1 Peter #14 1 Peter 4:7-11 Love, Pray, Give
Peter is making a pivot from how to live an
exemplary life in public and private and having introduced how to conduct
ourselves within the Church now is going to focus on it. What we will learn
today is that within the Church we are to pray, love, and be generous with one
another.
1 Peter 4:7-11 (MSG)
Everything in the world is about to be
wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. 8 Most of
all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for
practically anything. 9 Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the
homeless—cheerfully. 10 Be generous with the different things God gave you,
passing them around so all get in on it: 11 if words, let it be God's words; if
help, let it be God's hearty help. That way, God's bright presence will be
evident in everything through Jesus, and he'll get all the credit as the One
mighty in everything—encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!
There is no doubt that Peter, and by
association, all the Apostles, believed that Jesus would return during their
lifetime. Selected for your
consideration are 15 verses in the New Testament that address the Second Coming
of Christ. You’ll find a list in your notes.
Matthew 16:27; Matthew 24:27; Matthew
25:31-46; Mark 14:62; John 3:2-3; John 5:28-29; John 6:39-40; John 14:1-3; Acts
1:9-11; Acts 17:31; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 & 16-17; Hebrews
9:28; 2 Peter 3:3-15; Revelation 1:7-8 & 22:7-10
All traditional Christian groups have a teaching
concerning the Second Coming. Catholics, Orthodox, Church of England,
Episcopal, Lutherans, Reformed, Baptists,
“Calvaryist,” “Marinerites,” and
each group in the Holiness Movement which this congregation is a part of, teach
the return of Christ.
There is a lot of speculation as to events
that lead up to the Return and the aftermath of the Return. We’ll save that discussion for another
time. Now, we will simply affirm that
Jesus is coming again. Peter uses language that indicates that he expects the
Second Coming to happen soon. In his Revelation of Jesus, John’s vision, Jesus
says “I am coming soon” (Revelation 22:7-21).
I recall a conversation with a man older than I am now, which makes him
ancient at the time, who said that he expected the Lord to return within his
lifetime. He died when I was 19. In the 1970’s at the height of the Jesus
Movement it seemed everyone expected that the Second Coming would happen no
later than 1988. I am pretty sure “soon” hasn’t happened yet.
Some folks think that Jesus and the Apostles
were just mistaken about the soon part.
They cite Matthew 24:36—“But the exact day and hour? No one knows that
not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows” (MSG).
Some folks think that “soon” is on a different
time scale. They cite 2 Peter
3:8-9—"With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years
as a day. God isn't late with his promise as some measure lateness” (MSG).
Some folks think that when you bent the knee
to Jesus that the infilling of the Holy Spirit is the Second Coming. It’s a stretch but Revelation 3:20 is
cited: "Look at me. I stand at the
door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and
sit down to supper with you” (MSG).
Here’s what I think—ready, after years of
research here is what I have come up with.
I think it’s a very brilliant solution.
Ready, here you go--I think Jesus is bodily returning and when He does
He will set all things right. I know you’re impressed. It’s OK, just using the gifts God gave
me. The “soon part,” that things are
about to be wrapped up, helps me realize that there is only a limited amount of
time to do the will of God in this life. Now is the time to get serious about
living a devout and holy life. Now is
the time to live your life to the full. Now is the time to reconcile
relationships and if that just isn’t going to happen at least release the
offender with forgiveness. Now is the
time to tell your friends, your loved ones, and the people you see frequently
that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The anticipation of the Second
Coming helps me realize that days of unjust suffering and suffering, in
general, are coming to an end, and that hope gives believers the power to
endure. Friends “the final drama is
already underway, and the last act is fast approaching” (Powers, p. 132).
In light of the time running out, isn’t it
wise, if you haven’t bent the knee to the Lordship of Jesus if you haven’t
acknowledged to yourself and God your sins that have created the messes in your
life and kept you out of living in God’s favor, if you haven’t believed that
Jesus is the only one who can turn messes into masterpieces if you haven’t committed
to being a Christ follower, bending the knee, and if you haven’t asked God to
receive you, that in sincerity now is the time to call out to God to save you?
You don’t know how much time you have.
Decide right now. Decide right
now and join me in the anticipation of the Second Coming.
If the Second Coming isn’t a big deal to
you, consider that your death is a certainty.
We only have so much time, and we don’t know when our time is up. Be spiritually prepared for eventualities. Think it through. Jesus said this about His return—
John 6:40 (MSG)
This is what my Father wants: that anyone
who sees the Son and trusts who he is and what he does and then aligns with him
will enter real life, eternal life. My part is to put them on their feet alive
and whole at the completion of time."
Decide right now. Decide right now and join me in the
anticipation of life eternal, of a bodily resurrection, of life after life. Let
me know what you decide.
Until things are wrapped up, Peter tells us
to pray, to love, and to be generous.
Eugene Peterson who painstakingly created
the paraphrased version of scripture the Message wrote “Stay wide-awake in
prayer.” Stay wide-awake is not exactly
accurate, be in your right mind, is closer, which for me renders the admonition
to “Preserve your sanity” (Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT).
Sanity is like a personal stylist for your
thoughts. It helps you sort out what's important from what's just noise. Sanity
helps you avoid getting swept away by the latest fad or trend, and it keeps you
from going off on the deep end with wild ideas. For the believer, sanity is
like having a pair of eternity goggles that let you see what matters in life.
And if you give God his proper place, then everything falls into place too. Sanity
is like the ultimate organizational hack for your brain. [ChatGPT, 3Mar23]
Being in your right mind, thinking like Jesus, makes your prayers
effective. We also know that prayer,
being one of the 7 Habits of a Disciple, is a primary means of encounter with
God and therefore is a catalyst of spiritual growth.
Take these thoughts about sanity and place
them in a context in which you are unjustly suffering, being told that you are
a bad person, maybe a threat to society, because of your belief that Jesus is
Lord. Doing good and being rewarded with evil can be crazy-making. The way a
believer preserves their sanity is by practicing the 7 Habits of a
Disciple. Bible reading and study,
Prayer, Fellowship, Service, Worship, Obedience, and Contemplation, will keep
you in your right mind. In my spiritual journey I have found fellowship, being
with like-minded believers, is a great support for staying sane. Peter tells us that prayer will keep you
sane. Prayer connects you with the mind
of God. Sanity is doing the will of God. Amidst
persecution for your faith prayer will help
you preserve your sanity because prayer helps you discern the will of God.
In difficult times we do need each
other. Peter writes that Christ's
followers are to maintain their love for one another, especially in troubled
times. Within a congregation, there are going to be people's problems. There are going to be brothers or sisters in
your Christian family that you will not get along with, maybe even you will be
hurt by them. Unfortunately, the Church
is full of examples of mistreatment and abuse, shooting the wounded, and
judging. This happens when believers
forget that loving others, especially members of the household of God
(Galatians 6:10), is vitally important. Love does not deny or cover up
wrongdoing, or lets things slide and not do anything about misbehavior. But love does seek to maintain the unity of
the Church. Love compels us to confront
problems and reconcile the personal problems we have between us. In a hostile
environment, sticking together is essential for survival.
Peter is focusing on life within the
Church. Pray, love, and be
generous. A generous person gives out of
their abundance. Peter may be reflecting to those early days in Jerusalem that
we read about in Acts—
Acts 2:44-45 (MSG)
And all the believers lived in a wonderful
harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled
their resources so that each person's need was met.
In the family of God, we have to be
hospitable. In verse 9 we are reminded
to be quick with a meal and with a bed if one of our own is without. It’s a
simple principle if you have an abundance and see that someone you worship with
is in need, you do what you can to meet that need. If the need is more than what you can do,
then you ask for additional help from the others within the congregation.
Now this doesn’t mean someone gets perpetual
handouts.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 (MSG)
Don't you remember the rule we had when we
lived with you? "If you don't work, you don't eat." 11 And now we're
getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of
you. 12 This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work
immediately—no excuses, no arguments—and earn their own keep.
In the context of persecuted people, there
will be those who have lost jobs and lost homes because of their
testimony. The Church is to take care of
its own. Recall the many times you’ve heard that everything rises and falls on
relationships. When relationships are
good, life is good. Four key relationships
need to be right for you to live your life to the full. Your relationship with God, with others, with
yourself, and with the earth are those key relationships. When we consider having a right relationship
with the earth it refers to all the material blessings God has entrusted us
with. God is the owner of the stuff you
have, and the money you make, and you are the steward. God wants you as a manager to invest His
resources well and invest for the good of the Kingdom. A well-managed portfolio has enough to be
generous. You are doing a good job overseeing God’s resources when you can give
to others.
That’s all the time we have for this
lesson. There’s more to explore and we
will pick up on verse 10 next time.
Until then here’s what you can put into practice right now: Pray, it will keep you sane. Love, keeps the
unity of the Church. Be Generous, a wise steward gives.
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