Introduction:
A. It’s Super Bowl Weekend, so I thought I might start with a Super Bowl riddle.
1. Question: How many Buffalo Bills does it take to win a Super Bowl?
2. Answer: No one knows, and we may never find out!
3. If you are a football fan then you know that the Bills went to four consecutive Super Bowls, which is unprecedented, but they lost all four of them.
B. This riddle would not have worked for either of the teams in today’s Super Bowl.
1. The Pittsburg Steelers have already been to 7 Super Bowls and have won 6 of them.
2. The Green Bay Packers have been to 4 Super Bowls and have won 3 of them.
C. We are now only hours away from the big game.
1. I can only imagine the sense of nervousness and urgency that the players are feeling.
2. Just getting to this big game is a challenge – the members of 30 other teams will be sitting at home today watching the Super Bowl.
3. The Super Bowl is a 60 minute game, but the urgency to take the lead and win only gets stronger as the end of the game approaches.
D. It’s that kind of urgency that I want us to sense with regard to our Christian lives.
1. There’s certainly a sense of urgency in the New Testament.
2. It breathes urgency and expectancy with a lot more at stake than any Super Bowl game.
E. Consider some of the statements of urgency in the New Testament.
1. The Apostle Paul wrote: “The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Rom. 13:12)”
2. James wrote: “The coming of the Lord is at hand,” (James 5:8).
3. The Apostle John wrote: “It is the last hour…” (1 Jn. 2:18)
4. Jesus said: “Surely, I am coming soon.” (Rev. 1:3; 22:20)
F. In our Scripture section for today, Peter picks up on this intensity when he wrote: “ 7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” (1 Pt. 4:7)
1. In our series on 1 Peter, we have been discussing the fact that Peter was writing to a group of suffering Christians.
2. He wanted them to know that their suffering would be rewarded, and that it could be used to grow the kingdom.
3. He wanted them to be prepared for it to get even harder.
4. Peter knew that only the well prepared would survive.
5. So Peter instructed them to live with this sense of urgency – the time was short.
6. I don’t think Peter wanted them to always go around in a hurry – that’s not what we mean by urgency.
7. Rather, he wanted them to have this sense of the passing of time and how we must take advantage of opportunities while we still have the chance.
8. In our verses for today, Peter defined for us what a life led with a sense of urgency looks like.
9. Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency have…
I. A Militant Attitude Toward Sin
A. Peter began: 1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.
1. The picture we have here is of putting on an attitude as a suit of armor.
2. Our attitude is like a weapon as we do spiritual warfare.
3. And what is this attitude? Well it’s the same one that Christ took toward sin and suffering.
4. It has to do with dying to sin and living according to God’s will.
B. Jesus knew that at once He had completed the task of bearing our sins on the cross, He would never again have to struggle with sin or temptation--that would all be over with.
1. Sin was finished and defeated.
2. The attitude we should arm ourselves with in living a life of urgency is like that.
3. We should consider ourselves “dead” to sin…finished with it.
4. We don’t have to respond to it anymore.
5. Sin’s power has been broken and we are free to live differently!
6. When sin says to jump, we don’t have to jump anymore.
7. When sin ruled in your life, it said to “Jump” and you said, “How high?”
8. When sin said, “Go get smashed.” You said, “I’m ready.”
9. But now that new life has come in Christ, when sin says “Jump.” We can say, “I don’t want to and don’t have to anymore.”
10. You see the one thing that will destroy our time on earth faster than anything is spending our lives following the impulses of sin.
C. Now that we are dead to sin, we can focus now on living the will of God, and any sufferings we might incur while endeavoring to live a righteous life, we can face with anticipation of a better tomorrow, just like Jesus did.
1. It’s like a quarterback in the Super Bowl who gets injured in the 4th quarter.
2. He is willing to play through a great deal of pain for the sake of that victor’s ring, because he knows everything is at stake and the end is in sight.
3. We, Christians, who stand on the edge of history, in the 2-minute warning of time, should arm ourselves with the attitude that says I can see the goal, and it is worth any price to obtain it, and if suffering is part of God’s will for me, then so be it.
4. There’s coming a day when we will neither suffer nor sin anymore - We will be done with it.
5. In light of this fact, let’s live our lives armed with an attitude that should suffering and hardship come our way, we will endure it and endeavor to find the will of God within it.
6. We will not merely give in to a lifestyle of sin to avoid the difficulty of suffering for what is right.
7. We are to consider ourselves dead and unresponsive to the life of sin.
8. Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency have…
II. A Patient Attitude Toward the Lost
A. Peter continued: 4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
1. When a person goes through a dramatic conversion from a life of sin, their former companions and friends just don’t understand.
2. Unsaved people do not think it strange when people wreck their bodies, destroy their homes, and ruin their lives by running from one sin to another.
3. But let a drunkard become sober, or an immoral person become pure and the family and friends think the person has lost their mind.
4. A dramatic life-change often draws ridicule from some but as the passing of time verifies the change, then ridicule slowly turns into respect.
5. Chuck Colson is a good example of this.
a. When he abandoned his previous lifestyle as Whitehouse “hatchet-man” to Richard Nixon and began to live differently, the entire field of journalists it seemed to enjoy poking fun.
b. Many cartoons about Colson being a new “Born-Again” Christian appeared in newspapers.
c. Now, however, many years, books, and transformed prisons later, Colson commands respect wherever he goes and has in fact spoken in places such as Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, and other places of academia all over the world sharing the message of Christianity.
4. As we mentioned last week, darkness hates the light, and when someone turns to the light, those still in darkness don’t understand why you can’t continue in darkness.
5. They may heap abuse on us for our refusal to join them in sin.
6. They may do all they can to draw us back into the worldly life they are living.
B. We must be patient with the lost because they are blind to spiritual truth and dead to spiritual enjoyment.
1. We must continue to have contact with them, because how else will they come to know spiritual truth and enjoyment. How else will they see the light?
2. Their attacks of us can become our opportunity to witness to them.
C. Although they may judge us, one day God will judge them.
1. We must keep in mind that there will be an accounting of our lives before God.
2. Whether we are living when that time comes or whether we have already passed on, all of us will give an account for our lives.
3. If we remain faithful, even having suffered for our faith, then God will reward us.
4. Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency have…
III. An Expectant Attitude Toward The Second Coming
A. Peter wrote: 7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
1. Christians in the early church expected Jesus to return in their lifetime.
2. We should live with the thought that we are in the 2 minute warning, the clock is running down.
3. Truth is we don’t know how much time is left, but there may not be much time.
B. For that reason, we must be alert and sober minded.
1. We must be spiritually observant and aware – not asleep or distracted.
2. We must be in our right mind, and under control.
3. The Christian’s mind must be clearly fixed on spiritual priorities and righteous living.
4. Godly thinking and spiritual alertness are crucial for the purpose of prayer.
5. Prayer, of course, is so important as it keeps us connected to God and connected to all of God’s spiritual resources.
6. The phrase “watch and pray” had an powerful place in Peter’s memory as Jesus spoke those words to the disciples on the night when Jesus was betrayed and arrested.
7. Peter, himself, was not watchful and prayerful and ended up acting out with violence during the arrest, and with denial during Jesus’ trial.
8. We must learn to be clear-minded and self-controlled, keeping our eyes on Jesus, expecting His return at any moment.
8. Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency have…
IV. A Fervent Attitude Toward Service
A. Peter continued: 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
1. Above all, puts in proper perspective the importance of love in the life of a Christian.
2. Love is supreme, but not just any kind of love – deep and fervent love.
a. The word translated “deeply” pictures an athlete straining with maximum effort to reach the goal.
3. Peter says that deep love is so powerful because it covers over a multitude of sins.
a. True, deep love doesn’t ignore sin, but in love we forgive each other when we sin against each other, just as God has forgiven us!
B. Peter continued to explain that our Christian love should not only be fervent and forgiving, but it should also be practical.
1. Peter suggests that we should lovingly show hospitality without complaining and that we should use our gifts to serve each other.
2. I like the way Peter describes the way we are to be faithful stewards of God grace.
3. Whatever gifts we have received are a gift of grace from God, and are not to be kept for our own benefit, but are to be used to benefit others.
4. Peter mentions two kinds of gifts – speaking gifts and serving gifts.
5. When we employ the speaking gifts, we should seek to speak the very words of God.
6. When we employ the serving gifts, we should rely on the strength that God provides.
7. In the end, all of it is to be done so that God gets the praise and glory, not us.
C. Living and serving with a sense of urgency means that we want to be busy serving whenever He returns.
1. Like the parable Jesus told in Luke 12, the wise servant is the one who is busy doing what he should be doing when the master returns.
2. There’s an interesting story that illustrates this point that occurred on May 19th, 1780 – during the Revolutionary War.
a. The place was Hartford, Connecticut.
b. It was a day that went down in New England history as a terrible foretaste of Judgment Day.
c. At noon, inexplicably, the skies turned from blue to gray and by mid-afternoon had blackened over so densely that, in that religious age, men fell on their knees and begged a final blessing before the end came.
d. The Connecticut House of Representatives was in session. As some men fell down, others clamored for an immediate adjournment.
e. The Speaker of the House, one Colonel Davenport, came to his feet.
f. He silenced and refocused the House of Representatives with these words: “The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty.”
3. So, It is with that sense of urgency that we should be busy at work for the Lord as we await His return.
Conclusion:
A. Every summer for the past 18 years, a group of our men have taken a trip to the Adirondack Mountains.
1. Some of us go hiking and some go fishing.
2. Our hikes are one day treks that can be as many as 20 miles long.
3. Sometimes we hike a single mountain, other times we hike several mountains in a range.
B. One of the interesting things that we sometimes face is what is called a “false-summit.”
1. A false summit is a peak that you think is your final destination, so you are hopeful as you hike and climb toward it.
2. But when you reach the peak, you see the real peak beyond it, and sometimes it is a little depressing when you realize how much further and higher you have to climb.
3. There’s also the temptation to stop right there and say, “This is as far as I’m going. I’m content to stop right here.”
C. We have to watch out for spiritual “false-summits.”
1. The culture we live in often distorts our perspective.
2. It’s easy to get severely disoriented on this mountain of life.
3. We may begin to get comfortable with sin and lower our target and get stuck.
4. We may forget that we’re going to be held accountable someday.
5. Our love for each other may grow weary when we realize that we have so far to go in our relationships and when hard and hurtful things happen.
6. We may get caught up in our own lives and forget that we have a duty to serve each other.
D. God has set before us an urgent Christian journey that is an arduous climb.
1. In many ways the end is not in sight.
2. Once in a while we may get a glimpse of our destination.
3. We must not be fooled by false summits.
4. The end of the journey is certainly nearer than when we began, but we can’t quit until we get to the top.
5. We must live like there’s no tomorrow - we must climb today like it’s our last opportunity to reach the top.
6. And we must do what we can to bring each other with us along the way – no one left behind.
Resources:
Living With a Sense of Urgency, Sermon by Joey Nelson, SermonCentral.com
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, 1 Peter, by John MacArthur, Moody Publishing, 2004
The Bible Exposition Commentary, 1 Peter, by Warren Wiersbe, Victor Books, 1989
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 1 Peter, by Edwin A. Blum, Zondervan, 1981
