When We Serve, God Works

There is a moment many of us know well. An email arrives, or a text comes through, or someone catches us in the hallway after a Sunday service. They need volunteers. They need help. And somewhere in the back of our minds, before we have even read the details, a familiar weight settles in. Here we go again.

If that experience resonates with you, you are not alone. And more importantly, that weight — that sense of pressure or guilt or quiet resentment — is not what God intends for us when He calls us to serve. The invitation to serve in the church was never meant to feel like a debt collection notice. It was meant to feel like a seat at the table.

So what does God's perspective on serving actually look like? And how do we get from where many of us are to where God wants us to be?

Let us start with honesty. The expectation to serve is not manufactured by church leaders or guilted into existence by well-meaning volunteers. It comes directly from Scripture. In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about a man who entrusts bags of gold to his servants before leaving on a journey. One bag of gold represented roughly a lifetime of wages — an almost incomprehensible investment. The servants who took what they were given and put it to work were met with strong commendation upon the master's return. The one who buried his bag in the ground, who did nothing with what had been entrusted to him, received a very different response.

The application is clear. God has invested in each of us — not just financially, but in the form of abilities, gifts, experiences, and callings. When those gifts are buried, when they sit unused while the church limps along with gaps and holes, God takes notice. The expectation to serve is real, and it is rooted in Scripture.

But here is where many conversations about serving stop, but there is much more to think about.

If the parable of the bags of gold is the only lens through which we view serving, it is easy to slip into a transactional mindset. God has done so much for me. I suppose I owe Him. I guess I have no choice. And that posture, however understandable, quietly poisons the well.

In 1 Peter 4, the apostle Peter writes to a community of believers navigating genuine hardship. His instructions are striking in their warmth. He calls them to love one another deeply, to offer hospitality without grumbling, and then he says this:
Stewards of grace. Not debtors paying back a loan. Stewards — people entrusted with something precious, given the privilege of distributing it to others.

When we serve from a place of gratitude rather than guilt, everything changes. Colossians 3:17 captures this beautifully, describing a life where every word and deed flows from thankfulness to God through Jesus Christ. Gratitude is not a feeling we manufacture. It is the natural response of a heart that has genuinely reckoned with the cross, the resurrection, and the hope of eternity. When that gratitude rises to the surface, serving stops feeling like a burden and starts feeling like an outlet.

There is something worth sitting with in the image of adoption. Romans 8 describes believers as those who have been adopted into the family of God — not as guests, not as observers, but as sons and daughters. That identity carries weight.

Think about what it means to belong to a family. There are responsibilities that come with membership. There are contributions expected of every person at the table. A child who has never known a stable home, who has never passed the potatoes or helped clear the dishes, experiences something profound the first time they are included in those ordinary acts. They are not just visiting. They belong. And belonging means participating.

The church is no different. God has not designed the community of faith to function as a spectator sport. He has designed it as a body, with every part contributing to the health and movement of the whole. When we serve, we are not just filling a slot on a volunteer schedule. We are affirming our identity as members of God's family, stepping into the responsibility and the privilege that comes with belonging.

The question worth sitting with is this: is your posture toward serving one of "I have to" or "I get to"? That small shift in perspective carries enormous spiritual weight.

One of the most encouraging truths in all of Scripture is that God does not call us to serve in a generic, one-size-fits-all way. He equips each person with specific gifts, and those gifts are not accidental. Ephesians 4 describes a church where leaders equip the people for works of service so that the whole body grows toward maturity and fullness. Romans 12 lists gifts ranging from teaching and encouragement to leadership, generosity, and mercy — each one essential, each one given for the common good.

The gift God has placed in you is not decorative. It is functional. It is meant to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of the people around you. When a child grows up in a community of faith and one day stands to declare their belief publicly, behind that moment are dozens of faithful people who showed up week after week to teach, to pray, to serve. When a person in crisis finds genuine comfort in a small group, it is because someone chose to lead it. These are not small things. They are the kingdom of God made visible.

Every season of life is different. Some people are exhausted. Some are brand new and still finding their footing. Some have been serving faithfully for decades and need the reminder that what they do matters. Wherever you find yourself, the invitation is the same: lay this season before God and ask Him honestly what serving might look like for you.

Not out of guilt. Not out of pressure. But out of gratitude for grace freely given, identity securely held, and a family worth showing up for.

Where might God be inviting you to serve in this season? Take some time to pray about the gifts He has given you and where He may be calling you to use them. Then take a step. Visit frcoc.org/volunteer to explore ministry opportunities at First Reformed Church and choose an area you would like to learn more about. You can also watch Pastor Fred’s full message, What God Does When We Serve: In & Among Us, to hear more about how God works in us as we serve.

Serving is more than filling a need. It is an opportunity to use what God has given us, grow in our faith, and be part of what He is doing in the lives of others.