Good morning and happy beautiful Monday. Let me clarify, happy beautiful, VERY COLD Monday. As I sit to write this morning, the thermometer reads a chilly 23 here in Fort Worth. Of course, I’m inside and don’t dare go outside to see what this actually feels like. I know what pain feels like and it feels like 23 degrees on my face. I was talking to great friend back in Maui last week and jokingly she was asking for prayers for Maui because it had gotten into the low 60’s and nobody has long pants! Ha, so great to see everything in context.
It seems like forever since I’ve written because of the cruise break but I’m so glad to be back in the groove and to be back into 1 Peter. The study of Psalm 23 was so great for me. What a joy it was to break from the normal routine and experience God’s Word deeply in another environment, especially from one as beautiful as the Caribbean. The week long study ended up being 5 parts and I’ve posted them all on The5MC.com under the Psalm 23 tab. If you missed any of the parts, or the entire study, feel free to back up and read them at your leisure. By the way, please use The5MC.com at your convenience and please feel free to invite friends, family or co-workers to enjoy it. I built the site, I own the site and I completely fund the site. It’s completely free, cost nothing and there’s no ads or obligations. This is part of my ministry and I simply pray that it can bless you and bless others by encouraging the pursuit of a closer relationship with God through an intense, deep study of His Holy Word.
This morning we’re back in the New Testament book of 1 Peter, we left off in chapter 3 so we will continue today in chapter 4. This morning as I studied, I came across a passage and verse that I am very familiar with. It was a key verse as we prepared and then served in Maui. In fact, as we developed and launched the Captain Aloha line of shirts and caps, we used 1 Peter 4:10 for one of our themed T-shirts. I had often heard the stories of people “going for God” and I at times of little faith in my walk, wondered deeply what that meant and especially what it might feel like. When God moved our hearts it had to do with this passage and the two key components that bind it together. Love and serving others.
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” 1 Peter 4:8-10
Love and serving others. Something that seems so simple in its comprehension but can be so difficult in its execution. They seem somehow strangely linked by God. Dependent upon one another. Like two wheels on a bicycle, without one the bike just wont go. How can you truly serve others without the love of Christ in your heart, and how can you love others as Christ and not want to serve them? It’s like a dog chasing its tail, an endless loop of one pursuing the other.
When God moved our hearts, which in turn moved our bodies to Maui, it started with love. “Keep loving one another earnestly” Notice the verse says to keep loving. This is an ongoing process that Satan will do everything in his power to deter or halt. In fact, satan’s goal is to either delay or completely halt the work of God in this world. We must not just love, but keep loving one another. Through the highs, the lows, the disagreements, the clashes and in the trials. God says don’t stop loving each other, it's the glue that binds. " And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. " Col 3:14
Verse 8 hits the topic of love and the next 2 verses are like streams that flow from it. If we have love in our hearts, it will produce something good. Something that God desires to see. The love of God in your heart will not stay there. It will move to you mind where it will affect your thoughts and then your mind will move your hands. You see God’s Love in us will manifest itself physically in our lives. It will move from our heart to our heads, and then from our heads to our hands. Our love of Christ will surface in the service of others. With Christ, our love for others becomes real. “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matt 12:34
In our verse today the streams that flow forth from Love, contains 2 beautiful elements, hospitality and serving others. In one of the most powerful verses in all of God’s Word we are told to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Matt 22:39. This is one of the most applicable verses in God’s Word to just about any situation we can encounter on a daily basis. How do I react in this situation? How should I respond to this person? What should I say to them? Sometimes I repeat this verse 20 times a day as I ask myself these questions. I ask myself, “in this identical situation, what would I want to hear?” What response would make me feel loved, respected and not harmed or hurt? I have to be careful, you might not know it, but I have a very delicate personality. My personality type being what it is, gets hurt easily. So, when I ask myself this question a lot, it makes me realize how delicate I need to be with others. I want them to be treated the way I desire to be treated in all situations and that is with a delicate, tender hand. This verse rights my ship numerous times a day as I visualize what it is to love others as I love myself.
So back to hospitality and serving others. Both very humbling acts for us to engage in. Opening up our hearts and lives and giving of ourselves to others is simply not natural. We are told in our world today that we’re supposed to only look out for #1. Others will merely hurt and abuse us, so we should recoil from others and avoid the pain. That is such the opposite of Jesus. “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matt 20:28. You see, as we give our hearts to Jesus, He gives us a new one. The old dies and the new gives way. We are new creatures in Christ. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Cor 5:17. With these new hearts it will in turn make us act differently. It will in essence make us act and do things the world will not understand.
As Marge and I returned back from Hawaii, God presented an opportunity to serve at Village Chruch in Destin, Florida for 6 weeks. Only one small problem, we of course had no place to stay. This small issue ended up being one of the biggest blessings of our lives. As the need for our housing started circulating through the church, an amazing thing happened. Families started lining up to host us. In fact, it was almost like a feeding frenzy. We had known many of the brethren from a Maui mission trip and the love was great. The hospitality was something I will never forget. We stayed in 4 different homes over that 6 week mission and we have never felt love and hospitality like that. We were treated with such love, respect and honor, it still brings tears to my eyes. We were given beautiful rooms, cooked meals and countless times taken out and treated to fine dinners. You see this verse is one of the most visible in God’s Word. When you have the abundant love of Christ in your heart it will manifest. It will come forward. And as it does it will be seen. By fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, by your family, by your neighbors, by your co-workers, by the world. And as these see your hospitality and service to others, they will see Christ. God will be glorified through your hands.
To me serving others is merely acting on the love that God has already show and proven to me. It’s not something I desire to do, It’s something I MUST do. There is really no choice. Help others. Serve those in need. Through love, share what you have with them. A servant heart is a true obstacle to satan. A servant heart full of the love of Christ, can change the world around it.
So you might be saying, "that all sounds great but how do I serve?" Well, I would simply ask, "what do you love to do and what are you good at?" You see God will not ask you to serve in a way that that He has not equipped you. He will not ask you to serve in a way that brings you despair. In fact the verse is clear, "as each has receievd a gift, use it." God makes each of us to serve Him through serving others. He built you in such a way that only you can fulfill the needs of another. It's a beautiful picture of the body of Christ and the giftings He provides us to fulfill the needs of the body. Your gift is from God and in that gift you will delight in performing it. Do what you love and do it to serve others.
As we moved to Maui, we got a lot of good natured ribbing, and I can fully understand why. It will always be at the top of my list of questions to ask God. “Out of all the place on the planet why Maui?” Many people thought we were just going on vacation and that there was no need for the gospel in the 50th state of palm trees and golden sand. Of course, if you live in this world, you know just the opposite. The need for Jesus in this world today is dire indeed. One day as a friend at church was joking with us about going to Maui and that we'd be “suffering for Jesus." I retorted back, “that will be us, we’ll just be out there servin' and surfin'.” The ring of it was funny and I wrote it down. After we arrived and decided to have a little fun with fund raising, we started the Captain Aloha line of surf shirts and caps. Margie snapped an image of me and one of the youth surfing one day and the marriage of the two was instant. Serving and surfing. You see, don’t limit God. He will use you and the love He has placed in your heart wherever He needs you. Out of our love for Him we are obedient to Him. An obedience that will cause us to sacrifice our comfort and selfish desires. A loving obedience that will cause us to follow Him at any and all cost. An obedience that will start with His love, and then will cause your head and hands to move for Him. A love that burns within the holder. A love that produces. A love that serves others.
God bless you in your pursuit to serve others with the Love that Christ provides in His glorious abundance.
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