What Would You Change If This Was The End?

Time is running, whether we feel it or not and one day the final buzzer will sound. We turn to 1 Peter 4:1–11 with Dr. Timothy Mann to ask a serious question: how do we make the most of the rest of our time when we live as Christians in a hostile world?

We start where Peter starts: since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, we arm ourselves with the same mind. That means we stop treating sin like a harmless hobby, we endure pushback from unbelievers with patience, and we keep our focus on God’s will instead of the old life that once defined us. Then Peter drops the line that changes everything: “the end of all things is at hand.” We talk about Christian expectancy, not as an excuse for prophecy frenzy or lazy dreaming, but as a call to sober-minded thinking and watchful prayer. Clear minds lead to clear praying, and that steadiness keeps the church grounded when the world spins.

From there the passage gets intensely practical: fervent love for other believers, love that covers a multitude of sins by refusing gossip and protecting reputations, hospitality without grumbling, and spiritual gifts used like faithful stewards. We also slow down on the warning to speak “as the oracles of God,” letting Scripture shape not just what we say but how we say it. If you want your remaining days to matter, this is the roadmap.

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Transcript

Program Opening

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The Bible Dr. Timothy of the Uncle Foundation of God's work. Dr. Timothy Mann opens the Bible to prosperity. Conviction and encouragement for everyday life.

A Hostile World And Real Suffering

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Today on Foundations of Truth, we continue our series, Open a Hostile World. Here now is Dr. Timothy Mann.

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First Peter, we're in chapter four today, and we're going to deal with the first 11 verses. We have indeed been called to the blessing of suffering as believers in a hostile situation sometimes and fiery trials that come our way and persecutions and difficulties. But it must all be ultimately for the reason of doing good, well-doing, not for doing evil. Verse 17, chapter 3, it said, For it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. The example of Christ suffering, verse 18, down through verse 22 of chapter 3. And then chapter 4 continues that thought with a very important word that brings instruction to us now. And that word at the beginning of chapter 4 is what? Therefore, right, based on the fact that it is God's will to suffer sometimes for well-doing. And because Christ is the prime example of that, the fact that the just died for the unjust, and now, therefore, chapter 4, verse 1, let's read now through verse

1 Peter 4:1-11 Read Aloud

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11. Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind or the same attitude. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past time, lifetime, in doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the Spirit. But the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious or sober minded, 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 any one speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any one 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.

Making The Most Of Time Left

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Amen. We're talking this morning about how to make the most of the rest of your time. So if I'm going to make the most of the rest of my days, however many days I have left, because time is not on my side, that final buzzer is going to sound one day. I need to have the same mind as Jesus Christ. A vigilant attitude toward sin. Patient attitude toward unbelievers. But then we see in verses in verse 7, we need to have an expectant attitude toward Christ. An expectant attitude

Living Expectantly Without Extremes

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toward Christ. Verse 7, he says, But the end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. Now, Christians in the early church expected Jesus to return in their lifetime. They did. And the fact that he did not return, however, did not invalidate his promise. Not at all. And I want to say to you, no matter what interpretation we give to the prophetic scriptures, what we must do is we must all live in expectancy. Every single one of us must live in expectancy. Because the important thing is that we shall see the Lord one day and stand before him. That's a fact. That's going to happen. Stand before the Lord, see him. And so, what does that mean for the rest of my days? That means how we live and how we serve today is going to determine how we're judged and rewarded on that day. That's how that works. And so this attitude of expectancy towards Christ, that the end of all things is at hand, that attitude of expectancy must not turn us into lazy dreamers on one hand, that the Apostle Paul had to deal with in 2 Thessalonians, or also it shouldn't turn us into some sort of zealous fanatics. Because what we see here in this passage, and I want to give them to you real quickly, Peter gave ten commandments to his readers to keep them in balance as far as the Lord's return was concerned. I'm going to shoot them to you right here. Number one, he said, Be serious, verse 7, be serious. Number two, be prayerful. Watch into prayer. Verse 7. Verse 8, have fervent love. Verse 9, use hospitality. Verses 10 and 11, minister your spiritual gifts. Verse 12, don't think it's strange. Verse 13, rejoice. Verse 15 and 16, don't be ashamed. Verse 16 through 18, glorify God. And in verse 19, commit yourself to God. Did you get all that? I'm not going to repeat it, sorry. Gotta move on. You can go online and watch it later. The Ten Commandments to live by as it relates to waiting for Christ's return in an expectant

Sober Thinking In A Wild World

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attitude. What does he say? He says, be serious, be sober. That means sober-minded. That means keep your mind steady and clear. Probably a modern equivalent would be keep cool. Keep your cool. It's a warning against wild thinking about prophecy that could lead to an unbalanced life and ministry. Often we hear of sincere people who go off balance because of an unbiblical emphasis on prophecy or misinterpretation of prophecy. You know this as well as I do. There have been people who have set dates for Christ's return, contrary to his warning, or they claim to know the name of the beast in Revelation chapter 13. You know, they make all kinds of these claims. I have books in my library written by sincere and godly men with all sorts of claims that have been made, unfortunately, only to the embarrassment of the writers. And so the opposite of being serious or being sober-minded is frenzy, madness. It's the Greek word mania, which has come into our English vocabulary via psychology. And he's saying if we're serious, if we're sober-minded, we will be intellectually sound and not off on a tangent because of some new interpretation of the scriptures. And also we will face things realistically, and we will be free from delusions. And so the serious believer, if you're a sober-minded believer, that means you're going to exercise some restraint and you're not going to be impulsive. You're going to have a purposeful life and not be drifting. You're not only going to have sound judgment, not only about doctrinal matters, but also in the practical affairs of life. Ten times in his pastoral epistles, the Apostle Paul admonished people to be serious, to be sober-minded. It's one of the qualifications for being a pastor. It's one of the qualifications even for being members of the church, according to Titus 2, verses 1 through 6. And so, in a world that is very susceptible, in a hostile world that is very susceptible to wild thinking, listen, the church must be sober-minded, must be serious. The church, when everybody else is going crazy, the church has to keep a cool head.

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That's what has to happen.

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See, there is a practical application to the prophetic scriptures, and it's this the Apostle Peter's emphasis on hope and the glory of God ought to encourage us to be faithful today in whatever work God has given us to do. That's the practical application. It doesn't matter the name of the beast in Revelation 13. Are you being faithful today? That's the issue. So if you want to make the best use of the rest of your time, live in light of the return of Jesus Christ. All Christians may not agree on the details of the event, but we all can agree on the demands of the experience, and that is that we shall all stand before the Lord. All of us.

Watchful Prayer And Clear Minds

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If we're sober-minded, he says, we'll watch under prayer. We will be alert, watchful in our prayers. Your prayer life is confused, it's because your mind is confused. Dr. Kenneth Weist, in his translation, he shows the importance of the relationship between the two. He says it this way: be calm and collected in spirit with a view to giving yourself to prayer. This word watch, mean watchful, gives the idea of alertness and self-control. It's the opposite of being drunk or asleep, as it says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. The admonition had special meaning to Peter because when he had been asked to be watching unto prayer by the Lord Jesus, what did he do? He went to sleep.

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I think this was hitting home for him. He went to sleep.

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And so you find this phrase, watch and pray, often, often in the New Testament. It means to be alert in our praying, to be to be controlled. We have to have an alert attitude and be on guard. And as an expectant attitude toward Christ's return involves a serious, balanced mind and an alert, awake prayer life. I know some of us are committed to the doctrine of Christ's return in a particular way. You've got it nailed down, right? You know how it's going to work out. You've got all the timeline ready, right? Let me tell you that the test of our commitment to the to the doctrine of Christ's return is not our ability to draw charts or discern signs, but the test of our commitment to the doctrine of Christ's return is that our thinking and our praying will be right. That's the test of it. And if our thinking and our praying are right, then we'll do well with the rest of our time. What other attitude do I need to have? Well, verses 8 through 11 wraps it up for us. I really didn't know how else to say this. The word fervent is in there, and I don't know that everybody knows what fervent means. It means hot, you know. It means full. It means eager. So that's how I said it. We need to have a full and eager attitude toward other believers. A full and eager attitude toward other believers.

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Fervent Love That Forgives

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It says in verse 8, 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 has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold of the grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it with all 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. Now, if we really look for the return of Christ, then we're going to think of others and we're going to relate properly to them. Love for other believers is very important. Very important. As a matter of fact, the Holy Spirit here moved upon the apostle Peter to write and say, above all things, and above all things. Jesus said in John chapter 13 that love is the defining characteristic of the believer in this world, to this world. That's the defining characteristic. And especially in times of testing, especially in times of hardship and trial and in persecution, Jesus' followers need to love one another and be united in heart. This word fervent, it pictures an athlete. If you've been involved in athletics at all, this word fervent really pictures an athlete straining and striving for the goal, for the win, for the achievement of whatever contest he or she is in. It speaks of eagerness. It speaks of intensity. And see, Christian love, maybe you've not figured this out already, but you will sooner or later. Christian love is something we have to work at. Just like the way an athlete has to continue to work at his or her skills. It's the same way. Because this kind of love that's being discussed right here, it's not a matter of emotional feeling. It's not. Although that's included sometimes. It's a matter of the dedicated will. The dedicated will. Christian love means that I'm going to treat others the way God treats me. I obey his commandments in his word. And you know what that means? That means it's even possible to love people we don't like. I'm glad because I know some of y'all don't like me. I know you do. I know you love me. There's some people we just don't like. But Christian love makes it possible to love them. What is Christian love like? Well, Christian love is forgiving. Forgiving. The Apostle Peter quotes the Old Testament. Here. He uses the word, his Bible, all the time as he's writing this Bible. And he quotes Proverbs 10:12, which says, hatred stirs up strife. But love covers all sins. A multitude of sins. That verse is alluded to in James 5.20. It's alluded to in 1 Corinthians 13 4 and in verse 7. Now let me say something about that. Love does not condone sin. For if we love somebody, we're going to be grieved to see him or her sin and hurt himself or herself and others. Rather, here's what this love that covers a multitude of sins does. Love covers sin in that it motivates us to hide the sin from others and not spread it around. That's what this means. Because listen, where there's hatred, hatred stirs up strife. Love covers all sins. Where there's hatred, there's malice. And what malice does, malice causes a person to want to tear down the reputation of somebody else. And that leads to gossip and slander. And you know what we do as Christians? We do as professing believers, as church people, sometimes we try to make our gossip sound spiritual by telling people things so that they may pray more intelligently. Just want you to know what to pray for for our brother or sister. Oh, you're gossiping, you need to shut up. Seriously. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love covers sins. No one can hide their sins from God. But believers ought to try in love to cover each other's sins.

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At least from the eyes of unbelievers. I'm not saying we don't need to deal in discipline and sometimes really uh correct one another. We do.

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But after all, if the unbelieving crowd finds ammunition for persecuting you and us because of our good deeds and works, my word.

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What does it do if you're running your mouth about the bad things that you know your brother and sister has done? What does that say? God help us. See, we need to have a full and eager attitude toward other believers.

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Genesis chapter 9, verses 18 through 27 gives a beautiful illustration of this principle I'm trying to teach this morning. Do you remember what happened? Noah got drunk, and he shamefully uncovered himself. And his son Ham saw his uh father's shame and he told it to the rest of the family. However, in loving concern, Ham's two brothers covered their father and his shame. See, here's the deal. It should not be too difficult for us to cover the sins of others. Why? Because after all, Jesus Christ died that our sins may be washed away. Shouldn't be too difficult for us to cover the sins of others. Our Christian love should not only be fervent and forgiving, it should be practical

Hospitality And Using Your Gifts

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as well. Practical. We should share our blessings with others in generous and uncomplaining, by the way, it says here. Hospitality. Uncomplaining hospitality. We need to minister our spiritual gifts to one another. In the New Testament, hospitality was a very important thing because there were few ends and poor Christians couldn't even afford to stay at them anyway. And so Christians, uh persecuted believers in particular, needed a place to stay where they could be assisted and be encouraged. We forget, especially in this day and age in which we live, that is so crazy fast and we're so supposedly connected, but yet so disconnected with each other. Hospitality is a virtue that is commanded and commended all the way throughout scriptures. Moses included it in the law. Jesus enjoyed hospitality when he was on earth, and so did the apostles in their ministry. Human hospitality is a reflection of God's hospitality to us. As a matter of fact, again, one of the qualifications for church leadership is that those church leaders must be given to hospitality, it says. Abraham was hospitable to three strangers, and at the end of the day, he discovered that he'd actually entertained the Lord and two angels when it was all said and done. In fact, when we share others, when we share with others, we share with Christ. And we shouldn't just open our homes to others so that they'll invite us over, you know, and go see what their house looks like. No, we should do it to glorify the Lord. We should do it to glorify the Lord. And our Christian love must result in service, it says as well, in service. Every one of us in here, every Christian, every genuine believer has at least one spiritual gift that you must use for the glory of God and for the building up of his church. The Bible says we're stewards. Stewards, managers. God has entrusted these gifts to us so that we might use them for the good of his church. For the good of his church. He even gives us, the Bible says, the spiritual ability to develop our gifts and to be faithful servants in the church. They're speaking gifts, they're serving gifts. Both are important. Not everybody is a teacher or a preacher, but we're all to be called witnesses for Christ. All of us. There are those behind the scenes ministries, thank God for them, that help make the public ministries possible. That's so necessary. And God uses the gifts and the abilities and the opportunities to use those gifts, and he alone must get the glory. That's what the passage says. I want to focus on one phrase here just for a moment, verse 11.

Speaking As God’s Oracles

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The oracles of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God, as the utterances of God. Now, that does not suggest that everything a preacher or teacher says today is God's truth, because human speakers are fallible. In the early church, there were prophets who had the special gift of uttering God's word as his direct representative. Whoever shares God's word must be careful about what he says. Whoever shares God's word must she must be careful about what she says if it's in a teaching setting for a woman. How well and and not only what they say, but how they say it. Have to be careful. And it all must conform. Every bit of it must conform to the written word of God. You don't need to hear my opinion. You need to hear God's word. I need to speak as the oracles of God, not as Pastor Tim. Sometimes I do, and you need to just forget that stuff, right? Laugh it off, let it go. It's not a big deal. Throw it in the trash. You need to be careful. You need to think about what you speak and how you speak it. And make sure, absolutely sure, it conforms to the written word of God. Whether you're a teacher, whether you're in a conversation with someone, it's very important.

Don’t Waste Your Remaining Days

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So the question is this morning: how long is the rest of your time? Well, only God knows. But don't waste it. Invest it by doing the will of God and adopting these attitudes toward living. Guard against sin. Demonstrate patience toward unbelievers, even if they are hassling you and harassing you. You need to love them by sharing the gospel with them. Remember that we're going to stand before the Lord one day, and He only is your judge. So don't sweat the criticism and judgment of others. Just let it go. Let it go. Practice a full and eager love toward other believers by sharing in hospitality, by building up someone else with the giftedness that God has given you. And share God's word the right way at the right times to put God on display. That's what it's about. One day the buzzer is going to sound because your clock has stopped. And the first priority in making the most of the rest of your time is to be a follower of Jesus. To be a genuine believer in Christ who is relying only on his grace and what he did on the cross and the resurrection to forgive and save you. That's salvation. That is salvation that fits you for the eternity that is to come. The rest of your time, how are you going to invest it? Going to adopt these attitudes? Same mind that Jesus had. It'll make all the difference because ultimately in the end, God will be glorified.

Resources And Closing

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Thank you for joining us today for Foundations of Truth. If you'd like to hear this message again or get more biblical resources or help support our ministry financially, join us online at foundationsoftruth.net. That's foundationsoftruth.net. Foundations of Truth with Dr. Timothy

Ministry Partners And Sponsor Thanks

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Mann. It's supported in part by Luther Rice College and Seminary, equipping men and women for ministry through biblically faithful theological education. As a leader in online learning, we are grateful for their partnership in helping carry biblical truth farther. We're thankful for AMM Plumbing, a local ministry partner serving the Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Fort Orange, New Sparna Beach, and surrounding areas with Dependable Plumbing Service. Their support helps make Foundations of Truth available to more listeners each week. Foundations of Truth with Dr. Timothy Mann is supported in part by Cat Care Clinic, located in Ormond Beach and serving families with thoughtful and compassionate veterinary care for cats. We're grateful for their partnership in helping carry biblical truth farther.