1 Peter Bible Study #12: Christian, Endure Until the End

Wars, illnesses, confusion, darkness, and evil. Our world is all sorts of messed up. If you’ve been doing your Bible reading plan, you know that back in Genesis things weren’t always this way but following the fall in chapter 3, death has entered the world and we know that sin eventually gives way to death. In our world, this is the natural cycle of things. Life gives way to death. Happiness gives way to sorrow. Good gives way to bad. This is the cycle of life that we’re currently in in this fallen world. Yet, we know that this world is not all that there is. We know that there is an eternity to come because this world is not our home. Lots of people are speculating about the end of this world right now. When will it happen? What needs to happen next? The New Testament isn’t really concerned with answering those two questions of when and what’s next, the New Testament is much more concerned with this question: How should God’s people live between now and then? This comes up over and over in the New Testament - we saw in Hebrews multiple calls to persevere and endure. This shows up in Romans as well. Tonight it will show up in 1 Peter 4.

Consider this: If you were told that the world would end in 24 hours, how would you spend your last day?

2012 illustration

Now, we don’t know when Christ will return contrary to what your favorite prophetic teacher tells you - if Jesus said only the Father knows, that means that only the Father knows and anyone who tells you otherwise is a false prophet and you need to read Deuteronomy 18 to see what to do with false prophets (it’s not good)! We don’t know when Christ will return, but the Bible tells us to be prepared. Not to be concerned. Not to be in denial. Not to be in despair. But to be prepared. In fact, Jesus uses the example of the flood of Noah in Luke 17

Luke 17:26–27 CSB

26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: 27 People went on eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

If you are in Christ, the greater Noah, you are safely on board His Ark (cross) by faith. The flood waters can rise but you don’t have to be afraid. Because of Jesus, you’re safe. With all the talk about the end times, it is especially relevant for us tonight to dive into our text to see how the local church should operate because the “end is near.” We are hopeful, not hopeless. Faithful, not fearful. We can walk through difficult times of suffering because we know the end is near. Let’s read our text tonight and examine how we are called to live as exiles in this world.

1 Peter 4:7–11 CSB

7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be alert and sober-minded for prayer. 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

Because The End is Near, We Must Do 5 Things

Now, whenever you say end times it’s like everyone’s spiritual antennas pop up an extra foot or two because this is a topic that intrigues many people. In fact, I’ve had people ask me before: Why aren’t you preaching about what’s going on in Israel? There are times where we have to address things - think of the Sunday after 9/11 or a community that has been devastated by a storm, or shooting. There are times we have to address something head on. But if you have to address every world event that takes place, every rocket launch, every prophecy, every government situation, y’all, we’ll be so busy on topics that we’ll never get to the text. Whenever the text addresses something, we’ll address it! Tonight what does our text say? The end of all things is near - so what do we have to address? The end of all things!

This is Eschatology - the study of the end times. Where people get their fancy charts and arrows and diagrams and calculators out to figure out what to expect.

Contextually, Peter was present whenever Jesus ascended back to heaven to Acts

Acts 1:6–8 CSB

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Mic drop, right? Jesus says that it is not Peter’s business to know when He would come back - Peter’s business was to do Jesus’ work until He returned. To share the Gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth - this is our same call today! It’s fun to talk about millennium reigns, judgment, the timing of the tribulation, and those details. But those aren’t in view here. Peter isn’t sharing a message of fear by saying this “dispensation” is about to begin, get ready or else you might be left behind. He’s saying that there are things that Jesus promised would happen that are happening - the Gospel is advancing, persecution is escalating, lives are changing. His return is near. Some suggest that Peter was wrong - obviously this was nearly 2000 years ago and Jesus still has not returned. Peter wasn’t wrong. Think of what Jesus said during His earthly ministry - Mark 1:15

Mark 1:15 CSB

15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Peter earlier said this

1 Peter 1:20 CSB

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.

Peter believes that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, and ruling His Kingdom at least in some capacity right now. In other words, the end has already begun. It began with the resurrection of Jesus and it will end with the return of Jesus - we’re living in this already/not yet dimension.

Why do you think people spend so much time, effort, and energy, studying this specific topic?

It’s interesting

It’s Biblical

Yet, if you look at what follows in the text, we see that Peter’s goal is not to waste time today worrying or arguing about tomorrow. His goal in introducing this idea is to stir Christians to action. If your view on eschatology does not first motivate you to evangelize then you have the wrong eschatology. This congregation was suffering. They were hurting. They were isolated. Yet, Peter’s instruction was to keep on working. Keep on enduring. He wasn’t giving them escapism - He was giving them endurance. 5 things to do while we endure with our eyes focused on the reality of Christ’s return.

Pray

The answer to this obsession with end times dates and paranoia is to be sober minded. This doesn’t mean we don’t care - we should care about God’s Word. But instead of panic, the reality of Christ’s return should lead God’s people to prayer. Consider the life of Jesus Christ. He knew that His end was near in the Garden of Gethsemane and what did Jesus spend time doing? Praying to the Father. As we talked about earlier, if we knew that we only had a period of time left, spending some of that time in prayer is not only a good thing but it’s a Biblical thing. Consider Jesus’ prayer in the Garden. Did Jesus give the Father His bucket list of things to happen? Did He approach the Father with His checklist of things that He needed God to do right away? He did the opposite. He prayed, “Not my Will but Yours be done.” Sidenote, really good song by CityAlight called Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me based on this prayer and the life of Jesus - check it out!

Why should the end of all things lead us to pray?

It should lead us to pray for those who do not know Christ!

For two, it should lead us to pray for ourselves to remain faithful to King Jesus

Finally, it should lead us to pray for our brothers and sisters to persevere during difficult days

We pray because we know that this world is not our home and the end of our exile is near

Love One Another

Because the end is near we must love one another. This verse is a quotation of Proverbs 10:12 and the literal Greek word for constant is that of sincere or earnest or genuine. This isn’t a forced love that is faked for a service and then you leave and go back to hating one another. This is a genuine love for one another that is only possible in Christ. We see love show up in the context of the body of Christ often in Scripture (316 times in the New Testament in general). Why should a church focused on worshiping and serving Jesus then show love for one another?

Because this is what Jesus has done for us. While we were sinners He died for us.

What are some obstacles to loving one another in the local church?

Preferences

Differences

Our sin

Peter shares that love covers a multitude of sins - this is a bit debated as we know from Hebrews that it is the blood of Jesus that covers our sins as the blood of bulls and goats could never do this. As one pastor shared, “Love takes the oxygen out of sin the way a blanket chokes the air from one caught in fire. As long as oxygen is present, forest fires gage. But if we could take the air away, the blaze would settle down, and the land would be saved. May we love in a way that nothing evil is allowed to breathe in the church long. May we keep short accounts because in the last days, we must maintain constant love for one another.

Our staff has been reading a book by Dr. Jason Allen from MBTS on Leadership called Turnaround. In the book he shares that he and the team at MBTS practice what’s called the 7-day window. If someone has offended someone else, they have 7 days to bring the concern up and address it. After 7 days, you can’t bring it up. What does this do? It prevents problems from festering for months and years. I heard of a pastor who was told indirectly that someone in his church had a problem with him stemming from over 10 years ago over something that he had no knowledge of. Yet, that individual kept that anger and frustration built up for over 10 years. Y’all that is no healthy at all in any forum, but especially in the church. We must love one another as the days grow darker.

Show Hospitality

Next Peter shares to be hospitable to one another without grumbling. This is hard for us to grasp in 2024, but in the 1st century world whenever someone would travel, there wasn’t a Motel 6 or Holliday Inn to stay in for your business trip to Jerusalem or Athens. Where would people stay? Usually a traveler would go to the square of the town and hopefully be invited to stay with a kind resident who was conducting business or buying something in the town square. Christian missionaries like Paul would go from city to city to share the good news, and they required people to host them as they traveled. Hospitality was vital for the spread of Christianity and it was important for church life as well. In these early days, almost every church was running in someones home. As the church grew, the more space the people needed - usually the people met in wealthy homes as people graciously opened up their space to worship with brothers and sisters in Christ.

Do you think there were ever rambunctious children that might have made a bit of a mess during these services? Probably. Peter is sharing to be hospitable and don’t grumble whenever something happens. Don’t grumble about the cost. Don’t grumble about the carpet. Love one another and open your arms to one another. Why do you think the Western church struggles with hospitality at an individual and congregational level?

We’re an individualized people

As we think about the end drawing near, we must welcome our arms to people and share with them the good news of Jesus Christ! I’m thankful that this church is a hospitable church - every time I meet with a new member, I ask them this question, “Why do you want to join FBC?” And I get all sorts of different answers, but one that almost always is brought up is this, “I felt welcomed here by so many people!” We, myself included, must do our best to show hospitality and not grumble. We’re continuing to grow numerically, and I’ll go ahead and say it, you might lose “your pew” - please don’t be the person to complain and grumble about that. That’s a good problem to have as many churches are having the opposite problem!

Use Spiritual Gifts

As a Christian, you are given a spiritual gift and you are given that gift by God with an expectation to use it because God gifts with an expectation to receive a return on that investment. Literally the word for gift here is the word Charism which is from the root charis where we get the word - grace! Whenever you are saved by grace, through faith in Christ, you receive a grace gift from God - we call it a spiritual gift. This is a gift that you didn’t have before that you now have in Christ. We have all types of gifts - mercy, service, leadership, preaching, teaching, hospitality, administration, the list goes on. What does Peter share we should do with this gift? We should be a good steward of this gift.

We are a body, a family, and in this family we are all different. This week I’ve been studying about corporate worship. Another sidenote, Matt Merker’s book on corporate worship is a short but powerful read on this subject. The more you read about corporate worship the more you realize how much diversity there is in the body of Christ. We have people gifted in so many areas in our church by God that allow this to happen week in and week out, but we all have a Biblical roll to play as a congregation. Some of us serve behind the scenes, some serve in front of the scenes, some serve by teaching children, some serve by holding babies, some serve by setting an example to children in the pew of what to do during worship. We’re a body and we’re gifted in different ways but this is true: The body needs you, and you need the body. There is no Christian who cannot contribute - we all have a role to play and when you are not here to play your role - you are missed. Maybe you’re thinking that you can’t sing and there’s no point of you to be here on a Sunday - bologna! Your smile, presence, and gift are missed. I’ll give my man Pete a hard time. Pete has the gift of encouragement and I need a good encourager from time to time. I miss it when my man, Pete is not here.

Serve One Another

Peter shares that there are 2 types of these grace gifts: Speaking Gifts and Serving Gifts

The leaders of the church are gifted in a way to speak God’s Word, not their own. Peter will address these people next chapter and they are called elders. There is never a church in the Bible that only has one elder. There are multiple. Multiple people preach, teach, and use these speaking gifts. As the end is approaching, we need more people to use their speaking gifts to share the good news of Jesus with others. This is why Paul encourages Timothy to do

2 Timothy 2:2 CSB

2 What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

A healthy church is one where people are encouraged to use their gift and teaching others. Think about all of the people who teach God’s Word: Pastors, Missionaries, Sunday school teachers, youth/children/nursery workers, for that matter, even if you don’t do those things, you as a Christian are commanded to go and make disciples in Matthew 28:18-20. This might not be your gift, but you are to share the good news.

Some are truly gifted with service gifts. Serving others can be exhausting but praise the Lord for equipping and sustaining faithful servants to minister behind the scenes, often times. Notice this, neither speaking or serving is more important than the other in the text. Both are grounded in the Lord - speak God’s Words and serve from God’s provision. One of the problems that early Christians had was desiring a gift that they did not have. Have you seen this? What is the fundamental problem of desiring a different spiritual gift than the one God gave you?

You are in turn saying that God made a mistake

God gifts each of His children for a reason and with a purpose in mind. There are no insignificant gifts because there are no insignificant Christians!

Why Do These 5 Things? For the Glory of God

Why do we obey and keep our eyes focused on Jesus? Ultimately because this is our purpose. Why do you and I serve in the Church? Why do we give to the ministry of the church? Why do we sacrifice our time, talent, and treasure? Not because it’s easy - but because this is what God calls us to do and obeying Him means that He receives the glory. We don’t pray and love one another and sing and serve for ourselves, we do these things for His glory. As we think of the end being near and of the eventual return of Jesus Christ, we know that we have much to celebrate, but we also have much to do. We worship while we wait – Jesus deserves faithful, sacrificial service from His people!

This is our call as God’s people. To worship while we wait on His return. To get to work doing what He has called us to do. To be faithful and to serve Him well. This Sunday as we look at congregational praise and how the Bible calls on us to sing to one another in Ephesians 5, think about this: Why do we gather for worship?

Not because it’s easy

Not because we don’t have other things we could be doing

We gather to glorify our God

This final verse serves as a doxology - as many of Paul’s letters have. A final charge, but one done in song and what better way for us to close our time together than with doxology

“Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

Praise Him all creatures here below

Praise Him above ye heavenly host

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

Amen”