The Disciple is a Contributor

We’ve been looking at the various characteristics of discipleship, because our church’s vision is to become a training center that produces fully equipped disciples for Christ.

Please take out your “Catch the Vision” brochure. Ushers hand out to those who need them.

If you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ you’re going to be a contributor. You’re going to go through life with the outlook of giving, not getting. You’re going to be looking for ways that you can make a positive contribution in the lives of other people for Jesus’ sake. You’re going to be looking for ways that you can help the Lord’s work go forward.

And you’re going to do all that not for what you can get out of it, but just for the sheer joy of giving and being involved in kingdom work.

Author Chuck Colson tells the story of two youth groups. The young people at Shively Christian Church were led by Youth Pastor Dave Stone. The Shively Christian Church youth had a friendly rivalry going with the youth group of the Shively Baptist Church which was located in the same town. They played softball against each other and were fiercely competitive.

One day, Pastor Dave gave his students a lesson from John 13—the story about Jesus serving his disciples by washing their feet. To make the lesson really sink in, he divided the kids into five groups and told them to go out and find a practical way to be servants. He said “I want you to do what Jesus would do in our town for the next two hours.” So off they went.

Two hours later, the kids reconvened at Pastor Dave’s house to report on what they had done. One group had done two hours of yard work for an elderly man. Another group had bought some groceries and delivered them to several widows in the church. A third group of kids had visited a church member in the hospital and cheered him up. The fourth group went to a nursing home and sang for the residents.

But when the fifth group stood and reported what they had done, everyone groaned. This group had made their way over to their arch rival, Shively Baptist Church, where they asked the pastor if he knew of anyone who needed their help. The pastor sent them to the home of an elderly woman who needed some yard work done. There, for two hours, they mowed the grass, raked the leaves, and trimmed hedges.

When they were all done, the woman called the group together and thanked them for their hard work. “I don’t know how I could get along without you.” she said. “You kids from Shively Baptist are always coming to my rescue.”

“Shively Baptist!” interrupted Pastor Dave “I sure hope you set her straight and told her that you were from Shively Christian Church.”

To which the kids replied “No, Pastor Dave, as a matter of fact, we didn’t. We didn’t think it mattered.”

A true Christian disciple is going to be a contributor for the sheer joy of serving Jesus, and he won’t care who gets the credit.

Now Peter describes some of the kinds of things that a contributing disciple will do over in 1 Peter 4, so please turn there now. (You’ll find that on page 1203.)

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 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.

The first thing that Peter tells us is that the end of all things is near. Our time for serving, our time for contributing is short so don’t put it off; do it now! Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming when no man can work.

There is an urgency to serving that we need to catch hold of. It’s so easy to procrastinate doing the things that are listed here. We think that we have all the time in the world to get to these things, but no—the end of all things is near.

Therefore, (v. 7) we need to be clear-minded and self-controlled. The Greek word for “clear-minded” means literally to maintain your sanity. And “be self-controlled “ means to be sober. Don’t be staggering around like a drunk with a distorted view of reality.

People who go through life with the idea that we are here to get all we can for ourselves are drunk. They are insane. They are operating with a completely distorted view of reality; of what life is all about. The Bible says that if you are a growing disciple of Christ, you’re not going to be like that. You’re going to understand the sanity of serving. You are going to be practicing the sobriety of a servant lifestyle.

And the first thing that a sober, sane person does is pray (v. 7)—be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

Prayer is the fountainhead of a life of service. You can’t really care about people unless you are praying for them. Because it is in prayer that God will change your attitude towards others. And it is in prayer that God will recharge your spiritual batteries.

So a contributing disciple will be a praying disciple. Now look at verse 8…

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

The expression “love each other deeply” literally means to have a love that stretches out. A love that strains forward. Picture a runner running a race. And when he comes around the final turn and approaches the finish line, he is not only running with all his strength, he stretches forward to break the tape. He strains ahead with every ounce of energy.

That’s the picture of how our love for one another ought to be—a stretching, reaching, extending kind of love. A love that really leans into people’s lives and blesses them. That’s the total opposite of the kind of love that just sits back waiting for someone else to love your first, isn’t it?

Now this stretching love has a particular kind of quality to it. It “covers over a multitude of sins” (v. 8). What does that mean? Well the word to “cover over” means to veil, or to hide so that no trace can be seen. This same word is used in Matthew 8:24, where it says that a furious storm arose on the Sea of Galilee with waves so high that they covered the boat. You couldn’t see the boat for the water.

Peter is quoting Proverbs 10:12, which says “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.” Let’s imagine that someone in the church is having a problem in their life—perhaps a problem that came about because of some sin, some wrong choices that they had made. What are you going to do? How are you going to respond to that situation? Are you going to start gossiping about that person? Are you going to launch into a campaign to expose their errors and faults? Are you going to criticize and condemn that person because they’re having a problem?

Or are you going to come alongside gently and tenderly and give them grace. Are you going to say “I sense you may be hurting. Can I pray for you? Is there some way I can help you?”

This kind of deep, stretching love is the kind of love that will cover over an offense. It is a forgiving kind of love that doesn’t zero in on people’s faults and weaknesses and sins and problems to seek to uncover them. People who love like this don’t go on witch hunts. They don’t gossip; they don’t stir up dissension and controversy. They don’t try to put the searchlight on other people where they are struggling.

Growing disciples cover over sins, because they know that they themselves are sinners, too. The woman who was caught in adultery was dragged before Jesus and harshly condemned by the Pharisees. Question: Which was the worse sin—what the woman did in committing adultery? Or what the Pharisees did in condemning her?

Anyway, Jesus said “Okay, fellas. Whichever one of you has no sin, you can cast the first stone.” You know what happened. All the Pharisees melted away. They just left in guilty shame.

And Jesus said to the woman “Where are your accusers? Is no one left here to condemn you?” She said “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

His love for her covered over her sin. Didn’t cover it up, but covered it over.

Love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Look at verse 9: “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” First of all, a growing disciple will be hospitable. You know, I fear that hospitality is a disappearing grace.

But the command to be hospitable is given to us over and over in the NT. And, in fact, if the early Christians didn’t practice hospitality, the church couldn’t have survived because there were no church buildings in those days. They had to meet in each other’s homes.

But we’ve kind of lost that art. I wonder why? Is it because we are so caught up in this Martha Stewart culture in which we live that we fear that our house and our furniture and our decor and our cooking won’t stand up well to comparisons with someone else’s? So we’d just rather not have people in our home?

And yet we’ve forgotten that the real issue in hospitality is love. Proverbs 15:17 says “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.” If you want to be a real contributor as a follower of Jesus Christ, practice the lost art of hospitality. Welcome people into your home. And do it joyously, not grudgingly, not with grumbling!

Now look at verse 10…

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.

Every Christian, the moment he becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, receives a spiritual gift which he is to use for the building up of the Body of Christ and the furtherance of God’s kingdom.

Verse 11 gives an example of a couple of the gifts: public speaking and serving. Other spiritual gifts are mentioned in Ephesians 4; Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.

Now your spiritual gift is like a stewardship that God has given you. It isn’t yours to use for your own gratification. It belongs to God, and you are to use it for His glory and to benefit others.

For example, in verse 11, if you are a speaker, you should use your gift in such a way as to leave people thinking NOT what an eloquent and polished speaker you are, but that you have given them the very words of God.

And if you have the gift of serving, your gift should be done in God’s strength in such a way as to leave people praising NOT you and what a hard-working faithful servant you are, but praising God through Jesus Christ.

We are to be channels of God’s grace as we serve one another, faithfully administering that grace in its various forms.

And if we do these things—if we pray; if we love each other deeply; if we practice hospitality; if we use our spiritual gifts to serve others; we will truly be followers of Jesus Christ who are givers rather than takers; contributors rather than consumers.

I want to close by telling you this true story about a woman named Andrea. Thanksgiving was approaching, but it was not going to be a time of joy for Andrea and her family. Her husband had left her and she and her three children were going to be spending Thanksgiving alone. They had just moved to a new town, and they didn’t have much money. To top it all off, the three children were sick with the flu.

Andrea scraped together the last five dollars in her purse to go to the grocery store to buy food for her kids. Her husband hadn’t sent her any money in weeks, and five dollars wasn’t going to go very far! But just then the phone rang. It was the secretary from a local church that Andrea had visited the week before. The secretary told her that they had been thinking about her and had a little gift to give her from the congregation.

Andrea dropped by the church on her way to the grocery store. The church secretary met her at the door and handed her an envelope. She said “We’ve been thinking of you, Andrea. You are in our hearts and prayers.”

Andrea opened the envelope—inside was a store certificate for $100 worth of groceries. Her eyes filled with tears and she hugged the secretary. “Thank you so much” she said “Please give my love and thanks to the whole church.”

When she got to the grocery store, Andrea carefully shopped until she had filled up her cart with close to the $100 worth of groceries. She didn’t make any frivolous purchases, just staples, because she didn’t know how long it would be before she would have any more money.

The cashier at the check out counter rang up her purchase and Andrea handed her the gift certificate. The lady took it, looked at it, and then turned her back to Andrea for what seemed like a long time.

Thinking that something might be wrong, Andrea said “That gift certificate was given to me by a church and it came as such a blessing, because I am a single parent trying to make ends meet.”

The cashier turned around, and Andrea could see that she was smiling and had tears in her eyes and she said lovingly “Honey, that’s wonderful. But can I ask you a question? In ringing up your groceries, I didn’t see that you had a turkey for Thanksgiving”

Andrea replied “No—I’m just trying to buy necessities.” The cashier asked “Do you have anything special in here that you could use for a Thanksgiving dinner?” Again the answer was no. So the cashier said “Honey, I can’t explain exactly why right now, but I want you to go back into the store and buy a turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and everything else you will need for a Thanksgiving dinner.”

Andrea was shocked. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Yes!” replied the cashier “Get whatever you want. And get something special for the kids.” Andrea set aside her cart and got another cart, went back into the aisles and selected a fresh turkey, some yams and potatoes, some cranberry sauce and all the rest of the trimmings, all the while wondering what was going on.

She wheeled her cart back to the same cashier and she saw once more that this kind lady had tears in her eyes. The cashier said “Now I can tell you what’s going on. This morning I prayed that the Lord would let me help someone today, and you walked through my line.” And with that, she reached under the check-out counter for her purse and pulled out two $20 bills and paid for Andrea’s Thanksgiving groceries.

She said “You see, I am a Christian and I go to that church that gave you the gift certificate. Here is my phone number—if you ever need anything, please call me.”

Andrea walked out of that grocery store pushing two carts full of groceries with tears streaming down her cheeks, overwhelmed by the love of a church and a stranger, and overwhelmed with the realization that God loved her too.

This is what can happen when we make up our minds to be contributors for Jesus’ sake.