0816 HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE

AUGUST 16 = 1 PETER 4

HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE

Peter has given loads of practical advice on how to follow Christ in a difficult culture. In this chapter, he really tackles the application of faith in the last days. How, then, shall we live, if times are difficult and oppression is strong? Peter is about to give some good directives for all Christians. Notice that these are not tidbits of advice; they are commands, boldly declared by a man who was not afraid to tell someone what to do, even when the Holy Spirit was his guide.

“The end of all things is near….”

 Obviously, the end of all things did not happen in Peter’s generation. However, the destruction of Jerusalem was just a bit around the corner, and Peter’s own crucifixion at the hands of the Romans was not far away, either. That is true for you and me, as well. The end of all things for you or me is just a heartbeat away. 

So, what must we do, in light of the end being near?

Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 

This is pretty amazing to me. I get that we should be of a sound mind, and be self-controlled. It is the opposite of what he had just described the world as doing: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. So we need to stay alert and remain sober. 

But today i am noticing WHY we are to be alert and sober: So that we may pray. Remain alert to warfare in the spiritual realm, what the enemy is doing, what needs people around you have. Be on watch, because someone needs to be communicating with God about all of these things going on. Be alert so that you know when it might be a good time for someone to hear a challenge to follow Christ. Be alert so that you can say no to the enemy of your soul. And be sober so that you can always articulate clearly what it is you are praying and what God is saying to you. There is power in prayer. We need prayer warriors on the front lines. This is no time for being self-indulgent, because the battle is heating up again.

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 

This is so incredibly powerful and such an important teaching that we dare not pass it by. 

“Above all,” says Peter. More important than anything else. For all that we have been talking about–serving, suffering, believing, being born again, submitting, being gentle, the whole letter of instruction–this is an overriding principle to guide you.

Then he says, “love each other deeply.” It’s that word for love that goes deeper than friendship, and deeper than family ties. It is serving, laying down your life, giving sacrificially, putting others before yourself, that kind of love that he calls for. The kind of love that Jesus showed for everyone. Deep love, ready to die in order to do what’s best for someone else.

Then Peter says WHY we are to love one another deeply. He says, “because love covers over a multitude of sins.” Peter seems to be saying that if we truly love one another deeply, we will forgive each other seventy times seven times. He is saying that holding grudges or talking behind someone’s back, these are not marks of loving deeply. The mark of loving deeply is that you never take up an offense, you never keep score, you protect someone’s reputation behind their back. You cover over all their very many sins.

There might be another way to view this phrase about love covering over a multitude of sins. When we love, our own sins get covered over. By those people to whom we have committed ourselves. They don’t hold offenses against us, because they know that we love them. And perhaps the final way of interpreting this sentence is to note that God covers over all of our sins when we love genuinely, from the heart.

The next sentence is brutally honest and candid. I should make a poster of it and put it on the wall in my living room, as a reminder. But maybe it would be offensive. Either way it is critical and goes against our fleshly nature.

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Offering hospitality is important. The word means “love strangers,” and it is related to our word hospital, where we go to the highest degree of serving someone in their hour of need. So DO offer hospitality, by any means. But DO NOT grumble while you are doing it. If you guests overstay their welcome, do not grumble. If no one thanked you for bringing them a meal, do not grumble. If you grumble, you lose all your golden points that you would have earned for your service of hospitality, and you have to start all over again. Let’s pretend that the formula works like this: One grumble negates a year of service. That’s a motivation to me.

Lastly, Peter offers his own version of a list of spiritual gifts, or of functions in the body of Christ. Use whatever gift you have, to the glory of God. I’ll let Peter’s own words close us out today.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”