Sermon 51
Sermon by John Metcalfe on Sunday December 3rd 2006
1 Peter 4
As we sit, let’s pray…
"Lord, we thank you for Peter, who wrote to the
persecuted Christians of his day, reminding them what Christian life was all
about. As we listen to your words this
evening, we pray that you will speak to us and remind each of us afresh what
you want of us. Amen"
Good
evening. As we’ve studied Peter’s 1st
Letter over recent weeks, we’ve heard that Christians in the first-century
church were suffering for their faith ... and it got worse over the following
centuries. Near the end of his life,
Peter wrote this letter to the believers who’d been scattered across
It’s
interesting that there seems to be a link between persecution and church growth. Do you know that there are over 50 countries
today where Christians are being persecuted?
Something around two-thirds of the world’s Christian population faces
some kind of abuse – verbal harassment, discrimination, hostility, physical
persecution or martyrdom, and many thousands of Christians will be killed this
year because of their faith.
A bit of persecution …
§ Would purify our motives – we might think twice about attending a church service for superficial reasons.
§ It would sharpen our priorities – and make us think about what’s important in our lives? …. and
§ It would increase our dependence on God – we would need his strength to cope with opposition.
In
the early chapters, Peter has given these persecuted refugees some good advice
for building firm foundations in their lives.
Chapter 4 is headed – “Living for God” which
suggests we’ll probably find some more good advice. If you want to follow these verses with me,
let’s start at verse 7 on page 1220: “The
end of all things is near. Therefore be
clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because
love covers over a multitude of sins.
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one
should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully
administering God's grace in its various forms.”
“The end of all things is near.”
(1 Peter 4:7). We’re just into the part of the year we call
Advent, when we think about the Coming of Jesus – how often do you think about
Jesus’ return? Annually at Advent … or
more often than that? Perhaps it should
occupy our thoughts more, because Jesus’ return is the most important thing
that will happen to us – he’s coming back to take us to be with him for the
rest of time. And he’ll come to judge
the living and the dead – Peter gets to that in verses 17-18. That’s why we need to keep a close watch on
how we live – we don’t want any nasty surprises when he returns. If I was able to tell you this evening that
Jesus was going to return in 2 weeks time – at
Jesus has told us often enough what he expects of us – we’re here to serve him and one another. It occurs to me that Jesus is something of a capitalist – he expects a return on his investment. A number of Jesus’ parables speak of a landowner or a nobleman who goes away, leaving his possessions in the hands of his servants – we heard what happened in our first reading. These parables remind us that we don’t own this world – we are tenants, stewards, servants.
And one day soon, just like that landowner who returns to see how his servants had done, Jesus will return for an account of how well we’ve done while he’s been away – how we’ve looked after his interests. It’s like the annual report of a company to the shareholders – how well have we done this year – have we done a good job, or not – should the management be well rewarded, or thrown out – what have we done with the resources entrusted to us? The thought of Jesus returning should be a powerful incentive for us to stay focussed.
We
all know that when you’ve only got a limited amount of time and a whole lot of
things that need doing, you have to get stuck in – when exams are looming and a
lot of revision still has to be done, you have to make a plan and stick to it
if you’re going to get through it all.
See what Peter tells us in verses 8-9: “Therefore be clear-minded and
self-controlled so that you can pray.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude
of sins. Offer hospitality to one
another without grumbling.”
“Be clear-minded and self-controlled.” We need to focus – prioritise our time and
evaluate our progress – just what any good manager must do if they want to meet
their objectives – in this case, being of service to one another. But note that Peter also reminds us that at the
heart of service is not grudging obedience, but love. “Above all, love each other deeply”. Love is at the heart of service.
But how can you love someone deeply unless you know them
well? How do you get to love someone
deeply? We have to take time to get to
know them. We have to invest our time
and energy to identify with them – we need to give ourselves in order to serve
them in love rather than duty. Someone once said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
I’ve been thinking recently that we don’t spend as much time as a church getting to know one another these days as we once did. Fifteen years ago we spent more time getting to know one another through various events – there was the annual House Party when a 100 or so of us went off for a week every year to the Isle of Wight, and there were regular social events like the 20’s to 30’s group who met monthly over a meal. It’s much easier to serve one another when you know one another. That’s one of the benefits of the week in Shepton Mallet at New Wine that Ian is encouraging us to go on – Yes there’ll be great speakers, and great worship, and fish and chips (I hope), but we’ll get to know one another better. We’ll grow closer together as a church. Similarly you’ll notice the Christmas Miscellany event advertised on the notice sheet – it’s an opportunity to get to know your fellow Christians better ... and have some fun.
How
else can we get to know one another better?
Well, most of us eat three meals a day, so we have about ninety meals a
month. What if each of us committed
ourselves to invite someone new to our home once a month for a meal, or just
for a cup of tea? Surely that wouldn’t
be too much of a chore? Just think how
much better we’d get to know one another.
Suppose we established a lifestyle of meeting new people and inviting
them to our homes? Lots of people do
that already, but imagine if we all did it regularly.
Think of the new relationships that might develop, and how many more
people we could serve and love? There’s
only one way to find out what would happen – give it a try! John Wesley
was an incredible servant of God, and his motto was “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you
can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you
can, as long as you can.” Now that’s
a challenge!
Now, let’s move on to verses 10-11: “Each
one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully
administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do
it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it
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.”
These verses seem to assume that we’ve all received at
least one gift from God – perhaps the lucky ones have received many gifts – and
we have them in order that we may serve one another. Indeed we discover our gifts by giving them
away, by using them to serve, not by sitting back and admiring them. William Carey had a great mission statement:
“Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.” So what are you expecting from God
today? What are you attempting for God
today?
Let’s have a poll. Raise your hand if you consider yourself gifted. … Not everyone. Why do you think that is? Has God only given gifts to a few people here, or is it that not everyone has bothered to ask God what gifts they’ve been given? Look at verse 10: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others”. We’re all gifted. We’re all special. We’re all unique. We’re all called to use whatever gifts we’ve received to serve others. Remember the nobleman who gave gifts to his servants and then went away. When he returned he expected them to have used the gifts rather than hide them away. The servant who’d kept his gift safe but had done nothing with it had it taken away and was punished. Jesus will want each of us to account for how we have used the gifts that he’s given to us.
Have
you bothered to ask God what special gifts he wants you to use. What are your special gifts? Are you using them? Or are you like the servant who kept his gift
safe but unused, happy to let others go on and use theirs? It’s easy for us to find reasons for not
doing something, isn’t it? I’m sure
we’ve all been there. About 9 or 10
years ago, I’d just finished a 5 year stint as Church Warden, and was starting
to wonder what God might want me to do next.
I was in
To while away the hours, I read my bible, and I prayed
about what I should do next. God seemed
to be telling me that I should become a Reader, which I thought was a daft
idea. Just like Moses, I kept on asking
“Why
Me?” I remember explaining to
God that there others in the church who would be far better than me – people
who had a stronger faith, had a better knowledge of Scripture, were more
spiritual, were practised speakers – surely he could come up with someone
better than me. But as I prayed, God
seemed to be saying: “Yes, there are
better people than you, but it’s YOU
that I want!” And isn’t that the key
– God has a plan for each one of us and he wants us to step out in faith to
fulfil that plan, and he will give us the gifts that we need to achieve
it. He doesn’t just want the few most
talented people to work in his service, he
wants all of us. We can decide to go
along with his plan, or we can reject it, we can use the gifts that he’s
provided, or ignore them, but we will have to explain our decision to him in due
course. What sort of servant will you
be?
Finally Peter warns us that service won’t be easy, we’re
back to that persecution and suffering again – verse 12-14: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the
painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to
you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you
may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the
name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on
you.”
As we said earlier, suffering purifies our motives, it
sharpens our focus, it strengthens our faith – a bit of persecution is good for
us! Peter tells us: “If you are insulted because of the name of
Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”
He’s reminding us that we have obligations as Christians;
there are things that God wants us to do, rather than just do our own
thing. Verse 18 reminds us that “It is hard for the righteous to be saved”
– God wants us to serve, and that means giving up time and resources that we
might have preferred to spend selfishly.
But we shouldn’t be discouraged. Albert Schweitzer
said, “The only really happy people are those who have learned how to serve.”
Let’s pray: “Loving
Lord, you have given each of us the gifts that we need to fulfil the plan you
have for us. Help us to take the time to
understand what it is you want us to do, and how you want us to serve, so that
you will be glorified and we will be blessed.
Amen”