Living Holy For Jesus' Return

Introduction

The motivation that Peter offers here is clarity about the end of the world. In light of the reality that God will judge the world Christians ought to live righteously.

I want to re read several verses we covered last week as an introduction.

2 Peter 3:9–10 ESV

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. 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.

Did you see that? Everything on this beautiful, green and blue earth will be destroyed and dissolved.

Mount Everest, The Grand Canyon, The Oceans, The Rockies, The Plains, The Oceans....All we consider our home will disappear....

That’s a frightening, intimidating prospect isn’t it? This world is all we know! It’s home!

And lest you think Elon Musk with his ambition to move to Mars will escape…remember it is the heavens and the Earth.

How many of you have ever moved?

I remember moving from North Dakota to Greenville Ohio when I was 11. I had left behind everything familiar to move with my family to a state of buckeyes (worthless nuts). Leaving a place is scary. Learning about where you are going helps but far and away the most helpful thing of moving to a new place is going with people. I remember the thing that made our new house in Greenville a home was that we were there together as a family. It mattered who we were with.

God is pursuing a relationship with you. If you missed this, re read the Gospels. Take a walk, talk and listen to hear God’s answer. God is calling you to know Him as your Father in Heaven. And as your Father He will lead you into the future.

Like our earthly parents, God tells us about the change coming and tells us to prepare for it.

Moving to Ohio this meant packing well but it also meant my heart and attitude about the change.

God is clear about a change through the scripture. It’s up to us to prepare our hearts and minds for the move.

Whether it is at the end of our life. (Hint, we don’t know when that is.)

Or it is when God returns in a way that shakes the whole earth.

Because righteousness lives in the new heaven and earth we need to live holy lives.

2 Peter 3:11–13 ESV

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

We need to remember that holiness is a defining characteristic of the character of Jesus.

We are called to live lives full of holy behavior and Godly deeds

1 Peter 1:15 ESV

15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

One of the challenging statements is in verse 12. In some way the actions and life choices of Christians affect the day of the Lord. The Bible doesn’t really elaborate on this but we are called to action.

Prophecy is not license for laziness.

Sometimes when we think of God prophesying something to happen in the future it can almost feel like there is nothing we can do to affect it an we should simply sit back and watch God work. There could be nothing further from the truth.

In every part of Scripture God invites His followers to participate in what He is doing. Even though God is in control He works through men and women to accomplish His goals.

Even though God could make every human on earth hear the gospel straight from the clouds, He doesn’t. God calls us and equips us to share the Gospel and strive to convince people to trust Him one person at a time.

We need to remember though that God is calling us live holy lives because He is coming to judge the world.

We need to take sin seriously. We need to be passionate about sharing our faith with our friends and family because of the threat of sin and the imminent judgment of God.

2 Peter 3:13 ESV

13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Isn’t this a hopeful passage?

In a world full of sin and violence we can look forward to a new heaven and earth of righteousness.

In a world with injustice we can look forward to a new heaven and earth of justice and righteousness.

In families, friendships, and workplaces broken by sin we can look forward to a new heaven with health and righteousness.

2 Peter 3:14 ESV

14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

This doesn’t mean moral perfection but a moral compass. We are not commanded to be morally perfect robots. We are commanded to be like Jesus. We are commanded to have His character guide the character we are pursuing in our lives.

Christians should be driven to be like Jesus in how we live. In our daily choices of behavior.

James 1:27 ESV

27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Remember how James reminded us that true religion is active, others loving faith that remains unstained by the world.

Philippians 2:15 ESV

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Remember how Paul challenged us to moral innocent purity. We are called to a faith that stands holy in a dirty world. We are called to be lights in the dark. We are called to be an agent for change.

Be at peace.

I love that Peter finishes this command with peace!

It’s stressful to stay clean. Especially when you have 4 people living in your house things get messy. If you were to make Ashley or I keep our house and my office perfectly clean for a week it would take some work and stress.

How hard is it to be without spot or the blemishes of sin?

Yet, through the Bible one of the resilient themes of God’s work in us is the the gift of peace. He doesn’t call us to a frantic pursuit of something we can’t quite get to or stay with. He calls us to and equips us to peace.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 ESV

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This peace pursuit isn’t dependent on your ability alone but the grace and enabling of God.

2 Peter 3:15 ESV

15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,

2 Peter 3:16 ESV

16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

We must remember that God’s timing is not our timing. And as we talked about last week, God’s patience in the face of sin can be his mercy

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

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.

What we should consider in this passage is the question whether we are bending scripture to condone our lifestyle or are we submitting our lifestyle to scripture?

Paul and Peter both reminded their readers of the importance of holy living in light of God’s judgment. The stuff Paul writes about isn’t always easy to understand but it’s still crucial to understand. The question is whether we are willing to listen to and submit our lives to God’s Word.

2 Peter 3:17 ESV

17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

The tactic of people who twist the teaching of the Bible is they take their experience and mold the Bible to match their experience. We must be willing to submit ourselves to scripture.

We are called to be men and women grounded in the scripture.

2 Peter 3:18 ESV

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

The Christian life is one of constant growth. We are called to be growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus throughout our lives.

The beautiful thing about the Christian life and its’ focus on Jesus is the fact that Jesus is endlessly worthy and capable of receiving worship from us.

We can spend a lifetime learning to know our savior and still have room to learn.

It’s important that we are called to grow in “Grace and knowledge.” We aren’t called to be egghead Christians. We are called to be grace-filled Christians

Conclusion

We are called to live eternity minded lives.

It’s tempting to live our lives defined by what’s happening in the world around us. We are called to live eternity minded and defined lives.

Heaven is a place of righteousness, therefore we need to pursue holiness in this life.

Achievements in this life don’t matter nearly as much as our holiness and character.

We must see the world around us as something which will be judged and choose to live rightly before God.

We must live lives defined by the demands of Scripture and not the whims of our desire.

We are called to live for God because of our eternal future. We are equipped to live for God because of our present provision He has given us of peace and hope and joy.