Living Like There Is a Tomorrow: 1 Peter 4:1-11 - Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Since, therefore, Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your time in the flesh no longer by human desires but by the will of God. You have already spent enough time in doing what the gentiles like to do, living in debauchery, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme. But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does. The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. (NRSVue)

Dying Star by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. CC BY 2.0

Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle Peter wrote, “The end of all things is near!”

Well, I’ve survived the apocalypse at least five times.

1. Pat Robertson declared on an episode of the 700 Club that there would be a divine judgment on the earth by the end of 1982.
2. 1982 was also the year of the supposed Grand Alignment of the Planets, which were predicted to cause a cataclysmic earthquake.
3. Nostradamus prophesized that a meteor would hit the planet on the seventh month of 1999
4. Then there was Y2K, which some feared would make all our computers explode and put us back in the stone age
5. And finally, there was the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse.

All these “doomsdays” came and went. Even though I’m not aware of any new doomsday predictions, a lot of apocalyptic things have been happening lately. 

Even though we don’t know when the end of the world will be, it kind of feels like it’s coming. So, what should you do? 

Peter writes, “Be serious. Discipline yourself for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers over a multitude of sins.”

You certainly don’t hear the doomsday prophets saying this… To the early Christians Peter was writing to, the “end of all things” was not meant to threaten them. For a long time, they endured persecutions. They suffered for doing good. They put their lives in danger by their refusal to bow down to the idols of the empire. Therefore, the “end of all things” was good news. It was assurance that their struggles and hardships had a definite end.

Life for believers in modern America has never been that difficult; at least for white Protestants. For us, our curiosity about the end times is field by a desire to understand the world’s crises in light of God’s master plan. We think the Bible is giving us inside information about what’s going to happen and when it’s going to happen. Kind of like a weather forecast. This way, we’ll be ready. We won’t be caught off guard. And I must admit that you can draw a lot of frightening connections between biblical prophecies and current events. 

But Peter says nothing about what is going to happen or when. His focus is on what you and I should be doing today. And his instruction clearly spells out the difference between living in fear versus living by faith.

Living by faith means trusting God, no matter what happens. Incidentally, you learn to trust God, in large part, when you live as part of a community that obeys God’s Word. You hear the Gospel because someone shares it with you. You discover that God is love when God’s people love like God. Everyone needs to belong to a family of faith where people maintain constant love for one another; where hospitality is extended without reservation or complaint; where everyone is eager to share their God-given gifts and talents for the blessing of others; where our words build up rather than tearing down.  I pray this is exactly what you are experiencing in this family of faith, and that you will for well into the future. 

But we are sinners, living in a world of sinners—and God’s faithfulness is not sufficient to satisfy our ambitions. It’s not our nature to look out for each other. We look out for number one.

When fear and hopelessness collide with human sin, what you get are calamities that can be worse than anything Mother Nature can dish out.

That’s right: human nature is far more deadly than Mother Nature…

We don’t do ourselves any favors living in fear over things we cannot change. We can’t prevent earthquakes or hurricanes or pandemics. But we can overcome them. We are not powerless in shaping and influencing what tomorrow is going to look like for ourselves, our neighbors, and especially, our children.

We are stewards of the manifold grace of God. That means we have divine help in doing God’s work. We also know that divine love is stronger than evil. We have greater power to do good than evildoers have to destroy.

Knowing that, the future isn’t quite so scary anymore. Even though we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, if we’re on the brink of a recession, if some natural disaster is going to strike, or if someone’s going to start a war. But we have each other. We have good news to share with the world. Most of all, we have Jesus Christ.

If I knew that the world was going to end, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right here, breaking bread together with you, waiting to see the face of Jesus. 

But in all likelihood, it’s not going to end—and no matter what happens, it’s going to be okay because God is faithful—and we know we’ll be okay when we face it together. In fact, we look forward to tomorrow—for the grace and love that awaits us to give and receive. For there is no calamity that God’s love cannot overcome; there is no evil that can stamp it down. 

To God belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.