READ
1 Peter 4:7-11
CONSIDER
Perhaps you’ve noticed someone holding a sign or seen a billboard declaring that “The End Is Near”, along with an accompanying action. How does this messaging make you feel? What are your thoughts about the end? When Scriptures speak about this, it does not do so with a sense of fatalism, despair, or fear. It bears witness of how God will one day renew and redeem all peoples, including the heavens and earth. The promise that evil and suffering will be judged and defeated and everything will be made right again in Christ is the hope and drive for us to engage our culture and world with compassion and urgency. In every way that God has pursues, rescues, and transforms us, the same can be applied to our neighbours and enemies alike.
As our sermon series on evangelism draws to a close, we’ve been inspired and challenged to consider how our questions can create openings for conversations; how the marketplace can be the setting for the Kingdom to break through; how hospitality can give people a tangible experience of God’s love; and how we can respond to doubts with reasons to believe. Underlying all of these approaches and methods is the story of what God has done in the past and is actively doing in the world today. To paraphrase Stanley Hauerwas, the task of His people, collectively as the church, is not to change and make a difference in the world, but to live into the change and difference that Christ has already made. In the ways that we love, welcome, speak, and serve, this reality is made tangible and manifest in our social spaces, prompting those around us to notice and receive God’s presence and saving work in their own lives. Would we share the good news of Jesus to others as we join and live into God’s unfolding story.
Looking forward to our time in His Word,
Pastor Jon Nip
PRAY
Gracious God, would your redemptive story remind us of who we are and our calling to join you in your work in the world. Would the words from our lips, particularly in how we interact and reach out with the good news of Jesus to others, be an offering and act of worship to you. Would we remember that your love is equally for our neighbours and enemies, as much as it is for us, and would it stir in us to show the same love for all those who have yet to come to know and receive your grace and mercy in Jesus. We ask in faith that you would show and stretch us to take the next steps to be a witness and disciple-maker to those around us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
DIVING DEEPER
How does what we believe about the end impact how we live today?
Where are our neighbours in God’s story?
What difference does the love of God and love of others make as we connect people to the gospel?
How are others able to hear God’s words through what we say and witness His strength through how we serve?