1 Peter 4:7-11

What kind of Community do we want to be

Intro (The End is Near)(Community) (Community of End minded people)

Good morning! My name is Clint, thank you for being here in person or online today! Over the summer we’ve been pressing into three things, Discipleship, Community, and the Presence of God. These are three things that we place a huge value on. These are three things that God uses to transform us, to make us whole, to bring us into the new life that Jesus has for us.

Last week, John talked about discipleship. And he asked “Are you in?” Are you in, because we all get to decide. We can say yes to transformation, we can say yes to growth, or we could say no.

I want to be clear here, Jesus, his Holy Spirit working in us is the thing that brings us to life, we can’t make it happen on our own. And, at the same time, there are things that we can do to put ourselves in a position to let Jesus work.

John compared it to learning another language, to learning Spanish. Anyone can learn Spanish. And, it takes time, it takes effort. You’ve got to study, you’ve got to practice. You’ve got to create that space to learn.

After the service, our friend Josh came up to him and said something like “It’s easier to learn Spanish when you surround yourself with others who speak Spanish”

If that isn’t one of the most perfect analogy for healthy community that I’ve ever heard.

That’s what we are going to be looking at today, the value of community. Friends, we need each other, we were created for community. And, Jesus uses community to transform us, to bring us to life. It’s in community that we walk out our faith. Community molds us, and shapes us.

In his book The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, David Brooks says to

“Never underestimate the power of the environment you work in to gradually transform who you are. When you choose to work at a certain company, you are turning yourself into the sort of person who works in that company.....”

Friends, this is true of Churches as well. All community molds us, shapes us, and transforms us. So today, lets talk about the type of community that we want to be. We are going to be in 1 Peter, Chapter 4. And will talk about being a community that Prays, a Community that Loves, and a Community that Serves, and how each one of these things brings glory and praise to God.

Pray?

1 Peter 4:7-11 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 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. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

A Community that Prays (v7)

The End is Near!!

Right away Peter says “The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray.” The Clint paraphrase is “The end is coming, don’t freak out, pay attention, relax and pray.”

Let’s start with that first part, the end is near. This isn’t doom and gloom. This isn’t Y2K. You guys remember Y2K and the hype around it? Oh my goodness. I was 11 when we were coming up on the new Millenia and I was freaking out. I remember hearing so many “The world is going to end” type predictions. I can remember watching a late night new years eve program with my mom and dad where they were unpacking all this Nostradomas prophecies and how they pointed towards the world ending in a couple of hours.

I started hyperventilating on the couch. My poor little eleven year old heart couldn’t handle it.

When my boy Peter writes the end is near, this is good news. We are a community of “End Minded” People.

We believe that the God we follow Jesus, came into the world to make everything right. Not only does he bring us to life personally, but Colossians 1:20 “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

All things are being made perfect again. We might not see it in our lifetime, but we have no need to fear the end. The end is something we look forward to. It’s something that we live for, and it’s something that we live into. We embrace the end as if it’s here today. We don’t need to wait to extend compassion, to extend mercy, to fight for justice. We live today, trying to make the now, like like the not yet. We have a long ways to go, but we will get there, and that’s a good thing.

Pray (alert sober minded)

Peter writes that with this end in mind, we should pray.

We view prayer as a conversation with God. In prayer, we are interacting, spending time with, and talking with the God of the Universe, the Creator who brings order to chaos.

Verse 7 says when we pray we need to be alert. We need to be aware of what’s going on around us, that’s how we know what to pray for.

We can be alert to the things that are going on in our lives, both the good and the bad.

Ask yourself, when was the last time you practiced gratitude for something good in your life?/

When was the last time you asked for help for something that felt too big for you.

Or how about this one, when was the last time you asked God to make you aware of the internal transformation, the growth, the healing, that he wants to do inside you?

When was the last time that you and your family, your friends, your roommates prayed together and asked God what values as a community he was asking you to prioritize.

These are some really good things to be alert to when we enter into prayer, those all are internal things, lets move out a little bit

Who are the people that you are proximate too that maybe, God is making you alert to? Who is that family member, that friend, that coworker or classmate, that God is drawing you to pray for?

Is that friend who is struggling with their mental health.

That relative that is broke and asking for money, again.

What is that charity or nonprofit whose mission you really believe in?

That co-worker who is always mad

Who in your life are you being drawn to?

Move out a little further still, what are the bigger picture things that you are getting alert to?

Duluth has some huge issues that, whether we realize it or not, effect us all. Maybe you read about the lack of affordable housing, about people with out home, you read about the opioid addiction, and your heart breaks.

Maybe you have gotten present to the fact that the youth of America are not doing okay. Mental health in our kids is a big deal. Suicide, depression, anxiety, these are things that our young people are experiencing. This isn’t God’s best for our kids.

What are you becoming Alert to?

Maybe it’s environmental issues. Draughts, Wildfires, raising temperatures, you hear about the things that are happening to this planet that we are suppose to take care of and you wonder how much longer it’s going to be around.

As a community, as a church, what is God drawing us to, what issue is he saying, “This is the thing that I want to partner with the Duluth Vineyard to make the world perfect again”

Friends, we all have real life things going on that we need to be alert to. We all have things that God is calling us into. And these things can seem daunting, they can seem scary, they can seem too big.

Peter tells us we have to be alert to these things, and sober minded. Sober minded means, calm, collected, peaceful. We do this by embracing the reality, but by being a community that is Alert to the end.

We follow a God who is in the business of setting things right. We see in the last book of the bible, Revelation 21:5 “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

This is where we are going, towards a future where all things are made new. As we enter in to prayer, Peter is saying, be alert to what is going on around you, but pray with the end in mind. We want to be an end minded community, to be that, we have to pray for each other. We are a community that prays.

Pray for others (alone, Quite Time)

We pray for others in our alone time. We are a community that loves each other enough to hold each one another in prayer. And I want to be really clear here, saying “I’m praying for you” isn’t my way, or our way of getting out of doing real action. Praying for someone in our alone quite time, isn’t the thing we do when we don’t want to, or don’t know how to help. Praying for someone has real power behind it. Prayer effects things, prayer moves mountains. Prayer brings ourselves, and the people we are praying for, into the presence of God, the one who really can do all things.

I read something about prayer awhile ago, and while I was trying to find it, I came across this post by a woman named Osheta (O-she-da) Moore. She wrote this in response to an article called “5 Things Christians Should Stop Saying” one of those being “I’m praying for you”

“When I say I’ll be praying for you, I’m telling you that you matter—not your juicy drama, not the way your confidence makes me feel all gooey and needed, not even the connection to Kingdom work this prayer time invokes—You matter! My sister, my brother, my friend—you matter. You, an image bearer—a precious reflection of God to me— are so profound and so stunning that nothing less than wholeness should be yours. In fact, your pain, truly ticks me off. When I say I’m praying for you, I’m telling you I want more than this war-torn world for you. When I say I’m praying for you, I’m asking you to take me hand and let’s run to the throne of grace through the crossfire and if we get hit—we get hit together. Then we’ll let Jesus heal us—together!”

Prayer brings us closer to Jesus, and it moves us into a position to truly love, care, and support those around us. This is a high calling for all of us who call Jesus our God. Jesus himself prayed for the disciples in John 17, Paul’s prayers are scattered all over his letters, he prays for the church in Rome, in Corinth, in Ephesus, Philippians, Colosse, Thessalonica....

We remember each other in our prayers. Praying for someone, lifting them up, is part of what being a community is all about. And, we don’t just pray by ourselves, there is something very powerful about praying together corporately.

Pray with others (Corporate Prayer)

Jesus said in Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

There is something powerful, mystical even, about coming together to pray. When we pray together, we encounter God in ways that we don’t by ourselves.

For example, I learned how to listen for God’s voice through corporate prayer. I remember I had just started following Jesus, and I was going to a college and young adults small group led by a guy named Mike. And one night, we went around and everyone prayed for everyone. And I can remember seeing pictures in my imagination, and as I would see a picture, someone would pray words that matched the picture. I had never had that happen to me before.

It was in the context of community that I realized that God is speaking to everyone, all the time, and we just need to learn to listen. If you want to learn how to speak Spanish, surround yourself with Spanish speakers. If you want to hear the voice of God, surround yourself with a community that prays.

So, where are you at. Do you have people in your life that you are praying for, people that you are lifting up in prayer?

At the end of the service, we always take time to pray, first as a big group, but then we have some friends who come up front, we call them our ministry team, and they would love to pray with you.

So, if you need some encouragement, if you need to know that you are not alone, if you are craving an encounter with something more, at the end of the service, come up front and get prayer.

If you are looking into growing in your prayer life, and having people regularly praying with you, this is the community for you. We believe that you were created with intention by a loving God. And this loving God wants to speak to you, wants to bring you to life, wants to strip away all the fear, anxiety and insecurities that keep you from becoming who you were created to be. Are you in for that? If you are, this is the community for you. We will have small groups starting up in October. Find one, join it, pray for folks, pray with people.

We are a community that prays, and those prayers push us towards Love. Look at Verses 8

1 peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

A Community that Loves (v8)

Love Deeply

We want to be a community known for the way it loves. Jesus says in John 13:35 “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.””

If people looked at your life right now, would they be able to tell that you are a follower of Christ, that you are walking the way of Jesus by the way you love? That’s why I love community, and specifically this community! It puts us proximate to all sort of people that we get to learn how to love.

Look around, right now, look around the room. There are people in here that you would never get to meet if you weren’t part of the same church. There are people in this room that you hold opposing political view with, there are people that have made different life choices than you would make, there are people in here who cheer for different sports teams than you do…and we are invited to love each other deeply.

Here’s how it works: Let’s do a case study.

On one side you’ve got Clint. And on the other side, John

Clint

Grew up in Thor, Minnesota

Last job: Cook

Own’s Cats

Hobbies include, Candlemaking, D&D, Birding, Lock picking, Jewelry Making, and others

Favorite Star Trek Character: William Riker

Thoughts on Taylor Swift: "Midnights speaks to my soul”

John

Grew up in Mukilteo, Washington

Last job: Corporate Attorney and biotech executive

Own’s a Dog

Hobbies include: Dog Walking, starting a Montessori School, and going to Kauai

Favorite Star Trek Character: Spock

Thoughts on Taylor Swift: “Never met her, but she seems nice”

On paper, John and I have nothing in common. We shouldn’t be friends. But, the thing that we have in common is the thing that unites us. We both love Jesus. We both have experienced his love, his forgiveness, his transformation in our lives! We both recognize that the other is created in the nature and image of God, that the other has intrinsic value. As we love each other we are loving and celebrating the way God uniquely built each and every one of us. As we love each other, we are being a community that is worshiping God through the act of Love.

And when you love someone, you forgive them for liking the wrong Star Trek Character, or cheering for the wrong sports teams.

You extend Grace when someone hurts you. You seek forgiveness when you hurt others.

Because, even thought community is great, we can’t look at it through a Lavender Haze.......its not all sunshine and rainbows, community, life together is hard. We will get hurt, we will hurt others.

Love Forgives

Peter writes that Love covers over a multitude of sins. This is true. We are called to forgive. This verse, however, is not meant to be an excuse for letting people off the hook and not holding folks accountable. This verse is not meant to be weaponized to condone abuse, or bad, immoral behavior.

Are we called to forgive, absolutely. Is forgiveness love in action. Of course. And sometimes, we forgive, and we set boundaries.

Let me say this again, because I really think there are some of us today that need this to sink in again. If you are or have been in a spot where this verse has been weaponized, I am so sorry. If this verse or verses like it have been used to encourage you to stay in an unsafe situation, to expose yourself to more abuse, or as a way for someone to avoid accountability, I am so sorry.

That is not the type of community that we want to be. We want to be a community that extends radical mercy. It is not our job to tell anyone that they are going to hell. Everyone can experience forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn’t mean there is no justice.

Part of following Jesus is that when we mess up, we own up to it and we make amends. Jesus says in

Matthew 5:23-24 ““Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

We have been forgiven of much, and we have much that we need to reconcile.

What is it for you? Who do you need to forgive? Is it someone that hurt you today, this week, years ago? What would it look like for you to release them to the Lord. To say today, God, I trust in both your mercy and your justice, help me to forgive them and to trust that you know what’s best.

where do you need to leave your gift on the altar and go ask for forgiveness from someone? Where do you need to take ownership of the sin in your life and go make amends.

What would it look like for you today, to lean into Justice. To not minimize, or downplay sin. But to call it out for what it is. To live that future reality of Justice, where everything has been made right, today. What would it look like for you to work towards that.

Maybe its standing in the gap for those who the system has overlooked, folks without homes, kids that are in rough situations, the planet. Where is the Lord inviting you to lean into Justice.

And where is he asking you to get others involved, to do this in the context of community. Maybe you need help. You don’t know how to set a boundary, your not sure if anyone will believe you. If that’s you, I hope you can trust me when I say that this is a community that wants to stand by you. Those aren’t just words, if you need help, come find me after the service. If you would rather talk to another one of our pastors, please, find one of them. (Picture of the Staff in the building). You could also go to one of our small group leaders. We are here to help.

We are a community that prays, and that prayer moves us towards loving deeply, which pushes us into action.

A Community that Acts (9-11)

Love Acts

Love motivates us to act. This looks lots of different ways. Peter says that one way we demonstrate our love is to 1 Peter 4:9 “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

Love offers Hospitality

Back in the ancient world, there was a big lack of inn’s and hotels, the Hilton wasn’t a thing yet, so travelers often relied on the strangers taking them in to survive.

In our modern context, what does this look like? Well, hospitality is all about creating space for folks. It’s about opening our lives and our homes to others. Hospitality is about getting proximate and being inclusive with others.

As a community, can you image how radical it would be if we all leaned into hospitality? If we created space for people who maybe didn’t have a spot to call home?

I remember when I worked at the Olive Garden, there was the other server, her name was Ruth. Everyone new that Ruth was a Christian. She was open about her faith, and she used wisdom, she wasn’t pushy, or forceful. She was kind, she was compassionate, she was authentic. She put her faith into practice. One way she did this was by practicing hospitality.

I can remember multiple times, during major Holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, maybe even Easter, Ruth would post a hand written note in the breakroom. It said something like:

Hey Friend, my family always makes extra food for the holiday. If you can’t make it home to your family, if you don’t know how you are going to spend the day, we would love to have you come celebrate with us. Come be part of the family, we would be honored for you to join us for the day. Here is my cell number, call me anytime. Ruth”

When I first stared following Jesus, Ruth was somebody I watched and learn from, because she wasn’t just going to church on Sunday, she was following Jesus. She was opening her life, her home, her family to people. There is power there.

And she didn’t grumble, she didn’t seem to do it because she was obligated. She had experienced the love of Jesus in her life. Jesus was hospitality. God opened his life to others, he created space, he let others draw close, and it was in that context, the context of relationship that that he extends new life to folks.

Full disclosure, this is something I want to grow into more. I make excuses, I’m so busy, I’ve got the kids, the house is a mess......but as I lean into Jesus I feel him say that he will meet me in the mess, that this is an invite from him, and that I have no need to fear, or make excuses.

So, where are you at with this? How is Jesus inviting you to make space for people? Maybe its to sit in a different spot in the cafeteria for lunch, maybe it’s to grab coffee with a coworker you don’t really know, maybe it is inviting someone over for dinner or going when you get invited to dinner. Maybe you grab a bunch of friends and you all go serve in the foodshelf, the CHUM, or Union Gospel Mission. Where is the invite from God for you? How does he want to speak to the excuses, the anxiety and the fear? How does he want to use this aspect of community to bring you to life, so that you can pivot outward to others.

We’ll talk more about hospitality at Christmas, so you can look forward to that too!

The last thing that I want to touch on is that Love serves.

Love Serves

1 Peter 4:10-11 “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 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. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

We each have been given gifts from God. The word Peter uses is stewards. A steward is someone who keeps something for the real owner. Like in Lord of the Rings, the Steward of Gondor ruled Gondor in place of the King until the King returned.

We have been given gifts of God, from God, and they are to be used to serve others. And when we serve, we serve in community with God. Look at the verse, it says those who speak, speak the very words of God, and those who serve, serve in the Strength God provides. Our service is from God. As a community, when we serve others, we desire others to experience God’s love, in community with Him, through our service.

This is one of the great mysteries of our faith, Yahweh, creator of the universe, chooses to use humans to make the world perfect again, to bring it to life.

When we serve, we are serving with God. He is right there in the middle of it all, strengthening us, encouraging us, helping us to love. Serving others becomes this two way path, we experience the Holy Spirit in it, through service we learn how to love, we have our rough edges rounded off.

I worked with teens for lots of years. I love them to death. And working with students made me realize that I’m not as patient as I could be. It taught me how to press into Jesus's compassion and I didn’t feel compassionate, it taught me how to serve when I didn’t want to. Through serving teens, I encountered Jesus over and over again. Serving others brings us closer to God.

And, serving others allows others to feel the love of God as well. We had this letter come in from someone who visited our clothing closet this week.

Good afternoon Barry,I wanted to thank everyone that helps provide the clothing closet, I lost my entire bag of clothes last week and am staying at the chum center. I have gone to damiano's and gotten 2 well oversized outfits still I was grateful but, not interview ready for anywhere. I walked out to the FOTV church yesterday and Thank the Lord I found 2 slacks and 2 button down short sleeve shirts that matched and fit well along with some clean undershirts. With my confidence restored I applied to a dishwasher job and am proud to say I am gainfully employed at $17/hr. Thank you to everyone there the Lord used.

This is the type of community that we want to be, this is the type of community that brings glory to God.

Conclusion (God Praised in all Things (Community reflecting God)

And the last line of our passage today sums up what we’ve been talking about:

1 Peter 4: 11 “.....so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

Healthy Community brings glory to God. When we pray for each other, when we create space for one another, when we use our gifts to bless others, there is real spiritual power there. When we engage in this stuff, not only does the Holy spirit show up and bring transformation to our lives, brings us to life, it ends up being a gateway to worship.

How cool would it be if we were a community that, through the way we loved, brought glory to God. How cool would it be if the way we used our gifts, the way we served others, had people saying “wow, Jesus really is making a difference in that persons life in that church”

How amazing would it be if the people in our lives could feel the love of God through our prayers for them and with them? What if whenever our co-workers, our neighbors, our friends needed some encouragement, needed to feel loved, they turned to our community because they know that through us praying for them they will experience, love, healing, and compassion. Wouldn’t that be a cool way to worship the God who gave himself for the world?

And what if, through the way we love each other and those in our lives, the way we are able to forgive, while still pursing justice, and accountability, was a reflection of the nature and character of God. What if we could demonstrate what it looks like to live in that tension of demanding justice, while extending radical mercy, that was modeled for us on the Cross that took away our sins, at such a great cost.

Through Prayer, Loving each other, and serving each other, we can become that community. Let’s practice together now, by praying together

Ministry Time

Hurt by organizations (Church)

Help us see jesus in other people. Would the way we love point people towards christ

Alone (not just by yourself, feel alone)

Looking for something more.....

Been hurt/have hurt

Looking for community to help you grow.