Hospitable Exiles

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

Imagine getting a phone call from a doctor telling you that you have six months to live. Most of us would panic. Some would quit their jobs and travel the world. But some people would probably just keep showing up. Keep loving their family. Keep doing the ordinary things, just more intentionally, because now they know those ordinary things matter more than they realized. 

That’s basically the situation Peter puts us in. He’s just spent three chapters telling us that judgment is coming, that Christ will return, that this world as we know it is not our permanent home. And now, in verse 7, he says it plainly: the end of all things is at hand. 

So, what do you do with news like that? Peter doesn’t tell us to quit our jobs or run for the hills. He tells us to pray. To love each other better. To open our homes. To use whatever gifts God gave us to serve the people around us.  

In other words, the appropriate response to the end of the world is not panic—it’s love, worked out in ordinary, simple ways, in the time we have left. 

That’s what today’s passage is about: how to live in the last days. 

[7] The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.  

Remember from last week, Peter has been talking about the coming judgment. And now he says the end is near, something the New Testament says often. 

And naturally, we are going to have questions about that, because the New Testament was written almost 2,000 years ago. Jesus still has not returned. 

For that reason, it’s best to understand this as theological, not chronological. 

Two weeks ago, I ordered a part for my car online. It was coming from Jackson, TN and had an expected delivery of July 29, but my package got lost in the black hole of the Memphis distribution center.  

It finally arrived on Thursday, but in the meantime, there was absolutely nothing I could do except wait, because no one else had the part I needed.  

That’s the idea here. Jesus has accomplished everything He intended to accomplish for now. The only work left unfinished is the judgment and final restoration of all things. 

And because that’s true, the Bible says we are living in “the last days”, which means we’re waiting on the last work of God to be accomplished. But the Bible also says that 1,000 years is like one day to the Lord. We might be in “the last days” for a while. So, what do we do in the meantime? 

Peter says we should be sober-minded and self-controlled. In other words, don’t panic. Don’t act out of self-interest or fear.  

If we all got an alert on our phones saying a meteor was headed to earth and that in a few days the planet will be destroyed, what’s going to happen? The whole world would panic. It would be complete chaos.  

And so, this verse presents us with an interesting juxtaposition. Peter says the end is near, but don’t act like the end is near. At least, don’t act like people without hope. Be sober-minded, he says, for the sake of your prayers. 

So, instead of “Run for the hills! The sky is falling!”, Peter encourages us to kneel and pray and trust God. I think that’s the message here. 

[8] Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 

Keep loving one another. But focus on that word earnestly. The Greek word means to be stretched or physically strained. 

In other words, Peter thinks of love as something that needs to be flexed and worked, like a muscle. Love is hard work. And why is love hard work? Not just because we are lazy and selfish. That’s true.  

But… it’s also because the people we are told to love are not easy to love. They are also lazy and selfish and difficult. And that is why Peter follows the command to love with reminder of the Gospel. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” 

We’ll come back to that. 

[9] Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.  

This is a specific application of the previous verse. How can we love one another earnestly? By showing hospitality… welcoming people into our home. 

Hospitality was a virtue in the ancient world, not only among Christians. The Greeks practiced something called Zues’ law, which was recently made popular again by The Odyssey. You were expected to show hospitality to strangers, because they might be gods in disguise. 

The Romans changed the name of the god to Jupiter, but they did the same thing. 

In Genesis 18, Abraham shows hospitality to three men, and the text says one of them was the angel of the Lord. 

Hebrews 13 says not to neglect showing hospitality to strangers, because they might be angels. 

But Peter is going beyond this ancient custom. He’s talking specifically about showing hospitality to your brothers and sisters in the church. And not grumble about it. 

Why would anyone grumble about showing hospitality? Because it costs us time, money, and personal comfort. And because opening up your home is a vulnerable thing to do. And for that reason, less Americans are doing it. 

In the 1970s, the average American hosted other people for dinner 15 times a year and visited a friend’s home every other week. 50 years later, it’s becoming rare.  

In fact, the hospitality rate has fallen to the point that less than 4% of Americans attend or host any kind of social event on the average weekend. 

And it’s not just hospitality. It’s social interaction in general. We’re staying home alone more often. More screens. More delivery options. Counterfeit ways of connecting to people or robots. 

2,000 years ago in Roman culture, encouraging hospitality was not countercultural. But today, in 21st century America, it is extremely countercultural.  

But this is God’s vision for the church. We cannot expect to be an extended family unless we act like it. Spending time together, especially around a meal, is a big part of the Christian life. 

It doesn’t have to be perfect. But we do have to try. 

When was the last time someone from church was in your home? This isn’t extra credit. It’s an expectation from God. Invite someone to your home. Because loving other people means being stretched. {pause] 

[10] As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:  

[11] whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

There are really two things happening here. First, Peter is recognizing that God gives us all different kinds of gifts. He doesn’t break these gifts down for us the way Paul does, but he does give us two broad categories. 

These categories roughly correspond to the offices of elder and deacon: ministries of the word and ministries of deed. But that’s not Peter’s main point. 

His main point is that these gifts belong to God and their purpose is to glorify God. Peter then breaks into a moment of spontaneous worship as if to say, “Even this letter is about God, not me. May He be glorified by it.” 

He’s demonstrating for us the heart posture of someone who understands the means and the ends of Christian ministry. We are instruments in the hands of our Savior. Anything good we accomplish… anything true we say… He gets the glory, not us. 

We can also follow this concept backwards through verse 7. Glory and dominion belong to Christ forever and ever, so we don’t have to panic in the face of judgment. 

When we joyfully show hospitality to one another it honors Christ. 

Our love for one another glorifies Christ because it actively demonstrates the Gospel. 

Peter had experienced this kind of love from Jesus more than once. One of the more striking examples is recorded in John 13. At the Last Supper, Jesus began to wash the feet of his disciples. John 13:6 –  

[6] He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”  

[7] Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”  

[8] Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 

Rabbis did not wash the feet of their disciples. Peter rightly understood that he was not worthy of this. But Jesus corrects him. 

What was Jesus doing? He says they will understand later. What would they understand? 

John actually tells us at the beginning of the story, right before Jesus washes their feet. 

[1] Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 

And then in verse 3: 

[3] Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, [4] rose from supper. 

And then Jesus washed their feet. According to John, Jesus did it as an example of love. But He did it with the knowledge of who He was, where He came from, and where He was going. 

That’s a significant context, because I see the same thing happening in 1 Peter 4. 

Peter had his feet washed by Jesus a few hours before His betrayal and arrest. He saw what it looked like for someone to love you until the end. He saw what it looked like for love to cover a multitude of sins. 

And Peter knew it took confidence. Jesus obviously had a deep, abiding knowledge of who He was and what God sent Him to accomplish. That security allowed Jesus to spend His final hours of freedom loving His disciples. 

What’s the point? The point is that knowledge and action go hand in hand. Peter tells us to love one another, to show hospitality, and to serve faithfully – but these actions are all rooted in knowledge.tells us to love one another, to show hospitality, and to serve faithfully – but these actions are all rooted in knowledge. 

What has Peter said about us so far in this letter? We are chosen by God. We are exiled together, waiting for a better home. We are suffering together. We are being made holy together. And the end is near. 

Therefore, with that knowledge of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going – love one another… as Christ has loved us, by covering a multitude of sins, by welcoming us, by serving us. 

That in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.