1 Peter 4:7-11 Good Stewards
Good morning! We are returning to 1 Peter 4, verses 7-11 this morning, page 1016 in the pew Bibles.
Last week we talked about the path to Parmacheenee Dam, the long walk through the puckerbrush that is the Christian life and how our goal is not just to get to the end but to stay on the path that Jesus has cut for us no matter how thick the bushes might get or how alluring or easy leaving the path might seem.
In our passage for this morning, Peter’s concern is not so much the path or staying on the path but more about how we think about and act towards ourselves and the others that are walking the path along with us.
So let’s read the text and dive in.
7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Let’s pray.
As I said last week, our goal should not just to be to get to the end of the path that Jesus has cut for us, our goal should be to stay on the path. In either case, the truth of the matter is that with every passing day we are getting closer and closer to the end of the trail.
Peter believed this to be true, the Apostles all believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime. But even though they were wrong about that, that doesn’t negate Jesus’ promise to return, and Peter’s words in verse 7 are more true now than ever, “The end of all things is at hand.”
The return of Christ and the end of this age is approaching its end and we ought to live with that attitude. If we live as if we know our time is short it will rearrange our priorities, and that’s exactly what Peter was hoping to communicate. Jesus is coming soon to judge the living and the dead; therefore here is a short list of general principles that ought to help you realign your priorities.
The first principle he mentions, in verse seven, “be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”
As we walk along the path we must have sound judgment, we must be sensible, we must have understanding about practical matters, we must be in control of our thought process and not in danger of irrational thinking in order to pray.
18th Century German theologian Johann Bengel wrote, “Temperance facilitates vigilance, and both aid prayer.”
Having sound judgment and understanding, being sensible, being in control of our thought process, all effects how we pray, when we pray, how often we pray, how long we pray, what we pray for, and who we pray for.
I would argue that is the lack of sound judgment and understanding, the lack of sensibility and control of our thought process that keeps us from praying!
If we truly had a handle on the reality of this life and what we were truly up against, and the help that is available to us, we couldn’t help but pray!
Verse eight says, Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Peter is quoting half of Proverbs 10:12 but the whole verse bears repeating, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.”
Paul echoes this thought in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Peter doesn’t exhort the church to keep tolerating each other at least while you’re at church, or try to keep from killing each other while you’re in the same room. His command is to keep loving one another earnestly. The Greek word for earnestly is to strain and stretch out like an athlete trying to cross the finish line first, give it your all.
Why do we need to be commanded to do this? Simple: because we don’t do it naturally. Jesus had to tell us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us because it’s in our nature to do the opposite.
But how does love cover a multitude of sins? Martin Luther rightly wrote, “The covering up relates to man and not to God. Nothing can cover your sin before God except faith. But my love covers my neighbor’s sin, and just as God covers my sin if I believe, so ought I also to cover the sin of my neighbor.”
It’s this love for one another that really fuels or motivates us to do the rest of what Peter instructs here along with the reality that nothing that we really don’t have the power in ourselves to do any of this good anyway.
Look at verse nine. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
This may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but that’s because our 21st Century idea of hospitality is limited to having people over for supper. In the First Century church it was a regular occurrence that people would be displaced from their homes and would be dependent on the charity of others to provide them with food and housing. Peter’s original audience were exiles living in foreign lands, this idea would be a lot more familiar to them than it is to us.
But there is still a principle that we can apply. Practicing hospitality without complaining in the 21st Century church is nothing more than cheerfully offering our homes as ministry centers, whether that is providing housing for those in need, hosting Bible studies and group meetings, or simply welcoming people into our homes for no purpose other than blessing them with a meal and being blessed by the fellowship.
The best way to adopt this way of thinking is to remember that nothing that we have belongs to us anyway; we need to adopt an attitude of stewardship.
John Calvin wrote, “For nothing is more fitted to correct our murmurings than to remember that we do not give of our own, but only dispense what God has committed to us.”
Stewardship is the management of property by a servant on behalf of its owner, and the owner of all things is God.
As a very dear friend of mine, Pastor Ben Heald used to say, “Good stewardship does not equal cheap!”
Our tendency is toward hoarding the good that we have and keeping it for ourselves or saving for a rainy day and calling that good stewardship, but in truth God is calling us to give what He has entrusted to us fully to His service. As Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.”
10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Each of us has gifts, and these are not limited to the incomplete lists of spiritual gifts that are in so many of the “Spiritual Gift Assessment Tests,” these are all the gifts and abilities that we possess both spiritual and natural that when surrendered to the use of the Lord get supercharged by His Spirit for His glory.
Those gifts are not ours to hoard, we are stewards of them, they belong to the Lord and He is calling us to use them for His glory and the good of His church.
Peter breaks these down into two categories but the first one is really part of the second one. The categories are speaking and serving.
Verse 11 says, “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks the oracles of God;” Whether it’s preaching or teaching, words of comfort, or encouragement, when we speak, we speak the messages of God and these messages should be delivered with earnestness and humility. It is God’s holy Word that He entrusts to the lowly instrument of the speaker’s mouth.
And whoever serves should serve by the strength that God supplies.
19th Century English theologian Christopher Wordsworth wrote, “Let each man apply to his neighbor all the good in his power with the utmost humility, knowing that of himself, without God’s supplying, he cannot have anything to apply.”
When we have the attitude of stewardship rather than ownership of our gifts and abilities the opportunities to serve others in Jesus’ Name and the power to perform that service will come and it will come from the hand of God.
John Calvin said, “Whatever part of the burden you bear in the church; know that you can do nothing but what you have been given by the Lord, and you are nothing but an instrument of God: take heed then not to abuse that grace of God by exalting yourself; take heed not to suppress the power of God, which puts forth and manifests itself in the ministry for the salvation of the brethren.”
This attitude of stewardship of God’s varied grace is all grounded where we first began: being self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of our prayers.
When we are sensible and have understanding about practical matters, when we have sound judgment and are in control of our thought process we can clearly see that all the good we have is from God our Heavenly Father.
It is by His grace that we have forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ and it is by His grace that we have time, talents, and treasure to offer for His use, for His glory and the growth of His kingdom.
7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Amen.
