Everything is coming to an end …so….

Hebrews 13
1Peter 4:7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
[1] KEEP YOURSELF IN MIND OF THE END OF ALL THINGS - 7 The end of all things is near. Peter has encouraged and counselled in several different ways. Now he takes up a new thought.
The suffering they are now experiencing is limited for everyone, because it will soon be ended by death or by the return of Christ. However we do not know when either of these things will happen. We are all living on the edge of eternity.
A]The first fact is that Jesus Christ is coming again one day. 7 The end of all things is near. Most people associate such a statement with a man holding a placard. They view such a person with amusement thinking he is slightly nutty or eccentric. Few today take such a person or their message seriously. However that message is lifted straight out of the NT and is a word to Christians of all times.
Today many will say, it’s been almost 2,000 years and life goes on. How can anyone say that the end of all things has come near? Peter answers that charge in 2 Peter 3:3-10. What such scoffers don’t realize is that God’s view of time and ours are significantly different. A thousand years with the Lord is as one day.
We must understand the difference between saying “the end of all things is near,” and “the end of all things is here.” Peter is speaking of the consummation of all of God’s plans. The end is not just one event but the converging of all things to draw to a close the eternal purposes of God. The prophets spoke of future events relating to the first and second coming of our Lord as though they were one event. It is all a part of one big plan, a plan God is bringing to a close.
Our Lord taught that He was going to return to the earth one day visibly and powerfully, the angels confirmed it, the apostles affirmed it, we are called to live expecting it. Matt 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. Acts 1:11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." 1Thess 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Every now and again a religious group will become convinced that the Lord’s coming is imminent an will try and persuade others this is the case, some even have sold up and gone out to sit on a hilltop and await His coming. Lots of Pseudo-Christian cults have made the same mistake, the JW’s have and then smothered their failed prophesies with lies.
In 1988, thousands of pastors in America received a booklet sent by a man who claimed to have 88 reasons why he knew Christ was returning in 1988. Other booklets saying the same followed.
Such attempts at dating the return of the Lord are doomed to failure. However in some ways they are good because they keep us on our toes, and remind us that our Lord is coming. That does not hurt us because a great danger is that we get sleepy and stop living in the expectancy of the end of all things.
Peter uses a word translated “at hand” or “approaching.” In other words we are to be in a state of readiness. We don’t have the date, we do have the instruction to be ready, we do know that it gets nearer every moment, we “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here” Romans 13:12. “The Lord is at hand” Philippians 4:5. “The Lord's coming is near” James 5:8.
Let me illustrate. Some years ago we took our young family on a train from Ashford to London for the first time. Every time the train stopped, one of them asked, are we there yet, or do we get off here? The answer was the same each time: “No, we’re not there yet, but we’re on the way, and it’s not far now.” You aren’t there yet, you’re on the way, and it’s not that far. And every moment you spend in travelling brings you closer to your destination.
So we all need to live in light of the fact that the end of all things is near. Lu 12:36 be like men waiting for their master to return. Does that mean that we make no plans for the future? No, of course not! Reader’s Digest 5/82 had an article that said this – “The art of living successfully consists of being able to hold two opposite ideas in tension at the same time: first, to make long-term plans as if we were going to live forever; and second, to conduct ourselves daily as if we were going to die tomorrow”.
B] The second fact is that our own time on earth is limited.
Death will eventually touch our circle of friends and family.
In days when life expectancy was very short and illness could strike suddenly and irreversibly parents would often teach their children to say this prayer … “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.” Children grew up knowing premature death was very possible and this prayer helped them be prepared for it.
What if that bedtime prayer finally came true? What if you knew that this would be your final day on earth? What would you do? How would you live?
Knowing that eternity is just around the corner should affect the way we live.
Some want to shut such thoughts out - A pastor was asked by a friend to visit his dying relative, when he arrived her husband opened the door just far enough to say that his wife was “not up to a visit” at the time. Through the opening in the door, the pastor could see the wife sitting up in bed reading magazines. Here was a woman who knew she was dying but rather than deal with eternal issues, she chose to live in the make believe world of Hollywood.
Others face up to it and are ready - Certain monks of the Middle Ages had human skulls in their cells, inscribed with the Latin expression, "memento mon" (remember your death). It was a morbid practice not the sort of thing likely to catch on today - but it served a useful purpose at that time. It was to remind these people of the transiency of life and the need to establish the right priorities.
How would we change, if we knew we had only a brief time to live? A young person in the prime of life might try to crowd an entire lifetime into a few months. An older person hopefully would ensure the family is properly provided for. What about a believer? A young Christian might be ready but first want to get married and have children. A mature believer might feel they need to prepare those around them? Many of us might have things we need to share or do!
However, there are other priorities which are far more important in God's sight, and these are what Peter calls to our attention here. He singles out things that are important knowing our days are numbered. We must bear in mind what awaits believers is far better than the best this life can offer. We must make sure our relationship with God is right and our relationship to others is healthy as well.
We can’t take the world with us, the Pharaohs toys are still in their tombs after thousands of years. What we can take with us, and what is lasting and satisfying is what is in our heart.
[2] KEEP YOUR EMOTIONS UNDER CONTROL SO YOU CAN PRAY. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
Prayer acknowledges our weakness and dependence on God. Not to pray is to assert our own sufficiency. As we recognize our own inadequacy and God’s total sufficiency, we should be driven to prayer.
Peter mentions two somewhat synonymous qualities which will help us to be people of prayer: clear minded and self-controlled.
Clear minded is to think sanely, realistically, to make judgments based upon truth and reality rather than on distorted perception. It is the same word used for the man with the legion of demons in Mark 5:1-20 after Christ had healed him he was literally in his “right mind.” The same word is used as a qualification for elders and means level-headed, not impulsive, not swayed by fluctuating emotions. Sound judgment concerning ourselves will move us to prayer as we recognize our own weakness, but also, God’s strength.
Self-controlled also deals with a sober state of mind capable of perceiving and reasoning accurately and in accordance with reality. The term describes a state of emotional control so that under pressure, you don’t give in to anger or fear or depression or otherwise lose your composure. Peter slept in the garden with Jesus when he should have been alert, sober, and in prayer. As a result he fell into temptation and sin.
Peter is not saying we have got to calculating and clinical to be fit to pray. He is warning against becoming distracted, bothered, and controlled totally by your circumstances. When that happens you can’t pray. When we are wound up, we can’t slow down or focus long enough to pray.
The pressures and emotional turmoil that often comes into our lives is very powerful, and for Christians to survive they need to be clear-minded so they can see things in their proper perspective
The Christian can also get so controlled by the spirit of the world and with the things of the present and they fail to make heavenly things their priority and the prayer life becomes negligible.
How can you pray without thinking? Prayer is not a mindless utterance of a meaningless noise, nor is it the mindless repetition of memorised phrases. Prayer involves heart and mind. How can you pray without thinking?
Maintaining a healthy prayer life is one of the hardest things for the Christian. It is much easier to be activists.
Pritchard- the only advice I can add is to start praying early in the day—as soon as you wake up—before the pressure of the day wraps its arms around you. Start the day with prayer and you’re likely to remain cool, calm and collected all day long.
As we begin this New Year let us seek to be more prayerful. Listen to Paul - 1Th 5:17 pray continually; 1Th 5:25 Brothers, pray for us.
Prayer is the forerunner of blessing. It is the God-ordained means for our spiritual development and the progress of His church.
[3] KEEP YOURSELF FULL OF FORGIVING LOVE 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
“Above all” does not pit love against prayer; rather, Peter is calling our attention to the priority of love for fellow Christians as a central part of the Christian faith. Jesus said that love for one another is His new commandment, the mark by which the world will know that we are His followers. Loving our neighbour is second only to loving God, and is a tangible evidence that we do love God. Paul told the Corinthians that without love he would be nothing.
Peter didn’t doubt that his readers were practicing love, but he knew that in hard times it’s easy to start taking out our frustrations on those closest to us.
So he writes, love each other deeply. This word was used of an athlete straining his muscles, or a horse running at full gallop. It means “stretched-out love.” It’s love that goes on and on and on.
This implies that love is not a warm, fuzzy feeling, it takes sustained, strenuous effort. The fact that love can be commanded shows that it is primarily an action, not an emotion, although often there will be an emotional element involved.
Often biblical love is more sweat than sweet. It involves effort! It costs something. In his book ‘The Four Loves’, C. S. Lewis describes it this way:
‘To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one. Wrap it carefully with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in a casket of your own selfishness. There it will not be broken.’
It’s fairly easy to love people who don’t sin against you. Biblical love extends even to those who wrong you. The phrase comes from Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs. Similarly Proverbs 17:9 He who covers over an offence promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Peter seems to have in mind the fact that love is ready to forgive and careful to protect the offender from needless exposure. The fact is people do offend, they can speak hastily, unpleasantly, they can accuse, and bully to get their own way, they can make unwarranted insinuations, and allegations.
What do we do them? One hopes they will be humble and gracious and confess their faults, but if there is no confession and repentance? R. T. K. says that if you wait for some people to repent, most of the time you’ll wait forever. Sometimes people who hurt you don’t know it. If you try to convince them they did wrong, you’ll start an argument. So forgive and pray for them.
Every time someone wrongs me I have two choices. I can forgive it, and move on, or I can stir up conflict. Deep love expects others to fail, expects to be hurt and expects to be used unfairly. Love has a short memory.
SC - The meaning is—love tries to find a way to treat a sinner discreetly. It is exactly the opposite of hatred that exposes weakness and humiliates someone else, love deals with sin publicly only as a last resort.
We need to hear this word because others will fail us a “multitude” of times. Love isn’t surprised when close friends fail, isn’t surprised when promises aren’t kept, isn’t surprised when others write unkind letters, and isn’t surprised when we are criticized unfairly.
If your marriage is going to succeed, love will have to cover a multitude of sins. The same is true where you work and where you live. No church can survive very long unless love covers a multitude of sins. Because sin is everywhere, love must stretch out to cover sin. Without that we will never be able to live together. Someone once said there are too many touchy people in the church.
That love covers sin does not mean that love condones sin. Scripture is clear that love often confronts sin. Church discipline, which is sometimes necessary as an expression of love, exposes rather than covers sin. So how do we know whether to cover someone’s sin or to confront it?
There is no easy formula other than study how Jesus dealt with the disciples and how God deals with His people and seek to do likewise.
The sin of the unruly and belligerent need confrontation, not covering, but others are weak and need encouragement so cover their sin.
Most offenses are too trivial to confront but if it is creating a barrier to relationships, then it needs to be cleared up in a way that will bring healing.
If a person has a sin that is hindering God’s glory in his life or that may result in his falling into worse sin, it needs to be confronted, not covered.
So lets begin the Year with this principle love each other deeply, embedded in us.
[4] KEEP YOURSELF SHARING WITHOUT GRUMBLING -9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
The word hospitality means kindness shown to strangers. It was vitally important in the early church because travelling speakers or the displaced or those who had suffered a misfortune had nowhere else to go. Plato called innkeepers--"pirates who held their guests to ransom." The early Christian church depended on open homes. In those days, to welcome other believers into the home was an honour.
By being hospitable, they gave evidence of their own faith, and did what was pleasing to their Lord. The may even have entertained an angel!
The bad news is that they drew attention to themselves and may have been arrested and even put to death for “harbouring a criminal.”
So it was a test of faith to be seen entertaining other believers. Since then believers today in China, Islamic countries and other places are marked out when they show hospitality to Christians.
Peter does not mention the repercussions or the blessings from showing hospitality. Instead, he exhorts us to be hospitable, without grumbling. He was a realist. He had experienced hospitality but knew from experience it doesn’t always remain easy after an extended period of time. When we tell people, make yourself at home, that's exactly what they may do and we may regret saying that.
But let us be careful to see that hospitality is no less important in the church today. We still have visiting missionaries. We have newcomers to our church who would greatly profit from hospitality.
Hospitality does not come naturally these days; our culture holds privacy so dear. Our high fences isolate us from our neighbours. But the kind of hospitality Jesus and the apostles spoke of is not natural—it is supernatural it is but one more way in which servant-hood is expressed. Open homes, of course, are a result of open hearts, for example the home of Lydia and the home of Gaius.
The early Christians understood that God had given them a place to live not just to get away from the world but also a means for ministering to others.
Home may be a refuge and a castle but can be a tool for evangelism and ministry. When you read the NT notice how often Christians were in homes. Jesus spent three years in someone else’s house. And He had twelve men with Him!
What is striking about these instructions is that they are the sort of things any believer can engage in - alertness, prayerfulness, forgiving love, sharing. God wants us to venture ourselves and start with what we have - as humble as it may be. Lets us look forward to another year of joyful, fruitful service.