Gospel Living For The End
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1 Peter 4:7-11
1 Peter 4:7-11
7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Introduction
Introduction
In the previous verses that we looked at last Sunday Peter concluded with a reference to the final judgment that will be ministered to both the living and the dead. Which is an encouragement for those who are suffering, knowing that God has the final say. It also reminds us that our perseverance in the faith matters and that those practicing evil will be assessed and will be condemned on the final day. Peter also reminds us at the end of verse 6 that the gospel has been preached with a purpose, so that believers who suffer to the end of their lives, who seemed as if death has won, it gives believers a future hope of life because of the Gospel, because of the suffering, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and through Him we may live in the spirit according to the will of God!
Explanation
Explanation
Peter continues with this theme in verse 7 and focuses his attention from the relationship believers have with outsiders to how believers should relate to one another, reminding them that the end is near.
The End Is Near
The End Is Near
Take note to the beginning of verse 7 were it says,
The end of all things is near:
Peter opening verse 7 with the end of times should not be surprising. I mean, if you were suffering, by being mocked and riducled for your faith in Christ, it is a great comfort know that the end is coming, the end of suffering. The whole reason that the end is near is that Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection have ushered in the last days.
This is a very common theme in the New Testament that the end is near! Yet nowhere are we encouraged to set dates or look at signs and charts to disquished the last days! There is times we can get wrapped up in all the prophecies of the end times and instead of filling are hearts with joy and anticipation we fill it with fear of what is going to happen. What happens will be believers withdrawing from the world because they see the end coming, they gaze up looking for Christ return instead of reaching out to others around them. Sometimes it can go to the extreme in believing conspiracy thereoies, about government marking us with 666 and thereoies that drive us to hate and fear.
Also there is tendency to have a sense of entitlement to retire from our Christian walk, since the end is near let me start enjoying life, settle down, do what I want to do, which also has no bearing on the end times when mentioned in the New Testmant.
But when Peter makes mention of the end times, he wants the believers to think about how it should effect the way they live. Look at 2 Peter 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
The end should stimulate us to action in this world. The knowledge that believers are sojourners and exiles, whose time is short, should inspire them to make their lives count. Again refering back to last week, in verse 2 and 3 we have had plenty of time, and time suffiecient to carry out the desires of this world, live the rest of the time no longer for your desires but for the will of God.
That is what Peter is trying to communicate to this scattered group of Christians and to us. The end is near, therefore believers should live according to God’s will.
Peter is spuring believers to live in the following way and he gives three characteristics of Christian living.
The first one we will see in verse 7.
Be Soberly Wise
Be Soberly Wise
Look at verse 7 (1 Peter 4:7)
7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
Paul tells us to be of sound judgment and be sober. Paul knew that the nearness of the end will led believers to lose their heads and act on distorted truths or be mindless in their walk.
Their is a sense that we have heard and spoken about the end for a long time now, for centeruries and still day after day the end has not came. Again the end is not something we set a date to, but to provoke us to depend on God. We have no clue when it will happen, even to our own end we have no idea when we will breathe are last, but we should not live in manner that we do not believe it will happen soon.
But Peter encourages us to be soberly wise.
We do that by abstaining from the intoxicating influence of this world, of excessive drinking down the emotions and desires of our hearts. To live for the will of God. Our Christian walk is a walk of self- control, Our judgment becomes sound when we our sober, we can be alert and think according to the word of God and to our new nature given by God’s grace!
Peter is reminding us what he already stated in 1 Peter 1:13
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
To gird up the lions of our minds and be sober! Prepare for action and fix our hope on Him. So When we realize that God is bringing history to a close we should depend on Him, and this dependence is manifested in prayer, For this is the reason why we our to be of sound jundgement and sober is for the purpose of prayer.
For in prayers believers recongnize God’s grace and that any good that occurs is due to God’s grace! We should be in prayer for others, believers and non believers, praying for God’s grace to sustain to the end, because we regard the patiences of God not ending all things yet as salvation. If we are praying for others then we should love others, especially for other believers.
So the 2nd Characteristic Peter tells us is since the end is near than we should be...
Be Fervent In Love For One Another
Be Fervent In Love For One Another
Look at verse 8 (1 Peter 4:8)
8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Peter begins verse 8 with “Above all” showing that love is central in the Christian life. So when believers contemplate how to spend their lives in light of the end, we should remind ourselves of the priority of love. We can see the centrality of love in 1 Corinthians 13 when we see the description and value of love, “love is patient, love is kind” But Jesus tells us why love is priority in Matt 22:34-40
34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.
39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Believers should live their lives with love as the priority.
But Peter is encouraging us to maitain, to keep our love fervent for one another, brothers and sisters of God’s family! The reason is given to us because love covers a multitude of sins.
What does Peter mean by this?
Let me ask you this when you experience trials and the craziness of life come. We tend to get frustrated at others, we tend to find every fault about other, and get mad when others wrong us. Many of us have hatred towards others who has wronged us and what happens is we use the sins of others as a springboard to attack them. Jesus even warned how love is apt to grow cold Matt 24:12
12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
Peter tells us when we lavish love on one another, the sins and offenses of others are overlooked.
Proverbs 10:12 says
12 Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.
Church is we have hatred towards anyone who has sinned against us we should forgive them, we should lavish love on them. My pastor when I told him I was called to preach with them, he told me Christian love is loving others when it is hard to do so, when there is every reason not do to so, Love them. That is the way we should love one another! To regard one other more important than yourselve!
It is easy to go looking for an excuse not to love someone, and it is sad when Christians do it!
I think Peter is recalling what Jesus taught him, remember when Peter was looking for a reason to be able to have a reason not to love. In Matt. 18:21-22 we see is encounter with this question
21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
He than begins to tell a story about a king coming to settle accounts with his slaves, which is a great illustration.
The king came went to one of his slaves that owed him 10,000 talents, but the slave could not pay, so the king was going to sell him and his wife and kids and all that he had for repayment. Well the slave fell down and begged for mercy and to give him more time. What happen was that the king felt compassion for him and instead of giving him more time to repay, showed mercy and released him and forgave his debt. Well the slave went out and found one of his fellow slave and demanded payment of a debt of 100 denarii, the other slave could not pay and begged for mercy, but the forgiven slave showed no mercy, grabbed the other and began to choke him, and threw the other in prison until he could repay. The king heard what happened and summoned the forgiven slave and said this in Matt. 18:32-33
32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’
Which in the end tells what we need to know.
We should love because God first loved us, that Christ laid His life down for His enemies, We should forgive much, because God forgave us much, When God had every reason to pour down His wrath and hatred towards sinners, He showed us mercy while we were still sinners!
Have you experienced the forgiveness of God, where your love over flows towards other that wronged you or do you hunt for repayment of past sins, of past hurts, of past wrongs.
So what does this love for one another look like, well The last Characteristic Peter tells us is since the end is near we should be ...
Be Hospitable To One Another
Be Hospitable To One Another
Look at Verses 9-10 (1 Peter 4:9-10)
9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint.
10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Hospitality was a mark for the Christian community, and it was crucial during the time of Peter and these Christian he was writing to, because most could not afford lodging or could not recieve lodging for what they believed in, so it depended on the willingness of believers to open their doors to their homes and provide rooms for those who visited. Jesus told the disciples when he sent them out to find homes that our worthy in Matt. 10:11
11 “And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city.
and again in the early church they did not meet in church buildings but the would meet often in various homes, so hospitality was necessary in order to have church.
Sometimes Christians would be persecuted and in distress, sometimes all their possessions would be taken from them, and would be driven away to distant countries for safety, such as these Christians who Peter called at the beginning of his letter “aliens scattered throughout..”. They would starve if their fellow christians would not recieve them and help them, which requires a fervent love for others and for one another.
Today do you show hospitality to believers who are in need. Most can’t imagine christians in need and say that God will deliver them if the just pray over it, the prosperity gospel has no room for “a christian in need”, the name it and claim has no room for “a christians in need”, because both show true salvation as God blessing all your earthly needs, that true faith can tell this mountain to move and it will do so. Yet as we have learned in 1 Peter if God wills us to suffer than you want be able to move that mountain.
In what manner are we show hospitatlity?
Serving One Another
Serving One Another
We do it without complaint. How many times have I heard someone say when they have a chance to help, this is mine, I earned this, so they can earn it. We run away from charity, from helping others and we fear using what we have to help others. Sometimes we get upset because we are helping someone constantly or we get tired of always helping, tired of serving.
Peter tells us to do it without complaint and he reminds us of the reason why we should, by comparing each believers about what they have recieved. Look at the beginning of verse 10 “As each one has recieved a gift”
We have all recieved the gift of grace from God, we are all justified by his grace, all have received mercy which caused us to be born again to a living hope in Christ and we have freely received it, so we should freely give this same love, this same mercy, this same grace to others. We have received the undeserved, unmeritted favor of God. Not only that but each one has freely received gifts that differ from others according to the grace God given to us. So Peter tells us to “employ it in serving” or in the KJV “Minister the same”
Romans 12:6 says
6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
God’s grace manifests itself “in various forms”, so that each one has different spiritual gifts that are diverse and it reveals the complex character of God’s grace.
Peter again gives a comparison on how we should us these gifts, at the end of verse 10 he tells us “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God”. So pretty we should serve one another using are gifts like good managers of the abundant grace that He has given us. The whole point is whatever gift, ordinary or extraordinary, whatever power, ability, or capacity of doing good. It was given to us by God, by His grace, and we should not view ourselves as masters over it, but to be stewards, to be managers of what He has given to us to showcase the amazing giver of grace, Our God. So whatever we have received from God, we ought to look upon them as received for the use of helping and serving one another.
Peter clarifes his direction about gifts by seperating them into two categories and the purpose.
The Purpose and The Way
The Purpose and The Way
Look at the last verse 11 (1 Peter 4:11)
11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Peter purpose in separating gifts into two categories was to speak of them in general because his main focus is in the way we should us them. So each spiritual gift can be placed in one of these categories.
So if you have a speaking gift then speak as if you are speaking the declarations of God.
And if you have a serving gift than serve as if God has provided the strength to serve.
How easy is it to think we can assist others with our own wisdom, and our own strength. Yet is the our duty as christians not to give earthly suggestions but to speak to one another the things of God, to speak according to the gospel. It is our duty to serve by the strength of God, according to the gospel.
When we speak God’s words rather than our own and serve in God’s strength rather than our own, God through Jesus Christ receives the glory. God receives glory because He is the one who has provided the wisdom and strength for ministry. That is the way we should serve one another, The provider is always the one who is praised. If we make ourselves out to be the source of wisdom and strength, we deserve the to be complimented, but if our understanding and energy comes from the Lord, he gets the glory as the one who empowers His people. In which Peter tells us the purpose of our serving “so that in ALL THINGS God may be glorified”
We should serve according to the best of our abilities God has given to us and the nature of our Christian work is a high calling and a hard work, we are to glorify the goodness and kindness of our Master, and the excellency of His reward, so in whatever we are called to do we do it for the Honor of God and the good of other and we do it with all our might. Jesus tells us in Matt 5:16
16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
But God is not glorified by any thing we do if we do not offer it to Him through the efficiency and merits of Jesus Christ, who is the only way to the Father! God receives Glory “through Jesus Christ” for glory that reacts to God comes through the Gospel and the Gospel is focused on Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Lord, and hence God is praised for what He has done in and through Jesus Christ.
Which Peter concludes with praise to God’s beloved Son, To whom belongs the glory and the dominion forever and ever!
Closing
Closing
When we serve we should serve in a manner that shows the gospel. (Matt. 20:28)
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
We should offer our lives to serve one another, because he served us when we didn’t even deserve it.
When we show hospitality do it without complaint and we should do it in a manner that shows the gospel. (Romans 5:6)
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
When we show love we love in a manner that shows the gospel. (1 John 4:9-11)
9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
We should be soberly wise by reminding ourselves of the gospel. (2 Cor. 8:9)
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
Because the end is near! Live the rest of your life no longer for the lusts of this world but for the will of God!
If you haven’t experienced God saving work in Christ, Jesus says come! (John 6:37-40)
37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”