INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: Being only days away now from something known as “March Madness,” the pace and intensity of college basketball games begin to reach a new level. There’s a sense of urgency as teams begin to prepare for a run that will eventually result in four unbeaten teams, one of which will become the new NCAA champions. Office workers scurry to get their brackets filled out. Coaches try to put together a game plan that will insure a win. The under-dog, 16th seeded teams hope for an upset.The sports commentators pontificate over “bracketology.” The number 1 seeds fear the “spoiler” no-name team that gets hot just
as the tournament starts. Fans hurry to the box office to purchase a ticket when they find out that their team made it to the Final Four. It’s a fevered pitch as young athletes aspire to that “one-shining” moment when their will and resolve will be sorely tested and only the strong survive.
Transition: This atmosphere sets up our text today and really sets up the entire New Testament. There’s a sense of urgency in the New Testament. It breathes expectancy with a lot more at stake than any Final Four game.
Observation: The Apostle John wrote in 90 AD “It is the last hour… (1 John 2:18).” Paul wrote in Romans 13:12: “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.” Peter picks up on this intensity when he wrote: “The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer (1 Peter 4:7).” “The coming of the Lord is at hand,” James wrote (5:8). Christ said in Revelation 1:3; 22:20, “Surely, I am coming soon.” In fact, Peter had a great deal to say about time. In 1 Peter 1:5, he said that Christ provided “a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” In 1 Peter 1:17, he said to “Conduct yourselves in the fear of God during the time of your stay upon the earth.” And in 1:20, he wrote: “Christ appeared in these last times…” In 5:6 Peter said: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.” Peter believed that our time on earth was limited but that there was such a thing as eternity and that this world was not all that there was. As a result, he wanted to make the most of his time today.
Background: In 1 Peter 4, Peter very urgently writes to a group of suffering Christians, telling them that the end of all things is near. A time of testing is closing in. Things are beginning to reach a fevered-pitch in his world. Pandemonium is about to break loose. Only the well prepared will survive. Peter wants them to live with this sense of urgency. Time was short. I don’t think Peter wanted them to always go around in a hurry. No, rather, he wanted them to have this sense of the passing of time and the opportunities that we must take advantage of while we still have the chance.
Title: Living With a Sense of Urgency
Key Word: Since the end was near for Peter, Peter defined for us what a life led with a sense of urgency looks like in the light of the end?
Text: 1 Peter 4:1-11
Recitation: 4:1 So, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same attitude, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin, 4:2 in that he spends the rest of his time on earth concerned about the will of God and
not human desires. 4:3 For the time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the non-Christians desire. You lived then in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, boozing, and wanton idolatries. 4:4 So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you. 4:5 They will face a reckoning before Jesus Christ who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 4:6 Now it was for this very purpose that the gospel was preached to those who are now dead, so that though they were judged in the flesh by human standards they may live spiritually by God’s standards. 4:7 For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer. 4:8 Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. 4:9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining. 4:10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 4:11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
OUTLINE
Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency are…
Outfitted with the Right Attitude Toward Sin and God’s Will
4:1 So, since Christ suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same attitude, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin, 4:2 in that he spends the rest of his time on earth concerned about the will of God and not human desires.
Exposition: The picture is of putting on an attitude as a suit of armor. Our attitude is like a weapon as we do spiritual warfare. And what is this attitude? Well it’s the same one that Christ took toward sin and suffering. It has to do with dying to sin and living according to God’s will.
Dying to Sin: Armed with the knowledge that once he had completed the task of bearing our sins on the cross, Jesus would never again have to struggle with sin or temptation--that would all be over with. Sin will have been defeated. The attitude we should arm ourselves with in living a life of urgency is like that. We should consider ourselves “dead” to sin…finished with it. We don’t have to respond to it anymore. Sin’s power has been broken, Paul wrote in Romans 6. We are free to believe that and live differently! When sin says to jump, we don’t have to jump anymore. Do we still jump to sin? Yes, we do, but we don’t have to.
Illustration: When the Communists ruled in Communist Russia and said to “Jump”, you better jump. But when Communism went down in Russia and lost its power, the citizens in Russia did not have to listen to the Communist anymore. They were free to live according to a different kind of government. When sin ruled in your life, it said to “Jump” and you said, “How high?” When sin said, “Go get smashed.” You said, “I’m ready.” But now that new life has come in Christ, when sin says “Jump.” You can say, “I don’t have to anymore.”
Application: You see the one thing that will destroy our time on earth faster than anything is spending our lives feeding the impulses of sin. Think about what sin does to our lives and how it robs us.
Living According to God’s Will: Being dead to sin as it were, we can focus now on living the will of God, and any sufferings we might incur while endeavoring to live a righteous life, we do so with anticipation of a better tomorrow, just like Jesus did. On this latter point, I would add…
Illustration: It’s like a quarterback in the Superbowl who gets injured in the 4th quarter. He would be 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. Christians who stand on the edge of history, in the 2-minute warning of time, should arm themselves 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 His will for me to receive it, then so be it.
Clarification: Peter applies this principle to us. He’s saying that we should understand that suffering for what is right is sometimes part of the Christian life, but there’s coming a day when we will neither suffer nor sin anymore. We will be done with it. In light of this, live your life 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. We will not merely look to a lifestyle of sin to avoid the difficulty of suffering for what is right. We are to consider ourselves dead and unresponsive to the life of sin.
Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency…
Abandon a Destructive Lifestyle
4:3 For the time that has passed was sufficient for you to do what the non-Christians desire. You lived then in debauchery, evil desires, drunkenness, carousing, boozing, and wanton idolatries. 4:4 So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify (belittle) you.
Exposition: Those living with a sense of urgency do not live lives shaped by the desires of sin. We used to live our lives to please the world, and ourselves. Now the world doesn’t understand our attitude; they don’t understand why we don’t plunge into a life of sensual pleasure--drunkeness, sexual immorality, worshipping money and fame.
Observation: A dramatic life-change draws ridicule from some but as the passing of time verifies the change, then ridicule slowly turns into respect. You see, people who sense the urgency of the hour have abandoned a destructive lifestyle in preparation for the age to come. They may suffer for this. But their witness and statement of faith will have an impact!
Illustration: Charles Colson, one of my heroes, is a case in point. 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 enjoyed the newspaper cartoons of this new “Born-Again” Christian. Now, several 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 places of academia all over the world, proclaiming the gospel and explaining our world and how we fit into it. Hearing God’s call several years ago, there has been this sense of urgency by Colson to see God’s kingdom come established in the lifestyle of believers on this earth. Abandoning a destructive lifestyle path by God’s grace made it all possible.
Application: When you choose to live life like 1 Peter 4:3 thinking that you have all the time and resources in the world to party life away, you become so much less than you could be.
Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency are…
Aware of an Accounting
4:5 They will face a reckoning before Jesus Christ who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 4:6 Now it was for this very purpose that the gospel was preached to those who are now dead, so that though they were judged in the flesh by human standards they may live spiritually by God’s standards. 4:7 For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer.
Exposition: Peter says we need to understand that the end is near, that living in this time requires clear headedness, self-control, because we will all have to give an account someday.
Explanation: There will be an accounting, that whether we are living when that time comes or whether we have already passed on that we will give an account for our lives. Even those who have gone before us will be judged. As we sit on the edge of history’s end we must be aware that Christ will judge the living and the dead. We must consider how we will be judged on that day. Our deeds will be laid bare.
Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency…
Keep Love Fervent
4:8 Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. 4:9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining.
Exposition: Love covers a multitude of sins. We are to do that fervently.
Transition: Those who live with a sense of urgency…
Do their Duty
4:10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 4:11 Whoever
speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be
glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Exposition: This passage is speaking about spiritual gifts. Peter does not list the gifts of the Spirit; he mentions only two broad categories of ministry: speaking and serving. And this is the
part that makes it important for us who live in history’s two minute warning to operate in the grace God gives us through spiritual gifts. There’s too much to get done for us to do in human strength. God has assembled us together and given us roles to play that He has divinely enabled us to fulfill, doing anything less will fall short of the goal. So as the trumpet-sound approaches we must work in God’s strength. Some will teach and instruct and equip, but all must serve and do their duty.
Illustration: The date was the 19th of May, 1780 – during the Revolutionary War. The place was Hartford, Connecticut. It was a day that went down in New England history as a terrible foretaste of Judgment Day. At noon, unexplainable, 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. The Connecticut House of Representatives was in session. As some men fell down, others clamored for an immediate adjournment. During such a moment, the Speaker of the House, one Colonel Davenport, came to his feet. He silenced and refocused them 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.”
Application: There is a sense of urgency that breathes through the New Testament. We of the faith and new community are not to panic. We are to simply do our duty.
CONCLUSION
Illustration: Mountain climbers sometimes fall into the snare of what is called “false-summit.” As they work to climb the mountain, they battle breathlessness, the fog and clouds, inclement weather, and darkness, struggling to reach the top all the way. Of course, they look up often to see how much further they have to go. Sometimes their perspective makes it look as if the top is just in reach. But when they reach the peak, they realize that the bigger peak that they’re trying to conquer is a mile or more away. It’s called “false-summit.”
Application: Watch out for spiritual “false-summit.” The environment in which we live distorts perspective. It’s easy to get severely disoriented on this mountain of life. We begin to get comfortable with sin and we dabble within it. We forget that we’re going to be held accountable someday and we live carelessly. Love grows weary when we realize that we have so far to go in our relationships. And caught up in our own lives, we forget to do our duty. I’ve set before you the mountain peak of living a life of urgency. I’ll plan on seeing you at the top!
