Contagious Service (1 Peter 4:7-11)

I read a story this week about a woman named Lydia Hart, who delivers meals to low-income senior citizens with the charity Meals on Wheels. “So what,” you may say, “thousands of people do that.” We have a group of volunteers here at Calvary who do deliver meals on wheels every day during the week. But Lydia is 101 years old. She rides shotgun and navigates for her 72-year-old partner, helping the “little old ladies,” as she refers to her clients. She speaks of the blessing she gets from being of service. “It’s fun for me and a chance to get out. It gives me something to do.” Even at over a century old, Lydia takes what she has and employs it in the service of others. What a challenge to you and me. (Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell, “Serving Meals at 101,” in 300 Illustrations for Preachers, ed. Elliot Ritzema (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015).

That’s inspiring! You might say, contagious. And that’s what we’re talking about this morning: contagious service.

But I must say, that I feel in some ways that I’m “preaching to the choir,” as they say. For I have been so impressed by the large number of dedicated servants we have in our church. Many of you are faithful workers, some of you are serving in multiple ways in and through our church: from meals on wheels, to teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, serving on the security team, caring for children, working with our youth, ministering as deacons, making sure our building and grounds are tip-top shape, making sure our audio and video work every Sunday, planning activities, cooking meals, minstering to women, ministering to men; the list goes on and on. We have a large core of people who are serving faithfully and serving well.

Thank you! I love how you are serving.

And it’s also exciting to watch our new members get involved, finding places and ways to serve.

And this pleases God. I often say, God created us for relationships. It is true as well that God created us for service. We are His workmanship, Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

So, on the one hand, many of us already understand that every member needs to be engaged in serving. But on the other hand, there may be some who need reminded. Besides that, I think it’s important to go back to the basics and review what we know. So let’s consider today’s sermon as a little review. In order for a church to be fully functional and fruitful, all of us need to be serving in some way. And as we serve the Lord together, as a team, we become a contagious church.

We can glean five powerful components of serving together in our passage in 1 Peter 4:7-11.

1. We serve with urgency (7)

"The end of all things is near" — "Therefore" reflects the urgency in the reality that we are in the last days. We will always be in the last days until Christ returns. We should anticipate and expect that Christ may return at any moment. And when Christ returns, mission stops. This should evoke in us the thought that when He returns, there will be no more chance for the lost in this world to be saved. On that day, Christ will separate the sheep from the goats. That day, the lost will be judged and sent to their eternal reward: hell. We all have family and friends who are lost. It's heart breaking — or at least it should be — to think of them spending eternity separated from Jesus, and experiencing "eternal death", while we are spending eternity in fellowship with Jesus. We should nurture the same heart that God has for all people. In his second letter, Peter wrote, 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.” In addition, anticipating that Christ may return at any moment should inspire us to be faithful and active in ministry and mission when He returns. In Luke 18:8, Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Therefore, since we expect Christ to return any day now, we are busy, living the Jesus way, serving the church, and sharing the gospel, so that more and more people are added to the kingdom, and so that Jesus will find us faithful.

This requires awareness. We must be aware of our times, and aware of the needs around us.

This requires humility. We must avoid self-focus and self-ambition, and take up the humility of Christ Jesus. We observe His humility as He touched the leper, as He washed His disciples’ feet, as He died on the cross for our sins.

This requires prayerfulness. This is how Jesus stayed focused on His mission. He prayed. This is how we stay focused; and also how we remain aware of our times and the needs of others, and how we maintain our humility before God and others.

2. We serve with love (8)

Love is our highest calling (1 Cor. 13). “Above all” emphasizes the greatest importance of love. This was Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 13 “If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

Love is a constant calling. Peter calls us to “maintain constant love for one another.” When I read this phrase, I think of the maintainance required for a house, or an automobile, or machinery. When maintenance is neglected, the house or car or machine doesn’t function properly and may even become useless. Relationships also need maintenance. First, we maintain our relationship with God, through prayer and the Word. Then, we’re able to see the maintenance required in our human relatioships so that our love for one another functions well. Misunderstandings, careless words, selfish actions, anxiety and stress are some of the things that can take their toll on our love. So we must constantly work at loving each other, which requires the following:

Love is self-giving . Jesus put it this way in John 15:13 “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” Christlike love always moves from an inner devotion, outward, in compassionate giving toward others. Jesus, our Great Shepherd, laid down His life for us. So as we imitate Jesus, we lay down our lives for each other.

Love is forgiving. Once Peter asked, Matthew 18:21-22 “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.” In 1 Peter we observe the power of love: “it covers a multitude of sins.” This is how we maintain constant love for one another: we give our selves to each other; we forgive each other.

3. We serve without complaining (9)

We welcome others into our lives. The word “hospitality” comes from the ancient tradition of welcoming a stranger into one’s home. In those days, travel was often brutal, considering the geography, climate, and other hardships. Inns along the trade routes that people traveled were notoriously dangerous and immoral. So warm-hearted people, especially Christians, began the tradition of opening up their homes for weary travelers. Peter used this word in his letter to provoke the same generosity among believers. Just as they opened their homes to weary travelers, they were to open their hearts as well. The word “be” points out that Peter is not only talking about an action, but an attitude of the heart, which doesn’t wait for an opportunity, but seeks ways to welcome others into our hearts. And we are to do this without complaining. In other words …

We are genuine in our kindness. Do you remember the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42 “While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Martha demonstrated a lack of sincerity in her service. Had she been serving from her heart, she would not have complained about her sister sitting at the feet of Jesus. Instead, she would have gladly and humbly served Jesus by cooking food, while her sister served Jesus by sitting at his feet. She would have understood that she would benefit as much from Jesus by serving him a meal as Mary did by listening to his words.

In the same way, when we complain, we are also demonstrating a lack of sincerity. Whether we’re complaing about people who are not serving, or complaining about the inconvenience or hardship in our serving, this reveals that we are not serving out of love, but out of obligation. And Jesus wants us to serve because we love him and love each other.

4. We serve with our gifts (10)

Everyone is gifted. Peter wrote that everyone has received a gift. What did he mean? The New Testament makes it very clear that every believer is gifted by the Holy Spirit for service. We find one such teaching in Rom. 12:4-8 “Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.”

We see from this and other passages that everyone is gifted, and …

Everyone serves. Notice that Paul commands, “use it” when referrring to our giftedness.

Everyone benefits. The point of our giftedness is service. And the purpose of our service is so that the church functions properly and everyone benefits from each other’s service.

5. We serve in God’s strength (11)

Rely on His Word. Just as a car cannot operate without gas, or a light without electricity, or a sail without wind, so we cannot serve in our own strength. Jesus used the imagery of a grapevine in John 15:4-5 “Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

God’s Word feeds us the nutrients we need to serve. To remain in Jesus means that we feed on his word and live in the power of his Spirit.

Be filled with His Spirit. We find the source of our power for all of our service in Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When we receive Jesus as our Savior, the Holy Spirit takes residence in us, and among other things, he energizes us for service.

Live for His glory. Peter reminds us in verse 11 that our service is not for our glory but for the glory of the Lord. This resonates with Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”

I was watching one of the games in the current NCAA basketball national tournament last week. In this game an underdog team upset a number 1 seeded team in the tournament. The victory came largely on the shoulders of the team’s point guard, who broke the record for the number of assists in a tournament game: 19. He also scored 20 points himself, and made six steals on defense. At the end of the game when he was being interviewed for the TV audience, this young athlete refocused all the attention on himself as the hero, to his coach, his teammates, and even to God. In his own words, “I give all the glory to God.”

We serve for God’s glory. We live for God’s glory. There’s no better life.

What this means:

I am called to serve the Lord by serving others in and through my church.

I have a responsibility to discover how God has gifted me to serve.

As a steward of God’s grace, I serve.