Sharing Responsibility and Serving One Another
Sharing is something we’re taught from a very young age. We learn we’re to share what we have with others and we’re grateful when others share with us (whether it’s a toy or a tool, a fried clam or French fry or some other healthy snack). Sometimes, we can be a little less enthusiastic about having to share something of ours. However, as we mature, at whatever age that may take place, we come to the realization that sharing anything actually enriches our life and the lives of others; whether food, time, or joys and sorrows, as Paul says in Romans 12:15 we “rejoice with those who rejoice and we weep with those who weep.” Sharing our joys increases them. Sharing our sorrows, struggles, and burdens lightens them. The early church was known for its love and generosity in caring, sharing, and serving others. The Bible encourages us to share not only what we have, but who we are especially in challenging times.
June 14, 2015
1 Peter 4:7-11, Sharing Responsibility and Serving One Another
Pastor Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
Audio only[powerpress]
The First Letter of Peter was written to give hope and guidance to people who were suffering abuse and persecution in the northern part of what was called Asia Minor, what is now northwestern Turkey. 1 Peter 4:7-11 describes how we are to live as we share life together and serve one another until the Lord returns or until we die. “7 The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”
In healthy relationships there is mutuality – each person seeks to share, serve and help the other – in friendships, in families, and in the church. We serve by turning inward in Prayer and Outward in Love, Welcoming people through Hospitality and Sharing the Gifts we have received. This is the pattern we see in the life of Jesus. It is the rhythm of the Christian life, going inward and reaching outward. We do this so that we may persevere and grow in our faith and in our relationship with God and our relationships with other people. All these things: disciplined prayer, constant love, cheerful hospitality, and faithfully serving others with whatever gifts we’ve been given – these are all ways of sharing ourselves and sharing in the lives of other people. If we simply keep these four things in mind every day, our relationships will definitely improve – how could they not? If we pray for others, love them constantly, welcome them in our life, home, and church and consistently serve others with the gifts and abilities God has given us to bless them – our relationships will be enriched.
Peter begins with Disciplined Prayer. Turning inward in Prayer is the way we give focused attention simply to being in the presence of God. Three monks made one of their trips to visit a wise and holy man. Two of the brothers asked many questions and shared thoughts and dreams, but the third companion remained silent and spoke not a word. After many visits the Teacher spoke to the silent brother. “Though you come here often, you ask me no questions.” Smiling, the brother replied, “It is enough just to be with you.” Prayer is more than speaking words. It is consciously being in the presence of God. The more disciplined we are about prayer, the better we’re able to handle adversity and suffering, even matters of life and death. While prayer is being in the presence of God, being in the presence of God makes us more aware of the pain, suffering, hardships, and needs of others. Often our prayers will include our interceding for those we know and love and those we’ve never met halfway around the world.
That’s also why after turning inward in prayer and having our love and perspective deepened and broadened the next thing we’re led to do is Turning Outward in Love; sharing “constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.” I’m not the neatest person. In my office I have bags of books and some folders I haven’t been able to find room for or to file. They’re covered with a nice quilt someone made for me. That’s what love does, love covers a multitude of sins, love hides the mess underneath, or at least makes it so we don’t focus on it.
There are many ways we can maintain constant love and serve in this way including practicing common courtesy, listening, lightening the burdens of others, sharing the word of life with another, even allowing others to serve us. Many of the ways we share love are small things that may on the surface appear to be interruptions or distractions from what we think is more important.
Richard Foster, author of the classic book on the spiritual life, Celebration of Discipline recalls a time when God spoke to him through what he thought was an interruption. “During the frantic final throes of writing my doctoral dissertation I received a phone call from a friend. His wife had taken the car and he wondered if I could take him on a number of errands. Trapped, I consented, inwardly cursing my luck. As I ran out the door, I grabbed Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, thinking that I might have an opportunity to read in it. Through each errand I inwardly fretted and fumed at the loss of precious time. Finally, at a supermarket, the final stop, I waved my friend on, saying I would wait in the car. I picked up my book, opened it to the marker, and read these words: “The second service that one should perform for another in a Christian community is that of active helpfulness. This means, initially, simple assistance in trifling, external matters. There is a multitude of these things wherever people live together. Nobody is too good for the meanest service. One who worries about the loss of time that such petty, outward acts of helpfulness entail is usually taking the importance of his own career too solemnly.” Love is maintained in a host of small and often hidden ways more so than in one great act of service.
A third way of serving and sharing our life with others is Welcoming People through Hospitality. Throughout my childhood our family had students from other parts of the United States, medical students from Mexico, young people from places like Scotland, Sweden, and even immigrant refugees from places like Vietnam and Cambodia staying in our home for varying lengths of time. That was an aspect of living out the Christian faith that my parents were very good at. We can all in some ways open our home and hearts to others. For some of us it may be hosting a small group, for others we may open our home to workers here on a J-1 visa or to Cape Cod Baseball League players, or visiting students. Hospitality doesn’t have to be fancy; but it’s a chance to be together and to share our lives with others and to learn from them.
In our fast-paced world of social media, it’s easier than ever to make quick but relatively shallow and meaningless connections. Practicing hospitality expands our circle of relationship and understanding and we learn from those we meet in a much deeper and lasting way. In his article for UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, Six Habits of Highly Empathic People, empathy researcher Roman Krznaric writes: “Curiosity expands our empathy when we talk to people outside our usual social circle, encountering lives and worldviews very different from our own. Curiosity is good for us too: it is a key character strength that can enhance life satisfaction. And it is a useful cure for the chronic loneliness afflicting around one in three Americans.” Hospitality is a good antidote to loneliness and it enriches our perspective.
As we grow in prayer, constant love and practice hospitality without complaining, like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, we seek to serve God by Sharing the Gifts We Have Received with the strength God gives us. As we serve, especially in hiddenness that seeks only God’s approval, humility comes into our lives. William Law’s eighteenth century spiritual classic, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, urges us that every day should be viewed as a day of humility and he suggests we do this by learning to serve others in all our relationships. William Law writes, “…condescend to all the weaknesses and infirmities of your fellow-creatures, cover their frailties, love their excellencies, encourage their virtues, relieve their wants, rejoice in their prosperities, compassionate their distress, receive their friendship, overlook their unkindness, forgive their malice, be a servant of servants, and condescend to do the lowest offices to the lowest of mankind.”
While the language reflects its time, the point is still clear; we’re to serve others as well as we can to make their lives better. A woman once asked a spiritual teacher, “Which is the true religion?” The Teacher replied, “Once there was a special ring that gave its bearer the gifts of prayer, love, hospitality, and service. When the owner of the ring was on his deathbed, each of his three sons came separately and asked him for the ring. The old man promised the ring to each of them. He then sent for the finest jeweler in the land, and paid him to make two rings identical to the original. The jeweler did so, and before he died, the father gave each son a ring without telling him about the other two.
“Inevitably, the three sons discovered that each one had a ring, and they appeared before a local judge to ask his help in deciding who had the special ring. The judge examined the rings and found them all to be alike. He then said, “Why must anyone decide now? We shall all know who has the special ring when we observe the direction your life takes.” “Each of the brothers then acted as if he had the special ring by being a person of prayer, loving others, sharing hospitality, and serving others as God gave them ability.
“Now,” the Teacher concluded, “religions are like the three brothers in the story. The moment their members cease striving to love and to serve we will know that their religion is not the one God gave the world.”[1] The moment we cease striving to pray, love, practice hospitality and to serve, the faith we profess to live begins to weaken and wither or even prove false. Remember, 1 Peter was written to those suffering persecution and who were stressed and strained to the breaking point. Peter is telling them and us that as long as we pray, love, practice hospitality and serve, we bear witness to God’s love in Christ and we’ll be connected in stronger and healthier ways to other people even at times when we may be hurting or suffering.
Dr. Dean Ornish, author of Love and Survival: The Scientific Basis For The Healing Power of Intimacy, says the following about the importance of our being connected to other people in healthy relationships, “Anything that takes you out of the experience of being separate is healing.” Ornish believes, in addition to a healthy diet and regular exercise, the heart needs intimacy. He gives six steps for love and survival, that echo the instructions of 1 Peter. Develop your spiritual life (believing in a power greater than our self allows us to feel part of a larger community), Make a commitment (to another person this gives us a safe zone in which we can be vulnerable), Help others (a powerful tonic for isolation and loneliness), Touch (whether a pat on a back, squeezing a hand, or a stroke on the cheek), Learn how to forgive (which frees us from the negative effects of anger on our self), Share your feelings, (keeping a personal journal and or joining a small group or support group are ways we can uncritically give and receive love and acceptance).
These verses from 1 Peter 4 instruct us in four ways we all can share and serve that give life and hope even when our relationships are being stressed and strained in difficult circumstances. Perhaps the most important thing to notice is where our focus is to be when life gets challenging; when “the end is near” our focus goes to God and to other people, not to ourselves. That may seem a little counter intuitive, especially in a culture that encourages us to think about ourselves and what we want above all else. Even science is showing that how the Bible encourages us to live is actually healthier for us. Dr. James Rilling and Dr. Gregory Burns of Emory University found that, “Helping others triggered activity in the caudate nucleus and anterior cingulate, portions of the brain that turn on when people receive rewards or experience pleasure.” In other words, doing a good deed for another person lights up the part of our brain associated with being the recipient of an act of kindness.
1 Peter 4:7-11 says, “It’s not about you.“ If you have your own Bible with you I encourage you to underline or highlight every time God appears in these verses. We’re stewards of the grace of God, we speak the words of God, we serve with the strength that God supplies, and we do all this so God may be glorified in all things. 1 Peter tells us how to share and serve responsibly in our relationships with God’s help. Speaker Zig Ziglar liked to say about having a serving, sharing heart that “you can have everything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want out of life.” The concept he and Peter are talking about is having a heart and life that is focused on sharing with and serving other people.
Let’s pray: Lord,
Open our eyes to see both the wonderful world you created & the challenges we face.
Open our ears to hear of the needs of people all around this land and the world.
Open our minds to imagine the world as you want it to be.
Open our hands to share with people who are hungry, frightened, grieving, & homeless.
Open our mouths to pray, to share your Good News, and to speak out for others.
Open our hearts to love you and our neighbors near and far.
Help us to serve together in love in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Blessing:
Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Encourage one another, and build each other up, and welcome one another, just as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. Amen.
(Romans 12:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Romans 15:7).
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
1 Peter 4:7-11 encourages us to turn inward in Prayer and outward in Love, welcoming people through Hospitality and Sharing the Gifts we have received.
Discuss or reflect on how you’re doing in practicing and engaging in these four core Christian behaviors.
What is your prayer life like? How happy are you with it? If you’d like to grow in prayer what steps are you taking to learn how to make prayer more a part of your daily life? Why do you think Peter believes prayer is important?
Peter says we’re to, “maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.” How can we “maintain constant love?” What can we do to keep our love for others steadfast and unwavering? How does love “cover a multitude of sins” in our relationships?
Peter is referring to hosting Christian travelers when he writes about welcoming people through hospitality. When was the last time you opened your home for someone to live with you for a little while? What was that experience like? How does practicing hospitality bless us as well as the guest? How can you help BBC practice hospitality?
Peter encourages us to “serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” What gifts has God given you? How are you sharing them with others? What difference does living with a servant’s heart and attitude make in your relationships?
Throughout 1 Peter 4:7-11 the focus is on God (we’re stewards of God’s grace, speak the words of God, serve with the strength God supplies so that God may be glorified). How does sharing and serving with God consistently in mind help us maintain healthy relationships in challenging and difficult circumstances?