Catholic friends.
There are very few people in any generation granted the natural or spiritual gifts of St Thomas Aquinas or Cardinal Newman. But their solemn responsibility to make the best use of their gifts is precisely the same responsibility we all share.
I love these words of Cardinal Newman, which speak to each of us:
God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another … I have a part in a great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall love as Christ loved. I shall do his work.[3]
The best exemplar of humble service to others is Jesus Christ.
There are many examples in the Gospels, but perhaps the most iconic is the scene where Jesus literally takes upon himself the form of a servant, and washes the world-weary feet of his apprentices, before celebrating the Last Supper and going out to be arrested in the Garden and to die for us all.
The Anglican poet Malcolm Guite, whom I quoted in my first sermon in this series, captures the moment well in his poem, “Footwashing” from his “Sounding the Seasons” sonnet cycle on the Christian year (2013):
And here He shows the full extent of love
To us whose love is always incomplete,
That we might show what love is made of —
Humility and grace, a towel, a basin, feet.
Sermon 835 copyright © 2025 Rod Benson. Preached at North Rocks Community Church, Sydney, Australia, on Sunday 16 November 2025. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Christian Standard Bible (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020).
References
[1] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church: Every Church is Big in God’s Eyes (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 117.
[2] Timothy Keller, Romans 8-16 for You (n.p.: The Good Book Co., 2015), 114.
[3] John Henry Newman, from “The mission of my life,” widely quoted; source unknown.
Image source: Sound of Heaven
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