End Time Ethics
I. The END of the WORLD as We KNOW it (I Pet. 4:7; II Peter 3:8-10a; Luke 21:34-36)
A. Not an INVITATION to WORRY (Matt. 24:36, 6:25-34; I Peter 5:7; Phil. 4:5-7)
B. Instead, A COMMAND to Stay SOBER (1:13, 4:7, 5:8; I Thes. 5:6-8; 2 Tim. 1:7)
C. PRAYER Keeps Us PREPARED (Luke 21:36; Matt. 26:41; Eph. 6:10-18)
II. All You NEED is LOVE (4:8-9; James 5:19-20; Prov. 10:12)
A. An INTENSE Love (4:8; Song of Solomon 8:6-7)
B. A SHELTERING Love (4:8; Ps. 91:1-2; Zeph. 3:17)
C. A WELCOMING Love (4:9; Rom. 12:13; Matt. 25:34-46)
III. The GIFT that Keeps on GIVING (4:10-11; I Cor. 12)
A. STATING the OBVIOUS: You Have RECEIVED a GIFT (I Cor. 12:7; Rom. 12:6-8)
B. CLARIFYING the PURPOSE: To SERVE Others (4:10)
C. REMEMBERING the SOURCE & the END: GOD (4:11)
IV. END TIME Ethics
A. Develop the Discipline of PRAYER
B. Extend the Edges of LOVE
C. Give the Gift of SERVICE
Questions for Further Reflection
1. Kid’s Question: If you were told you only had one more day of summer left, what would you want to do?
2. How would you describe your relationship with eschatology (the study of the end times)? Obsessed? Ambivalent? Confused? Scared?
3. What role does prayer play in your life? What makes it difficult for you to pray?
4. Can you think of a chasm in your life that love could not ultimately overcome? Spend sometime in prayer thinking of what God’s love and forgiveness could do. How might love coverover a multitude of sins in your own life?
5. What would it look like for you to stretch love a little more in your life? What does love looklike at its limits? Does it have a limit?
6. When have you felt the sheltering effects of someone’s love? Has love ever “covered over”your sin?
7. What is the hardest part about hospitality?
8. What are your spiritual gifts? How are you using them to serve others?
9. Which of these three is most difficult for you: Prayer, Love, or Service? How do you hopeto grow in this area? Spend some time in reflection and then prayer. Seek out accountability partners. Ask God for wisdom and grace.