The End Is Near
There is a sign that has become something of a cultural punchline. You have seen it in cartoons, on street corners, and in the background of photographs taken at crowded public events. A disheveled figure holds a hand-lettered placard bearing four words: THE END IS NEAR. We laugh because the image has become so familiar, so associated with fringe thinking and failed predictions, that it no longer carries any real weight. We have been conditioned to dismiss it.
But what if the dismissal is the problem?
What if the announcement itself is true, and the only thing that has gone wrong is what people have done with it?
In 1 Peter 4:7-11, the apostle Peter opens with a declaration that would have stopped his original readers cold. He tells them plainly that the end of all things is at hand. He is not setting a date. He is not building a predictive chart. He is making a theological statement rooted in what Jesus Christ accomplished through his death and resurrection. The empty tomb did not simply mark the end of a story. It inaugurated the final age of history, the last chapter before the consummation of everything God promised. And because that is true, Peter says, here is how you should live.
It is not a call to withdraw from ordinary life, sell your possessions, and wait in a field. It is, in fact, a call to the most grounded and relational kind of living imaginable. Three things emerge from this passage, and each one is more practical than the last.
Be Grounded in Prayer
Peter's first instruction in light of the approaching end is to be self-controlled and sober-minded, and he anchors that instruction to a specific purpose: prayer. The nearness of the end is not a reason to become frantic or irrational. It is a reason to become steadier, clearer-headed, and more deeply connected to God through ongoing conversation with him.
Prayer is not meant to be a formal recitation or a scheduled obligation. It is the language of a living relationship. When Peter calls believers to pray in light of the end, he is calling them to deepen their intimacy with the God who holds that end in his hands. The self-control and sober-mindedness he describes are not cold disciplines. They are the qualities of someone who is paying attention, someone who knows that the time remaining is meaningful and should not be wasted on distraction or panic.
In a moment when one might expect a call to extraordinary action, Peter calls for extraordinary attentiveness to the ordinary practice of prayer. The closer we draw to God through honest, open communication, the more clearly we see what matters and what does not.
Grow in Love
The second instruction is the one Peter marks as most important. Above all, he says, keep loving one another earnestly, because love covers a multitude of sins. The word "keep" carries weight here. This is not a love that is expressed once and then assumed. It is a love that must be practiced, sustained, and allowed to grow. It is ongoing by nature.
Jesus himself warned in Matthew 24:12 that as lawlessness increases in the last days, the love of many will grow cold. The warning implies that love requires active tending. A heart that does not practice love will lose it. Peter's call to earnest, persistent love is therefore both a command and a protection. A church that keeps loving one another remains warm when everything around it is growing cold.
What does this love look like in practice? It looks like showing up. It looks like sharing burdens and carrying concerns for one another into prayer. It looks like small, consistent acts of presence that communicate to another person that they are not alone. The local church is the primary place where this kind of love is meant to develop and be expressed. Large gatherings can inspire and instruct, but love is practiced, tested, and deepened in smaller, closer communities.
Peter makes this theme concrete when he calls believers to show hospitality to one another without grumbling. Hospitality in the first century was essential to spreading the gospel. Traveling teachers and missionaries depended on local believers' generosity for food and shelter. But the principle reaches beyond the first century. Genuine hospitality is the willingness to share what God has given you with someone in need. The key word is "without grumbling," because hospitality given reluctantly is duty, not love. Christ is the model, who gave his life not because he was required to, but because he chose to.
Serve for His Glory
The third instruction shifts the focus to spiritual gifts. Peter makes clear that every believer has received a gift from God, and that gift is not a personal achievement or a point of pride. It is a manifestation of God's grace, given to serve others.
He divides these gifts into two broad categories: speaking and serving. Those who speak must speak the words of God faithfully, holding to the revealed truth of Scripture without veering into personal agendas or comfortable distortions. Those who serve must do so in the strength that God supplies, not in the strength of their own effort and willpower. This distinction matters enormously. A servant who relies on personal reserves will eventually run dry. A servant who draws from God's supply will find that the source does not run out.
The purpose behind all of it, speaking and serving alike, is stated plainly at the close of the passage. Everything is to be done so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. This is the measuring rod for every ministry, every decision, every act of love and hospitality and prayer. Not our reputation. Not our comfort. His glory.
The end is near. It has been near since the resurrection. And the question it poses has not changed in two thousand years: knowing that, how will you live?
The answer, it turns out, is simpler than we might expect. Pray deeply. Love persistently. Serve faithfully.
This article was adapted from the sermon, "The End Is Near," by Pastor Scott Perry, preached at Temple Baptist Church on September 6, 2026.
But what if the dismissal is the problem?
What if the announcement itself is true, and the only thing that has gone wrong is what people have done with it?
In 1 Peter 4:7-11, the apostle Peter opens with a declaration that would have stopped his original readers cold. He tells them plainly that the end of all things is at hand. He is not setting a date. He is not building a predictive chart. He is making a theological statement rooted in what Jesus Christ accomplished through his death and resurrection. The empty tomb did not simply mark the end of a story. It inaugurated the final age of history, the last chapter before the consummation of everything God promised. And because that is true, Peter says, here is how you should live.
It is not a call to withdraw from ordinary life, sell your possessions, and wait in a field. It is, in fact, a call to the most grounded and relational kind of living imaginable. Three things emerge from this passage, and each one is more practical than the last.
Be Grounded in Prayer
Peter's first instruction in light of the approaching end is to be self-controlled and sober-minded, and he anchors that instruction to a specific purpose: prayer. The nearness of the end is not a reason to become frantic or irrational. It is a reason to become steadier, clearer-headed, and more deeply connected to God through ongoing conversation with him.
Prayer is not meant to be a formal recitation or a scheduled obligation. It is the language of a living relationship. When Peter calls believers to pray in light of the end, he is calling them to deepen their intimacy with the God who holds that end in his hands. The self-control and sober-mindedness he describes are not cold disciplines. They are the qualities of someone who is paying attention, someone who knows that the time remaining is meaningful and should not be wasted on distraction or panic.
In a moment when one might expect a call to extraordinary action, Peter calls for extraordinary attentiveness to the ordinary practice of prayer. The closer we draw to God through honest, open communication, the more clearly we see what matters and what does not.
Grow in Love
The second instruction is the one Peter marks as most important. Above all, he says, keep loving one another earnestly, because love covers a multitude of sins. The word "keep" carries weight here. This is not a love that is expressed once and then assumed. It is a love that must be practiced, sustained, and allowed to grow. It is ongoing by nature.
Jesus himself warned in Matthew 24:12 that as lawlessness increases in the last days, the love of many will grow cold. The warning implies that love requires active tending. A heart that does not practice love will lose it. Peter's call to earnest, persistent love is therefore both a command and a protection. A church that keeps loving one another remains warm when everything around it is growing cold.
What does this love look like in practice? It looks like showing up. It looks like sharing burdens and carrying concerns for one another into prayer. It looks like small, consistent acts of presence that communicate to another person that they are not alone. The local church is the primary place where this kind of love is meant to develop and be expressed. Large gatherings can inspire and instruct, but love is practiced, tested, and deepened in smaller, closer communities.
Peter makes this theme concrete when he calls believers to show hospitality to one another without grumbling. Hospitality in the first century was essential to spreading the gospel. Traveling teachers and missionaries depended on local believers' generosity for food and shelter. But the principle reaches beyond the first century. Genuine hospitality is the willingness to share what God has given you with someone in need. The key word is "without grumbling," because hospitality given reluctantly is duty, not love. Christ is the model, who gave his life not because he was required to, but because he chose to.
Serve for His Glory
The third instruction shifts the focus to spiritual gifts. Peter makes clear that every believer has received a gift from God, and that gift is not a personal achievement or a point of pride. It is a manifestation of God's grace, given to serve others.
He divides these gifts into two broad categories: speaking and serving. Those who speak must speak the words of God faithfully, holding to the revealed truth of Scripture without veering into personal agendas or comfortable distortions. Those who serve must do so in the strength that God supplies, not in the strength of their own effort and willpower. This distinction matters enormously. A servant who relies on personal reserves will eventually run dry. A servant who draws from God's supply will find that the source does not run out.
The purpose behind all of it, speaking and serving alike, is stated plainly at the close of the passage. Everything is to be done so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. This is the measuring rod for every ministry, every decision, every act of love and hospitality and prayer. Not our reputation. Not our comfort. His glory.
The end is near. It has been near since the resurrection. And the question it poses has not changed in two thousand years: knowing that, how will you live?
The answer, it turns out, is simpler than we might expect. Pray deeply. Love persistently. Serve faithfully.
This article was adapted from the sermon, "The End Is Near," by Pastor Scott Perry, preached at Temple Baptist Church on September 6, 2026.
Posted in 1 Peter, Christian Living
Posted in Serving Others, Spiritual Gifts, Prayer, 1 Peter, End Times, Love, Last Days, Gospel Living
Posted in Serving Others, Spiritual Gifts, Prayer, 1 Peter, End Times, Love, Last Days, Gospel Living