Living In The Light Of Christs Return

--- 1 Peter chapter 4, if you're not there already, 1 Peter chapter 4, and we're going to begin in verse 7, we're going to read down through verse 11, so follow along with me as I read. It says,

Father God, open our hearts to the ministry of your word. Give us ears to hear, eyes to see. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. The premise of this passage is in verse 7, and when the apostle Peter says, the end of all things is near, therefore, so he is basing or predicating the words that he is giving to you and I that come out in the form of exhortations on the idea that the end of all things is near. Now, you guys are probably familiar with the fact that the word Bible stands for basic instructions before leaving earth, right? B-I-B-L-E. It's funny, my granddaughter called me this morning and she had an Awana question that she had to ask three people, so she said, Grandpa, do you have time for a question? Yeah, I asked me a question. She says, okay, I gotta ask this to three people. Why did God give us the Bible? Very cute. And so I kind of shared it with her stuff. But you know, a lot of what the Bible has given to us about is preparatory because we are told that Jesus is coming back, and so we are therefore to prepare ourselves for his return. And this life on earth is that preparation, and the way you and I live our lives, it is not this isolated sort of a thing where we think of my life as it's my life and it really doesn't matter what I do with my life, it's just my life. No, this is a training ground. This is that preparation. This is the getting ready stage for eternity. You ever think of it that way? And all the stuff you're going through, you're getting ready for eternity. You're learning how to trust God, you're learning how to put your hope in him, and that involves a lot of things that you and I have to work on on a regular basis. And so he says, in light of the fact that the end of all things is near, he then proceeds to give us these various exhortations which we'll go through. Let me just address one thing first, and that is the statement, the end of all things is near. And you might think to yourself, well, obviously Peter was wrong, because this was written almost 2,000 years ago. Why in the world would he say the end of all things is near when now for 2,000 years we've been going on just like it's always gone on and the Lord still hasn't come? Well, one of the reasons for that is because God has always wanted us to believe and to live like the return of Jesus is imminent. That is the way we are to live our lives. We're not to live our lives in a way that says, well, obviously he's going to be a while. So therefore I can, you know, what does that do? Jesus told us in some parables what that does. It breeds an attitude of laziness and an attitude of kind of this lackadaisical response to God and his call for us to live a life of righteousness whereby we kind of think, well, I got time. You know? Have you ever met someone who felt like they had time and so they didn't really need to make a decision for Jesus? You know? It produces this attitude where we kind of think, well, you know, it's okay, you know? You share Christ with somebody, you say, so, are you ready to receive Jesus as your Savior? And they go, well, you know, I think I might need a little time. I've had a lot of people say that to me in the past, so I say, okay, fine. Now are you ready? Well, I just, I need a little time to think about it. Okay, fine. How about now? The point is there's this attitude that just creeps into our heart when I think I've got time. And the fact of the matter is, first of all, number one, the Bible says that our lives are like a vapor and they appear for a moment and then they're gone. We don't know how much time we have. And when death comes and it will come to all of us, should the Lord tarry, that's the end of your time and you don't know when that end is. And so putting that off, first of all, is very unwise. The second thing is God wanted us to live our lives in the belief that Jesus could come back at any time. That is what we call the imminent return of Christ. And so there's really nothing that remains to be fulfilled in Scripture before Christ returns for his church. Now I'll grant you there are some things that need to be fulfilled before Christ comes back to the earth to establish his throne, but as far as coming for the church, that can happen any time. I believe very strongly that he comes for the church first, then we go into the tribulation period, and then we return with Christ. If you don't believe that way and you're free to believe a different way, then the teaching of the imminent return of Christ is nonsense. Because his return is not imminent, there's all these things that have to happen first. The temple has to be rebuilt, and there's this, and there's that, and there's the other things. But if you believe in the imminent return of Christ, which the Bible teaches, and which obviously the apostles held, when you read the letters of the New Testament writers, it is quite obvious that they believed Jesus could come at any time. And you can't look at that writing and say, well, he was wrong. He wasn't wrong, because Jesus can come at any time. That's been the voice of the church since Jesus was taken back to heaven in the full view of all the apostles. You know, and the angels said to the disciples, men of Galilee, why do you stand here gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken from you will return in the same way that you've seen him go. And since that time, it could happen at any time. And that's the way he wanted us to live, because when you believe that Jesus could come at any time, you start adjusting your life to the idea that Jesus could come at any time, right? You'll remember Jesus told parables about a landowner who put his land in the care of stewards and employees and so forth, and then went away on a long trip. And it says eventually, in this parable, the workers began to say things like, well, our master isn't coming back for a long time. And so they began to mistreat one another and do things that they shouldn't do. And then Jesus said, that master will return at a time when they aren't expecting him, and they will be punished most severely. And the reason is largely because they got their eyes off the imminent return of the master. To live with the idea that Jesus can come back any time changes the way we live. It changes the way I treat you, it changes the way you treat me, changes the way I treat my wife, changes the way I raise my children, changes the way I spend my money, right? How I spend my time, whether or not I think that sharing Jesus with that person sitting next to me, you know, on the plane or in the store or at school is important, you know? Imagine if we had absolute clarity about the return of Christ. Imagine if an angel of the Lord appeared to the church at large and said, Jesus is coming back in five days. How would you spend those five days? I dare say it would not be business as usual, right? We wouldn't live our lives, we wouldn't just kind of wake up the next morning and go, what do you want to do? You know? What do you want, hang out? Should we just hang out? Let's hang out. You ever notice that's kind of the catch word for everybody when they don't know what to do anymore, it's kind of the new thing. Hey, let's go hang out, man. Maybe we just kind of got together and got some coffee and hung out. Doesn't sound terribly fruitful sometimes. The point is, if you knew Jesus was coming back in five days, I dare say you'd probably not just kind of get together and hang out. You'd probably get together with... with other believers or even by yourself, get busy. Because you knew that those next five days were going to count for eternity. And you knew that whatever investment you made in those next five days was going to be a lasting investment. You would know it. Well, fact is, you know it now. We just don't live like it. Fact is, we know right now what I do for the Lord is going to be a lasting investment for the kingdom of God and frankly, be credited in my account. I know that. He's bent over backwards to tell me that in his word. So how then should I live? How then should you live? In light of this, as Peter says, the end of all things is near. Therefore, how then should we live? And he begins to give us some exhortations in this passage. And there are five things that I want to bring out here tonight in these five exhortations. The first thing he says, if you'll look with me once again, in verse seven, he says, therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. I got to thinking about why we may not be clear-minded or self-controlled. And I got to thinking about the things that come into our lives that steal away the clarity of mind and the ability to literally control ourselves so that we can spend time in prayer. And I came up with three things. Drama, worry, and worldly pursuits. Those are the ones I came up with. There's probably more. Maybe this is true confession time. Maybe those are mine. Maybe those are my issues. But I have learned over the years that when my mind becomes captivated by something other than the Lord, there's usually a purpose behind it, and it's not God's purpose, and it's not my purpose. It could very well be the enemy's purpose, although I'm not telling you that I'm important enough for the enemy to gun for me. All I'm saying is I've realized over the years that when I'm captivated by drama, or worry, or a worldliness, I'm not praying like I should, and there's usually something going on that needs my prayer, support, or intercession. It's kind of like, have you ever just kind of checked out of life for a while? I mean, you're still going through the motions. You're still doing what you need to do. I mean, you get up in the morning, you get dressed, and you're going through, and you do your job, but kind of emotionally, even intellectually to some degree, you're just kind of checked out. And the reason you're checked out is because something else is looming on the horizon, and it could be, again, it could be drama that's going on in your life, and you're so fixated on that drama that you're just going through the motions, and you're really not thinking about what's in front of you. You're just kind of almost like this automaton, or you're worried about something, and that worry is so consuming you that even though you get up in the morning, and you go through the motions of life, you're thinking about that which you're worried about, and it's taking all of your brain energy. And everybody knows when you're obsessed with something in your life because that's all you talk about. And when you talk to somebody, you're talking about either the drama, about the drama that's going on in your life, you're talking about the worry that's going on in your life, or you're talking about the worldly pursuits and interests that are going on in your life. And that's what they hear. Doesn't matter what the conversation starts as, it gets around to whatever is going on in your mind and in your life. And right away, we know that I'm off track. So Peter says, in light of the fact that the end of all things is near, let's stay on course. Why? So we can pray. Okay? You know, when I am distracted, I'm not praying for my family like I should. I'm not praying for the kingdom of God like I should. I'm not thinking eternal perspective thoughts like I should. I'm thinking about my issues. And you know, the enemy has such a powerful way of just pushing the buttons in our life that he knows how to push to get you and I to take every sort of sensory perception which was created by God to be focused in on him and to get us to turn it all inward. You know, do you know we have powerful powers? That's a redundancy, isn't it? We really do have great powers of perception as human beings. To look at a situation, to look at people, to talk to someone, and to assess and to perceive. What's going on here? What's happening in this relationship? What do your words mean? What does your body language mean? I mean, even a doctor gets used to looking at the out, you know, they look at the person's skin color and then they can take these various tests and through these things, the perceptions begin to come out with a diagnosis or whatever. You and I can perceive people on many levels, spiritually, physically, emotionally, except when we're distracted. And then we're just cut off. We're cut off. I'll tell you, when I get distracted, I'm cut off from the Lord. Not that he doesn't love me, not that he's not in my life, it's just like the phone's off the hook, you know? And whatever connection, whatever communication, whatever communion that I would otherwise be having with the Holy Spirit isn't happening because I'm either so freaked out about the drama, worrying about something, or I'm distracted by something in the world that just is so fun right now, it's all I can think about, you know? And I'm not praying. And I'm not interceding. And I am not available for the Holy Spirit to tap me on the shoulder and say, Paul, I need you to pray for something. I'm not even listening. So Peter says, listen, be clear-minded, self-controlled. Control yourself. We say that to our children, you know, when they're kind of getting all antsy and freaking out or whatever, you know, hey, control yourself, you know? Which is, by the way, it's not a bad thing to say to a child, necessarily. Kids today, by and large, haven't learned that particular lesson. But we need to, you know, by the way, self-control, I don't know if you're aware of it, but self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Wow. It's not one that we necessarily, you know, think about. I'm going to put that on my refrigerator, you know? Self-control, I'm claiming self-control today. But it's necessary if we're going to be functionally useful in the kingdom of God. Because without self-control, we're just spinning off like a top. We're out of control. And, you know, where there's a lack of control, where there's a lack of order, the Holy Spirit is not working there, you know? God is a God of order, you know? Paul says that when he writes to the Corinthian church, he says, our God is not a God of disorder. Well, that obviously means he's a God of order. And so if our minds and our thought processes, our emotions, even our spirits are just zinging out of order, because again, drama, worry, or worldly pursuits, pleasures, whatever, then we are just not on the same frequency as the Holy Spirit. And our prayer life is going to be very stunted in our ability. And, you know, oh, we'll do our regular prayers. God, thank you for this day. You know, forgive me. Thank you for this meal. Thank you, you know, that you've just given me good stuff. I gotta go now, bye. We'll just do the bare minimum. Have you ever, there's a saying, I wish I could remember who said it. It was quoted, I can't remember if it was Tozer who quoted it, but it was somebody else who said it. And it's very simple, it goes like this. Pray until you pray. Now, that might sound a little confusing at first, but the idea there is it's so easy for us to pray superficially. And we all have done it, myself included. We pray self-consciously. We pray because we're concerned about what the other person's thinking. But have you ever gotten into a prayer time where all that went away? Where the world just literally went away for that period of time where you were interceding and spending that time in the presence of Jesus, and you just, you lost track of time. You lost track of anything. Where you were, you were just in the moment, talking to God, communing with the Holy Spirit, and you were lost in prayer. It's a great way to be lost, by the way. Pray until you pray. Pray until you really pray. I like that. What do you need in your life to pray until you really pray? A clear mind and self-control. Otherwise, you're going to be pinging, you know? You're going to be pinging. And that usually, when I'm out of control, I'm going to people and I'm saying, pray for me. And I'm really not available to pray for them, you know? Because my life is in turmoil. Let's go on here. The next exhortation he gives us, which is found for us in verse 8, he says, above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. Don't you... I like this, how he's giving us an exhortation. He's following with a reason why. He starts off by saying, be self-controlled, be clear-minded so that, here's the reason, so that you can pray. And then he says, you and I are to love each other deeply. Once again, why? He anticipates the question. Because love covers over a multitude of sins. Well, there's a lot of different reasons for this. One of which is the fact that Jesus told us that the world, that we are called to reach for Christ. We'll know that we are his disciples by the love we have one for another. That is to be the distinguishing mark of each and every follower of Jesus Christ, each and every born-again Christian. We are to treat one another in the body of Christ like family. Well, better than family for some of you. Some of you went through a horrific family experience. I'm sorry for that. That doesn't negate the fact that what you experienced wasn't what a family was supposed to be. What we are to do in the body of Christ is what a family is supposed to be. And that is a deep, reverent love for one another. And that's how we're to respond to one another. And when that love is there, it is amazing how it covers over a multitude of sins. What does he mean by that? Does he mean, you know, it's a little confusing. What's that all about? I learned something. At some point, I can't even remember when, but I learned something along the lines of ways of just kind of walking with Jesus and also being a pastor. You might not be terribly surprised when I tell you that one of the probably more negative sides of being a pastor is from time to time having to confront people about their life or behavior that's going on in their life. And that's never fun. I've never enjoyed it. I don't mind it necessarily. I don't, you know, I don't skirt it, but I've never enjoyed it. But I was never all that good at it either. And you know, there's some people, their personality is such that they can tell you that you're a big fat scumbag and you want to give them a hug afterwards. They just have this gift, you know? They can walk up to you and say, you know what? You're a jerk. And you just go, you're right. And you're just like, and you're thanking them the next minute. You're thanking them for what they just told you. I've never gotten that. No one's ever thanked me for, you know, saying that. Well, there was a point in time when I realized that what was missing was love. Here's the thing, and this is something that all of us can use. If you have to go confront someone about whatever, ask yourself this question before one word comes out of your mouth about what you're confronting them for. Does this person know that you love them? Because it's amazing what will happen, how receptive and open a person will be when they know this person loves me. And that's probably why some people have that gift, you know? They just ooze love and compassion. And so that when they do get around to actually confronting someone, they've laid down such a wonderful bed of love that it's received so much better. But I kind of started realizing after a while that I don't think I was going into it with a heart of love, or at least the person didn't know that. And so they were less likely to receive it. Love covers over a multitude of sins, and it will keep you and I from becoming bitter and angry at one another and unforgiving for the things that we do against one another. Because you know what? We are going to offend one another. If I haven't offended you yet, just wait a little while. I'll get around to it. If I haven't stepped on your toes, I will. And you will probably step on mine. And how many people have you met that don't go to church because they got hurt in church? It's that old saying, if I had a dollar, right? For every person I've met who said, well, I used to go to church, but... Those people, you know? And you know, none of us can say, you're wrong. It exists. We hurt each other in the body of Christ. So what's the answer? To love one another deeply from the heart. That's the answer. There's no other way to get around it. There's no other way. There's no shortcut, you know? Well, I'm going to come to church, but I'm just not going to ever talk to anybody. Well, let me know how that works for you. That's not an answer. It's not a good way to handle it. We've got to learn to love one another. Here's the problem. Some people just, it's like impossible to love them. They're just not lovable on a human level, you know? They're just prickly and nasty, and you just don't want to be around them. Ian has a favorite little saying he likes to use about somebody whose personality is such that they can sour a glass of milk at 10 paces. I've already used it several times. But, you know, we all know the type. It's hard. It's hard. How are you and I going to get around to loving one another deeply from the heart? Well, it has to come through the power of the Holy Spirit, doesn't it? It has to be a work of the Spirit. Oh, we're getting back to those fruits of the Holy Spirit that you and I are supposed to be displaying in our life. Love, first one. Self-control is the last one. Doesn't mean we don't have to bother with it. But love is the first one, and boy, do we need it. And if we're ever going to get around to showing love for one another, we have got to tap in to the unlimited source of love through God. Because you know what? I am going to so easily come to the end of my ability to love. Aren't you? And haven't you seen that happen in the past where you just, you know, there's just, you know, there's some people just rub you the wrong way. It happens, doesn't it? Personality conflicts or whatever, and, you know, but you got to just, you got to surrender that. Jesus, you know what? I need your love. I don't get a get-out-of-jail-free card in the way of loving this person. Like, you know what I mean? I don't get a free pass to just ignore this person and love this one over here. I am called to love the people in the body of Christ deeply from the heart. That's what I'm called to do. That's what you're called to do. Well, how are we going to do that? Through the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the only way. Number three, the third thing that he mentions here as in way of an exhortation of living our lives in light of the coming of Christ is in verse 9 where he says, offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Now, I'll grant you that this exhortation is kind of dated, at least for you and I. The offering of hospitality is not like you and I do hospitality today. It's not having someone over for dinner, as nice as that is. The kind of hospitality that was going on in the first century church and when this was written was literally a letting someone come into your home. It was taking someone into your home and letting them stay there, possibly even for an extended stay. We know that in two rather unique cases, the Apostle Paul stayed in cities for quite a while. He stayed in Corinth for about a year and a half. He stayed in Ephesus for somewhere between two and a half and three years. And so, you know, he didn't just go, you know, rent a place. He stayed with believers, ultimately. They would stay with people who had this gift of hospitality. So you can understand here that this hospitality Peter's talking about is more than just, you know, what you and I would consider hospitality. It's literally being inconvenienced for the sake of other people. Do you see how he's kind of almost giving us the understanding of what it means to love deeply from the heart? How do you, it's kind of almost like he was anticipating the question, well what do you mean by loving deeply from the heart? So he goes on to kind of clarify, okay here's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about loving people until it hurts. I'm talking about loving people when it's inconvenient for you to do it. I'm talking about loving people to the point where you are displaced from the comfort of your home perhaps for a season while they are, they're staying with you. And that may not literally happen, but you understand the principle behind what we're talking about. It's literally giving. Giving in a way that where you feel it. That's what hospitality was like in the early church. So we need to understand what this is talking about. Let me ask you a question. For those of you that have family members that you're very dear to, is there like anything you wouldn't do for them? I mean, think about what, as a dad, you know, there's nothing I wouldn't do for my kids. I'd love them to death. You know, they call me up on the phone and they say, Dad, I need a loan. Done. If I have anything to give. Most times I think I need to get a loan from them. But you know what I'm saying, if I've got it in my power to help, I want to help. Seems to just kind of go with family, doesn't it? Well remember the point is, we are family in the body of Christ. Why is it so hard to get people to help when it's a spiritual family member? Now I'll grant you, there are times when it's just there's an outpouring of grace and love and affection that just blows our minds. But sometimes it's a little like pulling teeth. And we should be quick to help take care of one another as a body, you know? That's really the call to hospitality that he's addressing here in these verses. Again, it's not just having somebody over for dinner, and that's a wonderful thing, but it's where it's going to really make an impact on your family, perhaps. The fourth thing that he discusses here with us by way of exhortation is in verse 10 where he says each one of us should use whatever gift we've received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. When he talks about God's grace in its various forms, he's talking about the fact that we don't all have the same gift. That's the first thing we need to kind of get over. Or get used to, maybe. Maybe that's a better way to say it. You know, even in the Corinthian church, you'll remember that this was an issue. They had a hard time sometimes seeing value in somebody else's gift if it wasn't the big elaborate sort of a gift that made a big noise, you know? Corinthians were into big noises, big spiritual noises. So Paul had to kind of like, he had to write them and say, don't you guys understand that the body of Christ is like a human body? And there are parts of a human body that really don't make that much noise, but you wouldn't want to be without them. And they might not be in the forefront of what people see and hear on a regular basis, but the function of that part, as far as the body as a whole, is vital. And so Paul went on to kind of say, we're all needed here in the body of Christ. So God has given grace to each one of us to function in a different way in the body of Christ. Can I ask you a question? Mostly this is, I'm not asking for a response right now, but what is your function? What is your function in the body of Christ? Well, I don't know what my gift is, Pastor, I just, I'm not really sure. Do you want to know the best way to figure out what your gift is? Get busy. How's that for a spiritual answer? Yeah, just get busy. Don't sit on your hands. Don't wait for a lightning bolt to emerge from the cloud or a finger to write on the wall saying, this is your gift. Get busy. And you'll find out. Because as you move through the body of Christ and you just start doing things and you just start serving, eventually you're going to know. You're going to know, wow, this is my gift. This is what, you know. When I first went on staff at a church back in Montana, I had no clue what my spiritual gift was. None. And I remember one time we were having a service and it wasn't terribly long after I'd come on staff and the pastor was introducing the other staff pastors, there were about four of us on staff there, and he came to me and he says, well, here's Paul. We don't really know what his spiritual gift is, but, you know, I'm sure he'll get around to doing something one of these days, you know, whatever. I was kind of like, felt a little bit like an adult. But over a period of time, eventually they were like, hey, you know, the youth group needs to be taught. I don't know how to teach. What do I teach? I don't know. I don't know anything about that. Never taught in my life. Well, just do it, you know. Okay. So I prayed about it and I got up and started. And I was just like, wow, this is great. This is fun. And eventually people recognize that gift in you. And they recognized it in me before I did. They started saying, well, Paul, you have a gift of teaching. I was like, I do? How cool is that? Because that's what I like to do. I mean, that's what I get jazzed about, you know. What do you get jazzed about? You know, it's funny. Sometimes somebody will come to me with a real concern. They'll say, you know, Pastor Paul, and it might just be, it might be a physical thing, might be a spiritual thing. But somebody will come and they'll say, did you know that, you know, those sidewalks aren't getting cleared off like they should in the winter? That's a problem. We've got some elderly people that are walking on there and people could slip and those sidewalks need to be taken care of. And I'm kind of like, and you're the person to take care of it. I mean, you figured it out, right? And the rest of us just kind of went, we're just kind of like, duh, because we're going on with our gift, you know. But here's the point of all that, that different varying works of grace. Don't expect everybody to think about the sidewalks, right? It's not everybody's gift. Might just be yours. So get busy and do what's in your heart to do, what you're jazzed to do, what you're thinking about, what you find is important. And what Peter says here about that is that you and I are to do it faithfully. Did you catch that? We're to faithfully administer or administrate the gifts that God has given us. Do you know God isn't going to care how many people saw you do your gift, he's not going to care whether you are in a big church or a tiny church, do you know that when you stand before him and he says, what did you do with what I gave you, he's going to simply ask if you were faithful. Were you faithful? You know? I'm not, you know, you understand that we get this American sort of a interpretation of what it means to be faithful with my gift and that means the level of a Billy Graham crusade or, you know, we just think that way because we're Americans. Big is always better and big is never big enough. But God wants to know if you're willing to be faithful with your gift, whatever it is. You got the gift of helps? Be faithful helping. You have the gift of service? Be faithful serving. If you have the gift of teaching, be faithful teaching. If you have the gift of administration, which by the way is a rare gift, and if you have it I'd like to know it, but then administrate faithfully, you know? Some of you guys have the gift of compassion, some of you have the gift of prayer. You just, you love hitting your knees. And prayer requests don't burden you. You just take them to Jesus. You have it. That's a gift. And you need to be faithful. There are going to be people who stand before Jesus on the day of reckoning when the church comes before him and he hands out those rewards for what we've done with the gifts we've received And there's going to be some people whom we've never heard of, and they were maybe faithful with their gift in their own prayer closet, nobody even knew their name. But their voice was heard in the halls of heaven. It echoed in the very throne room of God himself. And we never even heard their name, but they moved mountains with prayer because they were faithful to Jesus. do what God had given them to do. So stop thinking about what big thing can I do and just be faithful, just set out to be faithful. You know, if it's loving on the two-year-olds, be faithful, you know? If it's changing diapers up in the nursery, be faithful. You know, if it's cleaning the toilets, clean faithfully. You know, if it's teaching the junior high, then be faithful or serving with the women's ministry or the men's ministry, good grief, there's plenty of things to do. Just be faithful. And I love what he says here, faithfully administering God's grace. And then he kind of outlines in verse 11, you know, if anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides so that in all things God may be praised. Now let me just say this about the giftings that we've been given in Christ. Here's the crazy, crazy thing. You've been given these gifts and you can use them for yourself or you can use them for the kingdom of God. Did you know that? Did you know you're free to do that? I've often watched someone in the world doing something and thought, man, you are so gifted if you only gave that to the Lord, you know? Your abilities, your amazing abilities to do what you do, if those would only be channeled to the kingdom of God. The fact of the matter is, we can use our gift selfishly or we can use it selflessly. We can give it away or we can use it for ourselves. And he says here, if you are a speaker, anyone who speaks, he should speak the very words of God, right? Because why does Peter have to say that? Because the potential is for us to speak our own words, say what I want to say, or to use my words to manipulate people. You know, people who are good speakers are usually convincing. They're fairly convincing people. That's part of the gift. Well, a person who has that ability to convince others can manipulate people. They're master manipulators when that gift is given over to the flesh. And what you're seeing in this master manipulator is probably this person who's been given this gift by God to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and convince people to get saved. But they're not using it for the kingdom of God, they're using it for themselves. And it turns into this selfish yuck. And you see the result of it, and it's yucky because it's selfish. It's all for them. In fact, you know, I look at celebrities. Our modern celebrity, well, I shouldn't even say modern, I think it's been going on since there have been celebrities in the world. But I think about the life of a celebrity today, and I think, whatever they're doing, do the opposite. Because what they, you know, people who are celebrities are usually very gifted people. Whether it's singing, or drama and acting, or whatever their gifting may be, they've got powerful abilities, but they're using them completely to exalt themselves. It's all about what I can do for me. And so, I'm going to use my gift so that when I walk down the red carpet, people are going to be adoring and, oh, I want to just touch you, let me take your picture, sort of this whole mentality of just living for how it's going to benefit me. But you see, in the kingdom of God, the attitude is here, as Peter says, each one should use his gift faithfully so that anyone who speaks should be speaking for God. God's words. Anyone, he goes on to say, who is serving should do it with the strength that God provides. Why? Why? Look what he goes on to say. So that God gets the glory. So God gets the praise. You see, if I do things in my own strength, then I can take credit for it, right? And then everybody can look at me and go, ooh, cool. Isn't he neat? But that's not what you and I are called to do. We're called to live and serve and speak and whatever in such a way that when people get done seeing what you've done, they say, isn't God cool, right? You know? Isn't God cool? I've shared this with some of you before, but you know one of the more common things in churches is for people to serve and then stop serving because nobody thanked them. Now I'm not saying that gratitude, well-placed gratitude isn't a good idea, maybe even from time to time. But you know, I've heard people say, you know, I used to do that. I, you know, I did that for a while. I served for a while in the church, but you know what? You know what? I cleaned the church for a whole year. Not once did someone thank me. Well, do you know what that statement tells you? Tells you why they were doing it. If they didn't care about getting thanks from people, it wouldn't have stopped them from serving and it wouldn't have been a stumbling block. Why are you serving? Why are you speaking? Why are you administering the gift of God that is in you? Is it so that people will look at you and go, whoa, I am just so glad you're here. What would we do without you? I mean, this place would fall apart if it wasn't for you. I am just so glad. Now again, nothing wrong with patting somebody on the back necessarily, but if that's why somebody is serving, if that's why they're speaking, if that's why they're giving, then they're not doing it faithfully as unto the Lord. They're doing it unto people so that they can get a response of gratitude. And that's not why we do things. I learned a long time ago that if somebody gets up and walks out during a teaching, that's between them and Jesus. Did I ever tell you that the very first time I ever spoke in front of adults, somebody got up and walked out? Started real early. And again, I was up in Montana and the pastor, I don't know if he had nothing to say for a Sunday night. They did Sunday evening services in that church and finally he decided I was ready. So he said, Paul, why don't you come and why don't you share on a Sunday night? And I was kind of excited, so I did it. And I didn't know why she got up and walked out. It was a lady. She got up and walked out. And I didn't know if she had to go to the bathroom or if her kid's number came up. I don't even know if we had numbers back then. But I found out later that she got up and left because she just totally didn't like what I said. And you know, at the end of the day, whatever we do, whether it's cleaning the toilets or whether it's sharing God's word, we got to know that what we do, we do as unto the Lord. And if there's someone who's not real thrilled with what you've done because it kind of, you know, put a crimp in their style or offended them for some reason, I mean, not that we ever want to be purposely offensive to anybody. And I didn't set out when I taught that day to make anybody mad or have them get up and leave. I just wanted to share the truth of God's word as I saw it in the Bible. And you know, it's going to happen from time to time. Somebody isn't going to like the way you did something or whatever. And if that causes you to say, well, you know, if that's the way people are, then forget them. Then you know you're doing it for the wrong reason, you know? And that's why Peter says at the end of this passage, I'll start in verse 11 again. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides. Once again, here's the why. So that in some things, no, all things, God may be praised through Jesus Christ. And it says, to him be glory, not to you, not to me, right? We don't get the glory. Why? Because God says very clearly in the Bible, I don't share my glory with anybody, right? I'm not sharing my glory. I'm not moving over to anybody, I don't care how squeaky clean you are or how talented you are. I share my glory with no man. It is so that God might receive the glory, to him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. I love these exhortations, I really do. I think it's a great way that Peter has outlined for us to live in light of the fact that the end of all things is near. So let's live this way. Amen. Thank you. ---