The Colors of God’s Grace(2)
Asdov/o3 <norhkin
Zanazan Co3nyru
1 Peter 4:7-11
Peter shares two important
ideas: pray and love.
Pray
How?
“Therefore be clear minded
and self-controlled so that you can pray.” (8)
Why do we pray?
Is praying just asking for
things?
There is nothing wrong in
asking. It is written, “Ask and it will be given.”
But we ask not His will but our will. God is not a store that grants our requests.
Praying is a relationship. When we pray, we communicate with God.
In prayer, we realize how
much we need God.
In prayer, we find how sinful
our life is and needs cleansing.
In prayer, we find we should
surrender to Him in everything.
In prayer, we find out that many
things are not in our control, we learn to trust in Him, and give Him the steering
wheel of our lives.
Therefore we need clear
minds and self control (discipline) in
our prayers. Clear mind also means spending time in prayer, being awake, giving
priority to prayer. I said before, we grow spiritually and we learn to think like
Christ, to act like Christ, to love like Christ, to serve like Christ. In other
words, when we pray we learn to pray
like Christ.
Peter himself learned this the
hard way.
Jesus asked him to stay awake
in the
Peter was fishing when Jesus
was resurrected (almost gave up being a disciple); Jesus told him where to fish
one more time; Peter was on his knees. God
was developing Peter’s character. Peter learned how to pray.
What do we pray? Of course
asking for health and job security are not wrong, but
seek first “the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt 6:33).
Let me give an example:
We learn to pray to seek God’s help to further His
work in this world. That is a priority
for me.
-Get excited and read what is
going on in the mission work, here in the
-It disturbs me when missionaries
are put in prison because they do not have proper legal papers to take children
out of
-Get excited for the AMAA
news. They are organizing a mission trip to
-Get involved in the church.
Help the pastor to start a local mission group helping the needy of the Bay Area.
Find someone who is hurting and needs a friend to talk, companion
.
Ask yourself, “Do my prayers
Glorify God?”
“Do I pray in Jesus name?” WJPT (Would Jesus Pray That?) (By Dr. Matt Williams)
Learn to Pray.
The next category for lifestyle is Love.
“Above
all, love each other deeply (1 Peter 1:22), because love covers over a
multitude of sins.”
God’s
love sees and learns to care and serve one another. Love is not blind, no. Love
sees, yet learns to accept and cares.
Peter presents some practical demonstrations
of that LOVE.
“Offer
hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Each
one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully
administering God's grace in its various forms.
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 through Jesus Christ.
To
him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”
(9-11)
“Each one should use whatever gift
(grace) he/she has.”
The Greek word for gift is charisma, which means Grace and
Spiritual Gifts.
Between Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1st Corinthians 12, we
can discover 19 spiritual gifts. Prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging,
contributing, giving, leading, showing mercy, being apostles, evangelists,
pastors, teachers, workers of miracles, administrators, healing, speaking in
tongues.
These gifts are divided into two categories: spoken gifts and serving gifts.
First, serving gifts:
Although Peter mentions hospitality before mentioning the gifts, I take
hospitality also as a way putting our gifts of serving in action.
“Hospitality” sometimes is misunderstood in our society: How to impress
the guest and the invitees?
Instead, hospitality means: to show love to anyone, including a
stranger.
Once I heard a preacher say about Martha and Mary.
“We need to have the heart of Mary and
the hands of Martha in our hospitality.”
-I have tasted that in the
-I traveled many places in the world with “Nor Yerk” band. I cannot
describe how thankful I am for all the hospitality that I received from
different families.
Peter tells us how to do it?
Do it without grumbling, from your heart.
And I know sometimes it becomes tough. But we learn to serve when we are doing it
with prayerful heart, connected to God.
-Paul was a guest of
Some
of you worry that you should have a big home, and provide good food to be hosts.
You know that does not matter. I have seen modest hospitality but big and loving
hearts.
-Our
Wednesday night Bible Study group meets in different homes. Our homes are
modest and I insisted that we should not worry about food. Our group goes from
home to home and we enjoy each other’s hospitality and love.
“If anyone serves, he should do it with the
strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus
Christ.”
If you are serving, you are serving God.
That is and should the motivation of whatever we do in our church.
Second, speaking gifts:
If
anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. That
means whoever has these gifts, needs to be fed by the Word of God.
I
should be careful what I preach and teach. Am I faithful to the Word of God? Am
I imposing my thoughts over the Word of God? Am I allowing to the Holy Spirit
to guide me, to fill me?
All
the gifts should point toward God’s glory. In the end an institution or a person should not
be the center, but God.
Let me finish:
God’s
ultimate Grace is salvation through Jesus Christ.
Yet
His grace, “God's grace in its various forms” (vs 9), charisma, the spiritual
gifts are given to each of us.
It
is colorful; each of us has something to offer.
Do
you know what your charisma is?
Ask
yourself, “How do I use His grace given to me, my charisma?”
We
are ready to help you. If you want to stay after the service for more
conversation, please stay. We will pray with you.
Amen