CHURCH CHORES

Serving God Like It Matters

Main Verse: Colossians 3:23–24 (ESV)

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.
You are serving the Lord Christ.”

INTRO

Hi, I’m Pastor Todd Sommer, an associate pastor here at Faith and Victory Church, and tonight I want to talk with you about how we serve in God’s church.

Sometimes—if I’m honest—serving in church can start to feel like a chore.

Like it’s just another thing on the list between kids’ piano lessons, Christmas play rehearsals, grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, or the absolute worst… doing the dishes.

Like serving is something I just have to get through so I can get to the next thing.
Like it’s a checkbox I mark off so I’m “right with God” and “right with my church.”

Sometimes I give more thought to what I’m going to eat after church than how I can best serve God in the ministry He’s given me.

And that’s when I know: my heart’s not in the right place.
That’s when I’ve missed the point.

Because I’ve relegated serving the God of the universe to the same category as chores.
Stuff I’ll do — but I don’t really want to do.
As long as it doesn’t take too much time.
As long as it doesn’t interfere with my plans.
As long as it’s convenient.

Pastor Matt has been preaching an incredible series about being part of the church — what it means to be the body and how God uses us to build His Kingdom.
And if you’re like me, you’ve probably been challenged.

But tonight isn’t about that we need to serve — it’s about how we serve.

Because it’s easy to do the right thing with the wrong heart.
It’s easy to check the box and miss the purpose.
It’s easy to turn serving into nothing more than church chores.

1) BE EARLY, BE CONSISTENT, AND TAKE IT SERIOUSLY

Luke 12:35–36

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,
like servants waiting for their master to return…
so that when he knocks they can immediately open the door.”

Years ago, when I was getting ready for college, I was nervous.
I knew I wasn’t the smartest or fastest learner.
So I asked a man in my church — a wise, older gentleman with a college degree — “What can I do to make it in college?”

He leaned in, like he was passing down secret ancient wisdom, and said:
“Show up to class 15 minutes early, sit in the front row, pay attention to everything.”

That was it.
No magic formula.
No study hacks.
Just: be early, be present, be consistent.

So I did.

Every class. Every semester.
I was rarely late, rarely absent.
And while some of my classmates dropped out, retook classes, or wandered through college for eight years…
I made it through in four — not because I was the smartest, but because I was consistent.

I “won” simply by being the guy who always showed up.

So I have to ask myself:
Am I “winning” at serving God the same way?

Am I on time?
Am I dependable?
Do I take it seriously?

Or am I the guy complaining about serving?
Frustrated because something isn’t done my way?
Letting my face tell the whole world how “hard” serving feels?

Am I strolling into church ten minutes late with a Starbucks in my hand, catching up with my friends, telling myself, “My leader should just be happy I even showed up”?

Or worse — am I just not showing up at all?

Ignoring calls.
Ignoring texts.
Treating my ministry commitment like a suggestion.

Proverbs 25:19

“Like a broken tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in a time of trouble.”

Matthew 5:37

“Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No,’ no.”

Philippians 2:14–15

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing…
Then you will shine among them like stars.”

Psalm 100:2

“Serve the Lord with gladness!”

When I say I’ll serve, I want my yes to mean something.
When I show up on time and ready, it tells God and the leadership of this church:

“You can trust me with this.”

Because this faith — this church — this body…
It either means something or it doesn’t.

We’re not pretending for eternal life insurance.
We’re serving the Most High God who died on the cross so we could live.

And someday, every one of us will stand before Him and give an account for our lives.

Do I really want to be the guy handing God excuses?
Or the guy who took serving the body of Christ seriously?

I know which one I want to be.

2) SERVE WHERE GOD CALLS, NOT WHERE I DICTATE

I like to feel useful.
And sometimes that means I want to serve where I’m comfortable — where I feel talented or in control.

When Pastor Matt hired me, he said, “I don’t need you to preach. I just need you to run details so I can preach and meet with people.”

I said, “GREAT. I’m your guy.”

I can manage.
I can organize.
I can clean, greet, run events, build websites, set up giving apps — all the behind-the-scenes stuff.

I thought, “Perfect. That’s my lane. I’ll stay right there.”

But then Sgt Q starts whispering,
“Pastor Todd… when are you going to preach again?”

Jokingly I Possibly sometime in 2050 (so about 25 years from now)

But he kept asking.

Then Pastor Jay texted me:
“Hey PT… can you preach one Wednesday in November?”

And my first thought wasn’t spiritual.
My first thought was “How do I get out of this?”

I even thought, “Maybe I can use Bible verses to escape.”

Moses stuttered.
Gideon was unqualified.
Jonah ran away.
Abraham was too old.
Jeremiah was too young.
David was overlooked.
Sarah laughed.

But the truth is — all of them still did what God asked.
Not because it was easy.
Not because it was comfortable.
But because God called, and they obeyed not alway immediately but eventually … 

So here I am.
Not the most skilled.
Not the most polished.
Not the most comfortable.

But willing.

And somewhere along the line of creating this sermon I realized.
How can I ask people to serve outside their comfort zone if I’m not willing to do the same?  How can I ask you to step out in faith and serve God if I play it safe.

1 Corinthians 1:27

“God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise…
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

So I was all out of excuses and here I am.  

 I refuse to be the guy who says, “I only do this for God.”
If my church or leadership needs something — I do it.
I’m God’s servant, available for whatever He calls me to.  Even if that’s preaching.

3) ALWAYS BE RECRUITING (“ALWAYS BE CRUITIN”)

Most ministries in our church run on teams.
Teams create redundancy so ministry doesn’t collapse if someone gets sick or goes on vacation.

And we’re growing.
Fast.

New families.
New believers.
New people trying to find where they belong.

These people need places to serve.

And that’s my job.
It’s your job.
It’s our job.

The church can make announcements.
The membership class can teach serving.
We can preach on it — like tonight.

But nothing — NOTHING — is more powerful than a personal invitation:

“Hey, want to serve with me?”

That’s 1000% less intimidating than signing up on a spreadsheet with two sentences.

And here’s the hard part:
To recruit people, I have to get to know them.

Which means I have to step out of my comfort zone.
I have to make room in my life for new people.

But someone made room for you.

For me, it was Rich and Shyrl, our old worship leaders.
My first Sunday, they invited me to lunch and said, “You should play drums for us.”

They had never heard me play.
Never met me before.
But they made space.
They made me feel needed.
They made me feel like this was home.

And here I am — 20 years later — still serving.

All because someone invited me in.

 

CONCLUSION

At the end of my life, I don’t want to hand God excuses.

 I want to hand Him faithfulness.

I don’t want to say, “That wasn’t my thing.”
I want to say, “Lord, anything You asked me to do — I did it.”

I don’t want to serve like it’s a chore.
I want to serve like it’s worship, like I was excited to discover all the things God was going to teach me along the way.  

So tonight I’m deciding — and maybe you are too —
“God, I’m available. Use me however You want.”