Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Hopeful Expectation
It’s finally here!
Advent.
Christmas.
My favorite time of year.
Seriously, I love it.
I love the music.
I love the decorations.
I love the spirit of it.
I love the movies.
It almost feels like, for a few weeks, I’m living a fairy tale.
Someone even commented on a picture of my family that it looked like a perfect snow-globe.
That’s fairy tale living.
The problem with fairy tale, though?
Sometimes it comes crashing to reality.
The fairy tale picture ignores the background of the fighting to get everyone situated and the deleting of the 100 pictures where one of them was crying.
The fairy tale stops when the reality of the too-tight budget during the season smacks you in the face.
The fairy tale comes skidding to a halt when missing loved ones and an enormous amount of grief becomes reality.
Christmas can sometimes be a fairy tale, but we live in reality.
There is a point in scripture where Peter is reminding those whom he has led of the reality that they live in.
He is nearing the end of his life.
In previous years he had written a letter that served as encouragement to a people who were under immense amounts of persecution.
Now, later in his life, as he nears the end, he’s writing for a different reason.
He is writing to warn his people to stand firm against a series of false teachings and false prophets.
So, 2 Peter very much becomes this defense of Christianity and a rebuke of some false teachings.
It’s an opportunity for Peter to remind his people that they are not living in a fairy tale.
They have not devoted their life to some made-up story that was created to make them feel better.
He’s reminding them that their identity, their story in Christ is a deep seated reality.
It’s not fairy tale.
It’s reality.
And in this reality, they can stand firm against false teaching and false prophets.
So in our particular passage this morning, Peter is addressing a very specific critique of Christianity – that Jesus is not actually coming back like he said he was.
That Jesus was not who he said he was because the talk of the last days, the second coming, the return of Christ was just not happening.
It had been at least a few decades, depending on what date of writing you go with, since Jesus had gone to heaven, and there was no sign of him returning.
This was leading to scoffers and mockers to question the reality of this whole Christianity thing.
Read 2 Peter:
3Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
4 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.”
5 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.
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
10 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.[a]
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b]
That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
So there is very much this elephant in the room that Peter is addressing.
Jesus made it sound certain that he would return very soon, and he hadn’t.
And it had caused people, believers and unbelievers alike, to question the authenticity of his claims.
And it’s no stretch to acknowledge the current elephant in the room… they had waited for somewhere between 30 and 70 years.
We’ve been waiting for nearly 2000 years!
I think we can find some connections here from this passage.
But this wasn’t the first time that a group of people had been stuck waiting on the arrival of the Christ, the Messiah.
So this morning, I want to make some connections to the first advent… the time of waiting for the first appearance of the messiah… and this time of waiting that the readers of Peter’s letter are in.
And in doing so, I want to see what sort of encouragement we can find for us during this advent in 2021.
The time of waiting for the arrival of the Messiah was a long, drawn out period.
A time of wondering when this savior would come and restore the people of Israel.
Through a very tumultuous history, the people of Israel were having a very difficult time believing that they were such a blessed nation, favored by God.
They had been enslaved, had wandered the wilderness, had conquered and been conquered, and were in a period of exile.
Hardly the picture perfect fairy tale life that one would expect for God’s chosen people.
And then rumors started.
Rumors that went beyond simple whispers of gossip.
Rumors that pointed to a glimpse of hope.
Words like these words from the prophet Isaiah started to emerge:
9 [a]Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.
In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
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