Gospel-Powered Servanthood | 1 Peter 4:7-11

In 2006 I attended a conference at the Sovereign Grace Church in Gaithersburg, MD. I had a good friend who lived and worked in Washington DC. So, I made arrangements to stay with him during the conference. However, Gaithersburg, was a solid 45 min. ride on the DC Metro each way. 

At the end of the first night’s session, I walked out to the street in front of the church, and waited for a bus to take me to the Metro station. It was getting late. It was dark. The parking lot was almost empty. I was alone. I knew the bus wasn’t scheduled to come by for at least another half hour. And then I noticed once last vehicle leaving the church parking lot. 

The van, filled with one family, noticed me standing at the bus stop and they called to me, “Do you need a ride?” And I called back, “I need to get to the Metro station.” And they called back, “Hop in. We’ll take you there.” 

We had a nice conversation about the conference, about where I was from, why I was staying in the city. 

The next morning, in between sessions, and a couple thousand people, I cross paths with this couple again. And their first words to me were, “Oh praise God. There you are. We’ve praying we would find you. We want you to know that if it would serve you, we’d like to be your shuttle to and from the Metro station.” To which I responded, “That would be awesome.” And then they said, “And if it would serve you, no pressure, we’d like to adopt you into our family for the rest of the week. We want you to have dinner with us. You’re welcome sit with us, hang out with us. We are at your service.” In that moment, I found myself moved to repent for my own failure to serve others in that way, and failure to pour myself out to build that kind of church.

Now, fast forward 19 years, I find myself so grateful, to serve as a pastor in the Sov. Grace family of churches, where servanthood, and generosity, and encouragement, and gratitude, and joy, and humility are such profound and pronounced evidences of God’s grace.

The virtue of servanthood is an evidence of God’s presence. It is a display of God’s work. But, as this sermon series has sought to highlight, servanthood is not only an evidence of God’s grace, servanthood is also a means of grace. That is, it is a means of building and strengthening a spiritual community into more and more and more of God’s grace.

Servanthood, gospel-powered servanthood, is what I want to draw your attention to this morning. And our text is 1 Pet. 4:7-11. 

 The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 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. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

—1 Peter 4:7-11

Every person in this room – young, old, and in between – is capable of doing great good. Every person in this room – whether children, teens, singles and young marrieds, parents, and grandparents – everyone is capable of meeting the needs of another. I’ve already seen it happen right here. Perhaps you’ve seen it too.

I’ve watched a three-year-old replace a pacifier, tuck in a blanket, and speak comforting words to a restless infant. I’ve watched young and old put out chairs and signs. I’ve seen a whole team of people preparing to serve young families and their children. There are mothers and fathers, everywhere, with backpacks loaded with enough supplies to meet the needs for a wilderness expedition. I’ve observed grandparents filling communion cups with bread and juice, and also pull out snacks to the delight and comfort of their grandchildren. I’ve noticed as people of all ages engage with visitors and communicate welcome and care. It is a beautiful thing! And it is truly remarkable that each and every one of us has the ability to meet the needs of someone else. 

But that’s how God made us. God designed us and created us in His image to serve others. He has generously met our needs and poured out gifts and graces into our lives so that we might meet the needs of others. And that’s because God Himself is the ultimate servant. He who has no needs, no limitations, no deficits is passionately devoted to serving His people and supplying everything they need to know Him and enjoy His soul-satisfying pleasure forever. And here’s the astonishing thing. God’s purpose is to put His greatness, His kindness, His generous-heartedness, His wisdom and His knowledge and His care on display through the need-meeting acts of grace-filled, gospel-powered servants like you and like me. God is glorified through the need-meeting acts of Gospel-powered servants

Servanthood, fundamentally, means “meeting the needs of others.” Servanthood assumes there is a need. And by “need” I mean anything that we perceive is necessary for our well-being or comfort. Servanthood also assumes that the one serving knows what the need is. If I’m going to meet your need, I need to know what you need. Servanthood is impossible without this knowledge. And, of course, servanthood assumes that we possess what it is that is needed. If I don’t have what you need, or I’m unable to satisfy your need, then I won’t be able to serve you. And, finally, servanthood means that the one who knows what is needed, and has what it is that will meet that need, takes steps to actually meet the need - to actually and practically supply what is necessary for the other’s well-being and comfort. That, in a nutshell, is servanthood.

Now, it probably goes without saying that “servanthood” is a virtue that has lost its sheen in our day and age. Excellence in service is rare. I could speak quite specifically to this with regard to my experience with the airline industry. Quite regularly my need to get to where I need to be, when I need to be there, in order to do what I need to do is frustrated by insufficient service. Disadvantaging oneself for the sake of meeting the needs of others - it is uncommon. Instead, leadership has become the prominent theme of our times. Everyone wants to be a leader. There are countless books that focus on leadership, conferences aimed at improving leadership. Every organization feels the need for more and better leaders. In 2011 I was conferred an earned doctorate from a reputable academic institution in “Leadership Development.” I have never heard of a graduate school offering a program in servanthood development. I was recently invited to address a group of pastors on the topic of developing leaders. The first question one of those pastors asked me – in a rather humorous way was – “Daddy, where do leaders come from?” Is anyone interested where servants come from? Who aspires to servanthood? In Mt. 20, Jesus addresses his 12 disciples in training,

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. 

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

—Matthew 20:25-28

Though we’re ALL capable of meeting the needs of others, our greatest need is for something deep inside us to be changed. And for the rest of our time, I want to focus on that need, and what God has promised to meet that need so that we might serve others, and not only serve them, but to serve them in such a way that He is made much of. I have four points – the centrality of servanthood, the conflict of servanthood, the crux servanthood, and the culmination of servanthood. First,

The Centrality of Servanthood

The apostle Peter says two things in our text that should signal the significance and centrality of servanthood. In v. 8, he writes,

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly.

—1 Peter 4:8

We’re living in the last days. And in the last days, one thing should take priority above all other things. Keep loving one another earnestly. 

This past year, our Gospel Community spent time working through the Sovereign Grace Journal dedicated to the Seven Shaping Virtues of Sovereign Grace Churches. And right off the bat, a question came up. What about love? Of all the possible spiritual virtues that might define the culture of this family of churches, there is one that seems conspicuously absent. Humility. Joy. Gratitude. Encouragement. Generosity. Servanthood. Godliness. But these are the last days. And in the last days, you give attention to what’s most important, namely loving one another EARNESTLY. So, why isn’t love on the list of the seven shaping virtues of Sovereign Grace Churches? In Mt. 22, Jesus reviews the Great Love Command. He says,

 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

—Matthew 22:37-39

So, the way you love God is with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Your whole being is engaged. Affections. Desires. Thoughts. You delight yourself in all that God is for you. 

Neighbor love is different. The way you love your neighbor is the way you love yourself. And the way we love ourselves is by meeting our needs. We are, by nature, totally committed to filling up our heart hunger, and satisfying our longing for comfort, and feeling good. I suppose there might be some who find great delight in themselves. We call them narcissists.  How many people do you know that actually look in at themselves in the mirror and say, “Who is the fairest of them all? Me! That’s who.” I think that’s pretty rare. But I can say, speaking for myself, I am earnestly committed to meeting my own needs, and particularly zealous when it comes doing whatever I can to fill up any sense I have of emptiness.  

So, when Peter says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly,” I believe he is saying, “Here’s the main thing. Keep on fulfilling the second half of the Great Commandment. Keep on meeting one another’s needs. And do it with all earnestness.” In other words, give as much attention to meeting the needs of others are you already giving to meeting your own needs. And what are we doing when we are meeting one another’s needs? We are serving one another. Servanthood IS love. Servanthood IS loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Now, Peter says something else that indicates how comprehensive servanthood is meant to be. Look again at v. 10.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.

—1 Peter 4:10

Think about that. What are your God-given talents and aptitudes? What is your area of expertise? What are your resources and your margins? What are roles? I’m a husband, a dad, a father-in-law, a son-in-law, a grandfather, a friend, a pastor, a denominational leader. I have 40 plus years of vocational experience. There are a few things I do pretty well. As I move into this next chapter of my life I find my influence increasing and my energy decreasing. And I ask myself, “how do I faithfully steward all that I have been given – in the service of others?” 

Look at yourself. Look at your life. What do you have that has not been given to you by God? God intends for you to wisely and prayerfully steward ALL that He has given you in the service of one another. Servanthood is essentially what our lives IN CHRIST are all about. Now this leads into the second point – namely, what I would describe as -

The Conflict of Servanthood

Servanthood, at ground level, means meeting needs. It means loving others by meeting the needs of others. But the thing about needs is that we all have them. Some need this. Some need that. And there are some folks whose greatest need seems to be the need to be needed. So they look for needy people, seeking to serve their own need through serving the needs of others. Then there are folks, like myself, who are a veritable black hole of need. I’m serious. Most of the time, I’m helpless. I know it. And I’m getting more helpless every day. What would I do, what could I accomplish without others serving me? Then there are those who need to be perceived as having no need. To them, neediness is about the most pathetic thing on earth. And what “needy” people really need is take responsibility for themselves. And then, of course, there are those who, at some point, failed to pay careful attention to their needs, and they over did it. Their physical and emotional gauges had been red-lining for too long. They had no boundaries. And they eventually crashed and burned. And having paid a terrible price for attending to the needs of others at the expense of their own needs, they’re not going down the need-meeting road again any time soon – and certainly not without extreme caution. And, of course, there’s just simple, garden-variety self-centeredness. We see a need. We know there’s a need. We could actually meet that need without even exerting some heroic act of self-denial. But, we don’t, because, you know, I just don’t want to. I’m staying home. I’m going to serve my own. Pass me the chips and my phone.” You know, the list just goes on and on. 

But here’s the sum of it – ALL our serving is tinted, to some degree, with brokenness. ALL our servanthood is mixed with some conflicting degree of personal weakness, or vain-ambition, or self-serving sin, or all of the above. At our best, we are a mixture. Which leads to my third point - 

The Crux of Servanthood

Whether we are able and/or willing to admit it or not, we are all NEEDY people. And how can such needy people meet the needs of needy people - in a way that God gets glory? 

Well, the crux of servanthood that glorifies God is Christ. More specifically, the cross of Christ (which is what crux means), is the crux of servanthood. 1 Pet. 4:10,

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace . . . (11) Whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

—1 Peter 4:10-11

The operative word is “through.” Through Jesus Christ. God gives gifts to his broken people THROUGH CHRIST. You and I receive gifts and talents and resources and every good thing through Christ. God supplies an abundance of grace to his flawed people THROUGH CHRIST. God supplies energy and strength to his weak and needy people THROUGH CHRIST. God gives it all, and gives it THROUGH CHRIST!

The greatest obstacle to meeting the needs of others is not our own neediness. God has mercifully and lavishly overcome all that. No. The greatest obstacles (there are two) to meeting the needs of others are our own self-reliance and sinful unbelief. Self-reliant servanthood goes one of two directions. It’s either “Let’s go. Let’s just git ‘er done.” No humble inquiry of God regarding how He would have us steward all He has given. Just Ready. Do. And then ask for the Lord’s blessing. Or self-reliance looks at self, and sees nothing but deficits, and immediately responds, “Nope. Can’t do it. Not enough here.” 

Sinful unbelief, on the other hand, says, “But what if my needs aren’t met? What if I’m left hanging? What if I get hurt again? What if I don’t get to have and do what I want to have and do? What if my needs aren’t met when and how I want them to be met?” And you see, it’s often that sinful unbelief is what results in sinful self-reliance. 

And therefore, our greatest need is Christ and the cross. Because on the cross Jesus died in our place as a sin-atoning sacrifice. On the cross, God punished our sinful unbelief and self-reliance in the body of His Son. It’s on the cross that our greatest need – reconciliation with God, our generous King and soul-comforting Father - was met THROUGH CHRIST. On the cross, Jesus who knew no sin, was made to be sin, so that in/through Him we might become the righteousness of God. And now, joined to Christ, by faith, God looks at all our flawed and conflicted servanthood and says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” And now, joined to Christ by faith, God promises to faithfully supply all we need to serve in the fullness He supplies. Through Christ, God meets our need for discernment to know when and who serve. Through Christ God meets our need for wisdom to know how and to what extent we should serve. Through Christ, God promises to be the perfect servant who meets all our needs so that we need not ever fear we will be left hanging. Phil. 4:19,

 My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

—Philippians 4:19

Are you able to recognize all the ways that God has met your needs? Are you aware of all the ways that God has served you? Are you mindful of all the ways that God promises to supply all you need so you might serve others according to the strength He so generously and lavishly supplies? There may be times when you should not serve. There may be people you should not serve. There may be roles you should not take on. But there may times when you should serve. There may be people you should serve. There may be roles you should take on. 

Whatever you do, do it as one who serves according to the strength that God supplies. For this is what it means to be a gospel-powered servant. And gospel-powered servanthood results, we pray, in the end, with God himself – God, the supreme need-meeter, God, the supreme servant getting all the glory. This is, finally,

The Culmination of Servanthood

The giver gets the glory. That’s how it works. God is glorified through the need-meeting acts of Gospel-powered servants