This morning we’re in 1 Peter 4:7-11. This is Week 12 of our Standing Firm series. We are so thankful for everyone’s cooperation as we remain online. Cases of Covid-19 are impacting our church family. Please be patient. This wave of infection shall pass, and we’ll all be together soon. Let’s pray that these vaccines will become available and be effective. Let’s invite God to bring healing.
In 1 Peter 4:7a (CSB), Peter makes this rather peculiar statement that: “The end of all things is near…” I think I have been told this my entire life, one way or another!
When I was in grade school, Video Stores were coming of age! For a few bucks, you could rent a VHS player and your favorite movies. One of the very first movies we rented was called “Red Dawn.” It was about the Russians invading the USA and destroying our way of life! Then there was “Wargames,” where a kid hacks into a military supercomputer, and almost starts a global thermonuclear war! I was pretty much ready to be vaporized as a child.
Then came other grave threats. Global warming. Back in the 80s every scorching hot summer day we became true believers, and every blustery winter night, total skeptics! Now it’s called Climate Change—any and everything is proof end is near! In the 80s and 90s it was the AIDS crisis. If Magic Johnson could get infected, anyone could be! Who can forget George Orwell’s “War of the Worlds?” Alien invasion! Armageddon. The Middle East. The coming antichrist! The rapture! Leading up to 2000, fear of the Millennial Computer Bug. Every modern Presidential Election. Boy if one party loses control “it will be the end of the world!” If the other party gains power “all will be well!” Covid-19. It’s not ‘nothing,’ but thank God, it’s not ‘everything,’ the scientists and experts forecasted.
We’ve become anesthetized to this idea that “The end of all things is near.” In what sense is this true? Is this Politically true? Internationally true? Environmentally true? Theologically true? Existentially true? Personally true? On a personal level James, in James 4:14 (CSB) warns: “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.” Being a pastor has taught me one thing very clearly: Every single day is a gift. Get up. Live well. Live gratefully. And tomorrow? It’s a bonus.
But what Peter means is we should expect Christ’s return at any moment— and we should live every moment in light of reality. Throughout this letter Peter has been preparing these believers for the end.
- 1 Peter 1:5 (CSB) he speaks of “a salvation that is ready to be revealed in last time.”
- 1 Peter 1:7 (CSB) yes, you’ve had to suffer grief and various trials, but don’t despair, why? The proven character of your faith may “result in praise, glory, honor at the revelation (appearing) of Jesus Christ!”
- 1 Peter 1:13 (CSB) “set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you are the revelation (appearing) of Jesus Christ.”
- 1 Peter 2:11-12 (CSB) Abstain from sinful desires waging war against your soul. Live honorably even when slandered. Why? Because your enemies “will glorify God on the day he visits (appears)!”
- 1 Peter 3:5 (CSB) Have Christ’s same attitude, no longer living for human desires but for the will of God. Why? Because all men will “have to give an account to the one who stands ready to judge the living and the dead.”
Not just in 1 Peter 4:7, Peter is clearly commanding us to live our lives in light of the end, in light of final things, in light of ultimate things, in light of Christ’s guaranteed return! The reason Peter uses the story of Noah at end of 1 Peter 3 is to warn us that no matter what God’s Word says, there will always be those who mock, ridicule, disobey, and continue on the same flood of wild living… and they will continue to do so right up to the moment the door ark is shut and the raindrops of God’s judgement begin to fall upon the earth.
In 1 Peter 4:7-11, Peter is teaching how to best live “in light of final things.” Suppose we grant the Apocalyptic Fear Mongers, their premise. Suppose this is indeed the last Christian Century, or decade, or year, or month, or day, or hour. . . Here is what we do. Here is how we live. 1 Peter 4:7a, “The end of all things is near; therefore. . .” Here is your survival guide…
First, Be Prayerful.
Peter says, in 1 Peter 4:7b (CSB), “. . . be alert and sober-minded for prayer.” No, you shouldn’t be filled with anxiety, worry, fear, dread, panic, hysteria, drunk on emotion and rage. Be alert. Yes, there can be real danger, and cause for caution and concern. But don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Be sober-minded. Pray knowing that God is sovereign, and in control. We know the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story. This is God’s world, and we are God people, we are in God’s hands. Everything works for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose and plan. Be prayerful, alert, sober no matter how grave things appear around you. This was Jesus, entrusting himself to Father in the 11th hour, in Garden of Gethsemane. Peter was sleepy that night, but he remembered how Jesus spent his final hours alert, sober, prayerful, resolute, unrattled, hopeful.
Second, Maintain Love.
Peter says, in 1 Peter 4:8 (CSB), “Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.” Do you realize that one of the marks of godlessness is hyper-sensitivity? Nowadays, if someone gets crossed in the slightest way, people make certain you have hell to pay! When there is Christ’s love there is grace, forgiveness, mercy, redemption, a path to restoration, reconciliation. Sin (multitudes of sin) are covered by the blood of Jesus. We move forward together. But when you take away Christ. Your sins are no longer canceled…. No, you are canceled. The end is near! Panic? No. Keep loving.
Third, Be Hospitable.
Peter says, in 1 Peter 4:9 (CSB), “Be hospitable to one another without complaining.” Don’t look at other people as a burden, or inconvenience. Don’t resent that person in need. Open your home, your life, your friendship, to the outsider. Come alongside them. Welcome them into your life in a costly way. If the sky falls, all of us in the Church ought to have each other’s backs.
Fourth, Use Your Gifts!
Peter says, in 1 Peter 4:10 (CSB), “Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.” In 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4 the Apostles teach us that we have all been given spiritual gifts, various manifestations of the Spirit, unique abilities, divinely endowed ways to showcase the grace of God to others!
The word that Peter uses to describe our gifts is “varied.” That’s a pretty tame translation. A better translation is that God wants us to use our spiritual gifts to put the multifaceted, kaleidoscopic array, of God’s grace on full display. There is nothing like the Church gathered, collectively as a whole, everyone serving. Think of a rainbow, there is a spectacular array of countless colors on display. Think of an orchestra, think of a heavenly choir—the multitudes in heaven raising their voices making music before the Heavenly throne. What people ought to see isn’t a church buttoning down the hatches… they ought to see a church’s gifts exploding, being released, for service!
Fifth, Speak Boldly.
Peter says in 1 Peter 4:11a (CSB), “If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words;” The darker the days grow, the more incumbent it becomes, that we speak God’s word! Remember what Peter said back in 1 Peter 2:9 (CSB)? “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light!” We’ve been given this living, enduring, impressible, transformative word of God! Broadcast it! More boldly than ever before! The end isn’t a time to shrink back into silence. Proclaim His Praises!
Sixth, Seek Power.
Peter says in 1 Peter 4:11b (CSB), “If anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything.” Yes, it is hard. Yes, it is painful. Yes, your grief and hardships are overwhelming. No, suffering and deeper submission to God’s way isn’t easy. Yes, every single one of us at times have grown weary in doing good.
But here is the thing. God never asked us to do in our own power and strength! If we could do it apart from God, we’d get all the credit. Nobody would ever conclude, “Gee I might need God…” But as it stands, when people see us relying upon God, they learn to rely upon God too.
In 2 Peter 1:3-11 (CSB) states this explicitly! Peter says, “3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. 11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.”
Last, Glorify God.
In 1 Peter 4:11c (CSB), Peter concludes, “. . . To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.” No matter what happens, let’s see to it that God continues shining through us. Let’s live larger, not smaller, larger than ever before, as large as Christ himself lived… as large at Peter and the early believers lived…