Healthy Community

October 23, 2024
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Healthy community is a goal for every church, but cultivating it is challenging. Even the first century church that the Apostle Peter wrote to in 1 Peter had to be encouraged to work towards a healthy community.

Watch and Pray

In 1 Peter 4:7, Peter writes, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

The state of the world today indicates that we are rapidly getting closer to the day of Christ’s return. As we see “the day” approaching, we need to be mindful of how we live. Preparing for Christ’s return does not mean hiding in a cave and isolating from the world while stockpiling food. Rather, it means focusing on living as the salt and light of the world, being self-controlled and sober minded. To be sober minded is to use right judgment, to have steady and clear thinking. If you are sober minded in this world, you will not be drawn to false teaching regarding the return of Christ. Instead, you will be focused on preparing for his return.

If our minds are confused, we will have an unfocused prayer life. It is crucial that we are people of prayer, watchful, alert, and sober minded as we see the day of the Lord approaching. Peter wrote these words with his own painful memory in mind. Jesus asked him to watch and pray, but Peter fell asleep and couldn’t pray with Jesus as he fought the greatest battle in human history before going to the Cross (see Mark 14).

There is no place for listless prayers in the Church; we need to be alert and energized in our prayer warfare.

Love One Another

Peter continued in verse 8, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins”.

Within the body of Christ, we must prioritize loving one another earnestly and with intentionality. We can only love with the love that comes from God; it is a supernatural love by the Spirit of God. It is not an optional extra (see John 13:34).

It is always humbling to realize how little grace we have for someone we don’t know and love, yet for someone we love, we are quick to overlook an offense. Out of relationship comes grace.

If someone is bothering you, take the time to learn about them. Get to know them and see how God has uniquely designed them to be a blessing to the church—including to you.

Show Hospitality to One Another

In verse 9, Peter exhorts the church to be hospitable, which is a spiritual gift and essential for a healthy church community. This is not the sole function of a small team in the church; it is everyone’s responsibility. We cannot outsource this command.

Serve One Another

In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul teaches about the spiritual gifts given to the church for the health of the church. Peter underlines the fact that these gifts are for us to steward within the church family (see 1 Peter 4:10).

If you are not serving one another, you are missing out by not exercising the gift God has given you. Everyone is gifted differently, and we all have differing roles to play.

Two Spiritual Gifts

In verse 11 Peter highlights two gifts, “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies…”

Teaching: This is more than simply information transfer; this is declaration of the truths of God’s word. This is the crucial declaration of the Bible in the church.
Serving: Serving one another in the Body of Christ.

Why are these two so important?

In 1 Corinthians 12:31, Paul wrote, “…But earnestly desire the higher gifts.”

What are the higher gifts?

I would like to propose that the higher gifts are the servant gifts. The gifts done in secret, the “non-platform” gifts (see what Jesus said in Matthew 20:26).

Prescription for a Healthy Church

In the context of the church, we value worship, prayer, missions, compassion and various forms of ministry, but what did the early church value?

In Acts 2 we see that the early church devoted themselves to a few things.

Preaching of the Word

Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Recently, an increasingly loud group of voices say that we don’t need preaching in the church. They suggest that we simply gather, worship, and discuss the Bible together.

But the Bible constantly shows us that preaching or declaring God’s Word has always been God’s method for equipping His people, even in the Old Testament.

As the Apostle Paul trained and encouraged Timothy, his young church planter, he never focused on the worship band, the building aesthetics, the welcome team and the free coffee… no, he instructed Timothy to, “preach the word” (see 2 Timothy 4:1-2).

Eric Spady preached on this text at my ordination in 2014, and it has always been my primary goal, to faithfully declare the truths of God’s Word by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A church without declaration of the Word of God will starve to death.

Sacrificial Community

Acts 2:44-45, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need”

This is not communism, rather it is how they voluntarily showed each other that they valued one another above earthly things.

One of the most valued commodities in our culture is our time. We value “me time”; we want flexibility to do our own thing when we want to. But when we value community, we give of our time and serve one another.

When you are serving the Lord, you have the promise of the Lord’s supply. You are tapping into a supernatural resource, and it brings glory to God (see 1 Peter 4:11).

All for His Glory

This is what we were created for. This is our God ordained purpose, to declare the Gospel and to serve one another.

And it is all for His glory. veryone goes through suffering; no one is exempt. As Christians, we can be assured that God uses every moment of our suffering for a greater purpose.

In Chapter 4, Peter encourages the believers to endure suffering because there is a purpose in it. He reminds them and us that while Jesus lived on the earth, he was a man of sorrows (see Isaiah 53:3-5). There was a purpose to Jesus’s suffering—our salvation—and there is a purpose to our suffering—our sanctification.

Armoring Up

Peter writes in verse 1, “…arm yourselves with the same way of thinking,”

To arm oneself is to prepare for battle. Arming ourselves with the knowledge of the Bible—the Sword of the Spirit—is the greatest way we can prepare for life’s battles. Peter wants us to arm ourselves with the same attitude Jesus had toward the world, sin, and suffering.

If we face suffering without a biblical worldview, suffering will embitter rather than purify us. The Bible clearly says we will endure hardship in this world (John 16:33); we cannot dodge that bullet. If we want to live victoriously in the face of suffering, we must embrace a biblical worldview of the challenges we face. Restraining Sin Verse 1 ends with a somewhat confusing statement, “…for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”

This doesn’t mean that the person who has suffered is no longer capable of sinning. Rather, it means that they are no longer enticed by temptations the way or to the degree that they once were.

In Luke 15, the prodigal son came to his senses while in the literal pigpen of his sin. He realized that he was made for more; the slops and corn husks were not desirable to him. He left the pigpen and returned home to his father.

If you are a child of God, you will no longer enjoy living in the pigpen of your sin. Your tastes will have changed; sin will no longer hold the appeal it once did (see 1 Peter 4:2 & 1 Corinthians 5:17). When you find yourself tempted toward or back in the pigpen of your life before Christ, you will quickly run from it and return to the Father.

If, however, you live in willful sin without conviction, you are most likely not saved. You cannot be a child of God and enjoy living in the pigpen.

Coming Judgment 

Peter looks to the future: our lives are short, and we must not waste time going back to play in the pigpen of sin and brokenness.

He writes in verse 3, “For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.”

Peter lists the specific sins that his audience saw all around them, the sins that enticed them. We can add to his list the sins we see all around us, the sins that entice us—gossip, lying on our tax returns, pornography, etc.

The time is past for living in that pigpen. Walk in purity because life is short. The world is rapidly moving towards the judgment of God.

Suffering Witness 

As you walk in purity, you will be countercultural, and that may attract attention, good or bad. “With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you,” 1 Peter 4:4 says.

When you live for Jesus, walking out the new life he has given you, your life will raise questions. Some people will be drawn to the peace of God in you by the power of the Holy Spirit. Never underestimate the example of your lifestyle.

Other people will be offended by you. They will be convicted of their own sin, made aware of their own pigpen. As a result, they will try to pull you back. They will mock and scorn you.

If you are a true follower of Jesus, you have a new nature—the nature of Christ, you have a higher calling to glorify the name of Jesus with your life. You have the Holy Spirit, who gives you the strength to live out that new nature regardless of what circumstances and opposition you face.

Living for Eternity

Peter looks ahead with an eternal perspective, writing, “but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5).

Every person must give an account before Jesus one day—even those who are in Christ for believers, this judgment will not determine salvation—that took place on the Cross—but it will determine our eternal rewards. In light of eternity and the day of judgment, what does it matter what someone thinks of you? They won’t stand next to you when you stand before Jesus.

Live for a higher purpose and r calling.

Refining Purpose 

For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does” (1 Peter 4:6).

Peter was referring to the fact that the Gospel was preached to people while they were physically alive yet spiritually dead. Some responded and were saved. Others rejected Christ and are eternally separated from God, facing eternal suffering in hell—this is the second death that Revelation 20 speaks of.

These are the stakes. This is why we need an eternal perspective on every moment and the life that we are called to live. Often, that calling includes suffering by the grace and purposes of God. Many reading this are very much aware of this; you can see in your own life how God has used your suffering for His purposes and your good.

Sometimes God uses suffering to discipline His children. Sometimes we suffer because of our own poor choices. But Peter is writing about the suffering God intentionally allows for the purpose of refining us and realigning our lives with Him.

If that is you today, I encourage you to embrace the purposes of God for your life. Turn towards God in your suffering, and don’t give into the temptation to become bitter. God loves you and will not abandon the good work He is doing in you.