1 Peter 4:7-11 Growing in Service

Welcome to Recast Church in Madelon, Michigan, where we are growing in faith, community, and service. You are listening to a message by Pastor Don Filsek from a series entitled WAR. If you would like more information about Recast Church, check us out at recastchurch .com, or you can find us on Facebook.

Here's Pastor Don.

Good morning, Recast Church.

Glad that you're here. Be sure to check out the worship folder you received when you walked in. You can see different activities and events and stuff that's going on there. And then the way that you really get connected here is through that thing that we call the connection card.

If you fill out your information there, we do send out a weekly email. If you are willing to share your email address with us, be sure to kind of keep your information updated on there. And if it's your first time turning in one of those connection cards in the black box back there, then please also take a free coffee mug back there.

Just our way of saying thanks for joining with us this morning. And then any offerings you would choose to give also go in the black box back there. And there's an envelope provided for you. We don't pass an offering plate, but we want your giving to be between you and the Lord.

And remember that anything that's marked expansion fund will go towards our goal of eventually building a building. So if you put that on the check or on the envelope, it's going to be designated towards expanding and transition and all that.

So that's available for you there. Just a quick set the stage for where we're going. This morning, I'm going to be out the next two Sundays. Kyle's going to be preaching in my absence. And then when I get back, we're going to be jumping back into the book of Genesis.

Remember that we were kind of going through that series, took a break, did 1 John. Then this little mini series on the church. And then Kyle's going to preach a couple. And then I'm going to get back in, and we're going to wrap up the second half of the book of Genesis moving forward throughout this year.

Growing in Service as the Church’s Shared Calling

But this morning, I'm wrapping up a series on the church called One. And we've already looked at growing in faith, growing in community. And this morning, we conclude the series by looking at growing in service.

So that's where we're at. And that's really our growth model here. We believe that everybody needs to be expanding out in their life and their relationship to God and others through faith, community, and service.

And that's fundamental to what we are as a church and how we believe that people grow as individuals in Christ. The reality is that the church is a community of different individuals. And all of us are different, right?

Some of us are really different. But we're all different. But we're all different individuals called together by God so that we can grow in faith in the context of community together in relationship with others.

And the New Testament is clear that one of the reasons we've been called together is actually to serve one another. And so that's the focus this morning is looking at that component of serving one another.

Paul gave us the illustration a few weeks ago as I was introducing this subject in 1 Corinthians, explaining that the church is like a body, like different parts, like literal, physical parts of the body, like a hand or an eye or a nose or an ear or whatever.

And so we all have different functions and different roles, but all one common purpose to glorify Christ. And so he's brought us together. But the reality is we all have a different role. Just like members of the body, there's something for us, a part for us to play.

Ears don't do a very good job of seeing, for example, right? Do they? I mean, but when your ears are working and functioning correctly, is that anybody blessed by the ability to hear? You listen to some good music.

You get an opportunity to hear the voice of somebody that you love or whatever. I mean, there's good things to hear, and it's good when our ears are doing what they're designed to do. Feet are not very good at shooting baskets, right?

Have you ever tried to shoot hoops with your feet? But when it comes to getting up and down the court, feet are kind of useful for that. So there's a function, there's a role that they play that are helpful.

And so this morning we're looking at a text that is written to encourage us to serve others with the gifts that God has given to us. And the fact is every single one, every single one of us who are here in Christ have a role to play in his body.

Every one of us has a function, a role to play. And we need help from one another, and others need help from us. And that's why God has brought us together. So I want you to open your Bibles to 1 Peter 4.

We're going to be looking at 1 Peter 4, 7 through 11. You find that on page 874. So if you take the Bible and the seat back in front of you out, you can find page 874 is where we're going to be reading from.

But it's 1 Peter 4, 7 through 11. The words of God to us this morning, and then the band will come up and lead us in worship. And then we will jump into the message. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 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 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 go to prayer as the band comes to lead us in worship this morning. Father, I rejoice in the way that you have knit this body together. And I thank you for gifts and skills and abilities. Even now we're going to be the beneficiaries of people who are using their skills and their abilities for your honor and glory and leading us in worship.

Father, I thank you for bringing everybody into this body for a purpose and a reason. And I pray that you would help those who have not yet figured out what that role is to take that responsibility seriously as an aspect and a component of them growing up in you and growing up in their relationship to you through Jesus Christ.

Father, I pray that you would be honored and glorified as we sing these songs. That it would not be just an exercise, again, of our vocal cords. It would not be just singing some words on the screen. But in the end, we would actually step before your throne and recognize how awesome and majestic and glorious you are.

And that we would turn our attention from ourselves and turn our focus to you this morning. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks a lot to the band for leading us in worship this morning. Very grateful for what they do every week.

And like usual, I encourage you to have your Bibles open in front of you to 1 Peter chapter 4. Again, you can find that on page 874. But having your Bible open there is just going to help you to be able to walk through and see the things that I'm saying as we go along and make sure that you are learning from the Word of God this morning and not just from my voice, but letting Him speak.

And my hope is that the Spirit has room in your heart to draw attention to His Word this morning. That it could convict and challenge us and encourage us as well. We jump into the middle of a book that at the very beginning tells us it was written by the Apostle Peter.

Now, I'm one that's kind of big for context. That's one of the issues with taking things topically is that we jump into the middle of a context and we don't get a chance to see the entire flow of the thought of Peter throughout this book.

But just to set a little bit of the stage, it was written by the Apostle Peter. Two believers that were spread out all over the known world at the time due to the dispersion. Now, the dispersion was a big deal.

A huge persecution struck the early church in Jerusalem. Originally, they had favor in the community, but that turned sour pretty fast and people began to persecute the church, literally arresting them.

We know that the Apostle Paul was a part of that persecution early on. And so the church in Jerusalem was scattered. And wherever Christians moved, they took their faith with them. So it was kind of like a forced missionary expansion of the church early on.

I think they might have been completely satisfied to kind of stay knit together in Jerusalem and God saw fit to use the persecution as a means to literally spread the faith out and spread the truth further abroad.

And so Peter is writing to the church dispersed. They've been all spread out throughout the known world. And so it makes sense that a major theme of the book of 1 Peter is how to endure persecution. That's a theme that flows throughout the entirety of this text.

What does persecution look like and how do we face it? And how does a follower of Jesus Christ endure and what does that mean for us? And so we start our text this morning with Peter explaining a rationale for how Christians are to pray, how Christians are to love, and how Christians are to serve.

And obviously we know that the backdrop of that is in the midst of persecution, but I don't think that changes in the event that we can dismiss the book of 1 Peter because we're not enduring significant persecution right now.

I think those concepts of how to pray, how to love, and how to serve are messages that we need to hear despite whatever level of persecution we're experiencing now. And so right from the start it looks like Peter is one of those bearded dudes wearing the sandwich board sign that says the end is near or he's holding it up on a street corner.

The end is near. Do you know what I'm talking about? At least you've seen it in cartoons. Any of you have literally seen it? A handful of us have literally seen it. I remember in South Carolina seeing a guy standing on a street corner when I was in Bible college holding the literal the end is near sign.

And I thought that was only in cartoons. But that whole idea, repent, the end is near, and the street preachers and all that. But the first words of the text here for us this morning in verse 7 is the end of all things is at hand.

Peter wrote that 2 ,000 years ago. And if you're anything like me, a document written 2 ,000 years ago that says the end is near, anybody kind of look at that and kind of go, wait a minute, Peter. The end is near.

We're 2 ,000 years later. You might not have gotten that quite accurate, right? Anybody like that with me? He wrote this 2 ,000 years ago and he said the end is near. But I think that text like this, and this isn't the only place in the New Testament where there's an indication that the end is near.

And so I think one thing that we ought to take away from passages like that that I think is abundantly clear is that Jesus did not give a detailed timeline for his return to his followers. Did he give a detailed timeline and explain exactly when the date and the time and the hour was?

No, as a matter of fact, he said you're not going to know the date and the time and the hour. And so they, just like us, did not know the time or the hour. Now, did they have reason to believe that it was going to be soon?

Yes. As a matter of fact, Jesus left them with the idea of immediacy or the idea of alertness or the idea of always being ready for his return. Jesus did explain to his followers that he is indeed returning.

And he let them know it could be at any time. And that is meant to be a motivator in the Christian life. That he might return any time. He let them know that he was returning and then he said remain vigilant about it.

Jesus intentionally left us guessing as to how long he was going to tarry so that we would remain alert. Kind of like if you left your teenage kids home while you left for vacation, you might not want them to know the exact time of your return.

You get what I'm saying? You might go ahead and leave that return a little shrouded in mystery. And maybe come back a couple days early. Don't cut your vacation short, but don't let them know that you're coming back.

You know what I'm getting at. And so he wanted them to be alert, to be ready for his return at any time. And he wants us to be ready. He wants us to operate as though his return could be at any time. And his followers in the New Testament believed that and honored that.

And his writers honored that. That we need to live as though it could be right now. It could be in the next ten minutes. And so we ought to live in a way with imminency about it. 2 ,000 years later, we tend to take him less seriously.

Would you say that we probably take him less seriously than Peter did? Yeah, we go 2 ,000 years. But the exact reverse ought to be the case that we go 2 ,000 years, we are a lot closer than Peter was.

Do you agree with me on that?

We're closer than Peter was. But we think of it the reverse, and we go 2 ,000 years. I mean, what are the chances it's going to be now? We are closer to that day than when Peter wrote this. But even here in this text, Peter is using the reality of the return of Jesus as a motivation in the same way Peter's using it in the same way that Jesus did.

He says in verse 7, Because the end is drawing near, we ought to live a certain way. And he defines that way of living in two terms. He uses the word self-control and sober-minded. That's a translation from the Greek, and the concept in the Greek of self-control is one of restraint, one of holding back.

The opposite of this word, if you can, I think sometimes it's helpful for me to define kind of the opposite and figure out the opposite of this word is to have no filter on your behavior. A person who gives voice to every thought or acts on every impulse of emotion.

Does that sound dangerous? Someone who acts on every feeling that they experience, somebody who voices every thought that crosses their mind. Scary person? That's getting really scary, just the thought of someone who would voice and act on every emotional impulse that we have because we know we have wicked impulses, we have wicked thoughts, we have wicked things that go through our minds.

And so the reality of somebody who would do that. So he says live in a self-controlled way. And I want to make sure that nobody is confused by one of the words that we have up here on the wall. Now these are our core values, replicating community, authenticity, simplicity, and truth.

And authenticity is one that I think could be misunderstood on a regular basis. Some people in the church have hijacked that word. And in hijacking that word, they've bent it to mean that I'm being inauthentic if I feel like cursing and I don't curse.

Like I've just got to be myself. I've just got to roll the way that I roll. And you know what? God has made me the way that I am and I just do what I do. Have any of you ever heard authenticity promoted in that kind of attack?

And that's not what we mean by authenticity. I mean, authenticity is not just giving voice to every emotion. That would be the opposite of self-control, right? And that's not what we mean when we talk about authenticity.

It is not strictly a saying everything that crosses your mind. Or the idea that I'm somehow being inauthentic if I deny my passions and my desires. I've just got this passion and I've just got to be true to myself or something like that.

But authenticity is a relationship word whereby primarily what I mean when I say authenticity is everybody knows that you know that you're a sinner. Not everybody has to know every one of your sins. Did you hear me on that?

But everybody knows that you know that you're a sinner. And that when we come together, it's like, I mean, we walk in and we can pretty ourselves up and make ourselves look better than we are and intentionally on the outside act like something is going on that isn't really going on, namely our perfection.

And that's not true of us. And so we're just not going to put on that mask, but we're going to deal with each other in real life together. And that's what we mean when we say authenticity. But here Peter is urging the exact opposite of that misunderstanding of authenticity where I just give voice to every thought that crosses my mind and every feeling.

And that's just being true to myself. No, being true to God is the main point that we're getting at here. And so to truly demonstrate any sense of self-control, there must be some desire within us that is inhibited.

Would you agree with me on that? If we are showing self-control, then that means there's something in us that wants to do something that we ought not to do. And so, therefore, we must deny some kind of a passion within us.

We must deny some kind of an emotion or some kind of a pull to do that which we ought not to do. That's the definition of self-control, is that there's something in us that wants to do evil, wants to do bad, and we deny it.

We push it away. And that's what we're getting at here in this word, self-control. We want something, but we do not go for it. The word sober-minded is also similar to the concept of self-control, but this is more the idea of the mind.

So it's more of a focus on our thoughts, and it has to do with being clear-minded, sober-minded, clear in our thinking. In other words, not allowing our thoughts to be clouded over. Now, have any of you ever just felt like you're in a haze, maybe over a specific subject or a specific topic?

Now, I'm talking about in your mind, you're thinking it through, and you're just like, things are cloudy and fuzzy, and I'm just not getting to the bottom of this. Anybody relate to what I'm talking about?

And so that's the kind of idea of just kind of having this haze or this fog in your mind, and he's saying be sober-minded, be focused in the way that you think, not allowing your thoughts to be clouded over.

Our minds might naturally turn to, when you hear the word sober in there, you might turn to, logically, alcohol might come across your mind. Does that cloud your judgment? Yeah, so thinking that through.

Drugs might come to your mind. But are there other things in our culture and our society that cloud our judgment?

Do you agree with me on that?

Is there something about media intake that could cloud our judgment? Where is the source of your life, the source of your knowledge, the source of your understanding about specific topics and issues? And there are times when we are listening to the media that we don't know.

We're listening to the media, where we are being taught and we don't think we're being taught. How many of you know that when you're watching a sitcom, you're learning something?

You are.

And you might go, oh, it doesn't touch me, it doesn't affect me.

But it does.

It really does.

It hits us.

And I'm not preaching against watching TV. I'm just saying, with a discerning mind and with care and caution, recognize that you're allowing things to influence your thoughts and the way that you view things.

I mean, it's not just alcohol and drugs, but equally our minds should turn to things like the Grammy Awards and our favorite television show and sports, like tonight, and video games or talk shows, radio, the trashy chick novels that some of you read and you wouldn't tell us that you read them.

Or whatever there is in our lives that we allow to cloud over our judgment. We ought to be thinking these things through. I listen to Albert Moeller. Have any of you ever heard of Albert Moeller, the president of Southern Seminary in Louisville?

And I listen to him most mornings. And in a short podcast that he produces called The Briefing, he was addressing the Grammy Awards. Now, did any of you watch the Grammys? I'm not going to call you out on this, but apparently at the Grammy Awards, Queen Latifah, you know, everybody's following Queen Latifah these days, right?

And so I'm right where you guys live. But bear with me here for a second. Queen Latifah got up and performed a mass wedding ceremony, including homosexual couples. And that was a big deal at the Grammys.

In California, it's legal. And so because it's legal in California, they did this thing. And what Albert Moeller was pointing out is that those behind the gay agenda believe that Americans can be persuaded to join their viewpoint if they will show us weddings on the Grammys.

So what are you allowing to inform your opinion and your thoughts and the way that you view this major hot topic in our culture? And what's informing you? Queen Latifah and the Grammys? Is that where you turn for understanding and knowledge about the way that life is to be lived and what is good and what is not good?

You get what I'm saying? And yet, Albert Moeller ironically pointed out that they're probably right. That many of us can be persuaded by those kinds of things. Many of us, our judgment can be clouded or crowded out by the things that are going on in our culture around us.

And perhaps some of you know that you have allowed the culture to speak over Scripture on issues in your life that are significant and important. And you recognize that you've allowed the culture to speak into areas where Scripture, you're kind of fuzzy on what the Bible says about that, but you're ready to take Queen Latifah.

Self-control and sober-mindedness, though. This idea of not having a clouded mind but being intentional. Remember, all of this is in the context of Jesus' return. I mean, He's on His way, and so we need to live self-controlled and sober-minded, but they are not an end to themselves.

We are not just to live sober-minded and self-controlled because, hey, that's cool and we'd be awesome. But there's a reason, there's an intention behind this. He sees these two characteristics as preparation for your prayers.

That being self-controlled and being sober-minded is preparation for informed, good prayer life. The fact of the matter is, if we lack restraint, our prayers will be weak. If we lack self-control, our prayers will be weak.

Some of the worst seasons of prayer in my life have been when I knew I was living in a compromised way. You know that you're being beat up and owned by your sin, and you're trying to pray? And it's really tough to pray for anything more than just yourself in that context.

Would you agree with me on that?

And everything becomes inwardly focused. Equally, it's difficult to pray intelligently when I'm swayed by every wind of the culture. Prayers from a person with self-control and an unclouded mind are powerful prayers.

The person who is demonstrating self-control and the person who has a sober mind is powerful in their prayer life. Another quick implication is that our sober-minded and self-controlled prayers are driven by a belief that Jesus could come back at any time.

Now, this was taught to me when I was a kid. I used to hear from Sunday school teachers and from pastors, Would you want to be doing that when Jesus returns? How many of you heard that? So, what you do is you live in fear, right?

Like, I'm not going to do that.

I would get in my mind as a kid, I remember distinctly having these kinds of thoughts. Would you want to be fighting with your sister when Jesus returns? There, all of a sudden, I'm fighting with my sister over the lucky charms when Jesus appears in the sky.

Furrowed brow, eyes aflame, white horse, sword that could slice me like butter. And there he is and I'm like, oh, I was just fighting with my sister. Crud! Oh no, I'm in trouble. You know, and is that what you want to be doing?

You want to be fighting or arguing or bickering when Jesus returns? So, don't bicker and fight because he could return now and you'd be caught. I don't think that's the motivation. I think the motivation is more like, be efficient.

Be sober-minded, be self-controlled because we have a mission to accomplish. And the time is short to accomplish it. So, how many of you know that when the project at the end of the term is due and you're like six weeks out from it, you're kind of like, yeah, sure, I'll play some ping pong.

Sure, I'll go out with the guys. Yeah, it'll be fun. And then as that day approaches, and all of a sudden it's like you've got 12 hours and this term paper is due. All of a sudden, are you a little bit more efficient with your time?

All of a sudden, are you focused? Do you have your attention in a direction? And that's the type of life that is being encouraged here. Not be fearful that Jesus could return and you could be, you know, picking your nose.

Oh, no. It's intention. Live with purpose. Are you hearing the motivation that Peter is trying to give us here? The motivation throughout this passage is Jesus could return at any time. And the motivation is primarily about being focused and being on mission for him.

He's coming back to roll it all up and we have been left here to lead others to him. We need to be single-minded in our focus. And so with that same motivation, that is that we have a limited time before the end, we should most of all continue to earnestly love one another, Peter says.

As a church spread throughout the known world, Peter wants to be sure that they remember the central call to love on their lives by Jesus. Here, Peter quotes Proverbs 10, 12, which says that hatred stirs up strife, but love covers a multitude of sins.

Now, it is nowhere indicated that love ignores sin. That it just, you know, you just, oh, yeah, sure. People sin all the time and it's just like we ignore that. That's not a big deal. You can kid glove sin because, hey, you know, everybody sins and we love each other, right?

But the reality is that when someone sins against us, the love we have received as sinners against God has the power to inform our humility in handling the sins of others. You understand what I'm saying?

So in other words, Jesus says often things like those who have been forgiven, much ought to forgive much. You know, that kind of concept, he talks about that in his parables and the notion that with a measuring cup that you've been measured, you measure out to others.

And so it's valuable and important if we're going to be imitators of God and understanding that. So often minor issues become major issues because the one who has been offended or the one who has been sinned against holds the offender or the sinner hostage.

You understand what I mean? This happens in marriages, it happens in friendships, it happens in the church where we hold each other hostage to the sins that have been committed. But Peter wants the church to be a place of love, expressed in forgiveness and kindness towards those who repent of sins.

Now I think Peter might have been motivated by a personal interaction with Jesus himself on this, that Peter could be writing this and not be thinking about this would be very mysterious to me. That seems to be way out there.

And that is that at one point in the ministry of Jesus, Peter being one of his disciples, came to Jesus and said, if somebody sins against me, how many times am I supposed to forgive them? Seven? If they come and repent and they say they're sorry, how many times should I let them go on that offense?

How many times should I forgive if they have offended me and actually sinned against me? And Jesus says, no, I tell you, 70 times. Seven, a multitude of times. And that, by the way, is not intended to give you the specific number.

Now you're keeping track in your journal how many times they've done that. So once they hit 491, you're like, gotcha! Own you now. Obviously it's intended to be that you don't keep track. That if somebody comes and says I've sinned against you, would you forgive me?

What are you to do?

Forgive.

Forgive.

Now is abuse a possibility and is that something that would be worth talking about and is that something I have room to talk about here? No, I just, in a passing comment, say there are situations where abuse is happening and you need to come and see somebody who's a professional on that.

If you are being abused and it's just a constant, like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but it is physical or something like that, please seek help. Don't allow that to be a situation where somebody is abusing you and keeps coming back saying they're sorry.

That person needs help and you need help as well. But I do not believe here that Peter is suggesting that a church just ignores sin as if that's the loving thing to do either. I don't think he's just saying.

But notice in the context that it is when Peter is talking with Jesus, the context is that the person comes in, says, I'm sorry, they're repenting of their sin. But further, flowing out of love, Peter urges the church to show hospitality to one another.

So he says, first and foremost, operate your life out of love. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly. But then verse 9, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. Now there's a bit of a cultural difference between the hospitality that we're talking about in this text in the Roman world and hospitality as you have it in your mind.

So it would be helpful for us to kind of figure out what did hospitality look like in their world so that we can interpret it in ours and understand. And for us, you know, for us we think, you know, having someone over for lunch after church or for dinner on a weeknight is hospitality.

And that is, that's a cultural form of hospitality for us. But during this time of the church being dispersed, traveling teachers like Peter, Paul, and the apostles and other teachers throughout the church were traveling, they were in constant need.

They were going from town to town to provide encouragement to the small churches that were scattered and undergoing persecution. And so they're traveling around and they're in constant need of a place to stay when they came into town.

I think we can sometimes have in our mind that hospitality in that day and age, you know, everybody lived close together and it's just kind of a culture of hospitality. So it's probably easy for them, right?

Did any of you think that? Like, oh yeah, hospitality for them, that was probably pretty easy. Anybody? Anybody on that? Like you just kind of, when you think of hospitality in the ancient times, it's like, yeah, just have, whatever, just have people over.

Some of you probably just haven't even thought about it. But I think we need to put this in perspective. Yes, everybody lived close together. They shared a lot together already. They were dependent upon each other.

It was a cultural norm to be hospitable to others. But notice that Peter had to remind them to show hospitality without grumbling, which certainly implies that grumbling was an issue or a problem or at least a potential in that early church setting that people would be like, oh, not again.

Not again, I've got to do this again. Consider hosting someone you barely know from out of town. Maybe you've only heard their name. Now, some of you, you just crossed the line of discomfort, right? You're like already in your mind, you're like an introvert, and you're like, for real, like I don't even know them.

Okay, that's enough right there.

I'm out.

Others of you are like energized. You're like, yes, yes, and can they bring some friends too? Like, I mean, this would be awesome. And you're like, you love that kind of thing, and it's a natural bent for you.

But now consider that you have no running water. Okay, this is getting dicey. You have no bathroom. You have no spare bedroom. You have no refrigerator, no microwave, no oven, no stove, no laundry machine, no dishwasher, and probably quite limited tableware that doesn't match.

Anybody uncomfortable hosting? That's the context. That's what's going on in this context regarding hospitality. This is not a quick get-out-the-vacuum-and-tidy-up-because-guests-are-coming-over.

This is a massive undertaking that Peter is urging the church to undertake without grumbling. So if he was encouraging this level of hospitality in this day and age, in the Roman times, would it be too forward for me to urge you to open up your homes to each other here?

Would that be too forward for me to suggest that you have some people over for meals from time to time just to encourage and get to know people? And I'm talking about people that aren't in your small group.

Just to get to know and kind of cross-pollinate in the church with relationships and get to know other people that aren't in your demographic. But people that, you know, just an issue of having people in your home from time to time and being open and willing to make that a priority.