And how various their destination; how various the sphere of action assigned them; how manifold the good and useful that each may contrive, adopt, and do therein! They consist in redemption if we will accept it; sanctification if we will seek for it; and all the blessed means whereby the life of the Incarnate Word is bestowed upon us and kept alive within us, if we will use them. So must we have the glory sink into us before it can be reflected from us.(A. Yet who can doubt that the glorious Reformation was better accomplished by two such fellow labourers, than it would have been by the same men, had there been an equal distribution between them of their respective characteristic properties. The question in every case for them is not an absolute, but a relative one; not "what?" The little wheels in an engine, the little stones in a building, and the little gifts in the church, occupy a place for which the larger would be quite unsuitable. The thing is to go round — a perpetual interchange of blessings and gifts, a mutual well-doing, a generous commerce of souls, supplying each other's lack out of each other's abundance from the highest to the lowest, and from the lowest to the highest. Or it may be so worthily framed and so fitly placed that the skill and power of the artist's work appeal to the most casual beholder. The redeemed are required to be "good stewards of the manifold grace of God." We are prone to view our talent under false and vicious limitations; to confine our notions of the proper sphere of assiduous kindness to one's own immediate connections. (4:8) Christians should not be joining the pagans in slandering one another, but through love, they should overlook the minor faults and failures of other believers. The gospel vastly expands our field of duty. John Piper Jan 10, 1982 102 Shares Sermon. And therefore our ability, be it ever so small is our stewardship, of which God will most certainly have an a count from us. The Word is to be spoken wisely. But it is far otherwise with the human species; we are essential to each other; one man in Leeds, one man in Europe, would hardly prosper; it is only in mutuality that the individual can live and come to the fulness of his glory and fruitfulness, that the race can reach its ideal life. 2. )Personal ChristlinessHomilist.1. "Although there was little in the home to foster, while there was much to discourage, the growth of that piety which was to characterise so signally his afterlife, one source of helpful and tender influence was preserved to him. So a Christian heart may be enshrined in such meagre and unworthy human qualities that they detract from the recognition the grace of Christ ought to receive, the impression it should make. Your email address will not be published. "I am keeping these against the Show," is his reply, "and I cannot permit them to be cut." Through Him God goes forth to His creatures. The feeling has no respect whatever to the moral qualities of the evil it chastises. Nothing can be clearer than the duty of turning our means and opportunities to good account. It is called "manifold," because God's gifts are so various in kind and in degree. But far above all these gifts of God, which we call gifts of nature, are those higher gifts, which we call gifts of grace — the gifts which find their exercise, not in the work of the world, but in the training and perfecting of the soul. 2. They consist in redemption if we will accept it; sanctification if we will seek for it; and all the blessed means whereby the life of the Incarnate Word is bestowed upon us and kept alive within us, if we will use them.2. 1. Love covers sin by making large allowances. IV. She was well dressed. And how various their destination; how various the sphere of action assigned them; how manifold the good and useful that each may contrive, adopt, and do therein! )That God in all things may be glorifiedThe import and application of glorifying God through Jesus ChristJ. The wrong-doer is reproved, rebuked, and exhorted, hut with all long-suffering (1 Timothy 4:2). Barrett. N. Pearson, M. A.The "grace of God" means His liberality. One an ardency to animate all around it; the other cool consideration and resolution to put a stop to this devouring flame. The gift is bestowed by the hand of Him who is an example to us in giving, as well as in every other respect. The perfection of reciprocity exists in the religious life (Matthew 5:23; Matthew 7:12). The man overtaken with a fault is restored in the spirit of meekness (Galatians 6:1). No effort to do good is ever lost. THE PEERLESS EXCELLENCE OF LOVE AS A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE. The gifts and endowments of individual men are as various as their outward appearance. 2. The rich must help the poor. Love forgives. It is the richest land and the highest gifts that, being cultivated, will yield the best return. Praise to God for a Living Hope. One obstacle of our own making to the useful exercise of our talents is a reluctance to cooperate with those who possess that quality which is wanting in ourselves, but which needs to be combined with ours in order to its efficiency. Here is strength of mind, there strength of body; here the power of beauty, there the power of eloquence; here the command of oneself and the passions, there the authority of the ruler and the commander over his subjects; here impetuous, overwhelming, there mild, insinuating, yet more irresistible force. II. And in this respect charity well deserves to be called the bond of perfectness. 1 Peter speaks of maintaining a sense of seriousness and discipline in the meantime before the end (4:7). )Minister the same one to anotherGifts to be communicated for the good of othersJohn Rogers.Though a Christian be the freest man in the world (as being freed from Satan, sin, hell, the law, etc.) THE RULE OF THE DUTY. )God glorified by ChristF. This "fervent charity" was to be exercised primarily amongst those who had the closest union, inter se, through their union in Christ. Reflections on 1 Peter 4 1 Peter 04 (Contemporary English Version) ... (4:8) because "love covers a multitude of sins." PERSONAL CHRISTLINESS IS A DIVINE GIFT TO BE SOCIALLY EMPLOYED. Ah! THE APPLICATION.1. it is this spirit which our Christian society lacks, and which we shall never get till we begin each one with his own heart. Then there is another matter belonging to this part of our subject; the stewardship of administration of charity, or of any money laid out for the general good. But there is another side to all this; the poor, the illiterate, the weak, the obscure may also truly minister in many ways to the world's enrichment and blessing. These tendencies may show themselves either in act or in spirit; and, in either case, will raise up a cloud between us and the eternal throne, which no prayer can pass through. Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9–10. But there is another side to all this; the poor, the illiterate, the weak, the obscure may also truly minister in many ways to the world's enrichment and blessing. Revenge is almost invariably cloaked under the guise of moral indignation. 1 Peter 2:4-8: 2011-06-11 HOLINESS ACCORDING TO THE TRUTH: 1 Peter 1:22-2:3: 2011-06-10 HOLY BY GRACE: 1 Peter 1:17-21: 2011-06-09 HOLY WITH AND LIKE HIM: 1 Peter 1:13-16: 2011-06-08 AM I A CHILD OF GOD? How great a difference, to take an example, will be made in general society in the matter of Christian belief, according as one commanding man of genius, who has power over thought and language, makes use of that power. And Peter here enjoins Christians to be "above all things fervent in their love.". We are to minister one to another up to the extent to which we have received the gift, that is, to the full extent of our ability. Vociferous indignation is not unfrequently the mere creation of fashion and of sympathy with bad feelings. The first characteristic of man's sinful disposition, requiring watchfulness upon the part of a Christian, is its SPONTANEITY. Another has authority and strength, and how various are these in their kinds! (2) The desire to bless. 1. He dwells in light which is so transcendent in its burning purity that no mortal eye could bear the blaze which enwraps His being. B. Meyer, B. The heathen oracles were accessible too, but only under circumstances that forbid universal approach.III. Above all things — See that you remember the distinguishing badge of your religion and have, maintain, fervent charity, love, among yourselves — One toward another: for love shall cover a multitude of sins — It will cause us to excuse them in others, and will entitle us, through divine mercy to the expectation of forgiveness for our own numberless failings. J. Zollikofer.Doing good to others rejoices every human heart that is not totally callous and corrupt. Because St. John was emphatically the apostle of love, it must not be supposed that the inculcation of this virtue was left to him alone. They may not, to be sure, be of the same kind as those which you unfeelingly reprehend. His care upon the walls of one of their possessors was the error destroyed. You are the strong, and not the only matter in which we are bidden to watch unto prayer ''! 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