When you are building a building, there are two important things to do to start. First, a ground survey to ensure the ground is ready and capable of holding up the building, abs second, a foundation must be properly designed and built. If those steps are not accomplished, the building will fail.
When looking at our purpose, our foundation is clear. We are here to worship and serve God. But what gets built on that foundation is an open question that many of us struggle with. One of Seed’s key values is helping people understand that level of purpose.
The attitude we must take into this is that described in 2 Peter 2:12-17. We were slaves, but are now set free to do good works.
We also must understand the importance of our own purpose. In Romans 12:4-5, we are told that our specific capabilities are vital components of the body of Christ. When we do not use our abilities to serve, we hobble the body we are members of, and we fail to accomplish the purpose we have been put on earth to do.
We can see examples of purpose and ways to serve when we look at passages about different spiritual gifts, like in Romans 12:6-8. And even beyond spiritual gifts, God can also use our more material talents and abilities for his work. If you want to understand more about the spiritual and other gifts you may have, there are lots of tests and personality quizzes out there, but you can also just ask others what gifts and abilities they see in you.
But ultimately, the only way to learn our gifts and purpose is to live a life that seeks to serve, and to learn by doing, as described in James 2:18. To do that, we need a group of people to serve with clear needs and hurts. Fortunately, God has given us a people to do that with – the group of people Jesus calls His bride. We have our gifts in order to serve the church.
We don’t thing about that very much. We like to think about our gifts as if we are an Old Testament prophet, coming down from the mountains, using our gifts and going back up. But the New Testament is clear that Christians need the Church, and the Church needs Christians.
It all goes back to the foundation mentioned at the beginning. We are here to love God, but the way we show that love is by serving the Body of Christ.
– Sermon Notes, Aaron James, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, January 19, 2020