By Laura Springer with Jeff Barnhart
Key Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:12-30; Ephesians 4:11-16
Key Idea: Opportunities, knowledge, and skills given and arranged by God for all his children equip all believers to help each other follow Jesus, love others well, and serve on a mission to glorify Jesus, all serving as a church and a few serving within the church.
God’s free gift of abundant grace compels us to serve, but sometimes we get stuck. We wonder what we have to offer or where he wants us to minister. We focus so much on serving one another that we forget to look outside the walls. We assume the professional ministers have everything handled. But God expects each believer to serve him by loving others well and has already given us everything we need to start right now.
God gives and arranges opportunities, knowledge, and skills so that all his children can serve. Every encounter, everything we know, and everything we can do comes from God, and he brings all of this together to create ministry assignments for his children. There is no need to fill out gift inventories or wait for God to deliver our spiritual gifts, for he is already at work. Instead, we must keep identifying and sharpening what he has already given so that we are ready to meet the needs before us. As a church, let us consider every member’s knowledge and skills and spend time with one another in homes and the community, even as we continue life groups and worship service.
Equipped believers help one another follow Jesus and love others well. God gives the gifts of opportunities, knowledge, and skills so the church might build herself up in love toward Christlikeness. As we minister to and alongside one another, we become better at trusting and obeying Jesus and learn how to share our hearts, time, and resources with others. As a church, let us infuse the expectation that being a Christian means following Jesus and serving others. All members are ministers, called and equipped by God to serve. He has called a few whose primary ministry is within the church, but all serve as the church. Let us make following Jesus and loving others simple to begin and rigorous enough to strive for. Let us commit to coming alongside one another so that, individually and communally, we learn to follow Jesus and love others well.
Equipped believers are on a mission to glorify Jesus. Service must point outward, for Jesus commanded us to make more and better disciples. We do this by serving Jesus in the mission field of daily life, and everything we do in our gatherings must prepare us for our dispersings. Let us work to know one another and our neighbors well enough to understand real needs and allow those needs to focus our ministry. Let us help one another open our eyes and hearts to those around us, for as we serve others, both within the church and out in the world, we glorify Jesus.
Since God has given us everything we need to serve him well, let us help one another discover God’s supply of opportunities, knowledge, and skills to love him and others through our resources and reflect Jesus in our work and play. Let us help one another better recognize Jesus’s guidance so that our love for him grows and becomes apparent to others, whether we are gathered as a family or dispersed into the mission field of daily life. Let us learn from the men and women God has given as shepherd-teachers so that together, we grow as the lived image of our Lord Jesus.
Who writes Academy? Laura has an MDiv in Christian Education, a ThM in Systematic Theology, and a PhD in Educational Studies. She also serves TFB as a guitarist (primarily) and singer in TFB's worship band. Jeff has a Certificate in Biblical and Theological Studies and is currently working on an MA in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care. He also serves as kitchen lead for TFB's Family Dinner and as TFB’s bookkeeper.
