In medicine, certain vital signs—breath in the lungs, a pulse felt on the wrist, movement in the eyes—show that a person is alive. The same is true in the church, spiritually speaking: If a local body is truly alive, a few indicators will make it easy to tell. Where these vital signs are present in a congregation, they prove that Jesus Christ is in fact the head of that body.
Peter, writing to the churches scattered throughout the Roman Empire, lists four vital signs against which the believers are to measure themselves (1 Peter 4:8–11). Lively churches—in the first century and throughout all ages—are those that possess love, hospitality, service, and praise.
Love Above All
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)
The apostle is concerned in this verse to stress love’s priority and sincerity. Using language that assumes Christian love is already present in the churches, Peter instructs believers to “keep loving one another.” Of course, his command isn’t anything new. It’s built on the very words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples: “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).
Peter doesn’t want us to view this love as some form of drudgery. He wants love to be undeniably present in the churches, which ought to be defined by people loving each other “earnestly.” The Greek word (ektenē) carries the sense of strenuous activity, like how an Olympic runner springs from the blocks at the outset of a race. In other words, the love described here isn’t some kind of mushy expression grounded in emotion. It’s eager love, sincere love, quality love.
We can’t evade this challenge, especially in light of Jesus’ teaching: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). As we think about our own church bodies, we ask, “Would curious onlookers know that we love Jesus based on how we love one another?” That’s the implication of Peter’s instruction.
A great reason for this love comes in the second half of the verse: We love because “love covers a multitude of sins.” This doesn’t mean that love sweeps sin under the carpet, nor that love avoids confrontation. It instead means that love is ready to forgive and forgive again. Love finds a way to return a silent answer in the face of fury unleashed against us. “Love,” Paul writes in the great chapter on the subject, “is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast” (1 Cor. 13:4).
Sincere Hospitality
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. (1 Peter 4:9)
The second vital sign for the body of Christ is hospitality, which is itself an expression of love. Hospitality is love in action. We know we possess genuine Christian love when we reach out to others, sharing what we’ve received.
Certainly, our churches need to be gymnasiums, training people for the rigor of spiritual warfare; they should be schools, instructing members in Christian doctrine and living. But here, Peter reminds us that churches are also hospitals, providing spiritual care in a society overwhelmed with fear, emptiness, and suffering. Love expresses itself in hospitality—in churches whose members open both their hearts and their homes for the hurting. Peter essentially tells the churches, “Be prepared to disrupt your daily routines in order to show hospitality. You’re always on call. You are to stand ready to embrace the traveler.”
A simple expression of hospitality has the power to change lives.
And just as our love is to be earnest, so our hospitality is to be sincere, done “without grumbling.” This goes against our natural tendencies, no doubt. We grumble when we’re inconvenienced. The only way we’ll view hospitality as a Christian privilege is to recall the words of Christ as He reminds His followers that even the most basic forms of hospitality are directed ultimately toward God, not toward man (Matt. 25:31–40).
A simple expression of hospitality has the power to change lives. Almost any Christian can make a home the kind of place that has one extra seat at the table for the lonely student, the recent widow, or the young professional. And who knows but that those who sit at our tables today may one day end up sitting around the table in God’s great kingdom?
Service for Others
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 God supplies. (1 Peter 4:10–11)
Practical Christian service emerges from two facts, according to verse 10.
First, Peter emphasizes that we all have received spiritual gifts. No one is without gifts in the body of Christ. We may not have tons of gifts or even possess the gifts we think we ought to have. But the principle stands: We are empowered with spiritual gifts, apportioned to us by God Himself.
Peter describes the gifts given to Christians as the result of “God’s varied grace.” God’s gifts, in other words, are multicolored, like what we find in a rainbow or in a flower garden—various hues intermingling with one another to create a cohesive whole. The church is a lot like that, with God putting all kinds of graces side by side. In the church, the whole is greater than the individual parts.
No one is without gifts in the body of Christ.
Second, the apostle reminds us that we serve as those who are gifted for the sake of others and not ourselves. The gifts of God’s Spirit aren’t toys to be played with; they are tools used for the sake of encouraging others and glorifying God.
Continuing in verse 11, Peter divides the gifts into two groups: there are those who speak and those who serve. Of course, speaking is a form of serving. But the point in Peter’s classification is to distinguish between gifts that primarily use words and those that primarily use deeds—between relevant instruction and practical kindness. The church needs both to be healthy.
Those who speak, we’re told, are to do so as stewards of God’s very words. That is, preachers and teachers shouldn’t draw attention to themselves. They aren’t primarily storytellers but heralds of divine truth. And for those gifted for service, Peter reminds them of the source of their strength: It isn’t found in themselves but in the power Christ provides.
Praise
… in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11)
It’s fitting that the final vital sign Peter lists is praise, for the church exists for the praise of God’s glorious grace (Eph. 1:6).
There is a logical flow of thought from verse 10 to verse 11: When we serve in God’s strength for the purpose He intends, it produces the praise He deserves. Viewing the church’s activity within the framework of praise affects how we go about our living. If we exist for God’s glory, then our service will be both modest and strenuous, recognizing the weakness of “me” and the strength of “He.”
While it’s true that we may add to the list of vital signs for a church body, we can’t take away from those Peter lists here and expect our fellowships to be lively. Love, hospitality, service, and praise are practical evidences of a church’s union to the living God.
If we want these signs to be present in our congregations, we won’t be able to muster them ourselves. We need “grace and peace … multiplied” to us (1 Peter 1:3). And thankfully, in Christ, we have the privilege of being able to take that prayer of Peter’s and make it our own!
This article was adapted from the sermon “Vital Signs” by Alistair Begg.
