Stewards of Grace

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Please turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4, and we'll be looking at verses, we'll read verses 1 through 11, but the sermon will specifically come from 7 through 11. 1 Peter chapter 4, if you're using the New King James Pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 1078. 1 Peter chapter 4, you're now God's Word.

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.

In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason, the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. But the end of all things is at hand.

Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Prayer for Illumination

Amen. That ends this portion of the reading of God's word. Let's pray now. Father, we thank you for your word. Everything we know in this life, Lord, will eventually decay, crumble, fade away. But your word, Lord, fixed in your truth, stands forever and does not return void. And so, Father, we pray that your spirit would please Help us during this time together. Enable us, Lord, to see. Soften our hearts to believe. Lord, we pray that You would overcome us and teach us to walk in Your ways for Your glory. Lord, we pray that Your Spirit would be moving in our hearts, that we might know Your Word, so we might know You. So we might be changed to be more like you. In Jesus' name, amen. What you do today is always tied into what you think is going to happen in the future.

Sermon

I remember one of my professors at college, he asked us one time, he said, if I told you that in 30 years maple syrup was going to go for $1,000 a quart, What would you start doing today? Yeah, you would go get some acorns and plant maple trees, wouldn't you? You would start figuring out how you're going to drill taps. You would watch YouTube videos. You would start preparing today to know what to do when that time came when it was going to be $1,000 a quart. The time's at hand, is what Peter says. But the end of all things is at hand.

Sometimes it's hard for us, though, as we think about the future, it seems so far out there that then we actually don't end up doing anything about it. Actually, there was a scary survey I read recently that 28% of Americans have zero in their retirement accounts. Zero saved up for what happens when they become old. And there's a number of different people's responses to that. Some people have said why they didn't have anything in their retirement.

They said, well, I'm just going to work until I die. Maybe. Hopefully you don't get sick before then and need help. Other people would say, well, I'll probably die before retirement. Somewhat morbid thinking. Other people would say, well, someone else is going to take care of me. I hope. Other people would say, well, I'm not going to need money when I'm older. I don't know what world they're living in. And then other people will just say, and they're honest, savings isn't a priority.

I've got issues now. Now the qualification with this, there's obviously people who have had to take out of their retirement accounts or buy hard profitances, haven't been able to save, but this is not the vast majority of the people who were interviewed here. In our American culture, we all know that someday we're going to get old and we're going to need to have some type of money saved up to where we're going to be able to be cared for. And yet, Even though we know that that time is going to come closer and closer every year, there's a number of people in our culture who just push it off. Push it off, act like tomorrow's not going to come. Ignoring the reality of the future to prioritize the present.

But the question I have for you today in light of verse seven, do you live your life like eternity's at hand? Do you live your life today like the kingdom of God is at hand now. My call for us this morning is that since the end is near, we need to live urgently in prayer. We need to live urgently in love. And we need to live urgently in service to God for His glory through Jesus Christ. So living a life of urgent prayer, love, and service for the glory of God.

Look with me first at verse seven. We need to be alert in prayer, verse seven. But the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. The end, that's a note that's said here in verse seven, is the culmination. of God's redemptive plan, right? This is the last era before Christ comes and judges the living and the dead. And because the end is at hand, we need to be careful that we don't slip into just careless, worldly living. We need to make sure we're not being distracted, but alert and devoted in prayer.

Did you notice that? I found it a little bit, like, when I was translating earlier this week, thinking, man, that was just kind of a huge, like, thrown in there. I didn't anticipate, right, be sober, be alert. I understood that part, but then I said, how do you show your soberness and your alertness? In prayer. Be serious and watchful in your prayers. This idea of serious is sensible or self-controlled. It's that you have a clear reasoning mind. You're actually seeing things for the way they are. And then the watchful is specifically sober-mindedness. directly opposite of what we saw beforehand.

We spent enough time in our past lifetimes doing what the will of the Gentiles was. What did we do in that time? Walking in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties. It's specifically, Peter is playing on the words here, right? Instead of living like the Gentiles, drunk and living for the day, spending your time on your selfish desires, how do we show that we're in Christ? How do we show the seriousness of our faith that we know that redemption is here and that the kingdom of God is at hand? How do we show that?

By being sober in prayer. Being watchful in prayer. Peter contrasts distraction, laziness, or being consumed with worldly pleasures with the Christian prayer life. And I know some of you, prayer comes naturally. Some of you, prayer comes difficultly. I'm one of those, it's difficult. This is a discipline. I know some people are able to pray all day through the day, and that's a gift that the Holy Spirit has given them, and they love to pray. It's like the first thing they do when they wake up. It's just on their mind.

They go to bed, and there's other people like me who are so distracted by life and the tasks and the things of this world that it's really difficult, and you have to set time aside that, no, I am going to pray. But no matter what type of person you are, the amount of time you spend before the throne of grace shows the seriousness in which you take your Christian walk. It's not just about the number of hours you spend in prayer, right? There's a lot of people who will just, Jesus says, don't be like the pagans, right? They'll make their prayers long and they go on forever and ever with their vain repetitions and they'll do it in front of everybody, right?

Just so other people will see. No, no, that's not what it's about, right? But when you pray, go to that secret place and pray to your Father in secret. Go before the Lord and spend time with Him. Now, I was encouraged when I was reading Calvin on this topic, right? But the end of all things is at hand. And I think, man, Peter wrote that 2,000 years ago. How close does this have to be, right? Does that mean that Jesus is like going, come tomorrow? Has every single generation for 2,000 years thought this? Well, Calvin was very helpful with this.

He says, and I'm summarizing here, that skeptics will say that Peter promised the end, yet ages have passed. But time drags on for us mortals. But when we think about our life in eternity, 2,000 years is just a blink of an eye. But since Christ came, we have been living ready, poised for his return. The Bible consistently teaches us that today, we live in the last days. Today, we live with that great day drawing near.

Acts chapter 2 verse 17, And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. Peter quotes that. at Pentecost, saying that day is upon them then. He's saying the last days are now, is what Peter was saying at Pentecost. And then the author of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2 says that God has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom He has made the world.

Did you catch it? He has in these last days. I remember when I was in high school, the Tim LaHaye books, the Left Behind books got really popular. And it was like, we're waiting for the last days. And then when I became Reformed, I was really struggling with my eschatology, my study of the last things. And I remember somebody pointing out there like, no, no. We've been living in the last days for 2,000 years.

If you notice just above, right? Jesus has ascended up into heaven. Chapter 3, that's what the end of chapter 3 was about. Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God. And does it say angels and authorities and powers will someday be made subject to Him? No. What did the end of chapter 3 say? Angels, authorities, and powers having been made subject to Him.

Jesus is King on the throne today. We're just waiting for Him to come and for the trumpet to blow and for us to see it here on earth. But Jesus is King today. Since Jesus' resurrection and His ascension up into heaven, we've been waiting the same way His disciples did in Acts chapter 1 for Him to return. But that doesn't mean that He's not King today.

We live in this last eon, this last era, this last time period waiting for the return of Christ. And so you live in the last days. And we don't know when he's going to come back. We know there's a series of things that seem to have to happen, like the gospel needs to go to every tribe, tongue, and nation. But we don't know when he's going to return.

Do you live your life in light of that reality? At the end of all things is at hand. We just don't know when The last hour is going to come when the elect will be fully called. Jesus is the one who teaches us that in Matthew chapter 24. We don't know when the Son of Man will return. Nobody knows. Nobody knows the time or the hour. It'll come like a thief in the night.

Well, it's our job to be ready, to be sober, to be watchful. Some of you will say, but I do pray, right? I take seriously and I watch in my prayers. I do pray, but nothing seems to change. Why bother to continue to pray? I fear that sometimes we come to prayer and we almost treat prayer as like a manipulation tool against God. If I just pray enough, if I just pray in these ways, if I say these special words, or if I just come to Him with enough tears, then finally God will change what His plan is. One Reformed theologian who was very helpful taught about this idea that it's not that prayer changes the mind or the will of God, but prayer molds our mind and our will to line up with His.

God's aligning our hearts with His will. But that doesn't mean that prayer doesn't have any purpose, right? What does James say? James chapter 5, verse 16, "...the prayer of a righteous man availeth much." It's not that your prayers don't mean anything, but when we pray according to the will of God, it has. God uses prayer as what theologians call a secondary means. There are primary means, right? God speaks and the world's created. God, by miraculous work, parts the Red Sea, right? God does stuff miraculously.

And other times, one of the things that the Lord does is, in His providence, He knows what He's going to do, and He's inviting you to be a participant in that plan, and part of that is your prayers. It's not like God was surprised and went, oh man, I didn't know that they were going to pray for that kid who was sick in the hospital. I didn't know that that was going to happen. No, He knew it and He invited you into that plan, into that purpose, into His will to pray. And so we pray, even if we don't see immediate results, because we know that God is at work.

And some of you just are honest with yourselves right here, just like, look, Brian, I give you enough time, I give you one hour on Sunday, I'm just too busy in the week to pray. Right, like that's just too much. You know, I can't think of people who were, I can't think of anybody who would have a better excuse for saying, I'm busy, I have too much work to do. than Jesus. People clamored around Him. People were crushing on Him. There were times where people couldn't even walk through the crowd because there were just so many people. And every time it seemed like there would be crowds gathered and crowds gathered, there would be so much work to do. And yet, what did we find in Jesus' life? The second person of the Trinity Himself, Mark chapter 1, right?

While it was still very early in the morning there, Jesus departed and went to a deserted place and there he prayed. The sun wasn't even up and yet Jesus knew that he needed to go pray. Mark chapter five, so he often withdrew himself into the wilderness and he prayed. I'm always encouraged by Martin Luther with certain things about his life, but one of the things I'm encouraged by was Martin Luther's prayer life. I remember one time he was telling a friend, he said, I have so much to do, I don't know how I'm going to ever have enough time to pray through all of it. Before he started doing the work, he needed to pray about the work, and so he'd have all this prayer time before actually getting the work done, and his concern wasn't how am I going to have the hours to do the work, but it was how am I going to make sure that I have time to pray for the work before I do it. If the second person of the Godhead, Jesus Christ Himself, prioritized prayer, and we're supposed to walk in the footsteps where He walked, we ought to prioritize prayer. So set aside, set aside dedicated times of prayer in your life.

You know me, I want to give you helpful things that I hope are tangible that you can actually take it home. What are things that you do every single day? Maybe you're the type of person the dentist loves and you brush your teeth twice a day or three times a day. Pray while you brush your teeth. Maybe you're driving and you know that every day you're going to have to drive. Okay, so can you pray while you drive? Do you eat? Spend a few minutes in prayer before or after you eat. Bake it into your life rotation, into your life's rhythm to devote time to prayer.

And this is one of my favorite things, right? Get some coffee, sit down and pray. It's really tempting, right? You might pick up your iPhone or your Android or whatever, and you might be really interested in whatever news article or app might come up. Just put the phone to the side for a minute. And will you start a new rhythm, a new routine in your life? Just pray, be intentional.

But there's also something here that I think is important, right? Is there's a sense of urgency in this passage, isn't there? Verse 7. But the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. There's an urgency that we get in this, right? You must go urgently to God, right? You need to cultivate in your heart this sense that the end is at hand.

I need the help of my Father. I need to go to Him because a sober and serious-minded man, the person who takes God seriously in their minds and in their hearts, knows who's the only person who's going to be able to deliver them and help them. So you go to your Father who's in heaven, who's willing and able to care for you when you ask.

And I'm just going to encourage you, this is one of the things that I learned from Ken Smith, one of my mentors. If you're talking to someone, change something in your life. You may be tempted to say, oh, I'll pray for you about that. Ken Smith was like, Brian, never say you'll pray for someone. Stop and pray with them. Just right then and there, just stop and say, can I pray for you? And just pray with them.

Because you know the guilt trip that happens on you, right? Where you're like, oh, I'll pray for you. And then it's like a week later, you see them again. You're like, oh, no. I totally forgot to pray for them. So just pray for them now. Pray with them now. It may seem awkward. Oh, well. Pray. Pray. Don't wait. Jesus lived in constant prayer.

Even before choosing his disciples in Luke chapter 6, Jesus, and it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain and prayed and continued all night in prayer to God. The next passage, he chooses his 12 disciples. Even when he was in suffering, right before Jesus was crucified, what did Jesus do? He took his disciples to the Mount of Olives. And what was his time consumed before the crucifixion?

In prayer. And one of the most beautiful chapters we have in all the Gospels is John chapter 17, Jesus's high priestly prayer, where we hear Jesus praying for his disciples. His disciples were on his heart as he was about to go to the cross, and he was praying for them.

So live knowing that the last day is at hand, that the end of all things is at hand. Be serious and watchful in your prayers. But secondly, The end of all things is at hand, so love deeply and show hospitality. Love deeply and show hospitality. Look with me at verses eight and nine. And above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Above all things must be love.

Paul will say that if every other thing, if every other gift should evaporate and disappear in your life, there's one thing that will abide, one thing that will remain, it's love. Because he has shed his love into our hearts and so we now love him and love one another. But notice, Peter isn't content with just saying it's just bleh, love, you know. Notice the adjective, or the adverb he gives here. Above all things have fervent love. Intense, zealous, consistent love. Requiring persistence and endurance not passive, but active, sacrificial, and ongoing.

It is really, really easy for people to, a husband and wife, a couple, to stand in front of the congregation and take wedding vows and to say the words out of their mouth, right? I'll love you for better or worse, in richer or poorer, sickness or health. It's really easy to make those promises. But if you've been married for more than about 10 minutes, you know it's a lot harder to keep those promises.

To fervently love. To consistently love. And yet that's exactly what God teaches us in 1 Corinthians 13, 7. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Christian, do you fervently love others? Has the love of God been so poured out in your heart through Christ Jesus that then you become a vessel to be able to pour out love towards other people in your life? And there's a practical effect of this, Proverbs 10, verse 12. Hate stirs up strife. but love covers all sins. That's what verse eight was getting at. Did you notice that that's what it was loosely quoting? Above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.

Love doesn't, when it says here that it covers a multitude of sins, right? This isn't talking about somehow you're atoning for their sins or you're atoning for your sins somehow by loving them. That's not what this is getting at, right? But when you love someone, as it's pointing out from where this is quoted in the book of Proverbs, you're not looking for gossiping them or reasons to hate them or reason to tear them down.

But even though there may be things in people that you, they annoy you, they grind against you wrong, differences of personality, Loving someone is being willing to say, you know, our relationship is far more important than this little grift between us. And it may not be a little grift, it may be a big one.

And this isn't saying you're going to take sin and just lift up the rug and sweep it underneath it and ignore all this stuff. It's saying, I am purposely going to love you even through this. I'm going to fervently care for you, seeking to reconcile and forgive and even overlook minor faults. Again, this is what 1 Corinthians 13 is getting at. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It is not puffed up. It does not behave rudely. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. Thinks no evil. That idea of thinking no evil doesn't keep a record book of things that you've done wrong to them.

There are people who hold bitterness and anger with other people in their hearts. It's like every single time you've sinned against them, they write down in their book, whether it's in their heart, in their mind, or a literal book. There are people who literally keep books. I'm very thankful I don't live in one of these households or marriages. But did you know that there are spouses that will have a literal book when their spouse does something against them, they'll write down, they hurt me this day. And they'll justify it saying, well, I'm just keeping a journal. That's exactly what this is talking about. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Thinks no evil. It does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth.

So that love, that fervent love towards one another that's willing to overlook, to cover a multitude of sins, plays itself out also in hospitality. The word hospitality is, right, we think of hospitality now and there's a whole hospitality industry, right? We think of hotels and entertainment and we think of people making your bed and stuff like that.

The word here is filiosinia, which is the idea of loving the stranger. Again, do you see it? The idea of love in verse eight is tied to hospitality in verse nine. Above all, have fervent love, verse 8, verse 9, be loving to the stranger, to one another, without grumbling. Making room for other people in your life. Trying to see their needs in hospitality at this time.

When Peter's writing this letter to the church, this is a huge need in the ancient Near East. They're being persecuted, they're being slandered, they're being run out of town soon. They're going to be literally killed. There's not safe places for Christians to go other than other Christians' houses.

And Christian hospitality would be one of the things that the Gentiles would look upon, and they would do one or two things. Church history teaches us that even Lucian, one of the emperors, sat there and he said, they're so hospitable to each other that it's despicable. They'll even show love to each other when they're in prison. And the Romans just thought that was disgusting, right? How will you love somebody even when they're in prison?

But that was the life of the early church. In the early church, hospitality was vital. And traveling ministers and persecuted believers could find refuge in other Christians' homes. But notice again, I love that the Holy Spirit just knows our hearts. Be hospitable to one another.

That's an easy thing to say, right? But did you notice what comes after that? without rumbling. You know what that's like, isn't it? When you have all your plans for the weekend, you know what's going on, and then you find out somebody has a need. And you're like, oh man, but I got this stuff to do. I had these plans.

We already had dinner in the oven. What's going on? There's still laundry on the couch. We haven't cleaned off the table yet. There's always going to be reasons to not show hospitality. I'm telling you, you will always be, there's something else you could do, you could be more tired, you could get more rest, because hospitality requires you to spend your life pouring your life out for somebody else.

Do you know what that's called? Love. Considering somebody else's needs above your own. Loving that person. Inviting them in. Caring for them. So have hospitality. Do it willfully, joyfully, and sacrificially. Now I know some of you are going to object and you're going to say, I struggle to love certain people. They've hurt me really deeply. I get it. I get it.

I'm not talking about abuse, that's a whole different category, but love covers over a multitude of sins. Love isn't based on our emotions, but it's based on what Christ has done for us and His Holy Spirit in us. And so we seek reconciliation. Again, we're not just sweeping things underneath the rug. But we try to keep what Jesus has told us to do in John chapter 13. John 13, 34, a new commandment, I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

And Jesus said that, and He wasn't saying it from a life where He hadn't been hurt. Jesus modeled this for us. As the Jewish people were mocking Him and had handed Him over to the Romans, do you remember what Jesus did on the cross? Jesus loved. Luke 23, 34, then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. Jesus prayed for the people who had betrayed him.

See, this isn't being given to us by the Holy Spirit in a vacuum. We love fervently, we show hospitality without grumbling, because Jesus set that model for us. And some of you are going to say, right, but Brian, I'm still not convinced. If I overlook their sins, aren't I just enabling their bad behavior? That's not what this is talking about. This is saying that you're not going to hold grudges or spread gossip about people who sin against you. This isn't about sweeping sins underneath the rug. It's about promoting forgiveness and unity, not about enabling sin. It's about doing the work of reconciliation that Jesus Christ did for us.

How did God demonstrate his own love toward us? He waited until we got our acts together, waited until we wouldn't sin against Him anymore, waited until everything was perfectly good in our lives, and then finally He was hospital to both. Then He invited us into His household, then He adopted us as children, then He reconciled us, right? You got your life together, and that's when God invited you in, right? That's when He demonstrated love towards you? No. In that wall we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The command here isn't to be hospitable or to love fervently when somebody else gets their act together. It's in real life when you might grumble because you don't want to show them hospitality. Because you don't want to love them fervently. Again, the reality of grumbling, right?

Hospitality is hard. Hospitality takes money, it takes time, it takes energy. But I'm going to try to encourage you that there is a difference here that I want to push on you that we have this idea of hospitality that's wrong and the idea that hospitality is actually entertainment.

You have to have somebody into your house, and you have to entertain them. You have to make sure that everything is clean, and that you have the special meal out. You can't have the plates that you eat on every day. You've got to have the special plates, and the special cup, and the special silverware.

And you've got to apologize. Oh, I'm so sorry. The trash isn't taken out yet. Oh, I'm so sorry. Just knock it off. Just get over yourself. Love them. You think they don't have dirty laundry in their laundry room? You don't think that they never had told the kids to take out the trash and then 15 minutes later there's still trash? Or you told your husband to take out the trash and you forgot again? It happens.

And that's just going to keep you from having people in your home to encourage fellowship and love for each other? If you're waiting until your house is perfect, or it's not going to cost you money, or it's not going to take you energy, you're never going to show hospitality.

That's entertaining, right? Hospitality is saying, come on in. Let me move the laundry over and here's a cushioned seat for you. Actually, you want to help me fold the laundry and we can talk while we do this? One of my favorite things with hospitality with guys is when I come over and they're like, oh man, this is a mess. I'm like, cool, let's go clean. Let's go do something. Let's go work together on it. Show love for one another. It may take time. It may take money. It may take energy. OK. Okay, one of the ways in which, this is just a personal illustration from my life, hospitality is this huge blessing to me as a young Christian, single guy in the Navy, no family around.

And as I was preparing for this sermon, these floods of memories were coming back, you know. I remember the Pope's inviting me to their house to play Settlers of Catan for the first time. I remember Pastor Snap and Janie inviting me over to have fried okra and ham on a Sunday. I remember Pastor Snap and his wife and their kids having me, just inviting this weird single dude over to have Memorial Day with their family. The Phillips inviting me over on Christmas because they knew I had nowhere else to go.

They didn't know me. And yet they invited me into their homes. And the Lord used that in a huge way to even soften my heart. and to teach me how to enjoy each other and enjoy the Lord. So have people in your homes. Encourage one another that way. Forgive others. Seek reconciliation. Life's too short to hold grudges. Forgive people. Let love cover a multitude of sins. Put the gossip away.

Invite other people into your home, share some meals, stay all Sunday, right? This is one of the big reasons why the elders really want to keep having these meals on Sundays is we know some of you live a far way away and one of the easiest ways that you can show hospitality, bring whatever food you want on a Sunday and let's enjoy a common space together here.

Linger for the conversations. Enjoy time together. Let the kids hang out and play. Hopefully they don't wrestle too hard. And we have fun. The point is, love one another. Get to know the stranger. Open your hearts towards each other. So maybe you need to ask yourself, as you're sitting in the pew today, who around you needs to experience the love of God? That you can show them, and maybe you can even show it to them by inviting them into your home.

Thirdly, I'm not going to spend too much time on this because, to be honest with you, this is where I really wanted to preach, but I'm actually going to preach verse 10 and 11 in a big way this afternoon at Josh's installation. But you need to steward your gifts for God's glory. Steward your gifts for God's glory, verses 10 and 11.

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Amen. Each one has received a gift. There's not a single one of you who has not been equipped by the Holy Spirit with some way in which you are able to love other people in the church. Every believer has been given a gift from God to serve others. Each one of you is able to minister to another. And this is actually the fun thing about this word here, to minister to one another, is where we get our word for deacon from. Each one of you is a servant. Each one of you is serving and caring for one another. So we often see that word minister, and you might think of a pastor or someone like that. But the ministry is literally the serving. Each one of you is able to serve another.

And the gifts were not used for your own benefit, but for the building up of each other. There's two kind of categories in verse 11 of these manifold gifts that God gives. Look with me at verse 11. if anyone speaks, so that's the first type of gift, speaking gifts. Second type of gift is serving gifts, if anyone ministers. Speaking gifts, teaching, preaching, encouraging. If you're going to speak, If God has given you a type of gift where you're able to teach the children in Sunday school, or you're able to counsel people, or if you're one of the elders up here and you're praying for the congregation, or if I'm up here preaching, we do so with all the seriousness, not saying whatever we want, but soberly saying and reminding others of the words of God. That's what verse 11's getting at. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. Now, in a real way, there are theologians who will look at verse 11, and they think that may be specifically speaking about pastors speaking or preaching.

And I would say there that this is a big reason why I don't do political sermons or cultural sermons. And I know that there are churches where it's like, you know, you put up the biggest next movie that came out this year, and you talk about, oh, here's this movie, and here's all this stuff. God's word is very small, and their words are very big. The blessing of this congregation is that for over 175 years, God's word has been big. Because of taking this seriously. Let him speak as the oracles of God.

But the serving gifts, right? If anyone ministers, if anyone serves, if anyone deacons, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies. Not every one of you are given with that same level of service. One of the things that I love when I talk to the deacons and when I've been at different congregations with different deacons, there's a whole bunch of different types of deacons. There are blue-collar deacons, there are white-collar deacons, there are deacons who are tech nerds and there are deacons who know how to fix the plumbing. There are deacons who know how to make food and there are deacons who know how to really care for those who are sick and needy. and for the orphans and the widows. And whatever the gift is that God has given you as you serve one another, use that gift for the blessing of God's people and the furthering of his kingdom.

Why? Because we're nothing more than managers, stewards. Did you notice that? If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies. that in all things God may be glorified. That idea of, as with the ability that God supplies is where we get our word for economy, right? Economia is the word here.

The point is that God's the one who's given you the gifts, the talents, and now you use them for his glory. You're stewards, right? They're not really yours. The gifts that he's given you, you have them because he's given them to you. So do you use them for your own benefit or do you use them for His glory? Now some of you may say, but I don't think I have any gifts, right? Well, then you've got a problem because the scriptures say you do.

1 Corinthians 12, 7, "...but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all." Romans 12, verse 6, "...having then gifts differing according to the graces that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion with our faith."

Right, and it goes on. The point is, there are different gifts that each one of you has been given. There are some people like me who have a big, fat, gabbin' mouth. I'm sure you're like, dude, come on, let's finish this up, right? But the point is, there's people who are able to speak. There's people who are able to lean in and listen. There are people who are able to use their hands and work. There are people who are able to move us along. They're like the feet of the church. And each one of us needs each other. This is how the body of Christ works. It doesn't matter if you're the pinky toe of the church.

You might think, well, I don't have any gifts. I don't know if I'm of any use. Have you ever stubbed your pinky toe in the dark before? I swear I've never known that that toe was so important in my life. Because I'm going to fall, and I'm going to fall on the Legos, and I'm going to knock my head over, right? Because I stubbed my pinky toe and it hurts. No, the hand needs the eyes. The feet need the mouth. The feet need the pinky toes, right?

Each one of you is important with your gifts for God's body. for the body of Christ, the church. You may not know what your gift is. Often this is actually one of the things I find fun. Sometimes we don't think we're gifted in certain ways. And then you find yourself just in God's providence having to do a task. And you find out that your gift may not be the thing you like. But your gift may be tenacity, perseverance, or God's given you ingenuity to be able to figure something out, learn something that you didn't know that you could even do. And other people may have struggled with that. So it's not always just the thing that you think you're best at or you really, really want to do.

But the Lord equips those for the work that he has put you for. There is a cancer in the church. The cancer is the objection that serving is why we have pastors and leaders and I'm just an ordinary Christian. Isn't that why we pay you, Brian? You're the minister. You do the ministry. Yeah, no. No. Actually, that's a death nail to a congregation. As I think the only people who do ministry are the ones who get paid for the ministry. I can promise you that is the death nail to a church. because the body ceases to be a true body of Christ.

It becomes a professional organization. Some people say, well, I've served before, but I'm tired. I know some of you, right? Some of you in this congregation have been serving faithfully for decades and decades and decades and decades and decades. To God be the glory. Thank you.

I'm going to ask you, please don't just quit or retire. I'm going to encourage you to disciple new people to take over your spots. Find a young person to bring under your wing. Find somebody to ask you, who you can ask, hey, can I teach you how to run this class? Can I show you how to do these dishes? Can I show you how this operation happens in the church?

Raise up the next generation, bring people along. God has really blessed us in this congregation with having a new generation of young people who want to be discipled. Reach out to them. Reach out to them, involve them. Raise up the next generations of servants in the church.

Don't grow weary. I know it's tiring. Galatians chapter 6 verse 9, the Spirit tells us so, and let us not grow weary while doing good. For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. God knows you're tired. Don't give up. Look to God's glory. What reward are you wanting?

Why are you serving? Why do you do what you do in the church? Why do you care for people? Why do you show hospitality? Why do you love? Why do you speak? Why do you serve? Is it because you're trying to get something in return? Actually, one of the vows that Josh is going to have to take later is, is this for any selfish means or any selfish desire that you know of? No. No, right? Every ordained servant in the church has to take that vow. No, it's not because there's a selfish desire that I have. But just because you're not ordained in the church to be a servant, I'm asking you, why are you serving? Why do you make the meals? Why do you care for the children? Why do you open your homes? Why do you do dishes? Why do you sweep the floor? Why do you shovel the driveway?

Because greatest reward is in heaven. Because you do so in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of His Spirit. See, His glory is what propels us in doing good. Because we know that we live in the last days. And so we follow in the footsteps of Christ, who did not come to be served, but to serve. And that judge of the living and the dead will come again. And we get to give our account with great joy at the last great day. God, I've longed for your glory. I've served for your kingdom because I love you. Brothers and sisters, the end of all things is at hand.

Closing Prayer

Live soberly in prayer, in love, and in service for God's glory through Jesus Christ. Let's pray. God, we pray that you would please help us by your Holy Spirit to live urgent lives for your glory. Lord, it's gotta be your Holy Spirit that moves us from looking downward at our own desires to looking up at your kingdom. Lord, we pray that you would please help us, strengthen us. Lord, this Morning, we publicly thank you for those servants in the church who have served year in and year out, decade after decade, so faithfully. We thank you for those who are newer in the congregation who are serving. Lord, we pray that you would not let us grow weary of doing good. Lord, we pray that you would please help us. to unfold those who are strangers and new to the congregation, that we would love others well. Lord, yours is the power, yours is the kingdom, yours is the glory forever and ever. In Jesus's name, amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.