Sermon Tone Analysis

1 Peter 4:7-11

Introduction

In the previous verses that we looked at last Sunday Peter concluded with a reference to the final judgment that will be ministered to both the living and the dead.

Which is an encouragement for those who are suffering, knowing that God has the final say.

It also reminds us that our perseverance in the faith matters and that those practicing evil will be assessed and will be condemned on the final day.

Peter also reminds us at the end of verse 6 that the gospel has been preached with a purpose, so that believers who suffer to the end of their lives, who seemed as if death has won, it gives believers a future hope of life because of the Gospel, because of the suffering, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and through Him we may live in the spirit according to the will of God!

Explanation

Peter continues with this theme in verse 7 and focuses his attention from the relationship believers have with outsiders to how believers should relate to one another, reminding them that the end is near.

The End Is Near

Take note to the beginning of verse 7 were it says,

The end of all things is near:

Peter opening verse 7 with the end of times should not be surprising.

I mean, if you were suffering, by being mocked and riducled for your faith in Christ, it is a great comfort know that the end is coming, the end of suffering.

The whole reason that the end is near is that Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection have ushered in the last days.

This is a very common theme in the New Testament that the end is near!

Yet nowhere are we encouraged to set dates or look at signs and charts to disquished the last days!

There is times we can get wrapped up in all the prophecies of the end times and instead of filling are hearts with joy and anticipation we fill it with fear of what is going to happen.

What happens will be believers withdrawing from the world because they see the end coming, they gaze up looking for Christ return instead of reaching out to others around them.

Sometimes it can go to the extreme in believing conspiracy thereoies, about government marking us with 666 and thereoies that drive us to hate and fear.

Also there is tendency to have a sense of entitlement to retire from our Christian walk, since the end is near let me start enjoying life, settle down, do what I want to do, which also has no bearing on the end times when mentioned in the New Testmant.

But when Peter makes mention of the end times, he wants the believers to think about how it should effect the way they live.

Look at 2 Peter 3:10-11

The end should stimulate us to action in this world.

The knowledge that believers are sojourners and exiles, whose time is short, should inspire them to make their lives count.

Again refering back to last week, in verse 2 and 3 we have had plenty of time, and time suffiecient to carry out the desires of this world, live the rest of the time no longer for your desires but for the will of God.

That is what Peter is trying to communicate to this scattered group of Christians and to us.

The end is near, therefore believers should live according to God’s will.

Peter is spuring believers to live in the following way and he gives three characteristics of Christian living.

The first one we will see in verse 7.

Be Soberly Wise

Look at verse 7 (1 Peter 4:7)

Paul tells us to be of sound judgment and be sober.

Paul knew that the nearness of the end will led believers to lose their heads and act on distorted truths or be mindless in their walk.

Their is a sense that we have heard and spoken about the end for a long time now, for centeruries and still day after day the end has not came.

Again the end is not something we set a date to, but to provoke us to depend on God.

We have no clue when it will happen, even to our own end we have no idea when we will breathe are last, but we should not live in manner that we do not believe it will happen soon.

But Peter encourages us to be soberly wise.

We do that by abstaining from the intoxicating influence of this world, of excessive drinking down the emotions and desires of our hearts.

To live for the will of God.

Our Christian walk is a walk of self- control, Our judgment becomes sound when we our sober, we can be alert and think according to the word of God and to our new nature given by God’s grace!

Peter is reminding us what he already stated in 1 Peter 1:13

To gird up the lions of our minds and be sober!

Prepare for action and fix our hope on Him.

So When we realize that God is bringing history to a close we should depend on Him, and this dependence is manifested in prayer, For this is the reason why we our to be of sound jundgement and sober is for the purpose of prayer.

For in prayers believers recongnize God’s grace and that any good that occurs is due to God’s grace!

We should be in prayer for others, believers and non believers, praying for God’s grace to sustain to the end, because we regard the patiences of God not ending all things yet as salvation.

If we are praying for others then we should love others, especially for other believers.

So the 2nd Characteristic Peter tells us is since the end is near than we should be...

Be Fervent In Love For One Another

Look at verse 8 (1 Peter 4:8)

Peter begins verse 8 with “Above all” showing that love is central in the Christian life.

So when believers contemplate how to spend their lives in light of the end, we should remind ourselves of the priority of love.

We can see the centrality of love in 1 Corinthians 13 when we see the description and value of love, “love is patient, love is kind” But Jesus tells us why love is priority in Matt 22:34-40

Believers should live their lives with love as the priority.

But Peter is encouraging us to maitain, to keep our love fervent for one another, brothers and sisters of God’s family!

The reason is given to us because love covers a multitude of sins.

What does Peter mean by this?

Let me ask you this when you experience trials and the craziness of life come.

We tend to get frustrated at others, we tend to find every fault about other, and get mad when others wrong us.

Many of us have hatred towards others who has wronged us and what happens is we use the sins of others as a springboard to attack them.

Jesus even warned how love is apt to grow cold Matt 24:12

Peter tells us when we lavish love on one another, the sins and offenses of others are overlooked.

Proverbs 10:12 says

Church is we have hatred towards anyone who has sinned against us we should forgive them, we should lavish love on them.

My pastor when I told him I was called to preach with them, he told me Christian love is loving others when it is hard to do so, when there is every reason not do to so, Love them.

That is the way we should love one another!

To regard one other more important than yourselve!

It is easy to go looking for an excuse not to love someone, and it is sad when Christians do it!

I think Peter is recalling what Jesus taught him, remember when Peter was looking for a reason to be able to have a reason not to love.

In Matt.

18:21-22 we see is encounter with this question

He than begins to tell a story about a king coming to settle accounts with his slaves, which is a great illustration.

The king came went to one of his slaves that owed him 10,000 talents, but the slave could not pay, so the king was going to sell him and his wife and kids and all that he had for repayment.

Well the slave fell down and begged for mercy and to give him more time.

What happen was that the king felt compassion for him and instead of giving him more time to repay, showed mercy and released him and forgave his debt.

Well the slave went out and found one of his fellow slave and demanded payment of a debt of 100 denarii, the other slave could not pay and begged for mercy, but the forgiven slave showed no mercy, grabbed the other and began to choke him, and threw the other in prison until he could repay.

The king heard what happened and summoned the forgiven slave and said this in Matt.

18:32-33

Which in the end tells what we need to know.

We should love because God first loved us, that Christ laid His life down for His enemies, We should forgive much, because God forgave us much, When God had every reason to pour down His wrath and hatred towards sinners, He showed us mercy while we were still sinners!

Have you experienced the forgiveness of God, where your love over flows towards other that wronged you or do you hunt for repayment of past sins, of past hurts, of past wrongs.

So what does this love for one another look like, well The last Characteristic Peter tells us is since the end is near we should be ...

Be Hospitable To One Another

Look at Verses 9-10 (1 Peter 4:9-10)

Hospitality was a mark for the Christian community, and it was crucial during the time of Peter and these Christian he was writing to, because most could not afford lodging or could not recieve lodging for what they believed in, so it depended on the willingness of believers to open their doors to their homes and provide rooms for those who visited.

Jesus told the disciples when he sent them out to find homes that our worthy in Matt.

10:11

and again in the early church they did not meet in church buildings but the would meet often in various homes, so hospitality was necessary in order to have church.

Sometimes Christians would be persecuted and in distress, sometimes all their possessions would be taken from them, and would be driven away to distant countries for safety, such as these Christians who Peter called at the beginning of his letter “aliens scattered throughout..”.

They would starve if their fellow christians would not recieve them and help them, which requires a fervent love for others and for one another.

Today do you show hospitality to believers who are in need.

Most can’t imagine christians in need and say that God will deliver them if the just pray over it, the prosperity gospel has no room for “a christian in need”, the name it and claim has no room for “a christians in need”, because both show true salvation as God blessing all your earthly needs, that true faith can tell this mountain to move and it will do so.

Yet as we have learned in 1 Peter if God wills us to suffer than you want be able to move that mountain.

In what manner are we show hospitatlity?

Serving One Another

We do it without complaint.

How many times have I heard someone say when they have a chance to help, this is mine, I earned this, so they can earn it.

We run away from charity, from helping others and we fear using what we have to help others.

Sometimes we get upset because we are helping someone constantly or we get tired of always helping, tired of serving.

Peter tells us to do it without complaint and he reminds us of the reason why we should, by comparing each believers about what they have recieved.

Look at the beginning of verse 10 “As each one has recieved a gift”

We have all recieved the gift of grace from God, we are all justified by his grace, all have received mercy which caused us to be born again to a living hope in Christ and we have freely received it, so we should freely give this same love, this same mercy, this same grace to others.