FBC Morning Light – October 24, 2022

Well, good Monday morning to you. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We're able to gather with God's people and have good worship service together and learn much from God's Word over the course of the Lord's Day yesterday.

The Imminent Return of Christ and the End of All Things

Today, on this Monday morning, one of the passages we're reading is in 1 Peter chapter 4, and I'm reminded in verse 7 of one of the areas of theology where there's a lot of disagreement, and that has to do with eschatology, the doctrine of the last things.

Those who are orthodox in their faith, in the doctrine, all agree on the big picture. All agree that Christ is coming again. They also all agree that when Christ comes again, whenever that is, it's an imminent thing, and there's going to be with it some catastrophe associated with that coming again as well.

When you get beyond that and you get down into some more nitty-gritty details, there's an awful lot of disagreement. I don't want to focus on those areas of disagreement that wouldn't particularly be profitable in this kind of a venue, but I do want to focus on what is absolutely clear.

What's absolutely clear is what Peter tells us here in chapter 4, verse 7 of this first epistle. He says, the end of all things is at hand. What that simply means is that the culmination of the ages, and especially of God's redemptive purposes in this world, the end of it all, the culmination of it all, is imminent.

It could come at any time. We know that. The emphasis is on imminence, because Peter wrote this almost 2 ,000 years ago, and he was able to say that that end is at hand, it is near. What he's saying in that is, we don't know when it is, but we know that it could come at any time.

This is the emphasis. Christ could come at any time. That same idea, the end of all things is at hand or it is imminent, is communicated in other passages of Scripture as well. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, unexpectedly, surprisingly, and so forth.

We can go to many other places, but what I really want to get at is the so what of that. The end of all things is at hand, but Peter goes on to say there are some implications of that, because the end of all things is at hand, because the coming of the Lord is imminent.

It could come at any time, today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, the next century, we don't know when. But because it is imminent, Peter goes on to say, therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers.

There are two things in this verse he says are implications of the imminent return of Christ, the imminent end of all things. One of the implications is that we need to be serious. That word could also be translated sober-minded.

We need to be alert and aware, not have our heads in the sand about the realities of this world, its temporalness, and the fact that the end is at hand, and Christ will set all things right, and he will bring judgment into the world, and so on and so forth.

In other words, that what is isn't permanent. What bothers us, what concerns us about our nation, about our world, these are temporary concerns, and we need to be alert to that. We need to be aware of that.

We also need to be aware of what God is doing. He is building a people for his Son, for Jesus, to give to him, and he is building that kingdom of Christ, and this is what's going on in the current period in which we live.

So we need to be alert and aware of what's going on, so that when we watch the news or read the newspaper or whatever, we're not rattled by any of these things. He also says to be watchful in our prayers, to be watchful in our prayers.

That is to be thoughtful and deliberate and careful about what we're praying for. What are we praying for? You ever stop to analyze the content of your prayers? What is it that you really pray for? Is most of your prayer time consumed with your own well-being, physical stuff?

What is the content of our prayers? I think in our watchfulness, in our prayerfulness, it's easy to be distracted. It's easy to be distracted away from praying, isn't it? For goodness sakes. But even in what we pray, it's easy to be distracted about these very temporal concerns, and not really be concerned about what concerns Christ, what concerns our Heavenly Father, what is his will.

I'm sure that's why Christ, in the model prayer, said in the beginning of the prayer, he prayed this way, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

From there, he moved to some other concerns, give us this day our daily bread, and so forth. We need to be watchful in our prayers. But we go on to the next verse, and there's yet another implication that is broader than us personally and individually.

Fervent Love for One Another in Times of Persecution

He says, and above all things, have fervent love for one another. One of the values of a time when the church goes through persecution is it draws the church together. It weeds people out who aren't really converted, but those who are really converted, they unite together, they join together, realizing that, hey, we're in a battle.

We're in a battle for our existence, for our lives, for our faith, and we need to stick together. But more than that, Peter says, have fervent love for one another, a fervent love for one another. That's a challenge to us in this day in which we live, when it's so easy to be self-absorbed, and thinking about our stuff, and our needs, and our desires, and so on and so forth.

Peter says, look, the end of everything is at hand. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ, have a fervent love for one another, and let that love bind you together in a united front, if you will, a united spirit in serving the Lord.

We may not have tomorrow, we may not see 2023 come into being, and if so, that's great, because that means the Lord has come. But the reality that he could come at any time should cause us to be sober-minded about what's going on in our world, be watchful in our prayers, and to have a fervent love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

May we do so. Our Father and our God, we thank you for this reminder of the end of all things being imminent. It could come at any time, and I pray that as a result of that, we would truly be sober-minded, we would be watchful in our prayerfulness, and we would have a fervent love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Well, have a good rest of your Monday. Trust your week gets off to a great start, and God blesses you in it. Good day.