Introduction: Illustration There is a whole movie genre about the world ending and everyone panicking and changing their behavior. Is this what Peter wants from us when he says, the end of all things is at hand? (So-called prophets, sell your home).
No, it’s about clear-minded, persevering love. Follow the Standard Operating Playbook until Christ returns.
Read: 1 Peter 4:7–11
[7] The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. [8] Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. [9] Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. [10] 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. (ESV)
Outline:
#1: The inhale before the final exhale
#2 A Mind-Focusing worldview, helps us answer in four areas: “How should we then live?” Four traits of a rightly focused life. He will address our mind, love, hospitality, and service.
First, our mind in prayer.
Second, our hearts in loving forgiveness.
Third, our community life-giving hospitality done sacrificially without grumbling.
And fourth, our serving based on the kind of person God made, designed, gifted, and strengthens you to be in word and deed.
#3 All these things are for the glory of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Glory belongs to our Triune God.
#1 The final inhale before the final exhale, v. 7 The end of all things is at hand.
[Talk about all the things God was doing from Genesis, Abraham, Moses, Exile, Return, 400 years of silence, and then… Christmas, Ministry, Cross, Resurrection, now it is finished, the church, and the gospel going to the ends of the earth is the final inhale before the great and final exhale. That is to say,
There are no more significant redemptive historical events before the return of Christ. Of the same nature of going from the Old Covenant to the new covenant.
It is simple, but all-encompassing.
The word end does not just mean termination, like it’s the “end of the movie”; think of it as the final stage in fulfilling a purpose and goal.
It means you are at the final item on the list, which aims to achieve the goals and purpose for the day.
If we were to create an oversimplified chart: First Coming ———- Second Coming.
· Sorry the Bible’s end times chart in the big picture, is a boring chart. (Yes a few more details can be added, such as the trumpet, judgment, the great white throne, and other features, but it all leads to one grand finale.)
Therefore, the gospel being preached, people being gathered into the church, and wise governance—where we seek to live by principles and courageous lives is the mode of living we stay in. So many times people based on a hyper-pessimistic or hyper-optimistic view of the end times, will say that while the New Testament encourages us to focus on the Word, prayer, sacrament, loving our neighbor, building families, and spreading the gospel until Christ returns, they now have fancy charts dictating how we should live the way I the preacher say you should.
This world is neither a sinking ship nor a carnival cruise. It is a large, well-equipped passenger-cargo ship, that is well-rounded and equipped with people as passenger, and cargo, and defenses in place.
So we simply live in the new covenant with the whole word of God to direct us how to glorify and enjoy him. And this is done in the community of the church which is the kingdom of God in earth which Christ reigns over from heaven.
Peter is not saying, that Jesus must be returning in the next 30yrs. For the Lord a day is a thousand years (Which peter says in 2 Peter 3:8).
Think of the difference when we say, the final purpose of the world is at hand – imagine, For us if there is just one more piece of the puzzle you have been working on that is happening immediately. I’m finishing that puzzle now.
For the Lord a day is a thousand years. we know is he is gathering his elect from the four corners of the world in every generation and we do not know when he says that is it. We do not know when The time of patience will be past and Christ returns on the white horse triumphant and conquering. We do not know.
2 Peter 3:7–11 [7] But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. [8] But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. [10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11] Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, (ESV)
God is patient, the gospel will go forth, Peter says, Keep Calm and Carry On
But calmly Carry on alertly in lives of holiness and godliness…Because the end is of “all things”
the purpose and reasons for all things is wrapped up in what Jesus does in his first and second coming.
The first and second coming of Christ is not just an idea, He came in his first coming in time, space, and history. It was real history. Not just a story we tell for therapy, for therapeutic effect. What Jesus did by the Holy Spirit changes your very heart soul and mind and truly affects your relationship to your creator and to others around you.
With this context, thinking back in 1 Peter 4:7 we should then ask how should Christians live in light of all the hope we have in Christ, in light of knowing he will return, and in light of knowing we will suffer for Christ and yet victory is already won spiritually.
#2 How should we then live?
Peter gives four traits for the Christian community to be different from the world.
He will address our Mind. love. Hospitality. And Service.
Look in verse 7b-10, therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. [8] Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. [9] Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. [10] As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
So our mind in prayer
Our hearts in loving forgiveness
Our community life giving hospitality done sacrificially without grumbling
And our serving based on the kind of person God made and designed you to be. And here he has word based ministry and service based ministry.
First, Our mind in prayer – PRAYER
V. 4:7 echoes 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (ESV)
be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Remember husbands were told to dwell with their wives with understanding for the sake of their prayers…so too we are to live in light of the end purpose of all things…partially judgement and the return of Christ to strengthen our prayers.
If we live in a world with a Creator. With a truly cosmic and universal fall into sin and misery. And we live in a world where Christ is the only hope for lost sinners and he is returning to gather his bride the church and to judge those who have not named Jesus as savior and king….
Maybe our Prayers will be a little different right? There might be some clarity and grand-ness to the scope of our prayers.
We will see our prayers as thankful for the rescue and redemption, the cleansing and salvation of our eternal souls.
Not just “Lord help my knee not hurt and my football time to win.”
Now one of those two things is a legitimate prayer…But if the big-ness of your prayers is the smallness of your sports team winning and your knee hurting….Will we be self-controlled and sober-mindedly focused on our Prayers? Probably not.
Dan Doriani helpfully says, to be clear-minded is to “see things as they truly are…[and so pray not a generic prayer but] the prayer that calls upon and submits to God in the light of reality seen from God’s perspective.”
How do we know God’s perspective…Scripture saturated prayer. Scripture filled prayer. Prayer that covers “all things” Big Picture prayers.
Where do we learn a big picture prayer? The Lord’s prayer is our guide…not just a memorized mantra…But the categories. God is a Holy Heavenly Father. His Will from Heaven is done here on Earth. Kingdoms…nations…temptations….deliverances…glory forever….Not “hey big fella in the sky”
Read the Word. Pray the Word. And your prayers will be truthful to the mind of God about you and the world. So when you pray leave your bibles open and turn it back to the Lord in grand ways…
We are weak here so we may need to pray for the strength to pray.
Second trait, Verse 8
[8] Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
We have been forgiven in Christ Jesus, so our hearts now in community peter says, “cover a multitude of sins” This isn’t the first time he’s said something like this…
1:22-23 By your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from apure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through theliving and abiding word of God
2:1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
3:9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (ESV)
Remember we said, and multiple commentators call it something like “community-destroying sins.” We are exiles to the world, we know where we have been placed as living stones in the church so we strive to earnestly love and forgive each other and not by our response, our nursing of hurts destroy unity, relationships, and create heated retaliation, or cold withdrawal inside the body.
And what love does if it is earnest, is Jobes argues, “extinguishes sin and its effects within the community by not retaliating in kind, realizing…the claim of 4:1 that Christians must be through with sin.” (Jobes, 277).
Peter applies what this love can look like with Hospitality. Literally how we LOVE, strangers. Philo-Xenia. But in verse 9 its Love- to One Another. Christian hospitality to other Christians
So Third Trait, Christians are called to community life giving hospitality done sacrificially without grumbling
Verse 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling
[Stay off Notes]
Hospitality, you can hear the word “hospital” there, and you can remember a day with no hospitals, very few hotels, and only a few inns, and a great reliance on homes…But that isn’t primarily what Peter is getting at here.
House churches…
My background with international students
Opportunity for Christian Conversation, what is God doing in your life, how did you meet, how did you come to know the Lord, what is difficult, what is good, what is frustrating, and let me answer these things with the gospel and wisdom that is specifically godly wisdom
Contrast with the grumbling men and women “oh you should divorce him/her”
Oh you shouldn’t have to do that much caregiving, or put up with this at work….
“Biting and devouring” robbing joy, creating resentment and grumbling…
Christian Conversation vs. Worldly Conversation.
Now I said grumbling that is in the conversations…
What is grumbling in the hospitality itself?
Cost
Time
Who (Unity of Fellowship vs. Exclusive)
Its hard, its fatiguing
Letting go of southern hospitality
Using simple fellowship together and Christian conversation to encourage each other.
Fourth, And our serving based on the kind of person God made and designed you to be. And here he has word based ministry and service based ministry.
Look in verse 10-11, 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—
Not each has received a gift. You are gifted by God. The gift is for service. The gift is to be stewarded. And there are various kinds of gifts given by grace not earned or deserved not to be boasted about.
Charisma, gk – is a gift from God
How he made us, how he plans to use us in the body, what are the different ways God has made us? (dispositions)
God gives us gifts and Peter distinguishes speaking and serving gifts
Speaking – preaching, teaching, counseling (The officers for this gift are Elders, teaching and ruling) though there are lay ministry teaching occasions as well.
He recognizes that the word read and preaches is speaking the oracles of God. The Second Helvetic Confession (an early protestant confession says), “The preaching of the word of God is the word of God” (As much is said in Heb. 13:7 “remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.”
In so far as the sermon is biblically faithful it is in some sense God’s word to his people. TO paraphrase WLC 154-157.
We have the benefits of Christ given to us in all his ordinances; especially the word, sacraments, and prayer.
The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners; of driving them out of themselves, and drawing them unto Christ; of conforming them to his image, and subduing them to his will; of strengthening them against temptations and corruptions; of building them up in grace, and establishing their hearts in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation.
The Catechism then states that The Word of God is to be preached by those sufficiently gifted, and also duly approved and called to that office…
The people of God are then blessed by the word of God being stewarded by some called and appointed to that office
And so God’s people are when as they hear the word they examine what they hear by the Scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and confer of it; hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.
This means that the sermon should not just be the opinions of the pastor, unanchored from the scriptures or just always finding its way back to whatever the pastor wants it to be about. There are bible studies that are like this no matter what you are studying – some members of that bible study will make it about their pet eschatology, or view of how discipleship should happen, or some such.
The main idea must flow from the bible and have the word of God interpret the word of God and studies to see in what way it should be applied to us today.
Next, Paul in 1 Cor. Greatly cautions viewing speaking and serving gifts as in competition with each other. Gold medal Christians are missionaries, silver medal are pastors, and bronze is for serving gifts, No, We are all members of one body, and we need all the parts the hands, the mouth, the eyes, the ears.
Missionaries and famous evangelists won’t be closer to the throne of Jesus in heaven then the grandmother who prayed for her grand-children and showed hospitality by hosting Sunday Supper for family and friends…
We need the gracious gift of people who spot when people are hurting and in need.
One persons gifts of service can spot and reclaim someone wandering from the Lord and be the greatest comfort to them. More than a thousand one-liners that I think are really good and biblical.
Jobs friends had the gift of gab….it did not help.
We all must simply say Am I being faithful to what God has called me to?
We need both. Both do the work God designed it to in the body of Christ, so we do not boast in either, but give thanks the The Holy Spirit works through the Word and the Service of the saints.
We need people who speak wise words, who speak earnest words, some who speak the truth boldly in love, we need people who speak comforting words.
We need people who serve in various ways, officers wise this is the deacons, but service is every member in different ways. We all serve in the body. With mercy, with our prayers, singing, and present.
We have people who are very physically capable people, people who drive people to church, who visit and have a ministry of presence.
I think we get the idea….thank you for your various gifts and graces. Pray and ask God multiply the fruit of your calling.
How can we be fruitful in our giftings? v. 11 It is all by the strength that God supplies
This both reminds us first, of the need for prayer – asking the Lord for strength, entrusting God in our varies ministry.
We are stewards of a gift graciously given…Will not God supply us the strength to fulfill?
Recall Moses and Joshua, the Leaders of Israel. There is a frequent phrase that the Spirit of the Lord was upon them and it strengthened them to fulfill the calling God had for them.
So when you are tired, say “Lord, I feel I can barely parent, teach, show hospitality, love this person, whatever your calling is and you feel the burden of it and you know what it is – tell the Lord your weakness, ask him for the strength, and steward it faithfully.
Now, a caveat, there is a things call Sabbath or Rest. There are times where we say No.
We with three small kids attempt, note the word attempt: attempt for quite time, the rest and reset during the day. Quite time. But adults need It as well.
So if you serve in various areas in the church, work, and home, it is a legitimate question to ask am I relying on the strength of the Lord to serve with my gifts, or have I fallen into an American business and simply have my exhaustion as a badge of honor, should I say no to an area of service and in order to reclaim a time of rest, prayer, refreshment…..Now I may forget the very words of my sermon and push a volunteer area…But I can be told No. God provides you strength, but he also provides you rest and the word No.
For college students work hard all week, do your homework, do your part time work, be active in church life, and I would encourage you to Sabbath rest on the Lord’s Day. So even as you use the various gifts God gives you take the gift of rest and feeding on the word. Of setting time aside in prayer.
Our ability to Pray, show hospitality, and to labor in word and service, can actually be guarded by our Rest.
And this goes back to the beginning. The End of all things is at Hand, but we do not know the hour of Christ’s return.
So I want you to remember this Jesus is already seated on the throne. He is resurrected, your salvation is secure and accomplished.
You live by grace in the gospel and forgiven, redeemed, and a son and daughter of the King.
You know the end of the story.
So the ship of history is not sinking – so you can rest, you can rest secure in Christ, and take time to pray, eat, love, and serve our of God’s power not American busyness.
But also it is not a carnival cruise, you should not be the American who has no church commitments, and no prayer, no fellowship, no hospitality, no use of word gifts or service gifts because Recreations and making money crowd out being gathered with the body of Christ which is the context where prayer, hospitality, and service happens. Particularly the blessing of the Lord’s day.
So prayerfully, ask the Lord and wise people. How would God have me live in life of the end purpose of all things being verse 11 in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (ESV)
This isn’t cookie cutter. Because Guess what. Everyone is Different. Everyone is different. Everyone is in different life stages and Callings.
But the goal is the same for everyone.
That God may be glorified through Jesus Christ
And this is shown when cutting through all the factors.
We love one another. And we love one another because we love the King who has glory, dominion, forever and ever.
Prayer
Benediction
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