Serving as a place of power and restoration (1 Peter 4:10)
- Quote: Esau McCauley (Asst. Professor NT, Wheaton College)—“The religion that needs a politician to protect it is not Christianity. If death couldn’t hold Jesus then we’ll be fine come what may.”
- If we think the church needs recuse then we have one of at least three problems
- We have lost sight of the strength and power of our Savior Jesus.
- We have lost sight of the mission that God gave the church.
- Remember my series on the mission of God from last year?
- Or we are failing to see God in the persecution the church is facing.
- The underground church in china has been praying that a great wave of persecution would come on the church in the Us. Maybe what we are facing is the answer to their prayers.
- We have lost common sense in understanding what is happening and how to fight it.
- But the reality here is that the church has lost her power and effectiveness.
- The fact that the church is searching for a political solution means the church has recognized that we have a problem.
- But rather than recapturing our god given power through the Holy Spirit, we have turned to an inept government.
- If the church needs help from politicians and the government then we have lost our power and our mission.
- Today I want to suggest that another way to restore the church is to restore biblical and sacrificial servings.
- I want to talk about serving in two realms.
- Natural realm serving.
- And spirit realm serving or super natural serving with our spiritual gifts.
- The grammar of this verse 4:10 and peter’s comment in Verse 1:1 of the book where he addresses strangers in the world throughout Asia makes it clear this is a command for all and not just a select few.
- Let’s talk about super natural serving through our spiritual gifts.
- Notice it says Each of you should use whatever gift you have received
Then the passage in 1 Peter 4 ends with faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
God has given us these gifts to be stewards of them.
If we don’t use our gifts in service then they languish on the shelf like the man who buried his talent in the ground. The parable of the minas?? Luke 19:11
Oe more verse Eph 6:7 A literal translation of the Greek could be, “Serve with Good eagerness”
But of course, the key here is to serve each other as if we were serving the Lord directly.
The gifts we have received from God are forms of His grace, and his Grace is to be shared.
Not only does this improve our own spiritual life, it also helps to restore the power and effectiveness to the church.