Our text this evening is from 1 Peter, chapter 4, verses 7 through 11. In the Pew Bibles, it's on page 1206. 1 Peter 4, verses 7 through 11. This is the Word of God.
"The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. 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."
Now, have you ever noticed what happens to people when they decide to go to the airport to travel? Suddenly they become serious. Even the laziest person seriously prepares his luggage and makes sure that everything is ready. Especially when the travel is international. He has to make sure that the passport is at hand, all other necessary papers are not missing, and everything is there according to the plan. Well, because the stakes are high, because people know that if they miss it, that it's going to be really a big headache. They know that being late to their flight isn't like being late or missing an exit when you drive. You miss an exit, and then fine, you make a detour. But if you miss your flight, you might not get another one on the same day. And so your whole plan gets messed up. This is why people take it seriously.
Air travel also instills in people a sense of urgency. They check their phones multiple times. They want to make sure that the time of the flight hasn't changed, that everything is under their control. That this isn't an ordinary travel, so they'd better do things quickly, in the right way, not to miss anything, because the airplane is going to depart, and what a dreadful thing it is to miss it.
Well, we feel a sense of urgency, don't we, in Peter's words in our passage tonight. This is why I want us to see that everything in this passage is based on the first sentence, the first few words of verse 7, when he says, "The end of all things is at hand." This is the ground on which Peter will build his words. He wants his listeners and readers to feel that urgency. It is this idea of an end, end of all things, as he says. And I think in that context and in the mind of his hearers, this was going to be the end of the persecutions, the sufferings, the defamation that they were going through. But also the end of everything in this life before the second and the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having this end in one's mind means that life goes on with a purpose. It's not like life here is eternally the same. People are born, they grow up, they go to school, they work, they get married, have kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, then die. And the same cycle continues on eternally. No. Peter is making clear that there is an end to all this. When the Lord comes in glory, the dead are resurrected, there is a last judgment, and then eternal life.
But notice that he's not merely saying that there is an end. What actually gives urgency to his words is that this end is near, is at hand. And unlike one's flights, date and time, which is known in advance, we don't know when this end is going to take place, but we know for sure that it's going to happen. Meanwhile, Peter is urging us not to be idle or self-indulgent. His words express what we call the theology of the already and not the yet. that the end is near. but not yet. But we are sure that, it is near. So
We live our Christian lives based on that accordingly. We also need to consider that Peter in this letter, 1 Peter, addresses his brothers and sisters in two ways. In their relationship with the outside world, wanting them to understand that they are called to be different from the surrounding people and culture. And that at the end, God will vindicate them in the last judgment. So there is this idea of an end here. And he also addresses his brothers and sisters, not in their relationship with the unchristian world out there, but amongst themselves, as the members of the same community of the church. And our passage belongs to this. And here also, as we saw, he writes to them with an urgent sense of a coming end.
So, if the end of all things is near, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who saved us and made us his people, will come again in full glory. And here I am reminded of what Peter said in chapter 2 of the same letter. So chapter 2, verse 9: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
So if this is what happened to us, then how are we supposed to live? Well, we must live first by being serious. Second, by loving one another. And third, by serving one another.
In verse 7, he says: The words he uses are self-controlled and sober-minded. Why? Well, because they are in contrast to what he described earlier in verse 3 of the same chapter in terms of how Gentiles live, which was basically without self-control and sober-mindedness because of access, because of drunkenness, because of sensuality. These are the opposite things of being serious and seeing things clearly. The Christian isn't a light-minded person. He, she doesn't act based on feelings or live for the moment, as they say. But Christians see things as they are, because lust and passions do not govern them, but a mind that is renewed with soberness. This is an important quality that the children of God possess.
Now, how does a serious student behave in school? He sets his mind on his studies because he sets the end before his eyes, graduating with a high grade to go to the college that he desires. He takes everything seriously. He knows how to study. He knows how to focus. He knows how to say no to laziness, to idleness, especially when he knows that an exam is coming up. His heart may urge him to leave his studies and play on his computer, finish the next level of the game. But because of his seriousness, he says no.
The same applies to someone who takes her work seriously. She's punctual, organized, well-planned, knows what to do, and is focused on the task ahead. The Christian is called to be this serious, no-nonsense person. When people see us, they should notice that we are different in the way we take our faith and also our lives, our decisions, our words, everything seriously.
But if you do not live for a purpose or you do not know what that purpose is and what's going to happen at the end, then you won't be able to live seriously. Okay, we all believe that there is going to be an end. I mean, we confess it in the creed, don't we? "From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead." But do we live our lives with that awareness? Does it occupy any place in our minds every morning when we are going to leave our homes? Or we live as if not only that the end is not coming up, but what is even worse, that there is no end. And this is dangerous, beloved.
Having in our minds that the end is near shapes our whole way of thinking and our conduct. Now we start to see everything differently as they are. This is the sober-mindedness, the seriousness that Peter is referring to. And this naturally prepares us for prayer, and it provides us with the alertness that we need. Instead of thinking that, yeah, one day the end will come, but who knows, so let me live my life just the way others do. No, the Christian lives with a reason, because he is self-controlled, he has sober-mindedness. As Paul says in Philippians 4, verse 5...
Now, this seriousness doesn't mean that Christians don't know how to enjoy life. We shouldn't think that we can't laugh or have a good time with family and friends just because we believe in this end. Non-Christians often think that because of our belief in heaven and hell and last judgment and the end, that we can't enjoy life. Instead of being life lovers, they accuse us of being life. deniers and life haters. But we do enjoy life Unlike others, we see it as it is. We do not put our hope on this life and think foolishly that since everything will end here, so then let's eat and drink and be merry, like once that rich fool thought and said to himself.
We know how to enjoy life and its blessings because everything belongs to God and he has given us what we have. This is why we keep our focus on the end. Our hope is there. As Peter himself says in chapter 1 in the same letter, verse 13: "Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Peter's urgency that the end is near leads us to the second point: that we must love each other. We read in verses 8 and 9: "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling."
For the apostle, there is no better way for Christians who wait for the end with hope than to love each other.
I remember when I was small, my mom would often leave me and my brother in the house alone, and she would tell us that we have to behave as brothers while waiting for her. Of course, in the beginning, we would start to play with each other, but then sometimes we will start fighting. And my mom would come back and see us beating each other.
Apparently, we are called to show a different way of treating each other, to love each other while we wait for the Lord, while we wait for the end. But this love, as Peter says, shouldn't be shallow. It shouldn't be seasonal. It shouldn't be partial. It should be fervent. What does this supposed to mean? That I look at my brother and sister in the community as someone for whom Jesus died and delivered from the tyranny of the devil. It means that I am not double-faced, where I say something to the face, and then down deep in my heart I believe in the opposite. Or I love my brother and sister in the community, not because of their opinions regarding different matters in life, but because of the bond that unites us.
Now, the amazing thing of this love is that it covers multitude of sins. Here, we shouldn't think that Peter is pushing forward this idea of a merit in loving each other, as if God feels sort of an obligation to forgive us our sins based on our performance toward each other. No, God forgives us our sins only through the blood of Jesus Christ and only based on His righteousness that is imputed to us. But here, this is about our relationship with each other.
If I love, then that love drives me to forgive my brother and sister, to overlook their personal injuries to me, to understand that they are sinners like me and that they sin and they make mistakes. It's like the relationship between parents and children. You know how parents are aware of the little annoying things that their children do? Well, not always little, but anyway. And yet it doesn't stop them to love them and often overlook what they are doing.
On the other hand, this doesn't mean that if a brother or sister sins and that sin is destructive both to them and to the community, then we should stay silent. This isn't obviously a recipe for remaining silent in face of an abuse in the community.
Now, how is this fervent love expressed by hospitality? This is one of the things that Christians since day one were known for. You can read the account of Paul's journeys and encounters and how he would stay at different places because of hospitable brothers and sisters, as we read in the book of Acts. It's also one of the qualifications for ministry, as we see in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Because it shows practically the love that we have toward each other. Because hospitality means that you share your life and what you have with your brother and sister. You do not love them only by nice words, but you show them with your hospitable actions what that love means.
And just as with love there is a qualification, fervently, hospitality also must be showed without grumbling. I mean, let's be honest, who is not tempted to complain and grumble? Especially when you are going to host a big number of people or when someone is in need in the community and you become hospitable to them. It could be tempting to complain because of our weaknesses, because of our needs, and for some other reasons. But the beautiful thing of hospitality is that it's like a gift. You are being generous with your time, with your resources, with your own life, and you are sharing everything that you have with others. And when a gift is given to others with an open and joyous heart, then it really becomes a blessing. But when that gift, and in this case hospitality, is given grudgingly, it loses its value because it's supposed to come out from the heart.
So Peter's call to us is to show hospitality to each other in various ways, each according to his ability with a genuine love.
Moreover, this fervent love cannot stay idle. And this brings us to our third and last point: that since the day of all things is near, then we must serve each other. As Peter says in verses 10 and 11: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. 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."
This service is not based on our own merit, but it's a gift from God. God has given us, so we give others. The Son of Man came to serve many, as we read in Matthew 20, verse 28, so we serve others. Our service to each other is based on what God has given us in terms of gifts.
Peter makes it clear that each has received a gift. This means that there is no giftless person. There is no excuse for a Christian and a church member who says, "I'm not a theologian, I'm not a speaker, I can't play the piano, I'm not technologically savvy, I'm not this, I'm not that, therefore I cannot serve, so excuse me." Everyone has received a gift from God, and they shouldn't be kept to oneself, but it's been given to share it with others. It's for mutual upbuilding. It's the same thing that we see in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 14. For example, in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 7, Paul says that each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. It's the same idea of a gift given by God for the sake of the community.
Now, when Peter speaks the oracles of God in our passage, he perhaps means the preaching of the Word, something that is reserved for ordained ministers of the Word. But then he adds, "whoever serves," which can include multiple things in service. He doesn't provide a list to us. But this doesn't mean that we should look at our gifts and think that just because they are different from others, then they are less important. Any church cannot operate well without the effort of its members who use their gifts for the benefit of the community. Successful churches aren't the ones out there that have wonderful programs and big budgeted staff. They are the ones that have members who love each other and serve each other as the manifestation of that love.
Now, if I am serving others with my own strength, there is a reason to doubt whether I am effective. Often it's very easy to be disheartened by our own efforts and how that they are not enough. You do your best, you prepare for your service, you anticipate everything, and then you see that your service is small, is ineffective. But this shouldn't concern us. Because we are called to serve, as Peter says, with the strength that God gives us. Do you see how wonderful thing it is? It saves us from self-centeredness and concern. That service starts from God, is done by God's strength, and then as we see at the end of verse 11, that it's not for our own name, our own reputation, glory, but for God's glory through Jesus Christ.
I don't serve in the church to hear good things from people, to feel good that I am a valuable member and without me the church cannot do anything, that the church cannot operate because I have this special gift. No. But I serve only for the purpose of the glory of God.
Back in Philadelphia, we used to attend a Presbyterian church's evening service. I was still in my former church, so I could attend only evening services. It was a small church, actually a church plant. They used to meet at a school building. And I was still new to the Reformed world. I had imagined Reformed people to be called the "frozen chosen," all brain, all logic Calvinists. But I wasn't only surprised by the warmth of the people that I met and their hospitality. But there was this one small, probably for many people insignificant, small thing that left a deep impression on me.
I remember there was a young couple and they had a child. I was amazed by the love and the care the community showed by sending emails about a food schedule for a whole month or probably more than a month. There was also other information about how the church members could assist them. And when I saw that email, I said to myself, "This is really a nice move, and probably one or two individuals or families are going to volunteer and prepare the food for them." Then I saw the sign-ups, which happened quickly, and soon the schedule was full.
Now here was, before me, a great example of 1 Peter 4, 7 through 11. Knowing the end is near, these Christians were loving fervently each other and serving each other with sharing what they had. This expressed the seriousness of their faith. And this happened as if it was a normal business, that they were used to it, that this was another opportunity for them to serve each other. And it was clear that they were showing their gratitude to God for His wonderful salvation through loving each other only for God's glory.
To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank You for the privilege of calling us out of darkness into Your marvelous light and making us your people in order to love each other, because you first loved us and to serve each other as your Son came to serve. May we always have in our minds the truth that the end is near and Jesus Christ, our faithful Savior, will come again in full glory. May we live by the Spirit and with the seriousness wait for that day while we serve and love each other. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.