Focus

1 Kings 19:13-18                  1 Peter 4:1-11                           Matthew 6:1-18

Focus

There’s a wonderful story about Elijah in 1 Kings 19. You might remember him challenging and triumphing over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. You might also remember that the threats of a mortal queen caused the great prophet to totally lose focus on his almighty God and the result was a fear that sent him running for cover. As you no doubt know, he eventually walked all the way down to Mount Horeb where he hid in a cave. There God spoke to him asking him a simple question. “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 

Elijah replied, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” Now before you say, “tsk, tsk, naughty prophet”, put yourself in his sandals. Jezebel was a wicked queen who wielded great power…one who murdered all those who opposed her. The threat was very real and Elijah knew that. But that was not the problem. The problem was that he focused on that.

So God redirects his focus and tells him to go back, reminding him that he was not, as he apparently thought alone. There were still seven thousand in Israel whose knees had not bowed to Baal, and whose mouths had not kissed him. 

You see, focusing on God – who he is, what he has done, and what he is doing – instead of your problems can provide a powerful corrective to fear and despair and helplessness. 

As we have seen in our previous talks on the first epistle of Peter, the life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus is the foundation upon which our lives are built. Now, in chapter 4 he once more gives us another sign that points us in the right direction. “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.” In other words, because we have this example of the suffering of Jesus, we must embrace his same assertive approach to faithful obedient living in a hostile environment.

I think, this is the same point Paul was trying to make in Philippians 2. That we should cultivate the mind or the attitude of Jesus, who emptied himself, took on the form of a servant, and humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross. But he went on to say that because of his obedience despite suffering, opposition, and violent rejection God highly exalted him. 

And that’s what Peter is getting at here…because of the example Jesus has provided…because Jesus has given us a road map, if you will, of how to navigate life in a hostile world…we must arm ourselves with his way of thinking. In this world, Jesus said, we will suffer, but we ought to rejoice in the fact that he has overcome the world. In the realm of the flesh, Jesus suffered and died, but because of his obedience to the will of the Father, he triumphed over it all through the power of the Spirit.

This metaphor, “arm yourselves”, is a military one that anticipates a battle. In this case it is not only a battle against our own fallen fleshly or human passions or the fallen fleshly or human passions of those who oppose us, but also it’s also a battle against the devil, whom Peter describes as a roaring or a prowling lion in 5:8. 

I think what Peter is saying is that as born again, recreated, new creatures, and as citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, who remain in the world for the sole purpose of fulfilling the ministry of reconciliation that began with the death and resurrection of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5)…because of all these present realities, we wage war against whatever stands in opposition to God and his kingdom. We are not only to resist all fleshy temptations, especially the temptation to give up when struggles and trials seem to overwhelm us…but we are also meant to resist the devil, to bind the strong man, to prevail against the very portals of hell so that we might plunder his defeated kingdom despite heavy resistance and conflict. 

In this sense, we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and crush Satan under our feet. You see, in choosing life instead of death believers cease from sin (not necessarily cease to sin) because in Jesus we have moved from the old to the new. In Jesus we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). In Jesus we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). In Jesus we have been raised up together with him and we have been seated in heavenly places with him. In Jesus we are citizens of his kingdom 

(Ephesians 2:6). The old has passed away, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The world we battle is marked by the flesh, sin, and human desires; but the realm in which faithful believers now live is shaped by the mind of Christ and the will of God. This contrast echoes Jesus’ words to Peter in Mark 8:33: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Whether we recognise it or not, believers live on a battlefield. Yet we are armed with a different mindset from our opponents – one that enables us to endure suffering and move toward victory, because Jesus has already overcome everything set against us. And if God is for us, who can stand against us?

Although we might not always be aware of it, depending on what we are focussing on, the old realm of the flesh is presently being dismantled. Because of who we are in Jesus we have entered a spiritual sphere for Christian living and therefore the various categories of sin outlined here by Peter are no longer fitting – they are completely inconsistent and incompatible with who we are in Jesus and therefore we ought no longer to practice them…we are to stand against them, fight against them, and defeat them…that is the fleshly part of the battle we face daily. 

Of course, as we seek to live lives that reflect our new standing in Jesus, our behaviour will seem odd to those of the old order. They will mock us and slander us. They will go out of their way to tempt us and trip us up. They will oppose us and reject us and perhaps even seek to violently suppress us. But that is why we must live faultless lives so that their accusations will be unfounded. 

Peter has told us repeatedly throughout his epistle that the life of a believer ought to imitate the life of Jesus…our suffering replicates his suffering. Therefore slander against us recalls slander against Jesus. And as they oppose us, they oppose him, and therefore their actions are blasphemous and they will have to give an account to God for their resistance.

There is an interesting possible echo here of what Peter said in chapter 3:15, in that while believers need to be ready to give an account to others for their behaviour when they are judged, nonbelievers will give an account to God for their behaviour when they are judged by him. Whether this echo was intentional or not it does emphasize that, in both cases, God is the ultimate and only truly righteous judge of the living and the dead. 

This highlights the universality of judgment as God is the creator and owner of everything in existence. As such, when Peter reminds us of this fact, he gives us hope to persevere as we faithfully press on against all that resists us in the flesh and in the spirit. In many ways, as long as we are on this side of eternity, we straddle two domains – the domain of the flesh in which we struggle against our own fallen human desires and in which we suffer the slander of those who remain dead in their trespasses and sins – as well as the domain of the spirit in which we stand reconciled, restored, resurrected, recreated, and revived. But our focus must always remain on the domain of the spirit if we are to live in the spirit.

Now, verse 7, “The end of all things is at hand,” is more often than not interpreted in terms of the end of time. And liberals have a field day with this type of interpretation as they point out that if that is the meaning of the text (that Peter believed the Second Coming of Jesus was imminent), then Peter was obvious wrong and therefore his words are fallible and that train of thought often leads to a denial of the reliability of Scripture. But besides that, this interpretation seems to contradict the clear teaching of Jesus regarding the unexpected and unknowable moment of the end of the age. 

So, some scholars have either opted to say that this verse can mean the definitive turning point of the ages introduced by Christ's first coming, placing all believers throughout time in a permanent "last days" era. While others have said that the phrase "at hand" functions to create a permanent posture of readiness and moral seriousness for every generation of believers, regardless of the exact date on the calendar. Still others connect the "end of all things" to the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the temple (that occurred in AD 70), which radically upended the old Jewish religious order.

But given the context of this passage, I wonder if what Peter meant was that their current situation was to end soon. Remember, in chapter 1:6 he says, “In this you rejoice, though now (and here comes the relevant bit) for a little while, you have been grieved by various trials…so that the tested genuineness of your faith…may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 

Also, in chapter 5:10, Peter alludes to a limited time of affliction. “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” It seems clear to me that Peter believed that their period of trial and tribulation would soon end…he was expecting deliverance from suffering, not the second coming of Jesus. 

So, if we then read, in the light of what he said about a limited period of trial in chapter 1 and in chapter 5, if we then read what he says here in chapter 4:7, “The end of all things is at hand, therefore be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers,” is it not possible that he is simply encouraging them to hang in there, to not lose focus, to concentrate on living out the genuineness of their faith, because the trial they are currently enduring won’t last forever?

We know of at least the ending of two serious outbursts of persecution that were recorded in the book of Acts. The first was the persecution that started after the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 8:1) and ended with the conversion of Saul who later became Paul (Acts 9:31). The second was the persecution started by Herod (Acts 12:1) that ended with the violent death of Herod (Acts 12:23) as divine judgement. In both cases, it was the Lord himself who stopped the persecution…one could say he prevailed as judge over both Saul and Herod. Other persecutions recorded in Acts were also sporadic and short lived. Even the great tribulation under the Emperor Nero which is not recorded in Acts ended with the suicide of Nero. 

The early Jewish believers in what is modern northern Turkey needed to be encouraged so that they might navigate the painful geopolitical and religious shifts of their time. So, could it be that Peter's call for them to be "self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers" was a practical and urgent command for them to endure their fiery trials as none of them would be permanent? 

Could it be that he is saying something similar to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 where he writes that "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all", in other words, encouraging his readers to look at things that are eternal rather than the things that are temporary? Or something like what he says in Romans 8:18 that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us"? 

From my own personal experience, I think what helps most believers through times of suffering is the knowledge that it is temporary. Even if suffering follows us all the days of our earthly life, we know that ultimately, we will live on for eternity in a place where suffering is no more. No more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more sickness, no more death.

So, in my humble opinion, I believe this is what Peter is telling us here in 4:7. Don’t focus on what is transitory. Focus on what is eternal. Otherwise our prayers will be skewed or hindered because our focus will be on the darkness and not on the light or on lies and not on truth or on people rather than on God.

This renewed focus is the basis upon which we build community in the here and now. We live as those who have already inherited that which is to be. If we are living stones being built up as a spiritual house with Jesus as our cornerstone…if we are a holy priesthood…if we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God…if we are to be his own personal possession…if we are to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light…then it seems obvious to me that we ought to live in a manner that will achieve these things, don’t you? 

God is love and anyone born of God loves as he loves…so we must love each other earnestly…forgiving one another, covering or smothering sin through love.

And because we are stewards of everything we own, whether these are physical things or spiritual things, we must freely and selflessly share them with each other. I think that’s what Peter means when he strings together these commands to be hospitable (the sharing of physical things such as shelter and food) and to serve one another through the exercising of our spiritual gifts (the sharing of spiritual things such as the various forms of teaching and serving). 

We ought to do all these things…love each other and serve each other…because our aim is to glorify God in everything we do in the name of Jesus. We must always remember that our actions proclaim a message…either a message that blasphemes the name of our God or a message that honours the name of our God.

In many ways, Peter is simply repeating what Jesus says…that people will know that we are his followers by our love for one another.

And since it is God who gives us everything we have…salvation, sanctification, spiritual gifts and the strength to practice them…since everything we are and everything we ever will be is because of who God is and what he has done and what he is doing…it is God who must receive glory. 

Since God is the source and culmination of all things…since he is the author and finisher of our faith…since he is the beginning and the end of all things…since he is the giver of all things…since he is the perfector of all things…all glory and dominion belongs to him for ever and ever.

Focusing on God, who he is, what he has done, and what he is doing, rather than on our problems, struggles, trials, or the hurtful things others may say or do, requires an intentional renewing of the mind. It means preparing our minds for action by turning our attention away from fear and toward the truth of God’s character and promises. 

When life feels heavy, we can redirect our focus through simple, faithful practices:

Praise God for who he is, remembering his goodness, his kindness, his compassion, his grace, his mercy, his forgiveness, his power, his faithfulness, and his love. 

Surrender control to him, trusting that he is at work even when circumstances remain difficult. 

Meditate on Scripture, allowing the truth of God’s Word to shape our thoughts, prayers, and responses. 

And finally, practice daily habits of prayer, thanksgiving, and obedience that keep our eyes fixed on what is eternal.

The way you live is determined by the way you think, and the way you think is determined by what you believe, and what you believe is determined by what Scripture teaches us about God and his ways. 

Ultimately, it’s all a matter of focus.

Shall we pray?

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2026