Finding the Right Fit | 10/26/25
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Paul urges us to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” What does it mean to you to offer your body—your time, energy, and presence—as an act of worship?
How does the idea that life itself is a gift change the way you think about your daily routines, responsibilities, or opportunities to serve
What is one concrete way you can use your physical presence—your hands, voice, energy—to serve others this week?
Paul writes that we are “one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” What gifts, skills, or passions has God given you that might strengthen the body of Christ at Trinity?
Who in your life has modeled a heart of service for you? What can you learn from their example about humility, consistency, or joy in serving?
Transcript:
Our focus for today, as we continue our series on knowing who we are as people called Methodists, is service. We're going to turn, in just a moment, to Paul's letter to the Romans in the New Testament. Before I do, I just want to give you a little context.
The letter to the Romans is one of the longest in the New Testament. One of the reasons for that is that Paul had not yet had an opportunity to be with or to visit the Romans, and he was looking forward to the time when he would be able to go and spend time with that community of faith.
So in his letter, he spends a good bit of time outlining his understanding of God's presence in our lives and the grace that infuses that presence, and is available to everyone. Then there’s this pivot point in the letter where he shifts from really focusing on the grace itself to how we respond to that grace. That pivot point happens right at the beginning of our Scripture passage for today.
One of the cues for us that it is a pivot point is that the word therefore shows up right at the beginning of this passage, which is always a sign for us. So listen in and look along if you'd like, as I read this passage for us today:
“I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.
We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.”
And we'll stop right there.
This is the Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Will you pray with me?
Come, Holy Spirit, and breathe life into the words that I speak, that they might carry a word from you into our hearts this morning. Amen.
“I have a body.”
This is a phrase that, in recent months, I have heard a good friend and clergy colleague of mine articulate a number of times. It’s part of his processing as he’s been discerning where God is leading him in this particular season of ministry as he steps out into a new form and version of that. What will his witness look like as he shows up with his gifts and skills in the world?
“I have a body.” And as he affirms that for himself, he then invites others to consider that for themselves as well. You have a body. We all have a body—and with that body, we can show up. We can use our bodies as we follow Jesus out into the world.
So this past week or so, as I've been marinating on this scripture text, it occurred to me, the connection between that phrase that I've been hearing my friend say and the beginning of the scripture that we read this morning.
Here’s how Paul starts: “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God's mercy, to present your bodies [Our bodies!] as a living sacrifice, an offering before God.”
You see, friends, we are called to an embodied faith. Faith is not just our assent to some ideas, our profession of certain beliefs, whether that’s the Apostles’ Creed or some other affirmation of faith. Faith is meant to be lived out in tangible ways with our bodies. And so Paul picks up this idea at the very beginning to say, “Present your bodies.”
I want to suggest to you this morning that this is an excellent starting point for us in developing a holistic understanding of service. It’s one that’s rooted in deep gratitude for God's goodness, particularly as we make two assertions about that goodness.
The first is that the life we have is a gift.
Just yesterday, I was reminded of this. We celebrated the life and resurrection of Maureen Greenman over in the chapel—a woman who’s been a member of this congregation for a long time. In my early years here, she was one of those folks who would welcome you at the doors as you came into worship.
Maureen passed away a couple of weeks ago, and she knew it was coming. She knew her condition was terminal. A number of weeks ago, we sat down and had a conversation about her service. As we talked, I asked her a question I don’t often get to ask people: “Maureen, if you were going to be there with us, what would you say?”
One of the two things she said was, “Help them remember to live life as a gift from God.”
Life is a gift. We get no guarantees of number of days or years. We get no guarantees about where we'll live or what our profession will be, or who our friends or our family will be. Every breath, every moment, every day is gift.
And the second assertion is this: we are recipients of an extravagant grace.
Paul talks about this grace through the many chapters that lead up to where we picked up the letter to the Romans today. It is a grace that meets us in all of our imperfections, receives us just as we are, and says, “You matter. Your life has importance and value. You have a body with which you can serve and honor God.”
So, in a holistic response to God's goodness and the recognition that life is a gift and that we have been recipients of extravagant grace, a healthy response is to offer our whole selves back.
Paul Achtemeier, in reflecting on this passage, puts it this way: “God's grace—which is the premise—becomes the structuring reality in our lives. Everything is built on that reality.”
For the follower of Jesus, then, service is not just something that we do on the side or on occasion or as one piece of life. Service becomes our very way of life in the world.
Now, I want to take a moment here to talk about language. Some of you already know this about me because you’ve heard me be a stickler about it—perhaps in a meeting somewhere. But I want to talk about the language of serve compared to the language of volunteer.
I have a strong preference for the language of serve. Here’s why:
When I say “volunteer,” what comes to my mind, and maybe to some of yours, is that I have some of my time to be able to give to something, and I’m going to take some of my time and choose to volunteer it for a particular effort.
But if I use the language of serve, I’m speaking from a theological grounding. The language of serve is rooted in the idea that time is not my time. All time is God’s time. Remember: every life, every day, every moment, every breath is a gift. So it’s God’s time. And when I serve, I am offering my whole self back to God in response to the gift of time that has been shared with me.
Language matters. And so we can present our bodies as a gift, back.
If we make that choice, then the next step for us will be to do the work of discernment. Paul points us to this in the passage today: He says, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.”
Notice the connection of the body, and what we do with our bodies, to our mind being renewed and our thinking being transformed, so that our focus becomes not on what we want, not on our will, but is all about God’s will, what is good and perfect.
That process of discerning God’s will will lead us to some questions that can help us.
One question is: How will I put my body into action?
Reflecting on that question has implications for our vocational choices. It may even become a factor in determining a vocation, as I know it has for some of you and as it did for me — people feeling a calling to a particular job or area of work in their lives. But even if it doesn’t determine vocation, it will certainly impact the way we live out our vocation.
Because when we see our work through a lens of service, our perspective changes. We ask ourselves, “What does it look like, as a follower of Christ, to serve my coworkers, my clients, my patients?” “How do I embody this life of service within my workplace, or within that place where I serve?” (If I’m no longer working a job actively).
Second question: How has God equipped me to serve?
This is going to be different for each of us, because we all have been gifted with particular skills, gifts, strengths, passions, interests, and characteristics that can all become a part of what we pay attention to in the work of discernment.
Another helpful quote from Paul Achtemeier: “Part of the Christ-follower’s journey is to discover what gift or gifts one has, and then use them for the glory of God and the good of one’s fellow human beings.” Notice the twofold impact there—when we are using our gifts well, first, God is glorified; and second, it blesses other human beings. It’s a both/and.
Third question of discernment: Where is God calling me to serve within the Body of Christ?
This is one piece of our overall consideration of what a life of service looks like, and it’s the piece where we experience the intersection of a life that is committed to service and one’s decision to be a member of a particular community of faith.
How will I serve within that community and use my skills and gifts and passions? This is all about finding the right fit.
To help us with that idea, Paul uses the analogy in our passage today—and also in his letter to the Corinthians—of the human body: a construction made up of lots of parts, each playing a role in the healthy functioning of the body as a whole. Likewise, Paul says, it is among us as the church, the Body of Christ. We don’t all have the same gifts and skills and strengths. We aren’t all called to the same role or function. But every part is needed, every part matters, and we each have something valuable to offer to the whole.
I am so inspired by the many ways people in this congregation show up with their bodies to serve. I think about our folks who have gone through training to be Early Response Team members, so that when there’s a disaster, they can go—in their bodies—and be present, and care for folks who are experiencing great loss and tragedy. They can also use those same skills here in our community when the occasion presents itself.
I think about Stephen Ministers who go through extensive training as servants so that they can walk alongside persons who have experienced death, loss, or grief, and need a reliable companion who will listen and hold their hand and their heart.
I think of the folks who show up in the kitchen and help out on Wednesday nights, smiling as people come through to receive food—and at special events, both those that are part of our life together at Trinity and those we host for the community.
I think about class facilitators, people who put time and energy into planning sessions where people can come together and grow in faith and deepen friendships as they sit around tables and learn from and listen to each other.
I think about the people who welcomed you in the door this morning, who handed you a bulletin or opened the door and said, “We’re so glad you’re here,” and who show up week in and week out to offer that hospitality.
And I think about the people who say yes to serving communion, and in offering a simple piece of bread and a cup of juice, become conveyors of the indescribable grace that God offers in those moments.
And there are so many more ways you show up with your bodies.
I’m thinking, too, about the fact that tomorrow night we will have our annual Charge Conference. One of the things we’ll do there is adopt our slate of leadership for next year, which will include more than 100 names of people who have said yes to serving on a leadership team for this congregation for the coming year, showing up with our bodies.
So here’s my hope: if you haven’t found your way—or if you don’t have a way currently—or maybe if you’ve thought, “My contribution doesn’t matter,” I hope you’ll rethink that. Because everyone matters. And when every part is functioning, the whole works so much better together.
So find one way to say yes to service within the Body of Christ.
A heart for service has been at the foundation of the Methodist movement from the very beginning. When John and Charles Wesley and their colleagues—who became known as the Holy Club—met in Oxford, England, in the early 18th century, they would gather and read Scripture, and pray, and challenge each other with questions.
That time together prompted them not just to profess a faith but to live a faith. They began to go out into their community to visit the sick, feed the hungry, and, as an act of mercy, go into the prisons and spend time with those who were incarcerated.
A heart for service has been with us from our beginnings. And service is a way for us to see the sanctifying grace of God at work in our lives. That grace that doesn’t stop when we make that decision to say yes to God, but that grace that then continues to work in us, drawing us closer to who we were created and meant to be.
I have a body. You have a body. And as we present our bodies as living offerings to God, by the work of the Holy Spirit, we are shaped more and more into the image of Christ.
Thanks be to God. Amen.