Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro*

We have been talking about priorities before Jesus comes.

We know that toward the end of the school year, we start studying for finals.

It’s probably not the best time to be distracted or consumed with other things.

Teachers would say, “We need to focus now!

Get ready to take finals.”

We also know that at the last week before the wedding is probably not the best time to take a vacation.

Priorities before big events are very important!

Yes, there are priorities before the end or transitions of major points in life.

In the New Testament, God wants us live with the thought that Jesus can come at any moment.

The people in Noah’s day, Jesus said, thought they had all the time in the world and so they were eating, drinking, marrying (in other words, just enjoying life, but not living as people with priorities) “and they were all unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matt.

24:37-39).

I want the Lord to find me with the right priorities.

I don’t want to waste my life.

I only have a few years and it’s going by pretty quickly.

I want to live with purpose, passion and living life God’s way and not my way.

Why is this so important?

Listen to Paul: “I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line.

I’m giving it everything I got.

No sloppy living for me!

I’m staying alert and in top condition.

I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself (1 Cor.

9:26-27 /The Message/).

We don’t have another option!

Paul actually uses the word “disqualified.”

You know what that means?

Out of the race.

It doesn’t matter how you started.

It doesn’t matter who’s running faster than you in the race.

It doesn’t matter who finished before you.

All that matters is that you ran the race.

He says that living sloppily, not living with God’s priorities, living for yourself only  leads to you not going when Jesus comes.

Actually that is also what Peter is getting at in 1 Pet.

4:7-11.

In 1 Pet.

4:1-6, Peter talks about wasting your life as you live for your way.

This life is a gift from God and we will have to give an account with what we did with it.

The second paragraph from 1 Pet.

4:7-11 talks about living for God’ way.

I showed you this chart last week that contrasts the two:

| *Living my way **(1 Pet.

4:1-6)* | *Living God’s way **(1 Pet.

4:7-11)*|

| Out of control (4:3-4) | Self-controlled (4:7) |

| Drunkenness (4:3) | Sober-minded (4:7) |

| Selfish Lust (4:3) | Sacrificial Love (4:8) |

| Self-obsessed | Others-focused (4:8-10) |

| Exploitation of others (4:3-4) | Ministry~/Service to others(4:9-11) |

| Temporary (4:5) | Eternal (4:11) |

| Ends in judgment (4:5) | Ends in God’s glory and praise(4:11) |

So I want to live for God’s way.

What are God’s priorities that He wants us to get on before He returns?

We said first of all:

*I.   **A focused prayer life (1 Pet.

4:7)*

Peter first calls us from distractions mentally intoxicating us, cluttering our minds from what’s most important: talking to God, developing a growing intimacy with God.

People ready for Jesus’ return are people who are drawing upon God’s energy and strength in prayer.

Secondly,

*II.

**A sacrificial love for others (1 Pet.

4:8-9)*

Not surprising to find after his discussion of the vertical relationship with God, Peter mentions the horizontal relationship with others.

They go together.

You cannot say you love God if you don’t love people.

Peter says not just to barely love, but to EARNESTLY love, which is a love that stretches you to the limit, i.e. sacrificial love.

Peter gives us two ways to stretch that love: First, practice:

/a)    //Forgiveness/

Peter calls it love covering a multitude of sin.

Love does not “cover up,” but covers sin is covered and not held against others because of God’s love forgiving us and not being held against us.

Secondly, sacrificial love means:

/a)    //Cheerful Hospitality /

Look at 1 Pet.

4:9.

So sacrificial love stretches you when you have to forgive.

It will also stretch you when you have to serve an give of your resources, time, energy and personal space.

Jesus took a towel and basin to wash his disciples feet (John 13).

Love for others makes you want to serve them.

Ed Clowney says, “It is the love of God that brings us to our brother’s feet; it is the /grace/ of God that fills our basin for service.”[1]

The Greek word for hospitality is philoxenia.

You may have heard of xenophobia right?

That is the fear of strangers.

Philoxenia, on the other hand, means “love of strangers.”

In Peter’s day, “…travelers would rely on acquaintances, friends, and relatives to provide lodging for the night.

In general, inns were unsafe and uncomfortable.

Therefore, travelers avoided inns and sought accommodations with private parties.”[2]

Is hospitality a spiritual gift?

I don’t like asking that question, because many believers then think they are exempted from doing something because they feel they are not especially gifted to do it.

“I don’t have the gift of evangelism, so I never evangelize.”

Giving is listed as a spiritual gift (Rom.

12:8).

Does that mean you never give at all?

That is not a biblical view of spiritual gifts.

We are all called to evangelize (Matt.

28:18-20) and give to the work of the ministry, but some are especially gifted by God to do it.

I think the same with hospitality.

In fact, it shows up in the list of requirements to be a church overseer (1 Tim.

3:2).

What does it mean to be hospitable?

I like Pastor Bill Versteeg’s definition: “The divine enablement to share with others our home, our lives, our personal space and resources without communicating a need for performance or an expectation of return.”[3]

He says “communicating a need for performance.”

This means true biblical hospitality does not rely on human standards of acceptance: being a good conversationalist, attractive, intelligent, good personality, etc.

And neither do you show hospitality hoping the person would then invite you to their place (this is why he says, “expectation of return”).

But true biblical hospitality is what Henri Nouwen says, “… is the gifted ability to focus our attention on others.”[4]

This is why it is sacrificial love and why hospitality is different from entertaining people at your home.

I like what Commentator Barton says: “Being /hospitable/ is different from social entertaining.

Entertaining focuses on the host—the home must be spotless; the food must be well prepared and abundant; the host must appear relaxed and good-natured.

Hospitality, in contrast, focuses on the guests.

Their needs— whether for a place to stay, nourishing food, a listening ear, or acceptance—are the primary concern.