Disciplined for the Goal, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, Pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Christians, we have a race to run, a mission and calling for today. God calls us to a disciplined life. For some of us, that word discipline may have connotations of striving in our own strength to follow rules, as if God saves us by grace, then sends us off to the exhausting and impossible task of being worthy of that salvation. But no, God's beautiful grace follows us in its transforming work. We must discipline our hearts to abide in Christ, to live with the end in view, to surrender to His work, to His heart. But God does not send us out alone. He gives us the Spirit to walk with us and Christ's example to empower us. Today, Rich unpacks 1 Peter 4, 7-11 in this message titled, Disciplined for the goal. You're listening to the second part of this sermon.

It was first preached on December 4th, 2022. He's not calling us here to token love. He's not calling us here to do things in order to keep up appearances. He's not calling us to do love so that I can check a box, well, I did this, now I can say I loved somebody.

That's superficial. That's self-serving. The definition of love as Christ loved us is to invest in another for their God-ward movement. Invest. Invest.

Listen. Real love is costly. Real love is costly. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. Love is forbearing. Love is forgiving. There is the necessity for accountability and truth in there.

Absolutely. It's not it's not eliminating those. But when he says love covers a multitude of sins, that means that your love is inherently forbearing and forgiving. You give room for another person to grow. Your first response when somebody messes up, your first response is not judgment and disdain. Your first response is, I care for that person, how can I help them? That's loving earnestly. That's a culture of grace.

Giving room to grow and personal investment. A couple examples in scripture, James chapter 5, verse 20, whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. Can you say you love somebody if there is somebody who's near to you and you see them walking towards the precipice of self-destruction and you love them and you just sit back and watch them keep walking toward the edge? Do you truly love that person?

No. Well, I'm not sure what they're going to think of me. What you just confessed is that you love yourself more than you love them. But Jesus said, love others as I have loved you. We were on the path to destruction and Jesus gave himself to rescue us from that destruction.

Think about that. That's love. Genuine love is costly. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 7, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. A good way to understand that is in all circumstances, love is forbearing, love is believing, it is hopeful, it is enduring.

It's costly. Genuine love is costly. And this is the attitude, the disciplined attitude of one who is disciplined for the goal, someone who is free. And why does he say above all keep loving one another earnestly? Because love is the hallmark of the follower of Jesus. Paul makes it clear, and this is kind of a rich Powell paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13, but you can be busy in all kinds of church and spiritual activity. But if all that spiritual activity is without love, your faith is just noise.

Rich Powell translation, but I think it's pretty accurate. All the good spiritual activity you can do if it's without love, your faith is just noise. Here's the third way that our attitude is disciplined. And we come to verse 9, show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

That's interesting verse, isn't it? Thank you, April, for your living picture. And I love how she's, and here it is, here's the disciplined attitude. It's joyfully hospitable, joyfully hospitable. I love how it says show hospitality to one another. He could have just left it there, but then he said without grumbling. There's a reason why he said that.

And I know, I know, I know some of you this morning are probably thinking, well, I can't do it without grumbling, so I'm just not going to do it. I loved the living picture. We were at their house yesterday for the potluck. Lot of good food, lot of good food. Good fellowship too.

It was just a really great time, get to know people better. But the hospitality, what is he speaking of here in verse 9 when he says to show hospitality to one another without grumbling, it's a welcoming disposition. This is why I put it in the disciplined attitude category, because it's a welcoming disposition. And a welcoming disposition means that you are inclusive of other people. You're not just living for yourself, you're inclusive of other people, particularly people who are not like you. That's where the biblical virtue of hospitality really shines, is when you are inclusive and welcoming of people who are not like you. Jesus said the same, it's easy to love people who are like me, think like me, look like me, vote like me. I can get along with them just fine, but can I be hospitable to the person who's not like me at all?

That's where the spirit comes in, for those of us who are in Christ. You know, today there are, with our devices, smartphones and all that, people are so incredibly connected. But did you know that people are more lonely than ever? You might have a thousand friends on Facebook and you could be a lonely person, because that's not genuine friendship.

There has to be proximity, there has to be that face-to-face part there. And your home, Peter is making it clear here, that your home is a powerful tool to invest in others for community. And did you get it that, you know, April said hospitality is not my thing and I don't enjoy cooking, but they did it anyway. I love that resolve, I love that sense of personal discipline, I love that sense of absorbing the cost of doing what Christ called us to do. If you take anything home today, I want you to take this next statement, okay?

So get your pens out, pencils. You've been welcomed at the Lord's table. You've been welcomed at the Lord's table. I really truly think when we have the Lord's table, it's important that you're here. I believe that.

I'm just putting that out there, okay? Christmas Day, Sunday, Christmas Day, the last Sunday of this year, in the evening we're gonna have the Lord's table. And when we have it here, I truly believe it's important that you're here. Many never come, they're just not in the habit of coming.

And yes, we have it at night, I get that. But I think it's important that you're here, here's why. Because when it talks about hospitality, when it talks about inviting somebody to your table, today in today's world it's just, oh, you're invited somebody to their table. Okay, let's sit down and eat, have some casual conversation. But in Peter's day, in the ancient Eastern world, when you were invited to somebody's table, it was an incredible gesture of acceptance. You don't just invite anybody to your table. To invite somebody to your table was tantamount to you saying to them, I accept you.

It had that significance. In that light, understand this again, you have been welcomed at the Lord's table. Let that grip you. When you understand two things, who Jesus is and who you are. You have been welcomed at the Lord's table. That being true, that you have been welcomed at the Lord's table, welcome others to yours. It is a Christian virtue. And I believe it is a virtue that needs to be resurrected and championed in the church of Jesus Christ. If we are to be a beautiful church, we will be a hospitable church.

And there's a lot that goes into that. I did a little Sammy was in my office. They always, Sammy and Ezra come into my office every Sunday morning. Ezra's grilling me on the sermon.

That's my review. And he's grilling me on the sermon, right? And Sammy's looking through all the stuff in my office and I asked, Sammy, how was yesterday for you? He says, oh, it was great.

He had a great time exercising hospitality. There's a lot of joy in it. There's cost, there's sacrifice. I get that, but there's a lot of joy in it too. That being said, here's a little commercial break here, okay?

Not commercial because there's no money in it. Sunday night seminar tonight, things that pertain to life and godliness. It's the last one of four things that pertain to life. Countering societal lies with transcendent truth. And the theme tonight, the focus tonight is on happiness. What brings happiness? I'm going to give you a clue. GSR.

And it doesn't mean gunshot residue, okay? We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace, weekdays at 10 a.m.