Stewarding Grace-Gifts

11/10/25 Bible Thought (1 Peter 4)

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Stewards manage something that is not their own.

In 1 Peter 4, the apostle Peter continues another section on Christian living and climaxes it with a discussion on stewardship. Now, in this context, he is not writing about financial stewardship which is probably the first thing we think of when it comes to “stewardship.” Rather, he is writing about managing the various grace-gifts that God has given to each of us:

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: ¹¹ 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. Amen” (1 Pet. 4:10-11).

First, Peter assumes that each person has something to contribute. Each has received a gift. Then, he makes it clear that whatever that something is, is wholly due to the credit of Almighty God. We are managers of that which He has given by grace.

In the immediate context, Peter gives two examples: speaking and serving. Yet, Peter is clearly not giving an exhaustive list of gifts. He simply offers two categories which barely scratch the surface.

A greater list can be found in Romans 12:3-8 and even there the list is not exhaustive. Peter noted that God’s grace is “varied” meaning: “pertaining to existence in various kinds or modes, diversified, manifold.”^[1] In essence, it does not look the same in every life.

God has uniquely equipped all of us with an area to contribute. We are saved by grace and equipped for works:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

The goal for all of us should be seeking to find what God has uniquely made us to do and to steward that gift well. Stewarding a gift means we use it and that we use it wisely. We should never bury that which God has given and neglect to use it (see the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30). Instead, we should seek to faithfully use it and grow in it for the sake of others.

Peter makes it clear gifts are given for a purpose, and that purpose is not for our own self-actualization. I love what Tim Keller once said concerning pride: “Pride is that which claims to be the author of that which is really a gift.”

Knowing that you are good at something and seeking to be good at it is not inherently prideful, so long as you remember the source. I believe God has given me a gift for communicating His Word. Yet this, as Keller put it, is not a cause for boasting. Why? Because the gift is something that I have merely received. God has given me a gift for words.

Anyone who is close to me knows I am a talker, and too much so. I am rarely at a loss for words. This can be a pain in conversation, but a blessing behind the pulpit. Yet this is simply how God made me. I have sought to grow in that gift through seminary and continued study, but at the end of the day I cannot boast in something that was given to me. I simply boast in the Giver.

To properly steward our grace-gifts we actually use them, and then we ensure we use them with the right motives. Gifts were given, not primarily for our own benefit, but for the benefit of others and the glory of God.

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^[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 842.