“Who Am I?” (1 Peter 4:7-11), Lenten Midweek Series 2016

1.             Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this evening in our sermon series on our “Life Together” as a community of believers in Christ is taken from 1 Peter 4:7-11 and is entitled, “Who Am I?” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
   
   
2.             In our text for this evening, St. Peter cries to us from the pages of Scripture, “THE END IS NEAR!” What goes through your mind when you hear that everything around you—everything you’ve ever seen or experienced in this world—will soon be gone? What’s your reaction when you hear “The end is at hand!” and you’re reminded that everyone you’ve ever known—your friends, family, and even yourself—will soon have to stand before the judgment seat of God? Honestly, do you shrug your shoulders and doubt whether it’s even true? After all, people have been saying that the end of the world is just around the corner for thousands of years and it hasn’t happened yet. Or do you approach it this way: you look around and see how the world is filled with injustice, pain, sickness, and death, and you realize that even if the end of all things is still far off, each of our days are numbered? No matter how you look at it, “The end is near.”
   
   
3.             Peter says, “The end is near!” but how are we supposed to react to that? To help answer this question, I’d like you to imagine a sinking ship. When a ship begins to sink, when all hope is lost and the end is near, what’s the announcement the captain always makes? “Women and children first!” Right? Who can argue with that? Maybe there might be a feminist or two that could argue with it, but the idea that in the midst of danger we should look out for others over and above ourselves seems fairly universal. But this may surprise you: when it comes to sinking ships, this is a fairly recent practice.
   
   
4.             This tradition actually finds its beginning on board the HMS Birkenhead. In 1852, the 1,900 ton warship hit a rock and began to sink off the coast of Africa. Despite having 20 women and children on board, when the captain knew the end was at hand he called out, “Every man for himself!” Why not? At a time like this, “you gotta do what you gotta do” to save yourself. Right? Self-preservation is a very strong human instinct. A God-given human instinct! But what followed wasn’t a mad rush of people trying their best to run just a little faster than the next guy. Chaos didn’t ensue with each one pushing past another to make it to the lifeboats.  Instead the British soldiers aboard the ship and the commanding officer refused to heed the call “Every man for himself!” They were afraid that if they rushed the life boats the women and children would be swamped. Now I’m not telling you this story to illustrate that men should consider the lives of women and children more precious than their own… No. I just want you to see that in a time of serious peril, they considered the lives of others above their own.
   
   
5.             During such perilous times there seem to be two types of people: Those who are only looking out for themselves and those who recognize the need to look out for others. This evening I want you to ask yourself, “Who am I?” When you know that the ship is sinking, that your life is in danger, that the end is near, you have to ask yourself: are you only looking out for “number one” or do you owe something to the people around you?
   
   
6.             The truth is that we’re in perilous times! This world is like a sinking ship—the end of all things is near. When will it all be over? When will Jesus return to judge all people? We don’t know when but we do know that it is at hand. In our text, Peter is writing to Christians who faced all sort of trials and persecutions for their faith. Their lives were filled with suffering. The natural thing for them to do would be for each man and each woman to take care of themselves first. Instead, Peter points them to Jesus and to each other.  1 Peter 4:7-8 says, “⁷The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. ⁸Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” We too, when this storm-tossed, sinking world becomes too much for us to bear, can look to Jesus as our Savior and to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
   
   
7.             Once our rebellion against God wrecked his perfect creation, God could’ve easily abandoned us to drown in a sea of our own destruction, but he didn’t. Instead, he promised a savior who would rescue us. Jesus came and revealed himself to be that savior. Jesus is true God and true man. Living among us Jesus didn’t seek to save his own life, but he willingly sacrificed it for us so that our sins wouldn’t be held against us and so that we could hold fast to the hope he gives us in his resurrection. He has power over this world and even death. Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we need not fear the end, but look forward to it!
   
   
8.             And yet the story doesn’t end there. The end of the world is at hand, but it has not yet come.  Until our Lord returns, we still find ourselves aboard a sinking ship. Not every moment is bad, of course. In fact, God blesses us with many wonderful pleasures in life. But we’re still surrounded by peril and danger. So, who are we? Are we just a collection of individuals who only care about ourselves? Or are we children of God, gathered together by him in a community that supports and upholds one another, both during the calm of the sea and even
               when we’re battered by the waves of this life? Has Jesus simply saved us so that we might be set
               adrift as if we were in lifeboats aimlessly awaiting his return? Or has he given us something
               more: a community?
   
   
9.             Even on the cross, as he gave up his life for us, Jesus knew that we would need each other. He had taught his disciples to depend on one another and he urged them to go out and make disciples, to spread the good news of forgiveness and hope, and to build the church to be a refuge for the community of believers. On the cross, when Jesus said to Mary, “Woman, here is your son,” and to John, “Here is your mother,” he gave us a purpose for caring for one another.
10.             “Who am I?” That’s the question we’re asking this evening. The answer is that you and I are a community in Jesus Christ. This evening’s text describes us as a caring community in Christ. You are “self-controlled and sober minded.” You are a community that “above all, continues to love one another earnestly…” You are a people who “show hospitality to one another without grumbling…” You’re a family brought together by God to serve each other using the gifts God has given each one of you…
11.             The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about serving others this way. “Nobody is too good for the meanest service. We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps—reading the Bible. When we do that we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised athwart our path to show us that, not our way, but God’s way must be done.” Isn’t it wonderful to know that even though the waves of this life continue to batter us and this world is slowly succumbing to the corruption of sin, Jesus has shown himself powerful and victorious over these things? In his mercy, he doesn’t abandon us to face them alone but comes to us in his Word and in his body and blood which strengthen us as a community to be the very people he says we are.
12.             Why has God made us this way? Tonight’s text from 1 Peter reveals that too: “that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” As a community of believers we don’t exist to merely maintain ourselves but to proclaim to all those who are still without hope that God has rescued us from despair through Christ Jesus. So that all those who believe will be able to say, “Thanks be to God!”, and in his mercy, “the end of all things is at hand!” This is who we are! Amen.