1 Peter 4:7-11 (Peter’s Description of the Christian’s life Style)
August 12, 2012
Hit the Record Button on the camera.
Introduction:
Prayer:
Well again we come to the book of 1 Peter where we encounter Peter speaking to Christians that are going through hard times because of their faith. These Christians were being burned alive for their faith, beaten, verbally abused and many killed for sport. Now while we don’t really understand this, we need to grasp this context in order to understand just what Peter means when he offers encouragement to these people and to us as Christians today.
My hope and desire is to simply give you the Word of God and just what Peter is communicating to these people and how that relates to us today.
Last week we built on our outline as we looked at
a. Peter’s description of the Victorious Christian life (4:1-6)
We saw that we as Christians:
i. We should desire the Attitude of Jesus! (4:1)
ii. We should desire the Will of God! (4:2)
iii. We should desire the Eternal Hope! (4:3-6)
This week we are going to be looking at:
b. Peter’s description of the Christian’s Life Style (4:7-11)
i. The End times should bring about Christian Urgency! (4:7a)
ii. The End times should bring about Christian Living! (7b-11)
So being we have a lot of ground to cover let us dig right into the text this morning. I want to also say before we get into this text, there are a lot of imperatives and this will be a challenging message for all of us, I know it was for me, but listen , don’t sign me out when God begins to convict your heart, hold on to that conviction, write it down, because God wants to change you more into the image of Christ. While there are many imperatives there are some great promises to claim in these passages as well.
Well let us get to it.
If you will turn with me to 1 Peter 4:7-11
1 Peter 4:7-11
7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
I think that as we read this passage of scripture Its helpful to evaluate the churches across America. Today many churches lack love and a common purpose and in many churches the very the pipeline that leads to the Lord is broken. As we approach the last of the last days, which I believe we are in. The enemy that brings forth opposition and this can weaken and eventually destroy many churches. Now I want everyone here today to understand that I don’t want that to be the case for our church. I want us to see the importance of what Peter is saying about Christians living and how it’s vital to our growth as a group of Christians to be strong in our fellowship with one another and that we have s special loyalty between each other as members of this church. The End is near and so this commitment to each other and our commitment unto the Lord is vital in what Peter is saying here in this passage.
There are two things that I think will help us understand this passage and how this can benefit our walk with Jesus Christ and our fellowship with other believers. The first point that I want to look at today is:
1. The End times should bring about Christian Urgency! (4:7a)
Explain: You know the end times or the second coming of Christ has been a major theme all through out our study on the book of first Peter. Peter has held this time in which Jesus would return in high regard and has point us to this moment several times He talks about it in
1:4 as he mentions to us about obtaining an inheritance, which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.
1:5 talks about a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1:6 so that you faith even tested by fire will have a result at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
4:13 to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. Also in 4:17; 5:1 and 5:10 we see him speak of this event, the end times, the second coming.
Not only here in the Book of Peter is this important an important topic.
Romans 13:11, as he is speaking about Love Paul says “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed”
We also see in..
James 5:8 “You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
Why is it that through out scripture we hear of the coming of Jesus?
And right here we hear “7 The end of all things is near;”
There have been messages about the second coming of Christ for 2000 years and yet Our king has not returned.
I mean here in 1 Peter he seems to it seems to talk of a return that should have already taken place, so what is this implying? Is it saying that Christ is not coming? Has the NT been in error this whole time?
Of course not. Time effects only those that live with in the bounds of it. We live and we die an that is our time frame, but God is not limited to time. The reality is that the Second Coming is a repeated theme through out the Bible, but it is only a reality for one generation of believers.
No where in the New Testament does it talk about the time Christ will return it simply talks about His coming. Eschatology the study and scriptures on the End Times or the Second coming of Christ is always used to encourage believers to live in a godly way. WE are also not to simply sit down and get comfortable, looking up waiting on His return and I think what Peter is going to teach us is just the opposite of that.
You see the End times bring about an urgency for the Christian. If I were to tell you that this week would be your last week to live on this earth how would you live differently?
Would you just try to finish up your bucket list, would you simply set around and do nothing? I hope that I wouldn’t care to worry about those things of life any longer, no I would want to share my faith with everyone I could, I would want to love and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ including my family and friends.
I would hope that I would have an urgency to fulfill my ministry; I would hope that I would simply want to fulfill the normal parts of New Testament life style.
Death and the End times bring about urgency for the believer. Because His or her work on this earth is about to end and nothing else can be done, no more souls can be lead to the Lord by you, No more forgiveness can be asked, no more gathering together for the Lord Supper together, no more love can you give to your brother and sisters in Christ, your Work will simply be done and we have all been called to Endure hardship and fulfill our Ministry!
Peter wants these people along with you and I today to understand that the END is near! And there is an urgency, yes to share our faith, but more than that Peter wants to clarify just why it is that he is telling us that the End is near.
I like this thought brought out by a commentator he said that “Martin Luther said when asked what he would do if the end would come today. He replied that he would plant a tree and pay his taxes. What Luther meant, of course, was that he lived every day in light of the end, and hence he would do the appointed task of that day.”
Do we live in light of the end everyday? As if this was our last breath that we had to take. Couldn’t we all live in light of the second coming of Christ, but many times we walk around as if we don’t even believe that He is coming as he promised in John 14. So yes, The end times that The Bible speaks of is real and its important and it should bring about Christian Urgency in our daily lives and should help encourage us to share our faith and to suffer for His sake.
The second Point I want us to look today is:
2. The End times should bring about Christian Living! (7b-11)
We have already stated that the End times should bring about urgency and while it may bring out many types of urgency, Peter want to make it clear to you and to me just what it is that we are to have urgency about! HE says;
therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
He says therefore! Taking you and I and them back to the previous part of the first verse. Therefore because the end is near, therefore because the second coming of Christ is at hand… Do these things.
Peter now begins to give us a list of Imperatives: Please listen to me this morning and put everything a side and look up here for just a second. I didn’t come up with these on my own, these are commands that Peter gives and these are not optional these are commands to obey and to live by and they are good and will bring you into a better relationship with the lord and give you more joy when you follow these commands, does this mean you will always be successful, no! But that doesn’t give us a reason not to do what he is commanding us to do.
His first imperative that he gives us is:
be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer!
It means “be clear minded and self-controlled” all for the purpose of Praying to the Lord. Listen the end times shouldn’t make us so urgent that work so hard and doing
good that we never pray! What Peter is trying to say is that one should be self-controlled and alert in order to be able to pray properly.
Prayer is important as we draw near to the end you know why, we don’t save People God does. When we stop trying to give people into the Kingdom and start Praying people into the Kingdom, People will start coming to know the Lord. Listen to these quotes:
It is possible to move men, through God, by prayer alone. ~ Hudson Taylor
Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. ~ Oswald Chambers
Learn to worship God as the God who does wonders, who wishes to prove in you that He can do something supernatural and divine. ~ Andrew Murray
Prayer is the Power, which will bring about change in peoples lives.
So are we praying, are we praying together as a church? Are we praying in Leadership together, Am I’m praying as your pastor more and more?
We can all become better prayers and the results will be supernatural when we do, but we must have the right mind set, be clear minded and self-controlled and take it seriously.
I have scheduled one hour a day for prayer, this is my commitment, could I increase always, but we have to start somewhere, How about you. Will you commit your self to daily prayers for others? When we meet together on one Wed a month to pray, we spend an hour and we could pray for 5 I truly believe, because the needs are so abundant. People are in need of our prayers and we should be able to commit some time to it. It’s the Will of God for our lives to pray with out ceasing. Commit this week 10 minutes, Pick 5 People and pray for them for 2 minutes and every month add one person to that list and in a years time you will have been praying for 17 people for total time of 34 minutes. If you would like a sheet on prayer I would be glad to give you one.
Our savoir thought it was important to pray and He set time aside to do it, so should we. Look you could Pray when you go to Bed, Pray in the Shower, Pray driving down the Road “Keep your Eyes open of course, Pray during breakfast, during Lunch and during Dinner, Pray when troubles are happening, Pray when you are thankful, pray when your sad, pray when your joyful.
Prayer can be done anytime and we need to come back to a focus of intentional prayer. There is a promise that the Lord gives us and that is that our prayers are heard, so come to God with your prayers and petitions.
Peter then begins into his second imperative.
8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
There is an command here with a promise! Love one another fervently. We talked about that already in 1 Peter 1:22 “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart”
Peter knows that in these end times we need to focus on the Love we have for one another.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
We are called to love each other in the faith! You see those who love one another are always ready to forgive the sins of others.
Loving people is sometime inconvenient you know! When someone hurts you or wrongs you, talks about you behind your back, degrades your character or what ever the case may be, its then, when this command becomes cloudy to many. Again a command is not something that we can choose to do when we want, but a command from the Word is a command not optional.
You see when we love as we are called to love, which is hard, but doable! When we love fervently, it says it covers a multitude on sins.
That doesn’t mean that we ignore sin with in our body. Listen its very appropriate that we confront sin in this church and its necessary, but when we do that we better use the Biblical Model. If you have a problem with some in the Church you go to that person. Don’t go around talking about it with others or leadership, bring the problem to the person. If you don’t win them over, then you go with another brother and confront them. If the sin then continues you take it before the church. We need to model that in our church, because that is how we are told to do it.
When we do things that way we show love for each other, respect for each other and many problems will go away. Its Gods model and it works. Getting mad and leaving solves nothing, but harbors hatred and sin. Get it out on the table out of love for one another the end is near, LOVE Each other!
He also says:
9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
In light on the context you have the early church meeting in homes, you have Christians traveling around sharing the faith and people needed to be Hospitable., people couldn’t afford lodging.
Are we hospitable to each other? You see when we have people over to our home, we give them the very best we have, though we don’t have lots of money we will give our best to them, because we want to be hospitable and even though it may cost of more that what we want to spend or take us more time that we have to prepare we do it without complaining.
You guys have small groups every year and many of you show hospitality and that is what we need to be doing.
But we need to do it without complaint. We have pot lucks every other we here and we have people preparing every week to be hospitable to those that may cant go out and eat or can just simply use a free meal, they do it with out complaint, that is great and I want to encourage you all to be apart of that, it’s a great time to hang out and get to know each other and to be hospitable.
He says also:
10As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Don’t miss that if you are in Christ, EACH ONE has received a special gift
These gifts are undeserved, unmerited gifts for ministry that God has given to you in Love. Every believer has a spiritual gift, given by God at salvation, for the purpose of ministry to and for the Church.
Let me ask you, how are you using your gifts for the service of the church?
He says to minister or to employ them in serving one another as good stewards.
God calls us to be good stewards of our gifts. Look get plunged in, church is not about what you can get out of it, it about what you can give unto the Lord within the church. Serve him with the proper servant attitude, we can use all kinds of help. Teaching Sunday school, serving in the nursery, teaching the kids, helping in the kitchen during pot lucks, cleaning up the floors, sound room, worship team, power points, ushers, greeters. All of these Jobs are very vital to our ministry here at MBF, get plugged in some how some way its vital to being a good stewards of the gifts the Lord has given you. The Point is Gifts are given to help and to serve others, how are you doing that today. If you’re here today and I know many are, thank you for all your hard work, we are very grateful for your service to the Lord and to each other.
He closes with this and so will I:
11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Your gifts are speaking gifts or serving gifts, those are the two categories they fall into.
If your gift is a speaking gift you should use it to speak the Word of God, preach and teach. , if your gift is a serving gift you should serve as unto the Lord, what ever your gift is, your attitude should be of one that has dependency on God.
Your ability you see comes from God, don’t waste it, the end is near! Serve one another, because the time is coming where we will need one another. These people needed each other and so they worked together to the purpose of serving one another as unto the lord.
Because all of this is done so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus came to serve and He did it until the end! Listen the end is near, remain faithful in loving one another it covers many sins, service each other, we have been blessed with gifts, and rely on the Lord, he give you strength to keep going. The end is near and Our king is coming at sometime, so be ready and serve unto the finish line.
