Verse 7, Peter writes,
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.
Well, perhaps you've heard this question before.
Maybe you've entertained it.
In your mind at some point along the way.
But if you knew that you only had a short term left to live,
what would you do?
Who would you spend the rest of that time with?
What would you spend the rest of your time doing?
It's a common question, isn't it?
We hear it all the time.
We perhaps have asked that question before.
And a lot of people, most people maybe even,
have something of a bucket list mindset when they come to that question.
And they think, well, I've got all of these things that I would like to do in my life,
things that I would like to enjoy in my life.
And I guess if I knew that I only had a little bit of time left,
that the end of my existence here was drawing to a close,
I guess I'd start checking off the list, right?
Finding all the things that I've really wanted to enjoy in this life,
trying to get them done before it's too late.
Some may take maybe an opportunistic view of that,
which is I'm just going to make the most of my time here.
You only have one life, right?
Only one life to live.
I'm just going to make the most of it and do all the things that make me happy.
So an opportunistic view.
Some might take a philanthropic view.
You may say, you know, I only have a short time here.
I don't know why I'm here.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
But I know that at least when my life comes to an end,
I want to have left the world better than it was when I came into it, perhaps.
And maybe you just give the rest of your time to philanthropy.
You're just trying to help people, right?
Trying to leave the world a better place.
Some might take what we might call it a militaristic view.
We say, well, I recognize I only have a short time left to live,
and I'm going to be the one that beats it.
I'm going to be the one that beats it.
Everybody else may die.
Everybody else may have 70, 80 years, whatever it is.
I'm going to have a longer lifespan than that.
And so you spend your life doing everything that you can to beat the odds, right?
Maybe you're spending your time focused on hyperhealth living, right?
Very careful about the way that you're eating.
Very careful about the way you're treating your body, so on and so forth.
Just thinking, if anybody's going to beat the odds, I'm going to beat the odds.
Now, all of us would probably come to those three scenarios.
Maybe there's more of them that we would have.
And we'd say, you know, it's not entirely bad, is it?
And surely we want to enjoy the life that God has given us.
Isn't that what Solomon instructs us in Ecclesiastes?
Eat your cake.
Enjoy it, right?
God has given you a particular lot.
Make the most of it and enjoy it in God's blessings, right?
We might say, well, yeah, there's a sense in which we'd want to do that.
Surely all of us want to make some kind of significant impact on the world around us, or at least the community in which we live.
Surely we wouldn't come to that and say, well, no, that's a problem.
You shouldn't be living that way.
No, we'd say, no, that's pretty good.
Surely most of us would say, yeah, you know, we need to be good stewards of our bodies.
Maybe we can't completely beat the odds, but maybe we can make things a little bit better than the average person.
We'd say, well, that's not necessarily a poor pursuit either.
The problem is most people, when they're thinking of that question and they're answering it in those ways,
the one thing that they do have in common is that they believe that this life is really all that there is.
And that all that really matters in this life is just doing what makes you happy.
Just checking off that list.
Do the things that you want to do.
Help the people that you want to help.
Live the way that you want to live, because this is it.
You only live once, and once it's gone, it's gone.
And we would say, well, you know, that's where the problem really lies, isn't it?
This isn't all that there is.
What if there is more than this life?
What if death isn't really the end?
What if your existence here really isn't as purposeless and as meaningless as our culture tends to make it seem?
What if your life really isn't about you at the end of the day?
What if it's about something greater than you?
What if it's about someone greater than you?
And, of course, Christians would say, no, that's it.
The Bible tells us that all of this, everything that we see around us, this life that we have now, it's all going somewhere, right?
We're not here by accident.
We're not purposeless beings who are just here, and then we're gone, and then that's it.
No, the Bible tells us this is all going somewhere.
And the next big event on God's calendar is, of course, the return of Christ.
And we'd say that leads to the final judgment.
The final judgment where each and every one of us are going to stand before a holy God.
Shane helped us to think about that so briefly this morning as we look to God in our call to worship.
We see his grandeur.
We see God calling us to lift our voices in worship.
And then Shane said it.
He said, now that we've seen our holy God, we must now humble ourselves before him.
Now, why would we do that?
Because he really is a holy God.
Because he really is a great judge.
Because all of our lives are really to be lived for his glory and for his purposes.
And each one of us will stand before him.
And there's only one of two responses that you can have to that.
One is to be utterly terrified of it.
And there's a sense in which all of us should tremble to know that this life is not all that there is.
And I'm going to have to answer to God for it.
And maybe that's you.
Maybe when you think of the prospect that after death comes a judgment,
maybe what that does is it just scares you.
Because you're not exactly sure how you're going to stand when that judgment comes.
But of course, it's a comfort for those of us who know the Lord Jesus, isn't it?
We stand in fear and in reverence and in awe of our great God.
But we do so also with the tremendous comfort of knowing that Christ has redeemed us.
That he has paid on the cross for those things that would cause us to be judged by God in eternal hell.
And it brings us great comfort to know that actually this is not all there is.
Because this life is hard.
And while there's so many ways we'd like to live it,
none of those ways ever really fully satisfy our flesh, does it?
There must be something better to this.
And of course, Christians know there is something better.
There's a great comfort that comes to us when we think that,
oh, this is actually going somewhere.
There's a purpose here.
And much of Peter's letter has been setting our minds on that, hasn't it?
From the very beginning, he speaks to these Christians who are suffering,
who are in this existence that he has referred to as exile.
And what is it that he begins with at the very beginning?
He says, hey, bless God because he has a great inheritance prepared for you.
An inheritance that's unfading and imperishable.
It's undefiled.
He is keeping it for you.
What is Peter doing there?
He's saying there's something better.
And it's coming.
Surely, it is almost here.
Jesus is about to come back.
And now we're at this point in the letter where he's taking all of those wonderful truths
and now he's practically applying them to the way that we're supposed to live.
It's almost as if Peter has in his mind this idea that, okay,
we do only have a short time to live.
How are we going to use that time?
And he's instructing us on how to do that.
That's what he's on about in this paragraph.
It begins at verse 7.
He opens it up.
We talked about this at great length two weeks ago.
He opens it up.
The end of all things is at hand.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that we're in the final stage.
We're in the final stage of God's plan and redemptive plan in human history.
Jesus has come.
The kingdom was inaugurated in his first coming.
It's going to be consummated in his second coming.
And that time in between is where we are.
The Bible calls that the last days or the final days,
or as Peter refers to it here, the end of all things.
Peter says, look, you're in the final days.
The final countdown has begun to God's eternal plan.
Jesus will return.
Therefore, he says, as God's people,
there's some things that need to mark your life now.
The Bible tells us often, it's not shy about telling us,
that the reality of the return of Christ
and of our eternal home in heaven
is supposed to shape the way that we live now.
Here from Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25,
you probably know this verse well.
Let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another.
Why?
All the more as you see the day approaching,
the day, the final day, the judgment,
the return of Christ.
What's the author of Hebrews getting at there?
He's saying, listen, the day is approaching,
so let's live in light of it.
And if we're gonna live faithfully in light of it,
we're gonna seek to stir one another up
and we're gonna meet together as God's people.
We're gonna encourage one another.
We're not gonna neglect the church, so on and so forth.
Let me give you another one.
1 John chapter three, verses two and three.
John says, beloved, we are God's children now.
And what we will be, that is what we will be in eternity,
has not yet appeared.
We don't know exactly what our existence is gonna be like then.
But we know that when Christ appears,
we're gonna be like him
because we shall see him as he is.
And then John says this,
everyone who thus hopes,
everyone who sets their minds on that,
everyone who sets their focus on what is coming,
purifies himself now as Christ is pure.
We could go to many more.
The New Testament constantly telling us
to live in light of the end,
live in light of the coming of Christ,
live in light of what will be true of us in eternity
if we're God's people.
And of course, that's what Peter is on about here.
And he gives us four exhortations here,
four marks of what our lives should look like
as God's people
as we're living in light of the end of all things.
We covered the first two,
two weeks ago,
and that was sober prayer.
We saw that in verse seven.
And sacrificial love,
which we saw in verse eight.
And we're gonna cover the second two this morning.
The next one that we come to
is what we might call sincere hospitality.
Sincere hospitality.
So we've had sober prayer.
We've had sacrificial love.
Now we have sincere hospitality.
We find that in verse nine,
this third imperative.
Peter says,
show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
And remember,
this is flowing out of that opening indicative in verse seven.
Because we're in the last days,
because Jesus is coming back,
show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Of course,
hospitality is one of the marks
of the early Christian community.
And it might surprise you to know
that the New Testament repeatedly instructs believers
to participate in this.
And we might not always think about this.
We're thinking about,
well, what does it look like to be a Christian?
Lots of things may come to our minds.
We may be surprised how often the New Testament
answers that question
by saying something in relationship
to this idea of hospitality.
One of the biblical qualifications
for elders in the church
is that they are hospitable.
Why?
Not because it's more important for pastors
than for everyone else,
but because elders in the church
are to be examples
of what every Christian under their care
is to be and to do.
It's that important.
That God would say,
those who are going to lead my people
and shepherd my people
need to have this
as a key characteristic of their life
because everybody else in their charge
needs to look at them and say,
that's how I need to live my life.
That's how I need to follow
in the footsteps of Christ
just as my pastors do.
And here,
Peter exhorts Christians in exile
to focus on showing hospitality
as we seek to live in light
of Christ's return.
Think about that.
In context here,
he's putting hospitality
on the same plane
as our sincere prayer life,
as the sacrificial love
that covers a multitude of sins,
as we'll see in a few moments,
a servant-hearted stewardship
in our lives as well.
In other words,
we are to understand
hospitality as a significant
and vital pursuit
as we seek to be faithful
to Jesus in this life.
So here's the question.
What exactly is hospitality?
And how is it that we are to show it
if we're going to be obedient
to the Lord?
Well, the term,
it literally means
love for outsiders,
love for strangers.
And there's a cultural context
to this in Peter's day.
There's no Holiday Inns
or Marriott's or Hilton's
just around town, right,
for people and travelers
to come into.
A traveler would come into a town,
they'd make their way
to the town square,
and that's where they'd camp out
for the night
unless some hospitable person
comes along the way
and says,
why don't you come and stay
with me tonight
or the next few nights?
There's a cultural context to that.
So using this word hospitality
literally in their context
means loving strangers
in that way, right?
Peter adds something here
that helps us refine the idea.
He says that we are to show hospitality
to one another,
which means when Peter uses this term
for loving outsiders,
and yet it's one another,
it's those in the church,
what he's really getting at
is opening your heart,
opening your life,
opening your home
to those who are outside
of your family,
outside of those
who are already closest to you.
That's the idea here.
And of course,
it's an overflow of this love
that we're to keep pursuing
in verse 8.
Hospitality then is not
just hosting parties,
it's not planning events,
it's fundamentally
just loving other people.
It's loving others.
It's opening your life to them,
to outsiders for their good.
Peter says this needs to
mark our lives now.
So then love not only
covers a multitude of sins,
it also produces
this sincere hospitality.
And of course,
in this case,
it's referring especially
to those who are in the church.
Peter has believers
foremost in his mind.
hospitality then means
opening your life
to one another,
opening your home
to one another.
It is to open your heart
to all who need
a place of refuge,
a place of friendship,
a place to receive love.
The hospitable heart
rejoices at the prospect
of helping someone else
or providing a place
for them to belong.
And Christian hospitality
does that
all because of the radical love
that has been shown to us
in the person
and the work of Jesus Christ.
We just simply want to do
for others
what Christ has done
for us
and we can't help
but welcome
other believers
into our lives
for fellowship
and discipleship.
That's at the heart
of what Peter is saying here.
As we are approaching
the end,
as we are living out
this time of exile,
be hospitable
with one another.
Open your lives
to one another.
Open your homes
to one another.
But of course,
sincere hospitality
comes at a tremendous cost,
doesn't it?
Isn't it interesting
how everything Peter says here
is costly?
All four of these exhortations
are costly.
Showing hospitality
is going to cost you time
and energy
that you might
otherwise have used
for pleasure
or maybe just productivity,
getting things done.
It's going to cost you that.
It's going to cost you energy
often leaving you physically,
emotionally drained.
Because hospitality
isn't just for the extroverts
that are energized
by their time with people.
No, it's even for those of us
who are drained
by our time with people.
It costs us something.
It's going to cost you money.
It's going to cost you
other resources
as you make provision
for those who you welcome
into your home.
It's going to cost you privacy
as you open your life
to others in ways
that are often very difficult.
That's the cost associated here.
And yet, Peter says,
this needs to mark our lives.
Not only is it commanded
of us in the scriptures,
but notice what he says about it.
Show hospitality
to one another.
How does he finish?
Without grumbling
or complaining.
What does that tell us?
Well, it tells us that
God not only cares
that you do hospitality,
God cares about how you feel
about your hospitality.
He isn't interested
or pleased in us
merely performing hospitality
as a duty.
He actually cares
that we delight
to do all that we can
to open our lives
and our homes
to other people.
That's why Peter says
that we are to keep
loving one another
earnestly above all things.
Sincere hospitality
flows out of that
sacrificial love.
And this idea of God
actually caring about
the way we think about it
is prevalent
in the New Testament.
We can just give you
two other examples
to help you wrap
your mind around this.
Just set your eyes down
on chapter five
for just a moment.
We get to it
in a couple of weeks,
he's going to address
the elders in the church.
Notice what he says
in verse one.
I exhort the elders
among you
as a fellow elder,
as a witness
of the sufferings of Christ
and a partaker
in the glory
that's going to be revealed.
Shepherd the flock
of God that is among you
exercising oversight.
Now get this,
not under compulsion,
but willingly
as God would have you.
And what's he saying
to the elders
of the church?
That God isn't just
concerned
that you fulfill
the duty of an elder.
He's concerned
that you do it
with a particular spirit
about you,
that you delight in it,
that you delight
in leading
and shepherding
his people.
Perhaps we could think
back to Paul's writings
to the church
in Corinth.
Remember when he was
writing about giving?
He said that everyone
was to lay aside
something that they
could give
to a particular mission work
and that they were
to do so
as God has prospered them.
But then he says,
when the collection
comes,
they're to give
that willingly,
not under compulsion.
Why?
Because God loves
what?
A cheerful giver.
It's not that he just
cares that we give.
He cares that we
give cheerfully.
It's not that he just
cares that pastors
shepherd the flock.
He cares that pastors
shepherd the flock
has a delight
and has a joy
to serve the Lord
by serving his people.
And when we get
to hospitality,
Peter's saying
the same thing.
God doesn't just care
that you do it.
He cares about how you
feel when you do it.
He cares that you
delight in it,
that you have
joy in it.
But what could
possibly motivate us
to live like this?
This is asking a lot,
isn't it?
I thought my life
was meant for me.
You're telling me
that I've got to give up
so much of it
for other people.
Why would we do that?
Well, because it's
what Jesus did,
isn't it?
Will you turn with me
to Matthew 25?
Jesus models this
in so many ways,
but I want to show you
something that Jesus
said in Matthew 25
that I think will help us
be motivated
by this very thing.
Matthew 25.
Yeah, I want you
to look at
verse 35.
We're parachuting in.
This is in the middle
of some teaching.
Jesus is giving a picture
of the final judgment
and how he's giving
this illustration
of the king
who is going to
judge the people
that come and stand before him.
Of course,
Christ is the king here.
And there are believers
and unbelievers.
We're looking at believers
here in verse 35.
Jesus says,
for I was hungry
and you gave me food.
I was thirsty
and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger
and you welcomed me.
I was an outsider
and you brought me in.
You opened your heart to me.
I was naked
and you clothed me.
I was sick
and you visited me.
I was in prison
and you came to me.
And then the righteous
whom he says this to
will answer him
in return and say,
Lord,
when did we ever see you
hungry and feed you?
When did we ever see you
thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you
as a stranger
and welcome you
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you sick
or in prison
and visit you?
And the king
will answer them,
truly I say to you,
as you did this
to one of the least
of these my brothers,
you have done it to me.
You've done it to me.
Who are these
the least of his brothers?
Those are Christ's people.
Those are the people
that you can look around
in this room
and see sitting next to you
worshiping alongside
of you today.
This is the church.
And he says,
as you have opened
your heart
and your life
and sacrificed
and love
for the other people
in the church,
for other believers,
you've done it to me.
Piper says,
when we welcome
fellow believers
into our homes,
it's as if we welcome
Jesus himself
into our homes.
Now surely,
what could give
a genuine Christian
more joy
than to know
that they are serving Christ
as they expend
themselves for others?
That's what Christ
is calling us to here.
He's calling us
to that kind of radical,
love,
which by the way,
he modeled perfectly.
And he did it
in so many ways.
You say,
well,
I don't have a great place
to live to have people
into my home.
Jesus didn't have
any place to live.
And yet,
he still found ways
to show perfect hospitality,
didn't he?
He fed people
who were hungry.
He expended himself
physically
over and over
and over again
to be with people
and to teach them
and to provide
some kind of good
and care for them.
He modeled
how hospitality
might be the most
fruitful form
of evangelism.
Isn't that why
the Pharisees
hated him so much?
Because every time
they saw him,
he was sitting down
and having a meal
with the people
that they wouldn't touch.
Jesus models this
and then he says,
as you do this
for one another,
it's like you're
doing it for me.
And of course,
what greater love
for outsiders
has ever been known
than the love
of Jesus,
the righteous one,
as he hangs
on a cross
in the place
of the unrighteous ones
and then he says,
now come to me.
Now come to me
and find rest
for your souls.
That's what hospitality is.
Hospitality is not
by checking off a box
or hosting a bunch
of parties.
Hospitality is about
taking the gospel
of Jesus
and looking at other people,
especially those
in the church
and saying,
now come
and find some rest.
Come and find
some refuge.
Come and find
some friendship.
Come and find
some love.
Come and find
Jesus here.
That's what it means
to show hospitality.
And why is it important?
Because Peter's told us
in this letter
that we're living
a kind of exile
and that exile
is hard.
And you know
what we need?
Each other.
We need each other.
What do you do
when you're struggling
the faithfulness
of your life
is really only
being met
with ridicule
or hardship
in one way
or another?
Boy, it'd be real nice
to be able
to have somebody else
that understands
to say,
why don't you just come
and spend some time
with me?
Why don't you come
and sit in my home
for a while
and let's just
be together a bit?
I just want you
to know you're not alone.
That I'm right there
with you
and we're going
to go to heaven together
and I'm going
to help you get there.
Isn't that what this is?
Isn't that what
the church is?
Isn't that what
we're supposed
to be doing?
Peter says,
yeah.
And he says,
as we think about
the end of all things,
we think about
the return of Christ,
this needs to mark
our lives.
We're showing this
kind of hospitality
to one another.
But then he gives us
a fourth thing.
Verses 10 and 11,
we have what I think
is helpfully understood
as maybe servant-hearted stewardship.
Servant-hearted stewardship.
Let's just read the verses again.
Verses 10 and 11,
as each has received a gift,
use it to serve one another
as good stewards
of God's varied grace.
Whoever speaks
as one who speaks
the 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.
In this final exhortation,
Peter is venturing
into the realm
of spiritual gifts,
which might be
a bit of a struggle
for some of us
to think about,
isn't it?
See, there are all kinds
of views on this
and all kinds of ideas
about this.
I actually think
what Peter does for us here
is helpful.
alongside of sober prayer
and sacrificial love
and sincere hospitality,
we find that exercising
our gifts in service
to one another
for the glory of God
is actually essential
to thriving in exile.
And Peter draws
our attention to it.
Because the end
of all things is at hand,
we must possess
a special focus
on serving Christ
in the context
of the church.
Each one of us
has been given
a stewardship,
Peter says.
And it should be
our desire for Christ
to find us faithful
at his return.
Let's just consider
this for a moment.
First, the nature
of these gifts.
What are they?
And then maybe we'll look
at the categories of gifts
and how exactly do
we display this kind of thing
or how can we understand them?
The first thing we see here
is that Peter affirms
that each believer
is equipped by God
to do his work
and serve his people.
Do you see that?
Right in verse 10.
As each has received a gift.
In other words,
all of you have it.
All of you have
a special endowment
from God
in the personal work
of Christ
through the working
of the Holy Spirit
in your life
to serve him
and to serve his people
in a unique way.
And Peter affirms
that for us here.
A lot of people
struggle to discern
exactly what that is.
What is that supposed
to look like
in their lives?
And I don't mean
to be offensive
in any way with this
but just to say
that the answer
is not in a Christian version
of a Myers-Briggs test
or an Enneagram survey.
That's not where
you're going to find
the answer here.
That's not what
it's meant to do.
In fact,
that might be actually
most unhelpful
to us at this point.
How God desires
to use your life
within the churches
is not some great mystery.
It's really not.
And Peter's approach
helps us.
Now there's a couple
of perspectives here.
If you don't get
anything else from this,
at least get this part.
I get this from Piper.
Notice the thing
that we're serving
in one another
is not the gift itself.
Right?
Sometimes we get that
in our minds.
We think,
well,
my spiritual gift
is really some kind
of uniqueness about me
and I'm going to bless
other people
by serving them the gift,
the gift that I have,
putting it on display
or impressing them
in some way
or whatever it may be.
Right?
We don't mean to be
prideful in that
but sometimes
that's the way
it comes out.
And that's not actually
what we're serving.
We're not serving people
the gift,
we're serving people grace.
The grace of God.
Piper says it this way,
grace is the food
food.
The gift
is the way
we're serving it
which means
that every one of us
in the church
has the same objective
with our spiritual gifts.
We're all doing
the same thing.
We are taking
the grace of God
and the goodness of God
and the truth of God
and the love of God
and the provision of God
and we're taking that
and we're serving it
to other people.
That's the objective.
We're all doing
the same thing.
But what God does
in his gracious work
is he endows
each of us
with a unique capacity
for doing that well
for his glory.
Because if we all
had the same thing
it wouldn't work,
would it?
It'd be problematic.
We need varied gifts
and that's exactly
what God does.
How good of him
to do that?
He sees there's some needs
that we have
in the church
and he says,
I'm going to endow
different people
with various capacities
for serving my grace,
for serving my love
and my truth
and my goodness
to others.
And your capacity
has a much broader
application
than a few options
on a list.
Your capacity
may even shift
or change.
Not every gift
needs to be thought of
as a permanent gift.
Maybe it's a uniqueness
for a specific time
in a specific situation
with a specific
group of people.
So the question
that we're asking here
in relationship
to our gifts,
we're not asking
necessarily at least
what is unique
about me
that I might lean into.
What we're really asking
is what personal capacity
has God equipped me with
to do his work
in this season
and with these people.
And that may change.
That answer
is going to be different
for Kayla
with a newborn
than it's going to be
for Miss Faye
retired
with a little more time
and a little more sleep.
Ornery husbands,
both,
but still different,
right?
Those capacities
are different.
They may have still
some of the same
proclivities
and some desires.
That's great.
Certainly that's good.
But their capacities
are different.
We're asking
different questions here.
How is it that God
has equipped me now
to serve his grace
to others?
And whatever that
unique capacity is,
Peter says it's a stewardship.
It's a stewardship
of God's grace.
In other words,
God equips his people
to do his work
and he expects
that we steward
that gift
faithfully.
meaning
the capacity
that God gives us
is fundamentally
a responsibility
for which we will
give an account
to him.
It's not about
highlighting
what's praiseworthy
in us.
That's what got
the Corinthians
in trouble,
wasn't it,
with Paul?
Is they made it
a prideful thing
and of course
we don't want
to do that.
What is it?
It's about serving
the Lord faithfully.
It's about being obedient
to him
and stewarding
the capacity
that he's giving.
And that all starts
to come together
when we see
that the function
of these spiritual gifts
is to serve one another.
Isn't that what Peter says?
As each has received
a gift,
serve one another
with it.
As a steward,
he says,
a steward is a
household manager
authorized by the owner
to give oversight
to various parts
of the household.
And as we've seen
in chapter 2,
the church is God's house,
isn't it?
And God has now
given each of us
a stewardship
for caring for that house,
a stewardship
for caring for his people.
And he's blessed
each of us
with the capacity
for serving one another.
And it's through that
that he blesses
his people.
Do you see that?
Do you understand
yourself to be
a conduit
of God's grace
to other people?
That's what you are.
And how amazing
that he would use us
in that way.
Before we start to ask,
well, what does this
actually look like
in a practical way?
We need to stop
and just consider
before we get there,
is this even
on my radar?
Not the gift,
but the responsibility.
Is this even
on your radar today?
Is it on your radar
that you've been given
a particular capacity
from God
to serve his church?
And are you using
that capacity to do that
or are you using it
for your own good?
Well, let's get
into the categories here.
That's what Peter gives us
in verse 11, isn't it?
There's places
in the New Testament
that give us lists.
Let me just say
those lists
aren't meant
to be exhaustive,
I don't think.
They're meant
to be representative.
So I want you
to be careful
not to go to
some of Paul's writings
in Romans
and to the Corinthians
and say,
okay, well,
the unique way
that God has gifted me
must fit
in this particular paradigm
because what are you
going to do
when you get to the end
of that list
and you realize,
I don't know
that I really fit
in any of these places.
Well, it's not meant
to be exhaustive, right?
It's representative.
Peter understands that
so it doesn't surprise us
that Peter
doesn't give us a list.
What does he do?
He gives us categories,
two of them.
Actually,
the first is speaking gifts,
gifts of communication.
In verse 10,
as each has received
his gift,
use it to serve
one another.
Whoever speaks
as one who speaks
the oracle of God,
the truth of God,
the word of God.
In other words,
God gives some people
a unique capacity
for communicating
well with others
and whoever has
that capacity
needs to use it
to speak the word
of God,
to speak the grace
of God,
to speak the truth
of God
because isn't that
what the gifts
are ultimately about?
We are serving grace.
We are serving
God's goodness
and truth
and love
to other people
and some of us
have been endowed
with a unique capacity
to do that
by word,
communication
and that may look
a lot of different ways.
Maybe it's public teaching
and preaching
in the church.
Maybe it's writing.
Maybe you're scared
to death
to be in front of people
but man,
you can really write
to help Christians
understand the love of God
and maybe what you're
using your gift for
is to sit down
week by week
and write notes
to people
to minister grace
and love
and truth to them.
Maybe it's some type
of visual communication
where you have
a unique giftedness
and capacity
for helping people
see the truth of God.
It's just,
it's speaking gifts, right?
It's word gifts.
It's,
that's one category
that Peter gives us
and underneath that category
there may be a lot
of different ways
that the Lord gifts us
to use it
but then there's
a second category
and it's the category
of serving.
Serving gifts.
So,
whoever speaks
as one who speaks
the oracles of God,
the truth of God
but then he says
a second category
is whoever serves
as one who serves
by the strength
that God supplies.
Now,
in Paul's list
this might be things
like leading
or mercy ministries
or giving
or helps
and encouragement.
Maybe it would all
fall underneath
this category
of serving
but we see
the Bible often
breaks this down
in word and deed,
doesn't it?
Word and deed
and we see that
in these categories.
God uniquely
gifts
his people
some
with word gifts
to communicate truth
some with
deed gifts
to serve people
in unique ways.
You have unique gifts
that I don't have
and the Lord
seeks to use you
in that way.
Now,
here's what all
of those gifts
and categories
have in common.
It's all
for the glory
of God.
Verse 11,
if you're speaking,
use your gift
to speak God's truth
not your own wisdom.
We all think
that our opinion
and our wisdom
is really going
to be the thing
that helps people
and it won't.
That's not what
you're called to do.
God hasn't gifted you
with word gifts
in order that you might
tell people
your own thoughts.
He's gifted you
with word gifts
so that you might
deliver his word
to others.
And those of you
with the serving gifts,
it's not about you.
It's not about
doing things based
on your own talent
and your own skills
and taking pride
in the work
that you do.
No,
it's serving
in the strength
that God supplies
so that in everything
Peter says,
everything that we're doing,
it is God
who receives the glory.
We are serving
fully on his truth
and in reliance
on his power,
thinking nothing
of ourselves
but giving all
the glory to the Lord
who equips us each
to do his work.
So not only
are we serving
one another,
but we're to do
so in such a way
that in everything
God is glorified
through Jesus Christ.
And so we see
these four exhortations here.
Peter says,
as we're looking
toward the end,
we recognize
at what point
in human history
we're at,
there's some things
that need to mark us
as God's people.
Sober prayer,
sacrificial love
and then flowing
out of that love
is this idea
of hospitality
and service
to one another
based on the unique
giftings
that God has given.
But then he closes
in a unique way.
He closes
not with an exhortation
but with a doxology,
a praise.
Do you see it there
in verse 11?
To him,
that is to God,
belong glory
and dominion
forever and ever.
To the triune God
belongs all the glory
now and evermore.
Which means
that all of our lives
are for his glory,
to be lived
for his glory.
And isn't that
what sets Christians
apart from everyone else?
What makes a Christian
husband a Christian husband?
That he loves his wife
and he leads his family
for the glory of God?
What makes a Christian
worker a Christian worker?
That they serve
their boss
and their company
with good ethics
and morals
for the glory of God?
What makes a Christian student
a Christian student?
That they work hard
and they do their best
so that they might
glorify God.
What makes a Christian friend
a Christian friend?
So on and so forth.
It's that all of our lives
are being lived
for the glory of God,
not for ourselves.
Peter reminds us
of that here.
Just think of the contrast
of the last two paragraphs.
Because of what Christ
has done for us
on the cross,
verse 1 of chapter 4,
we're no longer
to live for human passions.
We're to cease
from those things
that non-Christians
want to do.
The things that we did
before we came to know Christ.
No, we're stopping with that.
No more of that.
Instead,
we're to remember
that we're in the end.
Christ is coming back
and our hope is sure.
Therefore,
we're going to live
the rest of our lives
for God's will
and for God's glory.
And that looks like
these four exhortations here
in this passage,
at least in part.
So let's get busy doing it.