Sermon Tone Analysis

Stewardship Series 09 #4

1 Peter 4:7-11

Our Greatest Trust

Well we are coming to the end of this month long journey thinking and learning about God’s investment in our lives.

In our 1st step, we talked about the Lord being a King from far away who came here to have himself appointed king.

We learned how he then gave resources, a Mina, to some of his new servants and commanded them to “put them to work until he returns.”

We found that he WILL return and he will have expectations when he returns.

He will also give rewards to the faithful when he returns.

Then we learned that being a steward, caring for the things of God, is required because we have been given all things by God and that we have to prove faithful because there is a fixed time when light is coming and we will understand all things.

But for now, we must remain faithful as servants and as “underrowers”.

Finally we talked last week about learning and living a life of contentment.

We recognize that since we had nothing when we entered this world, then everything we have is a gain.

So, we will learn to hold loosely to things, releasing them to the Lord for his honor and glory and set our heart and desire on the Lord.

So, that brings us full circle to today’s lesson.

There is a message running through these teachings.

That message is that our King is Coming, time is short, and we have a responsibility to complete.

But today, we turn it up a notch and focus on our Greatest Trust.

You see the point of our teaching is not simply to teach us to be good servants.

But when we learn to give faithfully it helps us change our understanding to realize that everything we have is God’s, not just our Treasures, not just our Talents, but also our Time … all we have is a Trust and Our Time here on earth is limited and we are here for a purpose

Read With me Our Text

READ 1 Peter 4:7-11

We have been entrusted with the Gifts of God’s Grace and that is our Greatest Trust

By “Gifts”, I mean the Gifts that we receive because of God’s Grace offered to us.

That is Forgiveness of Sin

Eternal Life

The Holy Spirit

The Gospel

And Spiritual Gifts

And first of all we need a

*1.

Sense of Urgency v7*

*A. the End is Near*

1. end – telos – end, termination, conclusion, outcome, goal, achievement, fulfillment

2. near – engiz¬¬o – approaching, coming near, nearing spatially, on the verge of

We need a Biblical Understanding of things.

It is clear in the writings of Peter and others that the Church in the 1st Century expected the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

It was a driving force behind everything that they did.

They understood these parables of Jesus that we have looked at and expected his return at any moment.

Over these last two millennia we have lost some of that.

We have lost the feeling that our King will return and we will be held accountable.

We need to understand that he will come like a thief in the night and many will be caught unaware.

We need to keep watch, we need to stay busy, we need to care for his things.

It doesn’t seem “near” well that’s in OUR perspective

Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day

So it has only been a couple of days

But we also have to realize that if a thousand years for us is a day, then 80 years of life is just about 2 hours on God’s time table.

How would you live your life if you only had two hours to life?

I’m almost 45 that means I have less than an hour left … how much time do you have?

By the way, this Greek word for “near” or “approaching” or “at hand” … is in the perfect, active, indicative tense

Why is that important?

Perfect tense means that this nearness of the end has been verbally declared in the past and so exists in the present already finished until it’s completion

It is Active – in that what has been said is in the act of happening

It is Indicative stating that this is an assertive word, it is something that is ACTUAL not POSSIBLE or POTENTIAL

It has been declared, it is being carried out, Jesus IS Coming

The end is near,

be urgent

But also it is

*B.

The end of all THINGS*

I just point out the Greek word … PAS – all, any, total, whole, every kind of,

The reason we don’t hold on to our THINGS too tightly is because every THING we have is going to come to an end

We aren’t taking our house, our car, our bike, our iPhone into heaven, there is NOT “an App for that”

So Be urgent …

*C.

Clear Your Head*

Be clear-minded – Nepho /nay-fo/ sober, self-controlled – the one word here is translated by two words the first clear or sober minded or a sober spirit – it doesn’t mean sober as in not inebriated but sober as in serious, focused, mind cleared of things that cloud it.

We can’t let THINGS, wants, desires, finances, superficial things cloud our minds and so we clear heads, focused on the

Being Clear-minded is settling in our mind and heart the things that are important

Clear-minded and

*D.

Control Yourself*

Self-controlled – the word also means restrained

What restrains us?

A Sense of Urgency, an understanding of what is important, an understanding of what we are here for because we have a

*2.

A Sense of Call*

I called this our Greatest Trust … because yes we’ve been talking a lot about our finances and that is important, but all of this is Spiritual and

*A.

You Have a Spiritual Trust*

1. verse 10 says the “gift he has received” We have Spiritual Gifts in Particular, Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 give a listing of Spiritual Gifts.

Are these the ONLY gifts of grace that can be given by the Spirit?

Not necessarily but these are the ones showed in Scripture.

2. Every believer has at least one spiritual gift many have more

3.

Who determines the gifts you have?

The giver of the gifts, the Spirit of God – 1 Cor 12:11 – gives to each one just as he determines

4. They are all gifts of Grace … we do not deserve them

5. do you know where you are gifted?

You can know.

There are tools that can help you determine them.

There is a great study you can get at Christian Bookstores or online called “Jesus On Leadership”.

In this study you get a good picture of who you are emotionally, experientially, vocationally, and spiritually.

Those assessments are not perfect but they are a good start, then confirm that with prayer and consultation with other believers and Spiritual leaders.

And once you know your Spiritual gifting then

*B.

Use Faithfully*

1. v10 says USE whatever gift he has received … faithfully administering

In 5 weeks, you are going to come into your living room, where you will probably have a tree or pretend tree decorated and a bunch of boxes and bags under that tree.

Within a matter of minutes those boxes will be open.

The rest of the day you will be using most of those things.

Some of you will hit the stores the next day and return the things you don’t want or don’t fit your body, your sense of style, or your personality.

But those gifts will be opened and the good gifts will be used

Well people, if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have come to a rugged tree, where Christ died for you and you have received mercy for you sin, you have received Grace of a relationship with Jesus Christ receiving sonship and inheritance … but under that tree are also Spiritual Gifts and yet many perhaps a majority of believers leave those gifts either unopened or unused.