1 Peter 4:7-11

Practical Christian living — 7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 8 And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” 9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. 10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

How should Christians conduct themselves?

What sort of things should characterize their behavior?

What do others expect of people who claim to be Christians?

We must remember that, like those to whom Peter was writing, God’s people are a minority in this world.

There are far fewer real Christians in America today than there are people who care nothing, or very little, for the commands of God.

Similarly in many other countries in the world only a very small percentage of the inhabitants are born-again believers.

At this point in his letter, Peter gives some very straightforward advice on how

believers should live their lives as individuals, and also

how they should behave in the fellowship of God’s people.

Peter focuses his readers’ thoughts on realities.

The end of all things is near

— But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

Peter reminds his readers that life, as they know it, will one day come to an end. This world will not last forever.

It is so tempting to think that life, and the world around us, will carry on as it always has done.

If we are living our lives with that attitude then there is something wrong with our thinking.

If we look at what Peter wrote in his second letter we will see that he reminded his readers that the people of the world think like that.

They say, ‘Everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation’ ().

But anyone who knows what happened in history remembers that that is not true.

Things have not carried on as normal ever since the creation of the world.

There was that terrible time when God brought judgment on the earth through the instrumentality of the flood.

At that time all who refused to enter into the safety and security of the ark were drowned.

Peter shakes the people of the world out of their complacency by saying that severe judgment is going to be unleashed upon this world again.

He states that there is a day coming when all people will be judged ().

He then says that it is important for Christians to be those who ‘live according to God in the spirit’ (v6) in the light of the coming judgment.

Peter is re-emphasizing one of his major themes. The end of all things is near.

This was the constant hope of the early church, and we too should realize that we are now living in the last days.

Christ is coming again and we must be ready for His appearing.

This fact ought always to be in the forefront of our minds.

We should be living our lives in the light of his return.

We do not know when he will come back but we do know that when He does return

He will come as the Judge of all people.

As I just mentioned we do not know when the end will come, but we do know how we ought to live our lives.

We do not know when the end will come, but we do know how we ought to live our lives. Peter says, in his second letter, ‘Since everything will be destroyed … what kind of people ought you to be?’ (). He goes on to say, ‘You ought to live holy and godly lives … and speed its coming.’ And in our passage Peter says, ‘The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self controlled.’

Peter says, in his second letter, ‘Since everything will be destroyed … what kind of people ought you to be?’ ().

He goes on to say, ‘You ought to live holy and godly lives … and speed its coming.’

And in our passage Peter says, ‘The end of all things is near. Therefore be serious [clear minded] and watchful [self controlled].’

Prayer and love

Peter encouraged the people to pray more effectively. To “be serious and watchful in your prayers.” (v7)

People so often see prayer as a duty or a ceremonial ritual.

There can be a world of difference between saying our prayers and praying.

Our prayers sometimes seem to reach no higher than the ceiling.

But the Lord intends that our prayers should be much more than a way of ordering our thoughts.

He wants us really to reach through to Him when we pray.

However, so often, there seems to be a barrier between us and God.

What is the cause of the blockage? So often it happens because of various things which are within us.

We are not “serious” which means ‘clear-minded’; we do not seem able to clarify our thoughts.

We do not know what we should ask for in prayer and our minds seem to be confused.

A second thing that Peter mentions is that we are not “watchful” meaning self-controlled when we come to God in prayer.

Our thoughts wander from one thing to another.

We cannot seem to concentrate upon the things of God.

Perhaps this is because we have allowed Satan to come in and cause confusion in our minds.

Prayer is a great problem to many Christians.

… burden of a sigh,

The falling of a tear,

The upward glancing of an eye

When none but God is near.

The sad fact is that if we have not got the vertical plane right (i.e. our prayer life with God) then we will not get the horizontal aspect right either (our relationship to our fellow men and women).

But Scripture says (in v8) that we should be those who love each other deeply “above all things have fervent love for one another”.

If we do not have a deep love for each other we shall soon start finding fault with our fellow believers.

A Christian fellowship is made up of human beings, all of whom have imperfections.

When we are converted we become saints, but that does not mean we put on halos and thereafter live perfect lives.

The sinful human nature with which we are all born still shows through.

When we are converted we remain human and we still have our irritating little ways (or even irritating big ways!).

However, when there is true love in a fellowship of God’s people ‘Love covers over a multitude of sins’ (4:8).

Quoting . A verse that is picked up by , showing, through repetition,

how necessary such enduring, patient love is to our relationships. Indeed, —The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.

—He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.

Truly love ‘is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered’ and it ‘bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things’ (, ).

If we love each other deeply ‘from the heart’ (1:22) then we will be given the grace to overlook all the annoying habits of our fellow church members.

Peter goes on to speak about one of the ways in which we can show love for others, and that is by being hospitable.

—Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

This is one of the most effective ways of showing Christian love and concern. God’s people should ask themselves, ‘When did I last offer real hospitality to someone?’

I shudder when I hear that some churches are so ‘middle-class’ in their attitudes that no one ever visits anyone else without first having a formal invitation. These churches have so taken on the culture of the people living in that area that the church fellowship has become contaminated with the thinking of the world. The result is that no one just drops in on somebody, because they fear that they will not be made welcome. If that kind of thinking pervades a church, hospitality is not being exercised.

In the days of Peter inns were dangerous and often immoral places. Therefore it was very important that Christians should open up their homes to believers who were passing through their district. If we can afford it our family tries to spend the summer holidays somewhere in Greece. One of the reasons we do this is because the Greek people are naturally hospitable. The Greek word for ‘stranger’ (Xenos) also means ‘guest’. The implication of this is that Greeks are not afraid of strangers (they do not suffer from xenophobia) but they treat unknown people with honor, as welcome guests—even though they may never have seen or heard of them before.

However, when it comes to offering hospitality we, in places like south-east England, sometimes find that we have a problem. Sometimes certain people outstay their welcome, or they forget to say, ‘Thank you for having me,’ when they leave. Peter says of such situations, ‘Do not grumble,’ when that happens. If we feel that we have been taken for granted then we should remember how the friends of Jesus treated him on many occasions. We should not complain when we are treated in a similar way.

Living to God’s glory

Peter also says that we should use our spiritual gifts so that others may be blessed and God will be glorified.

— 10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies...

The New Testament contains various lists of spiritual gifts which are available to believers.

These gifts are listed in and .

They may be natural gifts which are spiritually enhanced at conversion, or

they may be specially bestowed upon a believer when he or she is saved.

However, not every Christian has all of the gifts and

no gift is more important than any other (although some might be more noticeable than others).

There are, however, some warning notes to be struck. We must never exercise our spiritual gift, or gifts, to benefit ourselves.

Gifts should never be used to draw people’s attention to the person using them,

nor should they be used to show people how clever a person is.

That is not why God bestows spiritual gifts.

These gifts have been given for other reasons.

Our desire should be to see that, through the exercise of spiritual gifts, others are built up in their faith ().

We should remember that we are here to help others and encourage them in the things of God.

We should always bear in mind that God’s Word, the Bible, contains everything that we need. When we speak we should speak ‘the very words of God’ (4:11). This obviously means that we should be very keen to pass on the words of Scripture because they are sweet and wholesome. But also we should remember that when we teach God’s Word or tell our acquaintances about the Lord, everything we say should be in line with the general teaching and principles contained in God’s Word. Any preacher who speaks the very words of God to edify others experiences the power of the Holy Spirit at work within him enabling him to deliver the ‘living words’ he has received from God. In the same way anyone who serves the Lord as part of the life of the church will experience the strength of God helping him in his important work. Everything that any of us does should be done only for the praise of God, through Jesus Christ.

And we do these things in a prayerful spirit knowing that the end is near.

We should always seek to live a life filled with love and concern for the welfare of others.

We should do everything for the glory of God. So this section ends, with a great culmination of praise to God, a doxology:

“...that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”