A PILGRIM'S READINESS

Introduction

-[1 Peter 4]

-About a decade ago there was a TV show on the National Geographic Channel called Doomsday Preppers. It highlighted people who would prepare to survive what we might call end-of-the-world events, such as economic collapse, societal collapse, nuclear war, electromagnetic pulse, and things like that. The show included an analysis by a consulting company along with recommendations to make them even more ready for such an occurence. Partially due to the show, and partially due to world events, millions have invested in some way for making themselves ready for disaster.

~Some websites dedicated to this type of readiness included lists of needed supplies. They said you’d need things like a two-week supply of dehydrated food, flash light, oil lamp, battery-powered radio, shovel & pick, bottle of bleach, and so much more.

-Since you just never know what might happen, being ready for disasters in this manner is probably pretty smart if you can afford it and have a place to store it all. But as important as it is to be ready for disaster in the physical sense and resource sense, it is even more important to be ready in a spiritual sense.

-In Peter’s epistle, he constantly reminds us that our time on earth is limited. We are pilgrims merely passing through until we get to our final destination. Part of living like a pilgrim is having in the back of our mind that the end of all things could come at any moment. We believe that Jesus will return whenever the Father tells Him to, and bring about the end of this age to usher in the eternal age. Jesus Himself gave many teachings and parables (for example in Matthew 25) about being ready because we do not know when He will return.

-This truth ought to affect how we live. Believing that Scripture testifies that everything will come to an end one day should cause us to consider how we are living right now. If we are mere pilgrims and this world is going to burn one day, why live like this world is our everything? Why find our pleasure and value in the world instead of in Christ? Knowing it all ends, ready yourself for when it ends. But how? Peter wants to teach us today that because Christ’s return will happen at any moment, we are called to use our time to ready ourselves spiritually through prayer, love, and service.

1 Peter 4:7–11 NET 2nd ed.

7 For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer. 8 Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining. 10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

-[pray]

-Peter states that the culmination of world history is near. He wrote that about 2000 years ago, and the world is still going, so we might think that he has a different concept of near than we do. Of course, we know in God’s economy that a thousand years is like a day so we can’t think that there is a deception when the biblical writers say that Christ’s return is near. What Peter and the other biblical writers, and what Jesus Himself even taught, is that Christ’s return and the end can happen at any time. We use the word imminent when talking about Christ’s return, meaning that it is ready to take place and nothing is preventing it from happening other than God’s sovereign plans and purposes.

-There will come a day when whatever God wants to happen on earth will come to completion and He will send the Son to usher in the eternal kingdom. But only God the Father knows when that will be. From our perspective, it could happen at any moment. So, as Christian pilgrims, we live in light of that fact. And Peter gives us ways we are to live. So, Peter says that since the culmination is near, we are to ready ourselves in three ways:

1) Ready ourselves with prayer (v. 7)

-Look again at v. 7

1 Peter 4:7 NET 2nd ed.

7 For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer.

-Peter says that in light of the end being near, there is a certain mindset that Christians are to take on. He first says that we are to be self-controlled. The word means to be able to think straight. We might say to have a cool head about things—be even keeled. And he also says to be sober-minded, which means to keep your composure so you can think things through clearly. When we put these together, would could say he means that we are to have our head on straight.

-Peter is warning us against two things. First, he’s warning us to not have our mind so engulfed in sin and the world that we are not thinking the things of God. We are not to let the world distract us from what’s most important. We are to get our mind out of the gutter (so to speak) and get it focused on the things of God.

-But, secondly, Peter is warning us against going into such a panic or frenzy over world events that all we do is worry and go into some sort of hysteria. He’s warning against going into what I might call Chicken Little mode where all you’re doing is going around crying THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING! This is especially important in light of our end-time beliefs where, instead of it being an encouragement to trust God, all you do is cry that it is the end of the world. Yes, we are to live in light of the the fact that the end of the world imminent, but it is not to be our sole obsession such that it consumes our minds rather than thinking on how Christ wants us to live in the here and now of our circumstances.

-When COVID hit and then there were all the riots and things happening, all sorts of people said it was the end of the world, and got themselves in a frenzy and tried to get everybody else whipped up in a frenzy. It may be the end of the world. It might not. COVID wasn’t the first pandemic the world ever saw, and it probably won’t be the last. The riots that we saw were not the first riots this nation ever saw, and probably won’t be the last. They might be signs, they might not be. But these world events shouldn’t cause us to lose our focus. Or, better yet, world events shouldn’t cause us to lose our minds. As Peter says, we are to be self-controlled and sober-minded. As Chuck Swindoll wrote:

Having sound judgment and a sober spirit means when natural disaster hits, you don’t panic; or when an official gets elected you don’t like, or the nightly news seems packed with bad news. Don’t worry. Don’t jump off a tall building either. This also means you don’t quit your job because Jesus might come back today. You keep your nose to the grindstone and continue your work and life with an ongoing sense of purpose in light of the unknown hour of Christ’s coming.

-But Peter says there is a specific reason to be self-controlled and sober-minded, and it is so we can dedicate ourselves to prayer. Don’t lose your head so your head can get in the game and be praying about everything going on around you. You are not going to be in a position to pray if all you do is think about the world and your sin or if your thinking is obsessed with what every world event might indicate about the end times. Get your mind focused on Christ, the only one who can truly help you in this cursed world.

-The survivalists say that the way to be ready is to have all that equipment. Peter says that the way to be ready is to have your head in prayer. Sports players workout and practice to be ready for the game. Peter says workout your mind and spirit in the gymnasium of prayer.

-As Peter wrote this, I wonder if he had in the back of his mind the memory of the Garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus asked him and John and James to pray, but instead Jesus found them sleeping. And the words of Jesus may have continued to ring in his ear:

Matthew 26:41 NET 2nd ed.

41 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

-Get your mind in the game and ready yourself in prayer. It is not the time to have a wandering mind, it is time to have a mind focused on Christ in prayer. As Paul would say, pray without ceasing. Let’s ready ourselves in prayer. But also...

2) Ready ourselves through love (vv. 8-9)

-Look again at vv. 8-9

1 Peter 4:8–9 NET 2nd ed.

8 Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without complaining.

-Peter writes a lot of important words for Christians to consider and live by. But here he says I HAVE SOMETHING THAT IS ABOVE ALL. When the head of the apostles says that something is ABOVE ALL it probably means that this is a top priority. When you are in the military you are given a lot of orders, but your superiors might say that one certain thing is the primary mission. And really this primary mission encapsulates all the other orders. What does Peter say is so important? ABOVE ALL KEEP YOUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER FERVENT!

-Love is the primary mission, because it is love that we show and demonstrate when we do everything else. This reminds us what Paul says:

1 Corinthians 13:13 NET 2nd ed.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

-And we know that John was the apostle of love, as he warns us:

1 John 4:7–8 NET 2nd ed.

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. 8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

-If you truly know God through Jesus Christ, you will love. You will especially love fellow Christians. Peter says KEEP YOUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER FERVENT. That word FERVENT was used in sports talking about an athlete that stretched and strained every fiber of muscle he or she had in order to reach the finish line. You will exert all the effort you can to show love to people, most especially the church. As the old DC Talk song said, Love is a verb. It’s not an emotionalism, it is an action.

-And one of the actions that love entails is described here by Peter where he says LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS. This is a reference to

Proverbs 10:12 NET 2nd ed.

12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.

-If you hate somebody, you are going to look at that person and pick out every possible fault you can think of and throw it in their face and try to pick a fight. If you love someone, you will easily forgive and overlook others’ faults, especially considering all your faults that have been overlooked. This does not mean that sin is not called sin, but it does mean that grudges are not held and bitterness does not build a wall in relationship. Love is willing to work things out. Love is willing to communicate. Love is willing to forgive.

-This is how God demonstrated His love toward us. Jesus died to cover our sins, and through Christ God does not hold our sins over our heads the rest of our days. Who are we to do any different? That’s why the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Neither you or I want our sins to be held against us, so who are we to desire different for anybody else? If you love like Christ loved, you allow that love to cover a multitude of sins.

-It made me think of this: When your kids are little, they don’t like to eat what’s good for them, they just want the junk. Sometimes, if green beans are on the plate and they don’t like green beans, you mix it into the mashed potatoes that they do like. The mashed potatoes cover the green beans and hides the distaste. The mashed potatoes don’t make the green beans disappear, but it makes them bearable.

-We all sin against one another all the time. But if you cover that sin in love, you don’t even notice or think about the sin anymore. Love covers the distaste of sin.

-But there is another action of love that Peter mentions and that is hospitality. In Peter’s day this was a great demonstration of love. They didn’t have Holiday Inns back in the day, and the inns that most towns had doubled as sights of illicit pleasure, so they weren’t really a good place for godly people to stay. For travelling evangelists and missionaries, they relied on the hospitality of fellow Christians to be able to continue their ministry. Hospitality might also have meant that you allowed the local church to meet in your home. They didn’t have church buildings in that day, they met in the homes of those who were willing to host the assemblies.

-With the availability of hotels and such today, hospitality might not look exactly the same, although it is loving to open your home to others. But it can go beyond that. It is making yourself and your resources available for the needs of the church. Maybe there is someone with no family in the area so you invite them to family dinners or events. Maybe someone is lonely, you open your schedule for them. Maybe someone has a financial need, you open your wallet to them. What about hospitality during a church service. If you see somebody sitting by themselves, go sit with them. If you see somebody new or somebody you don’t know, go talk with them. There are so many ways to show hospitality, but they are all expressions of love. And we ready ourselves with these expressions of love.

3) Ready ourselves through service (vv. 10-11)

-Look again at vv. 10-11

1 Peter 4:10–11 NET 2nd ed.

10 Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

-Peter reminds us that every Christian is given at least one spiritual gift that is to be used in our service to Christ. We are called to be good stewards of that gift, meaning we are to manage it well and do something with it. These gifts are not to be ignored or starved, they are to used and nurtured.

-We have two cats and a dog, and when we go on vacation we’ve gotten several of you to look after them while we’re away. We love our animals, and when we put them in the care of another we expect them to be cared for. We give a stewardship of our animals. With that stewardship we don’t expect their needs to be ignored, otherwise they’d die from negligence.

-God has given each of us this gift of an ability that is all ours, but it is to serve His church. And when He gives us the gift, it is not to be ignored and allowed to die. Peter falls in line with Paul’s teaching on the matter. Now, whereas Paul gives quite extensive lists of the different types of gifts that there are, Peter gives two broad categories. Peter says there’s gifts of speech and gifts of service, and every Christian has one or more of these gifts.

-Gifts of speech might include teaching, exhortation, or prophecy (meaning the forthtelling of God’s Word in modern situations). Peter says those with these gifts use them with God’s words. That means that our own opinions and ideas are not what come out of our mouths when using these gifts, but God’s own words are what fill our hearts and leave our tongues. If we exhort or encourage someone, it’s not with pop psychology, but with uplifting Scripture verses. If we teach or preach, we don’t teach or preach from the latest blogs, but with God’s Word.

-Then there’s the gifts of service. These might include the gifts of giving or mercy or helps or other gifts similar to that. Peter says use those gifts with the strength that God supplies. Don’t do it in your own wisdom or your power, but with that which God supplies.

-And here’s the thing—there is no singular gift that is more important than another. God gave that gift for you to use, and whether you think it is big or small, or public or private, He gave it to you. And we can say this because the gifts are given for one singular purpose—that God is glorified through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is glorified through us. That’s what we aim at with our service, and part of being ready is to serve.

Conclusion

-I think of how we spend so much time getting ready for so many things. We spend a lot of time in the morning primping and prepping, getting ourselves ready for the day. We spend hours cleaning the inside and outside of the house making it ready for guests. How much time do we spend getting ready for the Lord’s return? It’s near.

-When we were in school, sometimes the teacher would have to step out of the classroom, and she may have given some sort of work to do until she got back. There’d be some in the room pulling all sort of shenanigans with the teacher away. But then there were some who would do the work, and they’d be ready for the teacher to return while the others were not.

-Christian, which are you? If you haven’t made yourself spiritually ready, come to the altar and pray and commit yourself to love and service.

-But what about the rest of you? The movie THE END OF SPEAR tells the story of five missionaries which included Jim Elliot and Nate Saint eager to reach the Waodoni people of Ecuador with the gospel before intertribal warfare would kill them all off. In the movie, Nate prepared for his trip, his son asked that if the Waodoni people attacked would Nate and the others defend themselves with their guns. Nate responded, “Son, we can’t shoot the Waodoni. They’re not ready for heaven. We are.”

-Are you ready for heaven? Are you ready to die or are you ready for the Lord’s return? The only way to be ready is to place your faith and trust in Jesus, that He died and rose for you. He is the only way. The gate is narrow and the road is tight. If you’re not ready, don’t leave here today without being ready. He loved you enough to die for you...