“The end of all things is near”. Pretty ominous words from the Apostle Peter. This puts urgency into his following advice to the church to Pray, Speak, and Serve. It’s a good word for today as well.

Here is the video link for today’s podcast:

1 Peter 4:7-11… Pray, Speak, and Serve

As usual, the links for Spotify and iTunes are to the right.

Here is the transcript for today’s podcast:

4:7-11 Pray, Speak, and Serve

7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.

Whether Peter was thinking of the end of everything and Christ’s return was imminent, or whether he had Nero’s probable all-out assault on the Church in mind, or whether he was just thinking of man’s brief sojourn on earth in light of eternity, i don’t know. But as someone who is 68 years old as of this podcast, I know that I have less life in front of me than I do behind me. I see the end of my life on this planet approaching.In light of eternity, the end of all MY things is near. So knowing this, how should I live? So glad you asked.

8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 

This short paragraph from Zondervan’s commentary is SO well stated:

”Above all” reminds us of the primacy of agape, “love” among fellow Christians. This love is to be “eager” or “earnest” (NIV “deeply”). Such love can be commanded because it is not primarily an emotion but a decision of the will leading to action. The reason for us to show love is that “love covers over a multitude of sins.” This quotation from Pr 10:12 does not mean that our love covers or atones for our sins. In the proverb the meaning is that love does not “stir up” or broadcast sins. So the major idea is that love suffers in silence and bears all things (1Co 13:5-7). Christians forgive faults in others because they know the forgiving grace of God in their own lives.

Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

Copyright 2004.

9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 

“Hospitality” between Christians was an important expression of love in a world without our modern inns and hotels. This virtue was required of the overseers and widows (1Ti 3:2; 5:10; Tit 1:8) and is commanded for us all (Mt 25:35ff.; Ro 12:13; 3Jn 5-8). Hospitality is to be “without grumbling”—a phrase that connotes the difficulty of carrying out this command. In certain cultures that are strongly family-orientated, the bringing of strangers into a house may be somewhat shocking. Yet Christians overcome these conventions because God’s love has made them into a single great family.

10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 

Hospitality is not a one-way virtue; all believers are in some way capable of ministering to others. Every Christian has a gift (Ro 12:6-8; 1Co 12:12-31) that he or she has received from God, presumably from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the time of regeneration. That the Holy Spirit can take “natural” talents and abilities and redirect them for Christ was most dramatically shown in Paul’s ministry. Believers should not only view themselves as gifted but also as “serving” others and as “administering” the grace of God. One of the long-standing misconceptions in church practice is the idea that only one person is to “minister” in the local church. The biblical principle is that all can and should minister in various ways.

My Spiritual gifts are Teaching, Administration, and Prophecy. How do I use these gifts to serve others? The purpose of these – and indeed ALL – gifts is service to others. They are not given so we can display them as spiritual trophies for all to admire. “Ooh! Look at Paige – he is a Prophet. Ooh! Look at Paige he is such an incredible teacher.” These gifts are given to me for SERVICE. I am to take on the role of a SERVANT in the use of these gifts. A servant serves others. A servant doesn’t rule over others.

Someone who has the gift of prophecy speaks the mind of God into any given situation. In order to do that I must know what God says… hence Bible study and Biblical meditation to get what God says into my heart.

Psalm 119:11 says “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” 

As I teach the children and adults in the Body of Christ music (private and group music lessons), I am always on the look out for opportunities to inject God’s words into the lessons as I interact with my students. I am using the “gifts I have received” to serve others.

11 If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. 

Zondervan has this to say:

Peter puts these manifestations of grace in two broad categories: “speaking” and “serving”. The former covers all forms of oral service—teaching, preaching, prophecy, perhaps even tongues. “The very words of God” are utterances from God’s mouth. So what one says must be as God says it (cf. 2Co 5:20; 1Th 2:13). As for service, it is to be empowered “with the strength God provides,” which means by dependence on God’s help by the Spirit (cf. Eph 3:16). The purpose of mutual Christian service is that through Jesus Christ God will be glorified. Serving fellow Christians does glorify God because people will praise him for his grace that comes to them through Jesus and through his followers.

Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

Copyright 2004

To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

“The end of all things is near.” Peter could probably see that Nero was gearing up for an all-out assault on the Church. Life as they knew it was going to change dramatically. In light of that, Pray, Speak, and Serve. Looking at today’s world, I get a gut-feeling that the same could be said for today’s Church. Pray, Speak, and Serve.

In His Grip,

Paige