Timely Ministry

In John 17, we have been in that
passage. You already know how involved,
how deep it is. And along this week, in the midst
of many different challenges and projects and the wedding
these past two days, I literally hit the wall in John
chapter 17 and so we will take that up if the Lord wills next
week. But I want to have you in chapter
4. I want to have you turn to chapter
4. Looking at verse 7. Through 11. This is a message
that I preached about 12 years ago. It’s a passage that I am
well familiar with having preached. First Peter several times, but
this particular passage is one that we have looked to a number
of different times in various contexts. It is one that urges
a timely service of Christ. It’s one that reminds us of the
brevity of the hour. It’s one that calls us to a stewardship
of our God-given gifts. So, in that sense, it’s a message
that we probably need to refer to more often, not less. 1 Peter 4, verses 7 through 11,
where Peter writes, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore,
be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, Keep fervent in your
love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another
without complaint. As each one has received a special
gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks let him speak
as it were the utterances of God. Whoever serves let him do
so as by the strength which God supplies so that in all things
God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs
the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You may recall
the the setting into which Peter writes this epistle. The gloves
had come off. The world was rabidly persecuting
Christianity at this point. Nero, the emperor, was in full
battle mode against Christianity, trying to eradicate it altogether. Christians, as a result, had
literally scattered throughout the land And to them, Peter writes,
to this scattered body of Christians, an epistle of encouragement,
an epistle of admonition, an epistle of instruction. It is a crucial part of revelation, and so we take delight
in once again turning to this great, great book. What Peter
begins by urging upon us in the consideration of verse 7, when
he says the end of all things is at hand, Peter isn’t suggesting,
you know, out of some kind of morose or careless or depressed attitude
that we should just give up. But Peter does see an eclipse. He does see a closing of the
window of opportunity. Peter does see that things will
not continue on like they have for so many years. He sees an
end to opportunity. This is an urgent call to a timely
service of Christ. I remember When I was young,
I used to see that poster. It’s an older poster from the
40s, but it had Uncle Sam, you might remember, pointing a long
index finger saying, I want you. Seeking those to enlist in military
service. Well, in a very real way, Peter
points his index finger at you and I and says, I want you. I want you to serve Christ. And
the time is fleeting. The opportunities are few and
they are waning for you to take up the service of Christ. What Peter calls us to is not
fretting. It’s not worrisomeness. What Peter calls us to here is
composure in the face of persecution and difficulty. There are those
I’ve talked to them that have already kind of capitulated because
of what they see society doing. They’ve almost given up. Given up on their Christianity,
given up on their savior, given up on their ministries, given
up on the opportunities here before us. What’s the use? People
say. What greater need for composure
than in the days in which we find ourselves, right? I would
even suggest to you that it’s more acute that we be composed
and zealous in our day than it was even for those on the deck
of the Titanic. I would suggest to you that even
in the The Cold War 60s where the threat of nuclear war was
just always hanging over our heads. I would even suggest to
you that the time is more acute now than then. The time is great for us to be
at work in the service of Christ. The clock is ticking. We have
no idea how much time we have left either personally or as
a church in this world, Peter says the end of all things is
at hand. And when he says the end of all
things, he means it. What he’s talking about is the,
if you will, the eschatological end, the end of the opportunities that we have
in this world, the end of worldly enjoyments, And for most of what
we enjoy, there’s no sin against that. God designed these things
for us to enjoy. I shared with some folks the
other day that before God even made people, he made food. And
he made everything to be aesthetically pleasing to us. But the end of
worldly enjoyments is coming. The end of time. That clock that’s
ticking, we hear more loudly than ever now, the end of pain,
the end of suffering, the end of trials and sorrows. And to
those things, we look forward. We look forward to being in heaven
without all of those difficulties and heartaches, the end of pain.
But it’s also the end of opportunities. It’s the end of an opportunity
to preach the gospel. It’s the end of the opportunity
to share Christ with those who so desperately need Him. It’s the end of the opportunity
for those without Christ to repent and turn in faith to Christ.
You have this idea throughout the New Testament. The urgency,
if you will, of the hour. We have it in the book of Romans.
In Romans 13, Paul says this to knowing the time that it is
already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. For now, salvation
is nearer than when we believed. The night is almost gone. The day is at hand. Therefore,
let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor
of light. It’s a call to holiness. It’s
a call to righteous living because of the waning day. Hebrews talks about the waning
day when it speaks of an admonition to be committed in service to
the local church. Hebrews 10.25, you know the passage
well, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing
near, the day, the last day. The end of time, the end of opportunity. It’s a motivation for us to be
deeply involved and engaged in the service of Christ in the
most precious institution to God on all the earth. It’s the
church. Philippians 4.5, Paul urges us
there to patience. Let your forebearing spirit be
known to all men the Lord is near. Using that same sense of
urgency, that same fleeting moment of time, he says, should be a
cause to us to great patience. We don’t give up. We don’t give
in. James calls us to endurance.
The coming of the Lord is at hand. You too be patient, strengthen
your hearts. Don’t give up, don’t give in. The point I would make here is
that if Peter is writing there in the first century, the end
of all things is at hand, if it was a sense of urgency for
those who took and read his letter then, how much more for us now? How much closer are we now to
the end of all things? What we have is an application
of the exhortation that we should be composed in the face of uncertainty. We should be composed in the
face of difficulty even when society seems to be turning on
Christianity. What greater need for composure
than in the face of the end of all things. What Peter gives
to us here in this short little passage are what I would call
four specific fruits of that timely ministry to Christ. Remember,
any time we serve, we’re serving the Lord Jesus Christ ultimately. We may be opening doors, but
we’re opening doors on behalf of Christ. We may be folding
bulletins or teaching Sunday school, but we are serving the
Lord Jesus Christ ultimately. Four specific fruits of this
11th hour urgent ministry. Peter essentially and primarily
addresses ministry within the church. within the Christian
circles. First of all, the first mark
of this timely ministry to Christ is that the urgency of the hour
should affect our head. You’ve got it right. The urgency
of the hour should affect our head. That’s what he says right
off the bat. Be of sound judgment and sober
spirit for the purpose of prayer. When he speaks of sound judgment,
this is the grace that is exercised in the making of good decisions. He says, you need to be in your
right mind. The scriptures use a variety
of different words, temperate, self-controlled. What it speaks
of is somebody who isn’t flighty, who isn’t unbalanced, who isn’t
being carried away by their fears. Someone who is of a sound mind
and careful. What Peter is urging us to is
not only to think biblically, to think like a Christian, but
to think and to live like a Christian. To think and to live in a God-honoring
manner. as opposed to an overly emotional,
irrational, impulsive way of life that really characterizes
someone who lacks faith, if they have it at all. Peter calls us
to self-control. He calls us to a good judgment,
discretion. He calls us to be objective in
the face of a subjective world. He speaks of someone who is balanced. careful in his dealings with
others. One pastor said the sensible
person is in command of his mind. He has control of the things
about which he thinks and does. He does not allow circumstances
or the immorality and foolishness of others to distract him and
gain an interest in his attention. He not only does not become involved
in things that are outright immoral and unspiritual, but avoids things
that are trivial, foolish, and unproductive. When you stand
back and you look at much of our world, that’s almost a description
of what our world is. Foolish, careless, unproductive. Peter urges us to here is what
one described as a continual consultation within himself. Is this good? Is this right? Is this the best? As we’re guided
through life, as we’re guided through our many decisions, Peter
says, I want the urgency of the hour, first of all, to affect
your head. I want it to affect your thinking.
I want it to affect the way that you carry yourself, the decisions
that you make. And one of the remarkable features
that we’ve looked at in times past is that this is, this is
strange advice coming from a man like Peter, isn’t it? Strange
advice. We called it the apostle of the
hearts set free, the apostle of the grace changed life. This is the apostle who we see
in one form in the gospels and then a completely transformed
version in his epistles. This is a changed man. This is
a man who was changed by the grace of God. This impetuous,
fiery individual, now by the transforming grace of God, urging
others to sound judgment. Not only does he call us to sound
judgment, but look at the passage, sober spirit. And I know what
you’re thinking. As soon as you hear the word
sober, it’s talking about absence of drunkenness. It originally
did mean free of wine, sober minded in that sense. But it
goes on to talk about just being a calm man, a circumspect individual,
a prudent person. Sober-minded in that sense would
refer to a steadiness, a solidness. It’s easy for us to get carried
away in the world, to listen to the news and to lose all hope. To listen to even a good report
and to get caught up and to get so enthusiastic that we lose
our moorings. We let our emotions run away
with our minds. But this sobriety, this sober-mindedness
guards us against that kind of flippancy that really leads us
into the latest new thing, the latest fad, the latest teaching. And that protects us from false
teachers, that protects us from the latest and greatest false
view. Peter appeals to those to whom
he’s writing in the midst of this 11th hour, in the midst
of this persecution, and he urges upon them an earnestness, a preparedness,
as Spurgeon said, a determination and a hearty resolution. Don’t
give up. Don’t be made flighty. We’re
in a battle, as we saw several weeks ago when we considered
Ephesians 6, remember? This is war. This is war that
we’re in in this society that turns against Christianity more
and more each day. Suffering and persecution are
to be expected. Peter says, keep a cool head. Keep a cool head. Stay sober. Why? Because without those, without
that solid foundation of sound judgment and sober mindedness,
we can’t pray as we ought. Be of sound judgment and sober
spirit for the purpose of prayer. Peter has laid the groundwork.
Now he calls us into our inner chamber and he says, now you’re
ready. Pray. so that we might be prayerful,
so that we might be watchful of what God in his grand economy
and his great plan of redemption is doing in the world. We might
miss those little subtleties, those little opportunities, those
individuals across whose path God leads us. We miss it entirely
because we’re not sober-minded, because we’re not of sound judgment
and because we did not pray. I find it very difficult to pray
in the midst of turmoil, don’t you? To pray when there’s noise,
to pray when there’s racket. Even if it’s not actual physical
noise, audible noise, to pray when there’s a lot of things
in my head is difficult. We need to find ourselves a free
and quiet place, don’t we? We need to find ourselves a place
where we can hear God’s word, where we can feast upon God’s
word, where we can have our judgment restored, have our sobriety brought
back down to earth so that we can pray. But Peter says, Time is fleeting. Time is fleeting,
and not only should the urgency of the hour affect our head,
the urgency of the hour should affect our hearts. It should
touch our hearts. Look at the passage again, verse
eight. Above all, keep fervent in your
love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Over and over again, In this
little epistle, Peter exhorts his readers to what I would call
one another love, brotherly love. Repeatedly throughout this epistle,
he exhorts his readers to love one another. Just review with
me in your mind if you would. 1 Peter 1.22. Since you have,
in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love
of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.”
He doesn’t doubt it. He sees what the believers were
doing in his day. And he says, since you have already
put yourself in the course, you’ve already purified your hearts,
You’ve already manifested a genuine love of the Christian believers. Because of that, stoke the fires
of that love. He says it again in 1 Peter 2,
verse 17, where in general fashion it’s like he’s wrapping up and
touching every soul that ever walked the face of the earth,
honor all men, Love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Love
the brotherhood. In 1 Peter 3.8, he addresses
again, to sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly,
kind-hearted, and humble in spirit. That word there again is Philadelphia. That’s the love of the brothers,
that brotherliness. That’s what he means. And it’s
not just a feeling. It’s not just a warm fuzzy that
we have when we speak of brotherly love. It’s not just sentimentality. It’s not just a physical closeness. More than anything, it’s service
to one another. We’ll talk more about that in
a moment. But it’s putting others above yourself. It’s making a
concerted effort to practically love others. One of my favorite Puritan writers,
John Brown, said, wherever you see the image of your Lord, and
he’s talking about people. You see, the Roman Catholic Church
had set up images all over the place. But in the end, what God
wants is us to love, practically love, the image of Christ. in other people. Wherever you
see the image of your Lord, wherever there is a consistent profession
of the faith of Christ, there we ought to fix our affection. And having fixed them, we are
not to easily allow them to either abate or to be transferred. In
other words, he says, if you settle in to a local church and
you settle into a place and you begin to love, don’t quit. Don’t
quit. And believe me, there will be
plenty of reasons to quit. Plenty of thoughts
of quitting. But he says persevere in this
brotherly love, this natural affection that you have within
the family. That’s the image that he’s bringing forth into
the local church. And that word is used to speak
of just a Family tender affection of of almost any kind but here
he is pointing it directly into the local church and he says
it should It should be characterized by our treatment of one another
Not just in human brotherhood not just in blood brotherhood,
but in a spiritual brotherhood that goes beyond them all Paul addresses the same need
in Romans chapter 12. In Romans chapter 12, Paul says
that the Christian brotherhood should be more affectionate than
even the most loving home. Romans chapter 12 says, let love
be without hypocrisy. Don’t say it if you don’t mean
it. And that would cause us to hold our tongues, wouldn’t it?
Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to
what is good. Be devoted to one another in
brotherly love. Give preference to one another
in honor. Do you realize in life how few
things we’re really truly devoted to? Very few. Very few, but Paul
says here, The local church is a place of devotion. The local
church ought to be a place where Christians gather together and
it is seen by all the world they are absolutely in brotherly devotion
to one another. What does it look like? Paul
says be devoted to one another in brotherly love. give preference
to one another in honor, not lagging behind in diligence,
fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, persevering
in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of
the saints, practicing hospitality. It’s fleshed out in the local
church in every way that it can possibly be seen. It’s evident. Peter says, stoke the fires of
your love for one another in the church. It’s fervent. When Peter says here, above all,
keep fervent, that’s what I mean. Keep stoking the fire, keep the
fire going. Don’t let the embers cool down.
The word here is used of stretching forth, reaching, stretching out. Remember when Peter was on the
water? Came out to walk on the water with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Peter thought better
of it. He saw the waves crashing all around him. He realized he
did the math in his head. I’m not supposed to be able to
walk on the water. And he began to sink. You remember
what he did? He reached out his hand. He stretched
forth his hand. That’s exactly what he says here.
Same word. Same word. That our love ought
to be a stretching kind of a love. We ought to persevere in our
love. We ought to love those who are unlovely and love the
unlovable. And love, even when we’re offended,
and when we’re irritated, and when we’re bothered, we ought
to love. That’s the stretching. Keep fervent in your love for
one another because love covers a multitude of sins. Proverbs says it quite simply.
Hatred stirs up strife. But love covers all transgressions. Love, brotherly love, overlooks
faults. Right, husbands, we’ve talked
about this. Love takes our wife for who she
is. We know who she is. And when
she does something that is displeasing to us, we grant her that grace,
do we not? How much more they us? Love, Christian love, If it was
set loose in the church, if it was functioning in that way,
it would overlook all these little petty so-called offenses, wouldn’t
it? That it would look for occasions
not to complain, but look for occasions to forgive. To look
for occasions to gloss over someone’s misstep. Charles Bridges, one of my favorite
writers, And if you buy any commentary
on the book of Proverbs, buy Bridges. Charles Bridges said
this, hatred, however varnished by smooth pretense, is the selfish
principle of man. In other words, he says, you
can cover it over a lot. But hatred is gonna bubble to
the surface. If it’s in there and it’s not
dealt with, if it’s not confessed, if it’s not, as the Puritans
used to say, mortified, put to death, hatred’s coming out sooner
or later. Hatred, however varnished by
smooth pretense, is the selfish principle of man. Like a subterraneous
fire, it continually stirs up mischief, creates or keeps alive
rankling coldness, disgusts, dislikes, it carps at the infirmities
of others, it aggravates the least slip and resents the most
trifling or even imaginary provocation. Haven’t you met this person? They take offense and you go
to them and you can hardly believe what they’re bringing to you.
You have no idea what they’re even talking about, right? Peter says, let it not be that
way. Not in the church. Let’s be quick to overlook a
fault. Let’s attribute the best to their
character. I spoke of a wedding yesterday,
and this verse is often seen as a wedding verse, 1 Corinthians
13, right? Heard it read it’s not against the law to read the
verse at a wedding. I’m just saying it’s not primarily
a wedding verse It’s a church verse It’s a church about it’s
a verse about the church functioning as it ought to function Love
is patient Love is kind It is not jealous. Love does not brag
and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not
seek its own, it is not provoked, it does not take into account
a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices
with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things. There’s nothing wrong with that
being used in a wedding. There’s nothing wrong with that
setting forth the model in our home. But it’s a church first. And it ought first and foremost
to be practiced in the church. But it’s an urgent hour. Time
is fleeting. And the urgency of the hour should
not only affect our head, it should touch our hearts And it
should open our home. You’re going to have to bear
with me on this one. Peter says in verse nine, be
hospitable to one another without complaint. Now, hospitality is
a very misunderstood concept in scripture. And I’ve shared
this story before. You know if you go to church
in Texas, you’re going home with somebody for lunch. Have I shared
this here? Okay. Well, not everybody was here,
so I’ll share it again. If you go to church, if you go to church
in Texas, you’re going home with somebody for lunch. Now, I’ve
also lived in Southern California, and if you go to church in Southern
California, They’ll greet you, they’re friendly, they’ll talk
about going to lunch, they’ll set it up several weeks from
then, and they’ll meet you at the restaurant, and they will
pay, but they don’t have you into their home. In the Midwest,
in the Midwest, they’ll talk about it, they’ll plan it, they’ll
talk about it some more, they’ll talk about it some more. For
weeks and weeks and weeks, they’ll talk about it. Months now have
elapsed, we’re still talking about it. When the day comes,
it is a major, major deal. It’s an all day deal. In Colorado, this is my characterization
of my home state. And this is why I say there’s
such a misunderstanding about even what hospitality is. In
Colorado, hospitality works this way. We have them over to our
house. It’s their turn to have us over
to their house. There’s this expectation, reciprocation
that is absolutely expected. And so we have need to back up
and go to the scripture and find out what is hospitality anyway? Is it just about dinner parties? Is it just about insisting that
somebody come to lunch with us? Is it just about having people
into our home? Is it just about having this
big grand all day long celebration? Is it just about reciprocation? What is it? Paul talks a lot
about it. Paul says in Romans 12 that we
are to be practicing hospitality, practicing a practical love of
strangers. 1 Timothy 5, he speaks of, remember,
widows. What constitutes a widow? And
by constituting a widow, it’s not just the fact that her husband
had died, but the fact that she took care of strangers. She showed hospitality to strangers.
This is a woman that we want to support. This is a woman that
we want to stand with. First, Timothy puts a premium
for elders on hospitality. It’s a practical love of strangers. In fact, the writer of Hebrews
puts such a premium on it. What kind of, who could argue
with this? Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.
For by this, some have entertained angels without knowing it. Okay. It’s very possible that
that individual that you invited into your home, or that individual
whose tire you stopped to help change, or that individual that
you just happened to show a kindness in the store parking lot, just
happened to be an angel. We don’t know. That shouldn’t
be our only motivation. As I said, it’s a love of strangers. And in the day and age in which
Peter wrote, the very idea of going to stay in a motel, there
were no hotels, there were no chains, there were these houses
that had some spare rooms, and you would get all manner of humanity
into these places. They called them inns, they were
really places of debauchery. What Peter urges is that we ought
to be ready to come alongside and really truly befriend those
who are traveling. Befriend those who are destitute.
Befriend those who are undergoing persecution and trial. And so
at the end, hospitality doesn’t even primarily refer to having
friends over for dinner. Nothing wrong with that. In fact,
in Luke’s gospel, Remember the story? He went on to say to the
one who had invited him, when you give a luncheon or a dinner,
do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives
or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you, and this would
do well that Colorado people read this passage, right? But when you give a reception,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, And you
will be blessed since they do not have the means to repay you.
We need to get rid of this idea of reciprocation. What is hospitality? By all means,
it’s travelers, but not just travelers. By all means, it’s
Christians, but not just Christians. And it involves not just our
home, and that’s why I asked you to bear with me when I said
that the urgency of the hour should open our home. It should
provide to us a passionate desire to be hospitable, to love strangers. And that means with our time
and our resources, with our home, with our vehicles, with our money,
with our food, Sit up, gentlemen, with our tools. You see, Jesus Christ puts a
practical, a premium on the practical care of those across whose paths
he leads us. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
chapter 25 for just a brief consideration. Matthew chapter 25. Look at verse 35. For I was hungry and you gave
me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me
to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in naked and you
clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will
answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed
you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger
and invite you in or naked and clothe you? And when did we see
you sick or in prison and come to you? The king will answer
and say to them, truly, I say to you, to the extent that you
did it to one of these brothers of mine, even to the least of
them, you did it to me. Jesus Christ puts a premium on
the practical love of strangers. Back, if you would, to 1 Peter. This hospitality, if you note,
verse nine, be hospitable to one another without complaint.
Let me give you just some, this is free advice now. If you invite
someone into your home and you tell them to make themselves
at home, then don’t curl up your eye when they walk over and make
themselves a cup of coffee. Don’t roll your eyes to your
other family members when they open the refrigerator. Don’t be offended when they kick
off their shoes and put their feet on the coffee table. You
just told them to make themselves at home. I say this and every time I’ve
ever said this, there’s a chuckle. So hold it in this time if you
can. How many times do your friends leave that you
just spent hours entertaining in some kind of effort towards
hospitality and the door closes and you wipe your brow, you can’t
wait to be rid of them. That’s what Peter means when
he says, be hospitable to one another without complaint. It
is what it is. It’s what the Lord provided you
by way of need. But it’s an urgent hour, and
the urgent hour should affect not only our head, and touch
our hearts and open our home, but fourth, it should move our
hands. Look, if you would, at verse
10. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in
serving one another. As good stewards of the manifold
grace of God, whoever speaks, let him speak as it were, The
utterances of God, whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength
which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified
through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion
forever and ever, amen. The simple sentence of this entire
section is in the English, two little words, employ it. Everything
else hangs on those two little words. And the word there is
the word that we get our word, deacon, from. Diakoneo, serve. And he just says here, use it.
Serve. Get busy for the Lord. Whatever
your gift is, whatever you think it is, whatever you’ve been called
to do, whatever you’re good at, whatever the church has need
of, if you are capable, you should serve. Use it. Employ it. Christians serve, if you would
note, not if they are gifted. They serve because they are gifted. Look at verse 10. As each one
has received, special gift this isn’t a question this isn’t a
suggestion there is now in vogue and in the church this test that
you take to discover your gifts I got a great idea for you just
start serving and it doesn’t go so well it’s probably not
your gift but the Lord will put you to use the Lord will find
something for you to do And what he says here is that in whatever
quantity those gifts come, in whatever particular shape or
size those gifts come, we are to use the gift. There aren’t any people, based
on Ephesians 4, which verse we considered not long ago, to each
one of us grace was given. To each one of us we received,
when we placed our faith in Christ, A gift package. Some have all
kinds of gifts. They can do almost anything,
it seems. Others, only a few. And even
that, they’re halting. They struggle. Great pains and
efforts just to do their one little thing. And God says, that’s
fine. That’s the gift that I gave to
you. whatever talent, whatever we’ve
been given, whatever plenitude of gifts we have, we’re to be
using them for God’s glory, no matter how sparse they are, we’re
to use them for God’s glory. All Christians are supposed to
be participating in this great ministry of the church. One Commentator said it this
way. It has pleased the Lord to dispense
his various gifts among his people, giving some. More talents, some
fewer different measures of the same gift to different persons
that all may know. That fullness is only of himself. Only God has all the gifts, right? And that everyone may make use
of that gift or degree of gift in which others lack. In other
words, remember what Paul says, the proper working of each individual
part. Our gifts differ. And if we sit back and do nothing
because we don’t like the particular gift that we’ve been given and
we prefer that package instead, Paul speaks to that in Romans
12. just as we have many members in one body, and all the members
do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body
in Christ, and individually members of one another. And since we
have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let
each exercise them accordingly. Christians serve because they’re
gifted. They serve others Peter here
says, employ it in serving others. That’s the reason that we’ve
been given these gifts. Put our gifts to work in the
service of others. Christians serve because they
are faithful stewards. We want to be, right? As each
one has received a special gift, employed in serving one another
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. It has come to
us in such overwhelming and varied measures. All we want to do is
be faithful. All we want to do is take the
one little talent that God has given to us and we want to farm
that out. We want to make it useful for
the king’s sake upon his return, don’t we? Christians serve because
they’re gifted, they serve others, they serve as faithful stewards,
they serve in various ways. The manifold grace of God, it’s
absolutely innumerable the number of gifts that come into the church
because each person is different, each person has been gifted differently. In fact, I make it an obligation
to quote from the NIV once a year, here it comes. Faithfully administering
God’s grace in its various forms. I like that. Faithfully administering
God’s grace in its various forms. All believers are gifted. And
the gifts differ. But in the end, it’s God who
gets the glory. That’s what it’s all about. So
that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. to whom belongs the glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen. That is why we’re here. That’s what it’s all about. That’s
why God left you on the earth when he saved you. Spurgeon said this in closing. Let nothing ever set your heart
beating so mightily as to love him. Let this ambition fire your
soul. Be this the very foundation and
enterprise upon which you enter, and this your sustaining motive
whenever your zeal would grow chill. Make God your only object. Depend upon it. Where self begins,
sorrow begins. Let’s pray. Our merciful God, we humble ourselves
and we do see the fleeting day in which we find ourselves. We see the attitudes of society
turning more and more against Christianity, even against the
Savior himself, mocking him. Lord, we do not doubt that if
Christ were to come in our own day, If possible, they would crucify
him again. Lord, we thank you for the day
and age in which you’ve placed us. We thank you for the gifts
that you’ve given us. We thank you for the opportunity
to serve you in serving the church and serving people. Lord, we
pray that you would grant us the grace to be faithful, to
be the people you’ve called us to be. Lord God, we know. That rather
than serving in order to earn our salvation. We serve. Having been saved, we serve out
of love. For the Savior. God, take us
and use us for your glory. It’s in Jesus name. Amen. He would take your.