Urgent Living: Love and Serve as the End Approaches
Notes
Transcript
We are living in the last days. I don’t mean that in the next few days all comes to an end. Of course I am not saying it won’t. I am saying that according to Scripture, we have been in the last days since Christ.
But I do think we are a lot closer than what some might suspect.
Since none of us know when we will die, then there is a chance that literally any of us could be dead in just days from now. I am not wishing that on anyone or hoping for it to happen to prove my point. I just think we should live today as if we do not have a tomorrow; and by live I mean live for Christ.
Turn to our passage today, 1 Peter 4:7-11. I ask you to follow along as I read this. Peter helps us understand what we should be doing right now since right now is all we know we have.
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 multifaceted grace of God.
11 Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking actual words 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.
1. Pray with Purpose
According to Peter, are to be of sound judgment and sober spirit.
The emphasis is to be in the right mind to pray. Peter isn’t just reminding us that we are to have a prayer life but that our prayer life should be a major focus in our lives.
A. W, Tozer wrote:
Prayer at its best is the expression of the total life, for all things else being equal, our prayers are only as powerful as our lives.
A. W. Tozer
Vance Havner said:
The measure of any Christian is his prayer life.
Havner, Vance
How can we measure our prayer life? Do we do it by the amount of time we spend in prayer? Do we measure it by the number of times we actually prayed? Or we could track the different people we prayed for and the number of times we prayed for that person.
Charles Spurgeon said:
True prayer is measured by weight, not by length. A single groan before God may have more fullness of prayer in it than a fine oration of great length.
The Secret Of Power In Prayer, Volume 34, Sermon #2002 - John 15:7
Charles Spurgeon
I know this is a difficult question to really answer. Just how would we come up with the metrics for measuring our prayers?
I think the best way for me to express an answer is to let each of you answer it for yourself. Think back to a time that you really needed God. Something was going on and you needed God to save you or someone you loved. It was a desperate time and you knew no one but God could be the answer.
How was your time in prayer then? Did your prayer have an urgency to it? Did you turn to prayer more than normal?
If you can remember one or more of those times in your life then you have some measure of prayer for yourself.
I suggest that Peter is telling us that our prayer life now should be one of urgency, one in which we continually stay in prayer.
Peter tells us that the end of all things is near. One commentator translated 4:7 like this:
“The end of all things is near. Prepare yourselves mentally, therefore, and attend to prayers.”
The sense of urgency can be felt this way.
In the military, every time we were going to deploy, we were sent through different steps, one of which was making sure our wills and powers of attorney we all up to date. Going through that always helped us focus on just how important certain things in our life was.
If you knew that your life could end within less than a year, there would be certain things that you knew you wanted to get done before. There would be an urgency to certain things. This is what Peter is telling us.
The end is near, each day brings us closer to the end of life and it is one less day we have to get certain things done. For a Christian the biggest thing is the relationship with God and one of the best connections is our prayer life.
Andrew Murray said:
Little of the Word with little prayer is death to the spiritual life. Much of the Word with little prayer gives a sickly life. Much prayer with little of the Word gives more life, but without steadfastness. A full measure of the Word and prayer each day gives a healthy and powerful life.
Andrew Murray
The Word and prayer should be the two most important things in our lives. This is the only way to keep a healthy life.
We need to keep assessing our lives to make sure these are the two things that are always first in our lives.
Ask yourself how can I incorporate a sense of urgency in my prayer life as emphasized in 1 Peter 4:7?
2. Love Fervently
It can be difficult for young couples in love to get off the phone.
I love you. I love you more. I love you the mostest. I love you … with whatever comes next. Love is portrayed this way in movies, in TV programs and many of us can remember back to a time we might have been like that.
But the love that Peter is talking about, the love that the Bible teaches is an active force. It is this love in action which “covers a multitude of sins.”
I know the idea that love covers sins can be difficult to understand. Peter is talking about the community of Christians, not just individual Christians. The idea of covering sins is not new in the Bible. In terms of the community, covering sins does not mean hiding them, legitimizing them or accepting sins. No where in the Bible does it say that we should cover up the sins of those in our group. So “cover sins” does not mean we ignore the sins of a member.
Earlier, Peter wrote about Christians not sinning any more.
1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because the one who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human lusts, but for the will of God.
Individually, while we live in the flesh, we will always be dealing with our sins. But as the body of Christ, we should be able to help our members turn from sin. And the only way to make this happen is to love, to have a love that gives and a love that forgives.
3. Serve Selflessly
Have you ever wonder why we talk about serving in the church?
The typical conversation goes from being called to being a Christian then being called into service as a Christian to the church. But there really is more to it that this.
We need to understand that any act of service in the church stems from God’s call on your life as well as God’s love in your life. This is made clear in this passage. We are to love everyone, completely, with a love that helps to cover sins and helps to grow others but we are also gifted in various ways so that we can show love through our service.
We should also realize that the gifts given to us, whatever gift or gifts you have been given are given by the grace of God. They are a blessing.
Too often we think of these gifts as things that obligate us to do things we might not really want to do. The reality is that God gives His grace to us by blessing us with His gifts.
We are to then use our gifts to show God’s grace to others. Just as God’s grace is given to us in multiple ways, He also gives His grace to the church through the members so those members can continue to share God’s grace with others.
Honestly, they only way to effectively share God’s grace is to share His love at the same time. These two are inseparable from each other. To share God’s grace is to share God’s love; to share God’s love is to share God’s grace.
And we share God’s grace and love in order to bring Him the glory through Christ.
One way, sometimes the most important way we share love and grace in the worship service is by reminding everyone, or sharing for those who do not know, that God sent His Son to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.
Paul tells us in Romans:
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
If God is calling you, the response is for you to confess and believe.
If you are a Christian, now is the time to turn inward and look to see if there is any sin which you need to confess. As we prepare to meet at The Lord’s Table, we are to come after we have confessed.
Let’s pray.
