When the Worship Ends, the Service Begins

1 Peter 4 and verse 8 we read these words,

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Each one should use whatever gift he or she has received to serve others.

Maybe, like me, you like those movies that are slightly kind of scary

only because they're movies about a potential threat to the future

of our whole civilization, of human life as we know it here on Earth.

I'm thinking of movies like Greenland and Contagion.

I guess Contagion is a fairly contemporary theme at the moment.

And I think the appeal of such movies is that actually it's not quite beyond our imagination

to imagine that any of these scenarios might happen.

We know, for instance, that millions of years ago,

a meteorite hit the Earth and apparently wiped out the dinosaurs, God love them.

And we know that the threat of global pandemic is a threat that's only too close to us,

but hanging over us like a sort of sword of Damocles

is the threat of global warming caused by man-made climate change.

And depending on which scientists you read,

you will discover that the Earth's got 30 years left in it as we carry on as we do,

or maybe longer if other models have got it right.

I love that quote that somebody said in relation to climate change.

They said, there is no plan B because there is no planet B.

And we know what the person who said that meant.

And Peter is seeking in his letter to encourage Christians

who are going through tough times.

And many of you feel that you're going through tough times.

Not quite the same as the Christians that Peter was writing to.

Peter was dealing with Christians who were being persecuted simply

for owning the name of Jesus Christ.

And we can read in chapter 1 and verse 6 of his amazing epistle these words.

In this, Peter writes to the Christians,

you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while

you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

It's interesting that in the early church,

because they thought that the return of Jesus was so imminent,

they were truly perplexed when any of the early Christians died.

They couldn't work it out.

Why? What's going on here?

In 2,000 years on,

we're less clear whether there will be a time,

as the early church thought,

there will be a time when God will bring to a close

the whole of human history.

And those who are dead and those who are alive

will be judged by God.

In AD 325, the Council of Nicaea

wrote the Nicene Creed,

accepted it in the church

as a kind of definitive statement

of what we Christians believe.

And a very important part of that

goes like this.

We say together,

he will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead.

Or the quick and the dead,

to use the old language.

I've never forgotten this.

When I was made Archdeacon of Berkshire

just after the Reformation,

I went to visit with the Archdeacon

who was retiring,

funny old,

I can't remember his name now,

David something.

He said to me,

Michael,

he said,

the clergy are of two sorts.

He said,

the quick and the dead.

Well, I've never forgotten that.

He will come again.

And so,

what we discover is that

Peter here,

particularly in the passage

that we're dealing with,

is trying to teach Christians

how they should live

in the light of what Peter thought

was the imminent return of Jesus

and the end of human history.

Giving them advice on

how they should live

in that context.

And you say to yourself,

hang on.

Two thousand years of history

has gone by.

You know,

why is this relevant to us?

Well,

it's relevant to us

because the New Testament

is very clear in this.

that because we don't know

when Christ will return,

we should live

as if it might be imminent.

It's quite a challenging thought.

I get that.

But we should live responsibly today

with the end in mind.

And Peter is very clear

in his advice about that.

We'll come on to that

in just a second.

Some years ago,

the accident investigation people

in the USA

did a huge research study

around horrible incidents

that happened.

Things like plane crashes,

things like car accidents,

you know,

bridges,

collapse,

whatever.

And what they were trying

to find out is

in such situations,

who is helpful

and who isn't?

And this is what

they discovered.

I would never have guessed

this,

counterintuitive to me,

but in a panic,

calamitous situation,

10% of people

keep their wits about them

and act responsibly

and do things

that are broadly judged

in terms of the research

as helpful.

80% of people,

80%,

8 out of 10,

do nothing

but panic.

And 10%

actively getting involved

in doing things

that are distinctly unhelpful.

You might have to think to yourself,

who am I?

And don't put your hands up,

but who am I in that context?

How am I when,

you know,

all around me

is falling apart?

And you might like to ask yourself

the question,

just suppose,

go to the theme

of that movie,

Greenland,

suppose it was announced

in the newspaper

and on the media tomorrow

that there was a massive meteorite

heading for Earth

and our days were numbered

and they could calculate

how long it would take

for that meteorite

to hit planet Earth.

And do you see

that suddenly

you're being told

you've got three months left

on planet Earth

before a catastrophic event

sees to the end

of all of us.

Well,

that's the scenario

that another group

of researchers

put to people

and they discovered

that people said

things like this.

I mean,

who would do this,

right?

A lot of people said

we would max out

our credit cards

in the time left to us.

Some of you are thinking

I'm already maxed out,

you know,

how's that,

how's that help me?

Some people said

that they would enter

as many casual

sexual relationships

as they could

in the time left to them.

And very few people

said anything responsible

in relation

to that research.

Majority of people said,

well,

what can you do?

You know,

just sit around

and wait for it to happen.

Well,

that's not what

Peter thinks.

And you might

ask yourself the question,

Mike,

you said that

Peter was writing

to encourage us

and then he's telling us

the world is going

to end any time.

How does that work?

Well,

it works like this

because

Peter was keen

to try and speak reality

as he understood it

to a fledgling church

in different parts

of the diaspora

around the ancient Near East.

So what is his advice?

Well,

the first thing we read

is this,

therefore be clear-minded,

verse 7,

and self-controlled

so that you can pray.

I know that there are

some people who say

are Christians,

they're so heavenly-minded,

they're not of much

earthly use.

But actually,

one of the things

about calamitous scenarios

is the tendency

to panic

inherently,

basically drives

many of us

to be very

self-centered,

to become

confused

in our thinking.

I think we've seen

that through the pandemic

to a certain extent.

People's thinking

just seems a bit

wrong-headed.

No,

says Peter,

in the light

of the Lord's return,

be clear-minded,

be clear-headed,

no,

don't be wrong-headed.

God knows

there are enough

wrong-headed ideas

alive in our culture

right now,

we just prayed

for some of them.

Be clear-headed,

take a few deep breaths,

don't panic,

and pray to Almighty God.

See,

Peter didn't think

that the end

was the end

for everyone.

He subscribed

to this idea

developing in the church

at the time

that there would be

a time when God

would draw down

the curtain

on the whole

of human history

and that he would

send his son

back to planet Earth

to judge the living

and the dead.

But he also thought

that there was

a way to avoid

adverse judgment.

And that was

to trust Christ

and his finished work

on the cross

of Calvary.

I don't know

if there are

other ways

to be saved.

I'm not that smart,

I don't know,

but what I do know

is that this book

says,

the Bible,

that there is

only one way

to be saved

and that's

in Jesus Christ.

He's saying to himself,

well, you know,

I'll bide my time,

you know,

maybe,

you know,

if things start

to hot up a bit,

if Ukraine kicks off

and, you know,

things start to go wrong,

you know,

maybe I'll reconsider

that decision.

Now,

Peter,

Peter's very keen

writing to Christians

that they should behave

in a right way,

but Peter also believed

that the end

of all things

would not be the end

for some,

that for those

who trust Christ,

death,

finality,

calamity,

would not be the end,

but would be

a new beginning.

People who panic

don't think clearly

and switch

into self-survival mode.

But Peter

was a pragmatist

as well.

He wasn't just saying,

you know,

hang around praying

till the end.

He said,

no,

first,

our text,

offer hospitality,

to one another.

Verse,

sorry,

verse 8,

above all,

love each other deeply

because love covers

over a multitude

of sins.

Now,

let's be clear,

what Peter

isn't saying here

is that

the end of the world

is nigh,

so invite your neighbour

in for a cup of coffee.

The word hospitality

is an interesting word.

It's a Greek word,

philozenia.

It's made up

of two roots.

One is philia,

which means to love,

and the other

is xenos,

which is the root

of our word

xenophobia.

So what hospitality

in the Bible

means is

it's a

position of the heart

and mind,

and it literally means

love the stranger,

love the foreigner.

show hospitality.

Of course,

that includes

coffee

and,

you know,

inviting your friends

for coffee

and doing,

but it's something

much deeper than that,

something much

bigger than that.

Paul's saying,

as,

sorry,

Peter's saying,

as the end approaches,

love the stranger

and love the foreigner,

love the people

who are not like you,

love the people

who,

the very thought

of them

makes you feel

just a little bit

uncomfortable.

And Peter

had a

fascinating take

on the relationship

between the way

Christians behave

and the way

pagans behave.

Chapter 2

and verse 12,

he says this,

live such,

he's writing to the church,

you and me,

live such good lives

among the pagans

that though they

accuse you

of doing wrong,

they may see

your good deeds

and glorify God

on the day

he visits us.

You get that,

right?

No rocket science.

It is

that the way

we behave

will have an impact

on the way

people who are

unbelievers

see us

and see

the value

of our faith

or not.

Peter's

a practical

person.

Love one another

and offer

hospitality,

vilosenia,

to each other.

I wonder

if

the people

who were lying

in bed this morning

with the Sunday

papers in front

of them

are thinking

of church

primarily

as a place

of hospitality.

And

in Swindon

the Sikhs

built this

amazing

Gurdvara.

It's a Sikh

temple,

it's like,

you know,

their church.

And one thing

I learned

was that

literally 24

hours a day

if you show up

at the Gurdvara,

there is

hospitality

on offer.

Samots

and

Pakura

just,

you know,

when I worked

in Slough,

I put on weight.

And of course

there's an element

of hospitality

which is cultural,

isn't it?

You know,

some cultures

in some places

people are

highly offended

if you don't

accept their

hospitality.

You know,

when you

sit with a Bedouin

around a pot

of tea

and,

you know,

the great honour

is to be given

the sheep's eye

to eat.

And you

breathe before

and if you

don't eat it

that will be

a huge insult.

What do you do?

What do you do?

You can feign

vegetarianism

or something

like that.

But,

you know,

it's just

such a big deal,

you know,

that in

households

people had

food prepared

in case

somebody

knocked on

the door.

I like that

and I think

our churches

should be

nearer to that.

I also

think that

you know,

the quality

of our

hospitality

is really

important.

And,

Clive,

I'm not

obsessed by

coffee,

so don't

worry about

it.

But I

think to

myself,

you know,

if somebody

has had a

peripatetic

ministry,

you know,

been around

churches,

different

churches

every Sunday,

my

custodied

conclusion

is that

the difference

in effort

between

making a

nice cup

of coffee

and church

coffee

is minimal

effort.

And I

mean,

I'm talking

about,

you know,

the sweet

old ladies

in these

rural churches

who bought

a pot of

powdered

co-op

coffee

and you

don't put

enough in

the cup

anyway.

And,

you know,

I think to

myself,

let's not

shortcut this.

Let's be

lavish in

our hospitality

so that

the world

might believe.

You might

just note

on

pass on

that

when you,

when they

talk to

people who

have done

the alpha

course,

one of the

things on

the,

people on

the alpha

course said,

one of the

things,

not the main

thing,

but one of

the things

people said

that doing

alpha around

a shared

meal was

really important

for them.

So we

need to

show

generous

hospitality,

inclusive

hospitality.

Come back

to that.

And it

needs to

be ongoing.

You know,

we can't

have a

church's

week of

hospitality.

It needs

to be 52

weeks of

the year.

And then

Peter says

something really

interesting.

Without

grumbling

of our

hospitality,

throughout

the whole

history of

the Bible,

the people

of God

had a

wonderful

reputation

for what

the Old

Testament

called

muttering.

And you

know that

kind of

functions

around

churches,

don't you?

There's

always

muttering.

And you

know,

I like to

say,

and I've

stayed

clean of

it all

my life,

I have

never indulged

in muttering.

Wrong.

I have

been an

instigator

around

muttering

on

occasions.

I am

a

weapon

grade

mutterer.

That's

got to

stop.

And then

Peter says

serve one

another,

verse 10.

And then

we've been

thinking about

gifts over the

last few

weeks.

What

Peter's

saying here

is,

in relation

to the

way we

are with

one another,

that we

should use

those gifts,

spiritual gifts

that God

has given

us to

serve one

another.

It's like

Paul's

picture of

the church,

that when

everybody

functions in

their gift

area and

we offer

those gifts

together,

the church

becomes

something

different.

It becomes

something way

beyond the

potential that

we can at

the present

imagine.

I said

to my

home group

that God

gives us

spiritual gifts

to glorify

himself,

to edify

the church

and to

serve in

the world.

The way

we behave

as a

church

might be

the kicker,

the clincher

in the way

others believe

or don't

believe.

So here

are three

things that

I'd like you

to take

home today.

Think about it.

I can't make

you do

anything.

You realise

that,

obviously.

There are

three things

that you

could do.

One,

do something

hospitable

this week.

Maybe think

about somebody

who you

don't feel

particularly

comfortable

about and

bake them

a cake

or write

them a

note.

or invite

them into

your home.

Two,

pray about

getting involved

in a

ministry

that involves

somebody who

is different

than you.

Now some

people have

got very

involved in

ministry with

asylum seekers.

Some of

you will

hold some

quite hostile

views towards

asylum seekers.

get involved

even if it

meant just

sending some

money.

And Sunday

Times this

morning,

there's a

shocking

picture on

the front

page of

a little

girl sitting

with her

mother covered

in snow,

freezing to

death,

begging for

food.

Surely some

of us could

send out a

bit of money,

you know,

don't forget

the church,

I get that.

Some of us

could send a

bit of money

to help

out there.

Bearing in

mind that

part of that

situation was

caused by

that hazardous

and chaotic

withdrawal of

Americans and

British service

staff.

And the

third thing

you could do

is this.

Talk to

somebody who

loves you

enough to

tell you the

truth about

your spiritual

gifts.

gifts.

We've got

friends who

just say

what they

think we

want to

hear.

Friends like

that are,

you know,

useful in a

way, but

talk to

somebody who

loves you

enough to

be able to

tell you the

truth.

So that,

you know,

the tragedy of

churches is

that a huge

percentage of

members haven't

got a clue what

their spiritual

gifting is.

So they

can't offer

it to serve

others.

I mean,

it makes a

pretty redundant

church when

that happens.

Let me close

with a story.

This is a true

story and I'm

going to

abbreviate it

because time

is running on

and you're

starting to

look comatose.

One night,

one night,

I'm home and

Anthony and the

kids had gone

away to,

I think it

was to her

mother's.

And it was a

dark and windy

night and our

rectory was in

the middle of

trees and

slightly apart

from any other

properties.

And I just

watched the

American football

and Chicago

Bears had won.

You can tell

this was years

ago.

It's midnight.

Going to bed

suddenly,

there's a

knock on the

door.

Part of me,

I mean,

what does this

say about me?

Part of me

thought, I'm

just going to

go to bed

and pretend

I didn't

hear it.

Then I

realised I

would have to

pass the

front door

with windows

in it to

get to my

bed.

I thought

again about

it.

So I

opened the

door.

There's a

guy there

about 19

years old.

First

thing I

noticed

was he

got love

and hate

tattooed on

his knuckles,

which is not

always, but

mostly a sign

that this

person's been

in prison.

I

said, can

I help

you?

He said, I

need a bed

for the

night.

Immediately,

my mind

went into

overdrive,

trying to

think of

at least

36 reasons

why I

couldn't

possibly let

this person

across my

doorway.

I don't

know if it's

the Holy

Spirit or it

was just my

general state

of panic,

which is

usually not

great.

I couldn't

think of

anything.

Oh,

auntie and

the kids

were away,

why not?

I took

him in,

put him

up on

the sofa

downstairs.

I went

to bed

wondering

whether I

would get

up and

still possess

a television

and a

video.

Next

morning I

got up,

he's still

there.

We had

breakfast

together and

I said a

little bit

about my

story,

told me his

story,

he was

working for

a

family of

crooks in

Aylesbury and

he said,

he kind of

summarised our

conversation

beautifully.

He said,

I guess the

difference between

you and me,

Mike, is you've

got Jesus and

I don't.

I'll settle for

that, I'll take

that.

He went out

of my life.

Fifteen years

later I

stood up to

speak in the

International

Conference Centre

in Cardiff,

Wales.

and from

the back

of the

auditorium

suddenly this

voice shouts,

Mikey!

And there's

this clop,

clop,

clop,

clop,

clop,

clop,

comes down

the stairs,

down the

stairs,

gets up on

the stage.

I'm standing

there thinking,

who the heck

is this?

And comes

up to me,

puts his

arms around

me and

kisses me on

the cheek.

My first

thought was,

that's the

end of my

ministry.

I can go

and get a

proper job

now.

That's what

he said.

He said,

this guy

doesn't know

him.

He said,

when I saw

him, I was

in a terrible

state.

I'd beaten

my girlfriend

up and her

parents had

thrown me out

of the house

and I needed

a bed for

the night.

And he was

stupid enough

to let me

have a bed.

I'm telling

you the story

against myself

because everything

in me wanted

to get rid

of this

guy.

Do you

know what?

I even

thought about

taking the

poker to

bed just

in case

it kicked

off.

I didn't.

And then

he said,

what he

doesn't know

is, I

became a

Christian and

I'm now a

pastor of a

Pentecostal

church.

And I run

a company

that makes

movies.

We should

make the

kind of

movies you'd

be happy

for your

children to

look at.

It started

the day

this guy

opened his

door.

Listen to

me.

You need

to be careful

about who

you let in

your house.

I mean,

seriously,

I would say

that.

I think

it's probably

a tad

reckless.

But look,

when you

offer that

philosenia,

that kind

of love

to the

people who

are not

like you,

who you

feel

uncomfortable

with,

my goodness,

you can

open the

door to

a lot of

good things.

And who

knows?

Maybe when

that day

that Peter

anticipated was

going to

happen sooner

rather than

later,

when the

end of

things

happened.

Who

knows?

Because of

the way

you behave,

another soul

might be

saved.

Let's pray

together.

Lord,

oh my

gosh,

we're such

complicated

people.

With our

likes and

our dislikes,

with our

sense of

comfort,

with the

people who

are like

us,

and our

distrust and

uncomfortableness

with people

who are not

like us.

And yet,

Lord,

you call us

to love the

other deeply.

And Lord,

the truth is

we can't do

that in our

own strength.

We need

help from

you.

Lord,

all you're

looking at

is for

someone to

say yes.

Yes,

Lord,

I get it.

And I

don't just

want to hold

that thought

in my head.

I want to

go and do

something.

Even this

week,

bake a

cake,

write a

note,

go visit.

So Lord,

help us

this week

to value

the principle

of hospitality

deep in our

minds and in

our hearts.

And help us

to go and do

something to

glorify your

name.

The pagans

might have a

change of

heart.

heart.

And we

pray these

things in

the name

of Jesus.

And the

people who

agreed said

together

loudly.

Amen.

Let's go.