Joy to the world the Savior’s come, let earth receive her King, for us He was born, for us He lived the perfect life we haven’t and on our behalf died the death we should have died, He was raised and made Lord and Judge of all, He’s your judge, my judge and He’s coming again. We need to be ready, we want to be righteous and pleasing in His sight when He comes. There’s a little paragraph I thought we’d study for our lesson this morning in I Peter 4. It’s about how to be ready when He comes again. I Peter 4:7-9, “The end of all things is near; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling…”
“The end of all things is near…”
I know that many today mock at this kind of statement, because they know Peter made this statement 2000 years ago. We never speak of something as being near or soon when it’s at least 2000 years away. So they accuse Peter of either lying or being mistaken. But they misunderstand Peter. He is not saying that the end will come within his generation or within some other time frame that we might think is the extent of soon. Peter even clarifies this matter in his second letter. In II Peter 3 he admits he doesn’t know when the Lord is coming back or when the end is going to be. He says that day is coming like a thief in the night. Thieves don’t call people up and say, “Hey, just wanted you to know, 2 am Thursday night, is when I’m breaking into your house.” Then Peter suggests the possibility that it won’t come for what we consider to be a long time when he says, “with God a thousand years is as a day, and a day is as a thousand years.” So a couple thousand years to God can be like two days to us. What Peter is saying is that we have entered that stage of world history where God has said, “I’m almost done with this world. I’ll be there soon.” The end is near in view of the entire scope of world history and from God’s perspective.
The Bible uses different images to help us grasp this.
One of them is the image of the cycle of night and day; Paul uses this picture in Romans 13 where he says, “The night is almost gone, and the day is near.” (Romans 13:12) The night began back when Adam and Eve sinned in the beginning and were driven away from the tree of life, then the world quickly became a very dark place, like night time, and for thousands of years it was very dark, but then, just like in the early morning when you can see a glow of light coming over the horizon, Jesus, the light of the world came. Jesus enabled us to start seeing a bunch of stuff we could not see before. Things are becoming clearer now. These last 2000 years have been that kind of transition period from the night to day. We are at that stage of the night, the early morning before dawn.
Another image the Bible uses is the image of a pregnant woman. This world became pregnant with the children of God ages ago. For ages the children of God have been growing and developing within this womb. But then at the beginning of this age in which we are now living, Jesus told His disciples, “You’re about to start feeling the beginning of birth pangs. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, when nation rises against nation and kingdom against kingdom and in various places there are famines and earth quakes, they are the beginning of birth pangs (Matthew 24:4-8). It isn’t time for delivery when a woman first feels those. Several of you ladies know you can feel birth pangs for quite a while. But it indicates that delivery is drawing near. In Romans 8:22, Paul wrote the whole creation is now groaning and suffering the pains of childbirth. We have entered that last stage in the world’s pregnancy.
So in that sense, “the end of all things is near.” And understand the end of all things doesn’t mean there will be nothing. It’s the end of things as we know it. But it will be the beginning of all new things. In his second letter, Peter says there will be major demolition and renovation when Jesus comes. We’re looking forward to a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (II Peter 3:3-13).
And folks, here in this 21st century, we are now well into the birth pains. The end was near from God’s perspective 2000 years ago and the glow of light hit the horizon 2000 years ago. I suspect the end of all things is now really close.
Then notice the next word in our text…
“therefore”
In view of what’s coming soon, here’s what we need to do so we’re ready.
First…
Keep your sanity
That’s what the first command means literally. “Be of sound judgment,” or “be self-controlled.” It means be in your right mind, stay sane, stay clear-minded. There is another place in the NT where this same word in the Greek text is used that makes, I think, a good illustration. It’s in Mark 5:15 where you have that wild story of the man who lived in a cemetery on the Gentile side of the Sea of Galilee, possessed with a legion of demons and went about naked and constantly screamed and gashed himself with rocks. Everybody in the area knew about the man and was afraid of him. When Jesus traveled by boat to that side of the sea and encountered him, the demons knew Jesus was about to order them to leave the man, so they asked Jesus that He not send them into the abyss, but allow them to enter a nearby herd of about 2000 pigs. Do you remember the story? Jesus gave them permission. Then immediately the “deviled ham” stampeded down the steep bank and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen saw the whole thing and ran into town and reported what they’d seen and a whole bunch of people came out to see what happened. It says they came out and saw the man who had been crazy and possessed, sitting down, clothed, and in his right mind. Well, the word in that story for “in his right mind” is the same word we have here in I Peter 4:7. Be in your right mind. And like Jesus did for the crazy demon-possessed man, Jesus brought us into our right mind.
Did you know people by and large are not in their right mind? Most people are insane.
Solomon, who was gifted by God with wisdom, gave a great picture in the book of Ecclesiastes of the sort of thing most people in the world are doing. Picture a guy sitting on a park bench, alert, looking around, like he’s ready for something. A gust of wind blows by and he immediately jumps up and starts running in the direction of the wind, grabbing frantically at the air. And he’s out there every day trying to catch the wind. Solomon says that’s about what everybody’s doing in their lives. They are striving after wind… different kinds of wind. Some are striving to be the best at their sport, it is their main ambition in life. So they’re spending hours every day training and sticking to their diet, so that for a moment, they can stand on a podium higher than some others and receive a medal around their neck, which is ultimately as significant as getting a big arm’s full of wind. And some are striving to have the perfect bod; they are chasing the wind of fitness and beauty. Some are striving frantically to have more money and stuff than the people around them. Some are striving to just be able to retire and play a lot of golf, to hit little white balls into little holes in the ground. People are chasing many other things that ultimately do not benefit us more than an arm full of wind. And it’s stuff that you can’t hold on to anyway, it will slip through your fingers before you know it.
And people by and large are not only chasing wind, they’re also self-destructive like that possessed man who would gash himself with rocks. As they reject the ways of God who made them and loves them, and instead choose sin, they afflict themselves with shame and guilt and regret and fear of their future, they destroy their relationships and miss out on fellowship with God and the joy, peace and meaningfulness that comes with that.
Jesus helped us to see that God is good and for us, not against us and the more we trust and do things His way, the freer we are from the shame and guilt and hopelessness, and the more we bless ourselves and our families and everyone around us. He’s helped us see the futility of what most people are chasing and the surpassing value of serving Him.
We’ve got to realize, we’re not the crazy ones because we’re different. We live in an insane asylum. We are the patients who have been healed, but we’re still here to help the other patients find healing. We have to stay sane if we’re going to be ready for when the Lord comes and able to help anybody else.
Then similarly he says,
“And be sober…”
Don’t fuzzy your mind. This is something he’s reemphasizing because he said it also back in
I Peter 1:13. It doesn’t just mean, don’t get drunk or high, though it certainly includes that. But there is much in the world besides drugs and alcohol that we can so absorb that could cloud or distort our thinking. For instance, concentrating on what other people have that you don’t. Remember that made king Saul insane with jealousy against David. Then David himself absorbed too much of the beauty of Bathsheba from his rooftop. And a lot of people do that today with pornography and everything, they become so enveloped with everything that’s available, they absorb it and become inebriated with it. Pornography has long-lasting mental polluting, corrupting effects. In Luke 21:34, Jesus warns about three other poisons that will weigh down our minds and make us ineffective for Him. He said, “Be on guard, so that your hearts [or minds] will not be weighted down with dissipation [overindulgence in physical pleasures. It’s okay to enjoy things God has made for us and give thanks for them. But we can easily take it too far, become too preoccupied with indulgence.] and drunkenness and the worries of life…” The dandelions in the yard, the condition of our house when company is coming, our appearance, what certain people might think about us, getting that promotion, reaching our financial goals, finding the right person to be with… We can become so preoccupied with earthly temporary matters, we slip into thinking they are what’s important. We can become inebriated by the world and lose the clear mindedness the Lord has led us to.
Now, the end of verse 7 in my version says, “for the purpose of prayer.” It is literally just two words in the Greek text. It’s literally…
“into prayers”
“Be of sound judgment and sober into prayers.”
The idea, I think, is that when we are clear minded it results in prayers. It’s probably a good gauge of how in your right mind you are; how much are you praying? If you’re clear minded you see that you are not just talking to the air when you pray. If you really see that the God of heaven and earth, who loves you immensely, is present and hears every word of your prayers and delights in them and actually lets you move Him to do things in your life and in the world… then you’re going to be praying a lot. James 4:2, “You do not have because you do not ask.”
If you are in your right mind and not distracted and drunk by the world, you’re going to be prayerful. And being prayerful is part of being ready and helping others to be ready to meet the Lord when He comes soon. Jesus said in Luke 21:36, “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
So stay sane, sober and prayerful and then he says…
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly…”
Notice “above all.” That is the main thing and sometimes I think we might miss that. When we think about being ready to meet the Lord we might think about attending church, reading our Bible, and not doing bad things or saying those four-letter words. But really the main thing is that you keep loving one another. As Jesus was about to go to the cross, He washed the disciples feet and said that what He just did is what we are to do and then He said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” And by this He says we’ll prove to all men we are His disciples. So if we love one another and we get that down, then it proves we’re His disciples and we’ll be found acceptable when He comes.
Notice the next phrase. Why is love so important? Why is it “above all?”
“…since love covers a multitude of sins.”
If you read commentators or people wrestling with the text, you’ll find lots of debate about what exactly that means. Just remember commentators are just common taters, they’re plain old spuds and they don’t have all the answers. But anyways, whose sins is Peter saying are covered by love? Is he saying when you love you cover a multitude of their sins or your own sins? I think Peter did not specify one or the other on purpose. This is a Proverb (10:12) and many of the proverbs have dual meanings, they’re true in more than one sense.
Remember that story in Genesis 9 after the flood (that Noah, I’m sure is still embarrassed about). It’s the stain on Noah’s beautiful picture in the Bible. Noah had a few too many one night and passed out naked in his tent. He had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. One son, Ham, walked into the tent that morning and saw him lying there naked. He went and told Shem and Japheth, “Hey, you’ve got to go look in Dad’s tent. He passed out naked in there.” Shem and Japheth knew their dad wouldn’t want anybody to see him that way, so they took a big garment, laid it on their shoulders and walked backward without looking, covering the nakedness of their father. Which of those three sons really loved their father? It’s obvious, isn’t it? Love covers the faults and shame of others.
It’s a good indicator of whether or not you love someone. What do you do when you know something shameful about them? Are you like Ham? Do you go tell people what they did? Do you gossip about them? Do you want people to know their faults? If you do, then you don’t really love them. Even if when you tell of what they did, you cloak it as a prayer request. “We should pray for so and so, because I heard that he…” If you love them then you do like Shem and Japheth and you cover their shame. You try to protect them. It doesn’t mean, if a brother or sister is sinning you ignore it. You talk with them kindly in private to try to save them from that. But you don’t tell anybody who doesn’t need to know. You protect them from unnecessary embarrassment and distain. And in the way you see them, you cover their sins, you don’t treat them in view of their sins. You treat them with forgiveness and mercy and grace, not in view of their sins. You treat them as a human being made in the image of God, you think of the good things, you think of their potential and you treat them the way you would want to be treated, and in that sense you cover their sins.
So there’s a sense in which love covers others’ sins. But there’s also a sense in which love covers our sins. Some object to that saying, “No, the blood of Christ covers our sins.” Well yes, if God forgives us it’s only on the basis of the blood of Christ. But you know God has some conditions if He’s going to forgive our sins, doesn’t He? Listen to some words of Jesus. “Disciples, if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matthew 6:14-15). So if you cover others’ sins, the Lord will cover yours. And in Luke 6:37ff, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure – pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” So loving others also covers your sins.
This is why I think Peter says, “above all love.” “I’ll be coming soon… so above all, love.” Because you can have a lot of misunderstandings and faults, but if you’ve been gracious and forgiving to other people, then the Lord will be that way to you when he comes. Love covers a multitude of sins.
And when I look back at my track record in life, I see that I always thought I was right about everything, but I’ve realized when I thought I was right I was actually wrong about a lot of stuff. And it’s been like that the whole time. I’m sure I’m still wrong about a lot of things and I still have a lot of error and faults and I want the Lord to cover those; so I need to do that with other people, I need to love and cover their sins.
So that’s the most important thing, and we’ll end here with the practical outworking of love in verse 9. He says…
“Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
Many point out how this was very important for the 1st century church because they didn’t have church buildings; they met in homes. Also, teachers commonly would travel from town to town and need places to stay.
But you know what? It’s very important to the 21st century church too. One of the biggest reasons people leave church is because they didn’t feel connected. They went for a while and still felt like a stranger and not as family, as they should have. And I think probably the best way to teach someone and answer their questions and build relationships and build unity is conversation over the kitchen table.
I’ve heard that in the country of Albania, hospitality is so a part of their culture that often even the poorest of them will have stashed some provisions and food in case a stranger comes by. And they have an old proverb that most everybody knows over there, “An Albanian’s house belongs to God and his guests.” That should be our motto. A Christian’s house belongs to God and his guests. I’m blessed to be able to live at that house.
Conclusion
Jesus is coming soon. God has always kept His word. He kept it when He said the flood is coming. He kept it when He said, “Abraham, I will multiply your descendants like the sand on the seashore and give them the land of Canaan.” He kept it when He told His people the Babylonians are coming. He kept it when He said the messiah is coming. He kept it when He said He would rise from the dead. And He will keep His word to send Jesus again and bring an end to this world and bring in the new. Jesus is coming.
When Jesus comes, as He will soon, He will send forth His angels and they will separate all of mankind into two groups, like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And the Lord will say to those on His right, “I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison and you came to Me. I was in need of some hospitality and you showed Me hospitality.” And they will say, “Lord, when did we see you in any of those conditions and do any of those things for you.” And He will say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:35-40).
What’s striking to me when you look at the Judgment Day scenes in scripture and what we’re told is going to happen, the Lord isn’t going to give us a theology quiz to make sure we got all the doctrines right, He’s not going to check our church attendance record, there’s a lot of things we emphasize that aren’t going to be in the discussion on judgment day. It’s going to be about our character and how we treated each other. So above all, let’s love one another and be hospitable to each other so when we stand before Jesus, He will say “I was watching and you did that for Me.”
-James Williams