The Christ Glorifying Things I Should be Doing in the Short Time I Have Left
1 Peter 4:7-11a
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes for young children to answer are throughout sermon)
Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
Turn to 1 Peter 4:7-11. Our primary verses in the section under study will be 7-9. As you are turning to 1 Peter 4:7-11, I want to remind us that there have always been philosophers, sages, doctors, politicians, priests, friends, and even enemies, who want to give us practical advice on how we should live. Advice, it seems, is found everywhere. You can even find advice on refrigerators. I once saw a refrigerator magnet with advice on it from a man named Alfred D'Souza. The magnet said,
"Dance, as though no one is watching you. Love, as though you have never been hurt before. Sing, as though no one can hear you. Live, as though heaven is on earth."--D'Souza
It is advice. You are being told what to do. Maybe it is good advice. It seems liberating to think of enjoying the pleasure of dancing without caring how we look. It is a biblical thought to imagine that you will love people over and over again, even though you've been hurt so many times before. It is good advice. Peter is going to teach on fervent love in our passage. Singing like no one else can hear, seems like the height of inhibition. Living as though heaven is on earth, could mean many things. For some it could mean looking at their selfish ambitions, and labors, like those things are eternally lasting; but that would not be good. It could mean submitting to the Lordship of Christ Jesus, which is good. Who knows? The refrigerator magnet doesn't give an explanatory commentary. The main point I am making is that from Socrates, to D'Souza, and even Self-help gurus on talk shows, we find people giving us advice at every turn. One huge question, then, is:
"Who has the right advice that I need to hear, and do?"
Peter is God's apostle. He has God's practical advice on how we should live. His advice is sure. His advice is spiritual, and it is always sound. This is what we are continuing to study this morning. We are studying to hear, and to do, God's will. Please read 4:7-11 with me,
"7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." 1 Peter 4:7-11
Let's prepare our minds to go through this passage, and learn from it, in the preaching of it. The theme is,
The Christ Glorifying Things I Should be Doing in the Short Time I Have Left
[prayer]
What Peter is pressing us toward is a life perspective that moves us to actions that reflect a kind of "bigger picture" thinking. We are supposed to be doing things with Christ in mind--with our spiritual existence in mind--so that in all things God may be glorified. This is a basic truth of practical Christianity. It is the true sense of living as though heaven is on earth. It is bigger picture thinking. Any time you are living as though heaven is on earth, then you are living in such a way that Christ is going to be glorified to some degree in what you do. Keeping this in mind, I'm wanting us to glean some vital principles in respect to Christ glorifying things we should be doing in the short time we have left.
/1/
The first principle is fundamental. We need to be realizing the importance of the fact that we really don't have a lot of time left in our life spans on this earth. This is the perspective that Peter accentuates to diminish glorifying the temporal so that we can give a fuller glorification of our eternal God through our actions. Notice that Peter says,
"7 The end of all things is near; therefore, ..."
Peter announces the attention-getting fact that brings temporariness in the current world into the forefront of our thoughts. In the context, Peter is pointing out the sobering, yet comforting, reminder that the Lord is ready to judge the self-glorifying apostate world. Peter, and the other apostles, understood this readiness to be key for motivating Christian actions. They fully expected the end of all things to be fulfilled in their own lifetime based on Christ's promises to His students in Matthew 23-24, & Luke 21, etc. They hoped to see the coming of Christ, in His days of vengeance, before they died. James stated the nearness expectation this way,
"be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord's coming. Think of how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient for it until it receives the early and late rains. 8 You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord's coming is near," James 5:7-8
Paul expressed it this way,
"... we know the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers. The night has advanced toward dawn; the day is near." Romans 13:11-12
John gave assurance of the nearness,
"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near." Revelation 1:3
This is why Peter said here in verse 5, that the unsaved,
"... will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead." 1 Peter 4:5
Peter describes that soon coming day again in 2 Peter;
"10 the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat? 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless," 2 Peter 3:10-14
The point is that the apostles knew that the Lord is ready. Peter also knew that God had given him, and the other apostles, a general time frame. With this in mind, the apostles urged action that reflected a coming change. Notice that Peter says, "therefor." He is basing what he is about to say upon the nearness of the day of God. Peter asks the question in 2 Peter,
"what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness as you look for, and even hasten the coming of the day of God?" 2 Peter 3:11
Here is the point: When you are considering the question of the nearness of our short time that we have on this earth, the answer for every Christian in every generation, is that we should be doing things in the living testimony of our own poetry of life, where your whole existence is like one huge Holy Spirit generated refrigerator magnet for the whole world to see. So our loving, dancing, singing, working, and living, must have our spiritual existence in view, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. It is important for us, in our day, with so much eschatological fascination in respect to Bible study, to recognize that neither Jesus or the apostles taught that readiness was supposed to mean inactivity. God never intended for us to get spiritually saved, and then hide our lamps under a bed, even if we think we are only going to shine those lamps for a short while for only a few to see. God does not want His people to retire in a monastic life somewhere because they are expecting the soon return of Christ. Knowledge of the Lord's coming was always seen as something that stoked the fire for a vibrant Christian existence among the world. It was motivation for proclaiming Christ to the lost. It was meant as knowledge for God's child to live robustly in the world in an impacting way because of the shortness of the time. The wrong view is to think that because of the readiness of Christ to come, and the nearness of the coming, that what we do from day to day doesn't really matter much. But this gets the motivation for glorification wrong. We operate as a holy priesthood--as a set apart nation that glorifies God whether you expect to live another hundred years, or whether you expect to be taken today. A short time simply means that there is not much time to live for bringing glory to God in this world, right? This is why Paul said to be redeeming the time. We need to be spending all our time on a moment to moment basis for God's glory. This reminds me of that key figure of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther. Luther was once asked what he would do if the end would come today. Luther's Biblically based response follows the legacy of what the Spirit is showing us through Peter. Luther answered that he would plant a tree and pay his taxes. What was Luther's underlying point? He meant that he would do everything that he had always done, with the highest standards of the Lord, as a good steward. This is the point. So, the first principle is that we need to be considering the urgency of how quickly each moment passes. This kind of urgency should foster godly action instead of inaction.
/2/
This leads to a second principle we can glean in respect to the Christ glorifying things we should be doing in the short time we have left;
"7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer."
@1 God wants His children to always be ready for _________________. 1 Peter 4:7
As we look into this exhortation to be of sound judgment and to be sober in spirit for the purpose of prayer, I want us to think about who is urging this. This is Peter. We remember that Peter, as a pre-cross student of Jesus, had heard his Rabbi explain that He was coming back again before this generation passes away, right? (cf. "this generation" in Matthew 23:36 defines "this generation' in Matthew 24:34) So now Peter in the post resurrection life of the New Covenant, believes this by the power of the Holy Spirit. But, let's think about something that occurred shortly after Jesus told Peter and His pre-cross students that He was coming back. It was a time when Peter failed to be sound in judgment and sober-minded for prayer. We remember that Jesus told Peter, and the rest of His students, to have a sober spirit for the purpose of prayer on the night that Christ was betrayed. As I read the account, I want us to consider ourselves. I want us to consider Peter's teaching to us in our passage under study. I also want us to imagine ourselves there observing the events:
"36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His students, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." 39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 40 And He came to the students and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45 Then He came to the students and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners." Matthew 26:36-45
Certainly God taught Peter a lot of lessons in Peter's spiritual journey in walking with the Messiah. Early on, Peter learned something in experience that he writes about here by the Spirit. In the midst of daily living, the truly important, and world changing events, are near; and though the truly important, and world changing event, is near, we can be very easily preoccupied, consumed, and distracted, with our own weariness. So, what happens? We ignore the "bigger picture" spiritual realities that seem dim, but yet are really those that are pressing for us to be alert. In a sense, Jesus is still asking us
"So, you could not keep watch with Me in this short time. Keep watching and praying."
We are truly on the threshold of the important events in God's plan. The remotest thing we need to do is slumber. If there is one thing we need to do in this short time of waiting out our days until we see Christ face to face, it is that we need to be committed to the ongoing, moment to moment, God glorifying task, of praying. This is what Christ did. Looking at Peter's past failure, we see that Christ was our example. At that time, sleeping Peter was the example of what not to do. The way of Christ is to pray, pray, pray, as we await the next great world changing event to take place. This reminds me of something that happens occasionally in my own life. It is something that I must be aware of in considering the Christ glorifying things I should be doing in the short time I have left. What I am talking about is that occasionally, at the time that I should be praying, I end up doing something else instead. This is an area where I need to be working on what Peter taught by the Spirit. Since the end is drawing closer and closer, all of us should be following the example of Christ in the garden of Gethsemene. His example is to be of sound judgment and to be sober-minded for the purpose of God-glorifying, will seeking, life changing, prayer. As I consider this, I want to share something else that I do which I hope edifies you toward God glorifying action in prayer. Years ago I began doing something that really revolutionized my approach to prayer. What I do is praise God, and thank Him for His sovereign will, at the outset of praying. When I do this, what I find is that it gets me into the mindset that prayer is really about God, and his glory, even though I am bringing my requests to Him. But, this still hasn't made it easy for me to get down to the actual task of praying. What it has done is, it has diminished that subtle trap of focusing on myself and my agenda. It gets me purposefully glorifying God at the outset. The main point is that even when we consider our short time of our stay on this planet, we should be spiritually minded. The task of the Christian life is at hand. God wants to do great things with you, in you, and through you. So, it's not the time for us to sleep. It's the time for us to pray. This is why Paul urges us to pray without ceasing. You simply can not pray too much, and you can always pray some more.
/3/
This leads to a third principle we can glean in respect to the Christ glorifying things we should be doing in the short time we have left. It has to do with magnifying the Law of Christ out of ourselves to other Christians. In fact, Peter starts out making the point by saying, "Above all." He says,
"8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8
@2 God wants His children to be very strong in their __________________ for one another, because __________________ covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
I want us to think about this a moment. We already have love, right? Paul tells us that God has shed His love abroad in the hearts of all His children in Christ. So we have the love. We know we love God. We necessarily must love His children. We do not hate God. But the world does. We do not hate the body of Christ which is the royal priesthood of Christ. But the world does. So, we know that we have the miraculous love of God in our inner being. But evidently there is more to this. Because though these things are true, it is apparently also true that we can be lazy in our expression of this love. Follow what I am saying: We can be disobedient in our outward expression of our love toward others. But God wants us to go the extra mile. This is why Peter urges us with the imperative to be fervent in our love for one another. We remember that Peter already pressed this urging,
"22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere affection of the brothers, fervently love one another from the heart," 1 Peter 1:22
He pressed it because he had to press it. He is talking about being intensely committed to manifesting the love of Christ out of us toward others. To do this requires spiritual stability. It requires bringing God's glory into every situation. What does this mean? One thing it means is that you are going to have to have real grace. I said, "real grace." It also requires humbleness. The only way you are going to fervently love others, is to diminish yourself for the purpose of building up those others in real grace. Think about this love that Peter is talking about as being a decision. You must choose to do it. When you do, it leads to the action that God is looking for. But it is more. Why? Because we need to love with intense, strong, relentless, fervency. Notice that the Spirit is indicating that this kind of fervent love covers multitudes of sins. Peter is using Proverbs 10:12 here to make his point,
"12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions." Proverbs 10:12
In alluding to Proverbs 10:12, Peter is showing a contrast that exists when we hold the sins, and offenses, of others against them. Holding the sins, and offenses, of others against them is, in a sense, like hatred. It is contempt. Keeping this in mind, one way to look at this is to think of the love that the Spirit wants you to manifest outwardly in such a way that you do not resurrect sins; you do not resurrect offenses that others have committed against you as reminders to them of how much of a failure they are. It is to act in such a way as to cover all those things that others have done that make them feel unworthy, inferior, and even unsaved. It means to act like the other person is extremely valuable with the real value that Christ gave that brother or sister in His great purchase on the cross. This is the way that God wants the members of the body to be the body for each other. Since this fervent love is a Christlike manifestation, then whenever we do this, what happens? We bring glory to God in Christ instead of faded glory to ourselves. Even though the sin, and offense, that someone has done may still be in your memories, love is the buffer. It acts like the sin, or offense, is covered so as to keep the bond of unity and the bond of peace in Christ. Why does it act like every sin is covered? Because every sin and offense that a Christian fails in, is actually covered by the precious blood of Jesus. There is another Proverb that describes this God glorifying task of fervent love,
"He who conceals a transgression seeks love." Proverbs 17:9
There is a special visit of Jesus that comes out of you, and touches others with understanding that forgives, and acts like the sin is covered (atoned) in light of grace, when you do this. Love in action really does have a buffering effect when it comes to the damage of a multitude of sins, hurts, offenses, and transgressions. Relentless reconciliation, and restoration, are manifestations of this fervent love that the Spirit is urging us to do even in the midst of the hurt and pain we can resurrect. Whenever we fervently seek reconciliation in relationships of hurt, and we seek to restore people who have failed, we are doing the work of the great Physician. We are using His love like a medic who is on a mission to heal. This reminds me of an incident where a Christian I know fell into grievous, embarrassing, sin. The Christian got caught, and arrested for it. It was the kind of thing that was dishonorable, debilitating, and destructive. The memory of that type of sin sticks with people. It goes on public record. The exposure leaves you bare and unprotected. And the world isn't offering any covering. It only offers shame, condemnation, and ridicule. But, hey, this is one of the results of sin. Sin incessantly mars the reputation of the people involved. God convicted that person. There was repentance. But, God convicted someone else. He convicted me. God, by His Spirit, motivated me to fervently love that Christian, and be there for that Christian. I learned that God's love covers a multitude of sins. It does not erase the sins. Fervent love is not supposed to erase everything. It covers them as a grace blanket for true fellowship and edification in the Spirit to occur. There are other incidents that come to my mind. Sin has been directed at me personally. I am sure we've all experienced the sting of some form of sin that has been directed toward us. I think of people whom I have respected; they've turned on me; they've destroyed aspects of my life that left me devastated. Daily; hourly; minute to minute, God convicted me by His Spirit, through His word:
"Kerry, you must fervently love those people."
"Kerry, you MUST fervently love those people."
The love had to be fervent or it wasn't going to happen. It is the only thing that covers the multitudes of sins I can bring up instantly in my mind if I want to do so. This is what Paul means when he says that love is patient; kind; not jealous; does not brag, and is not arrogant; does not act unbecomingly; is not selfish, or provoked, and it does not take into account a wrong suffered, 1 Corinthians 13. This fervency is the way of Jesus Christ which is the point of this sermon. Everything in glorifying God goes back to Jesus Christ. He loves unconditionally; we love unconditionally. If we love conditionally, harping on sins and offenses of others--bringing them up in memory, malice, or misdirected fervency, then we are stirring, and stirring, up strife in our own agenda which is just paramount to glorifying ourselves in the short time that we have left.
/4/
This leads to a fourth principle we can glean in respect to the Christ-glorifying things we should be doing in the short time we have left. It is something that is a manifestation of fervent love. Peter says,
"9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint."
@3 God wants His children to be _______________________ with one another without complaint. 1 Peter 4:9
Putting our mind's eye into the context, we know that the early Christians were constantly put in positions to care for other Christians. Ways that hospitality would be manifested could be through giving food, lodging, protection, and even money, to fulfill the needs of others. We can relate to what this means in our own time and culture. Hospitality is fruit of the Spirit that He wants manifested so that others experience it. Notice that Peter starts with the imperative to do it. Hospitality involves caring, friendliness, and loving action, that actually works hard to do things to help people. Being hospitable is where your fervency in love is made tangible. So, this is our starting place. But then also notice that to truly be God glorifying, we are called to be hospitable without griping about it. If I'm being hospitable because it is the way of Christ, and the way of Christ is to not be complaining or murmuring, then I'm fervently manifesting love for Christ's sake and He gets the glory doesn't He? This is the point; but you must do it.
/5/
And it is connected to our last principle,
"10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
When it comes to fervent love that glorifies God, this is where we draw upon what God has designed us to do best for doing our best for others. God has gifted each of us with special gifts and talents for a reason. Notice that Peter takes it for granted that God has given each of us at least one gift for service. Everyone in the body of Christ is gifted, in some way, to build up the body, as Peter says, "in serving one another." Ultimately we are to use any gift we have to glorify Him; which translates to what? We are gifted to serve one another in serving Christ. But the only way your unique gifts are going to be used for service, is if you fervently manage what God has given you. Peter calls it being "good stewards." A steward, in Peter's day, was a slave who served as a house manager for his master. He had no wealth of his own. He had no glory. Instead, he distributed his master's wealth according to his master's will and direction. His whole purpose was to serve, and glorify, his master. He was responsible to use his talents to build up the household. He was a responsible minister. The imagery is for us in God's household. We are the ones that God has called to be His "good stewards." God is talking to you. Our gifts come from God's grace, and there is a vast variety. But, one misconception in contemporary church practice is the idea that only select people are to serve the local church. But there are varieties of gifts for ministering. They are spread out by the Spirit for Him to use all of us for His glory in serving Him by serving others. The Biblical principle is that everyone in the body of Christ, who is not handicapped like in being comatose or something like that, can, and should, minister in some way. Your gift for serving may be in giving to meet financial needs. Your gift in serving may be your extraordinary faith that God wants you to build up others with. Your gift in ministry may be a high level of compassion. It may be in some other area that is not so easy to identify. We need to remember that the word "ministry" is the same as service. The word "ministering" is the same as serving. A minister is a servant. So, the biblical principle is that everyone in the body of Christ can, and should, serve in some way. Here, the way is according to that special gift that the Spirit indicates that you really do have! The reason for this is because, as Peter says, the grace of God is manifold. Manifold means "varied." Think of God's grace gifts given to each of us, but yet are being manifested in various ways. Your gifts, and my gifts, are how God glorifies himself. So God gives gifts to all of us to get His glory out of our manifestations of the Spirit. He's given all of the varied gifts to His body for the work of service, to build each member up, Ephesians 4:12. What this means is that, as the steward of your gifts, you go a step beyond the receiving end of everybody else's ministry. You go on to realizing your call to serve God by serving them. You are His steward. So we manage ourselves in submission to the Spirit, and the word, as stewards to be fervently serving others in love. When we all do this together, as good stewards, then what happens to the members of the body that are around us? The body is built up, isn't it? This is how it functions properly. Paul explains our calling well where we can actually see ourselves there;
"4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly [that's being a good steward]: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy." Romans 12:4-9
@4 We children of God are many, but we are one body in Christ, so we should show our love for the other members of the body without ___________________. Romans 12:4-9
As we do this, our fervent love should spread throughout one another like a functional organism that is void of hypocrisy. The big point this morning is that we really need to digest these truths and make them into part of our whole being in fervent action. God wants our gifts to be gifts to others. In my case it is prepared Bible preaching, and pastoring, to edify us in that way. In your case it may take on other shapes. But it is always serving the Lord by building up others in Christ.
Let's recap what the Spirit is teaching us from His word: We must continually realize that we don't have a lot of time. This helps us to diminish glorifying the temporal. It helps us to think in terms of a fuller glorification of our eternal God in our every day actions. We need to be redeeming the time. We need to be planting trees. We need to be paying taxes, and just about anything, as Christians who are manifesting Christ and the good news to the lost. While we are doing this, we also need to be praying. We must be aware, and ready, to go to God on a consistent basis, and then we must do it. We must pray for our church. We must pray for our families. We must pray for ourselves. The point is to pray to God as you encounter this world. Christ is our example in this. And lets be magnifying the Law of Christ out of ourselves to other Christians. We need to be fervent in our love. Love covers a multitude of sins. This means that we must nurture being hospitable with one another. We need to do this without griping about it. Finally we need to serve the Lord by serving one another. God has gifted you, in some way, to do it. We need to be truly "good stewards" who have been entrusted with God's grace. Let's express that grace to one another to build one another up. These are the Christ glorifying things we should be doing in the short time we have left in this life. Amen.
@1 God wants His children to always be ready for _________________. 1 Peter 4:7
@2 God wants His children to be very strong in their __________________ for one another, because _____________________ covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
@3 God wants His children to be _______________________ with one another without complaint. 1 Peter 4:9
@4 We children of God are many, but we are one body in Christ, so we should show our love for the other members of the body without ___________________. Romans 12:4-9
