The Church Exists For The Glory of God

1st Peter 4:7-11

Pastor Matt Moran 

First Sunday at 1300 Maple

Transcript

...be a standalone message or jump outside of the book for a moment, but this text
is so perfect for where we are today. I'm going to read 1 Peter 4-7 through 11
and then I'll pray. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore be self-
controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving
one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality
to one another without grumbling. 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. Lord God, we do thank you and praise you
this Thanksgiving weekend and this special Sunday in particular and we just
acknowledge your faithfulness to us as a congregation these past couple months
and these many years. So we praise you for that. We ask that you would be
glorified in our church and Lord we ask in this moment as we come under the
authority of your word as your body that you would speak to us and that your
Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds. We pray for that in Jesus'
name. Amen. Okay, so let me start with a little bit of church history for you
all. This morning marks the fourth stage in the life of community of rooms
around 35 years ago as people came together to pray and to seek the Lord about
the possibility of a new church. God answered those prayers and a nucleus was
formed and stage two of the church lasted for about 17 years in a rented school
building in Tonawanda. Stage three lasted about another 17 years as God provided
funds for the church to buy a building and the church has been meeting at 1407
North Forest up until this morning. So this morning we're beginning a we're in
the beginning stage of stage four of the life of Community of Grace here at 1300
Maple and this day we are celebrating God's faithfulness to us over the school
building and even as a kid I would have been able to tell you it was pretty
gross and Pastor Rob, my predecessor, used to say to people all the time the
church is not a building it's a people and that that is a good thing to remember
when your church meets in an ugly space and can't afford its own place to meet
but it's also a great thing for us to remember as we move into a beautiful space
that God's provided for us. The church is not a building it is a people and our
text this morning from first Peter four seven through eleven tells us three very
important vital things about what the church is. So first it tells us the
church's location, second it tells us about the church's community, and third it
tells us about the church's purpose. I'm going to read our text one more time.
Find it for the sake of your prayers. Above all keep loving one another
earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another
without grumbling as each has received a gift use it to serve one another as
good stewards of God's very 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 to him belong glory
and dominion forever and ever amen. Verse seven begins the end of all things is
at hand therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your
prayers. When I say this first in time in terms of God's plan of salvation of
God's plan of salvation Peter starts with this fact the end of all things is at
hand. He's locating our situation their situation and ours in light of God's
plan of redemptive history. God has sent his son Jesus Christ into the world.
Jesus Christ lived that perfect life and he died his atoning death on the cross.
He was raised to life by the power of God. He has commissioned the church to go
and to make disciples. He has ascended into heaven. He sits at God's right hand
and the church is awaiting his return and those things have already happened.
They've already happened. That's what it means when it says the light of where
you are in redemptive history that means something. Peter's about to explain
what that means. We're about to understand what our time and location mean and
that's a it's a struggle to many of us because these words were written close to
2,000 years ago. The return of Jesus is being described in this chapter as
imminent and yet a great deal of time has passed since Peter wrote these words.
So what are we to make of that? What are we to make of that tension? There are a
couple incorrect responses that we should address that people have that contrast
with Peter's instruction. First there's the response of what we could call
foolishness. Foolishness is failing to understand anything about the time that
we live in. This kind of manifests itself in the what Peter talks about earlier
in the chapter. Drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
That behavior makes perfect sense for those who do not know God. These are
people who are looking forward to the time when they don't have to think about
anything be that the weekend or the night when the work is over or a time when
they can sit and space out and think about nothing. They don't want to be self-
controlled and sober-minded. They don't want to do any clear thinking. But for
those of us who know Christ, that's foolishness. That's failing to understand
the times that we live in. There's also a foolishness of perpetual
procrastination which means I will get serious about my Christian life when I'm
able to get certain ducks in a row be that my education or my career or my
families or my finance or whatever other priorities I may have. That's the time
response. It's not foolishness. It's really more what we could call fear. The
fearful response says the end of all things that is at hand and it recognizes
the perilous times that we live in and the hostility that Christians face in the
broader culture and it says I need to withdraw and protect myself. I need to be
very careful and withdraw and protect myself. So the end of all things is at
hand. Start storing canned goods in your basement. Start looking at real estate
in Idaho. Start investing in gold. Start bunkering down. There's a fearful
response there. We can fearfully react to perilous days but look at what Peter
says. The end of all things is at hand therefore be self-controlled sober-minded
for the sake of your prayers rather than being prerequisites for having a real
life of prayer. And if we are to understand that the end of all things is at
hand the best test of that is probably not your end times theology. It's not
whether you are pre-mil or post-mil or amil. It's not whether you have 400 meals
ready to eat in your basement. It's really your prayers. It's whether you pray
and there is a reference here to Peter's own biography. Be self-controlled and
sober-minded kind of calls us back to Peter's own experience. In Mark's gospel
when Jesus went to the garden to pray he went to fortify himself for the cross
and the agony that he was about to endure. Mark 14 37 says that Jesus came and
after instructing his disciples to pray with him he came and found them sleeping
and he said to Peter Simon's flesh is weak. We ought to pray Lord help me be
self-controlled be sober-minded be clear-headed so that I might increasingly be
a person of prayer. Now a skeptical person might say it sounds like the end of
all things has been at hand for a long time. Didn't Peter write this almost
2,000 years ago and now and at that time he was saying at the end of all things
is at hand and now you're telling me it still is? The answer is yes. We are
living in the church age in the last days. God has already set the direction of
human history and we are awaiting Christ's return but we could say why has that
not happened yet? It actually gets addressed very specifically in Peter's sequel
2 Peter to that this idea well the end of all things is at hand well when and
where is the promise of his coming and Peter says in 2 Peter 3 but do not
overlook this one fact beloved that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years
and a thousand years as one day the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as
some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish
but that all should reach repentance. This is our situation our location as a
church at the end of the age and we exist as a church holding out the message of
the gospel because the Lord is not slow as some count slowness but wishes that
all might find repentance. We are here to proclaim the gospel as long as he
should wait. We are here to proclaim that and if you do not believe hear the
message the God community of love. Look at how this passage continues above all
keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins above
all in other words most importantly persist keep on loving one another genuinely
and fervently love in the church is earnest it's fervent it's not really just a
vague warm feeling it's actually genuine and real it's also love for one another
love in the church is actually relational it means being part of a community and
there may be and there certainly will be many weaknesses in a church there will
be plenty of opportunity in it pastor rob who was doing our counseling at that
time he used to say marriage is the union of two sinners that was not a very
romantic thing to say but it was good perspective well you could modify that
slightly and say church is the union of 200 sinners and yet the church is called
to be a community of Christ-like love it's called to live together in love and
the love that the people of God have for one another is the greatest apologetic
of the gospel we have in fact it undergirds all the doctrine that we preach
Jesus said this in the first verse in John's gospel in John 13 he said a new
commandment I give to you that you love one another even as I have loved you you
also love one another by this all people will know that you are my disciples if
you have love for one another and again covers a multitude of sins he's not
talking about the atonement only Jesus's blood can cover our sins in that way
but rather he's saying love has a love has a willingness to overlook an offense
hatred stirs up an offense or strife and exacerbates what the offense was love
overlooks it it's an environment where offense and unforgiveness cannot thrive
maybe you could put it like this maybe you've had a situation where where
someone has been offended or sinned against and then in the ensuing days and
weeks and months they begin to brood and that offense festers maybe they talk
about it with some with other people but not in a constructive way and after
enough time the offense has gotten much worse than even what originally happened
in contrast rather than stirring up a fluff is what smothers that love is kind
of the blanket that covers that it's similar to what the proverbs say in
proverbs chapter 10 hatred stirs up strife but love covers all offenses this is
how the apostle paul described love in first corinthians 13 he says this in
first corinthians 13 love is patient and kind love does not envy or boast it is
not arrogant or rude it does not insist on its own way it is not irritable or
resentful it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth love
bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things imagine
a whole community where people shared that attitude and Peter goes on with his
instruction we start to see genuine love expresses itself of loving one another
earnestly we see that we see that love for one another earnestly is not really
about like a warm feeling or a sentiment it's far more than that genuine love
expresses itself in concrete ways we're to show hospitality and without
grumbling you might wonder why does Peter warn against grumbling simply because
opening your home or sharing what you have comes with a price it can be hard we
can view hospitality as either a privilege or a burden in the first century when
these words were written obviously they did not have motels and hotels and
airbnbs hospitality was a strategic way for the early church to share the gospel
where they were offering shelter to travelers who might have otherwise had a
dangerous money maybe you don't have very much space all of those things can be
very real obstacles but let me encourage you especially if this is new for you
to just think about starting small it's opening your home or it's sharing what
you have maybe if it's more comfortable for you you might start with a simple
meal a small number of people maybe just taking out someone out for coffee or
for tea but the mentality is simply just that God has been good to me and I want
to share his goodness with others the church is a community of Christ-like love
and one of the ways that we express that is through hospitality with one another
and Peter continues to talk about the church community in verse 10 and the way
that it functions as a Christ-like community of love show hospitality to one
another without grumbling as each has received indwelt by the holy spirit is
gifted by the lord and these gifts are received they are not earned they are
expressions of God's manifold grace they're expressions of his undeserved favor
we didn't come up with these ourselves these gifts are the text is manifold
there is tremendous variety in these gifts the way the people of God are gifted
is not homogeneous it's very diverse Peter does not give us a list here there
are other places in the new testament that do where different spiritual gifts
are listed and I don't believe any of them are meant to be comprehensive but
each one of us have been given gifts by God and commanded to use our gifts to
serve the gifts that you have and that I have are not means to our self-
fulfillment they're to be used to serve one another what has been entrusted to
them so in our case we've each been given a deposit of God's grace with which we
are to steward that grace faithfully in service to other people first grintheons
4 talks about stewardship and it just says it is required of stewards that they
be found faithful that's the job of the steward that you be found faithful you
don't need to tell the master that he should have given you more or something
different to steward but simply be faithful with the gifts that you have been
given verse 11 kind of develops this and it says 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
not the time for editorializing whatever happens in the pulpit should never be
about me or about Micah or whoever else is up here at that point whoever speaks
ought to speak the oracles of God which is to say the words that we've been
given in holy scripture are divine revelation so we're not here to add to it
we're not here to take from it and we're certainly not here to talk about
anything other than it the preacher must speak the very oracles of God in other
words the words of God for the people of God and because I preach I often find
myself analyzing sermons whether it's myself or others people that I listen to
there are a lot of ways to do that there are a lot of ways that that might
happen when you hear a sermon and when you critique it you can think was it
engaging was it structured well did that introduction hook God's word to God's
people those are all good questions to ask but the preacher also has to ask did
it help did it help the people in the room were God's people built up by as
God's words were faithfully proclaimed but Peter also addresses those who do not
speak and those who serve when you serve obviously this is a broad care category
there are multiple ways to serve there are countless ways a person might serve
in the life of the church some will speak some will sing some will sweep up
afterwards it doesn't really matter it's not for recognition the one who serves
serves by the strength that God supplies it's not in our own strength or in our
own power it's by the strength that God supplies and in the days leading up to
our building opening building people have often commented wow there are so many
gifted people in this church when they see technical ability or woodworking or
decorating or uh just ingenuity that maybe was was not even known before some
people have painted some people have moved items back and forth between the
buildings some have installed new flooring some have loaded and unloaded trucks
some people have cleaned some people have donated some people have filled
dumpsters some people have used their gifts to envision the way different rooms
might look some people have used their gifts to make sure that the building's
safe that we've proper security and first aid some people have chosen colors
some people have given I think three weeks ago uh I said that we were looking to
raise an additional 50 000 dollars by the end of the year for myself for Micah
for Tom what's been so encouraging is not only the hundreds of hours of service
to make something like this possible it's also been the joy and the cheerfulness
in the process it's been serving by the strength that God supplies one of my
lasting memories from from this move is going to be one of the first nights when
we had a work day we were filling up the first dumpster it was dark people were
taking piles of all sorts of random stuff and just throwing it into the dumpster
and we quickly got to the top and I looked out in the darkness and Adam was in
the dumpster packing it down making sure that we could making sure that we could
fit the absolute maximum amount of stuff into that dumpster and when you are in
the dumpster and you are smiling that is serving by the strength that God
supplies the church exists so that God would be glorified the church's location
is at the end of the age and the church exists as a Christ-like community of
love but the church's purpose is so that God would be glorified through Jesus
Christ that's how our passage concludes look at verse 11 again whoever speaks as
one who speaks oracles of God whoever serves as one who serves by the strength
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 to him belong
glory and dominion forever and ever amen the text begins saying the end of all
things is at hand and here is the end Jesus Christ will have glory and dominion
forever and ever it's not simply that's not simply a nice kind of theological
doxological statement to put on at the end of this practical instruction steward
those gifts for the glory of God we know these things this is where we are
headed and we say that the end of all things is at hand that doesn't lead us
into an uncertain future we know where we're going and our desire in our prayer
is that Jesus Christ would be glorified in our church body the way that we are
the way that we're going to conclude this we will have a more formal dedication
on the 12th but the last couple songs that the worship team has prepared they
are really kind of a corporate prayer they're meant to be a corporate prayer for
us to sing together that God's name would be glorified in our life together as
we walk into this new season as a church so i'm going to pray for us now and
then we'll stand and we'll sing together we ask for your spirit's power so that
this building would be a great tool for ministry in the future but lord we ask
that as your people we would understand the times that we live in that we would
exist as a Christ-like community of love and that we would do it so that your
name would be glorified we pray this in your name amen will you stand now and
we'll sing together