1 Peter 4:7-11 Annotated

 New International Version

⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 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 of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so 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.

 

alert = σωφρονέω = sōphroneō  Blue Letter Bible be of sound mind; to think soberly; sober-minded; temperate, self-controlled; to put a moderate estimate upon one's self, think of one's self soberly; to curb one's passions; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon   be sound of mind; be temperate, moderate, show self-control; come to one's senses, learn moderation; done with discretion

sober minded  = νήφω = nēphō  Blue Letter Bible  free from the influence of intoxicants; metaphorically, it does not in itself imply watchfulness, but is used in association with it; to abstain from wine; is used metaphorically of moral "alertness," and translated "to watch," to be calm and collected in spirit; to be temperate, dispassionate, circumspect; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon   to be sober, drink no wine; to be self-controlled; wary; recover oneself

pray = προσευχή = proseuchē  Blue Letter Bible  prayer addressed to God; a place set apart or suited for the offering of prayer; prayer (worship); pray earnestly

love = ἀγάπη = agape  Blue Letter Bible  affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon  the love of husband and wife; brotherly love, charity

 

deeply = ἐκτενής = ektenēs Blue Letter Bible  strained, stretched; fervent; intently, strenuously; earnestly; assiduously; without ceasing; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon  stretch out; offer food; straighten; outstretched, lie at length; extend; spread out; unfolded, smoothed; spin out, prolong; put to the full stretch; put forth all one's zeal; lengthen; draw along; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (alternate definition) strained; warmly attached, friendly; abundant; earnestly, zealously; eagerly, freely, splendidly

 

love = ἀγάπη = agape  Blue Letter Bible  affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon  the love of husband and wife; brotherly love, charity

 

hospitality = φιλόξενος = philoxenos Blue Letter Bible  hospitable, generous to guests; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon  loving strangers, hospitable

 

grumbling = γογγυσμός = gongysmos Blue Letter Bible  murmuring, muttering; of displeasure or complaining (more privately than in public); Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon  murmuring, muttering, grumbling

serve = διακονέω = diakoneō Blue Letter Bible to be a servant, attendant, domestic, to serve, wait upon; to wait at a table and offer food and drink to the guests; to attend to anything, that may serve another's interests; wait upon (menially or as a host, friend, or (figuratively) teacher); supply food and the necessaries of life, to relieve one's necessities;  Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon minister, do service; render a service

 

stewards = οἰκονόμος = oikonomos  Blue Letter Bible  one who rules a house; a superior servant responsible for the family housekeeping, the direction of other servants, and the care of the children under age; the manager of a household or estate; the manager of a farm or landed estate, an overseer; the superintendent of the city's finances, the treasurer of a city; metaph. the apostles and other Christian teachers and bishops and overseers; any and every Christian who rightly uses the gifts intrusted to him by God for the good of his brethren; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon   one who manages a household; manager, administrator;  a subordinate state official; a high financial officer under a monarch; housekeeper, housewife

 

speaks = λαλέω = laleō Blue Letter Bible To say, utter, talk; to utter a voice or emit a sound; to utter articulate sounds; to use words in order to declare one's mind and disclose one's thoughts; preach; tell; promulgate; converse; commanding; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon  talk, chat; speak

 

strength = ἰσχύς = ischys  Blue Letter Bible   might, strength, power; ability, force, strength; forcefulness; power (over external things) afforded by strength; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon   strength of body; might, power; brute force; motive force, vigor  

Path by garden

 

Being First Fruits

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. ¹⁸In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.” James 1:17-18 (NASB, other translations here)

This week’s readings have shown how God extends his grace to us through Jesus, and  how we should respond to His loving initiative.  Today’s reading continues that, reminding us that every “good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father[.]” It also tells us how we should respond to those “good things”—we are to be “a kind of first fruits among His creatures.” 

What does that mean? What are “first fruits” and how do we go about being such fruits? The context of James’ letter provides guidance.

James was writing to Jewish Christians who would have been familiar with the Hebrew scriptures, what we now refer to as the Old Testament. Those scriptures required farmers to sacrifice a sample of the very first of their crops.  The purpose was to show their gratitude to God and their trust that He would help them successfully bring in the rest of their crops. Leviticus 23:9-14. James’ statement that God desires us to be like “first fruits” can therefore be read as a direction that Christ followers manifest that kind of gratitude to and trust in God.  

That reading is consistent with other scripture and reflected in liturgy. Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:15; and 1 Thessalonians 5:18 each tell is to constantly thank God for the good things he does for us. Lutheran liturgy recognizes that it “is right to give [God] thanks and praise” and that such gratitude is “indeed right and salutary[.]” Lutheran Book of Worship, pp. 68, 88, 109.   As our  Catholic friends put it, “[i]t is truly right and just, our duty and salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father most holy, through your beloved Son, Jesus Christ” (emphasis added).

So how do we do that? 

One way is to end each day with a review of all the good things God did for you that day. Consider the prayers He answered and how He did that. Think about what went well and God’s role in those things, even if you didn’t pray about them. Were there any things or interactions that struck you as “God things”?  Think about the good things that you would otherwise take for granted: good health, provision, safety.  Write them down and thank God for them. If you are too tired to do that at the end of the day, do it first thing the next morning. Regardless of when you do it, that discipline will help you realize how faithful God is, focus your thanksgiving, and give you peace to face whatever is coming.  It will  make you “a kind of first fruits.”

Prayer

Father, thank you for lovingly extending yourself to us. Jesus, thank you for going through all you went through on our behalf. Holy Spirit, thank you for persistently and selflessly working in, among, and through us.  Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

What we can learn about the fruitful Christian life from our drip line: Introduction

We grow vegetables to give away to our economically challenged neighbors. Most are grown in the summer: tomatoes, cucurbits, eggplant, cabbage, summer and winter squash. 

Those crops require a steady supply of water to reach their fullest potential, and we are blessed with plenty of it from a nearby pond. We get that water from the pond to our plants through a series of pipes and then distribute it to individual plants through drip lines.

Drip line is a type of flexible tubing designed to carry water and deliver it slowly to the root zone of plants.  It has emitters at regular intervals where the water is released from the tube into the soil at the base of each plant at predetermined rates as drops of water.

This series of posts will explore the ways those emitters parallel aspects of a fruitful Christian life. Like the water the driplines distribute, those insights will be delivered in small increments that have individual and cumulative value. 

What we can learn about the fruitful Christian life from our drip line, part 1: individual grains of salt and individual lamps.

Each emitter delivers water to a small area: the soil directly under and immediately adjacent to it. But cumulatively they have a big impact; we produce an average of 13,500 pounds of produce every summer and all of that is irrigated by individual emitters. 

That brings to mind Jesus’ teaching about individual believers being salt and light recounted at Matthew 5:13-16. Each grain of salt only impacts the area it directly contacts and each lamp only illuminates the area in its immediate vicinity. But Jesus values each one for the good each produces in its individual space and the huge impact we believers cumulatively have when we faithfully follow Jesus’ example. 

So don’t be discouraged by the state of the world at large. Just trust in the Lord and do the good you can.  God will bless you and others through that. 

What we can learn about the fruitful Christian life from our drip line, part 2: the results of our work only become apparent over time.

Another parallel between our drip line and a fruitful life in Christ is that results of its work only become apparent over time. We start setting up our drip line in April, and start irrigating through it in May, but most of the harvests it makes possible don’t happen until July and August.  Millions of little drips must occur before the blessings we are working towards occur. 

Scripture reflects that dynamic. It is implicit in Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed, recounted at Matthew 13:31 -32.  It takes time for that tiny seed to grow into the fount of blessing it will become. That pattern is stated more clearly in His parable of the seed growing by itself, reported at Mark 4:27-29. It must grow “night and day, while [the farmer] sleeps and when he is awake . . . first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain[.]” Mark 4:27, 28 (New Jerusalem Bible, emphasis added). Proverbs 13:11 puts it most clearly: “accumulation little by little is the way to riches.” (New Jerusalem Bible). 

So what do we do with that, how do we apply it to our lives? We keep doing the work God called us to, day by day, trusting that He will make it fruitful over time. Just trust in the Lord, do the good you can, and keep doing it. 

What we can learn about the fruitful Christian life from our drip line, part 3: We must stay connected to the source.

Oue drip line only works if it is connected to our water source. Absent that, nothing flows and nothing grows.

The same is true of our work for God—we can’t do it apart from Him. Jesus summed that up in John 15:4-6:

Remain in me, as I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, unless it remains part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a branch—and withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire and are burnt. (New Jerusalem Bible).