End-Times Living

**Turn to 1 Peter 4:7

Recap

Last week:

ARMING OURSELVES with PREPARATION to SUFFER…FOLLOWING in CHRIST’S STEPS to always SEEK the WILL of the FATHER...

Spending the REST of our DAYS TURNING from SIN & seeking after God.

This week:

LIVING w/ END in MIND...

LAST WK. - PERSONAL DEATH,…NOW, END of TIME.

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Read text & pray

Intro:

Do any of you know anyone who is prepping for the end of time? (The unhealthy kind)

Maybe you?

STOCKING up on FOOD, ammo, or things like this?

Following all the CONSPIRACY THEORIES?

NOT INHERENTLY WRONG…BUT should this characterize believers??

Should believers be:

looking for SIGNS in the HEAVENS, watching the MOON, etc.

looking for SECRET CODES on the dollar bill or be watching for the MARK of the BEAST

Need:

All joking aside....We all need to know, how do we live as believers in light of the end?

The end of time isn’t just a secular idea

Biblical doctrine - eschatology (Last things)

Both Paul & Jesus Christ compared his coming to a THIEF in the NIGHT…UNEXPECTED.

This is one of the reasons we need this text today.

How we are to live might come as a surprise to us...

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Text:

1 Peter 4:7–11 (ESV)

Thought 1: Living in Light of the End

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

WE SHOULD ALL LIVE with CHRIST’S 2ND COMING in MIND…COMMONLY DONE in UNHEALTHY ways though...

"LAST DAYS” —2,000 YEARS!…SUPPOSED to be UNPREDICTABLE

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NO PERSONAL STANCE on ESCHATOLOGY...

CHRIST B4…AFTER MILLENNIUM…in MILLENNIUM right now??

1,000 YEARS LITERAL??

PERSONAL CONCLUSION: IF YOU’RE READY, LAMP W/ OIL…YOU’RE READY REGARDLESS...

Martin LUTHER, 100% sure Christ is coming… “I’d plant a tree and pay my taxes.” = He’s ready & LIVING w/ that EXPECTATION anyways.

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Should we LOCK OURSELVES in our HOUSES & WAIT?....GO NUTS?

Peter says END is NEAR… THEREFORE, live SELF-CONTROLLED & SOBER-MINDED lives..... Anticlimactic??

CHRIST’S COMING is IMMINENT…EVEN IF NOT IMMEDIATE

Schreiner- “The imminence of the end should function as a stimulus to action in this world. The knowledge that believers are sojourners and exiles, whose time is short, should galvanize them to make their lives count now.”

Last week:

LIVING with our OWN END in MIND…AVOIDING DRUNKENNESS & LACK of SELF-CONTROL

now:

LIVING W/ THE END in MIND… +SELF-CONTROLLED (FRUIT of SPIRIT)....& SOBER-MINDED...

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“For the sake of your prayers”....

Wayne Grudem points out concerning this that, “The idea is not simply ‘so that you can pray’ (NIV), but ‘in order to pray more effectively, more appropriately’, Christians should be alert to events and evaluate them correctly in order to be able to pray more intelligently.”

GOD KNOWS NEEDS B4 WE ASK…YET, still PRAY SPECIFICALLY

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Above all- love earnestly

LOVE is THE THING.

Covering multitude of sins -he’s REFERENCING a PROVERB.

He’s talking about LIFE in CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY (one another) & IMPLIED FORGIVING one another.

Overlooking faults or differences...

Not judging based on “bad days”

NONE of us are PERFECT, & none live perfectly above our emotions…love chooses to keep no record of wrongs! & Grace doesn’t keep score.

If we CAN’T EXTEND GRACE to others…we are NO DIFFERENT than PAGANS!

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This text is NOT giving a DOCTRINE of ATONEMENT through WORKS. Works never cover sin.

In OT, temporary, COVERING sins...

We need sins TAKEN AWAY… @ Calvary by the PRECIOUS BLOOD of Jesus Christ

GOSPEL:

Any SINNER, no matter how IMPURE, CAN be WASHED CLEAN! Sins removed as far as east is from the west!

NO NEED to TRY to COVER SIN! IN CHRIST, THEY’RE GONE!

IF UNSAVED....JESUS CHRIST is THE ONLY WAY…YOU CAN BE CLEAN TODAY.

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This TEXT is TALKING about our NEED to COVER OVER/FORGIVE the TRESPASSES and SHORTCOMINGS of OTHERS as God in Christ forgave us.

We’re a SET-APART GROUP of BELIEVERS…but we STILL FALL SHORT & our community is imperfect.

D.A. Carson describes it this succinctly by saying, “…this is the love that breaks the downward spiral of wounded sensibilities, hard feeling, nurtured bitterness, dissension, and vendetta” (p. 1040).

NOT REPAYING…BEING GRACIOUS

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(V9) Then, Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

2nd “ONE ANOTHER” command...

Hospitable, w/ good attitude!

Hospitality is BOTH ACTION & DEMEANOR.

WORLD is FILLED w/ SIN, evil, hatred…CHURCH should be SAFE PLACE...

These are all ways we live with the end in mind!

We shouldn’t be holed up…but gathering as believers living self-controlled sober-minded lives, loving one another, & being hospitable!

Transition: Now, after beginning to illustrate what it looks like for believers generally to live in light of the end, Peter moves specifically to highlight the individual believer’s responsibility.

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Thought 2: Good Stewards of Grace-Gifts

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:

11 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.

ALL HAVE GIFTS…Peter says “as each has received.”

Writing w/ completed, holistic perspective…it’s already happened.

“Grace-gifts....spiritual gifts”

Grace = Received WITHOUT MERIT…should be able to GIVE/BLESS others WITHOUT MERIT!

Grudem: “A spiritual gift…is any talent or ability which is empowered by the Holy Spirit and able to be used in the ministry of the church.”

CHURCH = BODY of CHRIST…all have their part…there’s something that sets you apart from others!

EQUAL but SEPARATE PARTS.

There are THINGS I am GIFTED TO DO, and there are THINGS I AM NOT GIFTED to do…there are times we all must depend on one another.

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WE can CULTIVATE gifts, but the fact we have the POTENTIAL is a FUNCTION of GOD’S GRACE

Some people can’t clap on beat or carry tune in bucket...

My point is that our gifts, talents, and abilities, even if we have cultivated them, originate with God’s grace in our lives.

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Our GIFTS are FOR the SERVICE of OTHERS.

Serve one another…present, continuous, ongoing thing.

GIFTS AREN’T for SELF-GRATIFICATION or GLORY…BUT for OTHERS.

Worship leaders who show off aren’t leading…aren’t using their gift for others.

As a PUBLIC SPEAKER, I DON’T try to IMPRESS you W/ EVERYTHING I KNOW and share stuff you don’t understand.

I AIM to EDIFY the BODY, help others know God’s will & word better...

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SERVING OTHERS = GOOD STEWARDS.

steward = MANAGER…God is the rightful owner of our gifts!

Being a good manager = USING gifts PROPERLY… & USING gifts!!

Ever LOST a GIFT CARD?…searching everywhere, worried w/ negligence you squandered a gift??

If God has given you a gift/talent/ability & you aren’t using it somewhat regularly, you’re squandering the gift.

Teaching, cooking, singing, serving, whatever it might be, use the gift you’ve been given. Don’t be the wicked and lazy servant who laid up what he was entrusted in the napkin!

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(V11) 2 CATEGORIES of gifts… (not exhaustive)

Wayne Grudem“any talent or ability which is empowered by the Holy Spirit and able to be used in the ministry of the church”

Peter offers two examples of categories, speaking, and serving.

Speaking...whether teaching, preaching, evangelizing, discipling,

The “oracles of God”

Refers to times of God’s verbatim, dictation in OT

Preachers shouldn’t take role lightly...

MY WORDS AREN’T on the SAME AUTHORITY as SCRIPTURE...

HUMAN & MAKE MISTAKES....stumble over words… Noah vs. Moses…Elijah vs. Elisha...

CONDUIT = FLAVOR of PIPE...

Yet, MINISTRY of WORD w/ SERIOUSNESS that words are as God’s words...

***Scripture is ultimate authority

2. Serving

with STRENGTH that GOD SUPPLIES...

God gets credit!

hospitality

giving meals

meeting physical needs/Coudersport & firewood

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PETER CONCLUDES: ALL FOR GLORY of GOD....

building God’s kingdom not our own!!

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Canbi:

As Christians, we must live in light of the end, and this is done primarily through loving and serving other believers with the gifts that we have been given by God, so that God will be glorified through the set-apart lives that we lead.

Intention:

Our worship response to God should be using our gifts, abilities, and resources, whatever God has given to us, for the glory of God and the benefit of others.

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Cross:

JESUS LIVED FOR OTHERS...

He traveled w.o. home…preaching & teaching continuously

Served disciples…even to the point of washing feet.

Form of God…took on form of slave...

Christ consistently pursued the glory & will of the Father...

Climaxed @ Calvary where Christ humbly laid his life down...

He never once lived for himself or used his miraculous power for himself.

Didn’t make stones into bread in wilderness...

Didn’t escape in the Garden of Gethsemane

Didn’t call legion of angels to remove him from the cross...

Gospel: He did all this for me & you so we could be saved...

Takeaways:

1. As Christians, we should LIVE in LIGHT of the END.

this should drive us to living Christlike lives in service of others…not holing up in basement stockpiling food.

2. God has given you a GIFT by GRACE…each person fills unique role.

3. Last, we must all remember that as Christ-followers we are to live for the benefit of others and for the glory of God.

this is being a GOOD MANAGER!

Application:

Faith first!

For Christians, what has God made you good at?

GIFTS AREN’T EXCLUSIVE…BUT YOU HAVE SOMETHING that SETS you APART..

NO FALSE HUMILITY…BE HONEST.

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TO USE GIFT, MUST KNOW GIFT..

So, I want to challenge you this week to evaluate your life and what God has blessed you with, and then evaluate how you’ve been using that gift?

If it has been lying dormant, I pray that you will put it back into use for the benefit of others and the glory of God.

Close in Prayer...