Keys Of The Kingdom 13 - The End of All Things

But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for "love will cover a multitude of sins." Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:7-11)

Everyone wants to talk about the end times — but Peter cares far more about how that truth changes the way we live today.

The Bible Presumes an End of All Things

The end of all things is at hand. This is just what many Christians want to talk about. There always seems to be someone with something to say about the end of all things. But you will find that here at Cross Connection we really only talk about this topic when we come to it in the Scriptures.

That said, it needs to be understood that the Bible teaches and assumes an end of all things. That matters, because not all faiths and worldviews hold that there is an end of all things. The Scriptures not only speak of that end, they purport to know its nature in what we call prophetic or apocalyptic literature. The end is not seen as a total mystery.

Still, there is much that is mysterious. If you ever meet someone who claims to understand everything about the end times, they are either arrogant, deluded, or selling something — and there is often something being sold in this whole conversation. Jesus told us these things would be mysterious. In Acts 1, just before His ascension, His disciples asked, "Will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He answered, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority." That is a nod to the mystery surrounding the last things.

Five Things the Church Agrees On

We won't spend a ton of time on the end of all things today, but as we begin, there are at least five things we can know from Scripture and largely agree upon across Christian churches.

First, there is an end of all things as we currently know them. This is not the end of everything; it is the end of things as we know them, which is the beginning of new things. That is heartening. The Bible describes a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness reigns, where Christ is in bodily form and we are with Him — a place with no illness, no death, where every tear is wiped away. The end of all things is the end of all broken things, and we live in a broken world. We should be looking forward to and championing the truth that a day is coming when all the broken things will be made right.

Second, God knows when the end will be and exactly how He will wrap things up. This too is encouraging. God will not be taken by surprise — not by strange political happenings in 21st-century America, not by anything. You may get frustrated or freaked out by these things, but He is not surprised. God is still on the throne, and we need to keep reminding ourselves and our brothers and sisters of that. This gives us great peace and hope.

Third, we are to live with expectancy of the end, not dread. Often when I talk with believers reading books on the end times, they are filled more with fear than hope, more with dread than faith. That is not how Scripture speaks of these things. Jesus said, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14). The end is rightly a dread if you do not believe in Jesus — but if you trust Christ, you have a sure word of promise. Paul called it "that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2), and in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 he bookended the discussion with, "Comfort one another with these words."

Fourth, Jesus will one day return to the earth as He left it. All Bible-believing Christians for 2,000 years have believed in the bodily second coming. Just as He rose bodily and ascended bodily, He will so come again. In Acts 1, as the disciples stood gazing up into heaven, two men in white apparel said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

Fifth, "the last days" is the banner the Bible places over the entire period between Jesus' ascension and His return. The author of Hebrews wrote, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2). Paul could sincerely say he lived in the last days 2,000 years ago, just as we can in the 21st century, because this entire period is the last days. You may say, "I think we're in the last of the last of the last days." That's fine — but admit you don't entirely know that. God has a plan, and we can trust it.

Holding Eschatology With Humility

Unfortunately, this is about where the church divides on eschatology — the study of the last things. From here people subdivide into all kinds of views, examining obscure passages in Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Revelation, and it gets confusing. I know, because I've been confused by them, and I get your emails saying, "Pastor, I've been looking at Revelation 17 and I don't have a clue what it means." Join the club.

Here's the truth we must hold: what you are absolutely certain about regarding the end times may be wrong — other than the fact that Jesus will come back, which He promised. You might be premillennial; your friend might be amillennial or postmillennial. You might be pretribulational; they might be mid- or post-tribulation. And in this discussion there is a sense in which ignorance is bliss. When the second coming happens, you might find you had something backwards.

Most of eschatology falls into the category of non-essential doctrine. Non-essential doesn't mean unimportant. Oil in your car is essential; the air conditioner is important but not essential. Essential doctrines are those necessary for salvation — the deity of Christ, the incarnation, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, His return. The non-essentials are things like premillennial versus amillennial. You can dig into them, even get a PhD in them, but hold them with humility and grace. Recently I had coffee with a pastor friend who holds an amillennial view while I hold a premillennial view. We've challenged each other, but we have no problem praying together. We should not kill one another over these things — study church history, and you'll see it has happened. We hold a premillennial view here, but we don't spend a ton of time on it, because we are committed to the gospel. That's essential.

The "Therefore": From Observation to Application

One of my concerns is that Christians and pastors spend too much time observing and interpreting these things and not enough applying them. Studying the Bible involves observation, interpretation, and application. It's like the weather report: low pressure moving in is the observation, rain is the interpretation, and "leave 45 minutes early because the freeway will be terrible" is the application. We can be seduced into spending years observing and interpreting veiled apocalyptic passages and never move to application.

Notice what Peter does. "The end of all things is at hand; therefore..." Underline that word therefore. Peter does not spend six chapters explaining what he means. He assumes his readers fully agree — we're in the last days, the end will one day come — and he jumps immediately into application. If you believe Jesus died, rose, ascended, and will return, that should change the way you live. So let's ask: how then shall we live?

The Second Coming Should Awaken Our Hearts to Prayer

"The end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers." Notice the descriptions Peter uses for prayer. Various translations say earnest and disciplined, alert and sober of mind, self-controlled and sober-minded, serious and disciplined.

Now the tough question: does that describe your prayer life? Honestly, when I examine mine, it's often more haphazard and casual than that. Here's the challenge — my belief that the second coming is actually true can be measured by the seriousness of my prayer. I can say all day long, "Jesus is coming," but if it doesn't influence the way I passionately seek Him, do I really believe it?

The Second Coming Should Motivate Greater Love for Others

"Above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins." The phrase could be translated, "Take great care to love one another deeply and earnestly." Peter reaches back about 3,000 years to Solomon, who wrote, "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins" (Proverbs 10:12).

The word Peter uses is agape, the love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13: "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil... bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." Does that describe the way you love people — never irritated, never rude, never projecting ill motives onto others? If you believe Jesus will return soon, it should compel you to love others this way, because love covers a multitude of sins.

We overlook the failings of those we love — especially our children. We can almost be blind to their faults. So at what point do we hold someone accountable? Here's the distinction: covering a multitude of sins does not mean we stop holding people accountable to grow and become more Christlike. It means we don't hold their failings against them. Love challenges people to grow, but it doesn't say, "Because you did this, I will never trust you again."

Proverbs 17:9 says, "He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends." Jesus said if your brother sins against you, forgive him seventy times seven. Some of us keep a ledger book, sitting at 479, waiting to let someone have it at 490 — but that's not what Jesus meant. How many sins has the love of Christ covered in your life? Look around the room at the sinner next to you — and then go look in a mirror. I fail fifty times before breakfast, and I need people to lovingly cover a multitude of sins in my life.

The Second Coming Should Encourage Sincere Hospitality

"Be hospitable to one another without grumbling." This is one of the truly lost expressions of sacrificial, Christlike love in our culture. We Americans are not known as hospitable people; we are individualistic, often closing ourselves off, especially here in Southern California. Fifty years ago many pastors made home visits and people went door to door; today people have shut themselves off and grow skeptical of anyone religious at their door.

This is one of the values we seek to promote, which is why we have connect groups — not home Bible studies but home groups for hospitality, fellowship, and prayer. Right now only about a quarter of our church is involved in one, which means most of you are missing this.

Notice "without grumbling." The word means without secret debate, without secret displeasure. It happens like this: you meet someone at church with your Sunday smile, they say, "We should get together," and you say, "Yeah, that's great," while your heart says, "I don't want to." You plan Friday at seven, and all week you're thinking, "How can we get out of this?" Then ding dong — "Hi, so glad you're here! (I hope they don't stay long.)" Be hospitable without grumbling.

I'll go further: I'm convinced you will not experience the abundant life Jesus came to give until you live in connection with others through genuine hospitality. Yes, it makes us vulnerable; yes, it takes us out of our comfort zone. But we never grow in our comfort zone. The Lord wants to bring us into real, sincere hospitality.

The Second Coming Demands Faithful Stewardship

"As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Some of you say, "I don't have any gifts." Yes, you do. If you believe in Jesus, God has saved you and placed His Holy Spirit within you, and the Spirit has given you gifts. Paul, in the largest passage on spiritual gifts, writes, "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all" (1 Corinthians 12:7). The gifts include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpretation — and even hospitality is a gift. Some of you have it and aren't using it.

Here is the heavy reality: when Jesus returns, we will give an account of how we used our gifts, our time, talents, and treasure. Recall the parable of the talents. A master gave five talents to one servant, two to another, one to the third. The first two multiplied what they received and were given great blessing; the one who hid his and didn't use it was given judgment.

So if you have a gift and aren't using it, you're a bad steward of the grace of God — and you can fix that. It may take breaking out of your comfort zone: leaving the seat you always sit in, the parking space you always use, even staying for another service to help as an usher, greeter, or in children's ministry. But if you believe Jesus is coming again, it should compel you to serve Him, because Jesus said, "He who is faithful over a few things... I will make ruler over many." The work doesn't stop when the end of all things comes here.

Verse 11 explains the heart of it: "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies." Though Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, He works in and through His church. When I speak the Word of God, I speak as with the words of God; when you serve His people, God Himself reaches through you. We do this not by our own might but by His Spirit — our sufficiency comes from Him.

In Anticipation of His Coming, Live for God's Glory

What is the end game of all this service? "That in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ." If we really believe this life is just the pregame show for all God has prepared in the next, then we should live for that life and for His glory. Jesus said, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

For the person who truly believes the second coming is real, when turmoil comes in this world — when your only choices seem to be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, when everything is shaking — you will not be destroyed to the core, because your treasure is not here. And one day He is coming with the treasure.

So God help us to pray fervently, to love greatly, to reach out hospitably, to steward faithfully, and to live for Your glory.

Closing Prayer

God, would You help us? We all need Your help, because in our own strength we are feeble and weak to do these things You call us to do. Lord, enable us by Your power this week to be faithful stewards, serious in prayer, loving and hospitable, glorifying You wherever You take us, that the world would see our good works and glorify You, our Father in heaven. Lord, work in us, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those who are agreed said, "Amen."