1 Peter 4:10-11 Varied Grace

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. 1 Peter 4:10-11

Varied Grace. This means that this gift of grace looks different for other people. My grace may not be the same as yours. One may have “more” than another, but does that mean that they are are a better person or a better christian? Absolutely not! The beauty of grace is that is a a gift and not of which is earned. Should I hate my brother because of the gifts the Lord has given him? No. should I look down on another because my grace “appears” to be better? No. when we do these things we are demeaning the gifts of the Lord (and those are dangerous waters to tread in).

This past summer I had a friend bring this up to me. She is in college and so are her friends. Most of her friends work and pay for their own school. She does not. Her friends are blessed that they have jobs and can pay for school. She is blessed that her parents said they would pay for hers. They also told her that she did not need a job at this point in her life they just wanted her to focus on school. Well her friends would make comments to her like “we could do this or that if we didn't have to work either.” These comments make it sound like they are better than her, or more mature, or more responsible. Is that true? No. Their lives just look different. Those that are working are able to pay for school and have a ministry to their coworkers. My friend, on the other hand, was able to be apart of other ministries that her friends could not be apart of because she was not tied down to a job. Is one better than the other? Is she irresponsible because she does not have a job? No. Just because someone is at a different stage in life does not mean that they are better or that they have in some way earned it. The Lord brings us to different places at different times. This all works withing his timing, and in His will.

Our grace looks different. Instead of looking at others lives and picking out where they are deficient, let us seek to look for the grace in their life. Praise God we all have grace. We need to begin to search our lives for the grace that is given to us and search the lives of our brothers and sisters to see their varied grace. After all, the verse continues by saying that it is all to glorify God through Jesus. If we look at our grace as something to glorify ourselves then we have completely missed the point, and I would venture to say we are in sin.

So the challenge I see in this scripture is first, to seek out the grace in our brothers and sisters and rejoice in that. Second, we need to use our grace to glorify our father who is in heaven.
Now, I understand that there is more to this scripture than just what I have written about, but I will write about that another day :)

Prophecy: Isaiah

Implications from Isaiah 13:1-22

Isaiah 13:1-22 is a prophesy written by Isaiah. It is written to the people of Judah, and is a warning for the destruction of Babylon. The prophecy is telling that God will judge the Babylonians by destroying them. His means for doing this is the Medes, who were also an unrighteous people. Isaiah says that the Medes will destroy Babylon and nothing or no one will be able to stop them. This was a grave warning that the Lord will punish sin. If God would severely reckon with those for their sins that knew Him not and made no profession for His name. How severe would he be with those that were called by His name and yet lived in rebellion against Him.¹ Though this prophecy was to cause a great fear among all people, it was also to bring a great comfort. Another purpose for the writing of this prophecy was to comfort the Israelite people. They were the Lord's chosen people and He was going to deliver them if they feared Him.

This prophecy was fulfilled. Isaiah only mentions the Medes in this passage, but the Persians had a key role in Babylons downfall. In 539 B.C. the Medes and Persian army overtook the Babylonian empire and they were destroyed. Isaiah probably only mentioned the Medes because of their terrifying reputation.

The first implication from this passage is that God is just. Because He is a holy and perfect God he must judge the unrighteous. Isaiah 13:19 reminds the people of God's justice. It says Babylon will be “like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.” The people of this time are fully aware of the destruction God brought upon Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin. “For Isaiah, Sodom and Gomorrah were the paradigm for what he perceived to be happening in the world.” ² Sodom and Gomorrah was filled with sin and those who had turned from God, just like the rest of the world. It is the human pride that has stirred up the anger of God. Just like Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon is sitting in the pride of their sin, and that will bring the wrath of God to them. Isaiah know that God hates sin and he will be consistent in His judgement. Isaiah 13:11 ensures that God will “put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.”

The second implication drawn from this passage is that God is faithful to His people. The Babylonians are oppressing the Israelites. They have wronged the people of God. By judging them God is showing His faithfulness to His people. In the very next chapter Isaiah writes “The LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel.”

The final implication from this passage is that God is sovereign over all. Verse 13 insists that God is the Lord of hosts and even the heavens and earth will react when His wrath is poured out upon sin. He is sovereign over His chosen people, but He also has complete power over the nations that have set themselves against Him. First, His sovereign power is seen in the destruction of Babylon. They have sinned against a holy and perfect God and they must be judged. Second, God's sovereignty is seen in the movement of the Medes. Verse 4 says that “The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle,” This host is the Medes. Though the Medes were a sinful nation that hated God, the Lord uses them as His vessel to bring about His great judgement on Babylon. Verse 18 says that they will not even have pity on the children that are in Babylon.

Isaiah 13 is a clear display of the holiness of God. Because of this holiness, He is both gracious and just. Exodus 34: 6-7 says “God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.” He will show great mercy to His chosen people, but He will judge those who set their faces against Him.

1Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (United States of America: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2007), 1103.

2John n. Oswalt, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), 309.