1 Peter 4:10, 11 - Gifts with Grace to the Glory of God.
1 Peter 4:10, 11 (NLT) God has given each of
you a gift from his great variety of spiritual
gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do
you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as
though God himself were speaking through you. Do
you have the gift of helping others? Do it with
all the strength and energy that God supplies.
Then everything you do will bring glory to God
through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him
forever and ever! Amen.
INTRODUCTION
Our abilities should be faithfully used in
serving others; none are for our own exclusive
enjoyment. Some people, well aware of their abilities,
believe that they have the right to use their
abilities as they please. Others feel that they have
no special talents at all. Peter addresses both
groups in these verses. Everyone has some gifts;
find yours and use them. Peter mentions speaking
and serving. Paul lists these and other
abilities in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, and
Ephesians 4:11. Even as you seek to discover your
gifts, if you see a need in the church, seek to
meet it. You may find gifts in areas you might
not have guessed! [Life Application SB]
COMMENTARY PEARL
Have you ever heard the saying, God
helps those who help themselves"? You won't find
those words in the Bible. The phrase probably came
from an ancient Greek fable called "Hercules and
the Waggoner. In the story, a man is driving
a heavily loaded wagon across a muddy road.
Suddenly, the wheels get stuck. No matter how hard the
horses pull, the wagon won't budge. The waggoner
looks to the sky and cries out for the mighty
Hercules to help him. Hercules appears and says,
Put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods help
them that help themselves." That saying maybe
true in Greek mythology and fables, but what does
the one true God say?
Numerous times the Bible talks about
helping others, not yourself. Philippians 2:3 says,
In humility value others above yourselves."
First Peter 4:10 adds, "Each of you should use
whatever gift you have received to serve others, as
faithful stewards of God's grace in its various
forms."
As you study Jesus' life, you'll discover
that he was all about helping others. Dozens of
times in the Gospels, Jesus demonstrated his
healing powers. He healed the sick, crippled, blind,
deaf, even the dead. And he helped people in many
other ways, such as teaching them about God's
grace and plan for their lives. When we take time
to help somebody, we're following one of God's
most precious commands.
Think of some ways you can help the
people around you. Maybe you can pull a neighbor's
weeds or shovel their driveway. Perhaps there's
somebody you could tutor at school. You could even
volunteer in the nursery at church. As you serve
people, think of this acrostic:
Heaven's
Example
Loves
Perfectly
By helping others, you're following
Jesus' example and demonstrating God's love. Not
only that, but also God has wired you to enjoy
helping. Serving makes you feel good and has physical
advantages. Studies show that people who volunteer to
help are healthier and make better choices in
their lives. So benefit God, benefit society,
benefit yourself, and get out there and serve. Then
maybe you can help create a new popular saying:
"God helps those who help others." [Case For
Christ For Kids by Les Strobel]
COMMENTARY
The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:10, God
has given each of you a gift from his great
variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve
one another (NLT). When you use your
abilities to help each other, God is glorified.
God wired you to make a contribution. God
did not give you talents and abilities for your
benefit. They are for the benefit of other people,
and their talents are for the benefit of you.
I am so grateful for people who are
talented in areas that Im not good at. For
instance, Im grateful for accountants. Because I
stink at accounting! Im grateful for people who
know how to do taxes.
Im grateful for people who have
mechanical ability. I couldnt fix a carburetor if I
had to. I wouldnt even know where to find
it!
Everybody has different talents.
God has given me some talents. One of my
talents is taking the Word of God and making it
clear for other people to understand. When I use
that ability, you get blessed. My talent is for
you. Its to help you.
But heres the point: Youve got
talents, too. Are you using them to bless others? Are
you using them to help others?
If you dont use the talents God gave
you, other people get cheated. The way you bring
glory to God is by using your talents. Use your
gifts well to serve one another. God is
glorified when you use your abilities to serve others.
[Daily Devotional by Rick Warren:
https://pastorrick.com/devotional/]
God shaped you according to your purpose.
How else can you explain yourself? Your ability
to diagnose an engine problem by the noise it
makes, to bake a cake without a recipe. You knew
the Civil War better than your American history
teacher. You know the name of every kid in the
orphanage. How do you explain such quirks of skill?
God. He knew young Israel would need a
code, so he gave Moses a love for the law. He knew
the doctrine of grace would need a fiery
advocate, so he set Paul ablaze. And in your case, he
knew what your generation would need and gave it.
He designed you. And his design defines your
destiny. Remember Peter's admonition? ''Any who
serves should serve with the strength God gives."
[Grace For The Moment SB By Max Lucado]
ILLUSTRATIONS
I once had the privilege of snorkeling in
the Red Sea and observing the bluestreak cleaner
wrasse fishes doing their thing. In amazement I
watched as a big grouper edged into a cleaning
station where several of the brightly colored wrasse
waited. The grouper opened its mouth and flaired its
gills, and the wrasse swam into the monstrous mouth
cavity and began cleaning the teeth and picking off
dead skin and mucous around the lips, gills, and
fins of a fish much larger than they were. The
grouper is a slow-swimming fish that does not chase
its food. Rather, it waits quietly for other
fish or crabs or octopi to come near, then it
suddenly opens its mouth and with a powerful sucking
action it simply vacuums the hapless prey into it.
So I stared, fascinated, as the tiny fish swam
in and out of the grouper's mouth and gills,
providing a service to the larger fish. In return the
grouper didn't eat or even snack on them. It seemed
to know that the wrasse were helping it to have
a healthier life. When two different species
aid each other like this, biologists dub the
relationship as "mutualism."
In reality we were created to serve
others. It is a fact that our greatest joy as humans
comes when we help others with no thought of gain
for ourselves. We call this kind of unselfish
service altruistic behavior. It would be nice to
think that the bluestreak cleaner wrasse are
giving altruistic service to the grouper and other
fish that come to their cleaning station. They
aren't, though, because the wrasse actually benefit.
Cleaning other fish is the way they survive - by
eating parasites, bits of food particles in the
teeth of the bigger fish, and dead skin and mucous
on those big fish that cruise in for a
cleaning.
Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "Everybody
can be great because anybody can serve. You
don't have to have a college degree to serve. You
don't have to make your subject and verb agree to
serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul
generated by love."
Our Father in heaven, bring me an
opportunity for altruistic service today. And then help
me to recognize that opportunity and to serve
joyfully as if I am serving You. [God of Wonders by
David Steen]
My wife passed me with her cleaning
supplies, headed for the sliding glass door. A couple
of "little ones" had left handprints all over
it. Just then our two grand-boys - the ones
responsible for the handprints - noticed what she was
about to do. "Can we help?" they asked with
pleading eyes. My wife smiled, knowing full well that
the job would now take much longer with two
pint-sized helpers involved.
My wife is a wise grandmother, though.
She could see that there were valuable lessons
to be learned, so she said, "Sure!" I watched
from my recliner as the three of them chose a
spot and got to work. The boys felt important and
needed. They got to be part of the solution.
When people come into our churches and
recovery groups, their hearts are longing for a place
where they can feel at home. They want to feel
useful and needed. They want to be part of the
solution. The best thing we can do is put them to work
serving others. And for those times when we are
struggling to feel like we belong, the answer is the
same - get busy serving others. Serving others
always puts us right in the thick of things, where
God can heal and encourage us.
Father, make us sensitive to those who
need to feel needed, and give us the wisdom to
ask for their help, even when we could do it
faster without them. In Jesus' name, Amen.
[Celebrate Recovery Daily Devotional by John & Johnny
Baker]
CLOSING THOUGHT
If you are a publisher or a pastor, a
ditch-digger or a pilot, a fisherman or a fruit grower, a
garage mechanic or a furniture maker, a writer or a
homemaker, an office worker or a congressman ... there
are unique things involved in your
moment-by-moment work since you are a child of the Creator of
the universe....
You are to do well, whatever you are
doing, to the glory of God (1Pe.4:11). Just as
flowers that grow on the Alpine peaks, beauty in the
cracks of rocks with perhaps no one ever passing
that way, are not growing in vain because God
sees them, so it is true of the human being. A
person may live alone, walk alone, and feel that no
one is recognizing that he or she is being
patient in the tribulation of loneliness ... but God
does know, and is aware of the whisper, "I love
you, God. Please accept my praise as I walk
alone today." This is true of people in prisons,
in concentration camps, in hospital beds, or in
wheelchairs.... "Work" to the glory of God can be done in
every part of life ... which is what makes it all
so fair. No one gets a bigger opportunity than
another. And no one is "out of work"! Edith
Schaeffer [Time with God SB]
ONE LINER
When you know Gods grace, youll want
to show Gods grace. by Julie Ackerman Link
[Our Daily Bread by Les Lamborn]
LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2014/20141128-1554.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
EXCELLENT VIDEO SERIES ON 28 REVELATIONS OF
JESUS
1st of 28: Divine Dining:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_7j1QIKqmY
