10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God.
11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God's words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
vs. 10 - "each one has received a gift" - By God's grace we have been saved, and likewise have been given a gift to be used to serve others. God expects us to use it for that purpose. Peter gives a short list of gifts in the next verse. Paul has provided a more extensive list in his letters.
See: Rom. 12:6-8:
- Prophecy
- Service
- Teaching
- Exhortation
- Giving
- Leadership
- Mercy
- Wisdom
- Knowledge
- Faith
- Miracles
- Prophecy
- Distinguishing Spirits
- Tongues
- INterpretation of Tounges
- Apostles
- Prophets
- Teachers
- Miracles
- Healings
- Helps
- Administration
- Tongues
"varied grace of God." - Looking at the lists of gifts above, it is easy to see that God is 'multi-dimensional' (or so to speak) God has given the church the tools (gifts) to be able to meet the needs of the body of believers. In the same way that God does not leave you and I to fend for ourselves, God provides the gifts needed to nurture the body. God's grace is not one-dimensional any more than He is.
vs. 11 - Peter's list of gifts: speaking (teaching, preaching, etc.) and serving. He explains how the gifts are to be used.
"let it be with God's words" - If I am going to speak out for Jesus, I need to be sure that I am indeed speaking what Jesus wants me to say. This means I need to spend time with Him, to be in the power and control of the Holy Spirit. This is why we must always check what our teachers and preachers say. We must compare their words to the Bible. The apostle John tells us to test the spirit, do not believe every spirit. See if they are from God. (1 John 4:1). The spirit of every person is either led by God's spirit or by another spirit, (which is NOT from God).
The people who speak 'for God', whether the prophets of the Old Testament, or the teachers and preachers of His church must speak what God wants them to speak. The OT prophets ALWAYS announced, "Thus says the Lord..." False prophets were put to death. They were those who speak a vision from their own heart, or follow their own spirit. See: Jer. 23:19; Ezek. 13:3. Part of their job was to point out the sins of the people of Israel. (See: Isa. 58:1; Ezek. 22:2, 43:10; Mic. 3:8). Now, NT teachers and preachers have a different mission than the OT prophets. They are to use God's words "for teaching, for reproof, correction, and training for righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16), and for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, making disciples in all nations. Paul was adamant that the correct gospel would be preached. See Gal. 1:8,9.
"with the strength that God supplies" - Whatever we say or do, let us let God use our lives and supply the strength for the job. Talk and walk by faith - in this way Christ will be living in us to give glory to God. All glory and power belongs to God. It's His personally.
"God will be glorified through Jesus Christ" - This is the purpose of he church and the believer. If someone asks you, "What is your purpose in life?", that should be your response - to bring glory to God through Christ.
A friend and a mentor writes a column "Wisdom of the Week by Pastor Dave". This week is an article that starts with honey bees, particularly the forager bees. The foragers communicate the location of the nectar for other foragers to retrieve. The message must be clear. This applies to you and me as we share the gospel - giving directions to people so they can find Christ. I include the article for your reading pleasure.
“LESSONS FROM A HONEYBEE”
(Part IV: “Giving a Reliable Message”)
When a forager honeybee discovers a good source of nectar and returns to the hive with her load, she lets the other forager bees know about her discovery and she even gives them a sample of the nectar to taste. She also conveys the distance to and location of the treasure she discovered. This must be a very accurate message, not only for the efficiency and productivity of the hive, but also for the very lives of the other forager bees that head to that nectar source. As the forager bee returns to the hive with its treasure, it relates the distance and direction to the nectar source by using the sun as a reference point. If the bee points its body vertically on the comb of the hive, it signals that the flowers are located away from the hive in the same direction as the sun. A downward direction indicates conversely that the flowers are in the opposite direction. Or a message given at, say, a 30-degree angle on the comb directs the watching foragers to leave the hive at a 30-degree angle from the sun.
But, the departing foragers also need to know the distance to the nectar because they will tank up on fuel (honey from the hive) to make it to the source of nectar . The forager bee that returned to the hive with nectar indicates the distance by its body motion. A circular motion tells foragers that the food is within 100 yards. A figure eight ceremony indicates that the nectar is more than 100 yards away. The rate of the tail-wagging motion is in direct proportion to the distance of the nectar. The closer the source, the more intense the body movement.
(NOTE: So, just where do these bees learn all these things? Do they attend a honeybee school before they can assume their role as forager bees? Who teaches them? What amazing little creatures, designed by an awesome, all-wise, all-powerful, Creator God!)
Directional information must be precise since the foragers take only enough honey with them—as fuel—to reach their destination and return. If they carry too much, they will not have room for more nectar. If they carry too little, they will fall to the ground and die before reaching their destination unless they can locate another source of glucose. So, it is crucial that the forager bees give reliable messages. The life of the other forager bees and of the hive depends on it.
I’m guessing you already are thinking of the obvious spiritual application. As believers who have discovered the source of eternal life in Jesus Christ (I Jn. 5:10,11), we need to be sure to give a reliable message to others so that they too can find new life in Jesus Christ. If we give an inaccurate, unreliable message, others could end up eternally separated from God, for there is only One Way. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me” (Jn. 14:6). The Apostle Peter, in a message recorded in Acts 4, said: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (4:12).
We must tell others of the Jesus of the Bible, God incarnate (Jn. 1:14), fully God and fully man, not some man-made concept of a Jesus who was Lucifer’s brother, an angel who became the Messiah, or a man who became God, but a Jesus who is a member of the God-head, co-equal, and co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. In John 8:24, Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I Am (He), you shall die in your sins.” By that statement, Jesus was claiming to be Jehovah God, for He was using the name God gave to Moses at the scene of the burning bush in Ex. 3:13-15. The Jesus of the Bible is the only Jesus that can save.
We must also preach the gospel of the Bible, which according to Paul has power to save (Ro. 1:16). Just what is that gospel? Paul defined it in I Cor. 15:1-4 as the Good News of the death of Christ for sin, of His burial and of His resurrection. Paul also emphasized that salvation is a gift, not something we earn through works of any kind. He said, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9). If we add anything to the requirements of salvation by faith in the work of the Jesus of the Bible, we no longer have the true gospel. As Paul addressed the churches in Galatia, he said, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:6-8). Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
We need to be reliable messengers of the true gospel and of the real Jesus of the Bible.
Others’ lives depend on it. Beware of those who are preaching a “different Jesus” and a “different gospel.” Satan attacks the truth of the Bible every way he can. He is the “Father of lies” (Jn. 8:44) and the “great deceiver,” doing all he can to keep people from discovering the truth which alone can set them free (Jn. 8:32,36).
Forever His,
Pastor Dave
(MY Thaks to Pastor Dave Nelson - long time friend and mentor)
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