In order that…
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 4.10-11a
Joel did a great job teaching tonight from 1 Peter 4.7-11. Make sure to grab the podcast here if you weren't able to make it. The portion that struck me the hardest and has helped me to become unsettled to the point of restlessness and sleeplessness tonight is "whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ."
As we continue to push forward with Living Hope, more work, effort, sweat, blood, tears, and overall strength will be needed. Church planting is not easy. It's the Daniel Boone trailblazing of ecclesiology. It's nothing less than living as a missionary in your own cultural context which in itself can make the task harder than foreign missions due to the temptation to fall into the normative cultural (or the Church's cultural) expectations.
But that's neither here nor there, my point is this: is what I am doing undoubtedly being done in the strength provided by none other than God? Or, on the other hand, is the work I've done thus far work that people can see issuing out of my own (God-given) strengths? These questions themselves beg another question: how, when, and where do we draw the line? After all, if my giftings are "of God's varied grace", isn't my using them even in my own strength ultimately a proof that God has provided the said strength to begin with?
I don't claim to know the answer per se, especially when the complexities of gifts and graces, Divine Sovereignty and human responsibility all collide in this beautiful thing we call "Church." But what I do know is that it is easy to slip into a system, a plan, a layout, a template, a model, a work-mode, a schema, and a whole slew of like things instead of actually relying fully upon God. It is Jesus who said "I will build my church." Thankfully, he uses weak vessels such as myself to be a part of it; or, as Paul put it, to "plant" or to "water", all the while knowing that it is God alone who "gives growth" (1 Cor 3.5-7).
Thus, the ultimate point and question is regarding how much I continually rely on God. Do I only rely on him for the initial gifting and then try to take it from there? "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Gal. 3.3).
Peter doesn't say "in order that in the beginning" or "in the first portion of your Christian life" God may be glorified. No, "in everything..." Thus, it's not enough for me to begin by the Spirit, to receive the gift of life, become a child of God, receive gifts from him, and then carry the rest of the way home on my own. The Christian life cannot give God glory for initiation and then rob him of it the remainder of the lifetime. Rather, the Christian life is one of continual, perpetual faith in our Father's wise plan, the Son's redemptive work, and the Spirit's indwelling power.
We are saved by grace through faith once for all, no doubt, but we are not saved by grace through faith all at once. It's a process. A daily relying and trusting in our Savior to be our strength, to be our supply, to give the growth.
I've not done the job I should in making certain that God gets the glory "in everything" by being seen as the continual source of life, power, and strength in me. It's time for me to step it up. Will you join me?
Christ’s Sufferings, Noah’s Parable, Our Victory
This past week was quite a doozy as far as the passage goes. It has 180+ interpretational variances, entire books written on 2 of the verses, and plenty of heated debates surrounding it. I've got admit that it is by far the most strenuous prep work I've done for a passage in my short life as a preacher.
But oh how many riches there were to be found! The rich imagery that the story of Noah brings to mind in relating the opening idea—Christ's sufferings on the cross for our sin—and the closing exclamation—that Jesus is now at the right hand of the Father, owning everything and everyone—is absolutely breathtaking.
If you couldn't make it this past week (a good few of you were out), then I'd encourage you to check out the podcast. There is a lot that I go through in it, and being that it was so much content, I go through it pretty fast (and thus somewhat sloppily at various points). That being the case, here are my basic notes that I went from so you can study them, the podcast, or the two side by side.
I hope you benefit from Peter's difficult words as I have the past several weeks.
To this you have been called
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:18-25
Those words hurt bad today. It's one thing to preach something, but it is entirely different to live in it. I suppose that is what incarnational living is all about, eh? Just as Jesus—the Word—became flesh and lived here on earth, so too we—his body—take his words, his truth, himself upon us and in us and then subsequently actually flesh it out, aka 'incarnate.'
Today was one of those days. I preached about the unjust suffering in the work place that Peter details in 1 Peter 2:18-25 about 2 weeks ago. Today it hit with a whole new force, one that took my breath away spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
In the midst of that passage, Peter goes beyond saying that we ought to suffer as Christians. He doesn't just dismiss the Americanized notion of Christianity, one of white picket fences, 2.5 kids, triple digit incomes, etc.—both spiritually and physically speaking. Rather, he looks that lie, that heresy in the eyes and says the exact opposite. When discussing unjust suffering (particularly in the work place), he says that it isn't a slip-up of God or something that flew under the radar of providence. No sir, he says the opposite: it is a "gracious thing" (vv. 19, 20). It is an active favor and grace from God to us. It is not evil that overtakes us apart from God, but favor that is directed to us from God.
He goes further still. Peter says in verse 21 that this—unjust suffering—is what we have been called to as Christians. We have not been called to health, wealth, or prosperity. We have been called to suffering. Not just suffering, either, but unjust suffering.
I know this is review from what I said the other week, but it is definitely something we all need to be reminded of in the context of our comfortable, Bible-belt Christian living. Today I was indirectly yelled at all day, lumped in with a person who dropped the ball at work, and thrown under the bus by that same person even though I tried to defend them in the face of their own blasting.
I really only had two options. 1) Explain what really happened to the parties who were angry, yelling, stomping, blaming, and doing all of that because of misinformation. Or, 2) take it like a person who has been justified.
If the first happens, then perhaps they'd understand, and then all the antagonism would be pointed where it rightly should be and my name would be cleared. If the second route is taken, however, then the possibilities—according to Scripture—are endless.
Endless? Really? Is that an overstatement, John? No. It's not. Here's how.
- Peter says that Christ was our example in his own unjust suffering. Obviously Christ's unjust suffering has had an innumerable amount of effects in the world of today and the world of eternity
- We are to suffer like him. Of course, our suffering isn't one of an atoning nature, but we are in the midst of unjust suffering reflecting the example of Christ into the world that needs to see his atoning suffering, meaning our suffering leads to people seeing Jesus' sufferings which then gets us back to point #1 and its infinite value, worth, and effect.
- Such suffering is what we were called to. The people called are the people who were formerly predestined and are currently (and subsequently from the calling) justified (Rom 8:28-30). Suffering is proof of our calling and it is the spring board by which our calling is propelled from calling to justification to final glorification (v. 30).
- All of that process is described in detail in v.29, namely that we are made to look more and more like Jesus. Looking more like Jesus will bring more people to him, taking us back to point #1 again, and looking like Jesus is our eternal, final (aka 'endless') state of being.
So, yes. The effect and result of taking route #2 today—suffering unjustly—are endless. My prayer is that I would be "mindful of God" in the midst of this and that even though my name may be run through the mud, Jesus' name would be honored and esteemed and that somehow, someway it would end up that people would give me a chance to "make a defense to anyone who asks [me] for a reason for the hope that is in [me]" (1 Pet. 3:15). If that ends up being the case, I will still be able to say our company's slogan with confidence, "it's a great day at TeleVox."