At the church
where I serve, we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled living as part
of God’s kingdom community. During this series, we are addressing the reality
that as followers of Jesus, the hope we have in Jesus should lead to us
embracing our identity as part of God's kingdom community. However, to truly embrace our identity as part of God’s kingdom
community requires that we live out our identity as part of God’s kingdom community.
But how do we do that? In other words, what does
embracing our identity as part of God’s kingdom community look like? How should
followers of Jesus live out our identity as followers of Jesus who are part of
God’s kingdom community in the midst of a rapidly changing culture? How should
followers of Jesus live out our identity as followers of Jesus who are part of
God’s kingdom community when our faith is minimized and
marginalized? How should followers
of Jesus live out our identity as followers of Jesus who are part of God’s
kingdom community when our faith is ridiculed,
criticized, and slandered?
So during
tis series, we have been answering those questions by looking at a letter that
has been preserved and recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called
the book of 1 Peter. This week, I
would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the
next section of this letter, we will discover another timeless truth about how
we are to live as part of God’s kingdom community in the midst of a rapidly
changing culture as followers of Jesus. So let’s discover that timeless truth
together, beginning in 1 Peter 4:7:
The end of all things
is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
Peter begins
this section of his letter to these early followers of Jesus who were
experiencing sadness and suffering as a result of their circumstances with the
phrase “the end of all things is near”. Now a natural reaction to Peter’s
statement here would be “Well Dave, how can Peter say that the end of all
things is near? I mean, this was written over two thousand years ago. So, obviously
the end of all things was not near; obviously Peter did not know what he was
talking about, so how can we trust what Peter is about to say now? Doesn’t this
demonstrate that the Bible is not trustworthy?”
If I have just
described the reaction and questions that are running through your mind at this
point, I just want to let you know that those are fair questions to ask. And my
response to those reactions and questions is this: When Peter uses this phrase
“the end of all things is near”, this phrase refers to the last chapters of
God’s story here on earth. If human history were a book, we are living in the
final chapters of the book. Notice that I did not say the final chapter.
You see, Jesus
entry in humanity; Jesus life, death, resurrection, and ascension started a
phase of history known as the church age. The birth of God’s kingdom community
called the church marked the beginning of the final chapters of God’s story
here on earth. The final chapter of God’s story here on earth will culminate
with Jesus returning to earth to defeat selfishness, sin, and death and to
usher in the kingdom of Heaven in its fullest sense.
Peter here is
basically reminding the readers of his letter, and followers of Jesus
throughout history, that we are living in the final chapters of God’s story
here on earth and that Jesus return to earth that will culminate God’s story
here on earth will be coming. Peter’s point here is that every follower of
Jesus throughout history is to live out their day to day lives with a sense of
expectation that Jesus will return some day in the future. And upon Jesus
return, every follower of Jesus will answer to Jesus for how they lived their
lives as a part of God’s kingdom community here on earth.
And it is
here, in this section of this letter that we will see Peter reveal for us a
timeless truth about how we are to live as followers of Jesus who are a part of
God’s kingdom community in the midst of a rapidly changing culture. And that
timeless truth is this: Living
as part of God’s kingdom community should lead to a lifestyle that has an
eternal perspective. As followers of Jesus who are a part of God’s kingdom
community, we are to live our lives in light of the reality that while our
lives here on earth are temporary, how we live our lives here on earth will
influence and impact our lives in eternity. As the character Maximus stated in
the movie Gladiator "what we do in life echoes in eternity". And
because of that reality, as followers of Jesus, we are to live out our day to
day lives in a way that has an eternal perspective.
In 1 Peter
4:7-11, we are going to see Peter provide four commands to followers of Jesus
throughout history that, when followed, will lead to a lifestyle that reflects
an eternal perspective. First, in verse 7, we see Peter command followers of
Jesus throughout history to be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the
purpose of prayer. Now the phrase sound judgment, in the language that this
letter was originally written in, conveys the sense of being prudent with a
focus on self control. This phrase conveys the idea of being sensible and of
keeping one’s head.
In addition,
as we discovered earlier in the book of 1 Peter, the phrase “keep sober” here
refers to being well-balanced. This phrase conveys the sense of being self
controlled. So Peter here is commanding followers of Jesus throughout history
to have an eternal perspective that demonstrates a sensible wisdom in the
present when it comes to how they engage the Lord in prayer. Peter here is
commanding followers of Jesus throughout history to have an eternal perspective
that demonstrates a sense of self-restraint and self control when it comes to
how they engage the Lord in prayer.
And it is here that we see Peter reveal for us the
reality that a lifestyle that has an eternal perspective will reflect that
perspective by rightly thinking about the future. Rightly think about the
future will result in us developing and demonstrating sensible wisdom for the
present that will help us keep our heads together regardless of what
circumstances we find ourselves in. And rightly thinking about the future will
result in us having a self restraint that helps us when we pray.
As followers of Jesus, we are not to allow our mental or
emotional states to be filled with the confusion that comes as a result of not
having the right perspective. Instead of becoming emotionally or mentally
intoxicated by riding the emotional or mental roller coaster of “what if”, as
followers of Jesus we are to have an eternal perspective that results in being
able to have balance in our lives emotionally and mentally. As followers of
Jesus, such a balance and self restraint will enable us to pray to the Lord in
a way that rightly thinks about our circumstances as a result of having the
right perspective, which is an eternal perspective.
Tomorrow, we will see Peter give two more commands, that
when followed, should lead to a lifestyle that has an eternal perspective…
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