Love, Serve, Speak

1 Peter 4:7-11

I am here to chat about 1 Peter 4: 7-11. We have a calling here to get ready, to be prepared. Go ahead and turn there in your bibles or in your app. While you turn there let me give a little background to what we are getting ourselves into. Peter was also known as Simon Peter and was a disciple or apostle who hung out with Jesus Christ during his ministry on earth. Peter was witness to miracles, Jesus being arrested, and death and ascension. Peter has been around the block. He has the wisdom and experience of a person who didn’t get it right all the time though. He isn’t necessarily known as the perfect apostle who understood everything Jesus said and followed without doubt or trial. He was often overcome with emotion and that is why we can identify with him so often in the scriptures. That is also why his words to us here can be surprising but give the appropriate gravity to what is being said. It is like that friend who never takes anything serious, laughs at everything, is always having a good time somehow, suddenly to start tearing up. It makes you take notice and pay attention. So pay attention to Peter here in verses 7-11

7 The end of all things is at hand; (I told you, Peter wants to sit us down for a second)

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. (Sure Peter, I would never grumble)

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

(Don’t worry about that last part, I am going to break it down later.)

Ok, so….the end of all the things is at hand. "All the things Peter?" Yes all the things y’all. Okay so it isn’t super clear to me what “all the things” is referring to. It could be a myriad of things and people definitely have specific ideas. I would ask you to venture into an uncomfortable place with me: saying I don’t know and that’s okay. We need to focus on what is actually important and it isn’t labeling “what all the things” are. I think Covid broke a lot of us, there are people stocking canned good as we speak. People on the west coast are prepping for the big earthquake and Russia is playing Risk with Europe. We are focusing on the “things” what they are and how this is all going to end. Here is the thing, there are always scary things going on. Always have been. But when we get caught up in the “what” we miss the way more important “why”.

As Christ followers, we look at the why. When you decide to accept the grace and mercy of faith given to you as a Jesus Christ follower, your life should start to look very different. Why? You start to think about the why of everything else. Why should I forgive, why be gracious, why be merciful? It is what makes Christians different, and sometimes a little weird. We forgive someone who is culturally unforgivable, why? Because Christ first forgave us. We give generously and don’t ask for praise or credit. Why? because everything we have is a blessing and gift provided for us by God. A non-believer is going to want and expect the credit to the things they do where a believer of Jesus Christ should be giving all the credit, praise and honor back to God.   

So, the end of all the things is here- Peter tells us something very interesting. It isn’t a list of how to prepare to survive the end of all things, he doesn’t give us spiritual insight on how to avoid the terror of the end of it all, it isn’t a guide for what to do… Peter tells us HOW to be at the end.

Here we go, Peter tells us very simply how to be- Get control of your self so you can love, serve, and speak. Why? to bring glory to God through Jesus Christ forever.

That’s it - control yourself, love, serve, speak. Do you see? in that order, you cannot love, serve and speak UNTIL you get control of yourself and talk with God. My friend has the sweet phrase for get control of yourself: get your poop in a group. Get it together! Don’t panic though, God is going to supply the strength needed the get your thoughts in order.

Make no mistake, when Peter tells us to be self controlled and sober minded, he is NOT talking about finishing the laundry or that shiplap wall in the garage. The whole first part here is grossly taken out of context on a first reading because of the cultural connotations we place on scripture. Let’s pause here for a minute and really look at what Peter is saying. Peter doesn’t care about the tasks we think we need to accomplish to “have it together”. I won’t ask you to raise your hands because it is every single one of us and I don’t want to label who the self delusional are in the room but think about a time when you felt you didn’t have your poop in a group. It was probably while looking at someone who looked like they did. Her hair is gorgeous, makeup flawless, somehow she got her minivan clean and free of fries! While maybe you have no bra on but just threw on a hoodie and really hope no one can smell the dog or baby puke on the shirt underneath. That is the outside, that is the temporary stuff that we inflate to have importance over our thoughts and hearts. Your outside is not as important as what is going on where no one can see.

Please hear me, what matters is what you allow to flow through your thoughts and hearts, not how well you look on the outside. That is not what Peter is addressing here when he says to get self control. Your house doesn’t matter, your kids behavior doesn’t matter, your designer boots and iPhone Do. Not. Matter. If you are perfectly put together and not in control of your thoughts, you are in trouble! Does your mind wonders to pornography when it gets quiet? you are not in self -control. Do you think about what a friend said over and over because your identity actually relies on whether or not SHE and not the Lord Savior Jesus Christ approves of you?-Then, you are not in self control. Do you “fake it until you make it” with your Christian friends because you are single and covet in your heart their relationships? You are not in self control.

Peters says to be self-controlled and sober minded. We see “sober minded” and immediately think of our AA friends. I got news for you, sober minded is for everyone. We aren’t just talking about losing your senses to drugs or alcohol. To be of sober mind is to be “temperate” “without passion”, that is to be able to think rationally. Our modern culture really short changes what is being told to us sometimes when we think of a word in today’s terms. Peter uses 2 different words and that is on purpose. Pay attention. Self-controlled and sober minded. When Peter tells us to be self-controlled and sober minded we know he is talking about our hearts and minds because he says the whole reason why we need to be self controlled and sober minded is “for the sake of your prayers”. When you get to talk to God, when you get to commune and converse with the creator of the world, Peter is telling you to be in self control and think soberly. That isn’t to put us in our place, you may hear that and feel an oppressive god pushing you down. We all have had thoughts about God that aren’t correct. That’s okay. This caution to be in control before you pray to God isn’t to push you down, it isn’t about you, it is actually to push God up. To put Him in the place of honor that he deserves.

When you pray, how often do start with getting your mind right, getting the mentality that you are about to speak to the creator of galaxies and worlds. You, just you, with all your mess and problems and unfinished shiplap wall, you get to have a chat with the infinite, all knowing Alpha and Omega, the King of Kings and Lord of all the Lords. And even crazier, He WANTS to talk to you. I think Peter’s advice of thinking about God rightly, soberly, and with honor isn’t too far a stretch when you think about it.

Peter is going to call us to love, serve, and speak but first we need to talk to God. We need to think rightly about who He is and who we are in Him. Then it might be a good idea to chat with God. Who am I supposed to love, Where am I supposed to serve, and What would you have me say?

The next part of these verses is a how and why. Love and serve. Don’t over think it:

8 Above all, keep loving one another ( HOW ) earnestly, ( WHY ) love covers a multitude of sins.

Love: We must enter into relationships with others with love, why? Love covers a multitude, a lot of different kinds, of sins. Your sins and theirs. If you are in relationship with anyone for any amount of time, you will see sin. In you, in them, it’s coming. How is that relationship ever going to survive? love. Love is the blanket; love is the balm; love is the cure. How about that stranger that is driving 45 in the fast lane? Do you love the teenager smoking in the back parking lot behind your office? How about the homeless guy that hangs out by the railroad tracks? No planned relationship there so I don’t have to love them right? What if you loved them to cover your own sin of having no regard for God’s children? What if you loved a stranger just because you have been loved? I challenge you, for a day, see the stranger and ask God silently to help you love them as He does. Don’t do it outloud, people will hear and think you are crazy and then you will have to pray that they try to love you…

9 Show hospitality to one another ( HOW ) without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, ( HOW ) as good stewards ( WHY ) God's varied grace:

Serve: Show hospitality without grumbling: really straightforward, I am working on this one!
As with receiving a gift though, if you truly believe that everything you have, has been provided for you why do you feel protective about sharing it? When someone comes to stay with you and doesn’t say thank you, they don’t help with dishes and leave the bathroom a mess, do you start feeling irritated with them? Yeah, me too. I think I might be grumbling at least to Mike, my husband about that one. But, when family needed help, we offered our home because we truly believe it isn’t ours. We are taking care of it for God, we are His stewards. Then afterwards, we asked for forgiveness for grumbling and the strength to lessen the grumbling going forward.

Peter told us to love people, then to take the gifts God has given us and serve others. Love, serve, speak. Here to wrap it up is how to speak

11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies

Speak: I got really caught up on this word oracle. If you ever want to go to coffee and have like a 2 hour conversation on this word, I am game! In the meantime, for today, we are going to define it quickly and like the word “sober minded” put it in context. Speaks oracles of God. That sounds kind of terrifying, or at the least it sounds irrelevant. Prophecy probably wasn’t on your agenda for Saturday morning so you think this doesn’t apply and you blow right past it. It’s what we do with awkward words in the bible. I implore you, don’t! Pay attention. Oracle means the utterance of God. His words. In OT this is referring to God uttering the law to Moses on Mt Saini. His law gave us boundaries, security and a covenant with Him. When we speak, Peter is calling us to speak in a way that honors God’s character and His covenant with us. When we speak, speak as if God is listening, because…oh yeah, He is. When you speak and when you serve sometimes you like them and it is easy. Sometimes, it just isn’t. Peter tells us, God will supply the strength needed. When you don’t have it, ask for it. When it hurts, tell God about it. Pray, so you can love, serve, and speak.

No one bought toilet paper or canned beans and yet, we are ready. Peter calls us to prepare for the end of all the things. We are going to control ourselves, love, serve, and speak to honor God and bring him glory. The end of verse 11 says all the things we talked about the whole point of it all is that

“in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

So even though, the end of all things is at hand, there is no end to God. Pay attention, we may have started with the end but we end today with the why: What’s the why? to bring God glory through Jesus Christ and God’s kingdom is going to have dominion, or be in charge, forever. Forever? Yeah, forever and ever! Peter gets serious and sits us down and then throws his chair at the end here. He isn’t playing around and neither am I. The end of all things is always going to look different to different people but if you proclaim yourself to follow Jesus Christ, you better be looking at the why instead of the what. You are called to control your heart and mind and if you think you can’t, ask for help. God will bless you. You are called to keep your thoughts sober. If that is scary ask for help. God will protect you. You are called to love the unlovable because that is you and Jesus Christ shed his blood for you anyway and called you His. You love because He loved you. You are called to serve because the word and breath of God came to earth in human form and washed the feet of those around Him. Jesus served so you would know how. You are called to speak. Speak kindness on those around you, speak truth into your friends lives. Speak forgiveness to your enemies. Speak because God sent his help, the breath of life, the Holy Spirit to dwell in you so it may fill you up and spill out on others. All this because in the face of “the end” God will be forever and ever. In the face of the end of all things, this is how a Christ follower behaves. We know our God has no end and we should act like it.

If it feels overwhelming, I know. It always does, so that we will need and ask for help from the only one who can give it. So I want to leave you with my absolute favorite benediction.

As you go out in the world, always remember the good news: that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting men's sins against them. God loves you. God has forgiven you. God is not angry with you; and God will never leave or forsake you...

And the blessings of God Almighty, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, rest upon you and be with you always.