No tone but the right time

In 1988, evangelical philosopher and theologian Carl Henry made a stunning prediction in his book, Twilight of a Great Civilization. He said that as America progressively loses its Christian heritage, paganism would grow bolder. What we saw in the last half of the 20th-century was a kind of benign humanism, but he predicted that by the start of the 21st-century, America would face a situation not unlike the first-century when the Christian faith confronted raw paganism—humanism with the pretty face ripped off, revealing the angry monster underneath. His words have come true, and are coming truer with every passing day.

As the world gets darker and darker w we who follow Jesus have some choices to make. The question we must ask is how we will respond to the ever growing immortality of the world and how will we live out the Gospel in the midst of a culture that hates it with all of its being. I believe that we really have reached a tipping point in our country, we may not feel it as strong here in rural rockingham county, but the war on Christian value is real all around us. It used to be the the culture around us was pro Christian then it was neutral, now it is defiantly against.

Some churches have allowed this shift to make them angry and isolated. They have become the kind of place that looks down their nose at others. They are belligerent and spend more time talking about how right they are than how good God is.

Other churches have gotten swept up in the new age stream. They have abandoned the scriptures harder teaching about things accepted by the society around us. They have been blinded by the world and them and now the messages they preach is really no different than the works around them.

And then there are the churches that strive to remain faithful. Studying the Bible with integrity and deliberation. These churches seem to live out the Bible as upstream swimmers knowing it is hard to live like this, but it is worth it and along the way these churches invite others along on this journey.

Context

second Peter is a short but powerful book . there are two main themes that peter wants us to capture first, is that there will be false teachers in the church . and 2nd that Christ returned is a guarantee .

I find it interesting that Peter butts these two things together in his epistle. In Chapter 2 he condemns the heretical leaders And in Chapter 3 he encourages the faithful church . I wonder, if we have that sense of balance in the today. We must always find space to encourage faithful believers, but at the same time call out false teaching and make sure what is being taught and practiced is centered in the word of God.

For today I want to really focus in on Peter's call to remember the return of Christ in chapter 3 . We have now exited the season of lent, and we are just two weeks removed from Easter Sunday. In just a few weeks we will celebrate ascension Sunday where we remember Jesus ascended to heaven to the right hand of God to intercede for us and prepare a place for us in heaven.

But there is this promise that we must hold onto as we live between jesus is ascension and the rest of eternity . It is the promise of his return .. when Jesus rose from the grave and went to be with God, he did not do so as his final action. rather, he did so to provide a way for us to be prepared for the final scene When he comes back for his church to set all that is wrong in this world right once again.

One of the pieces of this text that is highly influential and its application is what Paul meant when he said that in the last days there would be false teachers. peter's entire presentation of the promise of Jesus return is given in response to false teachers. The connection between false teachers coming and preaching against Jesus return initiation initiates Peters thoughts on how we should hold that teaching tightly .

so the question is what does Peter mean by “in the last days “ in verse 3 ? I don't think Peter meant that as a countdown. oftentimes when we hear about things happening in the last days We take it to mean that there is a cosmic timer that starts when certain actions occur . but I do not think that is what Peter means. . I think peter, And the scriptures as a whole, have a more holistic view of jesus has returned and and the days leading up to it. I would argue that Peter would see the last days as all days that have come to be and will come to be since Jesus arose from the grave and ascended to heaven .it seems that the Bible would teach that the first days were the days before Jesus became God with us. And the last days are all the days since Jesus departed from us and gave us his holy spirit .

so today I want to take a look at 4 things that this chapter communicates to us about the second coming of Christ and how we can hold onto those truths in a world where we need to keep Jesus return central to our beliefs .

it should not surprise us that people think we are crazy

many times Christians get so upset when people ridicule us or belittle us for our beliefs in Jesus . Especially beliefs that Jesus is coming back to Earth for his church. but the reality is that that really shouldn't be surprising for us. In fact, the Bible tells us that we should expect people to scoff at the idea that Jesus is going to return. listen to 1 Corinthians 1:18

1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV)

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

where we who have the Holy Spirit are empowered by the message of the cross, those who have not accepted the Holy Spirit see it as foolishness. when the world pokes funded us, or the world ridicules us , it , it should not surprise us, and it should not anger us, it should make us mourn because they are doing so because they are rejecting Jesus.

The Bible tells us plainly throughout the New Testament that there will be people who twist the word of God. this has been happening ever since Jesus There is nothing new about heresy, and nothing new about false teaching . any of the New Testament letters contain warnings about false doctrine and some shape or form . So we are not dealing with anything new , we are rather experiencing the same things that the church has always fought against. what is different now might be the rapid acceleration of this teaching. because of mass production of texts, social media, and other avenues false teaching can spread a lot faster than it did in the 1st and 2nd centuries.

often I will hear Christian say “I can't believe there are people out there who don't believe that the Bible is the word of God.“ I can believe it, because the Bible told us there would be those kinds of people. Or someone will say I can't believe that there are preachers out there that preach that it's OK to live in same sex marriage, or to embrace transgenderism we're OK to deny that Jesus is the only way to salvation “ again, I can believe that preachers are preaching that because the Bible told us that some false teachers would twist the word of God . it doesn't make me surprised, it makes me sad and it makes me hurt for the people who accept that teaching.

so when we hear of people scoffing at the promise of Jesus, or scoffing at the Bible, our response should be to prey for their transformation and that they would allow the Holy Spirit into their hearts to show them the truth of God.

THE THREE STONE-CARRIERS

Many years ago in a church in England, a preacher entered the pulpit and said:

"Brethren, before I preach, allow me to tell this story. Many years have passed since I was in this place. On that evening there came three young men, not only with the intention of scoffing at the minister, but with their pockets filled with stones to throw at the preacher. After a few words, one of them said, 'Let us be at him now.' But the second replied, 'No, let’s hear how he does.'

"The minister went on, when the second one said, 'We have heard enough; now throw your stones.' But the third stopped them, saying, 'He is not so foolish as I thought; let us hear him out.' The minister preached and ended his sermon without being interrupted.

"Now listen! One of these three young men was executed a few months ago. The second lies under sentence of death in the city jail for murder. The third," continued the minister, while the tears ran down his cheeks, "through the grace of God, is the one who is speaking to you now."

we should trust in God's timeline

I found myself having a conversation about God's I was talking with a friend and we were saying how we didn't know how much more had to happen and how much sinful This world had to get before Jesus returned.

but a careful reading of verse 8-9 tell us something interesting about God's timeline. First the Scriptures tell us that 1000 years on Earth is like one day in heaven . God is not even playing with the same deck of cards we are. he is not limited by time as we are. the ways that we see hours minutes and days are unfathomably smaller than how God views the stretch the stretch of time. we become frustrated because we see 60, 70, 80 years as a lifetime. But that is barely a blink of the eye in the time management of God.

this week I went to visit Delbert slater, he is 94 years old period to sit and hear him talk about God was amazing. and all I can think was this man has lived almost a century. 100 years on this earth seems like forever in my finite mind. But then as I came home and read this text I was reminded that 1000 years is like a day with God. So Delbert's lifetime isn't even isn't even a 10th of one day in the Kingdom of God.

peter tells us that God is not slow and delivering this promise . Another translation says God is not hesitating in fulfillment. But instead God is being patient. the return of Jesus is initiated both by God's judgment, and God's grace. for us who have been saved we can get impatient because we are because we are waiting to go home. But, there are people who God loves who have not accepted this truth and God is lovingly waiting for as many of his people accept to accept him as possible. God is not slow, we are impatient . rather than sitting back wondering and and complaining that God has not moved yet , our energy should be focused on spreading the message of God's forgiveness to any one who will hear.

we must remember that our god is a god of mercy and Grace. When we feel like he is delaying because things .are not bad enough yet, the reality is he is delaying because he is waiting for as many hearts to be transformed as possible. he wants all people to accept him, even though we know that some will reject

No time but the Right Time

Pieter also tells us that the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The same idea is echoed to other times in the New Testament, Both Matthew 24 and 1 thess 5 use this same metaphor.

however, there seems to be a differentiation between people in first testimony in

1 Thessalonians 5:3–8 (ESV)

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

Peters emphasis is that the day of the Lord will surprise the world like a thief in the night. Why? Because the world walks in darkness. Because the world is insane and separation from God they do not have the light of the spirit. So, much like the dark of the night when we do not see a thief coming into our homes to to Steele, when Jesus returns those in darkness will not see him coming. His return will startle them and cause panic much like a thief who comes into a residence

Paul uses a different kind of comparison in his letter to the Thessalonians. He says that the thief in the night will scare those who are in darkness and cause fear and distress. Meanwhile those of us who live in the light will experience this like birth pains. When a woman is pregnant and she begins to go into labor with pains and the breaking of her water, it causes excitement. There is still surprise, and there is still anxiety but those are presented in the light and excitement, not panic and fear.

No one knows when the Lord will come. In fact, Jesus even said that he does not know when the time will be. So if anyone on earth tells you or anyone else that they Are lying. Instead, Jesus gives us the command that we are to wait that’s a family waiting for a new baby to be born. There’s nothing we can do to rush the birth along, and there’s nothing we can do to slow the birth down. All we can do is wait with joy and anticipation.

Honestly, that is part of the struggle I have with how many Christians use teachings of the Second coming of Christ. They use these passages to manipulate or scare the church into obedience. But, passages such as this one show us that we should be waiting with joy and hope for the return of Jesus. If we are living our lives with Jesus and in the will of God we have nothing to fear in the last days. Instead, we should be preparing for a joyous birth.

Notice also that Paul speaks of the peace and security that will falsely be excepted when these things are to happen. The Bible paints a picture of a society that is ignorant of their own demise and the judgment that comes behind it.

Jesus‘s return will expose at all

Most people are terrified of being exposed. Most of us have probably had a dream of showing up somewhere like work or school with no pants on. The horror of showing up to a place with so many people and being exposed

Or how about the browsing history on our computers ot phones? Most of us would cringe at the thought of someone going through our history, even though most of us probably have nothing to hide.

This is even true biblically. Adam and Ever eat the apple and immediately they are ashamed because they are naked- they are exposed.

Peters words to us say that that ask things will be exposed. Verse 10 in todays passage says that both the Earth and all that is done on it will be exposed, or the original Greek suggests “laid open”

But why? Why is God going to lay it all open? Why must the world and all that is in it be exposed?

What if this necessary burning it’s nota threat, but a hopeful promise? What if the point of God exposing all that done in the darkness with his light is not meant to scare us but to encourage us.

Let’s jump forward a few verses to v13

2 Peter 3:13 “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

In order for the righteousness of God to dwell here,