Spiritual Gifts: Serving, Helping, Giving

God invites us to a new life, lived in a community of faith. He gives gifts to us to build up the community and benefit the Kingdom. Romans 12 is one of several places in the New Testament that list and describe these gifts.

“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. . .” Romans 12.5-6

Last week we said that diversity and variety are good. This week we look at several of the gifts and how God blesses us in specific ways for the benefit of many. These gifts are called spiritual gifts because they come from the Holy Spirit. They function truly and powerfully when we are open to and obedient to the Holy Spirit’s direction. Anytime spiritual gifts are mentioned in the church there is tendency to think of certain gifts, namely what we think of as the more charismatic gifts like speaking in tongues, healing, prophecy, and the like. But what do we mean when we say charismatic? Charisma means grace. These gifts are divinely given. We don’t earn them. We don’t luck into them. They are the gift of a gracious God. And so all the gifts God gives to the church are rightly speaking, charismatic gifts.

“Prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher in teaching; the exhorter in exhortation; the giver in generosity; the leader in diligence, the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” Romans 12.6-8

This morning I want to focus on the gifts of serving, helping, giving. Though these gifts are separate and each have their own uses and meanings, they are still related. They are often “Behind-the-Scenes” Gifts. They are gifts that some people assume they get when they don’t get one of the flashy kind. But these gifts, really, are the heart of Christ-like living. I will lump these gifts under the title “servant ministries.”

The word servant dates back to the earliest of human times. In the Old Testament a servant is a slave. A servant has no rights of their own. They exist to do their master’s bidding. In the history of Israel “servant” is used as a term of humble self-designation. Soldiers are servants of the King. Against this background a religious sense of the term begins to develop. The righteous person is called the “servant of the Lord.” Men like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, and Solomon are all called servants of the Lord.

That these great leaders that stride across history even now to us called themselves “slaves” too easily rolls off of us. But consider how even in New Testament times, this view in Israel is dramatically different from the view in surrounding cultures. For the Greek the highest ideal was self-determination, independence. The opposite of this is being a servant. Who wants to be that? To the Greek the slave was an inferior person. They would never talk about themselves as servants, to each other, even to God.


This idea doesn’t go down well in our American culture either. If the choices are the humble servants of Israel or the rugged and independent Greeks, then many of us would rather have Greek salads than eat humble pie. Here’s a very scientific chart of our cultural values today and who is important:


Great in the World Example They Said

Pop Stars The Beatles “We’re bigger than Jesus.”

Government leaders Dick Cheney “Quit your whining.”

Famous for Being Famous Paris Hilton “I’m so hot.”

Professional Athletes Muhammad Ali “I am the greatest.”
Terrell Owens “I want me some me.”

Professional Sports Teams Steelers “Thank God we’re not the Dolphins.”


Why are people in these vocations so much more visible and so much better compensated than say, nurses or teachers? Because the values of our world are messed up.

But there are voices calling to us to be different.

“You know that the rulers of the Greeks lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be a servant, and whoever wishes to be first must be a slave. Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20.25-28


Jesus is answering the question, “Who is really great?” And He could not be more clear as to how differently he looks at human beings compared to the way of the world. This world is not just a little off in its values, it is upside down! Jesus means to turn things right side up again.

“The first shall be last and the last shall be first.”

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you may like to dance.
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world.
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Yes, indeed, serve somebody.
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Bob Dylan

So what does a servant look like these days? Sometimes that’s hard to answer because the first thing is, a servant is not trying to be noticed doing the good they do.

Servants are behind the scenes. They quietly do the work that needs to be done. They work in secret for their Father “who sees in secret.” They are often very compassionate people. They really see the needs of others. They find meaning and purpose in doing something about it.


Someone pointed out to me just the other day that the new bridge in Minnesota is open. You remember the bridge that collapsed about two years ago now? That collapse set off a flurry of bridge inspections and bridge work around the country. We realized how important bridges are to us.

Servants are bridge-builders. They don’t need to talk a lot. Their work speaks volumes. They are the glue that holds a community together. Sometimes more vocal leaders have differences of opinions but servants are the bridges that bring them and keep them together.

Often we take these kind of folks for granted. It’s like what comedian Chris Rock says about underappreciated fathers. Mothers get all the accolades. Many songs are sung in praise of mom. Dads? We get, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone.” But good fathers quietly do work that needs to be done .

Nobody says, “Thanks dad for paying the rent. Or, Dad, this hot water feels really good. Or, I can read a lot better with these lights.”

Servants don’t get thanked enough. But I want to thank some people today for the behind-the-scenes stuff they do.

Before all of you get here on Sunday morning; before I get here, one person has been here for awhile to unlock the doors, turn on the fans, open windows, get things ready for everyone else. John Frazier does it week in and week out.

When most of you are on your way home or out to eat on Sunday, you’re already talking about what a great service it was and how those two hours flew by, a couple of folks are still here shutting things down, locking things up. John Smith, Bill Neely, Jack Linderman, and the wives that have to wait upon them – we thank you.

Bob and Cathy Baird are our church custodians and they do a great job behind the scenes. Most of the work they do when we aren’t here. We don’t notice it because everything looks so good. Thank you Cathy and Bob.

I could go on to talk about Mary Jo Campolong, Heidi Fogle, and Deb Simpson, and Brian Fleck and Erica Dellinger. But I would have to just keep going on and on. Because so many of you are serving in little-noticed and underappreciated ways. We thank you!

I know you don’t do it to get paid. I know that you have other motivation. I know you have a servant’s attitude and a servant’s heart.

“So when we have done all that we were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”