Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, good morning. My name is Lewis. I get to pastor this campus and I get to serve alongside of you guys. We got a unique Sunday that what's been really neat for us is we've been praying for this Sunday specifically for a while as a team in a way that we can invite you to be part of what we're doing in a variety of ways. I want to remind you about a couple things that have been announced prior to today.
[00:00:22] Re Engage starts in a couple of weeks.
[00:00:25] If you're married and you 0 to 10, doesn't matter what number you say you would say you are, this is an opportunity for you to grow in your marriage, honestly, grow in your faith. So I want to let you know about that. And this afternoon we're having a new women's welcome coffee. If you're. You've been visiting and you're like, I want to know more about this church and the women's ministry. We have an opportunity for you to do that today. It's on the app or the website where you can check those things out. Let's take a moment to pray for these things and to pray for this message together as brothers and sisters. And sisters. Well, Father, thank you for this time that you've set aside that we get to learn more about you and how we can serve your body and glorify you in doing so.
[00:01:06] Lord, I'm grateful for the opportunities that Re Engage and the women's ministry offer. Lord, I pray that your spirit would just really bring those to bear that need to be part of that, that you would help them see and know how these things can benefit them and that you would lead them to participate.
[00:01:22] Lord God, we thank you for this. Prepare and soften our hearts. And Lord, what we learn today, may we walk it out by faith. Lord, we thank you for this. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:01:32] Well, if you were with us last week, we laid the foundation, powerful foundation for this whole series called Mine, where everything is God's.
[00:01:42] It's not yours, it's his. Your talent, your time, your treasure, all of it his.
[00:01:49] The quote we gave last week from Abraham Kuyper from 1880, this claim rings in our ears. With this, there is not one square inch, including the gifts wired into your personality and skill set, over which Christ does not cry.
[00:02:06] Mine, all we have is his. So this week we get to be a little specific. The first part of those, those three opportunities of stewardship, and that is talent.
[00:02:18] We're going to be in First Peter, chapter four. And so as we're turning there I want to kind of give you a little bit of context of where we find ourselves in this letter from Peter. He's writing to a church under real and immediate pressure. Believers, those who have trusted Jesus, are scattered across Asia Minor facing suffering and hostility for their faith, some of them even likely facing actual persecution and threat of life under Roman authorities.
[00:02:45] This isn't a comfortable, prosperous congregation Peter is writing to in the middle of that pressure. He doesn't tell them to hunker down, hide, protect what little they have.
[00:02:59] He doesn't tell them to wait quietly. He tells them almost the opposite.
[00:03:05] Because the time is short, he says, don't waste what you've been given.
[00:03:10] Don't waste what you've been given. So look at this with me. 1 Peter 4 We're going to start in verse 7 with these things in mind. It says the end of all things is at hand, therefore be self controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers.
[00:03:29] Peter isn't handing his readers a date to circle on the calendar of when the things are coming. When the things at hand are coming. He's given them an orientation, a framework, a perspective to have live like eternity. It's closer than you think, because it is.
[00:03:49] Think about how differently you'd use a gift if you genuinely believe your window to use it was shorter than you assume. If you only had a little bit of time left and you had this gift to share with others, you would do it with urgency, with a sense of responsibility.
[00:04:06] Moses prayed exactly this in Psalm 90, verse 12, which we'll talk about next week, where he says in verse 12 to teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. Teach us to number our days, to live a life on purpose, always.
[00:04:23] And what Peter is doing, he's applying that same numbered days urgency specifically to how we use our gifts for another self controlled. He says, sober minded.
[00:04:38] It's a call to clarity, a clear eyed use of what you've actually been given instead of scattered, distracted. A distracted life that never gets around to using it at all. And that's where some of us are.
[00:04:56] Notice the urgency that is tied to it with this one word, with prayer.
[00:05:02] In other words, stewarding your talent doesn't start with busyness. It starts with an attentive praying life that's actually paying attention to what God has put in your hands.
[00:05:15] It's us pausing.
[00:05:17] So I want to do something in way of practice.
[00:05:21] Over the past few weeks, going into early August, we talked about the gifts that God has uniquely given each one of us if you're a follower of Jesus, he has shaped you a certain way for this body. And remember, you belong right, you have a purpose and we grow together. And last week we learned that everything is God's. And so one of the gifts that we get in this moment is to, as Peter says here, pray. And so what I'm going to ask you to do, just as a show of faith, is to to pray with me with your hands open and for you to ask the Lord, like, Lord, what have you given me to do? How can I serve this body of believers? In what way have you uniquely shaped me so that I can be part of the body of Christ?
[00:06:07] Because I belong and I have purpose and I'm going to grow together with these people. So let's do this together. I'm going to give you a moment just to pray quietly and then I'll pray over all of us. Let's do it, Father. As Peter brings out sober minded, self controlled, the sense of clarity, of knowing why you made us, what you gave us to give to the body.
[00:06:58] And Lord, I pray that you would be with my brothers and sisters and myself this morning as we consider the ways that you've made us, the things that we can bring to be part of this body.
[00:07:10] And Lord, with those in hand, Lord God, we want to release them to you, to trust you, to trust that you're able to help us with wisdom, with strength, with power to do these things for your glory.
[00:07:27] Lord, we thank you for this.
[00:07:29] In Jesus name, amen.
[00:07:32] Then we see transitions. This is kind of neat, he says in verse eight and verse nine, he says above all, like, pray about it, be sober minded, be self controlled. Right, do that.
[00:07:44] Keep loving one another earnestly.
[00:07:49] Now what's powerful about this, that sometimes we may blow past. But remember, Scripture interprets scripture. We get to learn more about what God's word means by studying God's Word expansively. And so one neat thing here is as he's about to build into the gifts of the Spirit, what he does first is reminds them to love. So if you have studied First Corinthians, you know that Paul does a similar thing in chapter 12. He talks about the gifts of the body, how to use them. Chapter 13 he says, you can do all those things, but without love, they're just noise.
[00:08:24] And so here Peter does something similar. He says, above all, keep loving one another earnestly. And then here's the thought, since love covers a multitude of sins.
[00:08:37] And then verse nine, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. I don't know if you've ever been to somebody's house who welcomes you in, but they got a little bit of spunk with it, you know what I'm saying?
[00:08:51] This isn't that. This is the one that makes you feel like you belong, like you have a room with the bed made just for you. That type of hospitality, grateful that you showed up.
[00:09:03] Look at this with me. So love covers doesn't mean that there's ignoring of sin.
[00:09:10] What it means is refusing to keep score, choosing grace over keeping a ledger of everyone's failures against you. That's what's happening here.
[00:09:22] Similar to Proverbs 10:12, where it says nearly the same thing. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offense.
[00:09:31] This is relational, not judicial. Peter isn't saying love excuses sin before God. He is saying love refuses to catalog everyone's wrongs and everyone who does wrong you in the church, but to show love, which obviously is coupled with forgiveness. And then it says, and show hospitality without grumbling. Most of us picture the talent that we've been given as something that happens on a stage, or singing or speaking or leading. Peter starts somewhere else entirely with this image of an open home, a shared meal, a welcome extended without resentment. In the ancient world, hospitality to traveling believers, especially persecuted ones with nowhere else to stay, was just courtesy. It was normative.
[00:10:22] It could be genuinely costly and even risky for them, but it was deliberate that they were called to do so. If you think about your experience visiting churches, if you've ever had to go church shopping, how warm you felt mattered when you showed up. Were they grumbling about you showing up, or were they grateful that you were a guest?
[00:10:45] Then look at this in verse 10. And this is, I would say, the linchpin really of our thinking here when it talks about our call to why we're doing this as brothers and sisters serving the body of Christ. It's here.
[00:10:59] Notice in verse 10 it says this as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Some key things to point out here. That word each means no exceptions.
[00:11:16] If you're breathing this morning, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of the living God has given you a gift to give to the body of Christ.
[00:11:30] It's similar to what he says, what Paul says in First Corinthians 12. He says, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit. Here's why. For the common good.
[00:11:40] Not to those who are just extroverted, not to those who are naturally talented to each all of us.
[00:11:50] Shy, gregarious, subtle, sneaky, whatever you are, you need to know that the spirit of the living God has placed on you a distinct gift to offer back to the body for the building up of the body of Christ. And then this phrase here that Peter uses, varied grace.
[00:12:09] It means multicolored, like multifaceted, the light through a prism, like a kaleidoscope. God's grace doesn't come in one uniform shade, shape or size for everyone.
[00:12:23] It comes in a spectrum, a uniqueness and particular color is exactly where the one he has intended you to carry out, the thing that is uniquely you that God has shaped to offer and bring to the body. James uses this same word, various in James 1:2. The same variety that marks our suffering also marks God's grace towards us in Christ.
[00:12:48] And then the word for gift, it comes from the word for grace, the same root word, right?
[00:12:55] So it means that your talent is not generated by you or achieved by you on your own.
[00:13:03] And that also means that you can't take credit for it. It's a grace given. And we happen to be, as it says here, stewards. The word stewards means it's a household manager. That's the language. It is one that Paul uses for someone who's entrusted with a resource that wasn't their own, someone responsible to manage a household and all the inventory in the house for the sake of the one who owns it.
[00:13:32] That's what we're called to do. Take this very grace that we've been given and to steward it, because we don't own it. It belongs to God and we get to use it for his body.
[00:13:43] That's a gift. Think about this.
[00:13:46] The sovereign God of the universe who spoke all things into being, trust you to serve one another with his spirit in you to serve one another.
[00:13:59] That says a lot about him and his work in you that he would call you to do such a thing.
[00:14:05] We've been using this word, I want to make sure, for clarification's sake, the word talent interchangeably between talent and spiritual gift. But for a moment, let's see the distinction. Just a few things to point out. Talents can come from birth, genetics, upbringing, learning and practice, and can be honed over time.
[00:14:28] However, a spiritual gift is something you were born again into and it can be grown over time as you grow in your faith. Talents are natural, gifts are supernatural gifts. These spiritual gifts come through a new birth and as a result of the Holy Spirit pointing that out. These are given at conversion. A talent can be stewarded like selfishly and still function. A talented person can build a career, a following, a brand, a name.
[00:14:59] However, a spiritual gift is by definition for the common good and it serves the body. It doesn't fully make sense outside of serving others.
[00:15:10] Your gifts are for the body.
[00:15:14] Talent says, look what I can do. A source of pride gift says, look what grace did to me.
[00:15:24] The word here is from the same word as we said for grace, which means your spiritual gift is not about the person who exercises it, but for the glory of the one who gave it to you.
[00:15:38] Last week we delved into this and I want to point that out a little bit more and just kind of double click on it. In Romans 11:36 from last week, it says, for from him and through him, and to him are all things. To him be glory. Amen. Forever. Amen. Those three prepositions from him which means it shows the source of these things through him means it shows the power for the things you're going to be doing. And to him shows the purpose as to who you're doing it for.
[00:16:08] Similar to 1 Peter 4:11.
[00:16:11] Whoever speaks, he says as one who speaks the oracles, the mysteries of God.
[00:16:16] Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength. Notice this, that God supplies in order that in everything so so notice this. The purpose for God strengthening and supplying this is so that in order that everything may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Real quick. Notice again. I want you to learn the text with me.
[00:16:45] There's a doxology here.
[00:16:47] It's a word of praise.
[00:16:50] He culminates after teaching us our responsibility and call as brothers and sisters. And then he culminates with praise to God.
[00:16:58] So few things that I think are powerful here.
[00:17:02] The strength to serve isn't self generated. The gift isn't self generated. And neither is the strength to use it. It's the strength that God supplies. So it's not just your gift from the Lord, it's the energy, the very energy you use to exercise it. Keeping the mindset we're using here. You're to do this self controlled, sober minded, prayerfully.
[00:17:30] You're to do this loving one another earnestly. These are the caveats with exercising this powerful gift that God generated in you. To do it with hospitality, without grumbling.
[00:17:43] And notice too, the purpose at the end of the whole point, in order that so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, stewarding your talent, both your natural talents and your spiritual gifts, isn't ultimately about your fulfillment, though fulfillment follows, it's about God's glory. And notice this, which is super curious and powerful, which excites me. I'll just tell you that it fed my spirit.
[00:18:15] Notice here it's about God's glory through Jesus Christ.
[00:18:20] That little through Jesus Christ there seems kind of inconsequential, but let me just tell you, it's quite consequential.
[00:18:27] And here's why.
[00:18:29] What is being implied here is that the glory that the Father receives is as a result of His Son living a sinless life, dying on the cross for sinners like you and me, rising from the dead, ascending to his right hand, sending His Holy Spirit to a bunch of broken self centered people, redeeming and ransoming those people. And those people now with the gifts that he gave them through His Spirit by grace are serving him and he gets glorified for that.
[00:18:59] That little through Jesus Christ is a loaded statement implying this crazy grace filled gospel work is transforming each of us for the glory of God so that he is seen and known through this work as we obediently serve one another.
[00:19:15] What a gift.
[00:19:19] Sorry.
[00:19:23] So whatever we're stewarding in your life, including the talent, spiritual gift, it all ends the same way.
[00:19:38] Everything is God's.
[00:19:40] It goes back to him again from him, through him and to him are all things.
[00:19:51] So what does this actually look like in your life this week?
[00:19:58] So that you know your talent, your gifting was never meant to sit filed away in a drawer.
[00:20:06] It's grace, its own loan meant to be spent on someone else. Namely, as we've learned, the Body of Christ. Why? For the glory of the One who gave us the gift. So that he is seen and known, so that he is lifted up. Whatever season you find yourself in, or wherever you came and walked in here, if you've been with Jesus for a while, you have a next step to take.
[00:20:35] And that step, any step we take after we hear God's word is a step of faith where we have to walk out what we say we believe.
[00:20:45] So if you're new to all of this and you haven't been in the church and you're like just figuring things out, your next step may be just starting to connect with one of our staff, somebody that's been on stage, or one of our staff or greeters, just ask them, hey, tell me more about this following Jesus thing.
[00:21:07] What does it mean to really walk this out?
[00:21:10] And so maybe that's you and that's your next step. Or maybe you've been starting out in faith, you've been a believer for a little bit, you're excited about what God's doing or maybe you've been walking with Jesus for a long time.
[00:21:22] I would say your next step, if you have it, is start connecting in one of our ministries.
[00:21:28] Find your place in the body of Christ. Connect and just use these gifts.
[00:21:34] A gift varied. Grace this gift to the body and start serving.
[00:21:39] And notice this.
[00:21:41] This church will be healthier when everyone stops assuming that someone else is doing it.
[00:21:53] We can't just come and receive ministry. We've got to do ministry. We've got to get equipped. We talked about that a few weeks ago.
[00:22:01] We've got to open our mouths, we've got to serve. So if you're coming to grace, you have a gift.
[00:22:09] And you have not only a gift, you have a background, you've got an experience, you've got the gender that God made you, the race that God gave you, the age that you are, your education, your experiences, your sufferings, your trouble, all the things you've had in your life. Every single one of us is unique. And when you turn to serve other people because of your unique experience and gifts, it means that there are some hands that only you can hold.
[00:22:39] Only you can because of the way that God shaped you.
[00:22:44] There are some people that only you can comfort.
[00:22:48] And it's the spirit of God working through you to do these things.
[00:22:53] He's also the power, the strength to do it. It says so let's be specific about the opportunities.
[00:23:04] We have some incredible outlets for you to use your gifts within the body of Christ. Here, our Grace Kids ministry.
[00:23:14] Every hour that we spend on a Sunday morning teaching, leading small groups or just wrangling energetic kids is an hour that you parents get to worship without distraction and a foundation laid in a child's life who may not remember your name, but will remember that they felt safe and good.
[00:23:34] Serving in this capacity keeps you close to childlike faith and reminds you that wonder and trust what it looked like before your life complicated them.
[00:23:48] It will benefit you as you serve and grace kids Grace Student ministry or gsm.
[00:23:55] In this opportunity, you get to walk alongside of teenagers during the years they're deciding what they actually believe.
[00:24:03] You get to show up consistently knowing their names, their schedules, their struggles. This gives students a trusted adult in addition to their parents who's in their corner.
[00:24:14] If you serve in this capacity for you, oh my goodness.
[00:24:17] It's a front row seat into watching faith take root in a new generation. And a few things that sharpen your own Convictions like having to explain to a 16 year old who's asking hard questions, God will use this way of serving to grow you, not just them.
[00:24:37] I've shared this before, but one of the reasons I wanted to come and serve at this church over 11 years ago is because of our joy ministry. Our ministry to families with special needs.
[00:24:50] Okay, stop.
[00:24:51] The fact that this church has that was like, if it's possible, I want to be part of that.
[00:24:58] This ministry says clearly that every person bears the image of God and belongs in the body. No exceptions.
[00:25:08] Families who've often been quietly excluded elsewhere get to worship together fully welcomed.
[00:25:15] Serving here as a way of reordering your priorities and puts presence and patience and unconditional love in front and center, which you need as much as they would.
[00:25:28] Men's and women's ministry and our college and young adult ministry.
[00:25:32] These are the spaces where people find others walking the same road, the same season, the same struggles, the same questions, and stop carrying it all by themselves.
[00:25:43] So if you lead or host in this outlet, you get to build real relationship and friendship instead of just the Sunday morning familiarity and be part of iron sharpening iron in both directions. You benefiting as much as the other.
[00:26:00] You'll be changed by these relationships as much as anyone you're pouring into.
[00:26:06] And then we have a groups ministry for small groups.
[00:26:10] Small groups where the church actually gets small enough to be known.
[00:26:15] A leader creates the room where people can be honest, study the Bible together and be prayed for by name. It's one of the fastest ways to grow as a disciple yourself.
[00:26:26] You can't shepherd others through scripture without you working on it first.
[00:26:31] Then our worship team, which here's the deal, some of us are gifted for it and if you're like me, some of us are not.
[00:26:41] But if you are, I want you to know this. The worship team sets the tone for the whole worship gathering, helping the church fix our eyes on God together through prayer and song and giving.
[00:26:57] It's a way to use a specific gift for something bigger than performance. And there's a particular kind of joy in leading others to respond to God's grace in their lives. If God's calling you, this is a way.
[00:27:08] Our AV team, the unsung heroes in the back. It's a quiet, largely unseen ministry which makes it a good place to serve the body of Christ. It's a great fit for people who'd rather serve behind the scenes than up front. Yet it builds a sense of belonging to God's work.
[00:27:28] And then my favorite personally, because of How God made me is guest services.
[00:27:36] Whether it's making coffee, greeting, ushering the parking lot, this is often someone's first impression of our church. And first impressions shape whether or not a guest comes back. I mean, think about it. Any of you ever had a first date and it wasn't awesome?
[00:27:57] Several girls I know did.
[00:28:03] It's a true story.
[00:28:06] A warm greeting, a hot cup of coffee, someone holding the door, a smooth parking lot experience, a helpful usher.
[00:28:15] Small things that together say you're wanted here.
[00:28:21] It's one of the easiest on ramps in a serving. And it trains you in hospitality. The simple, steady practicing of noticing people and making sure that they know that you see them.
[00:28:32] Because some of us just need to know we belong.
[00:28:37] Here's some opportunities.
[00:28:40] You need to know that you were made with a purpose, not just to sit and watch.
[00:28:48] You were made for this. You belong here. You have purpose. And we get to grow together. And remember about God's grace that we've already talked about. God's grace shapes you, saves you, and sends you into the lives of other people to serve one another.
[00:29:05] So my question is, what's stopping you from starting this week?
[00:29:11] And then final question, why does this matter?
[00:29:17] So hopefully this will eliminate the other hurdle.
[00:29:21] It matters because it helps you grow in your own faith as you serve other people.
[00:29:27] It helps you because you get to contribute to the body of Christ.
[00:29:31] It helps you because this body is made up of all of us. And if we have been paying attention to our Romans 12 benediction that we've been saying to one another, we know that we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
[00:29:51] So we're inviting you to take the next step. And so what that looks like is in a moment we're going to pray and I'm going to invite you to dismiss. And there are some signs that are hung up, some in this room and some in the commons.
[00:30:09] Worship and AV right here, GSM also right here, men's and women's ministry over here in this little angled corner by the credenza, I got to use a big word.
[00:30:23] College and young adults in front of our EE doors, which are on the right.
[00:30:28] Grace kids are out there.
[00:30:30] Guest services is actually going to be the connection central. Connect central.
[00:30:35] If any of these things is what God's calling you to do. If you would just. There may be a line at one of them because people are excited about the opportunity to steward what God gave them. If you would just wait just for a second, because you being part of that is worth the wait, the people that you get to serve in that are worth you waiting. So if you would just take a moment and just fill that out, that's a way that we can connect with you and find out how you can be part of what God's doing here. If you've been paying attention since my first sermon here, which was August 9, 2015, at the end of every service, I have said these words to you.
[00:31:17] We love you and it is our joy to serve alongside of you.
[00:31:25] I've literally said it every time I've done the final word.
[00:31:32] We're inviting you to serve alongside of us, to use the unique way that God made you for a purpose.
[00:31:39] You belong here.
[00:31:41] You have a purpose, and we get to grow together. Let me pray for us.
[00:31:45] Father, in Jesus name, thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you for the way that we get to point to you with our lives, the way that you've made us. I pray that your spirit would guide us and guard us as we do it.
[00:31:58] Lead us now, Lord Jesus, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:32:03] You're dismissed.
