Sermon Tone Analysis

14. Living on the Edge of Eternity

If we know that there will be an end-date to an activity, that knowledge will affect our actions, our decisions, on what we spend our time and money on, what sort of activities we engage in and commitments we make.

If you know, for example, that you will be moving overseas in a few months, that reality will shape your purchasing decisions, it will affect your decisions as to what you need to do to get ready for the move, sort through clothing and other goods — what to purchase, what to live without temporarily, what to take with you, what to donate, what to sell or give away, what put in the bin.

Peter reminds us that we live on the edge of eternity, and how we ought to live in light of that reality.

Knowing that there is a day of judgment to come, and the new heavens and new earth coming where we will be with the Lord forever will and must colour our decisions as to how we live, how we treat one another here and now.

The future will direct our present.

The future for us as believers is the basis of how we live today .

Our passage today forms the other bookend to the section of this letter that started in 1 Peter 2:11-12

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

1.The End is Coming (and is already here)!

(4:7a)

2. Four Practical Ways To Live Out Christ’s Victory (4:7b-10)

3. Peter’s doxology (4:11b)

(outline: Jobes)

1.

The End is Coming (and is already here)!

(4:7a)

The end of all things is at hand

This ties-in with what we saw last week, that

God’s judgment is coming.

No one gets a pass on this!

It involves all things and all people.

The foundation for the end is laid at the beginning

The victory at the end has never been in doubt due to the resurrection of Jesus Christ

We often think of “the end” as when Christ comes again in glory, to judge the living and the dead.

But beginning of “the end” began that Resurrection Day when Christ was raised from the dead!

We are, Scripturally speaking, in the “last days,” and have been for almost 2000 years!

The outcome of all things is and has been assured because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Peter’s point is that

Even if society judges the Christian gospel to be undesirable or irrelevant, everything will be judged in reference to the resurrected Christ, and that judgment is near because the resurrection has already happened.

Therefore, the Christian is to live in light of the nearness of “the end” as it is defined by Christ’s resurrection.

(Jobes)

How should we then live?

2. Four Practical Ways To Live Out Christ’s Victory (4:7b-10)

We must live in the of the reality that the outcome of all things has already been assured by that Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

a. Think rightly and be clear-minded so you can pray (4:7b)

Peter is telling us that we must be informed by the truth, and it will affect how we live.

We all know this: getting facts straight helps us in our decision making, it can calm our spirit, it enables us not to make rash decisions or act improperly.

Peanuts strip from 1965:

This reminds us of Peter’s counsel in

Rather than acting out of turmoil and confusion concerning spiritual matters, Peter says they must think rightly and be clear-minded.

There is a risk to pilots and cave divers (like the ones in that rescue in Thailand) that they can become what is called spatially disoriented.

If they don’t have an horizon to focus upon or a rope line to follow, giving them cues as to which way is up, they can be deceived by degrees, ending upside down and head in wrong directions, leading to potentially tragic ends.

God’s Word provides us the “which way is up” for all things.

And in living in an “upside-down” world, taking our reference cues from this world does lead to disastrous results.

Because the end of all things is near, Peter urges us to be oriented rightly.

We are to be fully in control of our thoughts.

We must, as believers, accurately perceive the reality that Christ’s resurrection has started to bring about, and that perspective is to motivate a sound and self-controlled way of life.

This exhortation for a clear and sober mind stands in sharp contrast with the lifestyle from which Peter’s readers have come, as described in 4:3, where their minds were dulled by excessive drinking and sex and confused by debauchery and idolatry.

(Jobes)