Being Ready
1 Peter 4:7-11
Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567
“What a person believes about the future determines how they will live today.”
Douglas Moo
How does one respond to the statement that the end of the world is coming when Christ will judge both the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1)? For most this statement has little affect on how they live their lives for they don’t believe in Jesus and His judgement but instead believe that by making the right choices the world will get better and will someday “arrive at the Celestial City of our Optimistic Dreams!” While we Christians believe the day of the Lord will come quickly and the “heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bear” (2 Peter 3:10), are we truly living our lives in light of this truth? While countless predictions of the end of the world ought not throw us into a “eschatological frenzy” neither should we be like the pagans nor view the “divine end of history” as irrelevant. Even though God’s judgement is far from popular to discuss amongst today’s Christians this does not change the truth that the lamb who was slain is not only worthy open the scroll of seven seals of judgment upon this world (Revelation 5) but will also hold His own accountable for the things done in the body both good and bad (2 Corinthians 5:10)! Instead of being “weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life,” should not our final salvation and imminent judgement stimulate our faith and desire to glorify Jesus Christ in all that we think, say or do? If we are to be found faithful upon Christ’s return Peter states, we are to not see our time, talents, and treasures as mere things we take ownership of but instead as gifts from our gracious Father who expects us to take every opportunity to please He who bought us at the price of His very life (1 Corinthians 6:20)! “We are not just born to die” but also are to have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10)! The following sermon is going to encourage you to be good stewards of everything God has loaned you can be accomplished by heeding Peter’s “exhortations that we fill our lives with prayer, love, hospitality, and the exercise of our spiritual gifts!”
The End is Near
When Peter states the “end of all things is near” he means that on the day of the second coming of Christ “all human history will come to an end, the earth together with everything in it, will pass away, and Jesus Christ will rule as the victorious and triumphant king (compare 1:5, 6; 4:13, 17; 5:1, 10)!” Since all the major events of God’s redemptive plan such as “creation, fall, the calling of Abraham, the exodus from Egypt, the kingdom of Israel, the exile in Babylon and the return, the birth of Christ, His life, death and resurrection, His ascension into heaven, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit to establish the church, have already happened;” many Christians have been trying to prove current events are signs that time is about to end! While it is certainly true that the Day of the Lord is drawing near (1 Corinthians 7:29; Hebrews 10:25), since no one knows the day or hour (Matthew 24:36) the only way to be found ready is to live with the assurance of one’s salvation and that of divine judgement! Sadly, living amongst this self-absorbed, me generation that shuns accountability and deifies the myth that through better methods, techniques, therapy, self-development, and science the world will hit a utopia grander than that of the Garden of Eden; too few Christians believe in an epoch of time will come in which Christ will pour out his wrath upon this world and judge His own! In today’s passage Peter tries to convince the exiles of the Dispersion to reflect on the end times not with the goal to paralyze them with fear but to motive them to live holy lives so that they might be found faithful upon Christ’s return. Since the end is inevitable and unpredictable, Peter implored the exiles to be alert and sober minded so that they might pray, love each other deeply, offer hospitality, and be good stewards so that they might become living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2) with the goal that God might be praised through Jesus Christ in all they think, say, or do!
Alert and Sober Minded to Pray
“Thinking that the end of history is at the door and the Judge is about to enter through it ought to energize and focus one’s prayers” on asking for and receiving power from God to become holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). To no longer be weighed down with the worries and pleasures of this world that is not our home, one must seek “complete control of oneself” so that in “calmness, sobriety, sensibleness, and steadiness” one might be able to clearly make one’s requests to God without anxiety (Philippians 4:6-7). To accomplish this, we must not allow our thoughts, words, and deeds merely happen but instead strive with all our being to only follow in the footsteps of our Redeemer (1 John 2:6)! To watch and pray so that we will not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41) is not an easy task because we often forget our possessions here on this earth are on loan from God and as such are not meant to absorb our attention for in doing so it “can ruin prayer-life and spiritual relationship, both with God and with fellow Christians!” Peter told the exiles and is telling us today that life is full of complicated choices that need Spirit led and filled prayers not only to find the right path but also to obtain the divine strength needed to throw off the pressures to conform to the patterns of this world to embrace what is right in His sight! Remembering Jesus is about to return and He the perfect Judge will evaluate every choice one has ever made in life is a powerful motivator … for whom amongst does not want to hear the words “good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23)?
Love Each other Deeply
To remain faithful to Jesus until His return Peter tells the exiles to love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins (verse 8). Living in a world that is in the “beginning of birth pains” of passing away (Matthew 24), “familial, business and social relationships tend to become frayed” as God’s own inevitably go trough tribulations, persecutions and injustices. To keep from becoming like this world who tends to focus on the “slights or faults, fanning the flames of enmity, and spreading ill feelings about offenders,” Peter recommends our love not be just an emotion but also a conscious decision to forbear small and even large offenses, forgiving when asked. When Peter says “love covers a multitude of sins” he does not mean that our love obtains forgiveness for our or someone else’s sin but merely that for the sake of unity and peace one is willing to extend the same grace of God one has received to others inside the church. This means resisting the “natural” urge to gossip to strengthen our egos while damaging other member’s reputations. We ought to heed the words of Christ in Matthew 6:15 who said “if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” With this warning in mind and the truth that we too will one day be judged, we ought to make every effort to “tolerate more differences, forgive more wrongs” for in doing so we will become more effective in prayer because the grace we are asking of God to live holy lives we are attempting to share with our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord!
Offer Hospitality
Out of our deep-seated love for God and those created in His image Peter says we ought to be hospitable to one another (verse 9). In the Old Testament hospitality was “extended to both to known guests and strangers that featured: a greeting with bow or kiss (Gen 18:2; 19:1), a welcome for the guest to come in (Gen 24:31), an invitation to rest (Gen 18:4; Judg 4:19), an opportunity to wash (Gen 18:4; 19:2; 24:32), a provision of food and drink (Judg 4:19; 19:5), an invitation to converse (Gen 24:33), a provision of security (Gen 19:8).” Hospitality in the New Testament was offered by “inviting strangers into one’s home for a meal, providing lodging for missionaries and itinerant teachers, and opening one’s home for the assembly of believers to meet (Matt. 10:11–15; Luke 9:4–5; 10:5–12; 24:28–31; Acts 9:43; 10:5–6; 17:5–7; 18:7; 20:20; 21:8–10, 15–16; 28:7; 2 John 1:10–11).” The goal of being hospitable was to honor the Father by loving others enough to “invite them into one’s home, make them feel welcome, meet their needs and provide a place for fellowship and acceptance.” “True Christian hospitality is making people feel at home, even when you wish they were at home.” While the need for providing food and lodging to strangers is still needed amongst the poor of our society, since most have their basic needs met our biblical hospitality must be approached differently than in Peter’s day. With the advances in technologies never has this world been more interconnected and yet most are starving to have genuine friendships of mutual respect, trust, and love. By developing genuine relationships our witness profoundly points to us being Christians and to the goodness of the Father who taught us how to love! For our hospitality to be an effective witness Peter warns it must not be done with “murmuring, grumbling or displeasure,” but with thanksgiving and overwhelming joy of the privilege to love whoever God sends our way!
Be a Faithful Steward
Not only is love a key ingredient for effective hospitality so is using our spiritual gifts. Even though we often wrestle with feelings of inadequacy, especially when it come to striving towards fulfilling kingdom goals, we must not forget as stewards of God’s manifold grace the Holy Spirit has given each believer at least one and often several spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7) to accomplish our God-given tasks! While a spiritual gift is not usually a natural talent God sometimes transforms what comes natural into a divine ability. There are five different lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament (Rom. 12:6–8; 1 Cor. 12:7–11; 12:28–30; Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 4:10).” To some the Spirit gives the gift of prophesy, to others tongues, to others discernment, to others almsgiving, to others acts of mercy, to others the ability to heal and to others the ability to teach or preach. To be good stewards of our spiritual gifts we must not use them for self-gain but instead reliably and humbly use them primarily to build up the body of Christ but also to let our light shine in the world by doing good deeds that point to the Father in heaven (Matthew 5:17). We are to exercise our gifts with great zeal and in the manner that reflects their divine purpose. For example, in verse 11 Peter tells us that “if anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God!” We are to strive to be good stewards of our gifting so that we might “faithfully administer God’s grace in its various forms” and in doing so be judged favorably upon Christ’s return.
To be alert and soberminded by praying and practicing hospitality means we will have to schedule Christ into our busy calendars! In response to this statement, you might say but pastor I have no time to give, chose someone who has more time, and yet the truth is that we all have 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and for most 70 to 80 years to live (Psalms 90:10). “When the Bible speaks of time, it speaks of time as the boundary of opportunity.” For example, Paul told the church of Ephesus “be careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15). Since upon Christ’s return He will judge Christians on whether or not they were good stewards of their time, to be found faithful our focus must shift from pleasing self to honoring God. Let me tell you a parable of the shrewd but foolish barn builder in Luke 12.
A rich man yielded an abundant harvest and had no place to store his crops. To fix the problem he decided to tear down his existing barns and build bigger ones. He justified his action by stating that once the new barns were finished, he could store enough grain to take life easy for many years to come. Jesus called this shrewd businessman a fool because that very night his life was to end, and he would take nothing with him to the grave. Jesus finished the parable with a provocative statement: “this is how it will be with whoever stores things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
The key to redeeming our time, Paul says is to seek and then follow the will of God (Ephesians 5:17). As those who are “born to die,” we should be like Paul whose heart’s desire was to run the race and finish whatever ministry path God gave him! The dream of being found holy as God is holy upon His Son’s return then will only be realized if we pencil in every opportunity God assigns us so that by His grace we will be found faithful.
God may be Praised Through Jesus
Peter concludes by stating that the purpose of being alert and sober minded through prayer, loving deeply, offering hospitality, and using one’s spiritual gifts and time is “so that in all things God may be praised through Christ Jesus!” One will not be found faithful upon Christ’s return if one merely lets life happen or tries to store treasures on this earth. When the Titanic was finished being constructed the “man who was responsible for building the ship stood on top of the boat and said with confidence, “God can’t sink this ship.” We all know what happened to that ship and yet too many Christians are like this man and are taking great pride in their “human achievements” of service without asking the crucial question:” how are the accomplishments in my life pointing to God, not myself ? Christians “give glory to God when they heartily acknowledge that whatever service they offer the community, in charitable good works, edification or anything else, is in fact the overflowing of His abounding goodness.” So my question in closing is “are you on your own personal Titanic,” a ship build on the sands of human effort and destined to fall flat under the scrutiny of the perfect Judge or are you standing on God’s perfect will, bathed in grace and faith, offering the Lamb your life that is not your own? If you are living your life in expectation of the final judgement then you are to look forward to the Day when every knee will bow, and you will hear your Redeemer say, “good and faithful servant!”
**** to watch this sermon live go to the following link: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567
Sources Cited
Douglas J. Moo, “The Letters and Revelation,” in NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018).
Scot McKnight, 1 Peter, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996).
Edwin A. Blum, “1 Peter,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews through Revelation, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 12 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981).
John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1990–1999) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).
Tony Evans, “‘The Spheres of Stewardship,’” in Tony Evans Sermon Archive (Tony Evans, 2015), 1 Pe 4:7–11.
Daniel C. Arichea and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the First Letter from Peter, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1980), 137–138.
Wayne A. Grudem, 1 Peter: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 17, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988).
J. N. D. Kelly, The Epistles of Peter and of Jude, Black’s New Testament Commentary (London: Continuum, 1969), 176–177.
Norman Hillyer, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011).
David A. deSilva, “1 Peter,” in John’s Gospel, Hebrews–Revelation, ed. Craig A. Evans and Craig A. Bubeck, First Edition., The Bible Knowledge Background Commentary (Colorado Springs, CO; Paris, ON; Eastbourne: David C Cook, 2005).
Garwood P. Anderson, “Hospitality,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
