Life in the End Times- 1 Pet. 4:7-11

Life in the End Times- 1 Pet. 4:7-11

If you knew you only had one week to live, what would change in your life? I imagine a lot would change. You probably would not worry about going to work, or eating healthy, or spending time scrolling through your phone. You would probably want to spend as much time enjoying your family, God’s creation, and the different things you enjoy doing.

The psalmist says, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” This passage before us is such a teacher. Peter tells us that the end of all things is near. It is at hand, it could happen at any moment. Live different!

Life in the end times demands that we glorify God through personal holiness and sincere love for the body of Christ.

Our goal as we live in the end of all things is to live a life that glorifies God, and we glorify God through personal holiness and sincere love for His body, the Church. Though we may not know how long we have left in this life, we do know that it is limited. How will you live?

I. Glorify God by Personal Holiness- 4:7, 11c

You bring God glory when you live a holy life. We have discussed this almost every single sermon as we have progressed through Peter’s epistle. We are exiles, foreigners living in hostile environment. We are ambassadors, as Paul calls us, on mission for the King of kings and Lord of lords. Our mission is to glorify God, and this is accomplished through personal holiness.

I use the phrase personal holiness because this is not something a spouse can do for his or her spouse. It is not something a parent can do for a child, or a sibling for another sibling, or a pastor for the church member. It is personal, meaning there is responsibility on behalf of the individual for its accomplishment. Physical therapists work with their clients to develop a routine that will be personalized. They realize that it is not a one-size-fits-all issue.

Likewise, we are all different, with different strengths and weaknesses, different desires and different personalties. I say all of this to encourage you to take the skeleton to personal holiness here offered by Peter and adapt it to yourself. I can help with this, if you would like, but this is not an option for the believer. Our time is limited, be holy.

A. Personal Holiness is Discipline—self-controlled

Peter uses two words to encourage personal holiness—self-control and sober-mindedness. We will deal with the mind in a moment. Self control, or discipline, is not something we enjoy at first. It is work, hard work. Waking up to go to work day in and day out is a difficult task. But it is necessary.

Discipline for personal holiness is no different, but vastly more important. If you are not disciplined at maintaining your car, it will die. If you are not disciplined at personal holiness, you steal glory from God. This is such a broad point that I will not seek to develop it further. I will say, however, that you must be disciplined in personal holiness.

B. Personal Holiness is the Right Mentality—sober-minded

When we hear that phrase sober-minded we may be tempted to think of someone who is always serious, almost brooding, as if this was somehow holy. That is not what Peter is discussing here. He is talking about a seriousness of mind. This does not diminish the Christian’s joy. It enhances it. It is a realization that there is an eternity, an end of days, a final judgment as Peter mentioned in 4:5. Be sober-minded, be serious about holy things.

Take church seriously. Take the reading of God’s Word seriously. Take the singing of hymns and spiritual songs seriously. Stop playing church, stop mimicking holiness, be serious minded! A failure to engage in this aspect of holiness would be similar to a young man laughing hysterically at a funeral. He is not sober-minded, and everyone knows. Likewise, Christian, when we fail to live holy lives of sober-minds, we are diminishing God’s glory. We are showing by our lives and our minds that we do not believe the Word of God, though we may confess such with our lips. Glorify God by personal holiness.

II. Glorify God by Sincere Love for the Body of Christ- 4:8-11

Next, Peter moves from the personal to the corporate: the Body of Christ. Above all, he tells us, or most importantly, or as my parents used to say don’t forget this...

This command to continue to love one another assumes that we have been loving another. The benefit of love, as Peter references Proverbs 10:12, is that love covers a multitude of sins. In other words, those offences that come as a result of our fallen natures do not harm the unity and love of Christ’s body. We all have experienced this, and we all know how detrimental it can be to the Church. Love one another earnestly. Be serious about it!

Peter elaborates on how we can love the body of Christ, and we would do well to pay attention to his words. We are, after all, on limited time. Therefore we must...

A. We love by being hospitable—even when it is irritating- 9

In this period, if someone were traveling they relied on the generosity and protection of strangers. The early church also relied on the generosity of the saints. Hospitality, the sharing of one’s resources, is a sign of a redeemed heart and the evidence of holiness.

I would argue that most of us do not struggle with showing hospitality. We readily give our resources away to meet needs. No, I believe that most of us struggle with that last phrase—without grumbling. It is not as if we do this to their faces. Although I have meet some people who do this.

It is that we grumble in our hearts, or to a close friend or relative. “They asked for this, and I gave it to them, but do you know what they did with it?” Or, “I saw them asking for money, but do you know how much their car cost?” Thoughts such as these are displays of a grumbling heart, not of Christian hospitality. Let us love one another by being hospitable—even when it is irritating. God, after all, does not begrudgingly save us, He lavishes His love on us (Eph. 1:8).

B. We love by exercising our gifts from God—within the body of Christ- 10-11

We also love God by exercising our gifts from God. There are several lists for spiritual gifts in the NT (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:8-10, 28-30; and Eph. 4:11). While some of these gifts have ceased, we are all blessed with at least one gift. These gifts are not meant to be self-serving, but beneficial to the Body. Peter repeats the phrase “one another” three times in this short section, showing the emphasis on others. Use your gift, Peter says, to serve others.

Now, I realize that this topic is a larger one than we have time to address. I have laid out spiritual gift assessments, and I would love to walk through those with you. I have a guess, though, that the majority of you know what you are gifted at. And yes, Naomi’s barbecue is a spiritual gift with which she has blessed this body and this body. Find your spiritual gift and then use it in this body!

When you do, you are being a good steward. You are responsible. Like the teenager who handles her first time at home alone, your Father comes in with pride with your exercising that gift He has given to you. As a result, God is glorified.

C. We love by focusing on God’s glory—not our own recognition- 11

Though Peter ends this particular section with this thought, it permeates his entire epistle, as it does the entire Bible. We love others for God’s glory. This is no different than what Christ taught in Matt. 10:37. As we love God properly we love others properly. As we see His glory above all we love our brothers and sisters properly, through Jesus Christ. He reminds us that all our good, our holiness, our live originate in and is exercised by Jesus Christ.

Applicational Thoughts

Am I growing in personal holiness? What needs to change? What needs to stop? How can I take practical steps in this pursuit?

Am I loving the body of Christ? Do I take church seriously? Do I know my spiritual gift(s)? Am I using it(them) for the benefit of the Body? Do I aim at God’s glory, or personal recognition?