Alston Road Church of Christ Podcast

Series: Leveraging God's Diverse Handiwork to His Glory

Service: Saturday

Type: Gospel Meeting

Speaker: Kevin Clark

Series: Leveraging God's Diverse Handiwork to His Glory

Service: Sat AM

Type: Gospel Meeting

Speaker: Kevin Clark

Series: Leveraging God's Diverse Handiwork to His Glory

Service: Friday PM

Type: Gospel Meeting

Speaker: Kevin Clark

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: 1 Peter (Living in Exile)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

“All things praise thee, Lord most high, Heav’n and earth, and sea and sky; All were for Thy glory made, That thy greatness thus displayed; Should all worship bring to Thee; All things praise Thee  — Lord may we!” All things were made for the glory of God the Father, and the aim of all history is that in the Son God would have glory and dominion over all things, and that through the Spirit his presence would fill all the earth.

So, God has made us in his royal image and told us to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it — we are to be filling the earth with God’s image and multiplying beautiful, fruitful works as we would in a temple. But we have allowed evil spiritual beings to deceive us. We have filled the earth with violence perverted sexual unions and with cities built, not for the glory of God in all things, but to make a name for ourselves.

We upended the plan of God, but Scripture tells us God’s purpose is steady: “All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD” (Num. 14:21 ESV). How will he do that? Key to that plan is setting up both himself and a human as king over all creation. Dan. 7:14 ESV, “And to [the son of man] was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion…”

Knowing this great king would be a son from David’s lineage, Solomon prayed: “May [the king] have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!” “May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!” “May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed! Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel… may the whole earth be filled with his glory!” (Psalm 72:8, 11, 17-19). Through his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus has been enthroned as king and is subduing his enemies and leading his people back to be fruitful for the glory of the Father.

Thus, consider 1 Peter 4:7-11 again with the layout I have provided. Peter is saying: “The end of all things is at hand; therefore” *do everything* “in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” to whom “belong glory and dominion forever.” Let’s fill this out.

The End (Telos) of All Things Is At Hand (7)

The end of all things is at hand. That should be a stunning statement if we let it hit us. We are born, we go to school, we work, we get married, we have kids, we build families, businesses, governments, cities, churches. We are busy with many things, but the telos, the end, the goal of all things is at hand.  Have we been living within the telos, the end for which everything was made? Have we been doing all things in the body of Christ, in school, work, family, government that Jesus’ would have dominion and glory over all these things? Has our aim been the glory of God in all things through Jesus the Messiah?

The aim of the world is accomplishing personal dominion to make a name for themselves. The aim of the governments of the world is “Nebuchadnezzar’s glory,” and “Pax Romana,” and “Life liberty and happiness for all.” But the aim for which all things were made is God’s glory. The end is of all things is at hand. Are we living in God’s purposes for all things?

If you have seen people react to the news that the end is near in our world, there is something astonishingly different here. If one were to know that the end was today, in a few hours, that would call for a radically different life. Imagine the end is today — what would you do? Is there some good thing undone? Some poisonous root bearing bitter fruit that must be uprooted? If there is something radically different we would do, does that not show we have not been living as if the end is at hand? So, what ought we do?

1. Be Self-Controlled and Sober/Clear-Minded for Prayer

This is similar to 1:13. “Being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Since the end, the goal of all things is at hand when Jesus will have glory and dominion over all things, there is a need for clear-headed focus, discipline, and control over ourselves. Do we see this is not the way of the world? The world is not self-controlled or clear-headed, sober-minded. There is a constant IV going into going into their veins anesthetizing them from pain, clouding their minds, distracting them from higher purpose: gluttony, drunkenness, greed, idolatry, lost in sexual fantasies, addicted to amusement, dings, flashes, videos, music, and urgent news.

Creation was made that we steward it for Jesus’ dominion and enjoy it with thankfulness to God’s glory. But the excess and immorality clouds everyone’s minds to the truth: the end for which all things were created is at hand.

At that reality must lead us to be sober-minded for the sake of our prayers. The imminent end should not cause us to be fatalistic or to leave behind responsibilities (Jobes 365). It leads us to be like Anna in Luke 2: camp out before God’s throne and knock day by day bringing the current darkness in our lives and in the world before him, pleading with him to guide us through the storm, begging him to redeem Jerusalem, bring his kingdom, cause his will to be done on earth as in heaven for the honoring of his name.

This is one of the problems with getting stuck in the pleasure of sin and hooking up our bodies to constant sources of amusement: the excesses cloud our minds so we don’t see clearly. We don’t see the darkness, our need, how all isn’t right, the need for God’s promises to come through, and the need for us to be disciplined in prayer because of all that.

What we do in our bodies — whether we have self-control — effects our prayers. In our commonly dualistic worldviews that split up our spirit and body, this is hard for us to grasp. We may read about fasting to pray or read 1 Corinthians 7 where married couples agree to abstain from sexual relations for a time to commit themselves to pray it may be confusing. We reason, “If I need to pray, I’ll go to my closet for 5 or 10 minutes, then I’ll eat my dinner and go to bed. Ha! Those mystic ancients didn’t get it.” But in reality it is we who struggle to understand. We need self-control and clear-headedness and the ability to take time occasionally to say “no” — not to punish ourselves or reject God’s good gifts — but to pray. To pray and align our bodies, minds, spirits to the reality that the end, the goal of all things is at hand. All things are not right and I need to speak to my Father to ensure that the things in my power are being stewarded to the end for which they were created — God’s glory. I long to be more disciplined in my camping out before God’s throne — let us work on this together.

2. Love one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Love today is defined as having happy feelings and vibes about someone. But Christian love is a verb we do toward one another earnestly — we are to steadfastly pursue loving one another (Jobes 366). Peter insists this love is vital above all because earnest love will cover a multitude of sins. This does not mean we atone for our sins by loving others. It is an allusion to Proverbs 10:12, “Hatred stirs up strive, but love covers all offenses.”

So, we are living in community together for the glory of God and all will know who we are by our love and unity. But Christian community is messy. I do wrong and so do you. We sin. As we consider the reality that the end is at hand and that the Gentiles are maligning us — if we hate one another, we will cause strife every time someone sins against us. But, if we love one another, we will be able to cover a multitude of sins and allow our relationships and the community to continue to grow for God’s glory.

Now, I must put an asterisk on this. Organization after organization and church after church in recent years has been plagued by scandals where very destructive sins were covered up — not in wise graciousness — but in ways that left people with little voice in the dust, without hope, help, love, or community. People have been wronged in destructive ways that weren’t dealt with. And at times this explanation has been misapplied by people who are not truly repentant: love me and cover up my sin. At times, some have helped wolves put their disguises back on.

Thus, this is not an injunction to cover up sin in the camp. The church will not exist for God’s glory if we do that. So let us have both wisdom and love. Love one another enough to deal with sins, but to not cause strife; love enough to forgive the repentant and cover up a multitude of sins.

3. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

If you have been a Christian community a long time, it is easy to take your support system for granted. People who come to Christ are often very vulnerable because their old communities that promote ungodly behaviors were usually very supportive. As we come out of the world and often have to cut ties with worldly communities, we are to find open doors, open arms, extra beds, and extra seats at the table in one another’s homes.

Some have said in the past that hospitality is only when you open your home to complete strangers — especially giving them a place to stay. And, yes, there were not many inns in those days and that was very important in the Christian community then and still is today. Why stay at a hotel when you can be with friends and family? Independence and space can be overvalued.

But note that he says to show hospitality to one another. They worshipped and ate in each others homes. We are to open our homes, beds, and tables to do the same. In our quarantine and pandemic world, I don’t think I can over-emphasize the importance of this today. But in our spread out 21st century cities, I must emphasize the unique challenge of our situation.

In Jesus’ day, Jerusalem was 1 square mile. Ancient Rome was about 5-9 square miles. Hundreds of thousands of people lived in Rome. In Rome, Jews tried to live near one another. For all the challenges of the ancient world, imagine how easy it was to be connected to one another when literally everyone is within walking distance. Even if we don’t count some outliers in our congregation, we are spread out not over 1 or 9 square miles, but roughly 800 square miles plus traffic. This is a challenge. And while I hold out hope there will be opportunities for more of us to live in closer proximity to each other, this is our situation. And it calls for us to live intentionally in hospitable community together. Virtual assembling and virtual hospitality are oxymorons — for God did not send a hologram of himself, nor did his spirit merely temporarily inhabit a man as the gnostics taught, but he lived embodied among us. So, let us open our homes and tables. Don’t worry if it is perfectly clean or whether the meal is exquisite.

But let us not grumble when we do show hospitality. People who receive hospitality are always nervous they are invading someone else’s space. While it is good to be considerate as a guest, we certainly don’t want to undermine our hospitality with grumbling — for this would not be glorifying to God.

4. Steward God’s varied grace to serve one another.

Some fake humility and say they don’t have a gift, but if that’s so, that means God hasn’t given you grace. God’s grace and gifts to us are varied and different, but each one of us should steward this grace to serve one another.

So, if we are in a role of speaking, shepherding, teaching, preaching, counseling, rebuking, encouraging — let us speak as one who speaks the oracles of God. If we are in a role where we are serving and working with our hands and feet and resources, let us do so with the strength that God supplies.

Note that we speak with God’s oracles and God’s strength. Why? In order that in everything God may be glorified in Jesus Christ. The goal of all history  is that Jesus is given dominion and glory forever to the glory of God. Thus, in whatever we do to serve others and speak truth, we must always see ourselves as stewarding God’s oracles, God’s strength, God’s creativity, God’s love, God’s grace for his glory. God is glorified when we use, grow, and give to others what he has given us.

To give examples, when we speak, we ought not speak with the wisdom of Oprah’s chicken soup for the soul; rather, we should meditate on Scripture day and night, let that transform our imagination and intellect, and speak to others as one who speaks God’s oracles. When we serve and love, we ought not try to emulate Ghandi. When we hold positions of leadership, we ought not do it as Washington, Bush, Obama, Trump, or Biden would. When we give we do not give as Tim Cook or Bill Gates would. Why? We don’t want Oprah, Ghandi, Washington, Biden, or Bill Gates to have dominion forever — we want King Jesus to have that. We don’t want them to have the glory, we want God to have the glory. So we speak and serve with his uncorrupted word and his enduring strength.

This is why it is not enough for you or me to get up here to merely teach spirituality that makes us somewhat nice people. This is why we shouldn’t give leftovers. This is why it’s not okay to go to school only to get good grades or to start a business to get rich or to work on a project to become famous or to counsel others to merely make them happy or to be a friend to simply cure loneliness. This is why the aim of a Christian is not to merely run a nice empire for Nebuchadnezzar’s glory, for Pax Romana, or for life, liberty, and happiness. We are to do all things to the end that Jesus would have dominion over all things. We are to do all things to the end that God would be glorified and honored by how every molecule, person, relationship, church, business, government, and ruler honors him.

To God belongs glory in Jesus Christ. And to Jesus Christ belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen, may it be so. This end where all things have been put under Jesus’ feet and where God is glorified in all things — this end is at hand. Let us be clear-headed for our prayers, earnestly loving one another, hospitable, stewarding every gift of God for his glory — hastening the end for which all things were made.

Series: 1 Peter (Living in Exile)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

As a minority community, Peter has been preparing us to be both questioned and slandered for our hope and actions by pointing us to Jesus who also suffered the same things. Today, he will tell us to arm ourselves to suffer and to leave behind human passions. Next, he will warn us that, in their surprise, the world will revile and vilify us for not joining them, but that we should not worry because they will have to give an account to God for this. Notice verses 1-3.

Arm Yourselves (4:1-3)

Jesus didn’t play games when it came to proclaiming the truth. God’s kingdom was drawing near and it was time for all to “sin no more” (Jn. 5:18; 8:11). So he came “to bear witness to the truth” (Jn. 18:37). And yet, though he loved them as his own children, the world hated the Truth. He refused to let lost Israel wander, so he came to turn them from their error; yet, the leaders in Israel twisted his words and falsely accused him of unrighteousness, blasphemy, and of plotting to destroy the temple. They asked for a murderous insurrectionist to be released instead of him, whipped him, dressed him up like a mock-king, stripped him naked, nailed him to a cross, spat on him, and made fun of him.

Peter says we must arm ourselves with Christ’s way of thinking. This is not a time to be soft. We need grit, fortitude, and discipline (Schreiner). That sounds easy now, but think through what this may look like. Imagine friends and acquaintances at school or work whispering about you, saying you’re a bigot. Imagine how your neighbors will look at you when they think you are phobic. Imagine your online community humiliating you and blocking you for being judgmental. Imagine how the country will charge us of being disloyal and unpatriotic. “You are destroying everything they hold dear.”

Here’s some good news: when we continually arm ourselves like warriors to suffer in the flesh, something happens in our battle against sin: “Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of time no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” When we are willing to be mocked, falsely accused, lose friendships, jobs, lied about and be told “you’re no fun,” “you’re not loving,” we show that we are done with sin. We show that our will, your will doesn’t matter any more. I’m living for the will of God now, not human passions.

I love how Peter puts it in verse 3: the time that is past suffices for carrying out the desire of the Gentiles. They say we’re missing out on the pleasures of Egypt and Babylon, but haven’t we spent sufficient time carrying out what they desire? What fruit were we getting from those things we are now ashamed of? We have spent enough time in that way of living.

Can we imagine being a church like that? A church where we proclaim both Jesus’ welcome, “You are forgiven” and Jesus’ command, “Sin no more” and actually expect that of ourselves and one another? Have you noticed that about Jesus and the apostles? They commanded people to lay down sinful lifestyles immediately. Prostitutes left their business, adulterers went back to their spouses, tax collectors restored what they defrauded, magicians burned their books, persecutors became preachers, masters treated Christian slaves like brothers. That immediate ceasing of sinful lifestyles is not always part of church culture today.

I think in the past I failed to deal sin a more decisive end because suffering for Christ wasn’t a concrete reality for me. Verse 1: “Whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.” Proclaiming “Jesus is Lord” has lost its offense — not because the land is filled with true knowledge of him, but because it has been spiritualized and watered down. In the first century, Caesar was called, “Savior,” “Lord,” “Son of God,” and the gospel of his birth and ascendency was proclaimed everywhere as the beginning of a new day in world history. When Jesus’ followers proclaimed the gospel of Jesus in that political environment, they were proclaiming that a Jew charged of insurrection and executed by Rome on a cross is the true Lord, Savior, and Son of God. That was an inherently political statement, so they had to think seriously about where their allegiances lied before publicly proclaiming Jesus is Lord in that world. They had to arm themselves to suffer like the King for the King. If we do that, Peter says it will change us. Who wants to be maligned, vilified for King Jesus while you’re still fooling around with Satan?

Personally, I feel that at times in the past I have tried to straddle a line: give allegiance to Jesus, but make it seem less offensive. Yet, I have still lost dear friends doing that. That has streamlined my focus. Family, we will lose those who are not loyal to King Jesus anyway, so why compromise?

We are not yet perfect. Sanctification certainly is a lifelong process. But, if we arm ourselves to suffer like the King, we’ll say we’re done carrying out the world’s desire and ready to live for God’s. Now, notice in verses 3-4 the response we will get when we start abstaining like this.

They Are Surprised by You (4:3-4)

We will come back to this list in verse 3 in one second, but let’s first emblazon in our minds that people will be surprised by us and they will malign and vilify us. We are destined to be misunderstood by the majority — even by our past friends. “Why don’t you come with us any more? Do you think you’re better than us? You’re not fun. You’re not loving. You’re not loyal. You’re not patriotic. You’re phobic. You’re causing a disturbance.” This will plague our consciences at times. We may wonder, “Why is this so surprising to them? Maybe I am misunderstanding God’s will.” But, they charged God’s own Son of being evil when he was faithful and they’ll do the same to us.

Now, let’s go back to this list in verse 3. Note the three themes here: sex, alcohol, and idolatry. They  typically do not speak evil of us for helping the needy. What surprises them and leads them to malign us is we do not treat sex, alcohol, and creation like they do. Peter sums this up as “flood of debauchery” in the ESV or as “excesses of dissipation” in the NASB. Where we show restraint, they cast it off. But why does this surprise them? They’ve been deceived by Satan — let’s unpack how so we aren’t deceived by their surprise.

They are surprised we don’t join them in sensuality and passionate lusts. Greek and Roman cultures were obsessed with sexuality. It was their religion. It was quite common for men to visit prostitutes or to have their way with their male and female servants. One interesting note: Christianity was actually very popular among women in the ancient world because churches demanded husbands treat their wives better and constrain their sexual energies within marriage. But, apparently, this restraint was bewildering to many - and that is certainly the case today.

Today, while Sigmund Freud’s explicit ideas have been debunked, his overriding theory that we are primarily sexual beings has literally become part of the air we breath. To live in our secular age is to believe that at the deepest part of our identity and who we are lies our sexuality. (Note that while Rome and Greece were obsessed with sex, but they didn’t see it as who they were) My sexuality is perceived as who I am and how I can be happy. It is the path to freedom, release, and never-ending ecstasy. This message is all over our media. Magazines tell you how to light your sex-life on fire. Books obsess over fantasies. Songs, movies, and shows idolize sexuality as the pinnacle of human happiness all while insisting it should be casual. (Side note: don’t use secular erotic songs, books, or movies to “spice up” your marriage. While we may think all is safe within marriage, these things will both subtly and overtly train us to think about ourselves and sexuality in poor ways that are not easy to identify.)

Thus, when we show restraint here and reserve our sexual energies within an undefiled marriage bed, we look strange and prudish to them. Hauerwas explains this well: “It often sounds as if we are somehow ‘against [relations].’ What we fail to make clear is that … passion (the good gift of God’s creation) is now subservient to the demanding business of maintaining a revolutionary community in a world that often uses [relations] as a means of momentarily anesthetizing or distracting people from the basic vacuity [or emptiness] of their lives. When the only contemporary means of self-transcendence is [relations], we Christians are going to have a tough time convincing people that it would be nicer if they would not be promiscuous.” (Resident Aliens, 63)

They don’t understand why we don’t watch porn, sleep with our girlfriend or boyfriend, have open marriages, or why, if one has same-sex attraction, why they don’t act on it. The reason the world doesn’t understand is because sexuality is often one of their only forms of self-transcendence. When Jesus restores our humanity and our life purpose, sexuality gets put back in its proper place. We are not anti-sex at all. Read the Song of Solomon and don’t be a hearer of the word only — it’s a collection of songs devoted to celebrating romantic and sexual love in marriage. The Bible offers a beautiful vision sexuality that unites a husband and wife in pleasure and procreation. This view of marriage and sexuality is deeply fulfilling because it honors God and is actually a living representation of the relationship between Christ and the church. But, unless we put romance and sexuality on the throne, many will be bewildered by our restraint.

Furthermore, they are surprised when we don’t join them in drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. For the world, life is difficult and boring and it ends in painful death, so alcohol and parties are how a person has fun and avoids thinking about their meaningless lives. So, they swipe, drink, hit the club, sleep, work, repeat. But with Jesus, life is full of meaning and purpose. It is an adventure that leads through suffering to eternal life. So, we leave God on the throne and have enjoyment without excess or obsession. We have great evenings and weekends without clubs and drinking parties. We enjoy God’s blessings even more than they do because we put them in their right place: instead of worshipping creation, we enjoy creation, family, and friends in orderly ways that lead us to praise the one who fills our deepest longings. But, the world only knows how to pursue basic instinctual passions and forget their Creator in the process.

If we will understand their surprise and slander is because they have been deceived, it won’t be so surprising and disconcerting to us. And, we’ll be able to help them understand better. Now, note the confidence Peter gives us that their slander and our righteous life will not be forgotten by God.

They’ll Give An Account (4:5-6)

Right now, it can seem like we are the losers who have no reasonable justification for how we live and speak. But Peter says they are the ones who will have to give an account for their lawless living and for how they treated us. That kind of talk can make us uncomfortable. Some might accuse Peter of reveling in the destruction of the wicked. But the bottom line is that the world often calls Christians to account for their ways and they mock our responses, and, despite how much we want them to see and turn, it is comforting to know the tables will be turned for those who don’t.

In view of this day of judgment, this is why the gospel of King Jesus was preached to those who are now dead. Some may wonder, “Why was the gospel preached to them? Now they’re dead — a lot of good that did them!” Some had similar thoughts while Jesus was on the cross. “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now if he desires him” (Mt. 27:43). But he was vindicated by the Spirit in his resurrection and so will we. This is a good reminder to us. As much as we pray and God answers our prayers and delivers us from sickness and death, we will all be judged in the flesh and die before Jesus comes. And while it appears those who believed the gospel and died have lost, we declare by faith they are ready for the day of judgment and will be vindicated and live in the spirit the way God does (all my commentaries said this refers to the resurrection, but some believe this refers to life with God now).

This is why we preach the good news of King Jesus. One day we will all stand before the throne and give an account for what we have done in the body, whether good or bad. We preach the good news so people know to turn to the King now and repent and so be reconciled to him.

Conclusion

Are we done with sin? It is time to arm ourselves to suffer and to look like fools in this age. When we do that, we will be ready to stop carrying out the world’s desires and live for God’s. They’ll be surprised and they’ll malign us and when we die it will appear as though we lost, but as Jesus lives in and by the Spirit of God, we will too.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore