The First Letter of Peter- 18

Subtitle: Our Witness before the World- Part 10

1 Peter 4:7-11. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, March 22, 2026. 

As Peter has called Christians to have the same mind that Christ had when he suffered in the flesh for the will of God, he now turns to give some further commands that become more about how Christians are towards one another. 

Of course, this is a witness to the world.  Yet, more importantly, this world is coming to an end.  This makes our witness to the world far more critical.  This is the idea behind this passage.

Let’s get into our passage.

The end of all things has come near (v. 7-11)

Peter has just described Jesus as being “ready” to judge the living and the dead.  Here, we have a similar phrase.  “The end of all things is near (or at hand).”  In both of these phrases, we can focus on the amount of time connected to these events.  If Jesus is ready and the end is near (literally “has come near”), then surely it means that there is very little time until they happen.

This is not necessarily true, neither is it evidently true.  Jesus can be ready to judge now while the Father is not telling him to do so.  In other words, it is the Father who will signal when the judgment occurs.  Jesus is simply in the ready position.  He doesn’t need to do anything else.  Before the cross, before the grave, and before the resurrection, Jesus was not ready to judge.  He is ready now.  Yet, it can still be a long time until the Father sends him in judgment.

This same thing is true for the end of all things being at hand.  Many say that the disciples believed Jesus would come back in their lifetime and that they were simply wrong.  However, this is not necessarily true.  The disciples were given parables by Jesus stating that it would be longer than they would think (e.g., Luke 12:40-48).  John also records that Jesus told Peter how he would die (John 21:19).  It would be odd for Peter to think of Jesus coming back in his lifetime and yet dying a martyr’s death later.  Peter also warns people in his second letter (2 Peter 3:3-9) about scoffing at the delay in our Lord’s return.

So, what is intended here?  Some try to make this only about the end of temple worship and Israel as a nation.  I believe this is only a part of what Peter is talking about.  For Jews, the end of all of their things was at hand.  The nation would end, and the temple would end.  However, the judgment of Israel is itself a warning to the nations.  Just as Jesus was presented to Israel and then judgment, so Jesus is presented to the nations by Christians.  There is a day of judgment, an end of the times of the gentiles and the day of grace.  Thus, the lesser judgment of one nation like Israel, or like the Roman empire later, is a picture of a greater judgment that hangs over the whole earth, a judgment that Jesus is ready to bring to the earth at the Father’s command.

Christians are to live with this in mind.  The world is going to be judged.  We are to exercise patient diligence until that day.  Our patient diligence leads to the salvation of people who believe in Christ.  This fruitfulness is God’s desire through us.

Peter then gives two commands that should connect to our times of prayer.  The first has to do with having a sound mind, or healthy thinking, for the purpose of prayer.  Of course, this is not the only purpose for having a sound mind, nor is it only to be had during our prayers.  Our sound and healthy mind will look at the reality of God bringing the way of this world to an end in Jesus, and it will then be turned to prayer.  It is the word of God in connection with the Holy Spirit that transforms our thinking to that which Christ had (1 Peter 4:1).  It is in prayer that these things are kneaded into our lives like a baker kneads bread.  In prayer, we wrestle with our flesh and with the Lord over the reality of judgment hanging over this world.

The devil doesn’t want you to pray, but the worst enemy of prayer in our life is our own flesh (sinful nature).  Jesus planted a seed of teaching within his disciples on the night he was betrayed.  Their spirits were willing to stand with Jesus in his hour of trial, but their flesh was weak.  It is only through prayer we will be able to force our flesh to walk out the will of God the Father.  It was the sound mind of Christ that looked at his situation and recognized that the cross was the only way.  He knew what was at stake and what was needed to serve God.  We are to follow Jesus in this, seeking the help of God.

This can be contrasted with the worldly, unhealthy thinking that leads to the kind of things Peter described in 1 Peter 4:3,4.  The world thinks you are strange for not thinking and acting like they do, but you are listening to God, not them.

Peter also commands us to have a sober mind for the purpose of prayer.  This is a similar concept but comes from the realm of drinking alcohol.  Literal drunkenness would be included in this, but this verse speaks to a greater inebriation that occurs in a life that is focused on gratifying the desires of the flesh rather than the desires of God.  Alcohol messes with our inhibitions and our ability to properly analyze the world around us.  This often creates an unreal (fantastic) view of how we are doing.

All of this (the healthy mind and sober mind) pictures a person who knows the seriousness of the hour in which we live.  They understand that it calls for a serious and focused life.  Such a life is fueled by a relationship with God through the Word and Prayer.  It is in prayer that we seek God’s strength and wisdom to wrestle our flesh to the ground and pin it (over and over).  It is in prayer that we discover God’s purpose in our life.  It is in prayer that we guard our heart from the constant attempt of the devil, this world, and our own flesh to pull us off this course of following Jesus.

Peter then tells believers to keep fervent in their love for one another.  Fervent is a good translation.  However, it literally means to be stretched out.  A football player who really wants to catch the ball will stretch themselves out even though they risk injury when they hit the ground.  In loving people, the idea of stretching out connects to helping them.  This is often represented by our hands which are often the vehicle of helping others.  Is my love for others with a stretched-out hand, or do I have T-Rex like arms that can barely extend past myself?  Love is not primarily a feeling.  It is a choice to stretch ourselves for the well-being of another person.

Peter is focused here on loving other Christians, even though we are also to love our enemies.  Christians need to work for the spiritual and physical well-being of one another by the wisdom and help of Jesus.  Prayer is the place where we seek God’s wisdom in all the ways we can stretch ourselves out for one another.

It is easy to let our love grow cold for others.  In Matthew 24:12, Jesus said that “because of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold.”  May the Lord help us to remain fervent (hot) in our love for one another, stretched out to the point of risking ourselves.

At this point, Peter quotes from Proverbs 10:12. “Love covers a multitude of sins.”  This is not to say that we should cover up sin.  Rather, it is the picture of how loving relationships are working towards peace and not strife, growth and not death, lifting up and not pushing down.  Love does not look for errors to be used against another person.

The idea of covering has a connection to atonement.  To atone for sin is to make a proper covering for it.  God’s covering for our sins does not pretend that they never existed, yet neither does it desire to rub our nose in it.  Love seeks a righteous and healthy way to cover for the sins of others.

Sometimes this is simply not making an issue of small sins.  We all need room to grow and a personal audit by everyone in our life regarding the minutia of our failures becomes stifling.  We are all a work in progress. Instead of looking for ways to expose and highlight one another’s faults, instead of harshly condemning one another for even the hint of spiritual immaturity, we help each other, knowing that we too have much room for improvement.

Sometimes love sees that a correction is needed.  Yet, we speak the truth in love (for their well-being).  It is for the purpose of healing things that require the help of another.  We need God’s wisdom to discern when this is needed.

In Psalm 32:1, David paralleled this concept, to cover sins, with the idea of forgiving a multitude of sins.  Our faults and failures are tests of how committed to loving one another we are, and our commitment to loving one another is a test to how committed we are to loving Jesus.

Peter further describes this fervent love with the command to be hospitable to one another without complaining.  Hospitality at its root has the idea of love shown to those who are strangers.  Of course, they don’t have to be a stranger to you.  When you invite a friend into your home and show them hospitality, this is not their home.  They are foreigners or strangers to this home in the sense that they do not live there.  Yet, you take their coat, feed them, and serve them.  This is hospitality.

Hospitality includes the drawing of people into a relationship and caring for them as family.  To do so without complaint may not be hard for some people, but it can be for others.  We should never complain when we stretch ourselves out in love because Jesus stretched himself out for us.  If you find yourself complaining about these matters, be quick to stop yourself.  Ask the Lord to forgive you and fill you with a heart of love for others.

Peter then tells us to be serving one another.  Again, this is simply another way of speaking about love.  We should note that this is the third time that he has used this phrase “one another.”  Its repetition helps to slam home the point.  We are in this together.  Jesus is not just saving me; he is saving “we.”  We need one another.  This is the bond of love that creates a unity of the Spirit of God.

This serving term is pretty elastic.  It is not about a high or low level.  It is simply about serving others.  Perhaps, Peter may have been thinking about the words of Jesus in Matthew 20:26-28. Those Christians who want to be great need to learn to serve one another, and if you want to be first, you need to learn to become a slave of all the rest, like Jesus did.  Of course, they are not our masters.  Jesus is.

In this area of serving one another, Peter speaks about gifts that we each have.  The word behind this is the Greek word charisma.  Charis is Greek for grace.  When a Greek word has the -ma ending, it is speaking of a particular instance of grace.  It is generally translated as a gift and can refer to natural gifts and spiritual gifts.  God has blessed believers with natural and spiritual gifts.  We need to use these to serve one another on his behalf.

In fact, we are to be “stewards of the manifold grace of God.”  God’s grace is spread through a great variety of gifts, specific grace. 

These gifts in your life are really from God.  Why has He given them to you?  He has not given them to you as a means of saying that you are more special than others who do not have your giftings.  Rather, the giver of all gifts spreads them variously as He desires.  We need to see them as His.  We are to manage God’s things in this life that He has given us.  Whether this is a wealth of money or a wealth of wisdom, whatever it be, we must be good stewards.  A good steward doesn’t hide the gift and bury it.  A good steward doesn’t abuse the gift and use it only for themselves.  Rather, a good steward spends time in prayer seeking God’s intention for those gifts.  He didn’t give them to me for serving myself.  He has gifted others to serve you.  You must focus on serving others as the practical outflow of God’s love in your life.

The steward image reminds us that we will give account to the giver of these gifts.  When we serve others, we are being fruitful in the way that God intends.  A common pitfall that messes up our serving is when we look at others and compare ourselves to them.  One person may become conceited because their gifts seem greater than others.  Another person may become depressed and do nothing because they think that they do not have any gifts.  Both of these are errors.  Quit looking at the gifts others have.  Rather, look at how you can help the people around you, even if it is in little ways.  Pray about it.  Seek God and His gifts will manifest in your life in small and great ways.

Peter then speaks to some particular gifts.  “If one speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.”  It is likely that Peter is referring to spiritual gifts that are expressed in the times that a church gathers.  However, this principle applies to all of our speech to one another.  If we are going to say anything, we need to say it as if we were giving an oracle from God.  I may not have received a prophecy, word of knowledge, etc. from God, but my speech needs to be treated seriously.  It is one of the gifts that God has given me.  I can speak into the lives of others.  I shouldn’t be flippant and manage that gift frivolously.  I should always be speaking into the lives of others for God’s purpose and not my own.

Similarly, Peter challenges us to serve with the strength that God supplies.  We may be afraid to stretch out and help others because we believe that we lack.  However, God often supplies as we stretch out for others.  There is a partnership and a co-working that happens when we serve His purposes in serving others.

Verse 11 caps this off with a great principle.  Our purpose in everything should be to glorify the Father through Jesus Christ.  Jesus is still seated at the right hand of the Father, ready and awaiting the day of the Father’s choosing.  He will come and set this world right.  Each day you wake up is another day of grace for the salvation of people.  Lean into it.  Step into it and stretch yourself out.  May God help us to be a gift to one another and a light to this dark world!

Witness 10 audio

The Acts of the Apostles 23

Subtitle: Taking Care of Widows

Acts 6:1-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on November 13, 2022.

Today, we will look at a passage that serves two purposes.  First, it helps us to see how the early Church dealt with conflict, and it also serves to introduce Stephen to us.  The second half of this chapter describes his arrest, and chapter 7 is a very long treatise from Stephen before the Sanhedrin.  We will talk more about this next week.

Conflict is not always a bad thing.  It may simply be the motivation to fix something that is not as it should be.

Let’s look at this passage.

Conflict arises vs. 1

There has developed quite a large group of Christians in Jerusalem, and it is hard to have a large group without any conflict.  Even two people will no doubt develop conflicts that they need to work out.  However, any time you gather a large group of people, the more likely you are to see conflict. 

Verse 1 tells us, “When the number of the disciples was multiplying…”  This multiplication is driven by the work and blessing of the Holy Spirit.  The fruitfulness of the Holy Spirit does not guarantee the absence of conflict.  Rather, it must be walked out in our natural life.  This is where the fruitfulness is evidenced, or seen.

We should not think automatically that conflict is a bad thing.  All groups who are trying to accomplish a mission will develop issues that bring passion to the surface.  The personality of people tends towards a Fight Instinct or towards a Flight instinct.  This gives us different components of the conflict.  There is the source, the responses, and the solution.  Each of these components are fraught with pitfalls, and “getting it right” in one component does not guarantee doing so with the others.

The main thing for Christians is to guard against being controlled by our natural responses.  God always has a purpose in conflict, even when the other person may be wicked.  In short, increased size will always bring increased conflict.  Your heart is your main concern throughout this.

In this conflict, there is a cultural issue at the heart of the conflict.  Two groups are introduced.  The Hellenes were those, whether Greek or Jewish, who lived according to Greek culture and mainly spoke Greek.  Hellenes was a name that the Greeks came to use for themselves, but by extension, it came to be used for anyone who adopted their culture.  This is not a reference to Helen of Troy, but to the mythological son of two flood survivors.

In contrast to these Christians who lived according to Greek culture, there was the Hebrews.  These Christians were Jews and converts who lived according to the culture of Judea.  They mainly spoke Aramaic and Hebrew, also having the dress and lifestyle of Israel in those days.  Ever since the return from the Babylonian Exile, this distinction existed among them, whether Greek culture, or Persian and Babylonian culture.

This is not an issue of salvation.  Both Hebrew and Hellenists were believing in Jesus, and joining the Church.

Now we can begin to talk about the conflict.  There were widows among these two communities who needed help with food and necessities, and so a daily distribution was started in order to care for them.  Of course, these were not rich widows who would have slaves and could care for themselves.  They would not be young widows who would often still have family and could remarry.  They were older widows who were left without a husband, without means, and without adult children who could care for them.

The Apostle Paul speaks about this type of situation in 1 Timothy 5:3-5.  Paul is not putting down those who remarry.  Rather, he is saying that a church should not be supporting those who already have familial supports around them.

We see this in the Law of Moses, where God threatens Israel not to mistreat widows and orphans (Exodus 22:22).  In Deuteronomy 10:18, God describes Himself as one who gets justice for the widow and the orphan.  Early Christians took this seriously, and cared for the widows in their midst who did not have natural family to care for them.  We do not know who was doing it, but there seems to have been no group plan.  It was just happening.

However, the fact on the ground is that some widows were being overlooked, and they were Hellenists.  This does not appear to be in dispute at all.  Now some conflicts happen over immoral issues, but there is no idea that this is being done on purpose, as a result of ethnic rivalry.  Some conflicts are simply logistical issues that require a better plan of operation.  Humans forget things and any plan that does not plan to cover for such moments is a plan that will have failures.

In this case, the source of the conflict does not have a moral failure.  This brings us to the next stage, the stage of response.  If we are easily offended, we tend to see purposeful actions in others, and ourselves as innocent.  This can affect our response, even sour it.  I can respond sinfully to a conflict that is not over a sinful matter.  Pause and think about that for a moment.

A solution is found vs. 2-6

As certain Hellenists speak among themselves about this problem, it comes to the attention of The Twelve.  They recognize that this needs to be solved publicly so that everything is done in the open for all to see.  This will make it easier to keep group unity down the road. 

Thus, they have all the Christians in Jerusalem gather.  This will not be a time for a sermon, or teaching, or even worship in song.  It is a time for ironing out a problem in the day-to-day operation of the Church.  Notice that in this conflict there are already cultural divides between the people.  It is wise to pay attention to such matters.

The call to gather is put in the mouth of “The Twelve.”  They were united on this issue and no one is credited with coming up with the solution.

Part of the solution is nipping in the bud the idea that the apostles should oversee everything that the Church does, or even do it themselves.  We do not know how many widows there were.  However, they are a large group, and they are under Roman occupation.  This may mean that there is a substantial number.

They state that “it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.”  “It is not desirable” has the idea of that which is fitting or proper, and thus pleasing, or desirable.  They are not saying it would be undesirable to them, but to God.  They had a calling on their lives that required being in the Word and spending time in prayer.  An enemy to reading the Word and prayer is often sinful tendencies, but it can also be other good things that need to be done and eat up our time.  There is a tyranny in the urgency of good things that take us away from better things.

Of course, everyone needs time in the Word and in prayer.  This is not only an issue for the apostles.  However, they are not the best ones to step up and fulfill this ministry.  Someone else needs to assist in this ministry.

The apostles tell the people to pick seven men to oversee this ministry.  Notice the qualifications that they advise the people to use.  Clearly, they do not see this ministry as something lowly that anyone could do.  It is not that this ministry is beneath them, but that it is not for them.  They have a different ministry to do.  They are to pick “men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business.”  Even something as menial as serving tables in the name of Christ should be taken seriously.  We all need the help of the Holy Spirit to do everything that we do, and not just the “great things.”

It has been suggested that the number seven basically puts one man in charge of each day.  It is speculative, but also quite reasonable considering that it was a daily distribution.  Many hands make light work, and light work makes for joyful work.  Learn to be joyful in the duties that you have.  God has a good blessing for you on the other side.

We should also notice that there is no election or electioneering mentioned.

Seven men are picked and they all just happen to have Greek names.  It may be a stretch to say that they were for sure all Hellenists, but it appears that way.  With all or most of them being Hellenists, there will be no question going forward that ethnic tensions are playing a part in any errors.  Stephen leads this list because he is the next focus of Luke’s account.

These seven men are only going “to feed widows,” but they are publicly commissioned to this task in front of the group by the apostles.  There will be no question that these men are the ones who will take care of the ministry and that they should deal with any further problems or issues.  It also is a reminder to the men that they are to do this ministry in the name of the Lord.  They will be the hand of the Lord to these widows in their time of need.

The apostles lay their hands upon them and pray over them.  This picture of placing a call of God upon others through prayer is a beautiful one.  Practical service is a spiritual service.  Just as God was using the apostles to lay a foundation for the Church, so he would use them to set the Church in order.  These men are not entitled deacons at this point, but the word for “serving” tables is the verb form of that title that we will find later in the New Testament.  These are the first deacons of the Church.

The effect upon the spread of the Gospel vs. 7

I am sure that the enemy was hoping to divide and conquer the early Church through this matter.  It is good to pay attention to the schemes of the devil.  If we will not buckle to brute force attacks against our faith, we may respond to divisions and conflict with fellow believers.

What we see here is a Spirit-filled response to a very practical problem, and it protects the work of God from being diminished, “the Word of God spread.”  Distraction and group squabbles can keep us from the mission of sharing the Good News with others.  It can put out the Spirit’s fire within our hearts. 

This does not mean that we do not pay attention and speak up when things are not right.  God used this to deal with a problem.  Some widows were not receiving the food and care that they should have.  No one should want that to go unnoticed for the appearance of group unity.  Leaders in a church should not emphasize unity so strongly that voices that bring up problems are squelched.  It is the unity of the Holy Spirit that we work for, and sometimes, the Holy Spirit wants something to be said.

We are also told that the number of disciples multiplied greatly.  It has already been multiplying greatly, so we can say that they continued in the blessing of God.  Feeding widows and proper conflict resolution are not the secret to growing the Church.  Rather, it is responding to issues that need to be addressed with spiritual maturity and grace.  It is too easy to let the chores go undone, and then go on about your life.  Sometimes God lets the roof leak so that you will get up and start doing something about it.  It is in an environment of taking one another seriously, and properly dealing with conflicts, that the blessing of growth in the believing community can happen.

Lastly, Luke mentions that “a great many of the priests” became believers in Jesus.  Not all of them were like Annas and Caiaphas.  They had grown up in a system of tradition and control that had taught them not to question what they saw.  It gave them a “correct understanding” of the law that was not actually correct.  It was not until someone, who knew the truth, started teaching and living out the truth in front of them that they were able to break free from the intellectual hold upon them.

This happens today in churches, denominations, nations, even in constitutional federated republics.  It is only by the grace of God by His Holy Spirit that we can break free from the lies that were taught to us by our fathers, often because they were taught them by their fathers.  Jesus is no lie!  The Holy Spirit is not a lie, and those who believe in Jesus will be filled with the Spirit in order to make a difference in their life.  God help us to be “serving tables” by helping those who have no help in this life.  However, let us not overlook the need of people to be served the Word of God, so that they can believe!

Widows audio

Father, Turn Our Hearts

Luke 1:11-17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on June 20, 2021, Father’s Day.

We are celebrating Father’s Day.  It is easy in life to let your heart turn towards the things that it wants to turn towards.  It doesn’t help when you have a society that elevates following the heart over doing what is right and pleasing God.

Don’t get me wrong.  Sometimes, God puts things in our hearts, but the follower of Jesus will wrestle with those things, seeking to be intellectually honest before God.  They desire more to follow him than to follow their own heart.

Today, we will look at a man who was grieved by the fact that he and his wife couldn’t have any children, and through his interaction with an angel, we are reminded of God the Father’s heart for us.

Let’s look at our passage.

The Father’s impact

In this passage, we are not told whether Zacharias was praying for a child that day in the temple.  He was a priest who had been picked by lot to offer the incense in the Holy Place before the veil, and the Presence of God.  We are told that he and his wife were “well advanced in years.”  This probably means that his years of praying for a child had long since ceased, and his hopes for such had long since died.

God the Father chose a particular day, when it looked like there was no hope, and in fact he wasn’t even looking to see if there was hope anymore.  It was at that moment that He sent an angel to give Zacharias the good news.  God had a present for him, a large measure of grace; he was going to have a son!  As exciting as this news was to Zacharias, notice that this grace is not all about him and his wife.  It is also about the nation of Israel and its need to turn back to God.  We must always remember that the grace of God in our life is a present from a loving Father, but it is also intended to bless more than just me.  It is our natural tendency to be short-sided in regard to the grace of God in our life.

This is probably the first time that Zacharias has seen an angel.  Though we are not given a description in Luke, the angel explains that he is Gabriel who stands in the presence of God.  This angel called Gabriel also interacted with Daniel in Daniel chapters 8 and 9.  There he is described as looking like a man (no wings).   So, it is most likely not what Gabriel looks like that startles Zacharias, but the fact that no one is supposed to be in the Holy Place at that time, but him.

There are things that can make men afraid.  Zacharias is a righteous man who has been serving God “blamelessly.”  It would be easy to say that a righteous man shouldn’t fear anything, even that we shouldn’t fear God; He is on our side!  However, God still does things, or allows things, in our life that we can’t control, and that we weren’t expecting.  Fear is a natural response in these times.

Many fathers try to look like they aren’t afraid, but if we don’t keep our heart and eyes turned towards God, we can become entangled in a web of fears.  You can spend your life trying to become greater than your fears, or you can turn to the One who is greater than all that you fear.  In fact, when we are not living right before God, we often fear things that we shouldn’t.  Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked flee when no man pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”  We can become trapped by a mixture of real things and figments of our warped imagination.

The real problem in life is not that we fear, but that we are truly bad at fearing the right things.  There are many fathers today who are not afraid to abandon their children, or they are not afraid to help a girl abort their baby.  They aren’t afraid to abuse the woman that they are with.  Really, they don’t fear God who has warned those who do such things of the consequences of the things they are doing.  We are not afraid to play God in our labs, businesses, and government buildings.  We are not afraid of throwing off the time-proven wisdom of the past for the seduction of a future that we think we can control.  Yes, the real problem is that we aren’t afraid of running off the cliff with all the other lemmings.

In the end, God is not a danger to those who serve Him in love.  I should add a caveat to this.  It all comes down to the definition of “danger.”  Jesus served the Father faithfully in love, but he died on a cross.  Yet, God is showing us through the resurrection of Jesus that any danger He purposefully brings before us, or even allows to come before us, has a way through it that brings us to the good things that He intends for us on the other side.

In truth, He is a danger to our flesh, but He is Eternal Life, Peace, and Joy to our soul, and to our future.  He really does love you, and will bless you if you will turn to Him in faithful love.  Like Zacharias, we must be those ones who are rare in a land of men who have turned away from God.  We must pass that reality on to the next generation, both with our natural children and with the spiritual children that God brings into our lives.

The Father’s desire

As the angel describes God’s purpose for the child that Zacharias will have, we see the desire of our heavenly Father’s heart, and the things that were keeping Israel in bondage.

The term “children of Israel” is used in this context as a reference to generation, and not as a reference to age.  It is not talking about everyone under the age of 12, but of the current generation who had been birthed by the generation before.  It pictures each generation as Israel giving birth to the next generation of Israel.  The nation of Israel, both young and old, were the children of Israel, just as we today are the children of the United States of America. 

The problem with any nation is that our hearts get turned away from God the Father.  No matter how good our beginning may have been, all nations run into peril as more and more of their people turn their hearts away from God.  The Father’s desire was that the hearts of that generation be turned back towards Him.

We must not see God as a Father who is hurt and mad that His children don’t love Him.  Instead, we must see the reality of what happens to children who turn away from loving parents, and cast off their godly instruction.  Such children turn towards foolish things, and the path of folly always brings ruin to a person and to a nation.  God’s heart breaks over the folly that is taking over, not just our land, but all of the nations on this earth.  With a Father’s heart, He cries out, “Why will you die?  Choose Life, and turn back to Me!”

He also desires to turn the hearts of the fathers towards their children.  When our hearts are turned towards God, He teaches us to have our hearts turned towards each other in the right way.  There is a plague of fatherless children across our land.  Too many fathers have rejected the heavenly Father and His desire to turn their heart towards their wives and children.  This is not just a problem for fathers.  Mothers and children have the same problems too.

However, men, we must be bold as lions and care for the people that God has put in our lives.  Regardless of how they respond, we must love them and seek God’s best for them, by showing them what a righteous man looks like, and how he lives.  This world successfully seduces our hearts away from what really matters because it first seduced our heart away from God.  This is how Satan plunders us from the goodness and inheritance of God.

Ultimately, the Father desires to turn the disobedient towards the wisdom of the righteous.  Israel had become disobedient children.  They were fathers who were disobedient to the heaven Father, and children who were disobedient to earthly fathers.  They refused to hear the words of wisdom spoken through the righteous men of the past, and written down in the Bible.  In short, to turn is to repent.  There is a lot of turning going on in this world.  People turn from one thing to the next seeking their own happiness.  However, it is not good enough to repent of one fleshly pursuit to go after another.  The only repentance that will actually do you any good, and even do good for the people around you, is the repentance that turns all the way around back towards God.  Finally, when we are truly oriented towards Him, He is able to turn us back around to the people and things in our life in wisdom and righteousness, in a way that gives life, and not death.  May God help us to cast aside disobedience, hear the heart of a loving Father, and turn into the path of life!

What Are We Doing Here At Abundant Life? Serve Part II

Romans 12:3-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, June 7, 2020.

Today, we continue talking about the purposes of Christians and the Church, specifically serving Jesus by serving one another.  Two weeks ago, we saw how that service can take on very practical forms and be very humbling: the washing of one another’s feet.  Let’s continue in the Romans 12 passage in order to talk further about the giftings that God gives each of us in order to serve one another.

It is true that all giftings in our life are from God and thus could be called spiritual.  However, some gifts are recognized as especially spiritual.  These include prophecy, speaking in tongues, healing, words of knowledge, among others.

A division within the body of Christ has occurred in which some believe that these spiritual gifts were only for the first century believers in order to start the Church, and others believe that they are active still today.  This division has led to two extremes that are both dangerous.  It is commendable to be careful so that you are not deceived by false teachers, but it can lead to a critical and skeptical spirit that refuses to accept any spiritual gifts as legitimate.  On the other hand, it is commendable to step out in faith and trust God, but it can lead to an extreme gullibility and even lust for things such as: wealth, health, and power.

God’s Word is given to us so that we will have a balance that is informed by His Word and the Holy Spirit.  We should neither fail to use the gifts, nor should we abuse them.  Let’s look at our passage.

Do not be proud and arrogant

In the first two verses of Romans 12, Paul emphasized that the servants of God must not be a people who have conformed to the world, but rather, they must be a people who are transformed by the Spirit of God renewing their minds.  Thus, we need to have our worldview and motivations transformed by God if we are going to serve Him.  We should also recognize that conforming to the world can take on many different flavors, among them are false religion, whether Christian or not.

It is no shock that this area of giftings in the Church is a source of much spiritual good, and yet also much fleshly destruction.  Paul puts his finger on the outward red flag that tells us that conformity rather than transformation is present, and that is pride.  The servant of the Lord must not be proud or arrogant towards other believers, or the world.

Paul uses the phrase “thinking too highly of yourself than you ought.”  He sees the problem of pride as one of crossing a boundary.  There is an obligation or “oughtness” that should restrain us from becoming proud and arrogant as the servants of the Lord.  We are sinners, but he has rescued and saved us.  We had nothing to offer, but he put gifts of grace within our life.  Our fellow brothers and sisters are also servants of the Lord with different gifts of grace in their lives.  Those who have high positions in the Church may look like they have a high position (by the world’s estimation).  However, they aren’t higher, but lower.  Just as Christ lowered himself to the lowest place and became the scapegoat for us all, so leaders are actually servants of God’s people so that they can be equipped and helped to serve the Lord.

Don’t be deceived.  Pride and arrogance are never warranted, and are easy to see in others, but the Spirit of God through the Word of God is able to lay His finger upon any pride that we have and lead us out of its bondage.

Paul then adds the metaphor of sobriety versus drunkenness.  We are to think soberly as God enables us.  This is important because of the parable of Christ that warns his servants not to “beat their fellow servants and drink with the drunkards.”  Matthew 24:45-51.  Pride and arrogance are equivalent to being drunk with the drunkards, that is the people of this world who are unaware of God’s salvation and plunging into sin.  The warning is that they think the Lord is never coming back and then take advantage of their position among His things.

Paul also connects this to the “measure of faith” that God has given to each of us.  It is highly unlikely that he is talking about saving faith here, although God does enable us to have faith for salvation.  Rather, he is talking about the particular capacity to recognize the gifts of grace that He gives us for the general good of his Church, and then the capacity to execute that gift properly.  The areas of recognition and execution are both twisted and perverted by the drunkenness of pride and arrogance.  Just because God has put gifts in your life does not authorize you to misuse them for your own purposes.

In verses 4 and 5, Paul reminds them of two important principles.  The first is that we are each a part of the singular body of Christ.  There is only one body of Christ and we are all apart of that unified whole that is directed by him.  He even takes this further in verse 5 by saying that we are members of each other.  This reminder goes back to the oughtness referenced before.  Harming others for your own benefit is illogical in the context of the body of Christ.  To hurt others is to hurt yourself because you are connected to them and need the gifts of grace that God has put in them, just as they are towards you.

Even though we are all part of one body, we are not gifted and placed in the body of Christ to serve the same function.  God’s gifts are varied by function, and they are varied by the scope of that function.  These differences should never threaten the unity of the body and its ability to function as a whole.  Clearly individuals and large groups of believers have failed in this area.  However, never underestimate the power of the Lord to bless and use those who will humble themselves in this area and step out in faith.  If we quit because others have done poorly then our excuse will not stand before Christ.  Jesus told the apostle Peter after his resurrection, “If you love me then feed my sheep.”  This was not only in the context of Peter’s own failures, but also in the context of the failures of the religious leaders of that day.  We must quit looking at what has happened in the Church.  Instead, we must repent of our own pride and embrace the body of Christ and the functions of grace that God leads you to perform.

Use the gifts that God gives for His purposes

In verses 6-8, we have a difficult part of this passage to bring into English, not because it is hard to understand, but because of the structure of the Greek language.  To bring it into English properly, words have to be added due to the context of what he has said and the subject matter, which is God’s gifts of grace.  Ultimately, Paul is emphasizing that if we have a particular gift of grace then it has been given to us by God to use.  We must use these gifts of grace for God’s purposes and for the good of the body of Christ.  In 1 Corinthians 12:7, Paul tells us that, “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.  This is God’s intention and this is exactly how we should use them.

The first gift described is that of prophecy.  Prophecy is a word from God given to an individual for God’s people.  It can be regarding past, present, or future things, and is to be carefully examined by the elders to determine if it is contrary to Scriptures, or whether it is to be retained as truly from the Lord.  Even then, I we must exercise caution in this area.  We should not treat modern prophecy as if it is an addition to the Bible.  God gave the grace of establishing once and for all the faith that we are to believe to those first century apostles.

Prophecy is a heady gift and can easily lead to pride and arrogance in one who is not strongly connected to the Lord and His people.  God can and does speak to every believer in Christ, both through the written word and by His Spirit.  However, He has gifted some individuals to serve as another source of His influence.  Like the prophets of old, they encourage and exhort people in light of the dangers and needs of the present.

Paul basically tells us t hat if God has given us the gift of prophecy then we should do it with the measure of faith that He has given us.  So, God not only supplies the gift, but also supplies the faith to exercise it.  This opens a whole area that we should recognize.  Among people who have the same gifting, there will still be a difference in their sphere of influence or scope of operation.  These things vary in their measure.  No matter the measure of our sphere of influence, it will require bold faith to be exercised.  Stepping out in faith does not come naturally.  It comes by the help of the Spirit of the Lord, and yet we still have to cooperate and step out.  Thus, our measure of faith may be higher than our level of exercise.  Like an athlete discovering the physical limits of their ability, so in spiritual gifts, we must learn to exercise faith to increase our service for the Lord.

Paul then gives us a list of giftings.  It is implied that they also are given with a varied measure of faith.  However, Paul adds the emphasis that we should exercise the gift for the purpose God gave it.  To the degree that He has gifted you with service, then you should give yourself to serving (also, translated as ministry).  To the degree that He has gifted you with teaching, you should give yourself to teaching.  You won’t find the full degree of what He has given you unless you get out there and start being faithful to the little that you do understand today.  We must never see gifts as ours, but as God’s grace put within our life.  I am a steward and must operate in keeping with the One who gave it to me. 

The list continues with exhortation.  This is the same word that is used of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.  It involves a whole host of things that are a help to us by coming alongside of us: comfort, correction, encouragement, instruction, etc. (basically everything that could conceivably help us).

In verse 8, another structural change happens in which Paul emphasizes not just doing the gift, but also how we do it.  Those who are gifted with giving should give with a single focus, that is, generously.  Those who are gifted with leading should give themselves to leading with an eager diligence.  Those who are gifted with giving mercy should give mercy with cheerfulness.

In all of this, Paul is describing some of the diversity and variety of God’s gifts within His people.  Other lists and teaching are given in 1 Corinthians 12-14.  Ultimately, the Apostle Peter sums it up in 1 Peter 4:10 when he says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” 

There is much more that can be said on this issue, but I want to end with a final emphasis.  In verse 9, Paul begins a section of biblical instruction that has a rapid-fire, staccato feel, to it.  However, at the root of these instructions is our need to serve one another in love.  The love of God must be the root of our serving.  Anything else is unacceptable to God.  With that said, I find it fitting to end with Paul’s words to the Corinthians.  After explaining the use of spiritual gifts for 30 verses, he then says this.

“But earnestly desire the best gifts.  And yet, I show you a more excellent way.  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

This reminds me of the Ken Gulliksen song, Charity.  “If I have not charity, if love does not flow through me, I am nothing.  Jesus reduce me to love.”  Ah, yes, the reduction process.  The difficulties of your life and the struggles that you have with others are all a part of God’s process of trying to reduce you down to His love alone. 

Over the last three months, things have been drastically different, and there appears to be more craziness on the horizon.  Let us remember that the only answer to the chaos of this world is a child of God trusting Him in faith.  We must be a people who are trusting in God and not the voices of this world.  When our hope is only in what God supplies, we will be like a tree planted by the waters, that does not fear when the heat comes, and is not anxious in the year of drought, nor will we cease being fruitful!  (See Jeremiah 17).  God help us to be fruitful trees in these days.

Serve II audio