It is wonderful to be together this weekend and to sense the mercy of God that has drawn us together. I am very thankful that I also feel a oneness with my two brothers who are sharing ministry, and I feel that somehow the Lord has prepared us all for one message.
I also want to thank the Lord for the sense of our hearts being drawn together to the Lord in these days. How wonderful that is—the sense of the Lord literally drawing us, in these times, into this matter of stewardship together. It truly is a blessing to be here.
We would like to turn to 1 Peter 4 and read the verses that have to do with the matters I will be sharing on tonight.
Tonight we will read 1 Peter 4:7–11. While you are turning there, let me just ask a question: how many of you did not hear me last night?
One more question: how many of you are here at Harvey Cedars for this conference for the first time? Well, now, that is really very wonderful. Of course, we welcome you all.
First Peter 4, beginning in verse 7:
The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer:
above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins:
using hospitality one to another without murmuring:
according as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God;
if any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Let us pray.
We also want the Lord Jesus, who alone is deserving of glory, to receive glory this weekend. We thank You for gathering us, for speaking to us, and for drawing us to Thyself.
Now we want to depend upon the Holy Spirit, who alone can produce life out of stewardship. Oh, Lord, let the speaking take on life, and let the hearing take on life, as we are in Your presence at this very moment.
Thank You for gathering us together. Help us, Lord. We pray for those tired from the long day, and those who even arrived this evening, that You will refresh us in Your presence. We pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
We are glad you are here. I am not sure if we still have a sparrow in the house of God as well, right behind me. Oh, that is nice.
Now that I have called your attention to it, I would like for you not to look at the sparrow. It will look like a tennis match as I see your eyes going back. He is here, he is welcome, and so are you.
I think you understand this point that we are making together: the truth is that we are all stewards. So that answers the first question. Now the question is, will we be faithful and prudent, or unfaithful?
We will talk about this matter of stewardship, and I think it throws a little bit of fear into the believer. But do not be afraid. The Lord has desired to give you His kingdom.
As we talk about stewardship tonight, Scripture says nowhere that your stewardship has to be without mistake, without flaw, or perfect. As a matter of fact, in the context of stewardship, did you notice that Peter says, “Let love cover a multitude of sins”?
Back in Flushing, we have a sinner in our midst: our brother Christian Chen. He always borrows an extra fifteen or twenty minutes. If he ever pays us back, we will have five-minute sermons for six years.
But, you know, he is one of God’s stewards of the mysteries of God. I think we need to show fervent love to our dear brother and forgive his multitude of sins.
Actually, I believe that is what is being spoken of in this kind of situation. If you know someone has a heart to serve, and above all wants to be a steward of the Lord Jesus, then show them some mercy. Have patience with them.
Who do you know who first became aware of their stewardship of the Lord Jesus and was able to carry the ball from the beginning to the touchdown? I know of no one. I do not know any human being who has ever said, “Lord, I want to serve You,” and then made no mistakes.
We go down that gridiron, and we fumble, and we kick it away, and we lose the ball—but just jump back on it and ask the Lord for mercy. You know what? It is not the perfect steward who gets the reward; it is the faithful steward.
When the Lord comes back, you are still playing football. Sorry for the analogy—one of the few sports I played. But the Lord just wants you to be faithful.
From the very moment that we are Christians, we are already stewards, because a steward is somebody who has received the grace of God. As soon as you receive the grace of God, you have received something from the Lord that you can pass along.
It is amazing with new Christians, who are not aware, of course, that they are stewards. Yet they steward, because you look at them and can see the change in their countenance. Already they are stewarding the gospel.
You hear the song in their heart, and you hear the new words as this person begins to speak words about Jesus instead of curse words. You see the light in their eyes and some joy in their heart, and already they are communicating the gospel as a good steward. They do not even know it.
After all, stewardship is simply responding to the grace of God. Whatever He has placed into your life, pass it on. Show it forth. Give thanks to the Lord. So we are all stewards, and as we see in this passage, we are to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
I wanted to list, in summary fashion, seven points regarding stewardship that have been covered so far this weekend. More than half the people here tonight were not here last night, and the other half were asleep, so we all could use catch-up.
All stewards are servants—nothing more than servants, but servants who recognize that they have a responsibility because of the grace they have received. A servant is a steward in the making, and a steward is a son in the making.
Whether you are trying to be responsible as a steward, or stewarding responsibly as a mature son, it is still imperfect here in this life. Even though our position now is just that of a humble servant, hold on to the hope of Scripture that one day you will be a glorious son.
A humble servant now—and let the Lord promote you up: a glorious son. This is what the Lord is doing in our lives. We are on the way, in the making. Do not be afraid of the process.
Recognize the grace of God in your life and say, “Lord, You have given me this. Now, what should I do with it?” There is a good circle.
Stewards are given something belonging to the Master. The Master has given you something by grace. It may be a gift, a gift of speaking. It may be a thousand dollars. It may be joy in your heart. It could be a prayer, as our brother shared this morning in the devotion time.
But it is something that belongs to the Master. The steward does not own it, but he has been given delegated authority to distribute according to the Master’s will.
When the Lord gives you something, He also gives you the grace, authority, and anointing to distribute that which you have been given according to the will of God. Whatever possessions you have are given to you by the Lord. They are His to distribute and yours to disperse according to His will.
Our stewardship pertains to others in God’s household as a representation of the Master’s care for His own. Stewardship is a word that comes from an old English expression meaning the ward of a house. A steward is somebody in God’s house, so we are dealing with other people.
Even in this passage in 1 Peter, notice that in verses 8, 9, and 10, “one another” is used in each verse:
Stewardship has to do with the household of God. It has to do with ministering things to our brothers and sisters in the house, representing the love and care of our God for one another. You get to show somebody how much God loves them by your stewardship.
All stewardship is limited according to measure and sphere. These are phrases used in the New American Standard; other translations use different terms. But all stewardship is limited by the measure that you have and the sphere that God gives you.
There is the household steward, the ship’s steward, the shop steward, and the wine steward. Each has a limited responsibility.
As an example, as far as Paul’s measure goes, he says in Ephesians 3 that his measure is this: “I get to present the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Now, that is some measure of ministry. As Ernie said, how do you measure the immeasurable?
But Paul’s sphere was to go to the Gentiles and speak of these things. He said sometimes, “I wish I could go to the Jews,” but somehow that was not his bailiwick. Even Paul had a limitation in his stewardship. He said, “My stewardship is to declare to the Gentiles that they are fellow heirs, fellow members, and fellow partakers.” You and I also have limits in our stewardship.
The more a steward is given, the more is required of him. We read that at the end of the parable in Luke 12. The more one has, the more is required.
But I have put it in a positive way, because that other way scares everybody. I can picture somebody even praying tonight, “Lord, do not give me any more. What I have is enough.”
No, let us look at it positively: the more one is faithful, the more of the Master’s riches one can touch and dispense. Yes, you are called to more responsibility when you are given more. But think of it: you get to handle the treasures of Jesus and then dispense them. And guess what? There is some more.
These parables about the steward all have this matter of kingdom reward attached to them, and I am sure you saw that and became frightened by it. You have gone back to saying, “Just give me a little tiny cottage up in glory. Never mind the mansion.”
Here is the deal: a steward is rewarded not based upon what he has received, whether many talents or one talent, but upon what he has given according to the Master’s will.
Our reward is not based on what we received, but on what we passed out according to the Master’s will. In Matthew 7, those people come up and say, “Lord, Lord, did we not do all this kind of stuff?” He says, “You did not do it My way.”
Many people use the gifts of God for their own ends. They will not be rewarded, because reward is based on what we are able to distribute and do according to the Master’s will.
The secret of a good steward, which our brother Ernie shared so beautifully this afternoon, is this: it is not the amount of faith you have. It is not your wisdom or prudence. In the end, it is not how gifted you are or how much zeal you have. The secret of a steward is to be totally devoted to your Master.
Whether you have a lot or a little, if you are totally devoted to the Master, then I know one thing about you: you will be Master-conscious in all that you do. “I had better feed the children right, because the Master may come back tonight and see what was set on the table.”
Master-consciousness comes out of devotion for the Lord. So the secret is devotion. How much do we really love the Lord?
The Lord has many people who are His servants and His stewards. Some, as we have heard already this weekend, began well, but something hindered them. They left their stewardship or became unfaithful in their stewardship.
You may be such a person. Most people who have a long history with the Lord have times when they know they just wasted the things that the Lord has given them.
At this point, I want to exhort you: let us come back to the Lord and say, “Oh, Lord, I am an unworthy servant, but I do love Thee. Is there something that I can care for in Your household?”
Then whatever the Lord gives you, be faithful now. Remember, He has not come back yet. You have time to get back in the business, pick up the ball, and be His steward until He comes. Amen?
So much for defining, as it were, what a steward is. Now we want to look at what it means to be stewards of the manifold grace of God.
We have to understand this definition in its widest interpretation, because Peter was not thinking narrowly about something specific. The manifold grace of God is an unsearchable amount. How much grace does the Lord have? In how many particulars and manifestations do we see the grace of God? It is virtually limitless.
We cannot have a small picture. We need to have a large sense of this manifold grace of God that is seen in the church.
But when we look at the specific passage, because Peter was speaking in context, let us note three practical matters concerning stewardship of the manifold grace of God.
The word “manifold grace of God” appears in verse 10. Before that, we find the first area of stewardship to which Peter refers: hospitality.
In 1 Peter 4:8–9, we read:
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
In the broadest sense, I want to talk tonight about the stewardship of our possessions: our homes, our cars, our food, our time, and our inviting people over. Hospitality has very much to do with the grace of God and the household of God.
After verse 10, we see in verse 11 two other general categories of gifts. First, there is the speaking gift:
Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God.
There are many different kinds of speaking gifts. When somebody has received one, it behooves us to be good stewards of that speaking gift.
Then, finally, the third category is service:
Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
These categories are broad, but their general meaning is very clear.
Whatever you have is no longer your own. It has been given to you by the Father, who gives all blessings to His children. Without any shadow of turning or doubting, we have received everything we have by the grace of God.
Now it is no longer our own, nor are we to steward it according to our own will. That is Peter’s important point.
The second point Peter makes very clear is that in the last days, the highest priority must be fervent love for one another. This is the rule of our stewardship. Beyond ourselves and our own needs, there is this fervent love we need to show one another.
There is a process in which grace becomes gift, and gift becomes life. You know that the Greek word for grace is charis, and the Greek word for gift is charisma. It is virtually the same word, except for a neuter ending—ma—put on the end to imply that this is grace made concrete.
A gift is simply grace made concrete. When we receive grace, it becomes a gift to us. We receive the grace of God—an enabling grace. Grace enables us to talk about the Lord.
When we minister this gift according to the will of God, what happens? It imparts life to others. Grace becomes gift, and gift becomes life.
Of course, it is not quite that simple. Grace can become gift, and then I can use the gift the way I want, and life does not come out. There is a whole other issue about what it means to be under the yoke of the Lord—doing His will under His anointing, following His leading, and going through His cross—so that the gift can be broken and come out on the other side as life.
But looking simply at the stewardship process, how wonderful it is. We receive grace from God—some kind of ability. Paul said, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” He became an apostle by the grace of God, which gave him an ability that allowed him to serve as an apostle.
When you receive these abilities, some people think, “Well, I should know when a gift hits me.” No, not necessarily. The Lord just enables you to do something, and you do it. Then people receive life.
Those dear saints take a big chance and ask you to speak again. You speak again, and the Lord gives you the enabling to do it, and others receive life. After a while, you call this transaction of receiving that ability a gift.
You recognize, “It just seems I connect with the Lord in this way, and it works.” Then there is another dear brother who cannot preach his way out of a paper bag, but the Lord gives him a grace—an enabling—to encourage other people. When he encourages you, you feel as if you have been blessed by the Lord Himself.
A gift is only a grace thing given to you. As you learn to be a good steward through a process of development, you take the gift, and there is this amazing transaction by the Holy Spirit in which it is distributed as life to others.
Grace to you, life to others. What a wonderful transaction. Stewardship is a very important midpoint in the whole transaction.
Let us look at these three areas of manifold grace. The first is what we may call the grace of giving. Our possessions—what we have—are they there at God’s disposal?
Hospitality, as the times draw nearer to the end, becomes more and more a priority in the Lord. Are you really hospitable with fervent love toward one another?
You can imagine the hospitality that must have come upon the saints in Jerusalem after the Day of Pentecost. So many visitors, like Barnabas, came from Cyprus for the Feast of Pentecost, were saved there, and ended up staying in Jerusalem. He had to stay at somebody’s house, along with the other three thousand who suddenly needed a place to stay.
Thank God, there were one hundred and twenty who opened their homes. So-and-so was sleeping in the washer, and another was sleeping in the dryer, but they did it.
Then Barnabas, full of the grace of God, said, “Wait a minute, I have to go home.” He went home, sold his property, came back, and said, “Here we go—twenty-six thousand dollars. That is what it cost for my home, because I am staying here where the Lord is working.”
Grace supplying grace: grace in hospitality, grace in feeding. They were all eating with gladness of heart. Maybe they were eating a lot of matzah crackers, but they were eating with gladness and singleness of heart. There was such love among the saints, such hospitality.
The same was true when Peter was writing, probably from Rome. People were always passing through Rome. They came for visits; slaves came delivering things to Rome; they became Christians and then needed a place to stay. Rome had to be hospitable.
Someone gets saved while passing through, and then their whole life is in upheaval. They need a place to stay and to find out more about the Lord. Here we are, with people staying in our houses and all this sort of thing going on. Hospitality is such a blessed expression of Jesus’ love for one another.
We feel a burden in New York City, where we are, concerning the importance of hospitality. We have a Monday-night Bible study, Thursday-night prayer reading, and a little meeting in Manhattan itself on Sunday, as well as in Flushing.
When I go over there, they have a meal every Sunday. It is not just imported Styrofoam boxes. The brothers and sisters go down there and cook meals every Sunday for more than four hundred people. It is amazing—hospitality.
In Manhattan we had this little group, so every Monday night a couple of the young professionals and young adults bring food with them, and we feed thirty people or more before the Bible study.
It may seem like such a waste. Why do that? In New York City, these young adults are away from home. That little touch of love sometimes helps them find their home in Jesus.
There are so many young Christians in New York City, lost and wandering, working their heads off. Down is up and up is down. If they can just have a meal, our precious brothers and sisters can talk, chat, pray, and help. Hospitality.
I believe in hospitality. I think it shows the love of God, and it is so necessary.
But this only touches a matter much larger than hospitality, because the Lord would have all of us be useful in some way in expressing the grace of God and His love to people by the use of our possessions.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, the famous chapters on stewardship. He speaks specifically about the grace of giving.
In 2 Corinthians 8:1–9, Paul says:
We make known to you the grace of God which hath been given in the churches of Macedonia;
how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
For according to their power, I bear witness, yea and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord,
beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace and of the fellowship in the ministering to the saints:
and this, not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.
So we urged Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace also.
But as ye abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all earnestness, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
I say this not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might become rich.
Here is an interesting situation. Paul is collecting money to send to Jerusalem and to the saints in need in Judea. He is speaking to the church in Corinth, and there is a problem there. He uses the Macedonians as a testimony of the grace of God.
The Corinthians were rich in grace. They were rich in gifts, wisdom, and leadership. But they were poor as stewards of the grace of God. Why? Because they had an intention to give, but no discipline.
A year after they promised, “Oh yes, we will give something,” they had not come up with anything yet. Every Christian intends to give ninety percent of everything he has to the Lord one day. The problem is having the discipline to do it now.
Intention is not stewardship. Meanwhile, here are these Macedonians, who are going through the affliction of persecution and who are poor, yet they are rich. Why are they rich? Because they discovered the secret of giving grace.
They are cheerfully giving out of their poverty, and it is pleasing to the Lord. Paul uses this to speak to the Corinthians about their need to be disciplined in setting aside things.
In the New Testament, among us who are saved by grace, there is no law. Paul says, “I do not make a command to you.” This ten-percent business is something we have brought over from the Old Testament.
I remember the most dreaded day when I was a Baptist pastor: Stewardship Sunday. For those who have not been in a denomination, that may not strike fear in your heart. But most of the saints had to be cajoled even to come to the meeting.
On Stewardship Sunday, the pastor had to preach on the ten-percent tithe, because that was part of being a member of a Baptist church. Then all the members received a box of fifty-two envelopes with their names on them. Every week they were expected to put money in that envelope. It would be counted, and the right hand would know what the left hand was doing.
This was a time when we came as close to Old Testament theology as there ever was. It struck fear in the saints. Many showed up sick, but it was all right—the deacons went to their houses with the box of envelopes, because it was Stewardship Sunday.
So Stewardship Sunday meant, “I have to give money this year.” That is all it meant. That is not what Paul means.
Paul is talking about looking like Jesus, who, though He was rich, became poor so that we, through His poverty, might be enriched. That is the love of God. That is the grace of God. That is the grace of God you see in individuals who give like that.
In the last days there will be many trials and financial troubles. But there are those who manifest the grace of God in generous giving. This stewardship is called for by the Lord.
Over the years, as I have been in a number of fellowship places, I have always noticed two kinds of people who stand out. There are saints of means. I have never met a saint yet who calls himself rich, but I have met saints of means who give sacrificially and are such good stewards.
They use prudence and anonymity. Most people live on the largesse of a few who are faithful and give. But do you not know the Lord knows that? These people are faithful. I say, “God bless them, and God make them a multimillionaire,” because whatever they receive, they use for the Lord. That is precious.
The other thing you notice is that there are people who give cheerfully out of their poverty, even generously. It shames you when you see how precious that is. Many dear saints who have very little are so faithful in giving what they have to the Lord.
Oh, that we might manifest this grace of God. How the church is blessed whenever there are those who understand this grace and gift.
In 2 Corinthians 9:5–7, giving is also called blessing:
I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brethren that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your afore-promised bounty, that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not of extortion.
But this I say, He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Let each man do according as he hath purposed in his heart; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
I am not going to speak about prosperity, but I do want to say that we bless the Lord as servants of the Lord, and we also need to bless one another in this same kind of stewardship.
This summer, I was with Brother Lance in Seattle at a conference. I wanted to find out more about Lady Ogle, a dear Christian sister of small stature in England, whom our brother Stephen knew. She went on to be with the Lord many years ago. She was a very faithful steward.
We also got to talking about C. T. Studd, the famous pioneer cricketer who went off to China, then to India, then to Africa. As a young man, he was the most famous cricket player in England when he received a fortune from his family. He gave it all away and went off as a missionary, trusting the Lord for the rest of his life.
Brother Lance said that Norman Grubb, who wrote the book on C. T. Studd, said, “If C. T. had kept the money, it would have ruined him. And if Lady Ogle had given away her money, it would have ruined her.”
C. T. had to give his money away and serve the Lord free and simple, with no encumbrance. He could not have handled it otherwise.
Lady Ogle became a widow while very young and had great possessions—mansions and houses in several places. She was touched by Jessie Penn-Lewis and by different Christian ministries. She decided to give all her wealth away.
Just before she did it, the Lord stopped her and said, “Wait a minute. What are you doing?” She said, “Well, I am giving all my money away.” She was getting ready to write a large check to a foundation or mission society, and the Lord said, “This is My money, not yours.”
The Lord wanted her to keep the money and give it to whom He wanted her to give it. This dear sister began a stewardship that helped, in many ways, the ministries of T. Austin-Sparks, Brother Nee, Bakht Singh in India, Brother Lance Lambert in London, and others.
This dear sister was a prudent steward. The Lord said, “Do not give it all away.” For some, the Lord says, “Give it all away.” For others, the Lord says, “Be prudent and give where I say.”
Both of these dear saints and servants manifested the grace of God and the blessing of God in giving.
Just as with hospitality, what do we have that has not been given to us by the Lord? In a time of trial, there is a temptation to hunker down, tighten up, zip up the pockets, and wait until things blow over.
No, no, no. In a time when things are difficult, it is time for us to manifest the graciousness of God in hospitality and care for one another. It would be such a blessing for all our assemblies.
Part of that hospitality is inviting saints to come from over there to over here, receiving saints who are here and there. Some people have been such faithful stewards over the years, but we all need to learn this lesson: the stewardship of our possessions manifests Jesus as the greatest giver in the world.
The second area in which we see the manifold grace of God is speaking gifts. Again, we go back to 1 Peter 4:11:
Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God.
When you look at the passages listing gifts of grace and gifts of the Spirit—in 1 Corinthians 12:8–10, Ephesians 4, and Romans 12—there are approximately ten speaking gifts and ten service gifts. They are various and manifold, and they are not all the same.
It is a shame that we try to cookie-cut everybody into the same kind of speaker. How wonderful it is, though, when you have a living assembly with a number of brothers. How different each one is, yet each ministers life in an unusual and different way.
We have not only evangelists, prophets, and teachers, but encouragers, inspirers, warners, and enlighteners. Every time some people speak, the light goes on. There are so many manifold gifts of speaking.
But we also have people who possess these gifts and, to be honest with you, are just lazy. It is a shame to have such a grace and be so selfish as not to be burdened to pray and ask the Lord for something, because you know He would give it to you.
Of course, there are others who are ambitious. They want to speak every Sunday, whether they have something or not. They are overextending their measure and sphere.
All over Christendom today, we have evangelists trying to be pastors and prophets trying to be apostles. Why should we do this? Why not do what the Lord has given you the grace to do, whatever that is?
The measure is basically this: speak as long as the Lord has given you life to say something. If it is only ten minutes, let it be ten good minutes. Believe me, the saints will bless you.
If it is an hour, let it be the life of the Lord for an hour, and not merely a lot of filler—things you got on the internet, stories, and such things.
What should be our standard in this matter of stewardship? Here is a very sobering standard: one who speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God—or, as other translations say, as the oracle of God.
That is a very high standard. It should bring anybody who is a speaker to their knees. Our Steward of stewards, the Lord Jesus, wants us to speak, as it were, the oracle of God. We are representing God when we are speaking.
It is important not only what we say, but the attitude in which we say it. It needs to represent God and not ourselves. Speaking the utterances of God—this is such a challenge.
For those of you who have a speaking gift, be prepared. What a shame when somebody comes and you can tell they are not prepared. They threw something together.
Now listen: anybody who attempts to be a steward in this speaking gift—now that I have paralyzed all of you with fear—I want to say that everyone prophesies in part. By the exercise of faithfulness, we eventually learn what is God and what is us.
Meanwhile, the saints have to forgive a multitude of sins. This is the truth. Those who are mature can often tell where a speaker has been drawing his material from.
Fifteen years ago, they might have said, “That fellow just read In Touch with the Throne by Brother Sparks,” because what he was teaching was pages thirty-six through forty-five. Or they would say, “That reminds me exactly of Brother Nee’s teaching in such-and-such a book.”
Now only those who are internet-savvy realize, “Boy, that came right off the internet.”
Brothers and sisters, I want to warn you about going to the internet for your messages more than going to the Lord. There is a lot of stuff on the internet that is not only inaccurate; it is dead wrong—wrong interpretations and wrong doctrines.
Do not believe everything you read out there. I am glad that many of you who are internet-savvy are getting your devotions, reading things, and going from here to there. But do not believe everything.
You are a steward who has to rightly divide the word of truth. Do not let others divide it for you on the internet and then just spit it out. Study the Word itself. See what it says.
The Lord will give patience to the saints as you begin to exercise this gift. But how wonderful it is when somebody stands up to speak—whatever their gift, whether long or short, timid or bold—and when they speak, we hear, as it were, God speaking.
Is that not what the Lord wants in our midst? Would that not feed our hungry people? So many Christians are absolutely in a desert and famine for the Word of God. At least let us in our assemblies speak living words.
I will never forget the first time I met Sister Kerr and Sister Pearl, those two dear sisters who served the Lord in China and the Far East for so many years. Both of them knew Watchman Nee, so I was gathering information.
I remember asking Sister Kerr, “What is your recollection of Brother Nee?” She said two things right off. First, “I remember a time when he could hardly speak because he was coughing all the time between his words.”
Then she said, “Back in those days, we had to travel a long way across town. It took a long time to get to the meetings. But as soon as our brother started speaking, we were refreshed as he spoke.”
I said in my heart, “God, make me like that one day, so people can be refreshed and not be looking at their watches and saying, ‘Oh, God, have mercy.’”
If we know the grace of God and allow the Lord to work in our lives, will there not be a dispensing of life? This is what we need: the miracle of God’s stewardship through human vessels.
Then there is this final section: those who serve are to serve by the strength which God supplies. This is the Greek word related to deacon: those who are serving, serve by the strength which God supplies.
There are so many ways of serving, so many gifts, and so many graces—from tremendous gifts, such as the gift of faith and the gift of healing, to showing mercy, helps, and administrations. There is so much service in the body of Christ.
In the initial days, an assembly often comes together by the preaching of the Word of God. Rightly so: the Word of God must lay a foundation as we gather together.
But in the long run, the church grows by the serving of one another. As the body ministers to one another, the body is built up by our loving one another.
Without these gifts of service—what I will call non-speaking service—in the long run we do not make it. Groups that gather together based on the Word of God alone end up dividing over doctrine.
How we need saints who love, are hospitable, are charitable, and are cheerful in their mercy. This is the kind of service Peter must have in mind when he talks about this grace of serving.
Peter goes on immediately to exhort the elders in 1 Peter 5:
Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according unto God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.
The elders and leaders need not only to be speakers, with no time for people, but examples in the fellowship. If you want to see the grace of God, watch an elder take the time to teach somebody else how to lead.
It will take them twice as long to teach the other person as it would take to do it themselves. But they say no to themselves and try to train and help others to hear the Lord, learn how to serve, and learn how to lead.
Oh, how we need this kind of serving and loving one another in the body of Christ.
Again, Peter sets this tremendous standard, or watermark: as we are serving, how are we to serve? By the strength which God supplies.
If I could put it another way, we are to serve one another by the life of Christ within. In this life, we fellowship with one another, and the body is built up.
Many of us have a temperament and desire to be compassionate toward people, but much of that is natural compassion. It is simply our temperament. That will burn out with time in the body of Christ.
People can use up your compassion. It is a commodity. You can wear yourself out being compassionate toward people when it is your own natural compassion.
But somewhere in your stewardship, the Lord will teach you the transference of His life for yours, so that you can help people with the Lord’s compassion and the Lord’s love. It may be a tougher love than you would have, but it is the Lord’s love.
It is the Lord’s compassion, the Lord’s mercy, and the Lord’s hospitality—not merely our own. I know saints who are so dear and want to love everybody, but they are worn out even at the thought of it, because they are trying to do these things out of their own energy.
How we need to learn to serve by the strength which God supplies us through Jesus Christ. This exchange life is not just for our own personal sanctification. This exchange life is so that we might be servants of God by the life of Another—an inexhaustible life, even the zoe of God through Jesus Christ.
I have said enough. Let us take one more look at these verses—not on an individual basis of, “What is my service? How should I show mercy? How should I be hospitable? What should I do with my funds?”
Let us back away from that and look at the larger picture:
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God.
Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
How do we see the manifold grace of God? We cannot see it in an individual. The grace that you and I have received individually is just a little bit.
But the picture Peter sees is the church as the steward—the corporate steward. What do people from outside see when they see the church being faithful in its stewardship? They see the grace of God sparkling in all its many manifestations, because all the saints are responding to God’s grace and supplying in some way.
What a wonderful church that is. That is you and I gathered together. When we gather together, expressing the grace of God—His life, His love, and His abilities—in so many different ways, somebody comes into our midst and says, “I see Jesus.”
I pray that you and I will be gathered among people who together can show this kind of fullness, this manifold grace of God. What a testimony that Jesus has come and Jesus is alive. May the Lord help us be faithful.
Let us pray.
Oh, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is ours in richness and fullness, and in ways yet undiscovered by us. Lord, the grace that we have received, we seem to supply in such a small and insufficient way.
But somehow we believe together that, by Your Spirit in our midst, we can manifest so much more than we are individually.
We pray that in the last days, in the days of trouble, as public scrutiny looks at the church, they may see the manifold grace of God as each one ministers their special gift as part of a whole, being led by our Head and Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, we commit this into Your hands. Lord, raise up stewards. For those servants who are not aware that they have a stewardship, make them aware of what it is that they have, that they can use and disperse at Your bidding.
Lord, cause us all not to quit or become discouraged when our stewardship has fallen flat, when we have made mistakes, and when we have been embarrassed. Help us simply to say, “Lord, I am only a servant. Oh, Lord, teach me Your ways.”
Help us learn the lessons of the cross, the lessons of denial of self, and the lessons of faith that receives grace upon grace. Oh, Lord, until we look like Jesus, help us to look like Jesus in these last days. For His sake, we pray. Amen.