All right, well, we're going to be continuing
in our series, Exiles, 1 Peter chapter 4. If
you've got a Bible, you can turn on over there.
We're going to be reading chapter 4, beginning
in verse 1 together. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse
1. If you don't have a Bible, there are Bibles
directly underneath the seat in front of you
somewhere. You're welcome to grab that, use that.
You're welcome to take that Bible home with you.
It is yours. It's our gift to you. We'd love
to have you have the word of God anywhere you
go. And so if not, you can read on your phone
or you can look up here on the screen. We also
have the words up here as well. First Peter chapter
four, beginning in verse one. Therefore, since
Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves
also with the same understanding. Because the
one who suffers in the flesh is finished with
sin in order to live the remaining time in the
flesh no longer for human desires, but for God's
will. For there has already been enough time
spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do,
carrying on in unrestrained behavior, evil desires,
drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and lawless idolatry.
They are surprised that you don't join them in
the same flood of wild living. and they slander
you. They will give an account to the one who
stands ready to judge the living and the dead.
For this reason, the gospel has also been preached
to those who are now dead, so that although they
might be judged in the flesh according to human
standards, they might live in the spirit according
to God's standards. The end of all things is
near. Therefore, be alert and sober -minded for
prayer. Above all, maintain constant love for
one another since love covers 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 it be 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 in
everything. To him be the glory and the power
forever and ever. Amen. This is God's word. Peter
has his eyes on heaven. Peter has his eyes on
heaven. There's an old saying that describes
someone whose mind, is preoccupied with spiritual
things, eternity, theology, heaven. And so they
have become disconnected from practical everyday
life and people's real needs. That saying, when
something like this, some of you may have heard
it, oh, he's too heavenly minded to be any earthly
good. Or she's too heavenly minded to be any
earthly good. But Paul says in Colossians chapter
3 that we should set our minds where? On things
above, not on earthly things. And both Peter
and Paul say that our citizenship is where? In
heaven, right now. So how can we not be preoccupied
with it? I would say that when someone is truly
heavenly minded, at least in the biblical sense,
they actually become more earthly good, not less.
Why? Because they see others with eternal value.
Because they are willing to serve sacrificially
because this life and this moment is not all
there is. There's an eternal life and an eternal
kingdom that is the eternal kingdom of God. Those
who are truly heavenly minded, they care all
the more about justice and mercy and truth because
these are enduring truths, enduring characteristics
of who God is in the coming kingdom. One who
is truly heavenly minded live with hope and humility
and a sense of urgency. One of my favorite 20th
century authors and thinkers is C .S. Lewis.
And C .S. Lewis says this in his book, Mere Christianity.
He said, if you read history, you will find that
the Christians who did most for the present world
were just those who thought most of the next.
The apostles themselves who set on foot the conversion
of the Roman Empire, the great men who built
up the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals
who abolished the slave trade, all left their
mark on earth precisely because their minds were
occupied with heaven. It is since Christians
have largely ceased to think of the other world
that they have become so ineffective in this.
And then he ends with a very well -known and
famous sentence. Aim at heaven and you will get
earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get
neither. Peter has his eyes on heaven. Peter
is preoccupied with heaven and he's trying to
get the people of God to get their eyes on heaven.
Only when they get their minds and hearts set
like a GPS system or a map system in your phone
that is set to a specific address, only then
will they navigate this present reality in a
way that makes sense of their suffering, that
transforms their priorities. That keeps them
moving in the right direction even when the road
gets hard. To have our minds and our thoughts
and our hearts set on heaven is not escapism.
It's perspective and having the right perspective
changes everything. As a little sidebar before
we jump into the points, the four points that
I have today. Village, we are Bible people and
we love to go to the word. We love to study the
word. We love to be changed by the word. We love
to read large chunks of scripture and cover them
in a short amount of time that sometimes creeps
and gets a little longer, right? We love scripture
and we love going to it. But did you know that
studies show that you will lose 70 % of what
I share this morning within 24 hours? You will
lose 70 % of what I share this morning within
24 hours if you don't do one thing while I'm
talking. There's something that can actually
short circuit that. You can retain more. You
will lose 70 % of what I'm sharing right now
in the next 24 hours if you don't write it down.
And so I want to add to us being Bible people,
let's be note -taking people. Because you get
a chance to carry what the word of God says and
shares into the week to have conversations. And
it'd be a travesty to sit through however long
it's going to be today and only take 70 % of
it. I could save you some time and just cut the
time back 70%, right? And then you'd only get
70 % of that. So it'd just be, it'd be a wash.
If you are able, take notes. Take them in a journal.
Put them on your phone, in a notepad, in our
app. You can take notes directly in the app on
the sermon for this week under the sermon tab.
If that doesn't work, grab the connect card that's
in front of you. There's a pen right in front
of you. You can write on your arm. You can write
on your neighbor's arm. Just write it down. But
the first point is to arm yourself with Christ's
mindset. Arm yourself with Christ's mindset.
Anytime you see a therefore, you have to ask
yourself what it's there for. And the Bible never
gives you busy work. It never tells you something
to do without telling you the therefore, the
why. Why is it there? And so Peter starts chapter
four with therefore, and he connects this to
chapter three where he talks about Christ's victorious
suffering. And he connects that with our call
to holiness, our call to a holy, resolved life.
And what Peter is saying is because Christ suffered
to bring you to God and is now victorious, you
too should be willing to suffer in obedience
to God's will. Are you willing to suffer in obedience
to God's will? That's a question you should be
asking yourself now. Am I willing to suffer?
In obedience to God's will. So that I might walk
in his footsteps and show in my life that sin
no longer reigns over me. And so he begins the
therefore, right after the therefore, pointing
backwards. In light of that, he says, to arm
yourself with the same understanding. What does
arm yourself mean? Well, it's a military term
and it means intentional preparation. Intentional
preparation, like suiting up for a battle. You
don't go out to war without preparation. I was
watching a documentary the other day about the
beginnings of the Afghanistan war after 9 -11,
and they showed some behind the scenes of the
war council and the president at the time, George
W. Bush, meeting with his war council, and he
was talking to the different pieces there, the
people there, about what the contingencies, what
are the plans here, and he turns to the general
in charge of the armies, and he says, how long
until we can, boots on the ground, go into Afghanistan?
And the general says, we need six months. We
need six months of preparation. We need six months
of buildup. We need six months to get ourselves
ready to be there because going to war requires
what? Preparation. And Peter isn't calling you
and I into some casual spirituality, friends.
He's not calling us to be weakened warriors.
He's calling us into war. Into war, that the
spiritual struggle that comes to each one of
us when we choose to live for God, when we choose
to pattern our life after God, when we begin
to follow in obedience, war is on. And you need
to arm yourself. You need to arm yourself. You
need to be prepared. And much of what we need
in preparation is a renewing of our mind. It's
an issue of our thinking and our mindset. It
needs to be renewed. This last Friday was the
final day of kind of a ministry experiment we
did called The Ramp. It's a skateboarding camp.
There was a new family that had come to the church
a couple months ago, and they have two kids,
and they were like, we got these kids, and these
kids have all these friends who go to school
with them, and they always want to be over our
house, but our house is small. They live right
over here off of 17th. Our house is small, and
we don't have a lot of activity, and we saw this
church, and we saw the gymnasium and this big
building, and we thought, maybe there's something
here. And so we started talking. And then we
also have another couple that comes here to Village,
Chandler and Anissia. Anissia sings on stage
while Chandler's often behind the scenes doing
our camera work and other things. He's actually
a professional skateboarder. He does that on
tour. He's gotten endorsement deals. He does
it on video. He's a very, very, whatever, skillful
skateboarder. And we were in the room together,
this couple and that couple, and we were talking
about reaching youth through Village. And this
couple throws out, what about skateboarding,
not knowing that this guy is a professional skateboarder?
And he says, well, that's kind of what I do.
And they go, what on earth? Can we have permission
to try something? And I'm usually, I like my
plans to be like well formed behind the scenes
before we do anything. I like to think through
them. And so this was the opportunity to be tested
and stretched. And it was like. All right, let's
go. Let's see what happens. And we took it one
meeting at a time trying to develop this idea.
And it turned out to be a nine -week skateboarding
camp. We ended up with a variety of kids, maybe
10, 15 kids who came over the course of the camp.
And they learned different tricks or different
levels each week they came. They would get stickers
as they advanced through those levels. And the
final level of this camp was they had like a
two and a half, three foot ramp. that they were
using that had kind of a drop in, a really small
one if you're just looking at it. But the kids,
the final test, the final level was the kids
were going to stand on the edge of the top of
the ramp and they were going to drop in and hopefully
not fall and die and sue us and then game over.
And so the kids were all looking, that's what
we get to do by the end of it. That's what's
going to happen. That's where we get to go, right?
And not all the kids made it all the way through
the steps. They each learned at a different level
and they each gathered a little bit of new skill.
And a lot of them were riding skateboards by
the end who had never ridden a skateboard before.
But there were a couple of kids who knew this
last Friday was going to be the final opportunity.
And they wanted that last sticker on their name
badge, that last sticker that says they dropped
in on the ramp. And so they began to test it
out. They tried it out, but they would have an
adult leader standing there with their arm out
or their finger out, right? Helping them to drop
in, helping them to drop in. And some of us leaders
were standing off to the side watching. And we
realized these kids have it. They couldn't do
it, but they keep holding onto the finger that's
being offered to them. They're scared. Their
mind is not yet ready to drop in, even though
they have the skills. They're clearly doing it.
In fact, and sometimes they were holding so tightly
to the finger that the holding onto the finger
was what was causing them to go the wrong direction
when they dropped into the ramp. And little by
little through encouragement. And reminding them
of what they were aiming for. And reminding them
of what would be lost if they didn't drop in
this last time. They would miss their opportunity.
Slowly but surely, the arm that they were holding
on became a hand. And the hand became a finger.
And pretty soon the finger was drifting away.
And then the big crescendo is one of them. The
first one finally said, I'm doing it. And he
drops in and just lands it perfectly. And do
you know from that moment on, scared, timid before,
from that moment on, he circles back around and
does it 10 more times, no problem. 10 more times,
no problem. And there's another kid who's there
and he's up at the top and he clearly has the
skill, but his issue, his hangup is he keeps
saying, everyone's watching me. I had one of
those kids too. Like everyone's watching me.
They're judging me. I don't want to do it. Can
you all leave the room? Everyone's watching me.
And through repeated instruction and reminding
him what they were doing and that everyone here
is a cheerleader wanting to see you succeed.
Little by little, the arm to the hand to the
finger, and pretty soon that young man dropped
in, nailed it, and repeated it multiple times.
Something in the mind was keeping them from going.
Something in the mind from trusting what was
clearly prepared and what was ready for them.
And yet they couldn't get over that hump because
their mind wasn't fully there. But once it was,
they were fully armed and ready to go. And that's
exactly what Peter is saying here. Arm yourself
with the mindset of Christ. You're going to need
the mindset of Christ for the war that you're
in. And it's not about knowing you're supposed
to get from point A to point B. It's about being
ready mentally and spiritually to do it even
when it feels risky. To live the life you're
being called into even when it doesn't feel safe.
Even when obedience costs you something. Even
when the voice in your head says, play it safe,
don't do it. The life of following Jesus is full
of these drop -in moments. Where obedience feels
like leaning forward into uncertainty. But Peter
says, if Christ suffered and overcame, you can
trust him enough to commit. Drop in. Or like
a soldier gearing up for battle, train your mind
to think like Christ. Have his mindset. His mindset
was shaped by obedience over comfort, a holiness
over compromise. And purpose over self -preservation.
And when you arm yourself with Christ's mindset,
expect resistance from the world that thinks
you're strange. And from the devil who'd rather
see you sleepy than strong. And from your own
flesh that prefers comfort over obedience. But
Peter's point is you're no longer ruled by sin.
You've made a break, so live like it. With the
mind of Christ. And that leads to point number
two. Leave the old life behind. Leave the old
life behind. For there has already been enough
time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose
to do. Carrying on in unrestrained behavior,
evil desires, drunkenness, orgies, carousing,
and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that
you don't join them in the same flood of wild
living. and they slander you. We are done with
sin, we are told. If you are in Christ, you are
done with sin. I want you to say this with all
the confidence in the world. Say it after me.
I am done with sin. I am done with sin. Like
you're going to war, I am done with sin. Peter
says you spent way too much time doing what the
Gentiles do. You spent way too much time. And
remember, for Peter, Gentiles is kind of shorthand
for anyone who does not belong to the people
of God, the royal priesthood, the holy nation.
Anyone outside of that is the Gentiles. And those
who are outside of the people of God who have
received his spirit and are being sanctified,
anyone outside, they go on doing the same things.
You've gone on way too long, way too much time
doing what the Gentiles do. And I want to highlight
one word there, which is doing what the Gentiles
choose to do. Sin is a choice. Let no one, including
yourself, tell you that you don't have a choice
in the matter. If the Bible says... It is sin,
and you feel like, well, it's just who I am.
You are wrong, and the Bible is right. And you
need to choose to not sin anymore. You need to
choose to not sin anymore. And I'll tell you,
in that choice to not sin, the Spirit of God,
the Spirit of Christ, provides the power to overcome
the sin. But the power to overcome the sin is
not just going to overtake you out of nowhere,
possess you, and just overcome all your sins.
You must choose to not sin. Don't act like your
sin is just your cross to bear. No, instead I
recommend you stop and you take that cross off
and you get it nice and situated, strong in the
ground, and then you take the sin that you've
been carrying around like it's a cross and you
nail it to that cross and put it to death. Be
killing sin or it will be killing you. If you
need an older illustration, I remember being
a young child watching the Disney movie Old Yeller.
Anyone remember Old Yeller? It's the worst movie
ever. It was the first horror movie I watched
as a kid. You take old, rabid yeller out back,
like your sin, and you put a bullet in it. That's
what you do with sin. done with it, put it to
death today, now, immediately, no excuse. And
Peter gives us here in this passage a kind of
a non -comprehensive list of sinful behaviors
that in the end paint a portrait of a life dominated
by sinful desire. And there are people that you
know, and maybe it's you yourself. The picture
of your life is a picture dominated by sinful
desire. And Peter gives this list that in Roman
times, in the first century in Rome, these behaviors
were normal. These behaviors were normal. And
Peter says to these normal Roman behaviors, no
thank you. Because these Roman behaviors take
things that are good, like sex and relationships,
and even wine, right? Psalm 104 says that God
gives us wine to make the human heart glad. But
the world takes these things, sex, relationship,
wine, alcohol, whatever it is, and twists it
and distorts it, and they take it beyond the
guardrails. Beyond the order, like Nick talked
about ordering everything. God has ordered life
for human flourishing if we'll stay within his
order. But some take that and twist it and distort
it and take it outside of order. And then what
we see is pain. What we see is not flourishing.
And then what we see is really an affront to
God. It's like cursing God and saying, I don't
need you. I don't want you. You are not good.
You are not all knowing. Your design is not perfect.
So Peter's saying, hey, there are things that
the Gentiles continue to do that you yourselves
spent way too much time doing. Like sexual acts
with a person you are not married to or sexual
acts with someone of the same sex, even if the
state of California will give you a marriage
license, is a distortion of God's gift of sex
and covenant between a man and a woman in a lifelong
committed safety of a marriage. It's a part of
the old life, Peter says. It's a part of the
old life that you're to leave behind. To have
no place in the life of a new creation believer.
Peter says, be done with it. It's getting drunk,
weekend benders, hanging out with the boys or
the girls and throwing some back. This is a part
of the old life. Why? Because humans are created
in the image of God. And this includes the capacity
for reason and moral judgment and self -control.
And drunkenness intentionally impairs those gifts
that God has given us. Drunkenness is a counterfeit
to spirit -filled living. In fact, it puts another
spirit in control. Another spirit in control
of your body, of your speech, and of your decisions.
Isn't it ironic? What do they call alcohol? Spirits.
It is a sin because it submits to a different
master. It is a form of spiritual idolatry that
trades God's presence for a temporary escape.
Some of you in your former life used alcohol
as an escape. Some of you weren't submitted to
the master and instead were submitted to the
drink. Some of you allowed the spirit. of alcohol
to control your body, to control your mind, and
to make decisions for you. And all of this was
outside of the guardrails and outside of the
bounds of God's good order. And anything that's
outside is called sin. And anything that is sin
leads to death. And along the way to death, it
causes a whole lot of trouble in our lives and
in the lives of people around us. And Paul says
that those who persist in this, Paul later...
Elsewhere in the Bible says that those who persist
and remain unrepentant in their sexual sin or
in their drunkenness or in their uncontrolled
lifestyle, they have no inheritance in the kingdom
of God. This is a horrible thing. This is a terrible
thing. This is a travesty that can be fixed by
choosing to say no to sin and yes to obedience
to God. And true repentance means not only confessing
our sin, but walking away from it, even if others
don't understand. Even if your drinking buddies
mock you or your sexual partners don't agree
or are hurt by the decision that you're making
to obey and trust God and no longer sin, the
decision still needs to be made. If you are in
Christ, you say no to sin and yes to the spirit
and life. But in case you also thought that,
woo, I escaped that one. He didn't talk about
anything that I'm struggling with. You know,
we're like, the Bible's like an equal opportunity
offender, right? It will find you in your sin
wherever it's at. Peter ends with lawless idolatry.
And I want to take a bigger view than probably
Peter had directly in mind in the scripture,
but a bigger view of idolatry. As Timothy Keller
says, the human heart is an idol factory. The
human heart is an idol factory. An idol is whatever
you look at and say, if I have that, then I'll
feel my life has meaning. Then I'll know I have
value. Then I'll feel significant and secure.
And I know for a fact that that is everyone in
this room. We have all had an idol. At some point
in time. We all had, whether it's in a moment,
whether it was for a week, or whether it was
for a decade, or whether it's right now and you've
had your whole life, something that you have
put your hope and security and your meaning and
your value in that is anything other than God.
You're on the hook too. Be done with it. Be done
with the old life. Take it out back, put a bullet
in it, and move on. Number three, live with the
end in view. We are like people who are addicted
to our phones, aren't we? This morning, I was
out in the truck getting ready to leave, and
I was like, where is... My life. I can't find
my little device that has everything on it, including
my music and my notes and everything. Where'd
it go? Where'd it go? It was on my bed. I'd left
it inside. So I had to go in and get it, right?
So there was a time in life where you could just
leave and you didn't have to find your phone.
Now you have to find your phone, right? But the
thing about phones is they also have batteries,
right? And I don't know about you, but oftentimes
I've had really poor battery management. You
head out into the world with a full battery and
then it starts to die. And when you have a full
battery, you can do all kinds of things. When
me and my wife were on our trip, regularly charging
our phone batteries, we're looking at food reviews.
We're looking at how many stars a restaurant
has. We're checking out what the population of
Denmark is or how many days our seahorse is pregnant,
right? Whatever it is, you can look up anything
you want. It's all right there, right? When you
got a full battery, the world is your oyster.
You can look up anything you want. But when we
were in Japan, we had just gotten off a flight
and we had really poor battery management. And
we get off the flight and we realize, while we're
here in Japan, we're going to have to take public
transit everywhere, the trains, and we got to
check the schedules. And we don't know anything
about anything. We need our phones and our phones
are on 2%. What do you do when your phone's on
2 % and you vitally need it, right? You panic,
right? You also begin to preserve it. You start
to not look up how long seahorses are pregnant.
That's for another day. Today, it's about preserving
the battery. It's about being ready. It's about
being alert to this because at some point, we're
going to need it. And you make different decisions,
don't you? You have a soberness of mind toward
your battery power. Well, Peter says, the end
of all things is near. Be sober. Be alert and
sober -minded for prayer. Wake up. The world
is on 2%. Get ready, because the end is near.
And in light of eternity, all human time is short.
In light of eternity, all human time is short.
And Jesus' resurrection... has inaugurated the
last days. We are in the church age. There is
one more major significant event to take place
in all of human history that will cap off all
of human history and it will be done. One more
event to take place and that is Jesus Christ's
return. Jesus returns. History is wrapped up,
packaged, and done. Jesus Christ and his return
is imminent. Which means that it's not necessarily
immediate because Peter believed it. He believed
his return was imminent. Not necessarily immediate,
but always imminent, meaning it could happen
at any time. You and I just don't know. We simply
can't know. But I will tell you this, one thing
for sure, we are closer today than when Peter
wrote this. We are 2 ,000 years later than when
Peter wrote the end of all things is near. And
should we panic? No. Should we live with urgency?
Yes. Why? Because judgment is coming. You may
be judged by the world now for your choice to
leave the old life behind. You may be judged
by your friends. or those who are really close
to you, for your choice to leave the old life
behind and to follow Christ and live for Christ,
to take on his life and his mindset and his status
and accomplishments and obedience, you may be
judged now, but the world will be judged by God
soon. God sees, God knows, and God will set all
things right. God created and ordered all things.
Sin entered the world and created disorder. One
fact is 100 % for sure, signed, sealed, delivered.
In the end, God will set everything right again.
He will reorder all things. And the Christians
were mocked by the world in Peter's time because
since the time the apostles began to preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ till the time that Peter
wrote this, some believers had died. And the
world would mock them and say, see, your faith
didn't save you. You ended up dying anyway. And
what Peter is responding here in these verses
is he's saying, yes, they died in the body, but
they now live with God in the spirit as they
wait for the resurrection. When they will receive
their new glorified bodies, that is for every
believer. And so the end of all things is near,
so preaching the gospel matters because eternity
is real. The end of all things is near, so preaching
the gospel matters because judgment is real.
Peter says to be alert and sober minded, not
ruled by emotions, not ruled by sin or distractions.
Why? What are we supposed to be ruled by? What
are we supposed to be doing? He says, so that
you can pray or for prayer. And you may say,
wait a sec, prayer? Like that's the grand strategy?
That's the tactic for winning this war? Is prayer,
does that make sense? And Peter is saying, yeah,
prayer is not the backup plan, folks. Prayer
is the plan itself. Prayer is the battle plan.
Prayer is the means by which God will do what
he's doing. And you may think, well, that doesn't,
give me something to do, right? As men, you might
think, man, Lord, just point out who you want
me to punch and I'll go punch them, right? Or
who do you want me to trip or whatever, right?
You're like, give me something tangible. Tell
me what to do. And he says, pray. I want you
sober -minded. I want you ready so that you can
pray. I think what I've come to realize in life
is that I have a tool belt, that I have acquired
tools, that some of them are the way God has
made me, some of them the gifts that he has given
me, some of them personalities and skills, and
every one of us has a tool belt. And on that
tool belt, We oftentimes go to that tool belt
to solve problems. Oh, so -and -so's crying or
they're dealing with this issue. So I've got
a tool for that. I prepared for that. I got ready
for that. I've read that book. I went to that
leadership conference. I watched that video.
I'm ready for this. I'm going to the tool belt.
And then sometimes we go and we encounter a problem
and we go, man, I don't have a tool. And our
first response is like, oh, man, if only I had
read a different book or I'd gone to a different
conference or if I'd watched a different movie
or video on YouTube, then I would know what I
need to know in order to fix this problem or
I would know what I need to know in order to
confront this issue that's before me. But my
friends, that's us dealing down here in the world.
That's dealing with tools that will pass and
perish. That's dealing with situations and circumstances
that are temporal. Peter is calling us, Jesus
is calling us to reach for tools that are of
a higher caliber. Ones that have eternal consequences,
though they may not show their results immediately
and we may not see them. But spiritual tools
that can have powerful effect in the spiritual
realities that affect each and every one of us
on a day -to -day basis in this war that we're
in. I want to reach for some tool or technique
in order to solve a relational problem. And Jesus
says, go to prayer and see what I can do. You
don't have to say a thing, but maybe my spirit
could work in this situation. And I think, oh
man, if I had only gone to another class or conflict
resolution course or something, then I would
have the tools to be able to deal with this situation.
That's thinking down here. We need to start thinking
more up here. Prayer, worship, what can worship
do in our own hearts and with one another? Prayer
and worship and reading God's word, soaking in
his word and allowing it to renew our mind and
change who we are. And then beginning to walk
in obedience to it. This doesn't mean that we
don't obey the word as if that is somehow down
here. No, that's a high order tool that we all
need to bring to this war. Prayer isn't just
this backup plan. It is the battle plan and it's
how we stay grounded to God's will. It's how
we align our will with eternal realities and
not get bogged down in what's happening in my
life right now. Prayer is how we remain watchful
and hopeful and engaged and how we live with
the end in view. And so pray with clarity. When
you... Pray, pray with clarity. And this is true
about all of us, but what you pray about most
reveals what you care about most. What you pray
about most reveals what you care about most.
One of the discipleship questions that I like
to ask is what are you praying for right now?
What are you praying for right now? It's a great
conversation starter and it cuts through if you
can get through all the fluffy stuff. It cuts
through to, not what are you praying for, like
right this moment, but what did you pray for
yesterday that you're still praying for today?
And if it hasn't changed, you're gonna be praying
for it tomorrow. Because that's something that's
important and significant and something that
the Lord is doing in your life right now. What
are you praying for? Because what you pray. about
most reveals what you care about most. So look
at your prayer life and begin to shift your prayer
life. Are you praying kingdom prayers? Not just
prayers for comfort and blessing, which are good,
but are you praying more kingdom -minded prayers?
Pray for personal holiness. Pray for an obedient
heart. Pray for your enemies to be blessed. to
experience the face of God, that he would shine
on them. Pray that the gospel would advance.
Pray for one more to be saved. Pray for more
gospel workers to be sent to the harvest field,
for the harvest is plentiful, but the workers
are few. Pray that God's glory would fill Tallick
Village and Tahoe Park and all of Sacramento
and the neighborhoods that each one of you represent.
Pray kingdom prayers. Pray for fruitfulness and
speak with urgency. Time is short and people
are going to hell. That conversation you've been
putting off about Jesus, have it. The end of
all things is near. Have that conversation today
or tomorrow. Put it on your calendar. Don't delay.
Someone's eternal destiny absolutely is dependent
on your effort. Why? Because the grace of God
isn't fatalistic. It's not, oh, if God wants
it to happen, it will happen, and I don't have
a part to play at all in this. Because grace
is not opposed to effort. Grace is opposed to
earning. And if you think sharing the gospel
or living a holy life earns you salvation, you
are wrong and you need to repent. But if you
have received such a great salvation by grace
through faith, you will outwork and outperform
any and everyone trying to earn their way to
God. Blood -bought, grace -filled Jesus people
will outwork anyone. So live with an intentionality.
Don't drift, but aim your life at the glory of
God and the good of others. Because today counts.
The end of all things is near. The final point
is steward grace for God's glory. Whatever you
have that is good, it has been given to you by
God. Whatever has been given to you by God, you
are called to steward. And a steward was a household
manager in the first century who didn't own any
of the resources that they had oversight of,
but instead they were employed to utilize those
resources of the owner in a prudent way for the
good of the household. They were never allowed
to squander or to steal the resources for themselves.
In verse eight, it says, above all, above all,
maintain constant love for one another since
love covers a multitude of sins. Here, Peter
is saying, before in front of and in the highest
regard over everything else that I've been telling
you, maintain constant love for one another because
love covers a multitude of sins. And Peter is
saying, and that we pray and we speak with urgency
and that we live with intentionality, but also
at the same time, make sure that all the while
you maintain constant love for your brothers
and sisters in your local Christian community.
Yes, we should love all brothers and sisters
in the faith, but you can't be patient with a
Christian who's in Kenya right now because they're
not here making you impatient. And so to love
them, they need to be present and embodied. These
are the people you're supposed to maintain constant
love for. Look around. They're all around you.
They need love. You need love. They need Jesus
too, but so do you, right? Love is a gift of
God. The Bible tells us that God is love and
God has poured his love into our hearts. That
means love is a gift of God. And if love is a
gift of God, then we are to be stewards of his
love. If you have any love, you're a steward
of it. And that means you are to use it. God
expects you to use it for the good of the household
of faith, for your brothers and sisters. And
that word constant, it says maintain constant
love. The word constant in CSB literally means
in the Greek stretching or unfailing. Like you
ever had something you stretch, right? And like
a rubber band to a breaking point and then it
snaps. Imagine a rubber band stretching and getting
thinner and thinner but never breaking. You are
to have a stretching love like an athlete who
pushes well past their comfort zone. Our love
to maintain a stretching love. You ever had your
love stretched thin? Don't let it break. Maintain
a stretching love. A love that covers over a
multitude of sins. And this doesn't mean that
you overlook moral failures or active disobedience
to God. That's not what this means. When it says
it covers over a multitude of sins, the sins
he's talking about in this context are relational
sins between one another. Unforgiveness, holding
a grudge, lying to each other, slander or gossip,
distrust, shortness or harshness or a critical
spirit, coldness or division or favoritism or
partiality. A stretching love lets go of being
easily offended. A stretching love doesn't demand
perfection. A stretching love takes and holds
the most charitable view of someone's motives
and actions. Do you know how hard that is? That
takes work to hold the most charitable view of
someone's actions and motives. A stretching love
gives forgiveness freely and doesn't keep a record
of wrong, responds to sin with grace and not
gossip and seeks to reconcile rather than retaliate.
Wayne Grudem, the scholar says, where love abounds
in a fellowship of Christians, many small offenses
and even some large ones are readily overlooked
and forgotten. But where love is lacking, every
word is viewed with suspicion. Every action is
liable to misunderstanding and conflicts abound
to Satan's perverse delight. And to stretch that
love a little bit further, Peter then says, by
the way, you need to open your homes. You need
to open your homes. You need to practice hospitality.
You need to make space in your personal private
life for other people to come. That's what he
says. Make space. for others to come practice
hospitality, invite others into your life and
into your space. And in Peter's day, it primarily
meant opening your home to traveling Christians
or gatherings of the church or those who are
in need in the family of faith. And Peter knows
it's costly. Why? Because the very next thing
he says is, do it without complaining. Do it
without complaining. But open your home, open
your front door, open your cupboards, open your
refrigerator. Practice hospitality. A little
bit later this year, Becky is planning to offer
a course on hospitality, practicing hospitality
at our house. And we're in the process of talking
through that and getting that all down. We'll
get some dates out to you. But if you're like,
I don't know what to do, that sounds really intimidating,
that's gonna be the place that you need to go
in here. She's got a great history and pattern
of being a hospitable person. And we definitely
want to receive whatever's there. Practice hospitality.
Stretch that love. Let that rubber band get stretched
then. Open up your home. Who cares if it's dirty?
Try to tidy up a little bit, but who cares, right?
Who cares if all you got is bologna sandwiches?
Serve the bologna sandwiches with joy and delight.
It will cost you time. It will cost you money,
comfort, energy, your privacy, but chances are
If you haven't been practicing hospitality, chances
are that you just got used to using what God
gave you only on yourself. And it's time to be
done with that. It's time to stop. It's time
to stop and to invite others to enjoy it as well.
And finally, Peter says, you've all received
a spiritual gift. Everyone in this room has a
spiritual gift. Every Christian has a gift. a
gift of grace from the Spirit. It's a gift that's
not earned, it's not deserved, but it is entrusted
to you. And Peter gives two categories of these
gifts, speaking gifts. And for speaking gifts,
he says, if you have a speaking gift, do it as
one who speaks God's very words. In other words,
do it with truth and reverence, no ego. But if
you have a serving gift, If you have a serving
gift, he says to do the serving gift with the
strength God provides. You say, I can't do it.
I'm too tired. I can't do it. I don't got the
strength. Do it with the strength God provides.
Lean into the spirit. Ask him to give you zeal
and strength for the work ahead, to strengthen
your feeble hands and to strengthen your knees
that give way. Ask him for strength and he will
give you strength to serve. Ask yourself, where
am I using my gifts to build up the body of Christ?
Don't wait to be asked. Stewards don't need permission
to be faithful. All of this, loving, hosting,
serving, speaking, laying down the old self,
all of this has one goal, and that is God's glory.
So that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
and by extension, his body. in everything. To
him be the glory and the power forever and ever.
Amen.