We are going to look at our roles as Christians. As Christians of the Church. Having membership as parts of this body of our Lord Jesus Christ and what we do both inside and outside of the Church. How we uphold the principles of discipleship in our role as a Christian to influence unbelievers with the hope of bringing them to the Lord. The intent which is to expand the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. We are to prepare each other so we can exist with each other in eternity. We have a special role divinely appointed to those who claim to seek His will.
At first glance, 1 Peter 4:7-11 appears to touch on the basic stuff. We are going to take a critical look at what each of these requirements are, what they mean to us in our walk with Christ and with each other, and how as we develop a deeper understanding of how Christ Himself conducted His ministry while on earth should also be examples of how we too should conduct our business – as progressive faithful children of God for the sake of advancing His majestic kingdom. We are called to increase.
Isaiah 54:2 - “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
1 Cor. 9:10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.
This is what it means to be a Church of Jesus Christ. But first some background into the heart and mind of Simon, called Peter also given the name The Rock. An interesting man, no different than you and I. He made many mistakes. Untrained in (rabbinical tradition) other than a skilled fisherman which he was often baffled by the authority of his Master through the miracles He did. Beginning in Chapter 4.
4 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, (patient endurance in unjust suffering) because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. Christ’s suffering is for sin. Therefore we ought not to let sin prevail in our lives to suffer us even more.
2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
Heavenly Father, here in this place we come just as you’ve commanded that we come. And we come just as we are. We don’t try to be what the world expects us to be – but we come just as you have made us – fearfully and wonderfully. We come asking dear Lord for your mercy. We ask for your forgiveness. We ask for your overwhelming compassion to cover us with your love – not that you don’t already do that but so that our hearts can be sensitive towards your holy righteousness and all of God’s goodness. That we may experience the joy you have in store for us if we are to come obediently, submissively and expectantly. In Jesus name.
1. Clear mind and self-controlled
"Each time, before you intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!" Andrew Murray
"...True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length." C. H. Spurgeon
2. Love fervently
Fervent – Deeply – “Stretched” or “Strained” describes the taut muscles of an athlete that strains to win a race.
Love so deep it rattles the cage of normalcy. Anybody can love routinely but only Christ obeying, Christ trusting and Christ suffering children of God who are succumbed by the overwhelming Agape of the Cross can love so excellently.
This kind of strenuously maintained love is not blind but sees and accepts the faults of others.
Not blind but sees and accepts.
We look with our eyes the shame of a despicable sinner and we see the deformity of our allegiance to our Lord Jesus Christ. We no longer see a broken man because Christ will restore both that and this man. Love covers a multitude of sins.
We look with our eyes the horror of an immoral and corrupt soul behind the well-groomed and well-liked person and we see the depravity and deficit of our own deserted relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. We no longer feel angry because Christ will convict both that and this man, but starting with this (man) to reach out with the love that was demonstrated on the cross to embrace one another. Love covers a multitude of sins.
3. Hospitable – Friend of strangers/foreigners
When we think of hospitality, we think of people we know, people who pay, or people we choose to be kind towards (Era of patronage – “Right to refuse service”)
John Piper: Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners. That was the word on the street in first-century Palestine.
The precise phrase — “friend of sinners” — is mentioned twice in the Gospels, in Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:34. The naysayers of the day, the religious aristocracy [ar-uh-stok-ruh-see], criticized Jesus as a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
They called him this because it was true. He was a friend of sinners. Jesus himself said that he didn’t come for the spiritually healthy, but for the sick. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:31–32).
Just like he greeted children that others thought were a nuisance, he welcomed sinners that others didn’t (Matthew 19:14; Luke 7:37–39). He looked at them, as Mark says he did with the rich young man, and he loved them (Mark 10:21). He had compassion on them. And most glorious of all, he wielded his authority to speak those wondrous words, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48).
1. Be okay with marginal.
In the example of Jesus, we need to be all right with marginal all the way around. Be okay with associating with the marginal, the poor, the destitute — those often overlooked in society (Luke 7:22). Go there. Be with this people. Serve them. Learn from them. And be okay with being thought marginal yourself.
2. Aim to love, not be liked.
We must nail this down. The aim of our charge is love, not popularity (1 Timothy 1:5).
Jesus came to serve, not be served (Mark 10:45), and the same goes for us. We are in this world to serve, not be pampered. To love, not be applauded. To bless, not be notarized. So we should care about our reputation — to serve and love and bless — but that doesn’t mean trying so hard to be liked by everybody.
3. Put the gospel to work.
This means, first and foremost, that the most important thing we could ever say is that Jesus is Lord. He is the risen King of the universe, alive now and reigning in his mercy and love, commanding all people everywhere to repent and come home. This is amazingly good news, and it is controversial. If we believe this, and say it, some sinners won’t want to be our friends. Nevertheless, the news is still good. The truth is still compelling. Its beauty is never diminished.
When these truths touch our lives and are put to work in our relationships, we’ll be walking in the steps of our Savior. When this world-shaking wonder orders the way we, sinners saved by grace, think about those around us, sinners in need of grace, then, and only then, we’ll make for good friends. Then we’ll be good friends of sinners, like the true and better “friend of sinners.”
4. Serve extraordinarily
Bob Hoekstra :: Day By Day By Grace
The manifold grace of God is such an appropriate truth for our concluding meditation. It is both humbling and faith-building to be reminded of the majestic diversity of God's grace. God's grace is manifold. It is like a heavenly diamond with innumerable facets. Every vantage point reflects a new insight into the gracious resources of our Lord. From some biblical viewpoints,
• Justifying – freed by grace
• Word of His grace builds us up
• Sanctifying – growing in grace – “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ)
• Strengthening – Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 2:1)
• Establishing the heart
• Fruit producing grace
• Ministry developing grace
• Grace that is sufficient
5. Minister faithfully
Our Christ who is returning made it very clear that opposition is imminent when we speak of His Name. Judgment of both the living and the dead is inescapable. We live because we have the Word of God. We die because we reject His Son. But the authority of His Son is forever victorious. The power of the Holy Spirit is forever effective. And the inerrancy of His Word will one day dissipate from our hearing of it from the mouths of men; and on that one day under the very lordship of Jesus Christ, He Himself will utter those same Words as He is The Word; And out of His lips will Himself speak to those who will join Him at the feet of His throne.
Father grant us the courage and conviction to follow what Peter and all the other apostles have done with the great commission. For it is still active, urgent, and compulsory for people to be taught, to be baptized and to be obedient until the very end of age.
