Welcome to Day 2399 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Day 2399 – Marching Orders for Soldiers of the Cross – Daily Wisdom

Putnam Church Message – 06/09/2024 Our Strange Life – Marching Orders for Soldiers of the Cross. 1 Peter 4:7-11 Last week, our focus was on the attitude that we, as Christ's Followers, should have and on the possibility that our lives may shock the unbelieving crowd. Today, Peter gives us Marching Orders for Soldiers of the Cross. Today’s passage is 1 Peter 4:7-11, on page 1891 of your Pew Bibles. I will read it from the NIV and the NLT today to give us a better perspective of this passage.  ⁷ The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. ⁸ Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. ⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. ⁷ The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. ⁸ Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹ Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. ¹⁰ God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. ¹¹ Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. The name “Peter" and the adjective “practical" go hand in hand. Being married helped. So did his career as a fisherman. Before following Christ, Peter was a man of action, which is evident throughout Christ's ministry. Peter’s life consisted of tangible, practical things: boats, nets, fish, sweat, hard work, family—the nitty-gritty of real life. We shouldn’t be surprised to discover his rugged personality and to-the-point style flow through his writing. Being neither scholarly nor sophisticated, Peter had little interest in theoretical discussions. Truth was meant to be lived, not simply talked about and then ignored. The way he figured, if there is a cause worth fighting for, fight—don't philosophize! The man rolled up his sleeves and dug in if urgency required action. When Peter began to dictate this letter to suffering saints, he didn’t beat around the fig tree; he got down to basics. Urgency led to simplicity. Amid his discussion of facing suffering with hope in Christ, Peter can’t avoid the practical effects of living in light of Christ's return. He doesn't get bogged down speculating about the hows, whens, and wheres of the end times; he focuses instead on the question, “So what?" He answers this bottom-line question in five short verses that issue four urgent commands and present a straightforward goal to remember (4:7-11).   — 4:7 — When we know time is short, two otherwise neglected operating principles suddenly kick in: urgency and simplicity. For example, when people discover they don't have long to live, they put their relationships with loved ones at center stage and simplify their schedules. Or think about what happens when people hear that a hurricane or tornado is imminent. They don't pull out a croquet game or start landscaping the backyard. Instead, they grab the essentials and head for cover—immediately! Being short on time requires urgency and simplicity. Scripture treats the end times in the same way. Over and over, it reminds us that the time is short or the end is near. Peter switches into this mode of end-times urgency and simplicity with a somewhat puzzling phrase: The end of the world is coming soon.  (4:7). I say “puzzling" because nearly two thousand years later, the end of the world—as far as I can tell—hasn't happened yet. Was Peter wrong? No! The key to understanding Peter's language comes from understanding the Christian doctrine of imminence. The opening line literally says, “The goal of all things has come near." Peter pictures Christ in heaven at the Father's right hand, awaiting one word from the throne of God—“Go!" (The time has come - Go Sign) So, when the Bible speaks of the end as “near" or “coming soon," it refers to the suddenness and unexpectedness of the return of Christ. That is, Christ could come at any moment. (Bulletin Insert) Peter says we should respond with specific actions in light of this “any-moment” view of Christ’s return and the unfolding of end-times judgments. The first command follows an important “therefore.” In light of Christ's imminent return, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. (4:7). Being “earnest and disciplined” means you don't panic when a natural disaster hits,| or when an official is elected that you don't like, |or if the network or social media news seems to be getting worse. You don’t have to worry! You don't jump off a tall building! BUT, This also means you don’t quit your job because Jesus might return today. Instead, you keep your nose to the grindstone and continue your work with an ongoing sense of purpose and urgency. You live as if Christ may come today, but plan for the possibility that it could be long after you've passed away. That’s a reasonable, balanced approach to life in light of the unknown hour of Christ's coming. The motto of the Revolutionary War minutemen comes to mind: “Trust in God, but keep your powder dry!” The secret to maintaining this kind of balance and calmness is prayer.| When something alarms you, pray.| When current events confuse you, pray.| If the world looks like it’s spinning out of control, pray. Prayer is what sharpens our awareness so that we're able to be more discerning. It gives us genuine hope and confidence in Christ amid confusion. When you're panicking, you're not praying. When you're reacting, you're not trusting in your sovereign God. — 4:8 — The second command to follow in light of Christ's imminent return is to continue to show deep love for each other. The NLT indicates that this is the Most important of all, and the NIV states Above all. “Most Important” comes from the Greek word ektenês, meaning “strained,” and is used figuratively for being intent or determined. Think of an athlete stretching to reach the finish line at the end of the final lap. Peter sat at Jesus' feet and heard Him describe the end times with the phrase, “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.” (Matt. 24:12). And Paul reminded Timothy that in the last days, people will be “For people will love only themselves and their money” (2 Tim. 3:2). Peter completely reverses this frigid self- love: in sharp contrast, he says,  Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. This has immediate application to our day as well. Amid unjust treatment, persecution, and confusion, nothing helps strengthen and encourage believers more than mutual love and care for each other. Peter quotes a line from Proverbs 10:12 to demonstrate this love's practical manifestation: Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses. Nothing more quickly turns unbelievers off of Christ than witnessing His church fighting with each other viciously rather than loving each other fervently. — 4:9 — In light of Christ’s imminent return, Peter's third command is to Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Most of us are okay with the idea of hospitality, as long as we get to define what that looks like. We invite people we like into our homes and make appropriate adjustments as willing hosts —-within limits, of course. But Peter refers to “one another" in the broadest sense of that term. He used it in 4:8; most important of all is loving even those who need our forgiveness, that is, those who have wronged us! He also uses “one another” in 4:10 to refer to the larger body of Christ, whom we are to serve with our spiritual gifts. So, picking and choosing whom you will invite into your lives isn't what Peter had in mind. The NLT shows what it means in practice. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. Peter tacks another phrase that makes this command even more convicting: “without grumbling, or cheerfully.” Being truly hospitable can cost money. It takes time. It can become inconvenient and occasionally frustrating. Peter urges believers to have a positive attitude toward hospitality, one that flows from the sincere love and prayerful hope described in 4:7-8. On the other hand, hospitality isn't something Christians should take advantage of. So, having discernment and love doesn't mean we enable people to leech off us while they sit back and lazily fulfill their parasitic cravings. Some Christians in Peter's day were living unbalanced lives in response to the teaching about the imminent return of Christ. They thought, “If Christ is coming soon, why bother working? Why not just sell everything and live off others?” Paul specifically addresses this problem of responsibility in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, and Peter indirectly addresses the other side of genuine, self-sacrificial hospitality in 1 Peter 4:10-11—the mutual contribution of all believers in the body of Christ. (GMFP) -4:10-11- Peter's fourth and final command in light of Christ's any-moment return is to serve one another. Peter clarifies in just a few words that each believer has a spiritual gift. He says, God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. (4:10). He takes it for granted that God has gifted you>if you're a believer. But this isn't a gifting to make you feel better about yourself, boost your ego, or serve your interests. Instead, God has made these investments in various members of His body, and He expects a return on that investment. In other words, we must “Use them well to serve one another" by “God’s grace in its various forms," which translates to the Greek word poikilos, which means “many-colored." The term implies that a great variety of giftedness can be seen within the Christian community. Though Peter doesn't list all these various gifts in his letter, his fellow apostle, Paul, gives us a good idea of the diversity of these gifts in several places in his writings. (See the comparative chart.) Peter encourages his readers to be responsible with the unique gifts God has given each of them. Peter gives two specific examples by selecting two representative gifts from the wide variety of gifts—a speaking gift and a serving gift (4:11). His point is that we should treat our giftedness as a unique responsibility and honor, relying on God's strength and never forgetting that the message we proclaim is His message, not ours. And the purpose is not to serve ourselves, but to serve “one another" (4:10). In summary, our hopeful expectation of the Lord's return should motivate us to be earnest and disciplined in your prayers (4:7). We should continue to show deep love for each other (4:8). We must remember to Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling (4:9). And we should never neglect our spiritual gifts and Use them well to serve one another. These four commands answer Peter's question, “What should we be doing in light of the any-moment return of Christ?"   SPIRITUAL GIFTS LISTED IN SCRIPTURE (Bulletin Insert) Peter mentions only two “spiritual gifts” in 1 Peter 4:11, but the apostle Paul mentions several more that supplement Peter's two representative gifts of speaking and serving. Romans 12:6-8 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 Ephesians 4:11 1 Peter 4:10-11 Prophecy Wisdom Apostles Speaking Serving Knowledge Prophets Serving Teaching Faith Evangelist   Encouragement Healing Pastors   Giving Miracles Teachers   Leadership Prophecy     Kindness Discernment       Unknown Languages       Interpreting Languages       Yet Peter doesn’t leave this discussion with just four marching orders for spiritual soldiers. He reminds us of our ultimate mission, the purpose for which we have been called, equipped, and sent. Every army general has an ultimate military objective, and God is no different. We find it at the end of 1 Peter 4:11 as a doxology, a brief, enlivened hymn of praise to God. We are to do all these things, |live this way as strangers in a strange world,| put up with the unfair treatment by others,| and abide with one another in loving unity.| Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. When we keep this ultimate objective at the forefront of our minds, little else in life matters, and everything falls into place. I'm not saying it will make sense. I'm not saying it will make everything easy. But we'll be able to step back and confess with confidence that God alone will get the glory through each event and in every circumstance. When we give Him the glory, we'll leave the results of our labors to Him—and trust Him for the strength we need. Seeking God's glory in all things is a challenging assignment on the spiritual battlefield of this present world. But when we look forward to the specific hope of Christ's return—when the battle will be decisively won—we'll embrace that specific hope to help us persevere through hurtful times. APPLICATION: 1 PETER 4:7-11 End-Sight for Living   When we consider the end times, our minds are often overtaken by fearmongers shoving their way to the front. Crackpots walking the sidewalks with placards that announce, “THE END IS NEAR!" Otherwise, seemingly ordinary people quitting their jobs to camp on some mountaintop to wait for Christ’s return. Stern-faced preachers sensationalizing world events to alarm us into buying their books on surviving the end times. But when Peter preaches about the end times, we see a completely different picture: practical exhortations, prudent warnings, and a balanced perspective. Yes, he announces that “The end of the world is coming soon." (4:7), but he doesn't tell us to head for the hills, hide in caves, build a bomb shelter, stock up on food, or stockpile weapons. Ponder again his reasoned exhortations:

• Be earnest.
• Be disciplined.
• Make prayer a priority.
• Love each other deeply.
• Cheerfully provide hospitality.
• Serve one another with your gifts.

When it comes to the return of Christ and the end times, what kind of picture are you presenting to the world? Does your hope for Christ’s imminent return promote a religion of half-baked quacks that the world wishes would go away? Or do you represent a loving, wise, hospitable, and God-glorifying...