Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
I often hear people say, “My goodness, with all the natural disasters around the world; the earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, and all the wars and threats of more to come, the craziness of our culture calling wrong right and right wrong, we have to be living in the end times.” It’s true. Peter makes the point in our passage today.
1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
Letter to the church in Thyatira
The message of the gospel is a message of grace, hope, and transformation. The power of the gospel stops a person in their tracks, causes them to realize their sin, and turns them to God. The gospel is not about being born into a Christian home, going through catechism, attending church, or being a good moral person. It is about life transformation.
Letter to the church of Pergamum.
Some will think your lifestyle is strange. Your stance on truth doesn’t change based on the whims of the culture. You may be called bigoted for believing life begins at conception and should be protected. It certainly is not “woke” to believe that gender is assigned by God as he knitted us together in the womb.
Peter’s list of vices is a repulsive reminder of our lives apart from Christ. The sins noted above were not occasional places we visited. We were “living in” them. These offenses characterized our lives and defined who we were. But now things are different. We spent enough time in the past living like pagans chasing after human desires. Now it’s time to follow hard after Christ.
Let me start with a question, “What do you live for?” What is the calling, the initiator, the motivation of your life? Check out this passage from 1 Peter.
A cultural Christian with a half-hearted commitment to Christ is not going to run up against much spiritual resistance. And even when they do, like the Israelites before Goliath, they will turn tail and run. But if you are serious about following hard after Jesus, get ready for the battle. The enemy is actively working to make you fail and fall. So, arm yourself!
Atonement. Perfection of Jesus. Depravity of man. Reconciliation. Substitutionary Atonement. Resurrection. Today’s passage is packed with theology. Let’s read it and then break it down.
When we follow hard after Christ, parts of the journey will involve suffering—some type of persecution for our faith. Peter’s statement could be said like this: If you are going to suffer, make sure you suffer for the right reasons.
Believers must be prepared to stand up for Christ and communicate the main points of Christianity. And…they must act and speak “with gentleness and respect.” Remember, you used to be the person who “didn’t get it.” Apart from God’s grace, you would still be that person.
Our passage today is often quoted in the context of apologetics—theology used in the defense or proof of Christianity. Certainly, we should always be prepared to explain the main points of Christianity. At the same time, context ultimately determines meaning. The context here addresses a coming persecution when the recipients of this letter may have to suffer for their faith. Peter exhorts them to stand firm for Christ and be ready to profess him as Lord even in the face of imminent suffering.
What are you afraid of? What’s that thing that holds you back from being all that God wants you to be? Are you caught up in fear? Fear is an obstacle to your spiritual growth. It saturates the heart and permeates through families and to those within your network of influence. It is the cause of anxiety, terror, and dread. It causes us to run, engage, or stall (flight, fight, freeze).