Today’s Big Idea: God Works Diligently on Our Behalf.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:10-11).
I want to approach this text, working backwards from the way Peter wrote it. I want us to see the energy for hard work from verse eleven first. Then I want you to see what you are to do with this energy in verse ten.
1. God Isn’t Tired
“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” (1 Peter 4:11).
If you were a “fly on the wall” in the courtroom of heaven, you would never hear God ask for a break. God’s workplace has no break room. OHSA’s standards of safety and work regulations do not extend to the courtroom of heaven. God owns no bed. He doesn’t pay attention to the TV ads on the Sleep Number Bed.
Listen to the Psalmist describe God’s work ethic:
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come??2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.?4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.?6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.?8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore” (Psalm 121:1-8).
Sleep is daily reminder from God that we are not God. Once a day, God sends us to bed like a doctor sends a sick patient. Our sickness: we think we are in control of life. While we sleep, God handles the world quite nicely. Sleep is broken record that continually reminds us that we are not in control.
Man is not sovereign; God is. God is the Great Worker. Not you. So in a message calling on Christians to work hard, I pause to remind you… God’s work is not contingent on our work.
“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” (1 Peter 4:11)
Peter is encouraging us to serve one another in verse ten. We are to minister one to another. More on this in a few moments. All of the work of ministry is done by the strength that God supplies. Speaking and serving are done “by the strength that God supplies.” There is a danger here lurking. The danger is to think that serving tea, collecting money, and caring for the sick is just a matter of rolling up one’s sleeves and getting the job done.
We are prone to think of ourselves as workers in God’s life. We are to think of God as a worker in our lives. We must recognize that God's grace does more than just save us. God’s grace also sustains us. We don’t just need fuel to start our journey. We need fuel along the way. Intellectually, we know this: “Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” The word “supplies” originally was used of a wealthy person who supplied funds for a chorus or a dance. Much like a modern philanthropist supports the arts.
God is an abundant source of strength for all that He commands us to do. God is infinitely wealthy philanthropist. We give money from an infinitely wealthy philanthropist, our funds will not be exhausted. If we serve others relying on the strength God supplies, we will not burn out. Your work for God is not done from energy wallet.
“From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him” (Isaiah 64:4)
Our strength must come from God who acts as a energy philanthropist.
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.?29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.?30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;?31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31).
In the last presidential election between Obama and McCain, there was a great deal of talk about relying on foreign oil. That is, America has too long relied on power sources from foreign entities that don’t like us. God is telling us to rely on foreign sources to supply us energy. Our power source is exterior to us and it doesn’t come from eating our Wheaties in the morning. Christians serve one another by relying on a foreign power source… by relying on a wealthy energy philanthropist… God.
When we rely on Him, there is no burnout. When we take energy from His wallet, there is infinite power. When we rely on Him, we are humble. When we rely on Him, He receives the glory.
“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” (1 Peter 4:11)
God’s workplace has no break room. God owns no bed.
Today’s Big Idea: God Works Diligently on Our Behalf.
2. Don’t Waste Your Life
“Making of career of nothing – wandering through malls, killing time, making small talk, watching television programs until we know their characters better than we know our own children – [which not only] robs the community of our gifts and energies [but] shapes life into a yawn at the God and Savior of the world.”
God has saved you for a noble existence. Christianity is an other-centered kind of life. To love one another. Each believer has received a gift as a result of God’s grace at their conversion.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace…” (1 Peter 4:10). Peter uses the word “serve” which describes a variety of things: providing meals… visiting people in prison… providing financial support.
It’s the same root word where we get our word “deacon.” It could describe those who waited tables. Peter Himself gives us an example of such serving in verse nine: “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9).
Peter adds “a sharp tang of realism” at the end of verse nine when he adds “without grumbling.” Hospitality is the use of our homes for the sakes of others. Peter defines Christianity by telling us: “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly” in verse eight … and “show hospitality to one another without grumbling” in verse nine … and “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another” in verse ten.
Christians are to display a willingness to be offended, disadvantaged, even abused without making a return, without requiring vengeance, without demanding an accounting – whether an apology, or punishment, or a repayment of some kind.
In other words, this love must be so rooted in the heart that the natural and powerful instincts of self-protection are suppressed in the interests of Christ’s love. It is one thing to live up to public expectations. It is another thing to do what God commands cheerfully, no matter who sees or notes what is done. That willingness comes from the heart alone. And with such a heart, the hospitality will be extended even to someone who arrives hard on the heels of someone else, to someone who broke you favorite dish the last time he was in your home, even to someone whose company is so deadly uninteresting that it is a monumental achievement just to keep a conversation going.
For a devout heart sees Christ in that guest, loving him as loving Christ.
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
“For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed…” (Romans 15:18)
God is a tireless worker. God is so eager to work for His children that He goes around looking for more work to do for people who will trust Him: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9a). “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
God never sweats. Though He upholds the universe at all times (Hebrews 1:3) and watches over sparrows (Matthew 10:29), He never perspires. His energy level never fails. Don’t Waste Your Life. Cast your every anxiety upon Him (1 Peter 5:7).
