“The End is Here”
[I Peter 4:7-11]
December 31, 2017, Second Reformed
Church
We have reached the end of the
calendar year. It is a time when we
think about new starts, new beginnings, making resolutions, and singing, “Should
old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance
be forgot, and old lang syne?” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne].
Many will pass into the New Year in
fogs of alcohol or dreamy remembrance – and it’s not wrong to party with our
friends – but we must always keep the truth before us, as well, that the end is
here.
We think of comic persons – or
scary, perhaps – waving signs threatening that the end is near. But that’s wrong – the end is here.
Peter wrote this letter around 63
AD, just as the persecution from Caesar Nero was escalating – both of Peter’s
letters concern how Christians are to live in an age of savage persecution as
they wait for the return of Christ.
Jesus, John, and Paul address these circumstances in the same way. Christians were being persecuted and are
being persecuted – as Jesus promised – and the persecutions go in cycles around
the world and place to place, because the end is here.
The end times began with the Ascension
of Jesus and will continue until His return.
And we are not to be afraid: our
salvation is secure in Christ, and we have been sent to proclaim the Gospel of
Jesus Christ to the whole world until His return. As we suffer for Christ – as unpleasant as it
is – it is proof that we are His. People
are convince that we are believers, and so they attack us in various ways.
Jesus will return, and the Father
knows the day and the hour, but we do not.
We are called to be ready at all times for His return, because it could
be any time – and we do not want to be found unready. Between now and Christ’s return, we have much
work to do, and we have been told how we are to live as Christian people.
Peter tells us, we are to be
self-controlled and sober-minded.
“The end of all things is at hand;
therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”
Since the end is here, since we are
Christians – believers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are to be
self-controlled and sober-minded.
Through God, the Holy Spirit, Who
lives in us, we are to be a people who strive for stability and clarity. We are not to run after every swindle and
theory and conspiracy and every cry of the flesh to buy and engage and
overdo. We are not just to react. We are not to covet our neighbor’s donkey or
husband or cookware. We should not be convinced
there is a boogeyman around each corner and all hope is lost.
We are to be a people who calmly,
logically, look at the world around us with our heart and soul and mind and
strength, and respond and engage it in a way that is good and right and
pleasing to God and for His glory.
We are to be a people of hope – with
reasons for our hope.
Paul writes, “Finally, brothers,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if
there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have
learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the
God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9, ESV).
“For this is the will of God, your
sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you
know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of
lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong
his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things,
as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us
for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards
not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you” (I Thessalonians 4:3-8, ESV).
Be self-controlled and sober-minded
– for the sake of your prayers.
Why for the sake of our
prayers? What does being self-controlled
and sober-minded have to do with our prayers?
It is easy not to pray, but prayer
is our lifeline. Prayer is a means of
grace by which God conforms us to the Image of His Son as we become more in
line with God’s Will – asking for all those things God desires for us and the
world.
The devil is at us, “O, you don’t
have time to pray. You don’t know the
right way to pray. The pastor will do
the praying. Well, God knows anyway, so you
really don’t have to pray.” I was going
to give you an example, but then I thought better of it – I think you would be
preoccupied with it and not continue to listen!
Jesus tells us to pray – as He
answers the question of how we are to pray – called “the Lord’s Prayer.”
Our bodies and minds must be strong
to spend the time in prayer and to pray rightly – to not be distracted by all
the temptations of the devil and the thoughts of worthless things. Our whole selves must be focused in asking
God for our needs and thanking Him.
Be self-controlled and sober-minded
for the sake of our prayers.
Second, we are to love one another
earnestly.
“Above all, keep loving one another
earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
Above all – most importantly – notice –
“keep loving” – this is something Peter knew the Christians he was writing were
doing – love one another – love all other Christians – earnestly.
What does it mean to love all other
Christians earnestly?
Quickly, understand that we are all
different people with different temperaments and preferences, and it is not
wrong not to like a fellow Christian – God is not saying that we are all to be
best buddies and move into one house together.
But we must love one another
earnestly. We must love one another
seriously, zealously, truly, sincerely.
We have seen in our Thursday night Bible
study that Paul writes, “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss” (I
Thessalonians 5:26, ESV). In that
culture, is was a sign of sincere friendship to kiss each other with a holy –
non-sexual, pure – kiss. We kiss our friends
less frequently in our culture, but we can understand that such a greeting
indicates a real gratefulness for the person and the person being there. And so, we are to love each other is such a
way that shows we truly care and are grateful to have our fellow Christians as
Christians.
Paul writes of this unity in love this
way:
“For just as the body is one and has many
members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is
with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or
Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
“For the body does not consist of one
member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not
belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if
the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’
that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an
eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where
would be the sense of smell? But as it
is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all
were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts,
yet one body.
“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have
no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On
the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater
honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our
more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving
greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the
body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one
member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice
together” (I Corinthians 12:12-26, ESV).
We love each other earnestly as we
recognize each other as part of the Body of Christ and genuinely love – long to
be with in worship and mission – with those Christ has saved to be part of His
body.
We are to love one another earnestly,
since love covers a multitude of sins.
Paul attaches Proverbs 10:12 to the idea
of earnest love of all believers – those who Christ died for. But what does it mean? How is our genuine love for each other
related to covering sins?
Christians sin against each other, and our
sinful nature wants to parade those sins “so everybody will know what he or she
is really like!” “You wouldn’t listen to
the pastor is you knew his sins!” “You
wouldn’t let so-and-so in your home if you knew where they got their money!” Love seeks to preserve honor, not to parade
sins.
Jesus instructed us on how to deal with the
sins of a brother or a sister – and that begins – and, in the best cases –
ends, in private. It hurts the body of
Christ when we drag each other through the mud.
Some of us are caught up in cycles of sin
that we must continue to forgive and continue to push each other to
forsake. There are times when we might
get tired of forgiving and just want to splash the truth across the walls, but
Jesus says, “Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but
seventy-seven times’” (Matthew 18:22, ESV).
We have the guidelines that Jesus gave for addressing sin, and we have
this statement, to the effect that we are always to forgive the truly repentant
sinner, just as our Father in Heaven forgives us.
We are to love one another earnestly.
Third, we are to show hospitality without
grumbling.
“Show hospitality to one another without
grumbling.”
Hospitality is receiving guests – here, brothers
and sisters in Christ, and sharing what you have with them – a place to stay, a
meal, entertainment, etc.
When a brother or sister comes to visit,
our response should not be, “Watch how fast I can get rid of her.” Or, “Oh, it’s him. Why didn’t I pretend to be dead?”
Now, that does not mean that we must
always receive guests, no matter what’s happening in our lives. Nor does it mean that we are at liberty to be
pests and go from home to home, eating and drinking and taking up everyone’s
time. What is means is we are to receive
brothers and sisters as members of the body of Christ and visit with them as
such.
We can imagine the abuse, can’t we? In our Thursday night study, we have seen
Paul confront those who thought, “Well, if Jesus is coming soon, I’m not going
to work, I’m just going to live off everyone else.” That is abuse of the idea – that is sin.
On the other hand, if we are inviting the
whole church over to our home, we cannot leave out inviting certain people just
because we don’t like them.
There is a balance to be reached. Times when we want to show hospitality, and
so we do, and we find ourselves surprised by who shows up, and we must show
that Christian love to them.
As the author of Hebrews writes, “Let
brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for
thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:1-2, ESV).
Fourth, we are to use our gifts to serve
each other.
“As each has received a gift, use it to
serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as
one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the
strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified
through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
God has gifted every person, including
every Christian. We are all gifted in
one way or another. God have gifted some
people with public speaking, some with writing, some with teaching, some with
entertaining, some with listening, some with singing, some with cleaning, some
with organizing, some with giving – we are all gifted in at least one way – and
we must use those gifts in the Church and for the good of our brothers and
sisters in Christ.
Why?
We are told two reasons: It is good stewardship. In other words, one of the reasons God gave
you the ability to play the saxophone or to enjoy climbing and working off
ladders is that you would use that gift in the Church and for the sake of your
brothers and sisters.
And, when we use our gifts, it glorifies
God. When we use the gifts God gives us
and understand that they are gifts that God has given us to use in these ways, attention
is directed towards God, who is given the glory for the gifts.
We are not given gifts to glorify
ourselves or to become prideful about ourselves. They are for the Church and to the glory of
God.
We are to use our gifts to serve each
another.
It is the end of 2017. The end of history is here – it has been for
two thousand years. The end began with
Jesus’ Ascension and will end with His return, the Judgment, and the Restoration
of the Creation.
As we live through whatever time is left
in the end:
We are to be self-controlled and
sober-minded.
We are to love one another earnestly.
We are to show hospitality without
grumbling.
And we are to use our gifts to serve each
other.
In whatever time the end has left, know
that the world is watching each one of us to see if we believe in Jesus
savingly. They are looking at us to see
if we are really the body of Christ, or if we are just like every other
self-sufficient sinner.
May God be glorified in our faith
and obedience and be pleased to grow us into the Image of Jesus as we pray,
asking that these things would be true of us, because God will be pleased when
it is so.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, what remains of our
old nature doesn’t want to be a part of the body of Christ. We want to run free in our sin and not care
about our brothers and sisters and use our gifts for our own glory. Lord, please send the Holy Spirit to convicts
us and guide us to follow after Your Will, that You would be glorified and our
joy would be made full. Make us desire
the strong love You have called us to in the Church, and may the world wonder
and be drawn to You through it. In Jesus’
Name, Amen.
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