Living as End-Times People

1 Peter 4:7–11 ESV

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Is the end near?

YouTube video of girl going back in time from April to January to tell herself about the coming months.

Who would have ever thought in January that we would have experienced all that we have in these last 6 months?

Many have rightfully been asking “Are these signs of the end times?”

Do all these events point to Jesus coming back?

Should we be getting ready?

The answer is a resounding yes.

As Peter says in the beginning of our passage today “The end of all thing is near.”

So what did Peter mean by “the end of all things is near”?

What he doesn’t mean is for any of us to lose our heads and to start doing crazy things to prepare for the Apocalypse.

Christians throughout history have loved to talk about signs of the times.

There have been massive movements throughout the years as someone has taken numbers throughout the bible and events in history and the present and has came up with the time and date that Jesus was going to come back.

Others have taken passages like Matt 24 and have developed theories that Jesus’s return is eminent because of current world events.

But what we forget when we do these things are passages like

Matthew 24:36 ESV

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Matthew 24:44 ESV

44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Matthew 25:13 ESV

13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

1 Thessalonians 5:2 ESV

2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Acts 1:6–8 ESV

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

We are, and have been, near the End

His statement, along with many other statement throughout the New Testament, are not meant as warnings for us to hurry up and get things in order because Jesus is about to come back.

He wrote this 2000 years ago and yet here we are waiting.

Peter’s goal in this is not to getting us looking for signs of the end times or to dive into prophesies or come up with theories on how soon Jesus will come back.

He is simply directing our attention on the reality that we are living in the last days.

All the major events in God’s plan for redemption (for the destruction of evil and the restoration of the heavens and earth) have occured.

And all things are now ready for Jesus to return and rule over all creation once again (fully and completely).

SO, we live in light of the fact that this world is passing away and that Jesus will return soon enough.

There are all kinds of believes and explanations for how the return of Christ and the end of all things is going to happen. (pre or post trib, millennial or not…), but all of those aside, Peter’s concern is that we wake up to the reality that we are an END-TIMES People.

We are people who have been saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus and set free from the power of sin and death through the power of the Holy Spirit that now lives in us.

So the declaration the the “end of all things in near” should not bring fear into our hearts, even though it is a sobering truth.

The only reason it would be scary to think Jesus is coming back is if you were not ready for Him to return.

It is like when you are procrastinating at work or on a project at home and all of a sudden the boss (or your wife) comes around when you least expected it. Just on a much bigger, more eternal scale.

Peter is trying to help these believers to look beyond their current struggles and fix their gaze on the promises won for them in Christ.

His argument is, when we do this, we will live differently.

It isn’t about looking for signs and trying to figure out when He might be coming back to so we can rile people up to “get right with Jesus before He comes”.

Rather it is about all of us realizing that everything in this world that we try to grasp on to for happiness, and security, and comfort, and significance is all passing away.

The great reformer (and my birthday buddy) Martin Luther was asked once what he would do if the end was to come today. He replied “I would plant a tree and pay my taxes.”

What Luther meant was that he would live today just like he sought to live everyday, he would live it in light of the end, and would then do whatever was the appointed task of that day.

And so Peter says: THEREFORE

As End-times people we must live differently, especially in how we relate to one another.

He gives us 5 Characteristics of end-times people.

The Characteristics of End-Times People

1) Sober PRAYERFULNESS

Self-Controlled and Sober-Minded are synonymous terms that Peter is connecting with prayer.

He is saying that as end-times people, we must be clear-minded in our prayers.

Not influenced by outside forces, but to be “of our right mind”.

This is also coming out of the end of the last section and the reality that people will turn their backs on us and malign us for our faith.

So to be sober-minded means:

don't let being accepted or glorified in culture cloud your ability to pray Christ exalting prayers

don't let the fear of missing out on some fleshly desire cloud your ability to pray

don't let the yourself be lured into sin affect your ability to pray.

You will be rejected, enticed, laughed at, and maligned because of your faith in Jesus,

but stay close to him brother and sisters.

Pray without ceasing...

2) SINCERE and GRACIOUS Love for one another.

“Above all” speaks to the importance brotherly love plays in the scheme of our fellowship as a church family.

He specifically calls us to “earnest love” which can also be “constant” “thorough” love.

It is the kind of love that doesn’t quickly give up or write off someone.

That stands through difficulty and is not only there for selfish gain.

It is a love that is steadfast (one of my favorite words) because it is bigger than just emotions, it is based on commitment that is blood bought.

Hence why it “covers a multitude of sins”

That isn’t that our love forgives your sins, but that we are empowered to forgive and show grace because of the love we have been given and the propensity toward love that we have because of the Spirit of God and the blood of Jesus.

The way we love as church people is different that the world love, because it is redemptive and grace-filled.

3) Eager HOSPITALITY

Peter has in mind practical and tangible love for one another.

It is one thing to say “I love you” but it is a whole other thing to actually love someone with our actions and our words.

Hospitality is more than, but it not less than, having people into your home.

We have a western view of our homes as a place for our own security and our own enjoyment, but that is not God’s reason for our home.

Remember Matthews 24 and 25 where we often go to find the signs of the end times:

Jesus also speaks of the judgment day and says to those whom He receives into Heaven:

Matthew 25:34–40 ESV

34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

There was a willingness on the part of those that followed Jesus to love people in tangible, sacrificial ways.

On the other side were the one who turned a blind eye to the needs of others.

What is your attitude toward serving the needs of others?

Is it grumbling and complaining about how they take advantage, or their kids are too wild, or they may mess something up.

Or are you eager to bless others with the physical gifts God has given you.

4) SPIRIT-ENABLED Service

We also loved tangibly as we use the gifts God’s Spirit gives us to serve the needs of others.

1 Corinthians 12:4–7 ESV

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

There is an assumption made here that if you have the Spirit you have, and will be, given a gift to serve the “common good” of the body of Christ.

“TO EACH IS GIVEN” and “the same God empowers them all in EVERYONE.”

And these gifts are given so that we might love one another and serve one another.

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 ESV

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

5) HUMBLE DEPENDENCE on God

We do not fight sin with white knuckles, just trying to keep ourselves from it.

We fight sin through the means of God’s grace and the Spirit’s power in us.

Our love for one another does not come by way of our feelings or our emotions.

Our love for one another flows from the love we have been shown by God in Christ.

1 John 4:19 ESV

19 We love because he first loved us.

Our gifts of service are Spirit-empowered, not manmade.

We are a dependent people as we depend wholly on the grace of God, the goodness of God, the power of God, the wisdom of God, the provision of God, the justice of God, the faithfulness of God, the presence of God, and many others things.

And our dependence on God puts us in the proper place to experience the Glory of God in our life which is the mission and motivation for our lives.

We are people of expectation, weighting on the day when every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the Glory of God the Father.

How would you live differently if you knew Jesus was returning next month?

Are you waiting to give your life to Him?

Are you toying with sin rather than seeking His help in fighting it with sober, self-control?

Are you actively loving others, or bickering and fighting for your own comfort and happiness.

Are you serving? Using your God-given gifts for the good of the Church?

Are you living for the Glory of God in the light of the end of all things, or are you living for your own glory in the light of what feels right for today?