All of Us Called to Serve

🎯 Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• explain what ministry means in the New Testament and why it concerns every believer;
• describe, using the image of the body, how God designed cooperation in the church;
• recognize that you too, man or woman, are called to put your gifts at the service of others.

📖 Receive

Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and Ephesians 4:11-16 slowly. Then pause on the question Paul asked the Lord right after meeting him on the road to Damascus: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).

As you read, underline every time words like every one, all, every member appear. Notice how often Paul speaks of the whole church, not just of a few.

🔍 Examine

A word that changes our perspective

When we hear the word ministry, we often think of something reserved for a few: the pastor, the evangelist, the person who preaches from the pulpit. In the New Testament, however, the word used most often is diakonia, which simply means service.

Look at the situations in which the same family of words appears:

• Martha, busy with preparations to welcome Jesus, complains that her sister has left her to serve alone (Luke 10:40);
• the apostles, in Acts 6, distinguish serving tables (v. 2) from the ministry of the word (v. 4): two different tasks, but both of them diakonia;
• Paul calls his task of testifying to the Gospel of the grace of God the ministry he received from the Lord Jesus (Acts 20:24).

Cooking for guests, handing out food to widows, proclaiming the Gospel in the cities: for the Bible these are all forms of service. This does not mean that all tasks are the same, but that none is superfluous and that every believer has a place in which to serve.

Every one has received a gift

The apostle Peter puts it simply: each one has received a gift from the grace of God and must use it for others, like a good steward (1 Peter 4:10-11). Whoever speaks should do so as one who speaks the words of God; whoever serves should do so with the strength God gives. The goal is one: that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.

Notice that Peter does not distinguish between men and women when he speaks of gifts. He says every one. Paul adds that we were created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). There is a service God has in mind for you too.

The body of Christ

To explain how the church works, Paul chooses an image everyone knows: the human body (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). It is a perfect image for at least three reasons.

1. Unity. Nothing is more united than the members of a body. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body: Jews and Greeks, slaves and free.
2. Interdependence. The foot cannot say “I am not of the body” because it is not a hand. The eye cannot say to the hand “I have no need of thee”. Every part, even the smallest, is necessary; in fact, the members that seem weaker are indispensable (vv. 21-22).
3. Mutual care. If one member suffers, the whole body suffers with it; if one member is honoured, the whole body rejoices (v. 26).

📌 The body principle

God has set every member in the body as it hath pleased him (1 Corinthians 12:18). A difference in function does not mean a difference in worth. A church where the same few people always serve is like a body that uses only one hand: it soon gets tired and grows badly.

Paul returns to the same image in Ephesians 4:16: the body grows and builds itself up in love by that which every joint supplieth, according to the working of each individual part. The growth of the church does not depend on a single charismatic leader, but on everyone working together.

The body in a diagram

The diagram below summarizes Paul’s argument. At the center is Christ, the head; from him comes grace, which the Spirit distributes as different gifts. Each gift becomes a concrete service, and all the services together make the body grow in love.

flowchart TD
  A["Christ, the head"] --> B["The Spirit distributes the gifts"]
  B --> C["Service of the Word"]
  B --> D["Practical service"]
  B --> E["Care and hospitality"]
  C --> F["The body grows in love"]
  D --> F
  E --> F

Notice the direction of the arrows: everything starts from Christ and everything returns to the good of the body. No gift is given in order to show off, but to build others up.

The New Testament contains several lists of gifts. They are not complete lists, but examples that show how wide the variety of service is:

Text	Some gifts mentioned	What it teaches us
Romans 12:6-8	prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, mercy	gifts touch both the Word and practical life
1 Corinthians 12:8-10	word of wisdom and of knowledge, faith, healings, discernment	it is the Spirit who distributes, as he wills
Ephesians 4:11-12	apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers	some gifts exist to equip all believers for service
1 Peter 4:10-11	speaking, serving	every gift is a stewardship of God’s grace

A concrete example

Think of a small church where one sister, let’s call her Anna, believed she had no “spiritual” gift. She only knew how to organize things well and how to notice who was alone. One day the church leader asks her to coordinate the welcome of newcomers. Within a few months the number of people who come back the following Sunday doubles. Anna did not preach, yet her service opened the door for many to hear the Word. This is exactly what Paul describes: different members, one purpose.

And women?

This course is born of a simple conviction: women too are living members of the body of Christ and have received gifts to put at the service of the church. Sadly, in many churches their contribution is taken for granted, underestimated or confined to a few tasks. At other times women themselves hold back, out of shyness, fear of making mistakes, or because they do not know what their place is.

In the coming lessons we will look at:

• God’s design in the creation of man and woman;
• the revolutionary way in which Jesus treated women;
• the many women who served in the New Testament church;
• the most debated texts and the different readings evangelicals give them;
• the heart with which to serve.

We will do so following the position of this course: equal dignity of man and woman, active service by women, collaboration with the pastoral leadership of the local church. And we will do it like the believers in Berea, examining everything in the light of the Scriptures, so that each person can check for themselves what the Bible says.

Paul’s question

On the road to Damascus, having just met the Lord, Paul asks what he must do (Acts 9:6). It is the question of someone who has understood that the Christian life is not a spectator’s seat. It is not a question to ask only once: it is an attitude to cultivate every day.

🔗 Connect

The idea that all of God’s people are called to serve runs through the whole of Scripture:

• Exodus 35:20-29: to build the tabernacle both men and women come, all whose hearts were willing, and the skilled women spin with their own hands.
• Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 2:17-18: the Spirit is poured out on sons and daughters, on servants and handmaidens.
• Romans 12:4-8: we have different gifts according to grace, and each one must exercise their own.
• 1 Peter 2:9: all believers are a royal priesthood, called to proclaim the works of God.

Service is not a reward for a deserving few, but the natural response of those who have received grace. Christ himself came to minister (Mark 10:45): when we serve, we become like him.

🙏 Apply

Take a few minutes, on your own or with your group:

1. Before this lesson, what came to mind when you heard the word “ministry”? What has changed?
2. What gifts do you think God has given you? If you don’t know, ask two people who know you well to tell you where they see you serving with joy.
3. Are there members in your church “which seem to be more feeble” and are at risk of being forgotten? How could you value them?
4. Make Paul’s question your own and bring it to the Lord in prayer: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”

📚 Go Deeper

• Read Romans 12:1-13 and note all the verbs that describe concrete service.
• Read Acts 6:1-7 and notice how practical service and the service of the Word work together so that the Word spreads.
• If you want to go deeper into the reading method we will use, the BereaWay course How to Study the Bible explains the three steps Receive, Examine, Connect.

In the next lesson we will go back to the beginning of everything: what does it mean that God created man and woman together, in his image?