Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20110911.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Peter: Effective Christian Living In A Spiritually Hostile World
Part XI: Living In Holiness Under Spiritual Persecution, 1 Peter 3:8-4:19
E. Effective Christian Service Under Persecution Pressure
(1 Peter 4:7-11)
  1. Introduction
    1. Though Peter wrote of Christian service in 1 Peter 4:7-11 to believers facing government persecution (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, p. 1757), believers can also face inner spiritual persecution as attested in Hudson T. Armerding's book, Leadership, 1979, p. 21-29)
    2. Thus, 1 Peter 4:7-11 offers invaluable insight on effective Christian service under any kind of persecution:
  2. Effective Christian Service Under Persecution Pressure, 1 Peter 4:7-11.
    1. Peter's readers were to recall that "the end of all things is near," 1 Peter 4:7a NIV. This expression means that since Peter had just referred to martyred believers who had gone to be with Christ (1 Peter 4:6), and the expression "draws near" ( engiken) is used in James 5:8 of Christ's Second Coming (Bible Know. Com., New Testament, p. 853), his readers who faced persecution were to focus on Christ's return.
    2. Thus, they were to be "clear minded" and "self-controlled" to be able to "pray" for divine help in serving the Lord that they might give a good account of their service efforts to Christ at His appearing regardless of the persecution pressure that tended to distract them from such accountability, or to intimidate them from functioning well unto the Lord as they faced such persecution pressure! (1 Peter 4:7b NIV)
    3. Then, these believers were to love one another deeply, that is, by stretching or straining (ektene) much as "the taut muscles of an athlete who strains to win a race," Ibid. Peter was urging believers about to face the sociological upheavals of overt persecution such as homelessness and hunger to show hospitality without grumbling to displaced suffering believers fleeing government forces, 1 Peter 4:8-9, Ibid.
    4. In service, believers facing persecution pressure should use the spiritual gift God gave them at salvation (1 Cor. 12:4-14) to minister to other believers as good stewards of God's grace in all it forms, 1 Peter 4:10 NIV. Under persecution pressure, this is crucial: the Holy Spirit equips the believer to overcome timidity in power, love and self-discipline when he serves in the realm of his God-appointed spiritual gift, something essential for those under persecution pressure, cf. 2 Timothy 1:6-7 NIV!
    5. Peter "divided Christian service into two general categories: the one who speaks (lalei) and the one who serves (diakonei)," 1 Peter 4:10-11; Ibid., p. 854. This general division fits the format of gifts in Acts 6:1-7 where the apostles chose to keep studying and preaching the written Scriptures and praying while they delegated to deacons the service of feeding needy widows out of the Church's material contributions.
    6. As such, those who are in speaking ministries should speak as it were the very words of God, 1 Peter 4:11a NIV. Thus, instead of their own ideas, or the ideas of vain teachings on genealogies or fanciful, extrabiblical stories ("myths" in 1 Timothy 1:4 NI V; William Hendriksen, Expos. of the Pastoral Epistles (NTC), 1974, p. 58), believers gifted of God to speak His Word must indeed present that very Word of God, 1 Peter 4:11b NIV, which truth Paul also asserted in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, 3! Note the great need of God's Word versus all other sources to sustain a healthy mind and heart in Isaiah 8:19-20, 21-22.
    7. Then, those in the service ministries are to serve in the "strength" (ischyos), or the "power" God provides (Ibid., B. K. C., N. T.), the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16) in the realm of the spiritual gift from God to perform the works involved in these ministries (Romans 12:6, 8b,c,d), 1 Peter 4:11b NIV.
    8. In the end, all the glory for the success in ministry under persecution goes to God through Christ, a truth Peter affirmed in his added benediction to God for His everlasting glory and power, 1 Peter 4:11c,d NIV.
Lesson: Serving the Lord effectively if facing any kind of persecution -- overt or covert -- requires that we (1) focus on our accountability to Christ at His coming to (2) be clear minded and self-controlled in order to pray intelligently for God's help! (3) Then, we must strive to do acts of love to needy believers, (4) using our God-given spiritual gift to serve God (5) His way (6) in His power (7) all to His glory.

Application: May we thus serve the Lord effectively if facing any kind of persecution, and ALSO thus serve Him if NOT facing known persecution, for this is the ONLY way to serve Him EFFECTIVELY!