1 Peter 5.10, 11
The Eternal Perspective
1 Peter 5:10, 11
3/21/99
Introduction: (object lesson)
I’ve brought a pair glasses with me this morning. They’re just ordinary reading glasses. Nothing special. Not very powerful. As a matter of fact, for me, I think they do more harm than good. They seemed to work when first got them several years ago. But they don’t seem to work anymore.
Have you ever noticed how that happens? The glasses that work now may not work later. The eyesight seems to always be changing. What works today, may not work tomorrow.
I think this is also true in the Christian life. Many, if not most Christians seem to undergo a change in the way they see things as they go through life.
When we are young, we tend to look at life and think of all the things we want to do. We want to finish high school and college, get a good job of some kind, find our niche in life, get married. Enjoy the good things of life.
There’s a high motivation for living.
But it’s kind of strange. Frequently the older Christians get, the more they find themselves wanting to move on from this life to their home in heaven. They’ve done all they had set out to do and they begin to focus their attention on eternity.
I believe that early New Testament Christians had this eternal perspective. Life was probably not as easy for many of them as it is for us. Living in this world merely meant suffering. Therefore they kept their eyes on the hope of heaven. It was their guiding motivation.
Whatever our age and perspective in life, we as Christians can have a hopeful outlook as we view this life and the one to come.
I would like to conclude the book of 1 Peter today, between this morning and evening, focusing on Peter’s concluding remarks. He closes his letter very positively. This morning he concludes with this one thought.
Big Idea: Hang in there, eternity’s comin’
Three reasons we can be hopeful:
I. All of life’s difficulties are momentary.
II. Heaven’s eternal glory awaits each believer.
Read 1 Peter 5:10, 11
I. All of life’s difficulties are momentary (vs. 10)
The point is this: hard times don’t last forever!
A. Peter says, “after that ye have suffered a while”
1. Literally- “a little while.”
a. It’s temporary.
b. It’s also indefinite. We don’t always know how long the troubles will last.
c. In suffering an minute can seem like a day, an hour can seem like a year. A month can seem like an eternity. It’s nice to know positively without a doubt that the difficulties won’t last forever.
2. They were suffering for a little while, and you remember from last week’s discussion of verses 8 and 9, that this suffering seems to have come to them because of the work of the adversary the devil. In one form or another he was having an impact on their lives. He seemed to have a hand in their suffering and difficulty.
3. And now Peter says, “look, there will be an end to it.”
Sometimes we see the end of certain difficulties while still in this life. A light at the end of the tunnel.
But other times, that suffering though blunted by years of time, will never completely be erased. Like an old battle scar, the pain of a trial can flare when we least expect it.
Those kind of hurts will have to wait for eternity before complete deliverance takes place.
So difficulties in this life are temporary. Along with this, we must always remember that:
B. Life itself is temporary.
1. What that means is that we must live it with an eternal perspective. Aggressively and with eternity in mind. It will be over before we know it.
2. It also means that there’s one decision we can’t afford to ignore. That is the choice to place our eternal destinies in the hands of Jesus Christ.
God gives each one of us a set number of days in this life. Some of us have been given more than others.
No one of us knows just how many days he has on this earth. But is within the confines of that unknown number of days that we must receive Christ as our personal Savior.
The stage has been set, everything necessary has been done to grant eternal life to each person alive. Christ has paid the penalty for sins on the cross, He conquered death for us by rising from the dead. All that’s left is for every person to receive the work of Christ as the payment for his or her sins.
Life is temporary.
The book of James says it’s like a vapor (James 4:11). You ever seen a vapor? Maybe steam from a boiling pan on the stove? It’s there one second, and gone the next. You can’t even get a hold on it. That’s the way life is. Choose well.
So there is an end in view to hard times. If not in this life, then in the next.
So suffering’s not forever, eternity’s comin.’
II. Heaven’s eternal glory awaits each believer. (vs. 10)
A. Remember your ultimate calling
1. To “eternal glory”
2. As Christians, we need to remember where we are going. If we remember where we are going in the future, it will affect how we live in the present. It changed the way people in Bible times lived.
Take Hebrews chapters 11 and 12 for example.
3. Look at Abraham - Hebrews 11:8-10 (read it)
a. God called Abraham to pick everything up and leave his home
b. Abraham had no idea where he was going.
c. He lived in a tent
d. What motivated him? Faith in God, and the hope of heaven. Verse ten says he had his eye on a city “whose founder and maker is God.”
4. Abraham’s not the only one who had his eye on heaven. Hebrews 11:16
(read it)
a. Speaking of several Bible characters such as Abel, Enoch, Noah and Sarah, the writer of Hebrews says, that their desire was for heaven.
b. And God has a heavenly city prepared for them.
5. This heavenly city is the destiny of all believers
In the book of John, Jesus Christ says,
“. . .I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also.”
John 14:2b-3
6. What will this city be like? Turn to Revelation 21
a. It will be the New Jerusalem (vs. 2)
a. God Himself will live there with the redeemed (vs. 3)
b. No crying in this city. All suffering is gone! (vs. 4)
c. The glory of God is in this city (vs. 10, 11)
d. It’s full of costly stones
e. It’s pavement is pure gold
f. There is no sin in this city (vs. 27).
g. In my opinion, probably the greatest description comes in verses 22:3-5 (read it)
aa. Verse 3- We will serve God in heaven.
Often we have the idea that we will do nothing in heaven. It will be one big church service that will last for eternity. I’m sorry, but as much as I enjoy coming to church, I think after the first million years, I might get a little tired of it!
John Walvoord, in his commentary on the book of Revelation states,
“What greater privilege can saints have in the eternal state than being servants of the Lord? Who would want to be perpetuated in eternal idleness and uselessness.?”
So when we get to this heavenly city, we will be doing things! Serving God. And this service will be something that we thoroughly enjoy! It won’t be work that we hate or that will get old.
bb. We will see God’s face in this city (vs. 4)
To physically be near the throne of God, to be able to see His face? That’s personally more than I can fathom. But that’s the hope! That’s the hope!
cc. We will reign in this city (vs. 5)
What we know about this heavenly city is sketchy. We do not know all the details of how it will look. We do not know the depths of what God has planned for us.
But we do know this, those who spend this lifetime getting prepared to see God in the heavenly city will be glad they did. They’ll be glad they received Christ as their Savior, so they can gain access to the heavenly city. They’ll be glad that they didn’t just stop with accepting Christ as their Savior, but went on to build rewards.
So Peter says in 1 Peter 5:10 that we have some eternal glories coming our way. And it will be well worth anything we had to put up with on earth!
Aren’t you anxious just to get in and see that city? The saints in Bible times were, and it changed the way they lived.
It made Abraham willing to move to a new land, it made Noah willing to build a huge boat and be ridiculed.
What will it make you willing to do?
Hang in there eternity’s comin!’
B. Remember your ultimate healing. (10b)
There’s one thing about our God. he knows how to compensate and heal those who have suffered at the hands of the adversary for the purpose of testing.
When the trials are over, He will make everything right.
1. Make perfect- To put in order, to mend, reestablish. Can be used medically of resetting a bone. In other words, God can fix what the temporary suffering broke.
2. Stablish- make solid
3. Strengthen
4. Settle- to make one grounded.
In short, after the trials, and after the suffering, God brings about a strengthening process and a healing time. He without a doubt will do this in eternity, however, I believe He will often bring healing and restoration.
Never underestimate God’s ability to mend your broken bones, establish and strengthen you. Though you have been battered by trials.
Illustration:
In December of 1986, my family in Colorado was blessed with the birth of a boy after a long hard delivery. His name was Jonathan, and he was my nephew. My sister had been through a long, difficult delivery which ended in c-section.
Somehow, everyone breathes a sigh of relief when the baby is finally born. Everything is going to be all right now.
But everything wasn’t all right with Jonathan. Six weeks later, a day after his parents wedding anniversary, Jonathan’s father, awoke to find his son had passed away. God took Jonathan home. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Why? We don’t know.
But with the death of that child, Jonathan’s parents were faced with many days of heartache. Many sleepless nights, nightmares, wondering if they could have done something, struggle. Lonely Christmas’s, lonely anniversaries. The literal feeling of being crushed from chest in.
Twelve years later, this couple stands as a shining testimony to the grace, love and healing of God. It’s been said that at times marriages which have lost a child will end in divorce. Their marriage has only gotten stronger. They’re not bitter, the trials have only made them compassionate to the hurts of others in similar situations.
They’ve gone deep. Heaven has become more real to them. They’ve received the healing, strengthening and solidifying of their lives by God.
That’s what Peter is talking about. God does that.
God ultimately wins the day, that’s because, as verse 11 says, “to Him be the glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
If there’s ever a question as to Who comes out on top, go with the One Who has the “glory and dominion.”
Hang in there, eternity’s comin!
So we’ve seen this morning
I. All of life’s difficulties are momentary.
II. Heaven’s eternal glory awaits each believer.
I wonder this morning, what are we living for? Are we ignoring the fact that we have a heavenly city waiting for us if we are saved? Are we living more for this life than the next. What a waste if we are!
Those who live for eternity, live life to the fullest.
For those of us who are young, is God at the front of everyone of our plans? Have we made the hard choices that put God before everyone and everything else?
And for those in our midst who are older. In our longing for the next life, have we maybe “cashed in” a little early from this life? Maybe begun to think that we are unable to do anything that has eternal value? God has every person here for a purpose to fulfill.
Hang in there, eternity’s comin.