What to Do in the End Times

What to Do in the End Times

Sunday after Ascension

Collect of the Day: O God, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven; We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thy Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen

Collect for Ascensiontide: Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thine only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Epistle: 1 Peter 4:7-11 The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

We dodged a bullet on May 13. Horatio Villegas, a Texan, who says he’s God’s messenger, predicted that a world nuclear war would begin that day, the 100^th anniversary of the day the Virgin Mary is supposed to have appeared to 3 children near Fatima, Portugal. Villegas also predicted that the war and the world will end this coming October 13^th, the 100 anniversary of the Virgin’s supposed last appearance at Fatima. Now, if you’d rather think there is more time, there was a Bulgarian woman, who claimed to be a prophetess, who before she died said the earth will die in 3797. These are just 2 of a great many people who have claimed to know when the end of the world will be.

1.  Is it the end?

St. Peter wrote is 62 or 63 A.D., “The end of all things is at hand.” You might note that, unlike so many of the so-called “prophets” since the age of the Apostles, Peter does not give the date of the end, but he does say “the end is near.” How are we to take that?

Some would say that Peter, Paul, and many New Testament era Christians expected that Jesus would return during their lifetimes and their expectations were disappointed because the Lord did not return. They were wrong. Regarding ordinary Christians, that would just mean that they were mistaken as many Christians since that time have been. But if Peter and Paul believed it and wrote about in in their letters, it would certainly raise questions about their trustworthiness and authority as Apostles.

In his second letter Peter addressed this matter. He pointed out that there are scoffers who say,

Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation (2 Peter 3:4)

But he reminded believers:

…beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing: that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night… (2 Peter 3:8-10a).

Peter was an eyewitness to our Lord’s ministry. He had been present on the day our risen Lord ascended to heaven where, as Savior-King-Messiah, he sat down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. At that time Peter heard the angels’ promise: “This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven.” He was also present on the day of Pentecost, which we will celebrate next Sunday, when King Jesus poured out upon his church the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Peter knew that between Christ’s conception in Mary’s womb through Pentecost he had accomplished everything necessary for the salvation of his people and the redemption of the world. Salvation is prepared and accomplished and waiting to be revealed. We are waiting for Christ’s Coming to raise the dead, judge the world, and bring us, his people, into the glory and joys of his kingdom.

Are we living in the end times? Yes. How long will the end times last? We do not know.

2.  How should we live?

If we are living in the last times, how should we then live?

·        Keep your head and pray.

Peter tells us to be “self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.” Peter contrasts the way we as Christians thinik behave with the way those who get drunk think and behave. Those who get drunk are off balance, not able to think clearly or act rationally. They are not in control of themselves. That’s the opposite of the way Christians should live in these end times. We need to think clearly, not driven by feelings or impressions or impulses, but guided by God’s Word. During this end-time there are wars and rumors of wars and various catastrophes. People in the world, and unfortunately some Christians, may panic or become manic in their responses. Christians keep their heads and think and act, not with somberness, but with seriousness.

Then we can pray. When people get worked up, they can’t pray to God about what is going on in their lives, or in the church, or in the world. We pray fervently, but we do not just blurt out whatever we may be feeling. We keep our heads, then we ,can assess the situation, form our thoughts, read our hearts, think about the Scriptures, and turn our thoughts and feelings into words we speak to our heavenly Father.

·        Love each other.

The word translated “charity” in our Epistle reading for this morning means “love.” Peter says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”  This is the second time Peter calls attention to the importance of love in the church. In chapter 1 he wrote:

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God (1:22,23). 

Peter and Paul both put love as the first Christian virtue. After faith in Christ for our salvation, love is the most important evidence that we have obeyed the truth of the Gospel and been born again through his Word. Our love should be both deep and fervent.

Peter will not let us think of love theoretically. We must love because love covers a multitude of sins. Whose sins? Some think that by our loving we make up for our sins and so cover them in God’s sight. But Peter is not talking about our covering our own sins by our love but our covering the sins of one another by our love. That’s really how a church works – it is a community of people who love one another so that we cover one another’s sins against one another. When God covers our sins by blood of Jesus, he does not see them, he does not remember them, he does not bring them up, he does not treat us according to our sins. So, when we cover one another’s sins, we do not let resentments and bitterness build us, for “love keeps no record of wrongs.”  

One of the practical ways we show love beyond forgiving one another, is by “showing hospitality to one another without grumbling.” In the time of Peter this was especially important because there were traveling Christian teachers, Christians who were persecuted, and Christians who were moving from one place to another. In our day, we should not forget that showing hospitality to one another is love in action. It is a way we express our fellowship and oneness.

·        Use your gifts.

Peter writes: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.”

God’s grace is a great and wide river that divides into many streams. And into each Christian some stream of grace flows into for the benefit of the church and its outreach into the world and its care of its members.

The question is, “How do you know what gift you have received?” Some people pray fervently that God would reveal to them what their gift is. Others may go to seminars where speakers list various gifts and the characteristics of each of them. But here is the way God shows you what gift or gifts you have: He shows it to you in the life of the church.                    

Churches have needs for people to serve Christ – not just some people but all people. That is true of every church, but it is especially true of a church the size of ours. There is a statistic that has been found true time and again. It is that in most churches 80% of the doing is done by 20% of the people. The church is not a group of spectators sitting in the stands watching the game, but all of us are players on the field. We are not all quarterbacks, or wide receivers, or running backs. But we are all on the team and on the field playing the game.

 We all are called not just to be takers but to be givers in the life of the church. So as needs arise in the life of the church, what we should do is to ask ourselves, “Is that something I can do?” Or, as you are approached by someone who asks you to do some kind of service, you ask, “Is the Lord placing this opportunity before me because this is what he wants me to do?”

And we keep in focus that God has not given us gifts so that we can receive recognition, honor, and praise, but  “in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

We meet at this Table to remember our Lord’s death for us, knowing that we do this not forever, but till he comes, and we eat and drink with him in the kingdom of God. But until then, we keep our heads and pray, love one another fervently, and use our gift to serve Christ’s church.