The following is an excerpt from a recent that sermon Pastor Brandon preached on July 22, 2018. The sermon is entitled, “Grace on Display.” To access the entire message, visit http://www.greenstreet.org/messages/grace-on-display
Whether you realize it or not, you are a gifted person. The Bible says that every member of the body of Christ is uniquely gifted to meet specific needs in the body. The grace of God gifts us to serve one another to the glory of God. God is glorified in His church when we selflessly serve one another and seek to build one another up.
In 1 Peter 4:10-11, we read:
“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 God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
Part of God’s grace in our lives is seen through the spiritual gifts that He has given to us as believers. Peter broadly describes spiritual gifts by putting them into two categories—speaking gifts and serving gifts. There are those who are gifted to teach and lead. There are those who are gifted to serve in other ways. Yet no matter the nature of your spiritual gift, you must always serve in the strength that God supplies. God gives us both the gift and the strength required to exercise it.
Taken together, all of these attitudes are descriptive of how Peter says we are to live out the remainder of our time in love and service to one another. Why? Because the end is at hand! And yet what is to be our ultimate motive? Notice that he says, “…in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” The glory of God is why we exercise our gifts! It is why we move out of our comfort zones and engage an unbelieving world for Christ’s sake. It is why we give and selflessly serve one another. None of these things are simply ends unto themselves. They are a means to an end. The ultimate end is the glory of God.
This is Peter’s main emphasis in these last two chapters. He says that Christians are to have the same mindset that Jesus had. We must live with gospel urgency. We must love and serve one another—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Christ! Why? The answer is because to Him alone belong glory and dominion. We worship, we serve, we give, and we share the good news because Jesus is glorious.