1 Peter 4:3 - Homilies By J.r. Thomson

Every day and every moment closes and commences a year; yet the artificial arrangement by which it is agreed that a year shall close at one certain fixed moment of a certain fixed day is an arrangement both convenient and contributive in many ways to our moral and religious advantage. The review of the closing year is a very proper, and may be a very profitable, exercise. The newspapers review the events of the year which are of political, financial, or commercial interest. Man has, however, higher interests—those which are moral and spiritual. It is desirable that we should take a retrospect of "the time past," with a view of tracing God's providential dealings with us, with a view of estimating our own spiritual progress, and of learning lessons of wisdom and of helpfulness.

I. WHAT DOES REFLECTION SUGGEST TO US CONCERNING TIME PAST IN ITSELF ?

1. Its passage has been rapid, yet it has been filled with events of great importance.

2. It is perfectly irrecoverable; we cannot live the expiring year over again.

3. It has left ineffaceable traces upon our character. We are all changed by its influences, its occupations, its lessons—some for the better, some for the worse.

4. It is not forgotten by the Lord and Judge of all. In this sense he "requireth that which is past."

II. IN WHAT SPIRIT SHOULD THE CHRISTIAN CONSIDER THE TIME PAST ?

1. His first and most prominent thought should be of the mercy and loving-kindness of God revealed to him as the days and weeks have passed by.

2. Especially should he remember the long-suffering and forbearance which has been displayed towards him by his heavenly Father upon repeated occasions, when such consideration has been called for by failures in duty and by forgetfulness of Divine love.

3. He should remember with regret and repentance the opportunities of obedience and usefulness which he has neglected.

4. Nor should he lose sight of the discipline which he may have been called upon to endure, and which he should remember, not with a rebellious, but with a submissive spirit.

III. IN WHAT SPIRIT SHOULD THE IRRELIGIOUS AND UNDECIDED REVIEW THE TIME PAST ?

1. He should remember with humiliation and shame that he has broken the Law of God, and rejected the gospel of Christ.

2. He should reflect upon the evil influence which his example of religion has exercised over his fellow-men, especially over those within his family and social circle.

3. He should consider that he is the worse at the end of the year than at its beginning, because of his delay to repent and to commence by God's grace a new and better life.

IV. How SHOULD THE MEMORY OF THE TIME FAST AFFECT THE TIME TO COME ?

1. We may be helped to realize the brevity of life, and the uncertainty and probable brevity especially of what of life yet remains.

2. We may be induced to turn away from the evil which has been indulged in during bygone years, and to enter upon the holier life and more consecrated service which our conscience approves and enjoins. The sands are fast falling; the tide is fast ebbing; the light is fast fading. Let the future see our vows fulfilled, our hopes realized, our aims achieved!—J.R.T.

1 Peter 4:7 - Waiting for the end.

Like his brother apostle, St. Paul, St. Peter lived in constant anticipation of "the end." This attitude of mind was no doubt encouraged by the discourses of our Lord Jesus, to which Simon Peter had undoubtedly listened. And it must have been confirmed by the state of society both in the Jewish and the Christian world; changes were imminent, and none could say what form these changes might take. In some respects such statements and admonitions as those of the text are even more pressingly appropriate in our times than when they were first penned.

I. THE VIEW WHICH CHRISTIANS ARE TAUGHT TO TAKE OF THEIR EARTHLY CONDITION . The New Testament impresses upon us the transitory and temporary nature of all things earthly. Sound understanding will seek to verify this, not by prophetical and historical dates, but by moral and unquestionably significant facts.

1. There may well have been in the apostle's mind a foresight of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jewish race, and the abrogation of the Hebrew religion.

2. Yet a larger reference is probable; "the end of all things" can scarcely be limited to the catastrophe which befell the Israelitish people. There is no permanence on earth. The Christian, like the Jewish dispensation, must pass away. When this world has served its purpose—the purpose centring in the moral history of mankind—it will be dissolved. The visible and tangible are not the real, are not the lasting. Moral results will outlast the material framework of their development.

3. Every individual who reflects must feel that his own brief life-history gives point and pathos to the end of all things.

II. THE CONSEQUENT SPIRIT AND DUTY OF CHRISTIANS CHERISHING SUCH CONVICTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS . A superficial observer might suppose that the result of such beliefs must needs be excitement and distress, or, if not distress, solicitude. But this is not the effect designed by our Lord and his apostles. Quite the contrary; for St. Peter, in view of the approaching end, admonishes to

Such great and solemn realities as religion unfolds before the mind are fitted to strengthen, steady, and mature the character; and at the same time to inspire with pious desires and petitions. A spirit such as that here enjoined may justly be said both to qualify for this present probation and to prepare for future fruition. For "the end of all things" does not involve the end of God's government, or the end of man's life and spiritual progress - J.R.T.

1 Peter 4:8 - Fervent love.

Because St. John was emphatically the apostle of love, it must not be supposed that the inculcation of this virtue was left to him alone. The eloquent panegyric of charity in St. Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians is a proof of that apostle's sense of the importance of this virtue. And this passage in St. Peter's Epistle shows that the Lord's companionship had not failed to produce upon the mind of "the prince of the apostles" an impression of the Divine beauty and of the supreme excellence of love.

I. THE DIVINE FOUNDATION OF LOVE AS A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE .

1. The Divine nature is love; this is the pre-eminent attribute of the Eternal Father.

2. The spirit and example of our Lord Jesus are the supreme revelation of this grace; and such a revelation was only possible because Jesus was the Son of God.

II. THE PEERLESS EXCELLENCE OF LOVE AS A CHRISTIAN VIRTUE . St. Paul tells us, "the greatest of these is charity." And Peter here enjoins Christians to be "above all things fervent in their love."

III. THE SOCIAL BENEFITS OF LOVE . In the Christian society there is no place for those lower principles of union which have force in some relations of human life, as e.g. a common interest. But where love is, there joy and peace, fellowship and sympathy and material helpfulness, will assuredly prevail. Love covers sins; it hides those that exist, prevents those that in its absence might make their appearance, and secures by intercession the pardon of those which have been committed.

IV. THE FERVOR OF CHRISTIAN LOVE . Love may be in name only; it may exist in a state of feebleness. But in such cases it is of little service. The love which Christ approves is that which" many waters cannot quench," and which is "stronger than death."—J.R.T.

1 Peter 4:10 - Stewardship.

It is too common for men to pride themselves upon their advantages, the strength of body, the gifts of intellect, the bestowments of fortune, which they call their own. But the spirit of Christianity is altogether opposed to such a habit of mind. Peter as well as Paul took occasion to remind Christians that their advantages should be estimated and employed in a very different manner.

I. THE CHRISTIAN 'S ENDOWMENTS , ACQUISITIONS , AND POSSESSIONS ARE THE FREE GIFT OF GOD 'S KINDNESS . Those who do not believe in a Divine Giver cannot regard their possessions as a gift. But many who do not deny that they are the creatures of God's power and the dependents upon God's bounty, nevertheless think and act as if they had only themselves to thank for their advantages. We are therefore again and again reminded that we owe all that we have to the unmerited favor of Heaven. " What hast thou that thou didst not receive?"

II. THE CHRISTIAN 'S ENDOWMENTS , ACQUISITIONS , AND POSSESSIONS ARE A TRUST WHICH HE HOLDS FROM GOD , AND FOR WHICH HE MUST GIVE ACCOUNT . We are called to be "good stewards." Now, a steward is not an owner of the property; he is the responsible administrator of a trust. Why have our various advantages been conferred? Certainly not that we may use them for our personal pleasure or emolument or aggrandizement, but that by their means we may be serviceable to others. The former course would be an abuse of the trust reposed in us. The conferring of such a trust is a personal probation. He who has five talents is expected so to use them as to increase his means and powers of usefulness, and to offer to the Judge the interest which accrues to him who faithfully employs his deposit.

III. THE CHRISTIAN 'S ENDOWMENTS , ACQUISITIONS , AND POSSESSIONS ARE DESIGNED FOR THE SERVICE AND BENEFIT OF Ills FELLOW - MEN . The expression of St. Peter is noticeable in its definiteness and graphic force: "ministering it among yourselves."

1. This, then, is an appointed service.

2. A beneficial service.

3. A mutual service. In the Church of Christ no one is wholly and only a giver, or wholly and only a receiver. Every one has some gift, and every one has some need. It is by mutual ministration that the general welfare is secured.

4. A service acceptable to Christ. He who gave not only his gifts, but himself, for men, cannot but take pleasure in every manifestation of sympathy, in every ministration of helpfulness, to be met with in his Church - J.R.T.

1 Peter 4:11 - Christian speech.

The language of the apostle here need not be taken as referring to the heathen oracles. The New Testament makes use of the expression "oracles" to designate divinely authorized utterances intended to instruct and benefit men. Thus Moses is said by Stephen to have received "living oracles" to give unto the Jews; and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews describes the elements of Christian doctrine as "first principles of the oracles of God."

I. THE SEVERAL KINDS OF CHRISTIAN SPEECH .

1. In the primitive Church there were those who were inspired to utter forth with authority doctrines and precepts of religion. This was a special and supernatural "gift" bestowed upon the apostles, but by no means confined to them, and a gift the exercise of which must have been especially serviceable when Christianity was young, when some of the books of the New Testament were not yet written, and the canon was not yet complete. With bow deep a sense of responsibility such gifted persons must have addressed Christian congregations one can easily understand.

2. There were also those who were entrusted with the gift of tongues. Whatever differences of opinion may prevail with regard to the character of this gift, one thing is clear, and that is that it was supernaturally adapted for making a deep and signal impression in favor of the Christian faith. The singular nature of this power must have led its possessors to deem themselves "oracles" of God.

3. But there seems no reason for confining the reference of this admonition within limits so narrow. In the Church of Christ were those who, as pastors, teachers, and evangelists, were wont to employ the gift of speech from Christian motives and to Christian ends. This is a function which men of God have through all the Christian centuries been called to discharge, for the edification of the body of Christ, and for the spread of the gospel among men. Often have such experienced the restraining and inspiring influence of the apostolic direction given in this passage. When tempted to use their gift of speech for the purpose of advancing their own interests or displaying their own powers, such men have been checked by the recollection of this just and holy requirement, that they should speak as God's oracles.

4. Further, the reference of this language may be enlarged so as to include all speech of Christian men. There is a sense in which he who is filled with the Spirit of Christ must needs speak, whenever he opens his lips, as the oracles of God; for his speech is sincere and true, wise, just, and kind.

II. THE HOLY AND BENEFICENT INTENTION OF CHRISTIAN SPEECH .

1. It should be a revelation from God—not, indeed, in the narrower and more proper meaning of that word, but in a sense justifiable and defensible. The oracle declares the mind and will of the Divinity. The Christian's speech brings the holy and gracious God near to those who listen and understand.

2. It should serve for the guidance of those to whom it is addressed. It may not be didactic in form, but substantially it possesses a directing virtue. Christian speech may, and constantly does, preserve men from error and from sin, and guide them into truth and righteousness. It is used to this end by the Spirit of wisdom and of grace, who not only influences the mind and heart of him who speaks, but also the conscience, affections, and will of those who hear - J.R.T.

1 Peter 4:12 , 1 Peter 4:13 - Trials.

The word "trials" is one which is often upon the lips of persons who apparently give little heed to the spiritual meaning which is implied in it. People use the term as equivalent to "sufferings," "calamities," losing sight of the fact that it suggests great truths concerning our moral discipline and probation. In this passage the Apostle Peter, who was doubtless by Divine inspiration writing out of his own experience, expounds the Christian doctrine of earthly "trials."

I. THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH TRIALS ARE PERMITTED . To many minds the trials which befall the good and the bad alike seem hardly consistent with the benevolent character of God. But it is forgotten that the end of the Divine government is not to secure to all men the greatest possible amount of enjoyment, but to place every man in a position of moral discipline, to give him an opportunity to resist temptation, to cultivate virtuous habits, to live an obedient and submissive and truly religious life. Not as if God were indifferent to the issue of such probation; on the contrary, he watches its process with interest, and delights to see the gold purified in the furnace, the wheat winnowed from the chaff. The hearer of the Word is put upon his trial, and events prove whether he will hear or forbear. The believer in Christ is put upon his probation, and it is seen whether his faith is strong and his love sincere. Time tries all.

II. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH TRIALS ARE TO BE ENDURED BY THE CHRISTIAN . St. Peter shows us that the true Christian temper under trials is that which regards all such afflictions as participation in the Master's sufferings. He who is one with Christ finds his satisfaction in being "as his Master, his Lord." He does not ask to be exempt from the experiences Jesus submitted to pass through before him. And he is sustained and cheered to know that, even in the heated furnace, there is One with him whose form is as the Son of God. Here is the true remedy for human restlessness and for human discontent. What we share with Christ we may accept with submission and gratitude.

III. THE ISSUE TO WHICH TRIALS ARE TO TEND . We are not left without light upon the future. As our Lord himself', even in his humiliation and woe, saw of the travail of his soul, and was satisfied; so are his followers justified in anticipating, not merely deliverance, but exaltation. The glory of the triumphant Redeemer shall be revealed, and they who have shared his cross shall then with joy sit down with him upon his throne - J.R.T.