Reading: 1 Peter 4:7-10

During the time in between⤒🔗

Peter calls on us to be sober. The Bible uses the word “sober,” which means for us to be aware that we live in the transitional time: the time between Jesus’ resurrection and his second coming. With Christ’s resurrection something very definite happened: death was defeated and conquered. Now King Jesus has the final say, once and for all! And those deciding final words he shall speak in the final judgment. Living a sober life, as meant in the Bible, prevents us, on the one hand, from losing courage and thinking, “In the end it is all in vain.”  That is a serious misunderstanding—because Jesus lives! He has defeated death and thus planted the seed for the complete renewal of heaven and earth. On the other hand, that sobriety prevents us from being totally absorbed by our lives here and now. If you are sober, you realize that we are on the road and look forward to that city with the foundations.

Prayer←⤒🔗

When we realize that we live in the in-between period, we cannot but pray. 1 Peter 4:7 exhorts us to “be sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.” That means to pray continually, without ceasing. Prayer: That is the first thing the Bible tells us to do when dealing with the end times. Praying for the continuation and completion of God’s work and church. A Christian congregation ought to be a praying congregation! If nothing else, it is a strong stimulus to go to our inner room by ourselves and together on Sundays to seek the Lord in our prayers. Do we really make the time for it? We do not need to check up on each other but we do have to encourage one another—because, you know, we so easily think that our time is so precious, and we are so busy, that there is no time left for prayer. That is the beginning of the decline of a spiritual life. Even though we are not familiar with each other’s inner rooms, we do know from each other if there is an inner room because it will be evident in what we say and do. Therefore Peter mentions three things that are the result of a biblical life of prayer. To pray in that in-between period leads to fruit in the following three areas: mutual love, hospitality, and service.

Work←⤒🔗

In the first place Peter mentions mutual love. A person who prays a lot will also dearly love others. To love dearly is not a moment of infatuation or a warm feeling inside. To love in Bible terms is mainly an action. If you love someone you are willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of that person. You will ignore your own good and will always look out for the good of the other person. Of course you find weaknesses and faults with the other person. Your love for the other person will lead you to discover his sins and shortcomings. But it does not cause you to stumble, and you do not criticize him or her, because you are well aware of your own sins and shortcomings.

Secondly, praying in that in-between period leads to hospitality: to show hospitality within the congregation, to be receptive towards one another, but first and foremost, to open your heart for that person, even if he or she thinks differently about certain things. To be hospitable within the church means that we do not withdraw ourselves to within our own comfort zone and keep doors and windows closed. Instead, we open them invitingly, are kind and behave socially, and are involved in other people’s lives, in good times and in bad times. That is certainly not the same as just tolerating others. While you can keep that up for a long time, such tolerance definitely creates, and makes you part of, a divided house.

In the third place, such prayer as mentioned above will make us live a life of service. To serve one another means to continually be aware of how to benefit others, for the sake of his or his spiritual and physical wellbeing. To serve means wanting to be the least, not lording it over the other person or dictating his or her conscience. To serve one another means by God’s grace, always looking for means to have peace. Sure, we may have to swallow things we do not like or we may have to count to 1000, but if we remain prayerful, we will more and more discover that nothing new or strange will dominate us. Whoever wants to follow the Lord Jesus and wants to serve him has already found a place in God’s Kingdom. And in his Kingdom grace and love reign: grace for those who are to be punished with death, love for those who are lost. For that Jesus was willing to lose everything, including his own life.

Mirror←⤒🔗

The above exhortations compel us to look in an honest and crystal-clear mirror. Do we really love one another; are we hospitable; and do we serve each other? Is it not true that we spend a lot of time, and waste energy, on things other than what the Lord shows us? Therefore let us first and foremost focus on our prayer and as a result of that prayer let us be busy with mutual love, hospitality and service. Remember, we live in an “in-between” time. Christ has fulfilled his task and will complete it. There is no time to be lost. The Lord of the church deserves our earnest resolve, from the bottom of our hearts, to seek and honour him, now and forever more.