June 1, 2007
TIPS FOR IMPROVING YOUR SERVE
I PETER 4:7-11
I enjoy playing golf whenever I get the opportunity. (Take out a golf club.)
It is a game that is very simple in concept. Hit a small ball into a small hole. It is a simple idea, right? And it even looks simple when you see someone do it on TV. But when you try it yourself, you find that it is a lot more difficult than it looks.
There are a number of different elements that go into a good golf swing. I want to elaborate on 3 of them.
1. The head.
It is important to keep the head still and in the right position, and your eye focused on the ball. This gives your swing consistency and helps make sure that you make good contact with the ball. (Demonstrate)
2. The body.
The body provides the power and force behind the swing. It is important to get the right rotation and to let the body turn through the swing to give the momentum that is necessary. (Demonstrate)
3. The arms and hands.
The arms and hands must be used to properly grip the club and pull the club through the swing and provide the proper follow through.
If any of these three elements are out of sync with the others by the tiniest fraction of a second, or the tiniest measure of distance, the result can be disastrous, resulting either in a loss of power or a loss of direction.
Now if you’d ever played golf with me, you would think it very funny that I am explaining how to hit a golf ball. But on this Friday which we call Appreciation Friday, I would like to use the analogy of the golf swing and apply it to Christian service. I have entitled the sermon “Tips for Improving Your Serve.” Now that’s a bit of a mixed metaphor, since you don’t serve the ball in golf. But what can we learn from a golf swing that can help us in our service for Christ?
The passage we are looking at today is in I Peter 4:7-11.
I want to look at three components that I see in these verses and compare them to the three components I have talked about in the golf swing.
EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN SERVICE INVOLVES THE BELIEVER’S HEAD.
I Peter 4:7 says: The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
In the Scriptures, believers are constantly called on to think: rightly, Biblically, clearly. We are called on to use our heads. “Be clear minded,” Peter urges us.
Specifically, we see two principles about clear thinking.
A. CLEAR THINKING LOOKS AT LIFE FROM AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE.
He starts this verse by saying: The end of all things is near.
What does Peter mean by that? Peter, along with the other apostles, believed in the imminent return of Christ. He believed that we as believers are in the last era of history before Christ comes to wrap up the history of the world as we know it. He believed that the day of the Lord could come at any time.
Well, we could go on a long tangent and discuss the return of the Lord. But we’re not going to do that this morning. I just want to stress that right thinking, clear thinking, is remembering how temporary this life is, and how urgent it is for us to invest our time and energies in that which has eternal value.
This was one of the lessons we learned from the life of Moses. He gave up his life in the palace in Egypt to cast his lot with the people of God. He did so, because he was looking for an eternal reward. He was thinking clearly and with eternal values in view. This is the only perspective from which Christian service makes sense. We often joke that the salary for Christian servants is “out of this world.” We need to keep that eternal perspective if we want to keep our focus and keep our head in the game.
B. CLEAR THINKING LEADS US TO PRAYER.
So that you can pray.
If we are alert and clear minded as believers, what will we be doing? According to Peter here, if we are thinking clearly, it will lead us to prayer. I can’t help but think of Peter’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane and his greatest failure. You remember the story. Jesus took Peter and James and John with him into the garden and then asked them to stay awake and pray with him. But three times he came back and found them sleeping. He warned them, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Stay awake and pray!” But they still fell asleep. And largely because of that lack of spiritual preparation, Peter failed the test a short while later and denied his Lord.
Prayer is a natural outgrowth of clear thinking. And if we are praying consistently and faithfully, as Peter failed to do in the Garden, we will remain clear minded and alert, with an accurate and true perspective. This is key to effective service for Christ.
Let me draw on the golf swing analogy again. One of the most common errors in golf is to fail to keep your head down. Now here is what happens when you do that. (Demonstrate) Because you are anxious to see where the ball is going to go, you lift your head. When you do, your whole body comes up, and you often end up topping the ball, or even missing it altogether. That is very embarrassing! For an effective golf swing, you have to keep your head down. And to be effective in Christian service, you have to keep your head down – in prayer. If your head is up and you are serving without praying, you will not be effective. So, effective Christian service involves the believer’s head.
Now let’s move on to the next component in the golf swing and that is the body. I want to take some artistic license with my analogy, and substitute the heart for the body, as it rests in the middle of the torso which is so important to the golf swing.
EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN SERVICE INVOLVES THE BELIEVER’S HEAD AND HEART.
Read v. 8: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
There are many reasons why people get involved in Christian service; Praise, recognition, because you enjoy certain activities; or maybe a sense of duty or obligation, or even guilt. But I would suggest that if we are going to be effective, and if we are going to remain faithful for the long haul, effective service must come from the heart.
Above all, love each other deeply.
This is essential; To serve because we love the people of God. It is a motivation that applies whether we are teachers, AWANA workers, nursery volunteers, preparing refreshments, leading a Bible study or serving on the church board.
But, you might say, sometimes the people of God aren’t very lovable. They murmur, they complain, they criticize, they don’t show up when they’re supposed to. What do we do then? Look at the second part of that verse: Because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Peter, I believe is quoting here from Proverbs 10:12: Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs. I think we need to be careful not to take this verse out of its context here and apply it globally. This is not the total teaching of Scripture in terms of love and its response to sin. For example, the Scripture also tells us that if a brother sins against us, we are to go to him privately and address the matter. We are also told that if a brother is overtaken in a sin, we are to restore him gently. We are told to speak the truth in love.
So we are not saying that if we love someone we will turn a blind eye to their sin. But it does say that we will keep on serving, keep on loving, keep on ministering, even when the other person or persons do not live up to our expectations. I believe Peter is talking here about a commitment not to give up on each other. And we will need this commitment if we are to remain faithful in Christian service, because people will let us down, differences of opinion will arise, conflicts will break out. We must commit ourselves to work through it, to resolve our differences and to keep on serving.
Effective Christian service involves the believer’s head and heart. But there is one more component to improving our serve.
EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN SERVICE INVOLVES THE BELIEVER’S HEAD, HEART, AND HANDS.
If I can use the golf swing analogy again, the head provides the focus and the consistency, the body provides the power and the impetus to the swing. And it is the hands and arms that provide the skill, the touch, the accuracy.
So, in Christian service, the head keeps us focused and stable, the heart provides the motivation and power. And the hands provide the skill. And it is here that Peter introduces the subject of gifts, and of different skills and abilities.
Look at verse 10: Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
Let’s look first at that phrase: Gift he has received. A gift is a special, God-given ability for service. It is some special ability you have that will benefit other Christians and make the church stronger.
There are four passages in Scripture which talk about spiritual gifts. Personally I like Peter’s list the best. It’s the simplest, given in verse 11: If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides. There are only two gifts in Peter’s list; speaking and serving. Obviously Peter is painting in very broad strokes. He is actually just giving two broad categories of gifts.
There are gifts that involve speech: preaching, teaching, counseling, witnessing, encouraging. Some of you are especially good at these types of ministry that require words.
Then there are others of you who are particularly good at acts of service. Your ministry comes through what you do, and the way you do it. Helping, serving, keeping records, preparing meals, caring for the babies in the nursery, setting up chairs. The list can go on and on as was demonstrated when we recognized our volunteers earlier in the service.
Now, I don’t think Peter is saying that any of us are completely in one box or the other. But I do think we’ll find a tendency, because of our gifts, to lean toward one category or the other.
It is important, though, to realize that God himself is involved in our service. First of all, he gives the gifts.
Look at v. 10 again: “whatever gift he has received”. Who gave the gifts? “God’s grace in its various forms.” It’s his grace, bestowed on different believers in different forms.
So those who speak, must speak as though they were speaking the very words of God. Now that doesn’t mean that I can claim that my words as I preach or teach are the very words of God. But it does mean that I should prepare and choose my words with great care, so that God can speak through me. I can’t just throw some thoughts together and let fly with my own opinions, depending on a natural fluency with language to accomplish God’s purpose. I need a divine dependence on God and a very deep realization that God wants to speak through me. God, what do you want to say? This is be true whether you are preaching a sermon or teaching an Explorers class, or visiting someone in the hospital.
And for those who serve, service is often hard word, and it leads to becoming tired. But God promises to be there to provide the strength to continue to serve and to continue to serve well. Just as God provides the words to those who speak, he will also provide the strength to those who serve.
But Peter began this with an exhortation to us: use whatever gift you have received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
The phrase “faithfully administering” literally means to be a good steward of God’s grace. A steward is someone who manages another person’s property. The gifts are God’s. He has entrusted them to us and he expects us to be good stewards and to use them.
Are you using the gifts that God has given you? At the beginning of the service we saw a powerful demonstration of how many people are doing just that. What about you?
And what will the result be of this kind of effective Christian service?
We see it in the last part of verse 11: …so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory for ever and ever.
God will get the glory and the praise.
(Pick up golf club again)
So, remember the 3 components: Get your head set, eye clearly on the ball, head in the right position: with eternal perspective and the head down in prayer. The heart (the body) ready to power the swing with deep love for each other. And our arms and hands skilled with the gifts and abilities that God himself provides. As these elements work together in harmony, we will drive the ball down the middle of the fairway to the glory and praise of God.