2 Peter: Living in light of the End
Notes
Transcript
Exegetical Point:
Homiletical Point:
Introduction
Introduction
Remember back in the day, early last year when things were starting to unfold with COVID? When we went into a first lock down?
We thought, “oh, it’ll be over in a few months.” Do the hard yards now so we can be better off in the long run.
“They’ll figure out a way to treat it, or it’ll go through the community and we’ll be back to normal”
But, as you know, things dragged on.
So people were waiting, and hoping, and waiting.
Weeks tuned into months. Months into a year.
We lived in expectation of something changing, and just when the future seemed brighter, we were plunged into another lock-down.
Then 2021 rolled around, and we felt like this would mark a new year of freedom, that the woes of 2020 were now passed and we were entering into a new era! There was relative freedom and we were expecting better things.
But no, things kept going back to the way they were.
It seems like an endless cycle of press conferences and QR codes and dread that another lock down is coming.
We find ourselves wondering “will it ever end?”
Will the day ever come when it’s over?
When will the promised “return to normal” arrive?
Perhaps we know something of the experience of the earliest Christians.
These folks, some of whom may have met Jesus in person, were living in expectation. Expectation of promises being fullfilled.
They had been told that Jesus was coming back. Jesus had accomplished the first part of his plan of salvation, then he returned to the Father’s right hand in heaven, promising that he would soon return to judge the world and make all things new.
But, as you know, things dragged on.
So people were waiting, and hoping, and waiting.
Weeks tuned into months. Months into years. Years into decades.
They would have started to wonder “will Jesus come back? Will the world really end?”
Will the day ever come when this hard life is over?
When will the promised “triumphant return” come?
In that early church, some folks started to take advantage of the delay. That included many of the people we mentioned last week; those false teachers.
Some were saying that Jesus wasn’t coming back, that people have been tricked.
“You don’t need to worry about that, everything will just keep going on like it always has”
Peter is writing into this context, where people are doubting Jesus’ promises, and there are people taking advantage of the apparent delay.
Peter has already taken the false teachers to task in chapter 2, but in this first part of chapter 3 he is writing to reassure the church that they have every reason to believe that Jesus will come through for them. Even though it’s still hard hitting stuff, this is more pastoral, directed at helping people live in light of what is to come.
So we have here from Peter a guide to the church of his day, but, as Jesus still hasn’t returned, this passage is just a relevant for us.
Here we are taught how to live in light of the end with these three simple commands:
1. Remember the Message (v1-2)
1. Remember the Message (v1-2)
First thing that Christians are to do is Remember the Message. We humans can get so forgetful, even of the things that are so central to our lives. We need to be reminded to hold fast to the truth!
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 want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
Peter is reflecting on the reason he was writing to them in the first place, to remind them of the message! Peter has very clearly been trying to help them know the truth, so that they can respond to it with a godly way of life . Because life as a suffering exile is hard, we need this encouragement to stay strong and faithful to the end.
It’s much easier to stick at doing the hard work when you know why you’re doing it.
Back in the day i was involved in designing an airport, and we had to pick where everything goes. And I mean everything.
Part of that was deciding where the terminal and entry roads went, so that people could get from the main road to the terminal and hop on their flights. We spent weeks and months coming up with different concepts and ideas about where everything would go, and after much deliberation we carefully selected the best site for the terminal and the alignment for the road to suit the lay of the land and the runway location.
Then we designed it, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars constructing it. Then the day finally arrived when people could come and visit this massive piece of infrastructure for themselves and experience this masterpiece of engineering!
But you know what? People immediately started running their mouth. I overheard all kinds of comments: “Why didn’t they put this over here?” “Why’s the entry road so long?” “What a dumb place to put that.” “they should have done it this way”
They had no idea what was involved designing the site, and could only see the inconveniences that they didn’t like.
They didn’t have the big picture in their mind, so they could understand why we built what we built, and why it was actually better for everybody that it was the way that it was.
Peter has been writing to the Church to help them get the big picture in mind, so that they can be people who know what’s going on, and they can live rightly. They can push through the inconveniences, they can reject the false teaching, they can endure the suffering and ridicule, because they have the big picture in mind.
“...I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.” 2 Pe 3:1–2.
Peter would have them remember all of God’s word to them. They had first hand delivery of that some of that word by Apostles, but it was written down and preserved in the Bible:
The prophets = the OT
Jesus (relayed to us in the Gospels)
The Apostles = the New Testament as a whole, the Gospels and the letters.
All of these writings attest to the DotL. A promised day of Judgment where God would set things right, like the last chapter of Malachi.
Peter wants the Church to remember, to recall the truth so that we can approach this world with God’s way of thinking.
How are you going to remember? How are you going to be able to recall Christ’s commandments? Suggestions....
Church
Read, listen, memorize (not legalistic)
How do we live in light of the end? with three simple commands:
Remember the Message
2. Know the Future (3-10)
2. Know the Future (3-10)
People question God’s promise!
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
Everything seems to be carrying on unhindered. They were saying that God has just let things go on, and will not be intervening in history.
The man with a sandwich board is the butt of a joke!
Everything seemed to be going along just fine in the years (centuries) leading up to Noah’s flood. But God was not pleased, and he brought judgement to bear! People who deflect God’s judgment are “deliberately forgetting” God’s wrath in the past, which is a sure sign that God can do it again if he wants to. And he has said that he wants to!
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
God spoke the world into existence from the waters of chaos, and at his world the world was flooded and destroyed. God has spoken, saying that this world will go through a similar cleansing, but this time it will be with fire, not water.
God came good on his word and judgment then, and he will do it again. God’s resume is full of examples of being trustworthy.
So why then the delay?
Two reasons - a) God’s experience of time is different to ours, and b) God is kind, allowing time for us to repent!
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
For an eternal being, time is insignificant. So whether he waits a short time or a long time, it’s nothing for him. This is a figure of speech, it’s not intended to be taken literally, it just gives us a sense that God’s idea of “soon” can be very different from ours.
His “slowness” is patience. Peter tells the his audience, which remember contains a bunch of false teachers and scoffers, that God is being patient so that all of them have time to repent.
And God’s patience has continued to this day giving us the opportunity of repentance. God’s patience will continue until he has brought into his kingdom the last Christian. Then there will be no more need to delay.
But we won’t know when the jig is up. We won’t know when that patience will run out, because God’s coming will be like a thief at night. Unexpected and unseen.
Then comes fiery judgment.
It’s meant to be a scary thing. It is terrifying!
It is great to focus on the wonder of what Christ has won for us, but that only makes sense in a backdrop of what Christ has saved us from.
We need to know what’s coming, and that we can’t presume upon God’s forbearance for ever. It helps us put things into perspective so that even now we can live in light of the end.
Destruction of the ungodly - people unlike God. How does one change this?
How do we live in light of the end? with three simple commands:
Remember the Message
Know the Future
3. Live Holy & Godly Lives (11-13)
3. Live Holy & Godly Lives (11-13)
How do we react to the news that God’s patience and this world is coming to a fiery end?
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
Christians live in response to what God has revealed, and knowing that this world is being destroyed, it shows the futility of living for it. It’s a waste of time. It’s like painting the walls of a house marked for demolition.
We live for God, and for his home.
Holy - set apart
Godly - like God
Looking forward to God’s return - ready!
Numbering our days - being prepared...
The New International Version Chapter 12
35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Peter also says we should “hasten” it’s coming. How can we do this? Somehow, the actions we do have some contributing factor in God’s return. God know’s when he’s coming back, but he uses people to prepare the way.
If his patience is waiting until all his people repent, then we can hasten the day by being repentant people ourselves, and calling others to repentance. When the full number of God’s people come into the “ark” of the church, the flood of fire may descend and wash away the ungodliness of this world, all it’s sin and filth and corruption.
“That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.”
Our hope is for that world beyond judgment and wrath. A new Heavens and a New Earth. The fulfillment of the promises for all who trust in Him.
What now?
What now?
How do we live in light of the end? with three simple commands:
Remember the Message
Know the Future
Live Holy & Godly lives