12-13-09 The End Is Near

Our study of 1^st Peter

brings us this morning to a passage

that begins with a fascinating phrase,

a phrase that may bring to mind a city street evangelist

who is urgently attempting to pass out tracts

to a disinterested population

who carefully pass by just out of his reach.

The passage begins with Peter proclaiming, The end of all things is near...

And then, on the basis of that proclamation

Peter goes on to offer several specific recommendations

about how we should approach our lives

in view of the approaching end of all things...

But before we look at those recommendations

we should talk a little bit about that proclamation that the end of all things is near...

And to understand what’s happening here

I want us to look at that phrase from Peter’s perspective, from God’s perspective, and then from our own perspective.

From Peter’s perspective, at the time he wrote these words just a few years following His Lord’s departure,

Peter had every reason to believe

that Christ’s return would take place within a few years at most.

How could it be otherwise?

The redemptive plan of God for the human race was finished, completed.

What God had promised to do was now done

and all that remained

was for God’s people to proclaim this redemption

quickly and effectively throughout the known world,

giving each person the opportunity to either accept or reject God’s offer through Christ,

and then the Lord would return

and set up His Kingdom of Righteousness here on the earth.

Immediately following Jesus’ resurrection

the disciples had assumed that Christ would move right into Jerusalem

and set up His Kingdom at that very time.

In fact they even asked if that was the plan.

ACT 1:6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

He responded by side-stepping the whole question, telling them, (ACT 1:7) "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority...”.

And that principle, by the way,

is one that has applied equally to every believer ever since.

God wants every one of His children

ready for His return at all times.

He wants us living with the hope and the expectancy

of Him personally returning for us.

He wants every one of us to know

that we may be among those who will never see death.

He wants us always ready,

always hope-filled,

always certain that our King will return

and that He will keep every promise He’s ever made to us.

But He has made it equally clear

that no one will ever know in advance when that will be.

Of course, in our popularity and power-driven religious world today

there is always an endless parade of success or power-seekers

proclaiming to their eager followers the year or month or day of the Lord’s return.

They do it because it sells,

because there are always those who will listen, and believe, and support,

those who trust their latest false prophet more then they trust the voice of their King.

But the simple truth is, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority...”.

It is not for us to know

because it would not be good for us to know.

You see, we are certainly to have the hope, the certainty of our King’s return,

but the foundation of our life,

the only foundation adequate to sustain us in this life,

is the foundation of our daily choosing trust in our Lord

in the face of an endless sea of voices screaming lies at us.

Funny how it is...

We tell ourselves that, if we just had enough external evidences

that our God loves us

and that He is truly good

then of course we would accept those evidences

and respond to Him accordingly.

Well how about if He placed us in an absolutely perfect world,

a world in which every one of our physical, emotional, mental, and psychological needs were met in abundance,

a world in which there was no pain, no stress, no fear, no death.

Would that be sufficient external proof

to then justify our trust in our King

and our submission to Him?

Well, that’s exactly the world God created for Adam and Eve,

and even that was not enough.

Because there is no amount of external evidence

that can lead the human spirit into the discovery of God’s love.

Love doesn’t work that way.

It doesn’t work that way even in our human relationships.

Ever tried to buy another person’s love?

Ever tried to buy your children’s love?

Ever tried to buy your partner’s love?

Ever been in a dating relationship

and tried to force the other person to love you

by giving them enough stuff so that they would simply melt in your arms?

How did it go?

Isn’t it fascinating...if we have discovered that another person loves us

and we’ve been able to receive that love and trust it,

we see that love illustrated and confirmed over and over again

in all the things they do for us.

Because we know they love us,

we then see the evidences of that love in their actions toward us.

But if we have not yet seen and accepted their love

there is nothing they can give us that will “prove” it to us.

We simply can’t get there that way.

And it’s the same way in our relationship with our God.

If we are looking for some external proof of His love

that will touch our spirits in a way that we then can believe He truly loves us

we will live in doubt of His love our entire life.

But if our spirits have heard and believed His love for us,

even though we continue to muck our way through the sewage of this sin-soaked world,

we will see evidences of His love every day,

and feel His arms of love tight around us.

I’ve gotten side-tracked a bit,

but my point is that the early Christians had every expectation

that most of them would live to see the physical return of Christ,

even though Christ made it clear

that no Christian would ever know with absolute certainty when that would be.

"It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority...”.

But then the next thing He said

clearly led them to believe

that all that really remained to be done

was for them to get the word out

and then the end would come.

ACT 1:8 “... but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

And this assumption was strongly reinforced

by what happened next.

ACT 1:9-11 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

Now, if that didn’t lead a person to expect the King’s return any day,

I don’t know what would.

And they did.

Peter himself, of course, knew that he would be martyred before the big event.

Jesus Himself told him as much.

But he also assumed that many if not most of his fellow Christians

who were on the earth at that time

would witness the return of the King.

Is it any wonder there was such an urgency to their message,

and such a boldness in their proclamation of the Good News of God?

And when Peter wrote those words, The end of all things is near...,

I’m certain he anticipated the end of this world as we know it

in a matter of months

or a very few years at most.

And of course when we look at those words

from the perspective of the One who led Peter to write them,

from the perspective of Christ Himself,

they are equally as true.

When we were studying the 3^rd chapter of 2^nd Peter last year

we spent some time looking at a fascinating phrase used by God throughout Scripture

to describe the period of time between the 1^st and the 2^nd coming of Christ.

It’s the phrase the last days,

and from God’s perspective that’s exactly what it is.

It is a relatively brief period of time

in which God brings in His harvest,

calling out to Himself a people from every tribe and people and tongue and nation.

For us, with our tiny allotted time on this earth of seventy or eighty years,

a last days that’s lasted 2000 years

seems like a very long last days.

But when we consider the One who is writing it is like a single breath,

a final chapter in the plan of the ages.

And there’s something else happening here, too, I think.

Peter is sharing with us truth from God’s perspective, to be certain,

but he’s also sharing with us an attitude that should be a part of every Christian’s life

no matter whether we live to see the return of Christ or not.

Peter wants us to live

with the understanding that life on this planet

is a brief loan from God

and it always comes to an end.

During the time we spend on this earth

we are each given our own unique stewardship.

It begins with the number of days allotted to each of us.

We don’t know how many,

but we do know that the number is finite

and each day we are given is a trust.

Beyond that we have our own unique set of gifts and abilities,

our own unique personalities,

and our own God-given group of people to love and care for.

And when Peter begins this section of his letter

by telling us that the end of all things is near...,

he wants us to embrace our life

not as an endless right, but rather as a brief stewardship.

And what we do

with the time allotted to us

matters so much more than we could ever begin to imagine.

And having said that,

I can’t move on without qualifying it just a bit

because I know what happens with that truth

when it gets into the world of religion.

If you find your mind coming up with a list of activities

that you think God would like -

things that you should be more diligent in adding to your already busy schedule

so that you will not be accused of wasting your time on this earth

when you stand before your Maker,

then you have misunderstood

both what I’m saying

and what Peter is saying.

One of my greatest life discoveries during the past 40 years

has been a growing awareness of the simplicity of the truly power-filled life God has called us to.

And by power-filled

I don’t mean some sort of signs-and-wonders religious facade,

I mean approaching life in a way

that literally has the power to change both our own life

and the lives of those God has given us.

And the best way I can explain what I want to say here

is simply to walk us through what Peter says to us

about what he wants us to do

in view of the fact that the end of all things is near.

He makes just 4 recommendations to us,

and when we see them correctly

we’re going to be amazed both at what he does say and what he doesn’t say.

OK, the first of his four recommendations is this:

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

Basically, he’s telling us

that the first thing we’re going to need

if we are going to live the life our God has called us to

is a life immersed in prayer.

And if you hear that through the filters of religion

you’ve just hung up on me

because right now you’re thinking to yourself

that Peter wants you to establish a regular prayer time in your daily schedule,

or, if you have a daily prayer time already,

that he’s asking you to lengthen it.

And right now you’re honest enough with yourself

to know that you just don’t see that happening.

That’s not what God is asking

and it’s not what Peter is saying.

Do you know what he’s saying?

He’s saying that God has not called us to live for Him,

He’s called us to live with Him.

The problem we run into with a statement like the one we find here in Peter’s letter

is that we have the massive weight of religious heritage stretching back

nearly to the beginning of the human race

telling us that prayer is a religious duty,

a religious exercise with which we express to God

our faithfulness, or devotion, or piety.

This religious poison has drenched our thinking to the level that

it is quite common for people to believe that God takes some delight

in our repeating the same memorized prayer over and over again.

Certainly there are times

when a memorized prayer can be of tremendous help to us

if it allows us to say what our spirit longs to say to God in some certain situation,

in much the same way

as a love poem might help us to express what we are feeling

to someone we care for deeply.

But we will only correctly understand Peter’s call to prayer

when we understand that prayer is nothing more and nothing less

than our consciously sharing our life with our Creator.

It is real communication between us and Him

about this very real life we are called to live.

It is our sharing with Him what we’re feeling,

or longing for,

or churning over,

or confused about,

or grateful for

in an endless daily dialogue with our God.

It is our learning to live in His presence.

And how do we do that?

Well, I think it begins

by our asking ourselves why we don’t want to.

He is with us constantly, you know.

He’s always there, always here, always in our presence,

and we are always in His.

And if we’re not aware of it

there is a reason why,

and it always has something to do with our not wanting to be aware of it.

And because we don’t want to be aware of it

we pretend it isn’t true.

Three very common reasons for not wanting to be aware of Him being with us

came to mind right away when I was writing my notes.

The first is because we still don’t believe the debt is paid in full -

our debt for our sin is paid in full.

We think if we were to literally step into the presence of God

He simply wouldn’t be all that pleased to see us.

He would immediately point out where we’ve failed,

where we’ve fallen short of our true potential,

where we should be and do so much more.

We honestly don’t believe that, ROM 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...

And even more, we don’t really believe He likes us very much.

Surly with Him it will be

just like it was when we were back in school.

You remember the ones that the teacher liked best, don’t you?

They were the ones who knew all the answers,

or who could say things real well,

or who did well on the tests,

or who wrote the reports that the teacher then read to the whole class.

But then there were the rest of us,

the ones who couldn’t grasp the concepts quickly,

who couldn’t remember the right answers when we really needed them,

the ones who talked too little or who talked too much or who just weren’t the right kind of students.

And probably it must be the same way with God.

Surly He too must have favorites.

How could He possibly actually, truly like us, enjoy us, want us with Him,

when there are so many other

far more impressive, and enjoyable people to hang out with?

And if any of those thoughts seem even a little bit reasonable to you

it is impossible for me to adequately express to you

how wrong you are.

PSA 139:13-18 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts toward me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

Your God has taken great delight in you

since He formed you in the womb,

and His delight in you has no limits and no end.

His thoughts about you are more than the grains of sand.

He never has and never will compare you to any other person He’s ever made

because that’s the point - He didn’t want you to be like any other person He’s ever made.

The debt is paid in full,

you have peace with God,

and His delight in you and enjoyment of your presence with Him is unbounded.

Another reason people pretend they are not living in His presence

is because they think He’s like dad

and the thought of living every second in the presence of dad

is not a nice thought.

This happens especially when dad was mostly focused on behavior,

and obedience,

and performance,

and control.

Well, folks, I’ll just tell you clearly -

your God is not like your dad.

Your God’s love is what your spirit is longing for

and you need have no fear of opening your eyes and seeing Him with you.

A third common reason for our choosing not to want to see His presence with us

is that we are making some choices in our life right now

that we are certain He doesn’t want us to make

and it’s a whole lot easier for us to make those choices

if we keep our eyes closed tight

so that we don’t see Him there.

And with this

I’ll just say simply that if they really are choices He doesn’t want you to make,

then they are also choices that will bring only pain, and bondage into your life,

and even if you are pretending He’s not there

He still is,

and He loves you enough to work for your freedom,

no matter what it takes.

He is with you, you know,

always with you, always loving you, always seeking your freedom,

the freedom to be truly, totally yourself -

the self He designed and created you to be.

And in it’s purest form prayer is not just an isolated act we add to our lives,

it is choosing to live in the presence of our Lord,

sharing our life with Him each step of the way.

Well, we only made it through the first of Peter’s four end times instructions for us,

and we’ll look at the other three next week.