Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful
that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either
by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray
for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?
The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really,
I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible,
they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will
do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a
non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't
hesitate to send us questions. It helps me, actually, to know, as I'm preaching, how to
deal with the types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.
Just bow our heads in prayer for a moment. Father, we come to listen to your Word, and
Father, you know that we don't always acknowledge before you that your Word troubles us a bit if we
pay attention to it, and we sort of grumble about it, although maybe not out loud. And all we do is
grumble, don't inquire. So Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would help us to notice your Word
and to dig deep into it. And we thank you, Father, that you are a good Father in Heaven, that you love
us, that Jesus died on the cross for us to save us, that your Holy Spirit is a Spirit that leads us
into you as you live in us. And so, Father, lead us and guide us into all truth. Help us to trust your
Word. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.
Amen. Please be seated.
Parts of the Bible we find sort of awkward and offensive. And one of the things I found as I've
been a Christian longer, and especially as I'm, in a sense, forced to think about the Bible text
because I'm going to preach on it, or I'm going to teach on it in another type of context, is over time,
with very few exceptions. And some of the exceptions are just really weird, like cultural things that you need
to give the cultural context to. But the parts of the Bible that offend us, or bother us, or make us embarrassed,
are actually probably the Bible texts that we need to listen to the most, because they have the most to teach us
in our particular situation. It shows that, in a sense, the spirit of the world and how the world thinks
has been greatly influencing us. And so we really need to, in a sense, rather than, as you heard in a prayer,
rather than just sort of grumble with it or skip over it, but actually dig deep into it and try to figure out
what it is that he's saying, why it is, in fact, a really good word.
You might not have listened to it or noticed it. If you're like me, you're sort of the Bible. You hear the Bible,
and you listen, but you don't really listen. But there's a part of that text, and we're going to look at it,
that, well, I don't know how many of you have heard the conversion story of Christopher Yuan.
He's written a couple of books. And obviously, there's a lot to it. Part of his whole conversion story,
you know, where he went to a, you know, a very, very, very, very chaotic gay lifestyle. Big drug dealer in the,
I think it was in the Boston area, gets arrested and all of that. And he had a praying mom and everything.
But his conversion story actually begins when he finds a Bible in the garbage.
And for some reason, he actually feels that he should read it. And that's actually the sort of the start of his conversion.
Anyway, imagine if you could, that maybe one of your neighbors has been cleaning out the attic or something of their grandmother or their great-grandmother,
and they come across an old Bible, and they happen to just pick it up and open it and read something.
And then they maybe come to you, because here you go to church, and they say,
look at this, look at what it says about people like me. Do you really think I'm as bad as all that?
And we'd probably have one of those deer-in-a-headlight moments.
We're not really sure what exactly to say to it. So we're going to look at that.
And so it's 1 Peter 4, and we're going to be looking at verses 1 to 11.
And if you have a Bible with you, and I encourage you to bring your own Bible when you can,
it's just helpful to be able to look at it and make your own notes, etc.
1 Peter 4, verses 1 to 11, and let's start reading it.
And just before we start reading it, just to remember...
Well, actually, here, we'll read it, and then I'll make the comments.
So 1 Peter 4, verses 1 to 11, and it begins like this.
Since, therefore, Christ, that's Jesus, suffered in the flesh...
Just sort of pause here.
It's sort of an unfortunate translation, flesh.
It's very literal and correct.
But really what we should think of here is body or physical,
that he physically suffered, that he suffered in his body.
Okay?
So since, therefore, Christ suffered physically in his body,
arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.
For whoever has suffered in the body, physically in the body, has ceased from sin,
so as to live for the rest of the time in his body, physically,
no longer for human passions, but for the will of God.
Now, obviously, there's a couple of odd things in there.
It makes you think of monks whipping themselves or wearing hair shirts,
and I'll get to that in a moment.
But the first thing about this to notice,
as I've said time and time again before,
Peter was one of Jesus' first disciples, one of his closest disciples.
He knows that Jesus died on the cross.
He didn't see Jesus dying on the cross because he had denied Jesus,
and he went away in despair.
But he definitely knows that Jesus died on the cross.
He knows that he was buried.
He knows that on the third day the grave was empty.
He saw the empty tomb, and he met the risen Jesus.
And within a couple of years of writing this,
Peter is going to die, and he's going to die a gruesome death,
and he could have avoided that gruesome death if he just said,
time out, fooled ya, it didn't really happen.
He could have avoided his painful death.
And he could have even done that and then gone on and said,
I fooled you, you really did die.
No, no, Peter would die for this.
So here's the first thing.
When he says arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,
there's something profoundly different about rooting yourself
in something which is historically true
than merely rooting yourself in a story.
You know, you could adapt the story of Santa Claus
or the story of the great pumpkin or the Easter bunny or,
you know, not even that.
If you took some of the great myths of the Oedipus myth
or anything like that, you can play around with them.
You can negotiate with them.
You can, you know, balance them with other types of things.
But there's something very, very angular and immovable
about basing yourself on something which actually happened.
And that's what's very significant here,
is that Peter is saying, listen, think about who Jesus was.
Think about what he taught.
Think about the suffering that he underwent.
Think about his death upon the cross.
Think about his burial and his resurrection.
And think about these things.
These are the things that you need to think about,
you need to remember,
and that they should form how you see the world,
how you understand yourself,
how you get your identity,
how you get value,
how you see things that are going on,
the things that you're going to do or not do.
Root all of these things in the true story,
the true story of what really happened to Jesus in reality.
That's how you base your life,
not just on stories,
but on this thing,
this particular story which is true.
And it's, you know,
like, you know,
one of the things there's,
some of us have maybe been troubled over the years by,
and if you're from outside the Christian faith,
you don't know that,
there's a whole group of people
who call themselves Christians
called health and wealth gospel people,
that, you know,
Christians are meant to only be wealthy
and only be healthy
and always to triumph
and everything like that.
And it can sound very appealing
and it can be very convincing
that the big problem with it
is they're not thinking about Jesus
who suffered and died on a cross,
didn't hit his 40th birthday.
There has to be something wrong about all that teaching.
You've got to think about Jesus.
So that's what he's saying,
you know,
first and foremost.
And Peter's going to bear witness to this by his death.
So think on this,
think through this,
and buy this.
But now what on earth does he mean
when he says,
for verse one again,
for whoever has suffered in the body physically
has ceased from sin
so as to live the rest of the time
in his body physically,
no longer for human passions
but for the will of God.
So this is an example of hyperbole.
He's really saying something far simpler
and something which we all recognize as true,
that every time you resist a temptation
to do something which is wrong,
you're thinking about Jesus,
thinking about what he did,
thinking about the fact
that it's not just a story about in the past
but that Jesus is with you
and that as you think about that
and it gives you the power
and the ability
to not do something which is wrong
where you know that you should do something that's right
and rather than avoiding doing the right thing
because it'll maybe cost you,
you actually do the right thing,
that every time you do that
in a very tiny way,
you snip the power
of rebellion against God in your life
and every time you don't do that
but give in to it,
you strengthen it.
Just a very, very simple thing.
Years ago,
there's this man in the congregation,
Tom,
he was very, very blunt,
plain spoken.
I mean, when he heard
that I was having a ninth child,
he asked me if I knew what birth control was,
like he's that type of guy,
very, very blunt, okay?
And one day I was just,
we were having lunch
and I just mentioned that something had happened
and I apologized to my wife
and he said,
I would never apologize to my wife for that
and I just had one of those Holy Spirit moments
and I said to him,
that's why you're divorced twice
and don't have anybody living with you now.
And because he was that type of blunt speaker,
he looked like he was going to be mad.
He said,
ah, you're right.
So, you know,
so here's the thing.
You know,
if I,
when I wrong Louise
and I do wrong Louise,
if I don't apologize,
but instead,
when confronted,
I just say,
no, no,
I was right to say that.
If that happens all the time,
I'm building habits
and a type of personality or character
that's going to make that more and more common.
But when I apologize,
it's creating a type of tender heart within me
that I'm going to notice when I've sinned
and I can apologize.
It's a very, very small way.
You can do it the same thing
with porn,
with power,
with generosity,
all those other things.
It's a very, very common truth.
You're given a choice
between living out of these passions
and passions here
mean something exorbitant and wrong.
So your passion for money,
your passion for selfishness,
your passion for pride,
your passion,
you know,
for sex outside of merit,
like all of those things.
If you either give into those things
and they get stronger
or because you're thinking about Christ
and remembering Christ
and you're realizing these things are wrong
and you say no to them,
you're building strength
in that other direction.
So that's all very simple,
basic moral teaching
and something, by the way,
that a psychologist or something
would say,
yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
You're either strengthening something
or weakening something, right?
It's very, very,
just good common sense.
But now we get to the very awkward
and difficult part
that once again,
if one of our friends
or co-workers
found their grandmother's Bible
and happened to open it up
and read it,
they'd say to you,
do you,
is this how you guys think about me?
Is this how Christians think
about guys like me
or gals like me?
And not only that,
they'd not only think that,
they'd think,
like, you can think that,
but I'm a better person
than you are.
And if you think differently,
you're just full of
fill in the blank.
Well, here,
listen to what they say.
It's verses 3 and 4
of chapter 4.
For the time that has passed
suffices for doing
what the Gentiles want to do.
Now just sort of pause.
I'm going to make the text
harder,
not easier.
But it's meant to be
hard,
not easy.
For Gentile here,
substitute the word
anybody who's not
a follower of Christ.
That's what it means
in this context.
So anybody who is not
a follower of Christ.
So in the times past,
you could live the way
people who don't follow
Christ want to do.
Living in sensuality,
passions,
drunkenness,
orgies,
drinking parties.
There really means
drinking parts,
the type of thing
like panda game
or something like that
afterwards,
where you have
drinking and carousing
that goes on
into the night
and involves also
probably the destruction
of property
and everything like that
and lawless idolatry.
Okay,
all people outside of Christ,
that's what they want to do?
Whoa,
I never noticed that
in the Bible before,
eh?
With respect to this,
they are surprised
when you,
Christian,
do not join them
in the same flood
of debauchery
and they malign you.
Now you can see
why a friend
who's maybe
a very,
very,
very passionate
advocate for the poor,
somebody who's
just living
a really,
really,
really good life
and they read this
and they say,
really,
that's how you think
people who aren't Christians
that you're like,
that we're like?
And frankly,
a lot of us
would be uncomfortable
now that we notice it
because one of the things,
and if you're watching this
or if you're here
and you're not
a follower of Christ,
it's a very common thing
actually for Christians
to be troubled
by the fact
that many of their
non-Christian neighbors,
their neighbors
who don't follow Jesus,
are better than they are
and it's a source
of trouble
in terms of how
they think about themselves.
So this can be
a bit of a troubling verse.
So what's going on
in this particular verse?
Well,
there's a couple of things.
First of all,
actually people,
it is actually
sort of a very
common Canadian view.
I'm not going to talk
about other cultures,
but it actually is a bit
of a common Canadian view.
Just think about it
for a second.
If you told your neighbors,
let's say you're
a 25-year-old man
or a 25-year-old woman,
and if you told your neighbors
that you'd never had sex
outside of marriage,
would they think
more of you
or less of you?
They'd think less of you.
If you're a 25-year-old
young woman
and you're dating a fellow
and he wants you
to sleep with him
after the second
or third or fourth date
and you say no
because you're not
going to sleep with him
until you're married,
will he say,
oh, that's very admirable?
Or will he say,
boy, you're a weird freak.
You'll never be married.
You're condemned
to a terrible life
of singleness
and unhappiness.
If you were
a 28, 29-year-old man
or woman
and you told people
that you've actually
never done drugs
once in your entire life
and you've never been drunk,
will they say,
wow, that's a manly man
and a womanly woman?
What a model.
I wish I was like you.
No, they'll think
there's something wrong
with you.
Isn't that true?
So actually,
first of all,
there is something in here,
isn't there?
But the second thing
is this.
In fact,
if you study,
if you,
first of all,
like certain types
of depth psychology
would say that
if you just scratch
beneath the veneer
of somebody like me,
and I'm, by the way,
not a moral exemplar,
but if you scratch
beneath the veneer
of somebody who says
they're a devout Christian,
you're going to see
very dark passions.
And there's a whole
school of scholarship
that when they study
something like the Victorians
who are very concerned
about living proper
types of lives
and being good citizens
and having good marriages,
and there's an entire
academic
whole world
that says
that is always
looking at their letters
and their diaries
and trying to convince people,
and often correctly,
that if you just scratch
beneath the civilized veneer
and their self-righteousness
and their self-justification,
what you see
is actually
something very dark
and very, very,
just something
very dark and chaotic,
very different
from their public persona.
But finally,
the real thing about,
in other words,
what they're saying
is if you scratch
beneath things,
what you see
is what 1 Peter 4
verses 3 and 4
are saying.
And then,
but finally,
the real proof,
and this is very important,
I'm taking some time on it
because it's really important
for it,
and it's also important,
it's important,
you see,
one of the problems
we have with the Bible
is the Bible
is so deeply realistic
about real human life
that we turn away from it.
But one of the things
which is so beautiful
about the Bible
is it's so profoundly realistic
in helping us
to understand who we are,
yet at the same time,
not to lead us into despair,
but to lead us to Christ
and to give us hope.
So how do we know
that actually
non-Christians agree with this,
people outside the Christian faith
agree with this,
disaster movies.
Not just disaster movies,
but end-of-the-world movies.
So what happens
in every end-of-the-world movie?
It doesn't matter
if it's something like
the zombie apocalypse
is overwhelming
all of the institutions
in society,
so the veneer of civilization
is scraped away,
and you see what people
are really like.
Maybe it's an alien invasion,
and the aliens
are triumphing,
and you see
what most people
are like
when the veneer
of civilization
is scraped away.
Maybe it's some type
of virus outbreak
which is killing
99% of the population,
and you see
what human beings
are really like,
and what do you see
in all those movies?
Raping,
murdering,
pillaging,
drunkenness.
All of them.
Dark passions unleashed.
Nobody's going to arrest me.
Nobody's going to punish me.
So let's get drunk.
Let's rape.
Let's steal.
Let's destroy property.
That's what every disaster movie says.
In fact,
if you saw a disaster movie,
and as the zombie hordes
are overwhelming society,
and all they showed
was the people
not being infected
by the zombies,
was gathering
in communities
where they loved each other
and cared for each other,
and they nursed the sick,
and they gave
of their possessions
to help each other,
you would turn
to your neighbor
watching and saying,
this must be
a dream sequence.
It has to be
a dream sequence.
And in fact,
if the whole movie
ended like that,
what would the movie
reviewers say?
Boring
and unrealistic.
And it would be
a box office flop.
Why?
You scratch beneath
the veneer of human beings
and you get
1 Peter 4,
verse 3.
It gets worse.
Why do we like movies
like that?
Well,
there's a very simple reason
why we like movies
like that.
When we're watching
World War Z,
we don't say,
yeah,
I'd like that to happen.
I'd like an opportunity
to rape and get drunk
and pillage.
Like,
nobody says that.
If they did,
you'd go,
we'd think under our breath,
psychopath.
We wouldn't want to have
anything to do
with somebody
who says,
yeah,
I really love,
I love those parts.
I love those rapists
and murderers.
No.
We all think
we're Brad Pitt
and I apologize,
I don't know how
to pronounce her name,
Muriel Enos.
That's who we think
we are.
What are we saying?
I'm saying,
all of you guys
would be getting drunk
and raping.
Louise and me
are going to be the heroes.
You're watching the movie
thinking,
George and everybody else
are raping and pillaging
and we're going to be the hero.
In other words,
those movies show
your self-righteousness.
It shows that you believe
1 Peter 4,
verse 3,
but you think
you're different,
you think you're self-righteous.
Whoa.
Many people would say,
I didn't see that coming.
But then a very common
human response to that
would be say,
George,
that's a really bleak way
of understanding
human beings.
That's so bleak,
why on earth
would Jesus die
if that's true?
And then we can say,
now you're understanding
the beauty of the gospel.
All my self-righteousness
combined with my dark passions
and Jesus saw them all
and still he died for me.
Still he died for you.
Now you begin to see
the wonder and the beauty
of the gospel.
Just one final point
before we move on,
just to bring this home.
imagine for a moment
that,
we'll use me as an example,
God just says,
I'm going to take
the last 10 years
of everything
that George thought
and everything
that he imagined
and everything
he daydreamed about
and it's going to be
completely unfiltered
and it's going to be
shown on that screen.
I wouldn't want to be
anywhere near this room.
I'd probably try
to take enough money
to go hide
in some obscure part
of Alaska or Wyoming
in the wilderness
and hope that nobody
would change my name
and hope that nobody
would ever find me.
And friend,
that would be your response
too if it was your own life.
Why?
Because 1 Peter 4, 3 is true.
And now you can start
to understand
why it's so remarkable
that Jesus would die for you,
that he would see that.
He knows what went on
in your mind and mine
and still he loved you enough
to die on the cross for you.
And can't you see
how any idea
of your own self-righteousness
or self-justification
is like being stoned
on drugs
that has no connection
to the real you.
You need a savior.
And I have wonderful news
for you.
There is a savior.
And he died for you.
Now what does this
last little bit mean
it sounds about
praying to the dead?
We're going to get
to the application
in a moment.
But just the
verse 5 and 6,
it seems this weird thing
about preaching the gospel
to dead people.
Look at what happens next.
But it really is just,
it's bringing home
the wonder of the gospel.
Verse 5,
but they will give account
to him.
In other words,
people who are maligning you.
Just remember I said,
what would they say
to a 25-year-old man
who's never slept out,
who's waiting for marriage
and hasn't slept around
or doesn't watch porn,
they wouldn't believe you
and they'd think there was
something lacking in you.
So they malign you.
But they will give,
verse 5 says,
but they who malign you
will give an account
to him who is ready
to judge the living
and the dead.
Jesus will come again.
Idi Amin died
without having to face judgment
for what he did,
but he has not escaped
God's judgment.
Stalin died without having
to give an account
for killing 50 million people,
but he has not escaped
God's judgment.
That's what it's saying.
No one escapes God's judgment.
Verse 6,
for that is,
this is why the gospel
is preached even
to those who are dead,
that though judged
in the body,
physically,
the way people are,
they might live
in the spirit
the way God does.
And what this is really
meaning is this.
There's a fellow
who was a minister
in Ottawa
for quite a few years
named John Pierce.
And after he was
forced to retire,
he went to Nova Scotia,
to rural Nova Scotia
to minister.
And after he was
forced to retire there,
he went,
I've told you
about him before,
he went into the middle
of nowhere in New Brunswick
where there's just
very poor people
and uneducated people
and nobody wants
to go there.
And he ministered there
up until about 10 days
before he died.
So he was healthy
for his whole life.
He died,
I think,
at 88 or 89
and he lived
a complete life
dedicated to being
with the lowly
and the poor
and the unimportant,
the lower working class.
He was spectacularly generous.
His financial advisor
kept warning him
that he would run
out of money
and he would die
a complete pauper.
And people could say,
looking at John,
like,
what a waste.
And he just died
like everybody else.
He did all that sacrifice,
but he just died
like everybody else.
And that's where
Peter wants to remind you,
no, no, no, no, no.
The gospel is always worth it
even if it changes
your life completely.
And people can't make
the judgment
that your life
was a waste
because all will appear
before God.
And God will say
to John,
John,
gosh,
way to go
with a smile.
We all appear
before God.
Death is not
the final word
about us.
Death is not
a judgment
on all human life
and endeavor.
The final word
about human life
and endeavor
is made
by the triune God,
by Jesus,
the same one
who redeemed you
is the one
who will judge.
So we need a Savior.
How should we live
in light of this?
Well, you know,
I could write down
some points,
but actually,
Peter gives you
how shall we then live?
And it's better
if you just hear
what he has to say
than me giving you
my lame points.
So let's look.
How do we live?
If Jesus really
did live,
he really did die
on a cross,
he really was buried,
he really did rise
from the dead
and the grave is empty,
that changes everything.
And if there really
is going to be
a return of Jesus
and a judging
of the living
and the dead,
that changes everything.
And if these things
are rock solid true
and they should be
how we think
and how we should
understand the world,
how do we live?
Well, Peter gives you
some ideas.
He gives you
some suggestions.
Look at it,
verses 7 through 11.
That's the end
of our text today.
This is the application.
How shall we live?
Look at verse 7.
The end of all things
is at hand.
That's what he's saying.
Just remember the end.
Therefore,
be self-controlled
and sober-minded
for the sake
of your prayers.
Now, by the way,
when I was setting
this list this week,
two things
were very eye-opening
and one thing
was very humbling to me.
I don't know
what it's going to be
for you,
but for me,
two things
were very eye-opening
and one thing
was profoundly humbling.
And this first thing,
this application,
that if you are basing
your life on Jesus
and the reality
of the judgment
and what God wants you
to do,
what he's going to form
in you,
what you need to ask
him to form in you,
as you see it being formed
in you,
you want to have it develop,
you want to have it grow,
you want to encourage
your brothers and sisters
in Christ to grow in this,
to go high-five,
way to go
when you can see it developing
and when you see them
not doing it
to pray for them
is that you're praying
that people would be
sober-minded,
sort of that they would
be self-controlled
and that they would
be sober-minded
and a better translation
is clear-minded.
And by the way,
most Canadians
would like to be,
have self-control
and most people
would like to have
clear minds.
In fact,
a way to insult
another person in Canada
would be to say
they lack self-control
or they don't have
a clear mind
and they'd be offended.
These are things
that we want.
But here's the thing,
if you look at the verse again,
this is the important application.
This was the thing
that sort of shocked me.
The end of all things
is at hand,
therefore be self-controlled
and sober-minded
for the sake of your prayers.
And they're both connected.
The whole point
of being self-control,
having self-control
is for prayer.
The whole reason
to be clear-minded
is for prayer.
Now let's be honest.
Many of us think
if we were to develop
real self-control,
I don't need to pray as much
because I got self-control.
I got to pray
because I'm losing
my self-control
and I've caused chaos
in my life
and I really need God
to come and rescue me.
I lack self-control
with my wife.
I lack self-control
with my boss.
I'm in trouble.
God help me
and rescue me.
And we sort of think
that if we had self-control,
we need less prayer.
Same as if we were
more clear-minded,
we would need less prayer.
But what this text
is saying to you
is if you have
self-control without prayer,
it's not self-control.
If you are clear-minded
without prayer,
it's actually not
clear-mindedness.
I mean, that's...
For me,
I was like...
I'm just...
This is just for me.
I thought, wow.
Like...
I guess I've just never
noticed it in the Bible before.
But, you know,
if you think about it
for a second,
if I was really clear-minded,
I know that I don't
know the future.
My culture and my ego
thinks I know the future,
but I don't know the future.
I have no idea.
None of us know
whether each one of us
will be alive
in 24 hours.
Like, not a single one does.
And being clear-minded
and having self-control
means that we can pray
with self-control
and we can pray clear-minded
and we're acknowledging
that God is sovereign,
that we need his help
and we need his guidance
and we need his wisdom
and we need to act
in terms of how he starts
to respond to us
as we pray.
So, what's another application?
That's verse 8 and 9.
Above all,
keep loving one another earnestly.
Another way to translate
the word earnestly
is constantly.
Since love covers
a multitude of sins
and show hospitality
to one another
without grumbling.
So, these are another
two things.
As we think about Christ,
as we think about his life,
as we think about
the last judgment,
one of the things
that Christ is going to
want to do within us
as we think about this
is that we live a life
which is more and more loving
and that we become
more and more hospitable.
And that's one of the things,
once again,
that we can be praying
for us as a church,
we can be praying
for each other.
If you're in our small group
or the women's group
or when we get the men's group
off the ground
in a couple of months,
that as a person can share,
you know,
I really struggle
with hospitality
and I think I'm starting
finally to get
a little bit less frightened
and less sort of
needing my private space
to show more hospitality
and we give high fives.
Way to go.
You celebrate that
because that's where
the Holy Spirit's
going to move you into.
And then this next,
this is verse 10 and 11.
This is the part
that really humbled me.
I don't know about
how the word of God
is working in your life.
God works differently
in each life,
but here's what he says,
verse 10 and 11,
more application.
As each has received
a gift,
now what it means here
is that God gives
spiritual gifts
and natural gifts.
Okay?
So a spiritual gift
might be,
a natural gift
might be the gift
of the gap.
A spiritual gift
might be to,
to be able to speak
in such a way
with the Bible
that people understand
the Bible better
and their lives better,
right?
So there's,
they're natural
and spiritual gifts.
As each has received
a gift,
use it to serve
one another
as good stewards
of God's very grace.
So it's God's gift.
It gives different gifts
to different people.
And then Peter divides
all of the gifts
into,
in a sense,
mouth gifts
and hands and feet gifts.
So whoever speaks
is one who speaks
the oracles of God.
In other words,
your speaking
is always controlled
by God's word.
And whoever serves
is one who serves
by the strength
that God supplies.
Now those are good things,
really worth memorizing
and meditating upon,
really praying
that God would help us
to understand
what natural gifts,
by the way,
like some people
are just very naturally
hospitable.
Well, use it
to the glory of God.
Some people
are just naturally
better at loving people.
You know,
we'll use that
to go visit the sick
or to minister
to shut-ins.
It's just a bit
of a natural thing.
Other people,
there's more spiritual
things that come in.
And we need
all of these gifts
to be exercised
for people to flourish.
But here's the next thing,
and this is the part
that was hard for me.
I'll read verse 11 again.
Whoever speaks
is one who speaks
oracles of God.
And whoever serves
is one who serves
by the strength
that God supplies,
excuse me,
in order,
in order
that in everything
God may be glorified
through Jesus Christ.
To him belong glory
and dominion
forever and ever.
Amen.
So the point
of all of this
is that in everything
God is glorified
through Jesus Christ.
Christ,
and that in fact
all glory belongs
to him
and all dominion
belongs to him
as it has been
in the past,
is now,
and ever will be
in the future.
And here's the part
as I was meditating
upon this text
this week
that the Holy Spirit
spoke to me
and convicted me.
Thought experiment
came to me.
Imagine,
and this is the,
somebody was praying
for me
because it just came
to me
like a bit
of a confrontation
of me
from God.
George,
imagine that God
shows up
and says to you,
I'm going to make you
a deal.
You have a choice,
one of two things.
I'm willing
to bless you
and work through you
in such a way
that this church
gets five times bigger.
You're used
to plant
20 churches,
lots of missionary
come from your church,
a ministry to the poor
is started,
you have,
the church
has a profound effect
on people's lives
as they're completely
transformed,
people who are
very, very far
from God
are completely
transformed,
and this will be
something that I will do,
but nobody will think
you had anything
to do with it,
and you will get
absolutely no credit.
Would you do it?
Now, I'll be honest,
I'd at least like
a footnote.
I'd at least like
a watch
or some type
of way to go.
Like, I realize
that I'd like
some little tiny bit
of credit,
but really,
God is going to work
in my heart
to this point.
Shannon's stepping down
from the Sunday school
position.
I'm going to announce
it.
I've sort of announced
it right now,
and maybe the next
Sunday school person,
if God was to come
to them and say,
we're going to send
200 kids to the church,
you're going to have
a Sunday school
that ends up being
the talk of all
of North America,
and nobody will remember
that you had anything
to do with it.
Will you do that?
And that's a hard thing.
And it might be
for some other types
of things.
Maybe God will bless
you in business
with spectacular generosity,
or God will bless you
in some other way
with profound wisdom,
but it'd be one
of those things,
gosh, there's these
really wise sayings,
but I can't remember
who said it,
but it was you,
and nobody ever remembers
it to you.
Would you do it?
Would you take it?
That's the challenge here.
That's how God
is going to work
in our lives,
but the fact of the matter
is, brothers and sisters,
there is a weight
of wanting to justify
yourself which crushes us,
which crushes me,
which crushes you.
We are so much lighter
and freer
to lose that,
to know that it all
comes from God.
As I've said before,
just pray that it's
actually really
existentially true
in my life.
I am nothing more
than a mirror
when I preach,
and I'll tell you,
my mirror is cracked,
it's missing a few pieces,
part of it's faded,
and part of it's warped,
and all I can do
is angle myself
to the light
that comes from God
so that my mirror
will be filled
and shine into your lives,
and I contribute nothing.
And pray that that
would really be true,
that how I understand
myself and understand
my ministry.
That's the humbling
part of this.
See, once again,
I want some of the,
that's why I need
a Savior.
That's why you need
a Savior.
Good news,
there is a Savior.
And He's for you.
He's for you.
Let's stand and bow our heads
and pray.
Let's stand and pray
in closing.
Father,
we give you thanks
and praise
that you know us
really perfectly,
and yet you look at us
with perfect love.
And we give you
thanks and praise
that you were very
clear-eyed
about each one of us.
And Jesus,
that you were clear-eyed
about each one of us
when you died
on the cross for us.
And we give you
thanks and praise
that you were
a wonderful Savior,
a beautiful Savior,
a deep Savior.
We give you
thanks and praise
that knowing
your knowledge of us
and your death for us,
that we can pour out
our hearts in prayer
to you.
We can confess
even the darkest things
about our lives
to you,
and you won't be offended,
and you won't be caught
by surprise,
and you won't say,
oh, if I knew that
about you in advance,
I wouldn't even want
to talk to you.
That, Father,
grip us with this
and grip us with these
truths of who Jesus is
and what he did
for us on the cross
and the miracles
he performed
and the teaching
he gave.
And, Father,
bring these truths
home to our lives
that this would be
how we think
and how we understand
the world,
and that we would
always remember
that Christ is coming
again and that all
human beings will be judged
and that our only hope
in that judgment
is Christ.
I have no hope.
We have no hope
apart from it.
And, Father,
we ask then that you
make Jesus real
to our lives.
And for those,
Father,
who may be listening
and they feel a pressure,
they've not given
their lives to Christ,
Father,
may your Holy Spirit
help them to say,
Jesus,
be my Savior.
we ask all these things
in the name of Jesus,
Father,
your Son,
and our Savior.
And all God's people said,
Amen.