You may be sitting there asking yourself why I would choose to read these verses to begin a series on stewardship. Well, it is my hope that over the course of the next few minutes that that will be abundantly clear, but I will at least give you that this text isn’t often thought of in terms of stewardship. However, we have to remember that stewardship is much more than a financial responsibility. I think that it is very apt stewardship text when we look at it in terms of how we use the gifts that God has given us. Remember, our stewardship series won’t be focused on how we are to be faithful stewards with our finances, but how we are faithful stewards with our gifts, time, and talents. The proper use of these things is just as important for the sake of the growth of God’s kingdom as our financial responsibilities are, many even more so.
Most of the time, when we look at the first half of 1 Peter 4, much of the attention is given to the third verse: “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, and drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” I happen to like the way that the NIV translates the beginning of this verse, “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what the pagans choose to do.” Now, most of the time when we see this verse, it’s in the context of someone telling us that we shouldn’t do something. Someone doesn’t want another person, for instance, to consume alcohol and so they point to this verse as proof of that. Well, hold on just a minute, we have to be real careful how far we go, we can’t make the text say something that it doesn’t. When we look at the list that’s given to us here in verse 3, we see that they are all abuses of good things that have been given to us by God. Debauchery, lust, and orgies are all abuses of love, something that God gave as a gift to man and woman, to Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden before the Fall ever happened. Drunkenness and carousing are abuses of fellowship and merriment that God has given to mankind. The Rabbis of the Jesus’ day devoted songs to the wine that was shared at times of fellowship. They would say that without wine, there is no joy. Remember when we looked at Jesus’ saying that he was the good wine, the true wine. We said that Jesus was true joy. The first part of this text isn’t a condemnation on a bunch of different behavior exactly, but a condemnation on abusing and misusing wonderful things that have been given to us by God. It is a condemnation and rebuking of us not being faithful stewards of what God has given us.
You see, the central message of this passage is not a condemnation of certain behaviors, but a call to use what we have in a proper manner. Beginning in verse 8, we find, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” And here it is, I really want you to pay attention to verse 10, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” In other words, God has given each and every person a gift. He’s given each and every one of His children some type of ability or talent or characteristic or trait that not everyone has. The question then becomes how are we going to us it? How are we going to use those special talents and gifts that we have? Are we going to use them for good or bad? Are we going to use them to construct or to destruct? Are we going to use them to promote kingdom growth or to inhibit kingdom growth? You see, it’s not about the abilities, but about how you use them. What good is having a gift if you never use it?
Now, I could point to numerous examples of folks who were living lives that didn’t reflect Christ in any way and changed. I could point to stories of how people with immense talent that lived immoral lives turned from their ways to a new way of life. I could talk about how many of these folks came to be my colleagues in ministry, but I think that that sometimes gives the wrong idea. Many times, we think that only pastors are those who have been given gifts that can be used in service of God’s kingdom. I don’t know if that’s because we pastors are so often talking about it, or because it makes it easier to deny the fact that many of us don’t use our gifts as we ought to. After all, everyone has been given some type of gift from God. Your gift may not be that of preaching, or teaching, or public praying or anything that usually goes noticed within the church, but don’t think that your gifts are not useful in the service of God’s kingdom. I can promise you thing, that an individual church’s strength is not found in her pulpit, but in her pews.
My job, my calling, is often misunderstood by many people. Many think that the responsibility of the pastor is to tend to the business of the church. He’s to tend to the teaching and preaching of the church. He’s to tend to the various programs and ministry of the church, and he’s to function in many regards as the CEO of his particular church. And while all of those things do describe to a certain extent the responsibilities of a pastor, I prefer to think of my calling as being similar to a pair of glasses. Now, I don’t wear glasses, but most of my family does and in particular my wife. I learned many years ago that without the use of contacts or glasses, she can hardly see a thing. She’s also a very intelligent woman. She has a tremendous ability when it comes to solving problems, in particular problems dealing with numbers. I used to look at her notes from when she would figure out mortgages for people when she was a mortgage lender and the face that I made was similar to that of a monkey looking at a road map. Now, I say all of this to point out the fact that without her glasses to help her focus, her ability with numbers would be completely wasted. The role of the pastor, along with the church and her members, is to help each and every one of us focus our abilities upon serving God. It’s to point us all in the right direction so that we may use our gifts to the glory of God, “so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power for ever and ever.”
So let me ask you a few simple questions? First, what is your gift? Some of you may know it off the top of your head, while others struggle in determining what ability they have. Some people really struggle with figuring out what they bring to the table or what they have to offer. I often find it helpful to seek the advice of those around me when wanting to know about me because many times they notice things that I don’t. Secondly, after determining what your gift is, how are you using that gift? Are you using it in the positive manner that we’re called to, building up God’s kingdom and serving Christ and his church? Or are you abusing it? Are you using it in that the way that Peter condemned earlier in this text? Are you using the gifts that God has given you in a selfish manner? Are you withholding from God what is rightfully his? Are you being a faithful steward of God’s grace? As we spend some time over the next few weeks looking at stewardship as it pertains to our properly using what God has given us, I want you to think of some ways that your gifts, your abilities, can be used in the service of God’s kingdom. And I want each of you to know that there is no such thing as a useless gift or talent, just one that has not found its proper direction. God uses all talents and all abilities in the service of His kingdom. How is God calling you to use the gifts that He has given to you this day? Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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