Opening Prayer
Lord, give us Your Spirit. Amen.
Text: First Peter 4:7–11
But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Devotion
The Comforter who glorifies the Lord Jesus is the Spirit of love, and love is life in God’s Church. But love is serving and doing good. It does not seek its own, but what is good and useful for others. Jesus’ whole life is love, and our whole life should be the same. Then we are happy people! This is God’s will and for such a life He has given each of us His gift of grace. In our life, love should humble itself and spread out in various services for the upbuilding of the whole Church and the individual. Love must be in it, the Spirit must lead you, otherwise they are dead works, which indeed have the appearance of fearing God, but remain hay and straw in the fire of the day to come. – Serve one another in fervent love with God’s manifold grace, this is the sum of the Apostle’s exhortation in today’s Epistle. You yourselves and all you have are the Lord’s. So are your brothers and sisters in Christ. And He has put you together to serve one another and further each other’s salvation. If you have a call to speak in the congregation, then speak “as the oracles of God”: always remind yourself that the Gospel you speak is God’s own Word. Teach it purely, according to the Scriptures. Divide it rightly, according to the need of the soul. Speak it with full confidence in its truth and power, and present it in holy form and conduct. Speak God’s Word, and speak as God’s Word.
But if you have another duty in the congregation or home, then be faithful in it, and remember that it is the Lord you serve by serving His members. Do your work with the zeal of love, so that God is honored by everything. Always remember that you as a believing Christian are called to practice pure love in your whole life. When the world must hate and quarrel, and divide and produce sin in many ways, because they serve that wicked spirit, you should always love, bless, cover a multitude of sins, and produce love, thanksgiving, and praise, to the Lord’s honor and man’s rejoicing. O how beautiful and rich is the Spirit in Christ’s Church. But to the flesh – how bitter it is! It is nothing other than self-denial and cross and death.
Closing Prayer
God, pour out this Spirit in our hearts, that we may live a holy life in loving service all our days, under our every cross take life’s comfort and rejoice that the end of all things is near. Amen.
Hymn
O gentle Dew, from heav’n now fall
With pow’r upon the hearts of all,
Thy tender love instilling:
That heart, to heart more closely bound,
Fruitful in kindly deeds be found,
The law of love fulfilling;
Then, Lord
Discord
Shall not grieve Thee;
We receive Thee;
Where Thou livest,
Peace, and love, and joy Thou givest.
Grant that our days, while life shall last,
In purest holiness be passed,
Be Thou our strength forever;
Grant that our hearts henceforth be free
From sinful lust and vanity,
Which us from Thee must sever.
Keep Thou
Pure now
From offenses
Heart and senses.
Blessed Spirit!
Let us heav’nly life inherit.
Schirmer: O Holy Spirit, enter in L 19:6-7 ELH 27:7-8 tr. C. Winkworth;
tune: Wie schön leuchtet