The end is near, now act accordingly
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The end times?
The end times?
We are currently living in the end times.
This period started when Jesus ascended. (Acts 1:6)
This is not referencing a specific time frame, but a general understanding that the Lord will return and could return at any moment in time.
The four things we must do
The four things we must do
Peter tells us four things we must do during these end times:
Be self-controlled and sober-minded
Keep loving one another
Show hospitality without grumbling
Serve one another
Be self-controlled and sober-minded (vs. 7)
Be self-controlled and sober-minded (vs. 7)
This is a two aspect command.
It is an aorist imperative, which means that we continually act in this manner.
This is also a contrast to the actions of the lost. (1 Peter 4:3)
3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
We are also called to avoid foolish controversies and disputes. (2 Timothy 2:23; Titus 3:9)
23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.
8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. 9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
Be sound-minded and level-headed. That is, keep cool under pressure. Don’t allow emotion to take over. Follow God’s will, not your feelings, when the going gets tough. The ideas of balanced thinking and living, along with calmness and self-control are inherent in this command. There is no cause for alarm; so they must not act out of alarm. All is in God’s hands, proceeding on course according to His timetable. And, the hour for the cessation of the present persecution is at hand. Since relief is so close—just around the next corner—don’t blow it now by going off half-cocked. Instead, maintain decorum, and live in a steady, calm way, doing good. Prayer will sustain you and enable you to do so (cf. Matt. 26:41).
Jay E. Adams
Keep loving one another earnestly (vs.8)
Keep loving one another earnestly (vs.8)
The word used for earnestly, denotes the idea of maximum effort. Ancient Greek literature used this word to describe a horse running at maximum speed.
18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
Love covers a multitude of sins is not talking about our redemption, salvation or justification, it is talking about our offense toward each other.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
When we are actively loving each other, as Christ loves us, we automatically seek to forgive instead of punish.
Do you have this spirit? How do you respond when someone brings an offense? How do you bring your offense to another? Do you seek restoration of the relationship or retribution?
Nothing will destroy a church faster than pettiness, people picking at each other over trivial things. In the New Testament we are told that when Christians commit gross and heinous sins, they must be disciplined as part of the spiritual nurture of the church. However, our Lord was very careful to specify the sins that require discipline, understanding that no one in the church of Christ is finished with sanctification. We all bring different baggage into the Christian life; we are each at a different point in our progression. We can destroy one another by nitpicking. If one of your brothers or sisters has an annoying habit, it may irritate you, but it has been covered by Jesus. We all have to endure people who criticize us over insignificant, petty things. Let the world be petty, but let it not be said of Christians. Let us love one another with such a fervency that we have the love that covers a multitude of sins.
R. C. Sproul
Show hospitality without grumbling (vs.9)
Show hospitality without grumbling (vs.9)
Poor Richards Almanac teaches “fish and guests smell after three days”. This is also the worldly mindset of hospitality. This is opposite of the Biblical instruction.
We are to be willing to show any level of hospitality, without grumbling.
grumbling (murmuring) n. — a complaint uttered in a low and indistinct tone.
According to Mosiac law; the Jews were to extend hospitality to strangers (Ex. 22:21; Deut. 14:29). Jesus commended believers who provided food, clothing, and shelter to others (Matt. 25:25-40; Luke 14:12-14). However, the spirit of hospitality extends beyond the tangible acts of providing meals or a place to stay. It includes not just the act, but an unselfish attitude, so that what is done , no matter the sacrifice, is done without complaint.
John MacArthur
Serve one another (vs. 10-11)
Serve one another (vs. 10-11)
Peter divides spiritual gifts into two basic categories: speaking and serving.
These gifts are broken down by responsibility, not priority or prominence.
Speaking gifts have a great responsibility, as they are teaching others about God.
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Each believer is called to use their gift to serve each other in the church.
Each believer is given a different gift, each gift comes from God and it is not earned.
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. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Every gift is to be used for the church, we are the conduit of God’s gift. This is how we are to be good stewards, we freely use the gift for the service of others.