The culture says climb the ladder. Jesus says carry the ladder for someone else. This past Sunday, Pastor Chip continued the Counter Culture series with a message titled Biblical Serving from Romans 12 that he called the most important one in the entire series.
The Number One Way to Live Counterculturally
Pastor Chip opened with a series of contrasts that set up everything that followed. The culture tells you to climb the ladder of success. Jesus calls you to carry a ladder for someone else. The culture says go as high as you can. Jesus says live as humbly as you can. The culture says get to a place where as many people serve you as possible. Jesus says serve as many people as possible.
He also reminded the room what counterculture actually means in this series. It is not about being different from the world for its own sake, because the world is always shifting. It is about living like Jesus through the Gospel. When you do that, you will automatically be different from the world.
So what is the single most countercultural thing a Christian can do? Serve.
Mark 10:45 says the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Jesus is not asking you to do anything for Him that He has not already done for you. He loved you first, so He calls you to love. He served you first, so He calls you to serve.
Jesus Served You Before He Saved You
Pastor Chip pointed to Isaiah 52:13, a prophecy written hundreds of years before the crucifixion. Behold, My servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted.
High and lifted up first describes the cross. The crown of thorns pressed into His brow. The cat of nine tails tearing His back. The nails driven through His wrists and feet. The pain was so severe that a word had to be invented for it. Excruciating literally means pain that could only come from the cross.
But high and lifted up also describes the resurrection and the ascension. Jesus is at the right hand of God right now, ruling, reigning, and waiting to return.
The point Pastor Chip drove home is this. Jesus served you before He saved you. He served you with His life all the way to His death, long before you ever knew Him. The natural response to salvation is not comfort. It is a question. Jesus, how can I serve You?
Saved people serve people. We cannot help it, because that is exactly what our Savior did for us.
Present Your Body as a Living Sacrifice
Romans 12:1 says I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Pastor Chip unpacked several words here.
The word appeal in the original Greek means to come up alongside someone. Paul is not shouting down from above. He is standing beside us as a fellow follower of Jesus, giving loving instruction the way a good coach pulls a player close rather than screaming across the field.
Mercy means not getting what you deserve. Every person on earth deserves God’s judgment because all sin against a holy God warrants it. We do not get that judgment because Jesus took what we deserved.
Grace is the opposite. Grace means getting what you do not deserve. Pastor Chip illustrated it with a traffic stop. When the officer lets you go without a ticket, that is mercy. If he then handed you the keys to his cruiser, that would be grace. God does not just spare you from hell. He gives you His Son, His Spirit, His blessings, and eternity with Him.
The word present is the same word used when Old Testament fathers brought a sacrificial animal to the priest. Jesus presented Himself as our substitute. Now we get the honor of presenting ourselves back to Him. Jesus, I am reporting for duty.
We are no longer called to bring death sacrifices, because Jesus was the final one. We are called to be living sacrifices. Pastor Chip made a point worth underlining. Worship is not only singing. Worship includes serving. The way you live your life for Jesus is your spiritual worship to Him.
Do Not Be Conformed. Be Transformed.
Romans 12:2 is the verse this entire series has been built on.
The word conformed pictures Play-Doh being pressed into whatever shape someone wants. That is exactly what the world wants to do with you. It uses fear, intimidation, and anger to press you into its mold.
The word transformed is where we get the English word metamorphosis. It is what happens when a caterpillar goes into a chrysalis and comes out a butterfly. God is not pressing you into a shape. He is changing you from the inside into His own likeness.
How does that happen? By the renewal of your mind. The more you get into God’s Word, the more God’s Word gets into you. The more of His Word in you, the more His Spirit works in you, and the more you are able to discern His will for your life.
Pastor Chip also named the greatest enemy of serving. Pride. He offered a diagnostic worth sitting with. You know you are struggling with pride when you find yourself constantly angry and frustrated, because anger usually comes from things not going your way. You do not actually want things to go your way. You want them to go God’s way.
Humility, he explained, is not thinking less of yourself. It is thinking so much about Jesus and about others that you simply do not have time to think about yourself.
Use the Gifts You Have Already Been Given
Romans 12:4-6 says we are many members in one body, each with different functions, and having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
Pastor Chip paused on that phrase. Let us use them.
He told a story on himself. Two and a half years ago Brooklyn received a gift at her birthday party. In the chaos of the day it got set aside and forgotten in a closet. They rediscovered it recently, finally assembled it, and now the pink princess tent is a staple in her room and one of the biggest blessings in their home. Two and a half years of blessing missed because the gift sat unopened.
That happens spiritually all the time. God gives gifts we never use.
The gifts listed in Romans 12 include prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, and acts of mercy. Pastor Chip took time to thank the hundreds of people at First Baptist who already serve in kids, youth, young adults, worship, production, hospitality, senior adults, local missions, and global missions.
He then shared real stories from the congregation. A nineteen-year-old full-time student who manages at Chick-fil-A and serves on the hospitality team. A twenty-three-year-old woman working two jobs who leads youth on Sundays and Wednesdays. Retired men using construction and electrical skills to save the church money. A single mom of three who teaches in community schools all week and serves in kids ministry every Sunday. A man in his sixties who travels for work all week and returns every Sunday to serve on the worship team. A man who took a significant pay cut leaving AT&T to join staff.
He also made clear what this church is not about. Not numbers. Not size. Not becoming a mega church. Just becoming a missional church that reaches people for Jesus.
Then he made a connection he admitted he cannot fully explain. Somehow, the more a church serves, the more God saves.
Answer the Call
Psalm 92:13 says those planted in the house of the Lord flourish in the courts of our God. Pastor Chip illustrated it with Death Valley, the driest place in the country, which received so much rain this year that wildflowers bloomed across the entire valley. Even a dry and dead place can flourish when the blessings of God rain down on it.
He closed with the story of September 11. As half a million people stood trapped on the island of Manhattan with rubble in front of them and water behind them, the Coast Guard put out a call for all boats. Not just military vessels. Every civilian craft. Hundreds of tugboats, ferries, yachts, and private boats answered. What followed was the largest water evacuation in human history, carrying roughly five hundred thousand people to safety.
The call has gone out again. The question is how you will answer.
Pastor Chip was careful about his tone here. No arm twisting. No guilt. No shame. This is not what God wants from you. It is what God wants for you. You will not experience everything God has for you spiritually until you humbly sacrifice your life and serve Him in His Church.
Live It Out
This week, start by thanking Jesus for the way He served you all the way to the cross. Then ask Him one honest question. Lord, how are You calling me to serve in Your Church?
There are 168 hours in a week. Pastor Chip named three of them as the most important. The hour you worship. The hour you serve. The hour you spend in a group. Those three are where God pours into your life so that your life can be poured out for others.
If you do not know where you fit, visit fbcps.org/serve and take the spiritual gifts assessment. Look at your heart, your abilities, your personality, and your experiences. Then take one step. Fill out a Next Step card. Stop by the Next Step station. Observe in a ministry one Sunday and ask the Lord if that is where He is leading you.
There’s a Seat for You
Whether you have been serving for years or you have never found your place, you belong here. We are a church that believes every person has been given a gift by God and that the Church only works when all of us use them.
Plan Your Visit and come see what God is doing here. Or take your next step and Get Connected with our church family. We would love to serve alongside you.