November 10, 2024
“The end of the world is coming soon.” Hearing those words at the beginning of today’s scripture reading was rather jarring to many of us. We don’t talk about the end of the world much in this church—at least I don’t preach about it very often (and that’s probably fine with most of you all). But there are a lot of places where the end of the world is talked about a lot, and the Bible is one of them. It’s not just today’s religious fanatics who seem obsessed with end times. Peter and Paul and even Jesus himself were the ones who started the conversation.
Jesus both talked about the end, and told his followers not to think too much about it. He told us that it was something for God to know, not for us—not even for him. Those who came after him also talked about it, but never predicted when it would happen. To be honest, they expected it any day—any second—and that comes through in the letters of the New Testament.
But obviously the expectations of the earliest Christians fell flat. And since then, any time anybody has tried to make the end of the world the focus of their theology or the center of their ministry, it hasn’t gone well. There’s one well-known sect whose founder predicted the exact time and place of Jesus’ return, a prediction that ever since then has been known as “The Great Disappointment.”
I think most of us might think of such preachers as fanatics, and we don’t really want to be associated with them. And so we pretty much avoid all not just all talk of the end, but even scripture passages about the end. That’s why I’ve started my sermon this way. I fear the opening words of the scripture lesson caused some of you to close your ears, but I don’t think that’s necessary.
Think about the nature of time, and how that might change how we think about the word soon. Soon for us can mean in a minute, or this week, or this year, depending on what we’re talking about. That’s our time, but what about God’s time? Last week we sang a musical version of the 90th Psalm. The fourth verse said,
A thousand ages in thy sight
Are like an evening gone,
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
This is actually a very good rendition of what Psalm 90, verse 4 actually says. And I think it’s a truth we’re all aware of. Just as time passes much more quickly for older adults than it does for little kids, a millennium for God is as nothing. And so when the Bible says the world will end soon, is that soon for us? or soon for God?
I suppose it must be talking about God’s time, since those words were written nearly two thousand years ago, and the world has not yet ended. But we can still take this passage seriously, for the end of the world will certainly come for every person alive. No matter how we look at it, our time is precious. Life as we know it will come to a close sooner than we want it to. And when there’s not much time—whether it’s because the world is ending or simply because life is short—the Apostle Peter has some very important things to say.
The first thing he says is to be earnest and disciplined in prayer. Earnest can mean sincere, serious, honest, or genuine. Our prayers shouldn’t be just rote memorizations. They shouldn’t be trite sayings that we’ve read on Facebook or read on a greeting card. If we have the sense to tell the difference between real and fake when somebody’s talking to us, how much more can God sense earnestness in us?
And discipline. Prayer isn’t just something we do when it’s convenient, or even when we feel like it. It should be regular, especially when we don’t feel like it. We’ve all heard of muscle memory—when our body does something without having to think about it, because we’ve done it so often. Muscle memory’s necessary when typing on a keyboard or playing a musical instrument or driving a car. Well, prayer is like muscle memory. If we’re disciplined, then we don’t have to work ourselves into a state or talk ourselves into praying—it’s something that comes naturally because we’ve come to depend on our communi-cation with God.
Then Peter tells us to continue loving each other. Why? Because love covers a multitude of sins. Just like with prayer, this is also like muscle memory. But the muscle in question is the human heart. The world—especially our part of it—is an angry place these days. But our hearts should be so accustomed to loving our neighbor that we do not lash out in anger, we do not hate, and we do not seek revenge; we keep loving and sharing.
It's at this point that Peter reminds us that God has given gifts to each one of us, and that we’re to use them, not to make life easier for ourselves or to make ourselves look better than others, but to serve one another. And I know that there are some of us here this morning whose kneejerk reaction is to think, “Not me! God hasn’t given me any spiritual gifts!” Which, of course, isn’t true.
And Peter immediately commences to prove every Christian wrong who thinks they have nothing to offer. He could’ve gone into a long list here of very particular and lofty-sounding gifts. Nothing against Paul, but sometimes it seems like that’s what he does. But Peter—who was no doubt well aware of all those other gifts—settles on just two.
So he starts out by telling us time is short, and ends up saying that, when there’s not much time, be mindful of what you say, and always take the opportunity to help others. And it’s as simple as that. Speak as though God were listening, and act as though God were watching. Speaking and doing. I think that covers just about everybody in every congregation, including ours.
So let’s first look at speaking. The first thing that crossed my mind when I read that part of the eleventh verse was what I do. I get up here every Sunday and I speak to you all. You can refer to it as a spiritual gift or maybe a calling. But whether I’m successful at it or not, I do try to honor God with my words (at least on Sunday morning).
But then it hit me. It’s not just what I do or the elder does in church on Sunday morning that Peter’s talking about here. It’s what we all do every day of the week. God has gifted each of us with a voice, and whether we’re silver-tongued or not, we can all be kind. We can say things that lift up and not things that bring people down. Whether we’re talking to a family member whom we love, or somebody in a store we’ve never met before, we can speak as though God were speaking through us. This is true if we’re in a happy mood, but it had better be true even if we’re in a horrible mood. No matter what’s going on, we’re still a child of The Most High. God doesn’t just speak through the healthy and the well-off. God speaks just as loudly through the weak and the poor and the afflicted—perhaps more loudly, in fact, if we believe what the scriptures tell us.
And then there’s the gift of helping others. Do you have it? I know some of you do. Some of you are the most helpful people I think I’ve ever met. But there’s nobody here that I know of who would not help somebody in need if you knew there was something you could do.
And there is. Always. Here in church we actively look for ways to lend a helping hand. We bring food, and when we combine our help with that of other churches and organizations, we end up sending thousands of bags of groceries from this church every year. Real people with real needs are helped. We do the same sorts of things through our missions board.
So yes, we all help through our congregation. But we can help others during the week, too. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The time is always right to do what is right.” So lend a hand when somebody’s broken down. Make a meal for someone hungry or grieving. Teach somebody what you know. Honor somebody who’s often overlooked. Be patient, even (especially) when you’re feeling impatient. Make a care package. Babysit. Listen. Smile.
You can probably think of more grandiose ways to help. But helping is usually much more simple than we make it. And if you find yourself paralyzed from time to time, then be the person who accepts help. I keep hearing lately that “God helps those who help themselves.” And I suppose that’s true. But God also helps those who can’t help themselves. And if you find yourself helpless from time to time, remember that you are just as lovable in the valley as you ever were on the mountaintop. Jesus once said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” He didn’t die for those who could climb their own way out of the grave, but for those who truly needed a Savior.
This world is in need of kindness. And I’m afraid that there are many Christians among the ranks of those who speak violent words and advocate cruelty. So let us be disciples of Christ, the kind of Christians who practice the words of Peter in this morning’s reading:
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.
—1 Peter 4:11
—©2024 Sam Greening
