Have you ever met a Christian or attended a church where the people are not sound minded, but bizarre. No one behaves this way anywhere else. Try behaving that way in the grocery store, at the gas station.
Why do you do this thing? Can you picture Christ behaving this way? So I think many times the sound mind is not there. The emotions take over and we are to be, of course, emotional in our worship. Worship involves adoration, feeling, fervent feelings.
For more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 1 Peter chapter 4 as he begins his message, Serving, Suffering, and Faith. 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 oracle 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. Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing has happened to you, but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you for the spirit of glory and of God rest upon you.
On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who did not obey the gospel? Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator. As I was reading, I began to think, that's cutting into my preaching time. Serving, suffering, and faith. Well, these things belong to the Christian life. Peter is writing to those who were suffering persecution at the time, and he is, just to give you a brief overview, he is saying to them, yeah, you're suffering persecution, but you're still supposed to live like Christians.
You don't get a pass in this matter. These are elements of behavior under persecution, and if there is no persecution going on, we're still expected to serve and face suffering in a faithful way. And when we were going through Romans, the letter of Romans, it was about the victory we have as Christians through salvation in Jesus Christ. In Corinthians, Paul was writing to an unstable church, to church goers who were not stable, many of them, not all, but a great many, enough of them to cause problems, and he was correcting them.
That can be a hard letter to listen to or have received sermons from because there's so much correction going on. In Galatians, it was faith against ritual or Judaism, to be precise, but it expands beyond that of anything that is ritual. Salvation is through the cross, not through old religions or new religions. And then there was Ephesians, Philippians, which addressed, of course, the life in Christ. Colossians dealt with heresies looking to invade the church. Philemon told us about freedom in Christ and friendship. Hebrews said there's no other acceptable place to serve and sacrifice God except in Christ Jesus. And then James laid down the rules of obedience to those sincere in the faith, verses, hearers only. And now we come to this letter from Peter.
Now, if you're stunted in your growth, if you're immature, if you're an immature churchgoer, then you're uncomfortable with these things. Peter, he is dealing mostly with the persecution under Nero that is escalating. It will cost him his life when it's all said and done, probably last about four years. And yet he says, suffer and serve and have faith simultaneously. Suffering, the very thing I hate to do. Serving, the very thing that becomes hard to do. We have such expectations when we start to serve. Yes, God, Lord, where should I serve in the church? And the Lord says, I want you to serve here. And you serve with that gallantry, you go out with it, and then you start meeting with all sorts of oppositional, unpleasant things, and it can become very difficult.
Don't be surprised at that. That is not your cue to quit and run. Plow through it, God will bless. And faith, of course, the very thing that empowers us to do everything that we do, our trust in Christ.
And so that's an overview of what's happening here for us this morning. Considering this passage, we begin at verse seven again. But the end of all things is at hand.
Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. The reality of Christ's return, which was a reality to all of those apostles, many of the believers, if not all of them, the reality of his imminent return, he could come back at any minute. And they thought things were getting so bad that he would come back very soon, though Peter knew he would die a martyr's death first. Yet this is something that is supposed to excite us to this day, no matter what we're going through. We're not supposed to say, well, it's been 2000 years and I don't have to be excited.
We should be excited about his return, or the prospect of going to see him first. All things in order, his order. So he says to them, the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious.
Sound-minded is the Greek word. Have you ever met a Christian or attended a church where the people are not sound-minded, but bizarre? No one behaves this way anywhere else. Try behaving that way in the grocery store, at the gas station.
Why do you do this thing? Can you picture Christ behaving this way? And so I think many times the sound mind is not there. I think that the emotions take over, and we are to be, of course, emotional in our worship.
Worship involves adoration, feeling, fervent feelings, but not at the price of loss of control. So he says, be serious, habitual immaturity and silliness. That's a serious thing, because it's not being serious. Watchful, on guard. Well, you have to be serious to be effective as a guard.
If you're on duty, you're either going to be negligent or not. In hostile times, we tend to be very alert when it comes to guarding our own interests, what's of value to us. We covered this a few weeks ago in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, after the wall was completed, he set guards around the city, because he knew the threat was still there. And he appointed guards in various places and in front of their own houses, because he knew that we get very serious about guarding our own interests. Nehemiah 7, verse 3, appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at his watch station and another in front of his own house.
Well, there's a picture of what should be found with us when it comes to being attentive, paying attention, doing our duties, standing our watch. Remember, Jesus said to the apostles, the three of them, could you not watch with me for an hour? The flesh is willing, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The flesh is never willing to do anything but gobble up whatever it thinks is going to satisfy itself, no matter what, but the spirit knows better. And so, not a casual word, where he says, therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers, in your prayers. You don't have to stay on your knees for long hours to be one who prays. You just have to be in constant touch with heaven, with the throne of God.
You can pray anywhere, at any time. In verse 8, he says, and above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins. How many Christians get tired of trying to love other Christians and sort of get numb at the sound of such verses? Above all things, this is the high thing. Don't be caught without love.
That's what he is saying. Don't be caught without this, in the midst of persecution or otherwise. As you read Peter, there are great echoes of Paul's writings. And we know what Paul said about love. Who is up to? Corinthians 13, where Paul says, love is.
Who says, I get a hundred on that test, I maxed that out all the time. I know someone who can say that. His name is Jesus Christ.
His name is Jesus, he is the Christ. Fervent love, how difficult. Impossible in the flesh. You're not talking about loving people you like. He means the ones that just rub you the wrong way also. That's when you know you're entering into love.
I think some people have, they enjoy telling other people, you know, I don't love you like I should. I think it's just best not to go there. Just take it to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm not good with this lovelessness thing in me.
One of the best ways, this reminds me of a couple of things. One of the best ways to love more is to pray more for the one you don't love. I don't mean pray that, you know, they break a toe or something. Pray that God would bless them, minister to them. This is the straight and narrow where you're going to have to squeeze through because it's not pleasant. God will accept your righteous will even though your feelings aren't in it.
Thank God, your will is in it. That's what counts. Alan Redpath, those of you who don't know, is a great man of God. We have many of his books in the bookstore.
And he pastored in Chicago for some time there. And in his writings he talks about some particular individuals that were just not very pleasant. He mentions one time that he was so fed up with one individual that he was going to write that person a letter. And he wrote the letter and he left it on his desk and he did something.
And his wife came across it on his desk and she read it. And she said, let's pray. And so they prayed and she prayed for her husband, not the villain. I'm telling the story because I'm on Alan's side.
Not the other person. She prayed for her husband and he said, I never forgot that. It broke my heart because she was right. And that's what fervent love is.
His wife exhibited that love for the one that's messing with her dude, her husband. Persecution did not excuse them from being loved any more than your hard times and my hard times excuse us from loving. It's not, oh, I'm sorry, you're having a bad day. You've been sick. Or you have to deal with the courts. Or you've got car problems.
Or whatever it is. You don't have to love today. It's never that way.
It's the opposite. We double down with love. We can't justify our lovelessness. Or you can tell Jesus, well, I didn't love that guy because there can be no fervent love for the sinner until there is fervent love for the Savior. If you don't love and adore Jesus Christ, you've got no chance at agape love towards others.
Don't go saying I love the Lord. I just hate people. These believers were in a world that hated them. Why would you want to go to a church where they hate you too? Or you're hating on them. So towards each other there must be love. I won't read the many Bible verses, especially in 1 John, that deal with this because you know them.
Or you know of them. And we have time constraints. First, how am I going to get to 19 verses?
I'm only 15 minutes into this. For love will cover a multitude of sins in a multitude of ways. But we don't give it a chance, do we? And there are times that I have shown love and I have said to myself, I am doing it. Look at me.
I can't believe I'm riding this beast. But that does no guarantee that the next time with the same person or someone else that the love is going to be there. You better fight for it. It's doable. I could say that. I could say this.
I would like to say this. Characterizing my Christian walk, I have sought to love everyone. Of course, people think loving them means doing it their way and that's not the meaning. Proverbs 10, hatred stirs up strife. Yeah, man, it does. But love covers all sins profound in Christ.
The greatest attribute of God is the same love that is to be worked out in our lives. Verse 9, be hospitable to one another without grumbling. Have you ever called someone on the phone and they're just, what?
Kind of an inhospitable, small, hello. Oh, man, I called it the wrong time. Sorry, I was calling the house of a Christian. Hang up on him. Now, sometimes, yesterday I got a call, I thought it was a telemarketer.
It was a return call. And so I was a little bit on edge and I felt a little conviction. Not a lot because I didn't go overboard with it, but my tone was not the usual loving tone that I always have and you all know that.
Stop before I make you tell fibs. Anyway, be hospitable, the word there. Phylosinos in the Greek, it means literally love strangers. Of course, we understand what is meant here. You can make jokes about that, but seriously speaking, it doesn't take much to be nice. It really doesn't.
It takes more energy to be a grumpy Christian. Verse 10, as each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold graces of God. The manifold graces, R.T. Robinson, one of the long gone great Greek scholars, said that word manifold is multicolored.
And if you've ever worked, I guess, around certain equipment, you have things on manifold, there are many ports, and it's a motley kind of a thing. And so here we are with the manifold graces. God, there are so many parts and colors and shapes and tones to God's grace that are supposed to show up in our lives. You know, gifts are supposed to be used, not saved. I'm saving myself for the big moment.
Then you're wasting yourself. Those of you who step forward and serve, you understand this, and those of you who don't step forward and serve, well, we're not chastening you, but keep that before the Lord. Don't be too comfortable with that. 2 Timothy, Paul, I love that 2 Timothy letter. Anyway, chapter 1, verse 6, Paul says to Timothy, therefore I remind you, stir up the gift of God which is in you. Stir it up, Timothy. He wasn't saying to Timothy, you're not doing it. He was just adding to it.
He said, keep it moving. The word minister here, diakonos, means to run errands for someone, an errand boy. That's what we are. We ministers, not just pastors. We Christians as ministers. All Christians are to fall under the title of diakonos, the errand runner. We're off as servants.
We're told, go there, we go. We remember Philip. God is just moving Philip around to the desert where the Ethiopian was.
He was a minister of the gospel. Verse 11, 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. So he sort of has this poetic outburst. It's as though he has a flashback to those days and Capernaum and Galilee, the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem and all the places he was with Jesus. He just, if anyone speaks, he kind of even sees there, let him speak to the oracles of God, you know, of what God gives him. If anyone ministers, he goes on and then he says that in all things God may be glorified. He's building up through Jesus Christ.
He loves to say that name. To whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. So it's electric and it is, of course, an outburst of his own faith. They would have picked up on that having it read to them in the congregation. So if we're going to speak the word of God, let's remember it's his word. One of the difficult things about preparing to preach from a pulpit is, God, what do you want to say?
It doesn't take much to read a commentary and come up and repeat what you've read. That's not preaching. You want to emerge from your time with the Lord something to say.
And that is from him. And I hope the people of God come to church so they can hear something from God from the man he has ordained, is appointed to that position. When Moses came down from the mountain, he had something to say and the people were often not ready and they should have been. If we're going to serve the people of God, we have to remember whose people they are and why it is we're serving. Those of you who serve, why? Why do you do it?
It should be an easy answer. I love the Lord. I serve him.
And many of us are very, very grateful for this. So what is the objective? The objective of the Christian life. What's the target? What are we in this for?
What is our motivation? Jesus Christ, the will of God to honor him. That's what verse 11 tells us. If you're going to speak, speak as though God has spoken to you. If you want to minister, do so in the ability that God blesses you, what he has imparted to you, believing that God is in touch with his people. Verse 12, you can stay on verse 11 a long time.
It's getting heated up there. Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing is happening to you. Spoken like a man who gets it. Spoken like a man who understands the Christian life.
That when Jesus said in the world, you're going to have a lot of tribulation. Be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. I don't know about you, but I wrestled with joy in the Christian life. Because there's just so many things in this world that do not stir up joy. It takes joy from you. It robs joy. So what I've noticed, okay, joy is not easy because we're in a cursed world. It's not God's will, but what is God's will is that we press through. We overcome.
So my conclusion for myself is this. I'm not giving up. Because joy is such an elusive place in the mind and heart of the believer, I'm not giving up. I'm going to go at it.
It was so much easier in the early days of Christianity. But as the years have gone by and things have piled up, you know, it becomes when you're young and you face these things, okay, you're facing the dragon. But when you're like, I'm facing him again and again and again.
And when I face him, it doesn't mean that I just take out my sword and slay him. I'm going to take hits and they're going to hurt. They're going to stick with me.
I'll have flashbacks of them, unpleasant things. Well, how am I going to have grace in the midst of these things? I've got to stay clear and keep it clear in my head that this is the will of God. That in the world, you will have much tribulation. And after this world, you will have none.
For now, it's on. And so, what are you going to do, Christian man? What are you going to do, Christian woman? Child of Christ, what are you going to do in this life?
I am going to give it my best to comply with every single thing I'm told in Scripture by my Lord. And so, here he is in a world where people were living against the Christians. Suffering as a Christian is not abnormal.
It is expected. People that aren't Christians suffer. The difference is supposed to be that ours counts in eternity. Stephen and Paul, they suffered. They didn't think it was strange. Stephen, when they were stoning him and he set them off at the end, which of the prophets did you not kill? He's just like, Stephen, you might not want to say that. He was not in the appeasing mood when he gave that last sermon. And when they started throwing the rocks, he said, what was that for? I can't believe you're doing this. See, that's why your boneheads. No, he didn't do that.
He never saw the rocks as they were crashing into him. He saw the throne of God. We're so glad you tuned in today to study the book of 1 Peter on Cross Reference Radio. Cross Reference Radio is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston in Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. And we're blessed to bring you God's word with each broadcast. If you'd like more information about this program or want to listen to additional teachings from Pastor Rick, please visit our website crossreferenceradio.com. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never have to miss a program. Just search for Cross Reference Radio in iTunes, Google Play Music, or your favorite podcast app. We hope you'll tune in again next time to join us as we continue our study through the Scriptures right here on Cross Reference Radio.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-03-23 22:06:24 / 2024-03-23 22:16:12 / 10