8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.  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, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.  To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.  Amen.  - 1 Peter 4:8-11, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

"Brothers and sisters, go in peace.  Live in harmony with one another.  Serve the Lord with gladness."  Do those words sound familiar? On certain Sundays, the pastor speaks these words before he raises his hands and gives the benediction at the end of the service.  Have you ever wondered where these words originated?  Were they preserved for us in the early records of the Christian church?  Maybe they were taken from the writings of Luther?

Actually, these words of encouragement were developed by the members of our synod’s hymnal committee. Since our hymnal is less than ten years old, the wording is not very old either.  Even though the words themselves cannot be traced back to one of the apostles or early church fathers, they still express timeless truths drawn directly from God’s Word.

"Brothers and sisters."  The hymn we just sang reminds us that we are members of God’s family, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are united by a common bond.  That bond is faith in Jesus as our Savior.

"Go in peace."  These words take us back to Simeon in the temple.  When he held the baby Jesus, Simeon knew that he could leave this world in peace because he saw salvation in his arms.   Today God’s people can leave God’s house with the same kind of peace because forgiveness is ours.

"Live in harmony with one another."  This phrase is recorded in the Bible, not once but twice, in Romans (12:16) and I Peter (3:8).  The peace that is ours leads us to live peaceful and productive lives.  And in everything, the goal of the Christian is to…"Serve the Lord with gladness."

Serve the Lord with gladness.  It would be difficult to find a better theme for a stewardship sermon.  It’s short.  It’s clear.  It’s positive.  So let’s use it.  This morning, the apostle Peter encourages us to…

The theme for today answers two important questions.  Number one, who do we serve?  And number two, how do we serve?  First, let’s look at the "who."  God’s Word makes it clear that Christians exist to serve the Lord.  You can find countless examples in the Bible of believers who devoted themselves to God.  In the Old Testament, Joshua challenged the Israelites after they entered the Promised Land.  He asked: "Will you serve God, or will you forsake God and serve the idols of your heathen neighbors."  Joshua took a strong stand: "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).

If Joshua is not enough for you, the example of Jesus himself will remove any doubts.  When the devil tempted Jesus, when he tried to get Jesus to bow down and worship him, Jesus fought off Satan’s attacks with God’s Word.  He said: "It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only" (Matthew 4:10).  These are just two examples, but the point they make is very clear.  God created human beings to serve him.

Believers serve God.  We worship him.  We pray to him. We sing God’s praises.  But God also gives us opportunities to serve him indirectly.  Peter tells us how: "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins" (I Pe 4:8).  Christians serve God by loving and serving each other.  Think of the parable of the sheep and the goats.  God praised those on his right hand for their acts of kindness, for all the things they had done out of love him.  But the sheep were a little confused.  They asked: "Lord, when did we do all these things for you?  When did we feed you or give you a drink?  When did we give you clothes? When did we help you when you were sick?  When did we visit you in prison?"  Remember the King’s answer: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 24:40).  Christians serve God by serving God’s people.

God tells us that we are to serve him, but he also tells us how to serve him.  And again, Peter tells us how: "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling" (I Pe 4:9).  God wants us to serve him by what we do, but he is just as concerned with the motivation behind our actions.  Hospitality is not really hospitality if it is offered grudgingly.  What Peter states negatively, the sermon theme puts in positive terms. God wants us to be willing servants. If we are serving the Lord without grumbling, then we are serving the Lord with gladness.

Willing service is to be matched by faithful service.  "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms" (I Pe 4:10).  Peter acknowledges that God has given his people different gifts.  The phrase, "faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms" can help us understand what Christian service is all about.  Literally, the Greek reads: "as good stewards/managers of God’s manifold grace."

The manager of a business is usually not the owner.  His job is to improve and protect what does not belong to him.  This is a good way to think about our lives of service.  We are managers of God’s gifts.  These gifts do not belong to us.  It is a privilege to serve the Lord.  God does not ask us to do anything we are unable to do.  His only command is to use the gifts you have been given.  Use your gifts to serve faithfully.  When you do this, you aren’t just serving others.  You are serving God.

God has richly blessed this congregation.  God has blessed St. John’s with people who have all kinds of gifts.  But do we always use them?  Now is not the time to look in the next pew to find someone else to blame.  It’s time for some introspection.  It’s time to look inside.   Do we use our gifts faithfully to serve God?  Do we serve willingly?  Or do we live to serve ourselves?  Haggai rebuked the Israelites for living comfortably while the Lord’s temple lay in ruins?  Can you see any parallels today?  Are we good managers or selfish stewards?  Because we are sinful, we are not always good managers.  Our abilities are often underused when it comes to the Lord’s work.   We have no right to expect God to say: "Well done, good and faithful servant," when we approach his throne of grace.  From this perspective, the glass is half empty at best, because our half-hearted efforts will always fall short.

But the sermon theme for today is a positive one and so is the attitude of the preacher.  From my perspective, the glass is half full.  In fact, it is overflowing.  There are lots of good things happening at St. John’s, and there are many good people doing them.  There are people who teach and people who learn.  There are people who serve and people who pray.  There are people admonish and people who comfort.  There are people who nurture and people who reach out. There are people who lead and people who encourage. There are people who give generously and people who care deeply.

You might be thinking that this list is vague, and it is.  No specific things are mentioned for a reason.  If you were to go over that list again, would anyone here be excluded?  Every believer can fit into it somewhere, and probably in several different places.  The point is this: God has given all of us gifts to serve him.  When God’s people serve God, when God’s people serve others, when God’s people serve willingly, when God’s people serve faithfully, then everything we do is an act of love.

As children of God, we have been given the all the motivation we need to serve.  Jesus demonstrated what true service is.  He gave up the glory of heaven to become a servant.  He did not come down to earth to be served by others.  He came down to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.  Now we have the opportunity to serve the Lord to thank him for the gift of salvation. We serve the Lord with gladness: because he has given us many different gifts, and because he gives us the time to use these gifts.

Does the number 604,800 mean anything to you?  There are 604,800 seconds in a week.  There are about 31.5 million seconds in a year.  (A thousand one)  A single second goes by that quickly, but when we count up a lifetime of these ticks of the clock, they can add up to a number in the billions.

Whether you are talking about seconds or minutes or days or weeks or years, it all comes down to time.  As creatures on this earth, we are bound by time.  We measure time with clocks on the walls and little clocks on our wrists.  We turn calendars and celebrate birthdays to mark the passing of time.  But I wonder how many people think of time as a gift.  How many people in the world take the time to thank God for the time they have been given?

Christians understand the importance of time as it relates to our spiritual welfare.  In catechism class, we talk about our "time of grace."  The time of grace is defined as the time within which a person has the opportunity to come to faith in Jesus and be saved.  Our time on earth is precious to us because the end of life is also the end of our time of grace.  With God, there are no second chances.   It is during this time of grace that the Holy Spirit creates saving faith in our hearts.  It is during this time that we can share the good news of salvation with others.

But for the believer, time takes on another dimension.  Our time on earth is also our time to serve.  Time does not discriminate.  There are 168 hours in the week for everyone.  It doesn’t matter if you are rich and famous or poor and unknown.  What you choose to do with your time is another matter.  In the last verse of the text, Peter makes it clear that the entire life of a believer is to be a life of service. "If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever" (I Pe 4:11).  Whether we eat or drink or spend time with our families or work or go to school or play games, God wants us to give him glory in everything we do.

This is a general principle, but there are also specific ways that we can serve the Lord.  Many of these tasks don’t require money.  They don’t demand advanced training.  They do require one investment, however, and that investment is time.  When you map out your week, whether you use a planner or store everything up in your head, how do you prioritize your time? Does your schedule rule you, or are you in control of your schedule? Do you make time for the things that are truly important?

Is this is the time to think about volunteer work?  Do you have the gifts to serve on a board or committee at church?  Perhaps you have some unique skills that are needed by others.  Maybe time is the one resource you do have a lot of right now.  Wherever you are in your life, and we all have different gifts and responsibilities, let me encourage you to use your time wisely because time is a gift from God.  When we recognize that our time is not our own, when we understand that time is God’s gift to us, then it becomes much easier to decide how to use it.

January 20, 1961 was an important day in the history of our country.  On that day, John F. Kennedy was sworn in as President of the United States.  Even though President Kennedy died almost forty years ago, the words of his inauguration address live on.  It was in this speech that President Kennedy spoke the famous words: "My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

President Kennedy was appealing to our nation’s sense of duty and patriotism, but his words can be adapted to our lives of Christian stewardship.  The Lord says to us: "Don’t ask what your God can do for you."  You don’t have to ask because he has already done everything for you.  Jesus gave up everything for us so that we might have eternal life.  The assurance of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation leads us to ask a different question: "What can I do for my God?  What can I do to thank him for the gift of salvation?  How can I serve him in my life?"

God has given all of us different gifts.  God has given us time on this earth to use our gifts.  In view of these blessings, it is fitting to end this sermon where we started: with words of encouragement, words that you will hear spoken in this church again and again, words that remind us of our privilege to serve.