2 Peter 3:1-10
2 Peter • Sermon • Submitted
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· 103 viewsThe future hope of Jesus' return gives hope for today.
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Our world is full of confusion
Our world is full of confusion
The Coronavirus is still wrecking havoc on jobs, economies, families, and more.
Racial tensions have flared up reminding us that the world is still very racially broken.
Holman New Testament Commentary: I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude I. Introduction: It’s a Good Idea
It’s a Good Idea
A little six-year-old girl told her mother her favorite Bible story was Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding. Her mother, a little puzzled by her daughter’s choice, asked, “Well, what did you learn from that story?” The little girl responded, “What I learned from the story is that when you have a wedding, it’s a good idea to have Jesus there.”
As it describes the church, the New Testament uses a brilliant metaphor, painting the church as “the bride of Jesus Christ.” That picture says we who are followers of Jesus, and, therefore, part of the church, will one day see Christ as individuals and as a corporate body. For us, that day will be a celebration, a wedding of sorts. When you have a wedding, it is a good idea to have Jesus in attendance. The church will be the bride, and Christ will be the bridegroom.
False teachers that we talked about over the past two weeks will always be a problem for the church. Heresies will always happen. Problems will always be present in our world. Yet, through it all the return of our Savior Jesus looms as our hope for the future.
We must be persistent in remembering the the promises of God with regards to the return of Jesus. As we do this we can live with greater hope in the world around us.
1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,
The goal of Peter’s writing is to stimulate thinking about things we must remember. The goal of what we do in and through church is to stimulate right thinking about God’s world.
1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
I love how the NIV handles this verse. Peter wants to “stimulate…wholesome thinking.” Wholesome is good, organic, uncontaminated.
Isn’t it true that often when we take time to consider our actions and beliefs we are able to make more wholesome decisions and take better actions.
The way we are stimulated to wholesome thinking is by taking time to have our thinking challenged. We naturally revert to what comes naturally and easily to ourselves. We are naturally drawn to our own biases, perspectives, and views on the world.
For example for all of us born white and American we have a perspective on the world that is not shared by everyone else. Simply by virtue of birth we have set experiences. If we do nothing we will go through life thinking the experiences we have and our perspective is completely right.
Yet, if we take time to listen we can find our thinking stimulated to change. Personally I’m reading through the book, “The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the age of Colorblindness” It is changing how I think about the world of black men and women.
We need reminders of the teachings of Jesus to stimulate us to think rightly. Without these reminders regularly our Christianity will only be a mutated version of our family culture. It will not be the radical, culture altering faith that Jesus gifted to us.
2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,
There are two areas where people challenge the truth of the church.
First of all they doubt that the predictions of the Bible will come true. They scoff at the idea of the prophets in the Bible having any power to predict events to this day.
We must be students of all of the Bible.
We must be students of all of the Bible.
Secondly, people don’t believe in the power and validity of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus taught about a new way of living and a way to know our Father in Heaven.
We must be disciples of Jesus.
We must be disciples of Jesus.
Jesus promised that he would return.
Jesus commanded us to love one another.
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
The more we remember the teachings of the Bible the more we will be able to follow and live by them. Remember, our actions are defined more by habits than by choices. When we make a habit of remember the teaching and commands of Jesus, our habits our molded. As our habits become Christ-shaped, our actions more easily follow.
3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
One of the great challenges of the church has been faithfully holding onto the promise of Jesus’ return. As we have waited, false teachers have used this as fodder for getting men and women to doubt.
Unfortunately man who scoff at the promises of the Bible become cynical about life and preoccupied with themselves and their needs.
God challenges us the love others as we wait for the return of Jesus.
5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,
6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.
7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
The false teachers or heretics that Peter writes about knows the Old Testament teaching but choose to overlook it.
God has created a good, beautiful world formed to give glory and point people to the beauty of a awesome, intelligent creator.
God has also intervened in history to judge sin and sinners.
Holman New Testament Commentary: I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude A. The Thief in the Night (vv. 1–10)
The Old Testament consistently teaches that the cosmos is a moral universe created by God and that God will not let sin go unpunished forever. God is not only the creator of the universe; he is also the judge. The God who created the beginning of all things has the power to end them.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
One of the most Christian things we can do is learn to see time in the light of eternity. We need to prioritize our lives rightly in light of God’s priorities.
Have you ever wondered why God hasn’t judged all sinners in the world? Why hasn’t he arranged for a serial killer to die in an accident before he can kill another person? Why does he allow terrorists to continue to inflict pain? Why doesn’t God stop sin?
God in His grace calls all people to repentance. God wants everyone to come to faith in Him and turn to Him in repentance. To accomplish this He gives even stubbornly sinful people many chances to repent.
How many chances has God given you in your sin? How grateful are you to God for His grace?
Part of walking faithfully as a believer is knowing the promises of God and resting in them. It is trusting that God will judge sin and that God is gracious toward you and every other human for the sake of leading them to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
The entire Bible points forward to a point of God’s judgement.
It will be a point where He destroys all we know.
14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
John writes about it in Revelation Jesus talks about it as he walks the earth.
This is an apocolayptic view of the end of the world. But it is a view with a very positive ending.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Conclusion
Read and study all of God’s Word because it all points to the truth in Jesus.
Be willing to face the mockery of others in standing up for your faith.
God’s timing is never late. Trust Him.
Look for opportunities to share your faith.
Trust that Jesus will return