1 Peter 4:11 If anyone speaks, let him do it as one speaking the words of God. If anyone serves, as with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Introduction
1 Peter 4 is all about how to deal with the problem of suffering for Christ. But right in the middle of the chapter Peter has a little three-verse interlude where he talks about love. The whole chapter is about persecution from the outside, but in this one little section he stops and discusses love on the inside. And he calls us to love one another in three ways: with forgiving love, with welcoming love, and with serving love. And now, at the end of that section Peter breaks into a doxology.
To Him be the Glory…
Doxology
A doxology is any statement attributing glory to God. The root word doxa is the Greek word for glory. Logos is word, so doxology is a word of glory – a statement designed to glorify God.
1 Peter 4:11 … so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
When we are reading the Bible our temptation is to just kind of skip over the doxologies. It just sounds like some extra, religious lingo tacked on the end that does not really teach me anything practical or helpful. The fact that we think that way shows just how desperately we need to spend more time studying the doxologies. There is not anything in the Bible more practical for day to day living than a doxology. You do not have anything going in your life right now more important than the glory of God. And there is not any topic I could preach about today that would be more helpful to you than the topic of the glory of God. So we are going to spend our whole time today just on this closing phrase of verse 11.
The Best Thing that Can Happen
Imagine yourself lying down in bed tonight and thinking, “Wow, today was a good day. Some really good things happened today.” What would it take for you to say that? Maybe if you were offered a great job. Or some estranged relationship was finally reconciled and healed. That would be a good thing. If there were an election and all your favorite candidates won, or if someone invented some way of providing plenty of food to all the starving people in the world from now on, we would all say, “Yes, something really good happened today.” There are a lot of very good things that can happen. What is the best thing that can happen? Of all the really good things that can possibly happen, what is the best thing that could ever take place? Answer – God being glorified. God is the greatest, most worthy being there is, and so Him being glorified is the best thing that can ever take place.
The Meaning of Glory
Last week I introduced the concept of glorifying God just very briefly. I told you that God’s glory is all that is wonderful about God that can be known and experienced by us. And His glory has a lot of facets. For example, one facet of God’s glory is His amazing love. The fact that He is loving is a wonderful thing that is true about God that we can know and experience, and so that is one facet of His glory. Another facet of His glory is His tremendous power. Some other facets are His wisdom and patience and creativity and gentleness and knowledge and faithfulness and perfection and eternality - He never came into existence and will never go out of existence. There is also the fact that He forgives those who repent, and redeems those in bondage, restores that which was ruined, strengthens the weak, and cares for the helpless. That is what He is like.
He is also the Author of life. He is the Source of all beauty, all pleasure, and all goodness. He is a person, with awareness, emotions, will, intention, desire, and motivation, and He communicates – He reveals Himself. He is never limited to any location, never contained by any space, and His presence is available wherever His children are. He never sleeps, never grows weary, never makes a mistake, is never surprised, never even slightly frustrated. He has total, sovereign authority over all things, and His decisions can never be overturned by anyone. He has no rivals, nothing threatens Him, and He never runs out of anything. He listens to the prayers of His people and responds to them. And like a father He cares for us, provides for us, guides us, teaches us, disciplines us, and loves us. Those are all facets of His glory.
And another thing that is true of Him - He is easy to please. He is so easy to please that pleasing Him is within the reach of every single person on the planet who will believe– no matter how limited the intellect or what the background. He is a refuge for those who are in trouble, and soothes the soul of the brokenhearted. He searches the hearts of men and knows our thoughts and actually cares about them. He is the final Judge to whom every human being who has ever lived must give an account. He decides every person’s eternal destiny. He determines the course and outcome of human history. He is self-existent – the only being in existence who actually possesses the power to exist in Himself – not dependent on anything else. He not only created everything in existence, but He sustains all things – so they remain in existence only by His power. He is transcendent – the only thing in existence that is not part of the creation. And yet He became a part of the creation 2000 years ago. He is both above and beyond the creation, and at the same time as nearby and as close as your own breath. He is supreme and the highest standard in every category. All movement in His direction is an ascending and all movement away from Him is a descending. He makes promises to His people and always keeps them. His presence satisfies the human soul like food and drink to the body, and is always more rewarding and more satisfying to the human soul than any pleasure of any sin. He hates evil. He only does good things. He is beautiful. He is awesome. He is holy. He is generous. He is just. He is merciful. He is a rewarder of those who trust in Him. He cares for us like a shepherd, like a mother, like a father, like a king, and like a friend. He has a special love for the humble and lowly, and He hates the proud. He is worthy to be feared and served and obeyed and praised trusted, hoped in, and worshipped. To know Him is to want to obey Him. And to fear Him is to love Him. Every single one of those is a facet of His glory. We call those attributes – things that are true about God that we can know and experience – and if you put them all together you have His glory. And if you do something to make one of those attributes easier for people to see or experience, you have just glorified Him, because you have made Him more glorious in that person’s eyes.
And what Peter is telling us to do in this passage is to use our spiritual gift to serve others in such a way that your serving glorifies God. Because if you do something and it does not glorify God, all is lost. It is a total waste. Nothing is good about what you have done. If I preach a sermon that motivates you and inspires you and brings you to tears and makes you laugh and moves you to action and changes your life, but it does not glorify God, it was a total waste and there is nothing good about it.
That is the essence of sin. Sin is anything that defaces God’s glory rather than showcasing it. That is what makes sin evil. Most people think the thing that makes sin evil is if it hurts people. That is why people struggle with understanding what is so bad about sins that don’t seem to hurt anyone. And it is why people think it is fine for God to send Hitler to hell, but they cannot imagine why God would send their friendly, upstanding non-Christian neighbor to hell. Hitler seems to deserve to go to hell because he harmed millions of people. Your courteous, friendly neighbor is not hurting anyone. All he is doing is dishonoring God by rejecting His Son. If the sin does not harm human beings, it does not seem all that evil to us because human beings are supreme in our affections. And God’s glory is secondary. That is a perverted perspective.
Why Is Glorification of God So Important?
God’s glory is supremely important and so defacing God’s glory is the most evil thing that can happen. But glorifying God – when one or more of His attributes are exposed and seen for what they really are – that is the greatest thing that can ever take place. It benefits more people than finding a cure for cancer, it does more good than establishing world peace – it is absolutely the greatest thing that can happen. And so God teaches us in Scripture that His glory is to be our highest priority. We are to devote our existence to glorifying Him.
Sunlight
I was reading this week about the health benefits of sunlight. Sunlight converts cholesterol in your skin into vitamin D, which has all kinds of health benefits. It makes you more resistant to infections. The ultraviolet rays in sunshine act as a natural antiseptic, killing viruses, bacteria, molds, yeasts, fungi, and mites on your skin. It can help clear up acne, boils, athletes foot, rashes, psoriasis, and eczema. It improves your digestion, elimination, and metabolism. It improves your complexion. It enhances your immune system by increasing the number of white blood cells. It also stimulates the production of red blood cells which increases the amount of oxygen in your blood. It encourages healthy circulation. In many cases it can speed up the healing process. Getting enough sunlight during the day can help you sleep better at night by increasing your melatonin, which also slows down the aging process. Sunlight improves the function of your liver and helps it to break down toxins and wastes that could lead to cancer and other diseases. In some cases it can reduce the pain of arthritis. It helps with jaundice. And sunlight increases the production of endorphins and serotonin in your brain which is why it tends to have a positive effect on mood.
And besides the health benefits, there are other benefits – like enabling us to see. Sunlight is the greatest crime deterrent there has ever been. All the energy we get from food is energy that came from the sun light. All our heat comes from the sun. And the amazing thing is we do not have to have any super high-tech, complicated technology to extract all these benefits. All you have to do is go outside and stand in it.
Sunlight a great illustration of what the glory of God is like. All you have to do is just behold God’s glory and you get a million wonderful benefits. So glorifying God is the healthiest thing you can do for yourself, and it is the biggest favor you can do for the people around you.
The Reason for Our Existence
It is the reason you were born. If you have ever asked the question, “Why am I here?” – Isaiah 43:7 says that we are created for His glory. That is our purpose for existing. God’s glory is the only thing that matters, and so it should be the goal behind every single thing we ever do.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
That is the purpose for our very existence, so it should not come as any big surprise to anyone that Peter would tell us, “Look, don’t just use your spiritual gift. You have to make sure you use it in a way that reveals and exposes and showcases the glory of God.” Otherwise, what is the point?
The Solution to Our Problems
Oh, how many of our problems would be gone if we would just become preoccupied with God! We get so preoccupied with ourselves. We transform ourselves into grotesque creatures where our eyes turn inward so all we can see is ourselves. How we are being treated, how hard life is for us, how much suffering we have to endure. And it is ironic because the people who do that do it because they want happiness, and it is the biggest happiness killer there is. The center of the universe is a miserable place to be if you are not God.
But if we turn our eyes outward and upward, that is when joy will come. Think of this life as a movie theater. A movie theater is no place for a mirror. And if someone stands up in the theater and says, “Hey everybody, look at me!” that is disruptive and unloving.
“But don’t we all naturally enjoy being the center of attention?”
Not in a movie theater. If you are in a theater and all eyes are on you for some reason, you are not having a good day. The best experience at a movie – if you really want to get your money’s worth - is if your eyes are so glued to the screen that you forget about yourself for two hours. And the way to have joy in this life is to forget yourself and fix your attention on the glory of God.
The psychology world has this completely backward. They have created such a generation of narcissists that even in the church people will say, “God loves me, therefore I must be of great value.” That is a twisted way to look at it. It shouldn’t be, “God loves me therefore I…” It should be, “God loves me therefore He…” God loves me – that means God is a God who can love the unlovely and unworthy. God loves me – isn’t He amazing? (Not, God loves me, aren’t I amazing?)
… And The Power…
So the most important thing is for God’s glory to be seen, and Peter is focusing here on one particular facet of God’s glory – His power.
1 Peter 4:11 … If anyone serves, as with the strength God provides … To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
One of the most important ways God is glorified is when He exerts His mighty power and it becomes evident that the power was from Him. That is why the universe is so ridiculously big.
Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen
The closest star to our solar system is Proxima Centauri. If that is all God created it would still be massive beyond our ability to ever even explore. If you got in a rocket and set a course straight for that star it would take 81,000 years one way. That is all God would have had to make to blow our minds. But that is not even a speck compared to the galaxy. And the whole galaxy is not even a speck as seen from the very next galaxy. And there are billions of galaxies. Why the overkill? Because it is SO important that God’s power be seen.
Romans 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power”
It is critically important to the human race that God put His power on display. We need oxygen, we need sunshine, we need food and water, and we need to be able to see that God has awesome power. And the clearer our understanding of that, and the greater our experience of that power, the better off we are. Seeing and experiencing that power does you more good than vitamins or protein or antioxidants or anything else. There is nothing healthier than seeing the glory of God.
His Power Must Be Seen
So Peter says, To him be the glory and the power. When a doxology says, “To God be the power,” or “He is worthy to receive power,” the point is not for God to increase in power. He already has the power. Receiving power means receiving honor for that power. And it is very, very important for that to happen – for people to realize where this power is coming from. Have you ever noticed how many times just in the New Testament we are reminded to recognize God as the source of power? Peter says it here, and he is going to say it again in chapter 5.
1 Peter 5:11 To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Jude 1:25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
1 Timothy 6:16 To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
Revelation 1:6 to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
Revelation 5:12 In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength … 13 To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"
Revelation 7:12 "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"
Revelation 11:17 We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty … because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign.
Revelation 19:1 Salvation and glory and power belong to our God
For God to be recognized as being powerful is crucial because it is a glorious thing to be able to behold that aspect of God’s glory.
And it is a horrible curse to be shut out from seeing that power.
2 Thessalonians 1:9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
One of the worst things that can happen to you is to not be able to see God’s power.
The Church Must Be Powerful
So what is our role in making God’s power visible? Well, as His Church we need to make sure we operate in power rather than weakness. He is the power source behind the Church, so if what we do is weak, it dishonors Him. But the more power we exhibit in our ministries, the more God is honored and glorified.
1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
Acts 19:20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
That was a summary of the ministry of the First Century church, and that should be the description of the ministry of the Twenty-first Century church. The existence of the universe gives people a vague idea about God’s power, but people need a lot clearer view than that. People need to see God’s power to save. They need to see that God has the power to transform the human heart and to forgive sins and give a person a new nature. They need to see that He has the power to break the chains of whatever habits and addictions and enslaving sins you might have. They need to see that He has the power to transform murderers like Saul into models of self-sacrifice and love like Paul. That is the kind of power they need to see on display and it is the church’s job to put that on display. That is why Paul was constantly praying for us to increase in power.
Ephesians 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being
Colossians 1:9 … We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will … 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might
God wants us to showcase His power by being strengthened and empowered by Him.
2 Timothy 1:7 God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power
God commands that we be powerful.
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
What Kind of Power?
So what does that look like? How do you measure how powerful a church is?
Holiness, Not Miracles
That is an important question because a lot of people are confused at this point. They think the standard for power is miracles. Raising the dead, healing he sick, speaking in tongues, reading someone’s mind – those are seen as demonstrations of real power. But everyday things that God does – those are not as impressive. Making the sun rise every morning, enabling birds to fly, answering prayers through providence, using His Word to bring someone from being discouraged to being joyful, giving someone victory over a temptation – that stuff is just kind of ordinary, and not as great a display of power as a miracle. If you think that way you are not in tune at all with what Scripture teaches. All these grand statements about the power of God in the church – what kind of power are they talking about? Power to do what?
Ephesians 3:16 I pray that … he may strengthen you with power … 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you … 18 may have power … to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ
This awesome power he wants us to have – is it power to touch someone’s forehead and knock him backward? It is the power to have faith and to understand God’s love. How about that Colossians 1 passage? Paul said he was continually praying for them to be strengthened with all power according to God’s glorious might. Why? Power to accomplish what? A miracle?
Colossians 1:11…being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience
That is real power. In Romans 15:13, it is the power to be filled with all joy and peace through faith and to overflow with hope. In 2 Timothy 1:8, it is the power to join with Paul in suffering for the gospel. And here in our text in 1 Peter 4:11, it is the power to serve the people in the church with your spiritual gift.
If you are impressed with the power to heal the sick but you are not as impressed with the power it takes for a person to have great endurance and patience in the faith, or the power it takes to enable someone to understand God’s love or the power it takes to enable a sinful heart to trust Him – then you do not understand God’s power at all. Satan has enough power to do miracles. But only God can transform the fallen, human heart.
Sometimes people say, “The church in the book of Acts had so much power. Where is that power in today’s church?” People like that can only see God in miracles. And I feel sorry for them, because most of the time God does not use miracles. Most of the time He exerts His mighty power in far greater ways than miracles. So people who can only see His power in miracles miss the greatest displays of His power. Where is God’s power in the church today? It is on display in awesome ways every day! When someone overcomes selfishness and loves like God loves, when someone humbles himself and repents of sin, when someone gives joyfully because he trusts in God’s promises, when someone welcomes a stranger in order to honor Christ, when someone turns the other cheek – if you think miracles are more impressive than those things, you need to go back to God’s Word and read what it teaches about God’s power. The greatest power of God is the power exerted in the gospel.
Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross … is the power of God to us who are being saved.
That is where real power is. If you look at the Church today and you do not see power, then you just don’t know what power looks like because the gospel is being preached all over the world and people are being saved and transformed by the millions.
Through Weak Vessels
And the fact that this power is not spectacular like the miracles is by design. God wants it that way. He does not want it to seem spectacular by human standards.
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
In His infinite wisdom, God has chosen to display His awesome power through vessels that seem decidedly unimpressive. That is why God chose people like us to carry this power – regular, weak, unimpressive types like us.
2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 12:9 power is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 13:4 he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you.
So it is crucial that Agape Bible Church operate in power, and it is crucial that we do so in a way that shows us to be weak and God to be strong. And the way to do that is by serving in ministry in a way that shows that you are dependent on God’s strength.
Power in Ministry
When Peter says if anyone serves, let him do it as using the strength God provides. Do you see that word translated provides? (Your Bible might say supplies.) You will never guess the literal meaning of that word. It means to sponsor a choir. When there was a chorus or dancing group, and some rich benefactor covered all their expenses so they could travel around and perform, they used this word to describe that. It is that rich, behind-the-scenes benefactor who generously supplies the resources that are needed.
Help Wanted
Christian ministry is not God placing a help-wanted ad. God does not now, nor has He ever needed any help.
Psalm 50:9 I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, 10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. …12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
God says, “It’s impossible for Me to get hungry or need anything, but if it were possible, and somehow I did need something – I wouldn’t come to you.” Why? Because we have nothing to offer Him. In order for us to offer Him something He would first have to provide it to us. If you are broke, and in order to give your dad a gift you need to first borrow the money from your dad, and you will never be able to pay it back, that’s not much of a gift. So God does not place help wanted ads, because He does not need nor want help and we are not in a position to provide it if He did.
Acts 17:25 he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
So God does not place help wanted ads because He does not need help. Who needs help? (We do!) Christian ministry is not God placing a help wanted ad – it is us placing one. True Christian ministry is when you place an ad saying, “Help wanted: Generous benefactor needed who is able to supply me with all the strength I need for ministry. Apply within.” Those are the people whose ministries glorify God. Every Monday I need to place a help wanted ad that says, “Wanted: someone who can take my feeble, lame, weak, confused, sin-laden efforts and transform them into a sermon that will make supernatural transformations in people’s hearts and have an impact for generations. Must be able to meet all your own needs, since there is no pay. Successful applicant will have infinite wisdom, infinite power, and infinite love.” It is we, not God, who are asking for a favor when we serve in ministry. Many, many times in Scripture God is called our helper. Never in Scripture are we ever called God’s helpers. He is always the Giver; we are always the needy receivers – never the other way around.
For those of you who tend to over-commit, and you can never say no, this might help you – to remember, yes, God does call me to work hard and to be zealous in ministry, but He does not need me. And for those who find your work to be burdensome, remember – this is not me helping God; it is God helping me. Every moment that I am serving, I am getting richer.
Normally, if I am serving you it feels like I am the one doing the giving and you are the one doing the getting, right? But if we think that way about serving God, not only is that incorrect, but thinking of it that way will really foul up our service. It is critical that we remember that, because if we forget that we are being empowered by God for the ministry, then we will not serve in a way that opens people’s eyes to the glory of God’s power. And opening people’s eyes to the glory of His power is more important than the work itself.
The Meaning of The Gift
I mentioned earlier that the word Peter uses for God “supplying” or “providing” strength to us in our ministries is the word for a rich benefactor who covered all the expenses of a choir. But many times a benefactor like that might do it anonymously. Why doesn’t God do that? Why not just supply all this power as an anonymous donor?
It is for the same reason you do not give your wife flowers anonymously. It would spoil the whole point. The purpose of giving your wife flowers is not just so she has flowers – it is to express your love for her. You want her to feel your love, and she is not going to feel it if she does not know where the flowers came from.
It would not be a good thing if God were anonymous. If some rich benefactor donates the funds to build a hospital, that hospital is just as useful whether people know who the donor is or not. In that case, the gift is the only thing that matters, not the identity of the giver. Injuries and diseases are healed by the gift, regardless of the identity or nature or exposure of the giver. But with God’s gifts, the healing and benefits come from interaction with Him. And that interaction is shaped by our perception of Him, so we have to know that He is the giver.
God’s gifts are more like an engagement ring than a hospital. The identity of the one who built the hospital has no impact on the effectiveness of the hospital, but when a woman receives a diamond ring, the effect that has is determined in very large measure by who gave it to her, her knowledge of his identity, and her relationship with him. His purpose in giving it is to bring about an engagement. That will not be accomplished if it is anonymous. The ring itself is almost incidental. It is symbolic of something far greater. That is the way God’s power is. The working of God’s power, if we do not see it as coming from Him and we miss the purposes behind it and our hearts do not attribute it to Him, then it has not achieved its purpose. The world can see God’s mighty power in the galaxies, but when they look through their telescopes and their jaws drop, it is like a woman finding a diamond ring on the ground. She is happy to have the ring, but it is not the same kind of happiness that a woman has when the love of her life gives her a ring. God save us from seeing the sunrise or hearing a bird sing or watching a marriage healed or a sinner come to repentance or any other display of His mighty power – God save us from watching those things like a woman finding a ring on the ground – so that all we see is that act of power and not the meaning behind it. How dishonored is the man who gives his girlfriend a ring and she treats it the way a woman would treat a ring found on the ground. And the same is true of God’s power. The healing and transformation and all the other benefits come not just from the power, but from seeing the Source of the power and the message it carries about what God is like. Loving God is the only medicine there is, it is the solution to every problem, and it is the only solution to any problem– and loving God only happens when you see what He is like and experience His attributes first hand.
…Through Jesus Christ…
To God be the glory, and more specifically, the power – and look at the next phrase: through Jesus Christ. Peter reminds us that this glorifying can only happen through Christ. The very last sentence in the book says, Peace to all of you who are in Christ (5:14). To be in Christ means to have such a close association with Him that all the favor that the Father has for Jesus also lands on you, which means all the benefits Jesus gained through His death and resurrection also belong to you. That is the only thing that makes it possible for us to trust and hope in God.
1 Peter 1:21 Through him (Jesus) you believe in God, … and so your faith and hope are in God.
And it is only because of our close connection to Jesus that our worship is acceptable to God. When we come together as a church, and we carry out our role as a holy priesthood – offering sacrifices of praise and love and prayer and repentance and giving and ministry and evangelism – those sacrifices are only acceptable to the Father as genuine, pleasing worship because of our close association with Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
In fact, all of our good deeds come as a result of being in Christ.
1 Peter 3:16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
Glorifying God is not something just anyone can do. It is beyond fallen, human capability. The only one capable of it is Jesus Christ, and so we can only pull it off if we are connected to Christ.
It is good for Peter to remind us of this lest we fall into thinking that glorifying God is within our power just because we have a spiritual gift. Glorifying God is something only God can do, and so we can do it only through our connection with the God-Man, Jesus Christ.
… Amen!
One more word that we still have not covered in this study – it is the last word in the verse – amen. We use the word “amen” at the conclusion of our prayers, but you do not see that in the New Testament. I do not know of any prayer that ends with the word amen in the New Testament. A couple times it comes after a benediction, but most of the time it comes at the end of a doxology, like here. That word is like an exclamation point. You say amen when what has just been said about God just needs to be underlined. God gave us this word so we would have the power to just put exclamation points at the end of statements that should have them. The word “amen” has always been a wonderful tool of worship that God’s people have made use of even from Old Testament times. And I hope it is a tool you use. Saying (or shouting) amen is something that has nothing whatsoever to do with denominational traditions, or cultural customs or practices. It has nothing to do with charismatic or non-charismatic. It is something every child of God should do. When you hear something that really honors God in a great way – some truth that just resonates in your heart, it is an act of worship when you exclaim, “Amen!”
So in all your ministry and service here at Agape, when you speak, use the words of God, and when you serve, do it in a way that shows the strength coming from God, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and power forever and ever… AMEN!
Benediction: Ephesians 1:16 I never stop giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
1:25 Questions
1. What are three or four examples of the power of God that you have seen at Agape?
2. In what way do you think God most desires to display His power in you?
