Serve the Lord with Christian Love (1 Peter 4:8-11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 02-05-04

 

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  Serve the Lord with Christian Love

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  1Peter 4:8-11

 

            Message of the verse:  8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.  9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.  10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.  (NASB95) 

            In this rather long section Peter teaches about Christian love, and that Christian should be fervent, it should be forgiving, it should be practical, and it should result in service.

            In verse 8 he uses the words, “fervent love for one another.”  This word means to stretch out, to go to the limit, and it can be used of a person’s prayer life. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”  (James 5:16b)  This verse goes on to speak of this fervent love covering sin, and this does not mean that believers overlook sin in someone’s life, but to be forgiving.  It does not mean that an unrepentant Church member should not have to confess his sin.  Believers are to love as God loves, and sometimes we need tough love. Believers are to be forgiving, and that is the second kind of love Peter is writing about in this section, also found in verse 8.

            Verse 9 gives the teaching on the practical love.  Christians should be hospitable; they should be willing to share their homes with others.  Sandy and I have done this on more than one occasion, and it has always been very enjoyable for us. Peter says that believers should be hospitable without complaint.

            The last two verses deals with and speaks about the service that goes along with Christian love.  When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness by Satan one of the things He said to him to rebuke the temptation he was tempting Him with was, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’"  Jesus said we should worship the Lord and we should serve the Lord, and so one of the ways to worship the Lord is to serve Him, and in verses 10 and 11 Peter writes about ways to worship the Lord through service.  In these two verses one can see different spiritual gifts, and there are other places in the Bible that speak of spiritual gifts.  1Corthians 12 and Romans 12, along with Eph. 4 are the main portions of Scripture where these gifts are identified.  There has much that has been written about these spiritual gifts, and I’m sure that not all of it is true.  I believe that the Bible teaches that every believer has at least one gift, and that these gifts are to be used to build up the Church.  There are speak gifts and serving gifts, and again all of these gifts are to be used for the edification of the Church.  Before the Bible was complete there were people like Peter and James, and John, and others who have written down the New Testament that is available to read today.  There is no one alive today that can speak or write down the Word of God, because the Bible is now complete.  With that said God continues to use people to teach the Word of God, and men to preach the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit can use their teaching and preaching to work in the hearts of those who hear it. 

            Peter finishes verse eleven by giving glory to God through Jesus Christ, because it is God who is to receive the glory, and it is Jesus Christ who provided salvation so that we can give the glory to God.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What I am reminded of from this section is that God should indeed receive all of the glory for the things He has done, things that He does through me.  He deserves all of the glory.

 

The Word of God was challenging to my heart today and at the same time refreshing to me.

 

My Steps of Faith Today:  As this sickness seems to linger along longer that I would have thought it would I must confess that I should be praying about it more and trust the Lord to use even this to bring glory to Himself.