Instructions for Living in the End Times | 1 Peter 4:7-11

Peter gives us six instructions for how to live in the end times: (1) believe, (2) evangelize, (3) pray (4) love, (5) give, (6) serve. This sermon is part 9 of "A Fisherman's Passion," Bryan Craddock's verse-by-verse series on 1 Peter 2:11-5:14.

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They say that your most productive week all year is the one before you go on vacation. You look forward to relaxing, but you know that some things must get done before you leave. So, you prioritize what is important. You resist all the distractions that often consume your time. You work long hours because you know that you will be able to rest later.

The New Testament calls us to live with an even more urgent and focused outlook. In 1 Peter 4:7, the Apostle Peter says that the end of all things is at hand. What did he mean? Was he wrong? Does it still apply today? If so, how, and what should we do about it?

We will find answers to those questions as we consider 1 Peter 4:5-11. We see Peter’s passion here again as he gives us six instructions for how to live in the end times. We often lack focus and get easily distracted. But these are the priorities, the things that need to be done before we leave for a better place to enjoy the rest that our souls crave.

Believe

Going on vacation is not cheap. Flying can be expensive. Even if you get a great deal, other arrangements must still be made to travel to another country, and they can get complicated. Nations welcome their own citizens home, but in many countries, visitors must apply for a visa. If they deny your application, you will be shut out.

There are two destinations at the end of all things--the kingdom of God and the lake of fire. The first is unimaginably good, but the other is unimaginably awful. Only citizens are allowed into the kingdom, but no one is born into it. In fact, you could say that our sins have landed us on the “No Fly” list.

But in 1 Peter 3:18, Peter tells us the good news that Jesus suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous. He died and rose again so that we can be born again to a living hope as citizens of the kingdom who will one day be welcomed home. So, the primary instruction as the end draws near is to believe.

We looked at 1 Peter 4:5-6 previously, but we should review it because there Peter explains the urgency of our situation. He says,

but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

Ultimately, everyone will face the Lord’s judgment. Some will be physically alive, but Revelation 20:12-13 also speaks of those who died being raised to stand before him. It tells us that some have their name in the book of life. They will enter the new heaven and earth to live in the presence of God forever. But everyone else will be condemned for the sinful things that they have done. They will be shut out and cast into the lake of fire.

But as Peter says, the good news of eternal life has been preached. He does not describe how people should respond to it here in 1 Peter 4, but in Acts 10:42-43 he describes the mission that Jesus gave him by saying,

And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

If you place your faith in Jesus Christ, you will be forgiven. You will receive the hope of eternal life in the presence of God. But there is a time limit. You must make that decision before you die or Christ returns, whichever comes first.

But here we are almost 2,000 years after Peter’s time, and Jesus has not yet returned. How could Peter say that the end was near or at hand? People were already asking that question during his lifetime. He addresses it in 2 Peter 3:8-9, by saying,

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God wants everyone to be saved, and in his perfect plan, he gives us an opportunity to respond. From a New Testament perspective, the end times began when Jesus ascended into heaven. The return of Christ could begin at any moment. So, don’t presume upon his patience and kindness. Believe in Jesus!

Evangelize

If someone offers you a free vacation as a gift, you should be suspicious. That is a common tactic used by timeshare resorts. It’s like bait on a hook. They bring you on a free vacation and then persuade you to buy in, so that you can come back every year. But if you do so, it is costly, and you are contractually obligated to keep paying. Even if you don’t want to come back, you’re hooked.

Some people feel the same suspicion toward Christianity and the gospel. We talk about salvation as a free gift. But people assume that there must be a catch--that they will be pressured to give money or to join some political campaign. Sadly, many people have distorted the gospel by doing such things. So, to avoid that stigma many of us just avoid saying anything at all.

But for people to believe the gospel, they must hear it from someone, and the most powerful testimony does not come from the employees of organizations like churches or ministries who stand to benefit financially. It comes from everyday people with nothing to gain who lovingly share the good news of Christ with friends and neighbors out of concern for their soul. That is the best way for evangelism to overcome this stigma.

Look again at 1 Peter 4:5-6. There Peter expresses the urgent need for evangelism by saying,

but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

In the original Greek that whole phrase, “the gospel was preached,” is just one word, the word from which we get the term evangelize. It takes the word for good news and turns it into a verb. Peter does not identify who preached the good news, he just says that it happened and that it was motivated by the reality of judgment, as we saw previously. The messenger should fade into the background so that the message becomes clear

But messengers are still essential. Jesus made that clear and so does the Apostle Paul. In Romans 10:14, he says,

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

So, everyone who believes must urgently share the message as the end draws near.

Pray

Mobile phones and the Internet have changed the experience of traveling. When my wife and I drove from Southern California to Michigan twenty-five years ago, it felt a lot riskier than it does today. Instead of having GPS to guide us and pinpoint our location, we relied upon a paper map with a highlighted route. If our car had broken down, we would have been searching for a payphone on foot with no idea where the nearest one might be. Now we have an almost constant connection anywhere we go.

Believers have always had that kind of connection with God through prayer. But we often take it for granted. We wander around trying to work things out on our own, when we should be crying out to him. The urgency of the times should lead us to pray. In 1 Peter 4:7, Peter says, “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.”

This sense of urgency began with John the Baptist. Matthew 3:2 tells us that he called people to repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. According to Matthew 4:17 Jesus preached the exact same message. His followers present the same thought in different terms. James 5:8 says that the coming of the Lord is at hand. Paul illustrates the same idea in Romans 13:12 by saying that the night is far gone, and the day is at hand.

We need these sharp reminders because we tend to become careless and complacent. But some believers might respond to them in the wrong way. They might panic. They might withdraw from life to wait for Jesus. So, instead of being careless or frantic, Peter tells us to be self-controlled and sober minded. Other translations say, “serious and watchful” (NKJV), “earnest and disciplined” (NLT), “alert and sober-minded” (NIV), or “of sound judgment and sober spirit” (NASB).

This mindset should lead to prayer, but prayer about what? Jesus gives us helpful guidance in what we call the Lord’s prayer. Matthew 6:9-13 tells us that he said,

Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

People often repeat this prayer verbatim, but Jesus said that we should not heap up empty phrases (v. 7). So, rather than using his words as a mantra we should follow them as a pattern. Pray for people to recognize God’s holiness and to respond to it while they have the opportunity. Pray for Jesus to come quickly and reign as king on earth and for people to prepare for that by submitting to his will now. Ask God to sustain us and meet our needs while we wait for Christ. Confess your sins and seek his help in overcoming temptation. Then pray for him to keep us safe from the demonic forces of evil.

The end is at hand. Don’t panic or be complacent, but pray.

Love

It seems odd, but the journey to a wonderful place can be full of stress and strife, even within your own family. We all have our own ideas about how things should go. Some want a detailed plan. Others want to figure it out along the way. Some rush to be early. Others want to relax and take their time. It all seems petty, in hindsight, but as that tension builds, we are tempted to lash out.

There is a similar dynamic in the church. Petty issues of personal preference often grow into major sources of strife and division. But the hope of salvation and the imminence of Christ’s return should lead us to show love to one another. In 1 Peter 4:8, Peter says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”

There are countless ways that we try to excuse our lack of love. But Peter asserts that it is of supreme importance, and Jesus made this point clear to him. Peter was there when he said that the greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:24-40). He also heard Jesus speak of love repeatedly to the disciples on the night before his crucifixion. Jesus told them to love one another as he loved them and that people would know that they are his disciples if they have love for one another (Jn 13:34-35). Perhaps Peter had that statement in mind in 1 Peter 4:8.

According to the ESV, Peter says that we should love “earnestly”. Other translations say “fervently” or “deeply”. But the term that Peter uses refers to stretching out or extending. You might say that he calls us to love extensively. John 21:18 tells us that Jesus used the verb form of that word to describe how Peter would die, stretching out his hands. We don’t know if Peter had that in mind as he wrote his letter, but this extensive love clearly requires a commitment to personal sacrifice.

Peter highlights one expression of this extensive love. He says that it covers a multitude of sins, and there are two ways that we could understand that expression. Covering sins could refer to holding them back, preventing them from ever happening. James 5:19-20 uses the word this way to describe the effect of turning someone away from a sinful lifestyle. It says,

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

We should care enough for our brothers and sisters in Christ that we are willing to reach out when they seem to be going astray. It should not be done in a self-righteous, judgmental way, but with gentleness, humility, and compassion. It is easy to become ensnared in temptation. We need to encourage each other to resist and stay on the path as we wait for Christ’s return.

But the word “cover” also expresses the idea of concealing something. We are never supposed to hide sin. But love should help us recognize that we do not need to rebuke someone every time they stumble. One sinful choice is not necessarily indicative of a wayward life. So, when someone reacts poorly to a situation or speaks harshly to us, love should lead us to ignore it. Proverbs 19:11 says, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”

To maintain perspective, we need to stay focused on our destination. Sometimes that will lead us to confront sin. Sometimes it will lead us to overlook it. But we should always reflect our great hope by showing love.

Give

The meaning of a word can change so much over time that it comes to mean the exact opposite. In fact, we encounter one of those words when we travel. You might patronize the hospitality industry with its hotels and restaurants. You give money, sometimes lots of it, to receive service, room, and board.

But originally the giving in hospitality went the other way. The host was the giver not the guest. I suspect most of us know this, but we may still misunderstand the meaning of hospitality. We often use it to speak of entertaining friends and family.

But the word originally referred to how you treat strangers. It is giving to those you do not know who probably cannot repay you in any way. People today often use the Greek word xenophobia to describe the fear of strangers. In 1 Peter 4:9, Peter uses the word philoxenos, the love of strangers. He says, “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”

Why does Peter highlight this characteristic in the context of the end of all things being at hand? Many scholars point out that as leaders like Peter and Paul traveled from place to place preaching the gospel, they relied on Christians for support. Plus, the inns of the ancient world were places of drunkenness and prostitution that Christians were better off avoiding. But the apostles and their emissaries were not really strangers, and most believers would have probably considered it an honor to host them.

Since Peter’s letter speaks of Christians facing hostility, hospitality may have been needed by some who were fleeing persecution. They might have arrived as refugees with nothing but the clothes on their back. Rather than simply passing through, they would have needed long term support until they could find work and their own place to live. Now that seems like the sort of undertaking that you might be tempted to grumble about. It would require significant personal sacrifice.

But the early church was marked by this kind of sacrificial giving. Some of the people who were saved on the Day of Pentecost were Jews from other places who came to Jerusalem for the Jewish feast. They had not planned on staying long, but as new believers, they needed to become established in their faith. So, Acts 2:44-55 tells us,

And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Here again the return of Christ puts things in perspective. Do we give in light of eternity? Are we willing to help someone that we don’t even know? That is biblical hospitality.

Serve

I recently saw an advertisement for a resort that promises to treat you like royalty. Who would not want that in a vacation destination? In fact, we want to be treated that way all the time. Deep inside, we think everyone should bow to our will. But there is only room for one on the throne of your heart. To be a Christian is to bow before Jesus as Lord. Rather than ruling, we must faithfully serve him as king.

Jesus connected the responsibility of faithful service with his return. In his Olivet Discourse recorded in Matthew 24-25, he speaks of a master returning and calling his servants to give an account of how they have used his resources. Peter may have had that discourse in mind as he spoke of the end, because in 1 Peter 4:10-11, he says,

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.

We normally think of a gift as something that is ours to do with as we want. But this gift is an investment. God entrusts an expression of his grace to every Christian, and he wants us each to manage it for him. Peter describes this investment of grace as varied, and Paul presents the same idea in Romans 12:3-8 and 1 Corinthians 12-14. He describes these gifts as diverse Spirit empowered abilities that enable the members of the church to fulfill different purposes like the various parts in the human body.

In Corinth, some people were exploiting their abilities to draw attention to themselves. A few were able to deliver prophecies. Others had miraculous gifts to validate those revelations. They were able to heal or to speak languages that they had never learned. But Paul explained that those gifts would cease at some point. Christians still debate whether that has happened yet. I personally think that those particular gifts fulfilled their purpose and are no longer needed.

By the time that Peter writes, he gives no indication of that controversy. He doesn’t present a big list or a survey to help you discover your gift. He simply focuses on two basic responsibilities: speaking and serving. We should all be doing both, and as we do, it should be clear that we are relying upon God. We should rely upon his oracles or utterances as we speak and upon his strength as we serve, because the goal is not to draw attention to ourselves but to glorify him. He is the source of grace. He is the king!

So, as the time of Christ’s return draws near we must stay focused on serving him as good stewards of his grace.

__________

We do not know how much time we have left before Jesus returns, but we can prepare ourselves by following Peter’s six instructions: believe, evangelize, pray, love, give, and serve. Are you ready for Christ to come?

If you have never done so, I encourage you to believe in him. Trust that he died and rose again so that we can be forgiven of our sins and have the hope of eternal life in the presence of God. If you would like to learn more about the importance of the gospel, 2 Corinthians 5 would be a good place to read.

Perhaps you are a believer, but you have become complacent. We are all tempted to forget about Christ’s return and to approach life on the world’s terms. If that is where your heart is, I urge you to wake up and repent. We all need to stay focused, and we should evaluate ourselves by these instructions. Perhaps there is one on which you need to focus. Would you commit to doing that?

May God be glorified in everything we do!

Reflect

How has the anticipation of Christ’s return shaped your life?

Which of these instructions are you following? Which ones are you neglecting?

What could you do to cultivate a greater sense of anticipation?