Living With The End In View
Notes
Transcript
Intro: When time is short we focus on what is important.
When a loved one is close to the end of their life we try with urgency to say the things we feel they need to know even if it is just one last “I love you.”
The closer the game clock gets to zero during a sporting event the greater urgency the players play with.
Logically we must live with greater urgency the closer we get to either Christ’s return or our own physical end. The problem is, we don’t usually have the spiritual maturity to accomplish this. We know Christ could return at any moment, but we don’t often live like it, and we know that we are not guaranteed even our next breath must less another day, but we don’t often live like it.
What we really need to know is what does the Bible have to say about living with the end in view? Are we living in the last days today?
A major part of Jesus’ message was that the “kingdom of heaven is at hand” I tend to see this as Jesus genuinely offering the kingdom to Israel, but knowing that it would be rejected.
1 Peter 4:7 “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.”
The word “end” functionally means fulfillment or culmination
Not so much the cessation of all things
Romans 13:12 “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”
Mark 13:35–37 “Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!””
James 5:7–8 “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
1 John 2:18 “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.”
Revelation 22:10 “And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.”
Things to consider
The Apostles clearly believed that they were living in the last days.
That was almost 2000 years ago. So what gives?
Jesus was actually very clear that “no man knows the day or the hour” of his return. So why did the apostles believe that it would happen in their lifetime?
The believed that because it was the most appropriate thing for them to believe.
It seems to me that in a biblical sense everything on this side of the resurrection is the “last days”.
And perhaps we have to recognize that the “last days” mentioned in the NT is more from God’s perspective than from ours.
Yes, I choose to believe that I am living in the last days, however, not because of what I read in the news, but because of what I read in His word.
God chose not to reveal when Christ is coming back for a reason, and I believe that reason is that He wants us to live every moment with some sense of urgency for Christ’s return.
Wrong ideas about living in the last days
Over emphasized eschatology
Join a commune and drink the koolaid
Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die
1, 2 Peter, Jude (4) Living in Light of the End (4:7–11)
We might expect a call for extraordinary behavior, thinking something unusual would be demanded in light of the arrival of the end. Peter exhorted his readers, however, to pursue virtues that are a normal part of New Testament paraenesis. We are reminded of what 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
5 Essentials for Living in the Last Days
5 Essentials for Living in the Last Days
Serious Prayers
“Therefore” - because the end of all things is at hand… here are some of the things you should be doing...
Peter gives two adjectives that should help understand how we should pray in the last days. In the original languages they seem to be somewhat synonomous thus Peter is probably repeating himself for emphasis.
Serious- sound judgment, self controlled
Watchful - alert, sober minded
In other words our prayers should reflect our priorities.
Prioritize the spiritual over the physical
Prioritize the gospel over comfort
Getting closer to the culmination of all things shouldn’t lead us to act irrationally or erratically, but seriously and alert.
Their sensible and alert thinking is to be used for prayer, for entreating God to act and move in the time that still remains. The realization that God is bringing history to a close should provoke believers to depend on him, and this dependence is manifested in prayer, for in prayer believers recognize that any good that occurs in the world is due to God’s grace.
Fervent Love
Peter prioritizes the extending of love by beginning with the phrase “above all”
The adjective used here is fervent
Earnest
Consistent
Deeply
In the original languages it was a word that described taut muscles, meaning effort was being made. Love is work
As brothers and sisters in Christ we are called to bear one another’s burdens
This cannot be done if:
You don’t ask
You don’t share
This kind of love has an important side effect, it covers a multitude of sins
This reminds us of Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.”
The simple truth is that you are much more likely to forgive someone if you love them. The greatest example of this being our redemption in Christ. Christ’s love covered all our sins.
Eager Hospitality
Family Meeting: This is an area where our church struggles.
Hospitality is the opening of your home and resources to those outside your family as a means of extending the love of Christ to our brothers and sisters in Christ and our neighbor.
It was a command in the OT law and commended by Jesus in the NT.
This essential comes with a side command - without complaining.
In other words the heart attitude with which you extend hospitality matters to God.
It is important to have a good attitude about such things.
When was the last time you opened your home or resources for the purpose of Christian fellowship or evangelism?
Faithful Service
Everyone who knows Christ has been spiritually enabled by the Spirit for the purpose of serving in the church.
1 Corinthians 12:7 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:”
Paul takes a deep dive into these gifts in 1 Cor. 12-14 by comparing their use in the church to the function of a human body.
1 Corinthians 12:14 “For in fact the body is not one member but many.”
Some of us are fingers and some of us are toes but we all have a purpose.
An idle hand is not fulfilling its purpose and neither is a foot that spends all day propped up on the coffee table.
If you are not using your gifts then you are not fulfilling the purpose for why God put you on this earth.
On top of that you will be greatly surprise by how much contentment you experience when you are doing what God put you on this earth to do.
Olympic runner Eric Liddell once said, “when I run I feel God’s pleasure.”
A short ways into v. 11 Peter says that if anyone serves he should serve with the strength that God supplies.
Biblical Preaching
“If anyone teaches or preaches let him preach the word of God.”
Not soap boxes or pet peeves
Nor current events or political opinions
Purpose: to glorify God through Jesus Christ
Purpose: to glorify God through Jesus Christ