Sermons
Discipleship At The End Of The World
(upbeat music) - Good morning church. My name is Jamie Link. I am not an elder, but I do have the privilege of giving today's scripture reading. So would you please stand with me for the reading of God's word? We are reading in Romans 13, 11 through 14. Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over and the day is near. So let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk with decency as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual impurity and promiscuity, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and don't make plans to gratify the desires of the flesh. Would you pray with me? Our glorious God and savior, we thank you that by the blood of Christ and by the indwelling of your spirit, that you have brought us out of the kingdom of darkness and into your glorious light. And God, we thank you that every day, every breath, every heart beat, brings us closer to that day of ultimate salvation. In the meantime, though, in the tension of the now and not yet, we recognize and confess that we still do struggle with the gratification of our flesh and our desires and the temptation to sin. But we thank you for the forgiveness that we have in Christ and the enabling of your spirit that we are no longer slaves to sin. Do you have empowered us to resist temptation, to be remade into the image of Christ? Lord God, lastly, I pray that as we hear scripture proclaimed in the message that Pastor Jeff has prepared, that you would encourage us, exhort us, disciple us, correct us, and that you would be glorified. It is in Jesus' name we pray, amen. - Church, you may be seated. Jamie, don't go anywhere. The reason why Jamie is up here, many of you know Jamie, but he is our newest pastoral intern, which is an awesome, you may not know what that is, but the pastoral intern at Christ Community Church is a role intended for high capacity volunteers who are exploring vocational ministry, that they may want to be a pastor one day. And in this internship, it's not stapling and copying TPS reports, okay? That's not what this internship does. It's actually, Jamie Boo will be reading anywhere between 20 and 25 books over the coming year, engaging in deeper discussions in theology, church dynamics, philosophy of ministry, counseling, and preaching. Right now, Jamie is writing and developing a class called What is a Christian, which is a foundational look at our faith, and that will be happening soon in the next couple of weeks here in one of our classes on Sunday. So Jamie's exploring pastoral ministry, and so why do we share this with you? We want to first advertise and remind you what that some of you may have a calling to go into pastoral ministry, and the church is where those giftings are cultivated. And within the church, it is our responsibility as the congregation to encourage and clarify the calling of us pastors. And so as you see Jamie teaching, leading, walking, interacting, you as a congregation are gonna help him clarify and confirm that. And so right now, we'd like to pray over him in the beginning of this journey, Pastor Jeff. - Yeah. Will you pray with me? - Father, we just thank you for Jamie and Hannah and their whole family, and this new beautiful little baby that they have brought into the world. We pray that you would just continue to bless him on his job. Bless him in his ministry here of teaching and preparing and writing, and we pray that your hand would be so evident upon him. We ask that in Jesus name, amen. Thank you, brother. - Thank you. (audience applauds) - All right. (laughs) Well, today's sermon is not in any series. It's a standalone sermon. It's called discipleship at the end of the world. We have the graphic, yeah. Hey, how about that for an encouraging? (audience laughs) Thanks a lot, Brian Shumway. Just wanted to make sure you knew who picked the graphic. In any case, hey, it's not wrong. Okay, it's not exactly wrong. But today we're gonna talk about what it means to be a disciple at the end of all things. We're gonna be looking at first Peter, chapter four, verses seven through 11. And then next week we're gonna do a super mini series through the book of Jonah. We're gonna do that in two parts. So we're gonna do chapters one and two next week, and then chapters three and four the following week. And the reason why I'm having Ryan do that is because that is really kind of in preparation for a series that we're gonna do on church and culture coming at the first of October. So do be praying for me, pray that I will be able to convey exactly what God wants me to convey in that series through the word. But today we're gonna be in first Peter chapter four. Trying to predict the day of the Lord's return or the second coming is almost as old as Christianity itself. Church fathers, Hippolytus and Julius Africanus in the second century predicted that Jesus would return in 8,500. Pope Sylvester, the second in 81,000 predicted it would be that year in the year 1000. Joachim Fior predicted that it would be in the year 1260. Martin Luther thought that it would happen in the year or in the century, the 1600s. And then in early America, William Miller predicted that Jesus would return in 1843. And Joseph Smith predicted that Jesus would return in 1891. Charles Tays Russell, the founder of the Jehovah's Witness, cult predicted it would be 1874 and then it wasn't. He revised his date to 1914 and then I think he just gave up. Hal Lindsey, remember that guy? He predicted it would be in the 1980s. And Harold Camping, most recently foretold it would happen on May 21st, 2011. And then when it didn't happen, when Christ didn't return on that date, he revised it to October 21st and he gave up as well. What do all these examples over church history from the second century to today have in common? (laughs) - Yeah, Mr. H. said they were wrong. (audience laughs) Yes, yes, they were wrong, but they also are in direct violation of Jesus' instructions in Matthew 24 to not practice date setting. Jesus quite literally told us no one knows the day or the hour. So it's futile to try and predict a date. We're not supposed to be doing that. Rather than date setting and sign seeking and disengaging from the culture, our anticipation of Christ's return should lead us to greater devotion, active service, and a deepened relationship with God so that when he does come, we are found faithful. And this is what Peter wants to tell us today. This is what he says to us in first Peter chapter four. If you have your Bible, we'll start at verse seven. He says, well, the end of all things is near, encouraging. Therefore, in other words, how often should we live? Is therefore be alert and so reminded in prayer. Above all, maintain constant love for one another since love covers over a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining, just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others as good stewards of the varied grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him do so as one who speaks God's words. If anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ and everything, to him be the glory and the power forever, amen. The things that I want to point out to you in this passage is Jesus, or Peter says, that the way in which God is glorified is through the activity of the church while we await for Christ's return. That's how God is glorified. So today we're gonna talk about the emphasis the Christian life in light of the imminent end of all things. Prayer, love, hospitality, and service. Number one, in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ, we are called to pray watchfully, pray with alertness. Peter says, therefore be alert and so reminded for prayer. The word to be alert is found three times in the book of 1 Peter, first in chapter one, verse 13, where he says, "Having readied your mind for action, "practicing vigilance, practicing watchfulness." Here, in four, seven, and again in chapter five, verse eight, where he says, "Remain watchful, stay alert, "because the devil is a roaring lion "seeking to devour you." And notice what the devil is out to do, to absolutely consume and devour your life. And what should this call us to? It should call us to alertness and watchfulness. If you knew today beyond the per adventure of a doubt, that someone wanted to assassinate you sometime today, how alert would you be? Satan is out to assassinate your faith. And so Peter tells us to be watchful in prayer and one of the main reasons or main ways that we remain faithful to the Lord is through alertness and prayer. Remember the story when Peter and the rest of the disciples fell asleep. During a prayer service in the gospels, it's in Matthew 26. Now, imagine the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. While it's difficult to prove within a certainty, the modern sight, if you go to Israel today, you'll go to the garden and it's a pretty good candidate. In any case, when you walk up to it and you look through the gate and you see all of these really, really old, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 year old olive trees and you see all these wild plants, these beautiful wild plants growing there, you stand there and it fires your imagination. You can look into the grove and you can see it. It's 2 a.m. And the mood among the disciples is heavy. Jesus has said some things at dinner that they can't grasp, they can't fathom. They did not know that their Passover meal that night was their last supper that they would have with Christ until his return in glory. They could not grasp why the Passover suddenly became about commemorating his broken body in shed blood. What is he talking about? As the new symbols of the new covenant. And they did not know that the identity of the conspirator was Judas, their friend, their compatriot whom they had been traveling with and sharing life with in Christ. They couldn't comprehend why Jesus would come to the Garden of Gethsemane that late at night for a late night prayer vigil on Thursday. After arriving at the Garden, Jesus walks ahead. He leaves the disciples, Jesus leaves the disciples and Peter behind and he says, wait here and pray. In the distance they can see their master unusually struggling. He's struggling in an unusual way. They have been to lots of prayer meetings with Jesus, but they have never seen something like this invisible weight seems to be crushing him. And so they do what we would all do. They fall asleep. Simon, are you sleeping? Man, couldn't you stay awake one hour and pray with me and be watchful in those words of Jesus shock Peter in the disciples awake. And then he gives them further instructions. He says, watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. This is, I don't need you to pray for me. I need you to pray for you. Because you are in danger of falling prey to temptation and what was the temptation that they all fell prey to? What was it? To deny Christ, to abandon Christ. And that is the temptation that all of us, all of us face in this wishy washy, miasma, this culture that we live in. That is the temptation that we all face. And so the disciples, following Jesus's commands, hits news and go to sleep again. That Jesus is agony, his passion is contrasted sharply with the disciples who are lost and deep and peaceful slumber as if they hadn't to care in the world. And they awaken again, this time to the sound of marching feet, temple guards, accompanied by Yuta or Judas, their brother. And Judas identifies Jesus with the kiss of betrayal and we all know how the rest of the story goes. He's taken into custody. He's tried illegally before the Sanhedrin. And then he's handed over to the Romans who crucify him on a cross. And in that moment, when Jesus goes up on that tree and he is pinned and nailed and tied to that cross, Peter and the disciples, Messianic hopes and their vision evaporates through their fingers into thin air. The searing pain of knowing that you have betrayed your Lord and succumbed to the temptation to deny him and abandon him in his most grave hour of need. Reminds Peter to remain alert in prayer. And this is why he is writing these words three decades later to the church that is scattered across the Roman Empire. Peter has seen Christ bodily risen from the dead. He has watched Jesus quite literally take off from the ground and be hidden by a cloud and be exalted to the right hand of power over all things. He has witnessed on the day of Pentecost, the promised Holy Spirit poured out on all flesh and then he has watched for three decades as the Christian faith has grown like a wildfire grass wildfire. And high wind across the Roman world and now he writes to all of these Christians and he says, folks, take it from a guy who failed. Take it from a guy who bid it, who absolutely failed, be alert, be watchful in prayer. But all too often the very thing that should be my priority is the thing that I can neglect the most. Till I find myself dealing with circumstances that are out of my control until the stuff hits the fan and then all of the sudden I become a fan of prayer again. Peter says, folks, take it from me. Take it from the man who failed. Be vigilant, be watchful in prayer. And so I encourage you here this morning. If you're here this morning and you haven't really prayed that much, you don't really know how to pray. I would encourage you to get engaged in the prayer life of this church. One of the ways to do that is to show up on Sunday morning and pray during the service with us as we pray. Another way is signing up for the prayer team. Did you know that you could sign up for the prayer team and then when as requests come in as they do every single week, that request can go out to you and you can join us. You can lock hands, lock arms with us as we pray for people's needs in the church or showing up at our monthly prayer meetings. We have 650 people in this church and we usually have prayer meetings that have 15 people in them. Something's wrong with that. Show up, not every time, but show up once in a while and pray with us. Pray God's blessing on this community and pray for the nations or you can volunteer. If you feel like you are an upfront person and you can just help people and walk through their problems and you want to join the prayer team that comes forward and prays with people, you can do that. You can volunteer and be part of our prayer team down front. You can talk to Pastor Daniel if you want to be involved in the prayer life of this church. And you should be. But one of the ways the main way in which we remain vigilant, watchful, alert, against the devil who is trying to steal our faith is through prayer. The second priority for disciples in light of this end is to love fervently, love passionately, love fervently. He says, above all, what's your highest priority? I mean, this is above all, everything. Maintain constant love for one another since love covers over a multitude of sins. Now in verse eight he gives us the what and then he gives us the why. We are to maintain constant love for one another. And the reason why we do this is because love has this miraculous, almost magical effect of covering over and cleansing a multitude of sins. It's powerful. So let's first deal with the what and then we'll talk about the why. On August the 1st in 2007, I was startled to be watching the news and to see a news report that the I-35 West Bridge in Minneapolis collapsed. It killed 13 people and injured another 145 people. And the reason why that startled me is because when I lived in Minneapolis, I drove across that bridge a lot. And so the collapse it was discovered that the collapse was due to a design flaw in the bridge but also because of due to many, many years of neglect of regular maintenance. And whether it's a bridge, a garden, a relationship, a car engine, anything of value requires maintenance. So I'll just give you two truths for anything of value. In fact, I'll give you three. The first one is a bonus. And that is anything you want of value is uphill from where you are. If you want it, you gotta go get it. You gotta pay the price, you gotta put in the sweat equity, you gotta go get it. If you want a college education, you gotta get, you gotta pay the price. If you want a good marriage, a great marriage, you got, it'll cost you. There's a price tag associated with that. So anything you want that's of value is uphill from where you are right now. Takes effort, takes energy. Secondly, if anything of value requires constant maintenance and detention, if you want a great marriage, you gotta maintain that. You gotta maintain that you cannot run on the fumes of the romantic feelings you had the day you said I do. If you want to know what I actually value, this is the third principle, if you want to know what I actually value, look at what I diligently maintained. It's like my garden this year, my yard, actually my whole yard. I did a lot of traveling, I had a few big projects, I had to knock out, and I just didn't get around to my yard at all. So about two weeks ago, I came home for the summer, you know, and from traveling and doing all this, and I realized my yard looks horrible. If I had invited you over for coffee or beer in my backyard, in my patio, you would have thought to yourself, this guy really doesn't value it having a nice yard. This doesn't look terrible. And then I went out for five hours one day and literally just cleaned the whole thing up, picked all the weeds, trimmed the bushes and the trees and all of it. But if you want to know what I actually value, look at what I diligently maintained. Why should we constantly maintain our Christian love for one another? Why would Peter tell us constantly maintain your Christian love for one another? Well, you could say because Jesus said so. In John chapter 13, he says, I give you a new command, this is not a recommendation. It's not advice or inputs, it's not Jesus's opinion. He doesn't ever talk like that. He doesn't say, you know, let me give you my opinion on Torah. He tells you exactly what you should do and he expects you to do it as if God is telling you to do it. And he says, a new command I give you, love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. So if you're answer to the question, why should we constantly maintain our Christian love for one another is because Jesus said so, you'd be right. Or you might say that love is the highest moral value and its alternatives are dreadful. This is what Paul seems to say in Romans chapter 12 verses nine and 10, he says, let love be not mixed with hypocrisy, detestable, hate the things that are evil, hate them, cling to what is good, hold fast to it, love one another deeply as brothers and sisters and here's the form that that love takes. Here's how it manifests, take the lead in honoring one another. And so if you're answer to the question, why should we constantly maintain our love for one another is, listen, love is the highest moral virtue and its alternatives are frankly dreadful, then you'd be right too. Or you might appeal to bearing with one another in love because it contributes to Christian unity and harmony in the church. And this is what Paul says in Ephesians chapter four verses two and three, he says, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, bear with one another. Making every effort, not half an effort, that's some effort, every possible effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. So if you're answer to the question, why should I maintain my Christian love for others is, listen, there is a terrible price to pay for this unity. There is a terrible price that churches pay for being fractured and falling into disharmony then you'd be right again. But I want to take your attention to what Peter says. I want to take your attention to what Peter says is the reason why we maintain our love for one another. Looking at this context, he immediately refers to the power of love to cover over all sins. Folks, that's what makes community work. Is the power of this love that we have one another to cover over a multitude of sins. Now there's a right way to cover something and a wrong way. By way of illustration, the RMS Queen Mary, was very similar to the Titanic, was built in 1936. It was a renowned ocean liner and it crossed the Atlantic many, for many, many years. It was the very symbol of power and elegance. And in 1967, the ship was retired to Long Beach, California and converted into a museum and a hotel. That seemed like a great idea. And so the workers attempted to remove all the metal smokestacks, these massive metal smokestacks. And when they did that, they unexpectedly crumbled right in front of them. And they disintegrated and they discovered that the smokestacks had been repainted so many times, trapping moisture into the metal, that when they went to repair them, there was nothing left but paint. The metal below or beneath had completely rusted away and the paint had hidden the rot and corrosion underneath the surface. And in using this covering metaphor, Peter does not at all mean this. He doesn't mean cover over sin, paper over it and just ignore it. He certainly does not mean that. We've all seen terrible examples of this in the financial sector cover-ups, scandals in the educational system and in our universities, the aerospace industry, politics and even the church, one abused scandal after another. People in positions of authority have tried to paste over and paint over the corrosion and the moral rot underneath. And that is not at all what Peter is talking about. He's not saying sweeps in under the rug. Just ignore it, know what he's talking about is the kind of covering this imagery comes from the sacrificial system of Judaism. It's the idea of covering over sin with this precious sacrificed blood. An image of forgiveness through the cleansing of sin, not ignoring it, not whitewashing it, or pretending it doesn't exist so that we may avoid conflict or discomfort over any confrontation. No, this love covers and it engages with the reality of sin and brokenness. It chooses to forgive. It chooses to extend grace and mercy. It chooses to seek reconciliation through repentance. That's the love that covers over sin. The love that covers over sin does so because it protects and it restores. It's costly and it brings healing. It's rooted in Christ's own sacrifice for the sins of the church. And this is what Christians are to be all about at the end of this world. Looking ahead to the day when Christ returns, we diligently pray and seek his face and call on his name, maintaining our love for one another, above all, which covers and cleanses and restores and reforms. The sinner, amen. The third priority for disciples in light of this end, the fact that we are at the end here, number three is to practice hospitality. There's a person nine, practice hospitality. He says, be hospitable. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Hospitality was a very highly valued practice in this culture, generally speaking, in the broader Greco-Roman world also. This is particularly true of the Christian faith. When we went to Israel a couple of years ago, we went there and if you go and visit there and you're there during the Sabbath, one of the things you'll realize is you can't eat in any Jewish restaurants on the Sabbath because they're all closed. So you have to eat at Arab Palestinian places or you have to bring your own food or just save enough food that you can eat that day or maybe fast, fast and prayed, whatever. But when you go into Palestine and you go to one of these Arab restaurants, Arab-owned restaurants, they greet you with happy, ecstatic hospitality. You have never experienced people so happy to see you. And when you come in, there's lots of stuff you see on the news about these folks, but the vast majority of them really, really are just the most hospitable people in the world, I think, other than Christians. And they are very happy to see you there, very happy to serve you. If you tell them, hey, the meal was great, they are so happy to receive that. And this is the kind of Middle Eastern culture that Peter comes from. He comes from this world in which practicing hospitality is such an important social value. This word, be hospitable, can be translated, practice hospitality, become a practitioner of hospitality. This doesn't mean have a checklist. Make sure you check this off your checklist. He means this, develop an instinctive, near unconscious habit of warm Christian fellowship. The church ought to look like this more than any place on earth. More than any place on earth. So the idea here is the practice of hospitality and it should emerge naturally. It should extend from good Christian character resulting in a sociable saint. And if you're visiting with us today and you're not a member of Christ community church, or you're not even a Christian, we understand that you don't believe the gospel yet, we hope you will. But we hope that you experience the sincere and warm hospitality of the gospel this morning. And if you're a believer sitting here, I hope you're thinking about that when you come to church on a Sunday, that you're thinking about how can I find someone who looks like they've never been here before, or maybe they've been here twice and extend the right hand of fellowship, the warm hand of fellowship to them. Listen, the gospel is true. But a thing can be true and also be cold. Does you who work in the engineering and nuclear field? No, you deal with truths all day, but they're not particularly warm truths, are they? The gospel is not only true, it's warm. The gospel isn't only true, it extends the hand of friendship and fellowship. So the natural environment of the faith in Jesus is gathering and assembling and fellowship, fellowshipping around the word, the table and the tank. And then he says, do it without complaining and the idea here is not begrudgingly, not because you have to. Listen, there are two major ways that I've failed my wife in 30 years of marriage. Now, I could give you 20. I give you a lot more than this, but I'll give you these two that are relevant to this sermon. The first way is doing something nice for her, going out and spending five hours on a Saturday and picking all the weeds and making the yard look nice and then coming in and kind of waiting around in the kitchen for her to come in and go, hey, did you see the yard? Looks pretty good, doesn't it? She's like, yes, it looks good. I'm like, that's a pretty sweet thing to do, huh? She's like, yes, it was very sweet. I was like, yeah, I thought so, you know, like, like one of the ways to which my wife often catches me is you don't have to draw attention to how sweet that was. I already know, I'm like, well, I need to hear it. But the second way in which I failed her in this regard is to do something that is needed, but then to walk around moping and huffy and grumbling under my breath and mumbling under my breath because I'm frankly, I'm grumpy and I don't wanna do it. And this is the exact opposite of what Peter is prescribing here. Listen, we become practitioners of hospitality, reflecting Christ's own cheerfulness and his selflessness. This is what Hebrews 12-2 tells us. Hebrews 12-2 tells us that for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. And for the joy set before us, we endure the things that we must do. One of the ways I love to see this happen in our churches through small groups and classes or any environment where people sign up to host, lead or attend a small group or class. I absolutely love to hear about classes that have gotten too full or small groups that have gotten too full that we need to start new ones or more. I can't wait to see the people who show up on a Wednesday to our inductive Bible study course. And by the way, if you can't find a class and you feel like, well, they don't work for me or something like that, you can show up on a Wednesday starting in October, Ryan and I will be leading that inductive Bible study through Genesis and Exodus again. It is a good time. I can't wait to see the people who show up there and greet them warmly in the Lord. It's a great place to make friends. I can't wait to see people. I love seeing students gather together in the student room and the youth room around tables over the word, I love that. So if you haven't already, I encourage you. Look through this brochure this week and sign up for one of these classes. Call the leader, see if it's still open. And if you can't find anything, contact Pat, contact Ryan, you can contact me as a very last resort. Or just show up Wednesday, if you're available Wednesday, we'd love to see you starting in October. Peter says at the end of the world, now that the end of the world has come, it's arrived, it's at hand, as we await the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah, let us be watchful in prayer, maintaining our love for one another and practitioners of sincere hospitality in the gospel. Number four, serve graciously. So at the end of the world, how should we be looking at life? How should we approach life? He says serve in grace or with grace or graciously. Just as each one, he says, in verse 10, has received a gift. Use it to serve others as good stewards of the very grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him do so as one who speaks God's very words. If anyone serves, let him do so from the strength that God provides so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ and everything, to him be the glory and empower forever and ever, amen. So we know what the goal is, right? The goal of the Christian life, the goal of attending this church, the goal of being plugged into a class or a small group or fellowship is to bring glory to our God. This is how Jesus brings glory to God is through the efforts of the church. And our highest aim is to live for his glory, the glory of God and his son. So that if that is our highest privilege and golden life, then how is God most glorified in me? How is he most glorified in Christ's community church? He is most glorified when we freely and spontaneously exercise the gifts that he has poured into our lives abundantly. When we are loving and serving one another in the ways in which God has gifted us to do so. Peter tells us how. He says God is glorified by giving gifts to his children. Notice God is the one who takes the initiative here. God is most glorified when he is giving. When he is giving to each one, he says, gifts. And then he says God is glorified when I use my gifts to serve people, use it to serve others. We are to deploy these graces in order to build up the body of Christ, that's Ephesians four. And as we have opportunity, we are to do good to all people, not just the church, but do good to all people. That's Galatians chapter six. It is this other's orientation, this other centeredness that distinguishes the church from every other organization in the world. We should be the most others focused entity in the world. Now, I don't know what the statistics are here at Christ community church, but the national statistics on involvement and engagement with spiritual gifts or giving is 35%. Now, that's better than the 80/20 rule. I mean, at least it's higher than the 80/20 rule, that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. In the church, nationally speaking, statistically speaking, that's a little bit higher, it's about 35%. Now, I don't know what it is here. I highly suspect that it's a little better here. Maybe not much. 35% of the people in any local church give and serve in their church. The majority don't do anything. They show up and sit in a pew and they are basically spiritual consumers. Folks, God has called you to be a consumer and a member, a producer, someone who engages with their spiritual gifts in the life of the church. So when you choose to use your capacity that God has given you to serve the body of Christ, what are you doing? It's a thank you letter. You are sending up a thank you letter, heaven word. You are saying God, I am grateful and I am thankful for all the abundance that you have poured into my life. When I choose to serve the body with my gifts, I am imitating God and I am imitating his son who gave it all. I am never more like Jesus than when I am giving. I am never more like Jesus than when I am serving others selflessly. And that's what God has called us to do in his body. That's how God is glorified in the world. And he gives us two very broad examples here. God's words spoken with God's authority. God's words spoken with God's authority. God has authorized the church and its leaders to boldly proclaim and teach people the gospel of Jesus. We serve a speaking God, a God who in the beginning spoke all things into reality. This is a speaking God who sent his one and only son, the Lagos from eternity past who is the word, the living word of God, who now enables us to proclaim, to teach, to instruct, to admonish each other in God's word. We are never more like God than when we are serving in a speaking capacity to tell the truth, to teach his word, to admonish, correct, and instruct. He also mentions God's strength is supplied to the servant who gives generously. Frankly, some of you are not good speakers. And I wouldn't want you to give up here and get up here and try to teach a lesson. Now, you can't imagine giving a sermon or leading a Bible study or teaching someone in public. And that's perfectly okay. But you have gifts of quiet behind the scenes service. Frankly, there are people who serve in this church who make it possible for me to stand up here and preach and teach. And if they didn't do what they did, I couldn't do this, namely my wife, but secondly, Beth Wicklin. Beth Wicklin is a behind the scenes person. She is not a teacher. She works in our admin department. She sort of runs our office. And if she didn't do what she did, I definitely couldn't do what I do. And God has called all of us to engage whether they're upfront gifts or behind the scenes gifts to build up the body of Christ. Listen, don't discount the abilities and resources that God has allotted you just because they're not upfront gifts. It takes a multiplicity, what he calls the very grace of God, the varied gifts of God in the church to build up the church. So to recap all this, Peter says, "Well, seeing that the end of the world is at hand." We come to the end, folks, and that was 1,950 years ago, right? 1,950 years ago, he says, "Seeing that the end is at hand." So every minute of every day for 2,000 years, we have been on borrowed time. We've been on borrowed time and how ought we then to live? Therefore, we should be vigilant in prayer, sacrificial, in our love that restores and covers sin, joyful in hospitality and giving, a hospitality that builds up his community, a gracious service that builds the church of God and magnifies and glorifies God, amen? All right, let's pray. Lord, we want to follow Peter's instruction as we await the end of all things. May we be found faithful, not in date setting or ridiculous speculation about the end times, but may we be found faithful in the day-to-day grind, in the day-to-day graces of life. May we be found faithful to be watchful in prayer. God, would you save every single person in this room from this present darkness that is trying to swallow them up and destroy their faith? God, I pray for every person who names Jesus as Savior and Lord in this room that you will save this, them from the darkness in this world. And Lord, would you help us to pray for ourselves that way? Lord, I pray that each and every one of us would be committed to a life of self-giving, sacrificial love like Jesus on the cross, to restore and extend forgiveness and mercy and grace to those who have wronged us, that we would live lives of joyful hospitality, building up your community and gracious service. Would you help us to do that? And if you're here this morning and you don't know Christ, frankly, you've never trusted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. What are you waiting for? Peter says the end of all things is near and that was 1900 years ago. Every single second you live your own borrowed time, Jesus could literally split the Eastern sky and come back to day. What are you waiting for? Will you trust Him for salvation this morning? I plead with you. Will you embrace Christ and His cross and His work on the cross for you? Will you do it right now? Don't leave until you have. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)