1. When I was growing up my family took an annual vacation to Florida. It was during my school’s annual winter break, usually in February. The school gave a week off but my parents usually took me out of class for an extra week. The teachers gave a long list of homework assignments to be done while we were gone. My parents challenged me to do the homework while we drove so that I could best enjoy the days on the beaches of Fort Lauderdale.
It took three full days of driving. For an eight or ten year old boy that was a major percentage of my life-to-date. After a few hours on the road I started asking if we were almost there. My parents would say, "We’re almost there. Florida is near."
That could be understood as a parental lie or an accommodation of adult perspective to childhood thinking. Every mile was nearer. From the long-term perspective of a lifetime three days isn’t very long so it was truly "near." My parents could have explained exactly when we would get there and how many miles were left to drive but I probably wouldn’t have understood—after all, I wasn’t old enough to drive and didn’t fully understand such things.
By the second day of driving it seemed to me that life was an ordeal I had to suffer. I kept asking and they kept saying "We’re almost there; Florida is near."

2. First century Christians became weary in suffering. Life was difficult. They wondered how much longer life would last. They asked when God would bring history to a close. The answer came from Peter who said, "The end of all things is near." His words could be understood in different ways. For some, the end was near because they soon would die. For God, it meant that the end of a chapter of history was close—at least in terms of the whole length of human history.

3. Peter had a principle for how to live for the rest of life’s journey. Even though the travel may seem long and difficult, live as if tomorrow were your last day.
While you travel, get your homework done. Do it well. Live and think and work as if tomorrow were the day you will arrive in heaven. Live the journey in expectation of the destination. This will improve the trip and prepare you well for when you arrive. Listen to the way Peter explains his 14^th principle:

4. 1 Peter 4:7-11
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

5. If we knew that tomorrow would be the last day of our lives, here is how to live:

1. Start out with a clear mind.
1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

2. One translation of the Greek word used here is "preserve you sanity." Don’t let your thinking get out of balance and strange.

3. Over the years I’ve listened to a lot of truly strange ideas. Those ideas range over subjects from economics to politics to medical remedies to guaranteed dates for the end of the world. People have given books and tapes and articles to me to read and I tried to read them. Now I don’t promise to read anything others give to me. If it is anonymous I always throw it away without looking at what it is about. There isn’t time in life for all the divergent ideas and notions people have.

4. I’ve discovered that some people move from one unusual idea to another. It is not so much about the current topic as it is that they aren’t clear thinkers. They are easily caught up in some current fad or theory. They are not balanced. They do not connect biblical teaching and other’s views with their ideas.

5. When you find yourself going off into theories different from godly people, when you think you have a message from God that no one else has, when you become obsessed with one issue to the exclusion of others, when your head spins with unusual ideas—Stop; talk to wise, godly balanced Christians; read the Bible; take a deep breath; clear your head. If you’re living like tomorrow is your last day do it with a clear mind.

1. And, with self-control.
1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

2. The expression self-control originally meant "sober" in the sense of not being drunk. It came to mean self-responsibility. Be realistic in your thinking and behave in a responsible manner.

3. When asked what they would do if they found out they would die tomorrow, some people answer, "I’d go out and get so drunk I wouldn’t know whether I was alive or dead." That’s exactly the opposite of a Christian approach. The Christian acknowledges that death comes tomorrow and then behaves in a positive, righteous and sober way for the rest of today and the beginning of tomorrow.

4. In other words, behave responsibly. Don’t say and do things that may mislead or hurt others. Even if you have strange ideas, don’t do strange things with them! Control yourself.

5. There’s a risk to this biblical advice. Most people with strange ideas and out-of-control behavior don’t think their ideas are strange or that their behavior is out of control. That’s why we need the Bible and other Christians to keep us all in balance.

6. Keep in mind that Peter is suggesting that this is the way we are to live every day—whether it is the last day of life or there are years more ahead.

1. A clear mind and self-control leads to proper personal prayer.
1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

2. There is a fascinating concept taught here. It is that we are capable of praying really bad prayers. If we have foggy minds and uncontrolled behavior we probably are praying defective prayers.

3. Sometimes we hear people say that they have decided to do something that seems obviously unwise. When telling them to reconsider their behavior they reply, "But I’ve prayed about this!" There is a part of me that wants to say, "So what?" Just because you have prayed about robbing a bank, having an affair or writing a book doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do. Check out your thinking, behave responsibly and pray personally into a balanced approach to every day of life whether it is the last day or the first of thousands to come.

4. Personal prayer should be the habit of every Christian. Pray every day as if it were your last day; on your last day pray as you have prayed every other day.

1. Peter’s fourth counsel is really interesting and important. He calls every Christian to deep love.
1 Peter 4:8
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

2. The words "above all" refer back to be clear-minded, self-controlled and praying. Even more than those things, love others. It is sort of saying that if you have a choice between prayer and love, pick love. If you have a choice between love and self-control, pick love. If you have a choice between deep love and a clear mind, pick deep love.

3. Love is doing what is best for others. It is other-centered rather than self-centered. This actually helps us clear our heads, control our behavior and pray our prayers—we are acting for the good of others.

4. It is a wonderful truth that "love covers over a multitude of sins." When referring to Jesus and his death on the cross it means that his love atones for our sins. For us, it means that we do our best to de-emphasize the sins of others rather than over-emphasize the sins of others.
Think of the ways mothers cover their children’s sins.
u She says that her son works for the federal government (he’s an inmate at Leavenworth).
u She says that her children call her on the telephone (actually it’s once a year on Mother’s Day).
u She says that her daughter is entrepreneurial (she ran away from home at 16).
è Mothers love their children and try to cover up their children’s sins with the best possible spin they can give.

5. Certainly this is not suggesting that Christians lie to make each other look good but that we always love other Christians as a mother loves a son or daughter—making them look as good as we possibly can.

1. One of the ways we can express love for others is with happy hospitality.
1 Peter 4:9
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

2. Hospitality was very important in the first century because there were not hotels and motels, as we know them today. Public inns were expensive, filthy, dangerous and immoral. So, Christians opened their homes to other Christians as they traveled.

3. The Greek word for hospitality combines two words meaning "love of strangers." That is, that Christians are not only hospitable to those we know but to those we don’t know. And, we do it with delight—no grumbling. We say hello to strangers. We’re nice to people. We make newcomers feel welcome in our neighborhood, business and church. (Don’t just walk out today—smile and say hello to someone you’ve never met before.)

4. Put this into the perspective of today being the last day of your life. Do you really want to spend the last day of your life inviting a total stranger out for lunch or into your home?
Remember Mother Teresa. She took the dying from the streets of Calcutta and brought them in for the final hours of their lives. She washed them and put them in a bed with clean sheets. She fed them if they could eat. She talked to them and held their hands until they died. She loved them so they wouldn’t have to die alone.
Hospitality is doing this as a way of life for the rest of our lives.

5. Some of us don’t like strangers. We don’t like talking to people. We don’t like to smile. We prefer to not know our neighbors. We are uncomfortable around street people and the homeless. We wish there were no new employees and we avoid all eye contact at church. The Bible says to do it anyway and be happy about it. Happiness in this case isn’t a feeling; it is a choice.

6. One cold day this spring Charleen I were driving through north Minneapolis. There was a lonely looking man on a street corner with a sign asking for money. All the other cars just drove past. We stopped. I reached out and gave him a ten-dollar bill. He said, "God bless you!" and Charleen immediately responded, "He already has." That’s why we live this way as Christians up until the last day of our lives—God has blessed us. God has shown love to us even when we were strangers to God. So, we do for others as God has done for us.

6. Blessing others 1 Peter 4:10-11

1. All these last-day-of-your-life actions are tied together, including #6 of blessing others.
1 Peter 4:10-11
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.

2. The Bible teaches that God gives gifts to every Christian. Gifts are different abilities to serve others. If you are a Christian God has already given you a gift with which you can benefit and bless others. Those gifts fit into two big categories: speaking and serving. Some people have both kinds of gifts. Some only have one kind of gift. But, we all are gifted!

3. What is your gift? What are you really good at? Teaching? Helping? Giving? Leading? Whatever God has made you good at is what you should do to bless others in the name of Jesus in church and in the community. Maybe your gift is best used teaching Sunday School or tutoring children struggling in school. Maybe your gift is best utilized advocating for the poor or working in the church nursery. Maybe you are most gifted in running a corporation as a Christian or ushering in a church service.

4. Whatever you are good at, whatever God has gifted you to do—serve others with your gifts right up to the last day of your life. The whole Christian idea is that we fulfill the purpose of our lives by doing what God has gifted us to do in serving others right up to the end. We should live to bless others every chance we get. Suppose that what you are really good at is helping the unemployed find a job—wouldn’t it be great to spend the last day of life helping someone find employment rather than watching the clock tick out your last hours? That’s what Jesus did—he was blessing and helping the thief on the cross next to him right up until Jesus took his last breath.

5. A totally Christian way of thinking and living is that God has blessed us and we want to bless others—bless others with our words, our money, our action, our lives, our everything.

1. All this last minute living is summed up at the end of 1 Peter 4:11.
1 Peter 4: 11
To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

2. This is a benediction. That is, a good saying. The sum total of a Christian’s life is to make God look good, to show off the greatness and power of God through our lives, to point to the magnificence of God that has been forever and will last forever and ever.

3. You may have seen a movie about the American presidency where the President of the United States is disabled and dies. The White House staff substitutes a look-alike that passes for the President. One of the problems is that a Secret Service Agent who is the President’s bodyguard knows he’s a fake and has a disdain for the substitute. As the story progresses the stand-in shows presence, skill and leadership. Near the end of the film the Secret Service agent offers the ultimate compliment when he says that he would be willing to take a bullet for the look-alike. Imagine having such respect for someone else that you would be willing to be shot and die to protect another’s life and reputation.
That’s the way it is for Christians when it comes to Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus already died and gave his life for us. Now we are willing to live or die for him. Whether it is the last day of our lives or any day of our lives—let us live exactly the same way. We live praising God, making him look good, willing to do whatever he wants us to do.

We are Christians! We live "so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."

© Leith Anderson 2002