“The End Is Near”
November 27, 2005
1 Peter 4:7-11
Next week, Lord-willing, we will begin a series of sermons on the Gospel of Mark. I’d appreciate prayer as I prepare for this series. We are going to go through the shortest and most action-packed of the four gospels and rivet our attention to the person, messages, and work of Jesus Christ, hopefully, in such a way that we are better motivated and equipped to follow Him as His disciples. Beginning next week, the Gospel of Mark.
This week, I have decided to call us to think some more about how we are to live in light of eternity. We have just spent the last four Sundays thinking about Forever. Forever in Hell, Forever in Heaven, Forever in Eternity, Forever and Ever.
We can get to thinking that Forever is coming, yes, but it’s still a long way off. But the Bible says that it is coming soon. Sooner than we expect. Forever is near. In our passage for today, the Apostle Peter says that the “the end of all things is near.”
Now, we expect that kind of talk from fruitcakes and nuts who wear signboards on street corners in big cities, but this is the Word of God. “The end of all things is near.” And we need to listen. The end of all things is near. How should we then live? 1 Peter, chapter 4, verses 7 through 11.
Be warned: time is limited. Time is short. Human history is a finite line. It had a beginning point. And it will have an ending point. And the end is near.
Peter knew that the end of history is imminent, impending, ready to unfold, close at hand.
The next great event on the calendar of God is the consummation of history and the triumphant return of Jesus Christ!
“The end of all things is near.”
Do you believe that this morning?
Very often, Christians like you and I make the major mistake of living as though this world and our lives were going to go on and on just like they are (now) forever.
But Peter says that is not true. And that is not the right way to live.
“Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.”
Up a couple of verses, verse 5, says that the judge of the living and the dead is “ready.” He’s set. He’s prepared. He’s ready. Like we saw last week, God is only waiting in His patient, perfect timing to tie up the loose ends of history.
Now, Peter didn’t set a date. He didn’t set a time. But he knew and taught that the Lord Jesus could and will usher in the end of history at any time.
“The end of all things is near.”
Do you believe that? Do you live like that is true?
What if you knew that the end of your life was near? Today for example.
Let’s say you knew on the authority of God’s Word that by 6:30 this evening you would be dead.
What would you do? How would you live? What would your priorities be if you knew that you would soon be seeing the Judge of all the Earth?
Peter says, not only is the end of your life near, the end of all things is near. As REM would say, “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”
We are living in the last days, and the last of the last days is coming soon. And knowing that, you and I should live with a certain set of priorities.
However...you might be surprised at what those priorities are supposed to be. What should we being doing if the end of all things is near?
Last week, we said, “Get Right With God, Get Ready for Eternity, Get Busy Sharing Christ, and Get Thankful and Worship God.”
And those are right and biblical. But they aren’t exactly what Peter says.
Peter gives us four different but complementary priorities.
“The End is Near.” Therefore, #1. KEEP YOUR HEAD. V.7.
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.”
Peter says that the end of all things is near, so therefore keep your head. Keep your wits about you. Don’t get frantic or manic or out of control.
Now, I don’t know about you, but instinctively I get a little nervous when people talk about the world ending! My first reaction is to panic. Chicken Little, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” My first reaction is to lose my cool. My first reaction is to think about all of the wrong things.
I think the Lord graciously gave us a taste of what it feels like for the world to end on September 11th, 2001. How did you respond when that crisis hit?
I was in Mercer, two hours away from my pregnant wife and toddler daughter. Robin was Isaac’s age. And my mind was going a million-miles a minute in every direction. As I drove home at 75 miles an hour, I kept thinking that a plane was going to fall out of the sky right onto the middle of Route 80. I was almost beside myself for a good bit of the trip home.
How did you respond to the crisis?
The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled. Get a hold of yourself. Don’t go off the deep end. Focus. Focus on what is important.
Why? V.7 “So that you can pray.”
If the world is ending, if you are going to see the King, then you better get close to Him now. Talk with Him. Trust Him with all things. The important thing is to remain close to the One who is coming soon.
Keep Your Head so that You Can Pray.
It’s a focus issue. Too often, we get caught up in focusing on this world and not the world that is going to break in on us soon.
It had happened to Peter personally. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus told Peter, James, and John to keep watch and pray? What did Peter do? He started sawing logs! He lost focus and got a muddied-mind and lost self-control and slept. He lost his head and didn’t pray. I think he remembered that night and that’s why he cautions us against living like that.
The holidays are coming. It’s so easy to get consumed by the frantic pace of shopping and preparations and busyness. It’s so easy to get caught up in the craziness of Christmas, especially the purchase of material things, of stuff.
But you know what? Prayer is so much more important than stuff!
Stuff is all worthless compared to knowing God intimately. It’s all going to pass away! It’s all going nto melt like wax some day! But whatever relationship I have built with God will last forever.
What’s got your attention right now? Are you being clear-minded and self-controlled and prayerful? Or are you manically chasing after this world?
The King James says, “[B]e ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”
That doesn’t mean be long in the face and watch people praying. It means: calm down and pray.
The end of all things is near so keep your head about you and pray.
#2. STRETCH YOUR LOVE. V.8
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Peter prioritizes this one at the top, “Above all,” he says, “love each other deeply.”
That word “deeply” could also be translated, “fervently, earnestly, intensely.” It comes from a Greek word that means to stretch something to its fullest length. Like a rope. The word was often used to describe an athlete or a horse running and straining at full stretch.
“Go all out in love” is what Peter is saying. Don’t just play at love. Don’t just go part way. Go the distance in love!
Stretch yourself. Stretch your love.
Stretch your love with people who are hard to love. Peter says, “love covers over a multitude of sins.”
That doesn’t mean “Condone sin.” It means love someone through their sin. Cover sin with ready forgiveness. Forgive 70 times 7. Cover over sin by sheltering someone from the exposure and condemnation that their sin would normally yield. If you can, cover sin by overlooking faults and offenses.
Go the extra mile in loving someone who has sinned against you.
Stretch your love for those who sin against you.
The end of all things is near, so ratchet up your love! There is no time to focus on quarreling. The body of Christ needs to be exercising deep love because time is short.
Now, I wouldn’t have thought of this one. I would have thought of preaching the Gospel because time is short, but I would have thought that loving each other would be a lower priority. I would have been wrong. God puts a premium on love for one another.
This Fall, we’ve had two sermon series. The second was on Forever and Eternity, Heaven and Hell. What was the first one on? The local church. The importance of the local church.
Loving each other in the local church is vital because of Forever!
Living in light of eternity means stretching our love for each other right now.
How are you doing at that? How are you doing at loving your brothers and sisters in Christ?
How about the ones that are hard to love? It’s easy to love those that love us. It’s not so easy to love those who are difficult.
Someone has wisely said, “To live above with saints above, that will indeed be glory, to live below with the saints we know, now, that’s another story!”
But we need to. We need to love as Christ loved us.
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Stretch your love. Stretch it–even to strangers and those who need a meal or lodging or some other kind of material assistance. V.9
“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
Peter calls us to stretch our love in hospitality. Some of us are good at hospitality, others of us run from it.
Thankfully, my wife is good at it because I like to invite people over!
Notice here, however, that it is not an option. All Christians are called to use their homes to influence others for Christ. To show love through hospitality.
And we aren’t allowed to do it grudgingly or with complaint. “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
That’s a stretch of love. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by company. Heather is in the early stages of preparing the food for our annual Open House. She makes like a dozen pans of her secret-recipe fudge and bakes with some girlfriends from our Link Group for a whole day to get ready for it. It’s a lot of work. And she does it without grumbling.
The end of all things is near. There is no time for whining about a little discomfort! We need to stretch our love.
How about you? Where is your love level right now? Are you at “full stretch for the body of Christ?” Are you using your home in ministry? The end of all things is near, so “above all” stretch your love.
#3. USE YOUR GIFT. V.10
“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”
Notice that it doesn’t say, “If God has given you a gift, use it.” It says, “Use whatever gift you have received.”
That means that everyone here who is a Christian has a least one grace-gift from the Lord to use in service to others “within and without” the body of Christ.
It’s not just pastors and church leaders who are gifted! Everyone is! You are!
Are you using your gift in ministry? Would you ever have thought that this would be an End-Times priority? It is. The end of all things is near so use your gift in service to others. Again, we have the priority of the local church.
Use Your Gift.
I have a pastor friend that loves to say, “Life is short, live for God.”
Use your gift in service to others. Use it faithfully, as a steward (a manager). God has given you some grace (Peter calls it grace in various forms). God has given you some measure of grace (not to hold onto but) to pass on to others. Don’t bury it; put it into practice.
“Life is short; live for God.”
What do you want to be found doing when the Lord Jesus returns?
Some people have made the mistake of setting a date and then putting on white robes and hanging out on rooftops waiting with arms outstretched for Christ to come for them.
That’s not what God has asked us to do in the last days! He has asked us to be busy using our grace-gifts in ministry so that he find us living for Him when He comes back for us.
That’s what I want to be doing when Christ returns. Heart longing for Him, hands and feet active for Him. I would love to be preaching when Jesus comes back!
But I better do it God’s way. Not my own. V.11.
“If anyone speaks [like I am doing now, speaking in ministry to others], he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.”
Brothers and Sisters, time is short. There is no time for messing around with God’s Word. My job (and anyone’s job who is gifted in speaking in ministry) is to speak God’s words after Him. Words that fit with the Scriptures. Words that accord with sound doctrine. Words that are Cross-Centered and communicate the Gospel. Words that God can use in people’s lives as if they were His very own.
Of course, not everyone is a teacher. Many labor behind the scenes. Those gifts and ministries are just as important and must be done God’s way, as well. V.11 continued.
“If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength that God provides...” Stop there for a second.
This is the way to avoid burn-out in ministry.
If God is the One burning in the bush, it is not consumed. If God is the One burning in the servant, the Servant will not burn-out.
God’s strength for ministry. Not our own.
Use your gift, but use the Holy Spirit empowerment that comes with the gift to do ministry. Anything else will be virtually worthless. And you will suffer for it, too.
I have many times made the mistake of trying to do ministry in the strength that Matt provides. Ugh. Don’t go there.
Answer: “If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides...”
How about you?
Are you using your gift(s) in ministry right now? Time is short, and Church is not a spectator sport. Everyone needs to get off the bench and use the grace that God has given us to serve others.
Let me know if God is speaking to you about getting more involved in ministry. I’m sure we have things here we could put you to work in doing.
Time is short. Live for God. The end of all things is near. So use your gift.
Why?
#4. To MAGNIFY YOUR GOD. V.11 again.
“[Use the strength God provides], so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
John Piper likes to say, “The Giver gets the glory.” If we use God’s power for ministry, God will get the glory! God will be praised if we use the gifts He gives with the energy He provides.
And that praise, glory, and dominion are the bottom line in life.
We exist for God’s glory.
We should live for God’s glory.
The end of all things is near so we should magnify the Glory of God!
As the end draws near (and it is 2000 years nearer now than when Peter penned these words!), we should position our lives to maximize the magnification of God through Jesus Christ!
Colossians 3:17: “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
1 Corinthians 10:31, I shared this with the Kids for Christ last week: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
“So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
Those are not just religious words! Those are words that describe ultimate reality.
God wants us to magnify His glory. Not like a microscope. Not making something small bigger. But like a telescope, making something unimaginably huge visible to the fallen human eye.
Are you living for the magnitude of God?
If God wants anything from you and me, that’s what He wants.
The chief goal of mankind is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.
Is your life a telescope of the glory of God? Are you living for the magnitude of God in all things? So that He gets the praise, He gets the glory, He gets the power?
Friends, time is short. The end of all things is near. But the glory of God through Jesus Christ lasts (v.11) “forever and ever. Amen.”
Do you want to give your life to something that lasts forever?
Magnify Your God!
November 27, 2005
1 Peter 4:7-11
Next week, Lord-willing, we will begin a series of sermons on the Gospel of Mark. I’d appreciate prayer as I prepare for this series. We are going to go through the shortest and most action-packed of the four gospels and rivet our attention to the person, messages, and work of Jesus Christ, hopefully, in such a way that we are better motivated and equipped to follow Him as His disciples. Beginning next week, the Gospel of Mark.
This week, I have decided to call us to think some more about how we are to live in light of eternity. We have just spent the last four Sundays thinking about Forever. Forever in Hell, Forever in Heaven, Forever in Eternity, Forever and Ever.
We can get to thinking that Forever is coming, yes, but it’s still a long way off. But the Bible says that it is coming soon. Sooner than we expect. Forever is near. In our passage for today, the Apostle Peter says that the “the end of all things is near.”
Now, we expect that kind of talk from fruitcakes and nuts who wear signboards on street corners in big cities, but this is the Word of God. “The end of all things is near.” And we need to listen. The end of all things is near. How should we then live? 1 Peter, chapter 4, verses 7 through 11.
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” (NIV)The Apostle Peter says that “the end of all things is near.”
Be warned: time is limited. Time is short. Human history is a finite line. It had a beginning point. And it will have an ending point. And the end is near.
Peter knew that the end of history is imminent, impending, ready to unfold, close at hand.
The next great event on the calendar of God is the consummation of history and the triumphant return of Jesus Christ!
“The end of all things is near.”
Do you believe that this morning?
Very often, Christians like you and I make the major mistake of living as though this world and our lives were going to go on and on just like they are (now) forever.
But Peter says that is not true. And that is not the right way to live.
“Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.”
Up a couple of verses, verse 5, says that the judge of the living and the dead is “ready.” He’s set. He’s prepared. He’s ready. Like we saw last week, God is only waiting in His patient, perfect timing to tie up the loose ends of history.
Now, Peter didn’t set a date. He didn’t set a time. But he knew and taught that the Lord Jesus could and will usher in the end of history at any time.
“The end of all things is near.”
Do you believe that? Do you live like that is true?
What if you knew that the end of your life was near? Today for example.
Let’s say you knew on the authority of God’s Word that by 6:30 this evening you would be dead.
What would you do? How would you live? What would your priorities be if you knew that you would soon be seeing the Judge of all the Earth?
Peter says, not only is the end of your life near, the end of all things is near. As REM would say, “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”
We are living in the last days, and the last of the last days is coming soon. And knowing that, you and I should live with a certain set of priorities.
However...you might be surprised at what those priorities are supposed to be. What should we being doing if the end of all things is near?
Last week, we said, “Get Right With God, Get Ready for Eternity, Get Busy Sharing Christ, and Get Thankful and Worship God.”
And those are right and biblical. But they aren’t exactly what Peter says.
Peter gives us four different but complementary priorities.
“The End is Near.” Therefore, #1. KEEP YOUR HEAD. V.7.
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.”
Peter says that the end of all things is near, so therefore keep your head. Keep your wits about you. Don’t get frantic or manic or out of control.
Now, I don’t know about you, but instinctively I get a little nervous when people talk about the world ending! My first reaction is to panic. Chicken Little, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” My first reaction is to lose my cool. My first reaction is to think about all of the wrong things.
I think the Lord graciously gave us a taste of what it feels like for the world to end on September 11th, 2001. How did you respond when that crisis hit?
I was in Mercer, two hours away from my pregnant wife and toddler daughter. Robin was Isaac’s age. And my mind was going a million-miles a minute in every direction. As I drove home at 75 miles an hour, I kept thinking that a plane was going to fall out of the sky right onto the middle of Route 80. I was almost beside myself for a good bit of the trip home.
How did you respond to the crisis?
The end of all things is near. Therefore, be clear-minded and self-controlled. Get a hold of yourself. Don’t go off the deep end. Focus. Focus on what is important.
Why? V.7 “So that you can pray.”
If the world is ending, if you are going to see the King, then you better get close to Him now. Talk with Him. Trust Him with all things. The important thing is to remain close to the One who is coming soon.
Keep Your Head so that You Can Pray.
It’s a focus issue. Too often, we get caught up in focusing on this world and not the world that is going to break in on us soon.
It had happened to Peter personally. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus told Peter, James, and John to keep watch and pray? What did Peter do? He started sawing logs! He lost focus and got a muddied-mind and lost self-control and slept. He lost his head and didn’t pray. I think he remembered that night and that’s why he cautions us against living like that.
The holidays are coming. It’s so easy to get consumed by the frantic pace of shopping and preparations and busyness. It’s so easy to get caught up in the craziness of Christmas, especially the purchase of material things, of stuff.
But you know what? Prayer is so much more important than stuff!
Stuff is all worthless compared to knowing God intimately. It’s all going to pass away! It’s all going nto melt like wax some day! But whatever relationship I have built with God will last forever.
What’s got your attention right now? Are you being clear-minded and self-controlled and prayerful? Or are you manically chasing after this world?
The King James says, “[B]e ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.”
That doesn’t mean be long in the face and watch people praying. It means: calm down and pray.
The end of all things is near so keep your head about you and pray.
#2. STRETCH YOUR LOVE. V.8
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Peter prioritizes this one at the top, “Above all,” he says, “love each other deeply.”
That word “deeply” could also be translated, “fervently, earnestly, intensely.” It comes from a Greek word that means to stretch something to its fullest length. Like a rope. The word was often used to describe an athlete or a horse running and straining at full stretch.
“Go all out in love” is what Peter is saying. Don’t just play at love. Don’t just go part way. Go the distance in love!
Stretch yourself. Stretch your love.
Stretch your love with people who are hard to love. Peter says, “love covers over a multitude of sins.”
That doesn’t mean “Condone sin.” It means love someone through their sin. Cover sin with ready forgiveness. Forgive 70 times 7. Cover over sin by sheltering someone from the exposure and condemnation that their sin would normally yield. If you can, cover sin by overlooking faults and offenses.
Go the extra mile in loving someone who has sinned against you.
Stretch your love for those who sin against you.
The end of all things is near, so ratchet up your love! There is no time to focus on quarreling. The body of Christ needs to be exercising deep love because time is short.
Now, I wouldn’t have thought of this one. I would have thought of preaching the Gospel because time is short, but I would have thought that loving each other would be a lower priority. I would have been wrong. God puts a premium on love for one another.
This Fall, we’ve had two sermon series. The second was on Forever and Eternity, Heaven and Hell. What was the first one on? The local church. The importance of the local church.
Loving each other in the local church is vital because of Forever!
Living in light of eternity means stretching our love for each other right now.
How are you doing at that? How are you doing at loving your brothers and sisters in Christ?
How about the ones that are hard to love? It’s easy to love those that love us. It’s not so easy to love those who are difficult.
Someone has wisely said, “To live above with saints above, that will indeed be glory, to live below with the saints we know, now, that’s another story!”
But we need to. We need to love as Christ loved us.
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
Stretch your love. Stretch it–even to strangers and those who need a meal or lodging or some other kind of material assistance. V.9
“Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
Peter calls us to stretch our love in hospitality. Some of us are good at hospitality, others of us run from it.
Thankfully, my wife is good at it because I like to invite people over!
Notice here, however, that it is not an option. All Christians are called to use their homes to influence others for Christ. To show love through hospitality.
And we aren’t allowed to do it grudgingly or with complaint. “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
That’s a stretch of love. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by company. Heather is in the early stages of preparing the food for our annual Open House. She makes like a dozen pans of her secret-recipe fudge and bakes with some girlfriends from our Link Group for a whole day to get ready for it. It’s a lot of work. And she does it without grumbling.
The end of all things is near. There is no time for whining about a little discomfort! We need to stretch our love.
How about you? Where is your love level right now? Are you at “full stretch for the body of Christ?” Are you using your home in ministry? The end of all things is near, so “above all” stretch your love.
#3. USE YOUR GIFT. V.10
“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”
Notice that it doesn’t say, “If God has given you a gift, use it.” It says, “Use whatever gift you have received.”
That means that everyone here who is a Christian has a least one grace-gift from the Lord to use in service to others “within and without” the body of Christ.
It’s not just pastors and church leaders who are gifted! Everyone is! You are!
Are you using your gift in ministry? Would you ever have thought that this would be an End-Times priority? It is. The end of all things is near so use your gift in service to others. Again, we have the priority of the local church.
Use Your Gift.
I have a pastor friend that loves to say, “Life is short, live for God.”
Use your gift in service to others. Use it faithfully, as a steward (a manager). God has given you some grace (Peter calls it grace in various forms). God has given you some measure of grace (not to hold onto but) to pass on to others. Don’t bury it; put it into practice.
“Life is short; live for God.”
What do you want to be found doing when the Lord Jesus returns?
Some people have made the mistake of setting a date and then putting on white robes and hanging out on rooftops waiting with arms outstretched for Christ to come for them.
That’s not what God has asked us to do in the last days! He has asked us to be busy using our grace-gifts in ministry so that he find us living for Him when He comes back for us.
That’s what I want to be doing when Christ returns. Heart longing for Him, hands and feet active for Him. I would love to be preaching when Jesus comes back!
But I better do it God’s way. Not my own. V.11.
“If anyone speaks [like I am doing now, speaking in ministry to others], he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.”
Brothers and Sisters, time is short. There is no time for messing around with God’s Word. My job (and anyone’s job who is gifted in speaking in ministry) is to speak God’s words after Him. Words that fit with the Scriptures. Words that accord with sound doctrine. Words that are Cross-Centered and communicate the Gospel. Words that God can use in people’s lives as if they were His very own.
Of course, not everyone is a teacher. Many labor behind the scenes. Those gifts and ministries are just as important and must be done God’s way, as well. V.11 continued.
“If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength that God provides...” Stop there for a second.
This is the way to avoid burn-out in ministry.
If God is the One burning in the bush, it is not consumed. If God is the One burning in the servant, the Servant will not burn-out.
God’s strength for ministry. Not our own.
Use your gift, but use the Holy Spirit empowerment that comes with the gift to do ministry. Anything else will be virtually worthless. And you will suffer for it, too.
I have many times made the mistake of trying to do ministry in the strength that Matt provides. Ugh. Don’t go there.
Answer: “If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides...”
How about you?
Are you using your gift(s) in ministry right now? Time is short, and Church is not a spectator sport. Everyone needs to get off the bench and use the grace that God has given us to serve others.
Let me know if God is speaking to you about getting more involved in ministry. I’m sure we have things here we could put you to work in doing.
Time is short. Live for God. The end of all things is near. So use your gift.
Why?
#4. To MAGNIFY YOUR GOD. V.11 again.
“[Use the strength God provides], so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
John Piper likes to say, “The Giver gets the glory.” If we use God’s power for ministry, God will get the glory! God will be praised if we use the gifts He gives with the energy He provides.
And that praise, glory, and dominion are the bottom line in life.
We exist for God’s glory.
We should live for God’s glory.
The end of all things is near so we should magnify the Glory of God!
As the end draws near (and it is 2000 years nearer now than when Peter penned these words!), we should position our lives to maximize the magnification of God through Jesus Christ!
Colossians 3:17: “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
1 Corinthians 10:31, I shared this with the Kids for Christ last week: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
“So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
Those are not just religious words! Those are words that describe ultimate reality.
God wants us to magnify His glory. Not like a microscope. Not making something small bigger. But like a telescope, making something unimaginably huge visible to the fallen human eye.
Are you living for the magnitude of God?
If God wants anything from you and me, that’s what He wants.
The chief goal of mankind is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.
Is your life a telescope of the glory of God? Are you living for the magnitude of God in all things? So that He gets the praise, He gets the glory, He gets the power?
Friends, time is short. The end of all things is near. But the glory of God through Jesus Christ lasts (v.11) “forever and ever. Amen.”
Do you want to give your life to something that lasts forever?
Magnify Your God!
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