Directive Concerning Mutual Service

Introduction: The Context of Suffering and the Call to Discipleship

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, October 7th, 1999, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us turn together to 1 Peter and chapter 4, 1 Peter and chapter 4, as we continue our expositions of this portion of the Word of God. And I shall read in your hearing verses 7 through 11 of 1 Peter 4.

0:33 But the end of all things is at hand. Therefore be of a sound mind and sober unto prayer, above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves. For love covers a multitude of sins, using hospitality one to another without murmuring, according as each has received a gift, ministering it alone. But be of a sound mind and sober unto prayer, above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

1:13 If any man speaks, speaking as it were oracles of God, if any man ministers or serves, serving as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Well, let us again pray and ask God by His Holy Spirit to come and help preacher and listener alike to know the mind of God as contained in His Holy Word.

1:50 Let us pray. Our Father, we have owned in the language of the hymn we have just sung that we are natively blind and that You must show us the road. And therefore with the psalmist we too pray, open my eyes. That I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.

2:17 Father, take away anything and everything that would keep us from hearing, understanding, and receiving in faith and obedience that portion of Your Word, which together we will now seek to understand in dependence upon Your Spirit. Come then and meet with us, we plead, in Jesus' name. Amen. When we pick up our Bibles and read the New Testament with anything approaching serious attention,

2:59 one thing among many other things becomes unmistakably evident, and that is this, that neither Jesus nor His apostles were ever dishonest in setting forth both the privileges and the liabilities of becoming a Christian. They were never conspiring to become true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus never conned people into making a, quote, decision to trust Him or to follow Him. On one occasion people were pressing in as His apparent followers and He turned and said,

3:44 oh wait, count the cost of becoming my follower. And likewise, He said to them, oh wait, count the cost of becoming my follower. And likewise, He said to them, oh wait, count the cost of becoming my follower. When we read the account of how the apostles preached and how they made disciples, they never tricked people into decisions.

4:01 They laid before them the glorious privileges of salvation in Christ and then called men and women to repentance and faith and to radical discipleship. Peter used those very words on the day of Pentecost. After saying, you must repent, you must be baptized, then he said, save yourselves from this crooked, this perverse, this untoward generation. And while they continually offer forgiveness and pardon for sin as the present possession of all who believe,

4:41 they nonetheless make it plain that to possess those blessings in Christ is to be united. To be united to Christ and to be united to Christ is to share in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. It is for this reason, among others, that the book of 1 Peter is of peculiar help to the people of God as they seek to think as they ought about suffering for righteousness' sake and as they seek to act as they ought in the midst of their suffering so as to glorify God. And to validate the transforming power of the gospel of Christ.

Transition to Horizontal Duties: Sound Mind and Prayer

5:26 Now in the midst of imparting instruction and encouragement to the people of God in Asia Minor, how they are to think and how they are to act in the midst of their suffering, Peter directs them in the beginning of this chapter to arm themselves with the mind of Christ. And in that context, the mind of Christ is a mindset that is committed to this simple principle. It is better to suffer than to sin. That was the mindset of our Lord Jesus who facing the most serious, the most traumatic suffering of his entire life there in the garden of Gethsemane

6:09 and feeling in his own soul and in his own holy humanity a desire to draw back from the cup. He says, It is better to suffer than to sin. And Peter writes this to these, perhaps some very young Christians, perhaps some mature Christians and the one imperative in that first paragraph of chapter 4 is the imperative to be armed with the same mindset or thought of Christ. And then Peter goes on to say, Armed with that mindset,

6:49 you are then manifesting that sin's dominion has been broken in your life, that you are committed to the very purpose for which God has laid hold of you in Christ, that you should no longer walk in the old patterns but should now live to the will of God. And he encourages them that the day of judgment is coming when those who oppose them will be dealt with by God and they and their fellow believers who have already died, and gone before them will be vindicated in that day. Now in verse 7 he's going to make a transition into directives to these suffering saints that now take within their compass

7:33 their horizontal relationships and responsibilities within the various churches who would have received this letter as it circulated among those Roman provinces there in Asia Minor. And as Peter, as Peter is about to transition into these horizontal duties and privileges, he begins with that imperative in verse 7, the end of all things is at hand, be therefore of a sound mind and be sober unto prayer. He is nailing down the principle that if we are to fulfill our horizontal duties as we ought,

8:14 we will only do so as we maintain soundness of mind and spiritual sobriety, which will always lead us to conscious dependence upon God, which in turn will give birth to a life of prayerfulness. It is in that setting then that he sets out in the remainder of this paragraph their duties, their responsibilities concerning their life together. Last Lord's Day we looked at the first of these directives. It's what I call the directive, the directive concerning mutual love.

Review of Mutual Love and Introduction to Mutual Service

8:52 Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins, using hospitality one to another without murmuring. And in those verses we saw the importance of mutual love above all things. The quality of that love, it is agape love. It is to be fervent.

9:17 It is to be loved on the stretch. Love that is not in its most meager amounts and degrees, but in its heightened degree manifested among the people of God. And then he underscores two activities of that love. It is that love that will cover a multitude of sins.

9:38 It will give a prevailing disposition that delights to cover those multitudes of shortcomings and foibles born of our ignorance, and our remaining sin and our weakness as creatures of the dust. And then it will also express itself in being hospitable one to another without murmuring.

10:04 Now we come this morning to the second directive that Peter gives, having laid out the directive concerning mutual love. He now gives us a directive concerning mutual service. And I make this a second heading, though, a number of the commentators subsume this under another manifestation of love. Love covers sin.

10:28 Love creates the open door and the open table. Love creates a climate of delighting to serve one another with our gifts. And I would not quarrel with that, but because so much of the text is given to this matter of mutual service, it is not included in just one verse, but as you look at your Bible just visually, you can see that from verse 10 to the end of the paragraph, the subject of mutual gifts and their exercise within the body is to the forefront in Peter's mind. And therefore, I'm setting it out in a second heading, having looked at the directive to mutual love,

11:13 we will consider the directive concerning mutual service. And that will take us through verses 10, and 11a, and then, God willing, next Lord's Day morning, the third heading, the overall end and purpose in both the directives. The directive for mutual love and the directive for mutual service have a common end and purpose in the mind and will of God, namely, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The Foundational Assumption: Every Believer is Gifted

11:48 So then, we take up the directive concerning mutual service. And as I seek to unpack the text, we'll do so under four headings. The first is this. Note with me, first of all, the foundational assumption.

12:04 The foundational assumption.

12:08 Peter writes,

12:11 according as each has received a gift. And in those words, Peter is setting before us what I am calling his foundational assumption. And I trust it's clear to each one of us. As Peter sits, perhaps at a table there, where he was perhaps imprisoned at Rome, and he's been thinking of the saints of God up there in Asia Minor, in these Roman provinces, he's been laying out all of the grand indicatives of what they have in Christ, various lines of imperatives, what they are to do, and to be in the light of what they are and they have.

12:53 And starting in chapter 3, he has come to the central burden of his letter, the subject of suffering, from chapter 3 and verse 13 onward. And he has been opening up various strands of pastoral concern to these suffering saints, instructing, encouraging, admonishing them how they are to respond to this suffering so as to glorify God and advance their faith. This is the cause of the gospel. And as he thinks of those people, the very people whom he has described in chapter 1 as having been begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Christ, a people, the end of chapter 1, who have been redeemed,

13:38 whose souls have been purified, who have been begotten again. On into chapter 2, they've been made living stones in God's spiritual temple, a company of priests, as he thinks of who and what they are, he pauses, and as he is about to lay out their duties one to another, he assumes that everyone who fits the description of a Christian in all of the previous part of the epistle, that all of those are gifted men and women. He does not suddenly say, now to some of you, who have in common this great salvation,

14:23 but do not have in common any gift of service. Let me, no. His words are very simple, and the assumption that undergirds them is very clear, according as each has received a gift. He's not saying, seek a gift, according as some may have, and some may eventually.

14:47 There is a foundational assumption, that no one is a vital member of Christ, in the living temple of God, a possessor of the salvation of God, who has not been gifted in some way, by that God of redemptive grace. Now what precisely was the gift, which Peter assumes each church member in Asia Minor would possess? Well, the word here used for gift, is the one that is used, in parallel passages, dealing with the subject of spiritual gifts. In Romans 12 and verse 6, the apostle uses the same word,

15:31 in the midst of that section, where the issue of gifts is being addressed, and having gifts, there's our word, differing according to the grace of God. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 4, the second of three major gift passages, in the New Testament epistles, and here he says, there are diversities of gifts, same word, but the same spirit. And that word, is the word from which we get our modern word, charismatics, it's charisma. And it's the same root word, as the word for grace, charis, grace, charis, gift,

16:15 charisma. And we missed that, in coming over into the English, and I do that, not to try to show off, a poor pronunciation, of Erasmian Greek, but because it helps us to appreciate, what Peter is assuming, when he sits to pen his letter, at his desk, or at his table, the parchment spread before him, and he writes, according as each, has received a charisma. As each has received, a gift, or gift, that is to be understood, as an undeserved, sovereignly bestowed, capacity, that can be employed, in the service of God.

16:57 That's what a gift is. It is a gift. It comes in the orbit, of grace. It is a charisma.

17:10 It is a grace endowment. And whenever we think grace, we think sovereign, undeserved, freely bestowed, favor from God. And so Peter, thinking of the believers, there in Asia Minor, writes with this assumption, according as each, has received, a gift. Each has received, in an undeserved, sovereignly bestowed manner, some capacity, that can be employed, in the service, of the people of God.

17:48 Now, is Peter referring, to those supernatural, endowments of gifts, such as are listed, in 1 Corinthians 12, tongues, prophecy, interpretation of tongues. They are called gifts. They are charisma. They are divine endowments, in that church at Corinth.

18:11 Or is he using it, in the broader sense, of any endowment, whether the endowment, was initially implanted, in our mother's wombs, as a natural capacity, cultivated and acquired, by diligence, in our days, or years, of maturity. Peter is thinking of a gift, in terms of any capacity, however acquired, as it is now, the blood-bought possession, of Jesus Christ, and has known, the infusion, of the life-giving power, of the Holy Spirit. So that, when the Spirit of God,

18:56 regenerates a man, and he is united to Christ, by faith, is given the Spirit of adoption, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, in the life of that believer, takes every endowment, that he has, that can be used, for the service of the people of God, and constitutes that, a gift for service. Listen to the, helpful layman's descriptions, of what precisely, this gift is, that Peter assumes, is present, in all of these believers. Edmund Cloudy, in his commentary writes, every gift given to us, in creation,

19:40 has been now, touched by the Spirit, in our re-creation. Every gift given to us, in our creation, has been, in the case of God's people, touched by the Spirit, in our re-creation, and is therefore, to be used, for the benefit, of our brethren. Hebert, in this context, quote, a gift is any capacity, or endowment, that can be used, for the benefit, of the church. Or John Lilly, whatever in fact, one possesses, of a faculty for doing good, and edifying the church,

20:25 that may properly, be called, his gift. Now some would debate that, and I would answer, by saying, there is nothing, in the context here, to indicate that, any of these supernatural, gifts, or sign gifts, as they are sometimes called, was present, in any of those churches, in Asia Minor. There is no reference, to any of them. The gift of apostleship, is mentioned, but there is no mention, of those gifts, that are mentioned, in the list, in 1st Corinthians 12, and in 1st Corinthians 14.

21:03 Furthermore, when we take, the formal list of gifts, Romans chapter 12, 1st Corinthians 12, and into 14, and Ephesians chapter 4, none of the list, are the same. None of the list, include everything mentioned, in the other list. And God wants us, to call these, and come to the conclusion, there is no exhausted list, of all of the gifts, that are present, in the people of God, in any one place, at any one time. And therefore, to feel at home, with Peter's language, as one of the elders, or someone with a gift, of public reading, is reading this epistle, for remember, that's how it would first come,

21:46 to the gatherings of God's people. They didn't run down, to the local store, where you could get a Xerox copy, for five cents, and then appear on Sunday morning, or have an overhead projector, and say, here's the letter from the apostle, let's all look at it, and we'll comment upon it. As the epistle would be read, the end of all things is at hand, all of you be of a sound mind, all of you be sober unto prayer, above all things being fervent, in your love among yourselves, using hospitality one to another, according as each has received a gift. Sitting there, you would have every right to say, wait a minute, the apostle is assuming, that each of us has received a gift.

22:28 And unless the language, and the analogy of scripture, drives us to another conclusion, we are forced to acknowledge, that when this directive for mutual service is given, it is given with this foundational assumption, that there is no ungifted member, in the various assemblies, to whom this letter was sent. As then, so now. In the blessed dynamics, of new covenant salvation, when one is made by God's grace, a living member of Jesus Christ, ties into Christ,

23:10 becomes a part of the body of Christ, God puts no paralyzed, lifeless, dead members into his body. All the members incorporated into the body, are living members, drawing life from Christ their head, as that life courses through the body, in the person and ministry, of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And therefore, in that crucial parallel passage on gifts, Paul can write as he does in Ephesians 4.16, From whom all the body, fitly framed and knit together,

23:55 through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in due measure, of each several part, makes the increase of the body, unto the building up of itself in love. Verse 7 of the same chapter, But unto each one of us, was the grace given, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And here you have again, grace and charisma in the original, so that we cannot think of gifts, apart from grace. But the grace that has won us, tracked us down,

24:40 and brought us in penitence and faith, to God through Christ. The grace that has caused the Spirit of God, to take up his room and home in us, so that we become living members of Jesus Christ. That grace, has imparted a charisma, or more than one gift, to all who are part of the body. There is the foundational assumption.

The Heart of the Directive: Ministering Gifts Among Yourselves

25:10 Now then come with me in the second place, to look at the heart of this directive. From the foundational assumption, according as each has received a gift, here's now the heart of the directive. It says, ministering it among yourselves. Ministering it among yourselves.

25:34 The word rendered ministering, is a simple present participle, of the common word in the New Testament, for serving. It doesn't mean ministering, in the sense that, well he's a minister. He has an office, and a particular, and high profile function in the church. No, it's not used that way.

25:55 The work of ministering, in that sense, is called a ministry, particularly in several key passages, in second Corinthians. But it's the general word for serving. In Mark 10 45, Jesus said, the son of man came not to be, here's our word, ministered unto, not to be served, but to serve, to minister, and to give his life, a ransom for many. Most of you know, the well known story about Mary and Martha.

26:23 And what was Martha's complaint? In Luke 10 40, Martha complained to the Lord, saying, my sister has left me, here's our word, to serve alone. My sister has left all the serving to me. I've got to put the plates on, and I've got to bring out the main course, and the appetizers, and I've got to clean up.

26:45 My sister has left the serving to me. And the essence of its meaning, is any helpful service, freely rendered to another. It comes to be used, as the very technical word, for the service of a deacon, in 1st Timothy 3 13, they that serve well as deacons, there's our verb, but it has this more general use. Now think of it in this context.

27:13 Peter writes, assuming that all of the members, have at least a gift, some may have many gifts, and in the heart of his directive, he says, what do you do with that gift? You are to minister it, you are to use it, as a vehicle of service, among yourselves. You see the focus here, is not those gifts, that may be used primarily, in the multiplication of the church, but it's speaking of the church, in its ministry to itself. That's the focus, in this particular context.

27:53 And he says, the heart of this directive, though it is not an imperative, it's just a present participle, yet in the setting in which it comes, it has the weight of an imperative, some of the grammarians call it, an imperatival participle, they give it fancy names. And Peter is saying, this is what you do, with that gift, that divine endowment, that capacity for service, and it's brought forward in the original, it is an into, or among yourselves, serving with that gift. In other words,

28:37 as we are enabled to identify our gift, or gifts, we are to think of that gift, or gifts, never as a pedestal, on which we stand to parade ourselves, but think of it in terms, of the Lord Jesus in John 13, who wrapped himself, with a towel, took a basin, and washed the disciples feet. Every gift, is a call, to the towel, and to the basin. Never, never, the wood, and the nails, and the saw, and the hammer, to make a pedestal, on which to parade yourself, to draw attention to yourself,

29:21 to give yourself, some sense of identity, by displaying your gift, no, Peter says, as each has received a gift, serving, ministering it, among yourselves, every gift is a call, to the towel, and to the basin. That's what it is. The towel and the basin, in the midst of the family of God, whatever gift, however it has come, whether it began to be given in the womb, whether it was supernaturally imparted, at our conversion, or subsequent to our conversion,

30:05 whatever the gift may be, it is an eloquent, and an unending call, to the towel, and to the basin. Ministering it, serving with it, among yourselves. At the most practical level, this means, that when I look about me, in the assembly, as a long time member, or perhaps someone, who's just been attending regularly, beginning to get an idea, of who we are, what we stand for, who these people are, we must not think, in terms of the common mindset, what has this church got, to offer to me? Almighty me!

30:43 We ought rather to be asking, what have I got, to contribute to God's people? Now you won't often find me quoting, former President John Kennedy. But there's one thing he said, that's worthy of being quoted. Ask not, what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do, for your country.

31:12 Peter's writing, he predated Kennedy. Think not, do not be concerned, what the church can do for you, but be concerned, what can you do, given God's gifts to you, in order to benefit the church. Ministering it, among yourselves. That's the heart of the directive.

The Governing Perspective: Good Stewards of Manifold Grace

31:41 Now we've looked at the foundational assumption, according as each has received a good. The heart of the directive, ministering it among yourselves. Now thirdly note, the governing perspective. As we seek by the grace of God, to discern, soberly, what our gifts or gifts are, Romans 12 and verse 3.

32:01 And as by the grace of God, we stand with a disposition of readiness, to have our gift be a call, to the towel, and to the basin, prepared to minister it, to serve with it, among the people of God. What is to be the governing perspective? Look at the text. As good stewards, of the manifold grace of God.

32:28 That's to be the governing perspective. As good stewards, of the manifold grace of God. We are to minister or serve, in the personal consciousness, of our identity as stewards, and with a godly ambition, to be reckoned by God, as good stewards. So we are to have a conscious identity.

32:53 With this gift, I am now a steward. And with this gift, desiring to use it, as the occasion of towel and basin service, to my brothers and sisters, I want this to be my goal, that my God will account me, a good steward. So it has to do with our consciousness, our consciousness of our identity, and holy ambition, to have the commendation of God. Now then, that leads to several questions.

33:25 What in the world is a steward? The only thing I know about a steward, is I saw in a movie, or a television program, someone who keeps people happy, on a cruise ship, and he's called a steward. And they used to call, female stewards on airplanes, stewardesses. Now they're called flight attendants, because that's gender neutral.

33:45 That didn't happen by accident, folks. You won't see the word steward, if used in any of the official literature, of any of the airlines now. They are flight attendants. Why?

33:57 It's gender neutral. I never thought of that. Well, you think about it, and you start listening and looking, and you'll find right through our whole society, there's a concerted effort, to get everything gender neutral. That's just a little aside, I had to get it out of my system.

34:12 When studying the word steward, what was a steward? Well, in the New Testament, a steward was one to whom property or money was entrusted to be administered according to the owner's will. And often, the one to whom property or money was entrusted would be a slave. So a steward, then, is someone who receives a trust from the master, either in the form of money, goods, oversight of an enterprise, and he is to administer the money, he is to administer the sphere of his responsibility, not according to his own whims or his own ambitions,

34:56 but according to the revealed will of the master or the owner. Let's look at just a couple of passages that make this clear. In Luke chapter 12, Luke chapter 12, here our word is found, verses 42 and 43. We're back up to verse 41.

35:20 And Peter said, Lord, do you speak this parable unto us, or even unto all? And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward whom his Lord shall set over his household to give them their portion of food in due season? Now, you see what the picture of a steward is here? Someone charged to manage a household to dispense food according to the previous directions of the master of the house.

35:53 In verse 43, that person is called the servant or the slave. Blessed is that servant or slave whom his Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. So you see, all of those ideas are wrapped up in this one short compass. What is the steward?

36:09 The steward is one who has goods and responsibility entrusted to him. In this instance, that steward happened to be a house slave. Luke 16, 1 to 3, in the parable of the unjust steward. Speaking of our Lord, and he said also unto the disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he was wasting his goods.

36:36 Whose goods? The master's goods. He had a stewardship entrusted, but he was not a good steward. He was wasting the capital entrusted to him by his master.

36:49 This is why in passages such as Matthew 25 and the parable of the talents in Luke 19, a similar parable, that you have not the word steward, but the whole framework of stewardship, but you have bond slave or servant, because often the steward was a slave or a house servant. Now, I've taken the time to try to demonstrate from the scriptures the significance of the concept of steward, because it's not one that is readily available in our own 20th century American social life. You've got to put yourself back in the mindset of biblical times. So when Peter writes and says to these people,

37:33 all of you have a divine endowment, according as each hath a gift. Here's the heart of my directive, ministering it among yourselves, the towel and the base in posture for the good of your brethren, but do it with the consciousness that you are stewards. This gift has been an entrustment from your God. It has been given, not for you to use as you please, not for you to abuse, not for you to neglect, but to use it for the purposes that I, your master, have outlined for you in my own expressed will, as stewards, and that, good stewards,

38:18 of the manifold grace of God. So having asked and answered the question, in New Testament times, what was a steward? It leads to the second question, what would constitute a man, a woman, a good steward? Well, the scripture answers that in very simple language in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, in a section rich in wonderful teaching on the nature and blessings, responsibilities, trials of the Christian ministry, Paul writes, let a man so account of us as ministers, servants, there's our word, servants of Christ, now notice,

39:02 and stewards of the mysteries of God. Paul said, I want you to think of us who minister the word of God to you in terms of what we really are. On the one hand, we are servants of Christ, and on the other hand, we are stewards of the mysteries. The revealed secrets of God, now openly displayed in the gospel, have been entrusted to us in the capacity of stewards.

39:31 Let a man so account of us in terms of what we really are, servants of Christ, stewards of the mysteries of God. Now look at verse 2. Here, moreover, in our common experience, we are stewards, which the Corinthians would have well known, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, trustworthy. What is required of a steward is not to demonstrate that he's more clever than his master, is not to demonstrate that he's more clever than the steward who's operating out of a man's house down the block.

40:13 No, he is to be faithful to the trust he has received as a steward. Whatever's been put in his hands and however the master says it's to be dispensed, it is required of stewards that they be faithful. Carry out the will of the owner or the master so as to fulfill the purpose for which the stewardship was given. You see, it's the opposite of being an unprofitable steward, an unfaithful steward, or an unwise steward.

40:48 Listen to the very perceptive words of John Brown addressing this question, what constitutes someone a good steward? He who neglects the gift that is in him is an unprofitable steward. The master gives a deposit, it's neglected. He is an unprofitable servant, like the man who took the talent and hid it.

41:13 The master comes back and says, look, at least you should have put it in the bank and I'd get a little interest. You are a wicked and an unprofitable servant. He who converts his gift into a means of gaining selfish objects, the gratification of his own private taste, or the purposes and interest of his own ambition, instead of devoting it to the edification of his brethren, he is an unfaithful. He who neglects it, unprofitable.

41:47 He who converts it into a means of gaining selfish, self-centered, self-serving ends, unfaithful steward. He who instead of cultivating and exercising his own gift, attempts to exercise a gift he has not received, and in this way occupy a field for which he is not fitted, and others are more fitted to occupy, he is an unwise steward. And I might say he becomes a pain in the neck steward. Always concerned that the rest of the world won't recognize that his stewardship is over here, when anyone with any discernment agrees

42:28 that that's not the field for which God has suited him to function as a steward. So what is a good steward? Well, it's the opposite, you see, of the unprofitable steward who buries his gift and does not ply and use the gift among the body of Christ for their profit. The unfaithful steward is the one who uses his gift to his own self-centered ends, and the unwise steward is the one who attempts to exercise a gift he has not received.

43:05 So when Peter writes to these people and is about to encourage them or is in the midst of encouraging them in spite of the sufferings, in spite of the opposition, he does not give a call to a lessened commitment to healthy, vigorous churchmanship. He gives a call to an augmented and an intensified churchmanship in the midst of the sufferings. This very directive is bounded on the one hand in verses 1 to 5 with a constant reminder of 1 to 6 of the suffering they were experiencing, and then in verse 12 he says it's going to get hotter and the opposition is going to get worse. What do we do in the midst of it?

43:47 Run from the church? No. We tighten our ranks. We circle the wagons.

43:52 And we commit ourselves afresh to minister one to another, as each hath received a gift, the foundational assumption, the heart of the directive, ministering it among yourselves, the governing perspective, as good stewards, but then notice the final qualifying phrase, as good stewards of what? Good stewards of the manifold grace of God. We've asked and answered the question, what is a steward? We've asked the question and answered it, what constitutes a good steward?

44:29 The third question is, how is the stewardship of our gifts described? As to its origin, it is a manifestation of the manifold grace of God. The word manifold means many-sided. In secular Greek, in the first century, it's the word you would use to describe something that had many colors.

44:53 It is the manifold, the many-sided, the many-colored. Now notice he comes back to grace again. Grace of God. As good stewards, in the exercise of your gift or gifts, you are to recognize that that gift is a manifestation of the many-sided, the many-colored, the full spectrum of the colors of God's grace.

45:20 His grace has perceived the need for those gifts within the body of God's people. His grace has conferred them, some from the womb, some in the period of maturation, some supernaturally with an endowment of the Spirit, but whatever they be, in whatever way they function, they are all subsumed under the grace of God. The many-colored, the multi-faceted grace of God. God's grace is like the white light that passing through the prism of that assembly breaks out into the full spectrum of the beautiful colors in that white beam of light.

46:04 And Peter says, this is how you are to view the various gifts and those in their giftedness among you as you serve them and they serve you. Everywhere you turn and see another facet of a gift, you are to say, that's a gift of grace. The manifold, the many-faceted, the many-sided grace of God. So then the governing perspective which is to accompany the exercise of our gift or gifts is good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Two Specific Examples: Speaking and Serving Gifts

46:39 Each of us bears a solemn responsibility before God to discern His gift or gifts of grace and to distribute the Master's goods to the other members of the Master's household with a passionate desire that in the last day He will reckon us as good stewards of His manifold grace. Now then, Peter moves on, and this is our fourth and final heading, to two specific examples. So often the Biblical writers state a principle and then they descend from what we would call the divinely inspired theoretical

47:23 to the divinely inspired practical, the delineation of specifics. So now Peter is going to be specific and he writes in verse 11, If any man speaks, and if you have a translation that is a good translation and it has the word speaking and ministering, it will be in italics. There is no repetition of the verb, either as a finite verb or a participle. Literally, if any man speaks, as it were, oracles of God.

47:54 If any man ministers or serves, as of the strength which God supplies. Here we have two specific examples of gifts. If any man or anyone speaks, if anyone serves. Now then, we have a problem.

48:12 How are we to understand these things? Well, some say, well, what Peter is doing is, he is summarizing the primary gifts that are necessary in the two offices in the church. And what he is doing is, he is focusing in upon those who have gifts and graces that warrant their being given an official ministry of teaching and preaching in New Testament times, perhaps prophesying. And Peter is saying, those who have the gift of speaking, a gift recognized by the church, and therefore, it is an official speaking, they should do this as oracles of God.

48:53 Serving is a summary statement of that other office, deacons who serve, and they are to do it this way. So that is the more narrow understanding of Peter's use of these two terms, if any speaks, if any serves. And there are some very trustworthy, reliable, reputable commentators who take that position. Among them, Calvin and John Brown.

49:19 And I don't differ with Calvin and John Brown without good and compelling reasons, but there are many other commentators, among them, Hebert and Lenski and Grudem, of a modern commentator, who take a broader understanding and they say, no, what Peter is doing is, he is ranging all the possible gifts of service within the church under two major headings. Speaking gifts, and serving gifts. So, whoever you are, as you discern your gift of grace, and you're committed to wrap the towel and take the basin and serve the people of God, if it is a speaking gift, it ought to be exercised this way. If it is a serving gift,

50:03 it ought to be exercised this way. Now, I am presently inclined to believe the broader understanding is the right one, and that for several reasons. Peter is, in a very short time, going to speak directly to elders, and he makes no question that that's what he's doing. Chapter 5, verse 1, The elders therefore among you I exhort.

50:25 So, he's going to address these office bearers, and he leaves no question. Furthermore, the terminology used, if any man speak, this word can be used of a tongue speaker, a prophet who speaks, 1 Corinthians 14, but it is a general word for speaking, and it has no impact on the inherent technical significance, and furthermore, the broader understanding includes the narrower. If my arms can encompass this pulpit, they certainly can encompass this microphone. So, if we take the broader understanding, it includes the narrower.

51:02 So, in the light of those reasons, I'm going to expound the text, believing that Peter is not giving specific directions to office bearers who speak and office bearers who serve, but he is ranging the full gamut of gifts within the church under these two broad headings, speaking gifts and serving gifts. Now, what does he say with regard to speaking gifts? If those who have any speaking gift see themselves as stewards, and they long to be good stewards of this aspect of God's grace shown to them in that speaking gift, what is to regulate them? The exercise of that gift.

Speaking Gifts: As Oracles of God

51:46 Look at the text. If any speak as it were oracles of God, literally sayings of God. Now, this is technical terminology in passages such as Acts 7.38 and Romans 3.2

52:04 for the Old Testament Scriptures. To them, the Jews were committed the oracles, the sayings of God. It was a term that would have been used in the heathen society from which many of these people were converted. Their idols and the prophets of these idols would speak of the oracle, the sayings of their gods.

52:28 It is my understanding with my present life that what Peter is saying is simply this. Any of you in any situation who are to exercise a speaking gift among yourselves, do so conscious that you are to speak the sayings of God. In other words, you do not minister one to another to edification, giving your own perverted notions, giving your own distorted views of reality insofar as you speak according to the word of God, you speak unto the edification of your brothers and sisters. Isaiah 8.20

53:11 To the law, to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them or no dawning for them. I think two examples of this, clear examples in the New Testament would be 1 Thessalonians 4.18. Some of the brethren in Thessalonica were ignorant of what happened to their dead loved ones and fellow believers and what would happen, not what happened to them when they die, but what would happen to them when Christ came again.

53:43 And Paul writes, to enlarge their understanding, to correct misunderstanding, and says, this we say unto you by the word of the Lord. We don't want you to be ignorant concerning those that have fallen asleep. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first. We who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.

54:10 So shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, wherefore, wherefore, comfort one another with what? With these words. You leave the assembly.

54:23 The first Lord's day, the letter was read. And one of your friends who was troubled about this whole matter and wondering where would their departed loved ones who died in Christ be if Christ were to come again the next day. When this letter is read, you nudge him and say, brother, did you hear that? And his face lights up.

54:42 But a week later, he says, he's forgotten. And he comes and says, you know, I'm troubled about my Aunt Jessie who died three weeks ago. He said, look, don't you remember? Here are the words that were given to us by the apostle.

54:56 And though he might not be giving a verbatim repetition of those words, he's taking the oracle of God and speaking as of that oracle consistent with God's revealed sayings. And he is comforting and exhorting and strengthening the faith of his brethren. Colossians 3.17, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom speaking and admonishing one another and even letting the word of Christ that dwells in us richly, the sayings of God, the word of Christ, coming out in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

55:40 Peter is saying to these people, whatever speaking, whatever speaking gift you may have, make sure that in the exercising of it you represent the mind of God in the content of what you speak and the seriousness and the weight of the word of God in the manner in which you speak. No one ever spoke the literal direct oracles of God trying to make everybody be persuaded he was a clown. Or to have a slot on the late night show or show up at Dave Letterman's and make people laugh.

56:24 That's why clowning is out of place in this pulpit. This is a place for the oracles of God. And when you're comforting a brother or sister, when you're exhorting, when you're seeking to encourage, there is a place for innocent clowning. But when you're exercising a gift of utterance, see the difference?

56:44 Being friends means that we have deep friendships that can stand both the strain and welcome the pressure of innocent jesting with one another. It's a manifestation of a solid friendship when you're not nervous about every word you've got to say to someone. But that's not exercising your gift. He is saying in the exercise of a gift of speaking gift, speaking as oracles of God.

Serving Gifts: As of the Strength God Supplies

57:13 And then with serving gifts, notice what he says, strange, we would think it would be perhaps something else. And those who exercise serving gifts as of the strength which God is supplying. And most of the commentators point out that this word for supplying is a fascinating word. It originally meant someone securing a choir for a stage production and then securing the choir they had to provide for them.

57:41 And eventually it merged into the first century Greek language in secular literature to speak of a supply that was lavish. If you can afford to put on a big production at the Met, you can afford to spread out a nice food for the chorus. And that's the word he uses. As of the strength which God freely and lavishly is supplying.

58:04 So when you are serving, you're to think the strength to serve as a steward of God, the disposition to serve and to maintain the disposition to serve and the ability, in terms of dispensing of energy and of stuff and of money and of goods, whatever it is, he said, when serving among yourselves, constantly remember the words of Christ. Without me, you can do nothing. Abide in me. Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit.

58:41 Any gift of service, be it caring for the sick, visiting the sick and needy, babysitting for couples so they can have a romantic evening, as some of you did. I want to commend you. I never heard of anything like that before. I'm thankful.

58:57 You saw. You maybe didn't put it in that category. But here was a gift some of you had to watch someone else's kids. Ah, but did you do it saying, Lord Jesus, help us to do this in a way that will bring optimum glory to you, joy to these couples that we're relieving and giving a night out together.

59:16 That's what Peter's talking about. There is no service so menial, so obscure, but what the one who serves needs to serve as of the strength which God supplies. You see, and that all leads. We can't get into it this morning, but you see how it's all tied together.

59:33 And he says that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. You do it out of a sense of self-sufficiency, out of a sense of self-strength, and all the praise will go to yourself. But when you do it as of the strength which God supplies, and someone says, you know, we really appreciate the fact that you watched our kids and we could have a romantic out, it's not hard for you to say, bless God that he put that in my heart. Bless God that he's helped me to do something.

60:04 And God is glorified when what we do in the service of Christ is consciously derived from the grace and strength of Christ, then all the glory flows back to Christ. And in all things, God is glorified through Jesus Christ. And at that point, I'm ready to break out into doxology like Peter was, whose is the glory forever and ever. Amen.

60:27 You see what he's saying? This is why I'm persuaded, according to my present life, though I'm ready to be persuaded otherwise, that Peter, when he writes, in this heading of these two specific areas, is speaking generically of speaking gifts and of serving gifts. And in highlighting these two broad categories, the speaking and the serving, and underscoring the ideas of the oracles of God out of the strength which God supplies. Do you see the pervasive God-centeredness that Peter gives to this whole issue of the charisma?

61:07 When he touches on the gifts, they are gifts of grace. When he's giving directives for their exercise, in their origin, they come from God's free grace. In their exercise, the speaking gifts are to be based upon and shaped by the inspired word of God. In our serving, it's to be empowered by the strength of God.

The Pervasive God-Centeredness and the Gospel

61:34 There is a pervasive God-centeredness in the most practical instruction concerning this matter of the mutual service we render in the exercise of our gifts. And that leads me to my final question, with which I close this morning. Why could Peter assume that in approaching the whole subject of each having received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the manifold grace of God, why could he assume that this God-centered perspective would take root and percolate down into the very fibers of that congregation?

62:17 Well, I'll tell you why. It's because of what he knew was true of these people as clearly expounded in the previous chapters. He knew he was writing to a group of people who had been begotten again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, a people whom he describes in chapter 1 and verse 22, who have purified their souls in their obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, that lives and abides forever. He was convinced they were exactly what he describes at the end of chapter 2, for you were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd

63:01 and bishop of your souls. He can give this God-centered perspective because he was convinced that the gospel produced a God-centered group of hell-deserving sinners who now loved and trusted Jesus Christ. That's why. He didn't have to go into a lengthy dissertation and say, by the way, I want to begin to introduce to you the notion that the church and its service and ministry has something to do with God.

63:28 Go to the average evangelical church and you wouldn't get that notion in ten months. It's your felt needs and we exist to meet your needs. Tell us what your needs are. And God doesn't enter the picture.

63:43 For Peter, God not only entered the picture, He dominated it. He dominated it. Why? Because they were converted.

63:52 And my friend, if God isn't the dominant reality in the picture of your life, it's because you're unconverted. It's because you're still a strange sheep who's gone astray from the God who made you, that you might know Him and have fellowship with Him and glorify Him and in a proper sense of the word have a sanctified obsession with God as He's revealed in Jesus. And you see, coming to a passage like this, you say, well, where's the gospel in here? This passage would never be here without the gospel.

64:28 Peter knew this would resonate in the hearts of those people because of all the things they had experienced in Jesus Christ. And if they don't resonate in your heart, my friend, let me use the occasion of opening up this passage once again to issue that general, sincere, well-meant call to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn from your self-centered way. Throw yourself upon the mercy of God in Christ.

Prayer and Final Exhortation

65:02 And then you will know what it is to eagerly receive and joyfully welcome practical instructions as to how you can live a God-centered life to the praise of God in the fellowship and in the ministry of His church. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank You again for Your Holy Word. We thank You that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

65:37 And we pray that You would help us by Your grace to understand and to appropriate and by Your Spirit's enablement to obey these directives given by Your Spirit through the pen of the apostle that we as a people will more and more know what it is to exercise our God-given gifts as stewards who long to be reckoned in the last day as good stewards. We plead with You, our Father, to bless Your truth to our hearts and we plead as well that You would deal in mercy with those who are utterly indifferent

66:20 to this portion of Your Word because they are indifferent to You. Be gracious to them, Father, and will You not yet so lay hold of them that they would understand and rejoice in the very things that have gladdened the hearts of Your people today. Dismiss us with Your blessing. Continue with us throughout this day that we may honor You and that You will continue to minister to our hearts.

66:46 We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.