1 Peter 4:7-11

1 Peter 4:7-11

What is the most interesting thing that you want to do before you die?

I think that we all have things that we would like to do before we leave this earth. Maybe, in the grand scheme of things, they are fairly insignificant. And likely, to anyone else, they would mean very little. To the Christian, we should always be looking forward to the day when these things are meaningless. The life of a Christian is not meaningless, but the things of this world, when it is all said and done are.

Peter tells us in verse 7 that the end of all things is at hand. This could be a very dangerous verse if we aren’t careful. There are a ton of verses in scripture that if we take them by themselves, without taking in consideration the context and the author and the genre, that could be taken the complete wrong way.

Peter here is not warning of the end times here. Peter has written this letter as an encouragement to churches. These churches needed to be encouraged to persevere through any sort of persecution they may face. In the verses leading up to this, he is speaking to our humanity. To the fact that these bodies will die. Verse 7 is a continuation of that theme. He is not telling the readers in the time that Jesus is coming back right then. But he is saying that they should be prepared.

1 Peter 4:7

As the old preachers used to say, therefore is there for a reason. It is tying this sentence together. Because this life of yours is short and will end, be self-controlled and sober minded. Thinking about the end could have the result of making us lose our heads. To take our eyes off of the main thing, Jesus. If we come to the point where we are so taken over about worrying about the end, maybe the end of the world, then we cannot truly focus on what we should be focused on.

I can’t tell you how many conversations I have with people asking me about end times things. I can tell you that it is quite a bit more than any other theological conversation I have. It is because of a lack of self control and sober-mindedness. How much more important is it to live right now, on mission for God, than to be having our minds focused on the end.

Some people are so heavenly focused that they are of no earthly good.

Think about it. Every time a missile gets launched, every time the presidential election comes around, every time we have a natural disaster, all of a sudden it is the end times. Well we have been living in the end times for 2,000 years now. And Peter’s words still ring true to us just as it did then. Be self controlled and sober-minded. In other words, get ahold of yourself and quit being crazy in your thoughts.

Peter also gives us the why behind it there at the end of this verse. For the sake of our prayers. What does all of this have to do with praying. Well, people who are worried about the end don’t focus on praying, they panic. We cannot let any outside situation in our life overtake our lives to the point where it effects our prayer life negatively.

So what should we do if we are not supposed to focus on the end?

1 Peter 4:8

Love is one of the key topics that is covered by Peter in this letter. And it is because it is very important for the church. It is important for us to love others. That is because it is necessary for us to reach the world with the gospel. The gospel not only depicts that when you deny Christ that you will suffer and eternal wrath. But it mainly teaches that the elect, those who come to a saving faith, will forever get to experience the love of God. Because of that, we show love to those who would deny the Christian faith.

But Peter puts more of an emphasis of those who are in the body of Christ here. The charge here is to the church to keep loving one another. This is for the local body, who gathers together regularly, to love each other. How often do we here people talking about past experiences in churches and what they remember most is that the people in the churches could not get along. I would argue that they are not being a biblical church. We have to get alone. When people from the outside look at us, they notice it. When we have more new churches that are started because the other churches can’t get along than we do because there is a true desire to start new churches, then we have a problem.

Peter is not advocating that we look past sin. What he is saying is that even though we are sinners, because we love each other, we can still be together and get along. Peter is actual referencing Proverbs 10:12 “12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.” He is saying that even though I know that you fall short and even though sometimes it was me that you offended, I can still love you because I know that you are a sinner just like me.

What are ways that we might can show love to one another right here in the church?

Peter tells us one way we can do it.

1 Peter 4:9

This one, we really need to take a look at the world around them when Peter wrote this letter. Hospitality is us welcoming people into our homes to show them love. In the time of Peter, missionaries were going everywhere. From town to town. And they would need a place to stay. Now a days, when we go on a mission trip, we would book a hotel or stay at a local missions organization that could accommodate us as missionaries. In the time of Peter, this situation would have been much different.

Back then, the missionaries would rely heavily on the local churches having members open up their homes to them for a place to stay. They would often be there weeks to months on end.

Now, if I were to go around and ask us, how would you like to have someone who you may not know well or even at all, come into your home and live with you for weeks, I am sure that we wouldn’t be jumping at that opportunity. But this is the culture of the time. This is how people were able to be missionaries. People would open up their homes to them.

Now, let’s just say that, hypothetically, we had someone to come and live in our house. They left their stinky laundry out, they never made their bed, they left their trash laying around, they never cleaned their dishes, and they tracked mud into your house every time they came in. It may sound like I am talking about our 11 year old daughter, but this is a missionary. It would be very easy to grumble and complain about this. But Peter is encouraging them to be hospitable people without grumbling. Know, that just as God has opened up his house for us to come into, we should do so for others.

So how does this translate to us today? We don’t necessarily have missionaries that we are boarding in our homes. So what should we do with this verse? Keep our heads about us and think about how we can show hospitality to each other. We can be creative with this. Maybe it is housing a missionary. But maybe it is inviting a church member over for a meal. Maybe it is buying groceries for someone or helping out financially some way. We can be creative with our hospitality. Just don’t be grumbling about it.

What are some ways that we can show hospitality to someone?

1 Peter 4:10

All of this ties together. Hospitality is about being a good steward. But this is not necessarily about things. This is also about God’s grace. God has shown us grace, we should show others grace. So we show it to others.

God has given us gifts too. We all have different gifts. So we need to learn what they are and figure out ways to use them to serve others. Some may have the gift of hospitality. Now, all of us should be hospitable. But there are some that have the gift and they go way beyond what is normal. Others may have the gift of teaching or administration. Some may have the gift of gab, which is not a spiritual gift. But we need to find ways to use our gifts on each other.

I am going to give out a spiritual gifts assessment for everyone to take and find out what your gifts possibly are.

1 Peter 4:11

Peter gives two examples here. Speaking and serving. Speaking oracles in particular is delivering God’s word. We now have the complete word of God, so this is talking about someone who is gifted in the delivering of God’s word to the body of Christ.

Why is this gift important? Our primary time to get together and hear God’s word is on Sunday morning. This time is a very intentional time to build up the church. We do this through God’s word. We sing God’s word, pray God’s word, read God’s word, preach God’s word, and see God’s word through the elements and baptism. The equipping of the people of God during this time is a primary function of the church. This is because the church is called to serve each other. And without us being built up by the deliverance of God’s word, we will have no desire to serve. So the speaking and serving go hand in hand here.

So who does the speaking? The easy answer would be the preacher. But it also includes teachers, youth workers, children workers, greeters, and so many more. In fact, there are very few, if any people, would would not be in the category of speaking God’s word to people to build them up. This in itself is an act of serving the church.

Speaking and service are essential for the building of of the church. And it is so that we can glorify God.

That is what this is all about, glorifying God. Because he is the one who deserves it. Not us, but him.