Can you Smell what the Rock's been cooking - Wk 2

2 Peter 1:1 NET

1 From Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, have been granted a faith just as precious as ours.

Can you Smell What the Rock is Cooking Part 2

I want to slow down a bit and really walk you through the depth and richness of what the Apostle Peter writes in this letter.

If we grasp hold of what he wants to teach us here, then I will know in my heart that those of you who are listen will have what you need to make the transition from Christian to Disciple of Christ.

Something very important is being express in the first few words of verse one and it is here that I want to camp out for a moment.

The Letter starts with these words From Simon Peter a Slave

The Use of Both Names here .....Simon and Peter..... was believed by many scholars, to be done on purpose, so the readers would see both the Hebrew Man Simon , the guy we discussed last week, who was in need of transformation and was yet to truly know who Jesus was... and compare that guy with the Christian Man Peter , the Apostle who not only truly knows Jesus, he deeply loves him; and this has greatly transformed him as a man.

That progression ....that transformation is placed here at the beginning so we could understand why Peter even bothers to pen the Letter.

We have to remember that these letters that we read now as scripture had a Purpose. The Apostles weren’t sitting around bored thinking “ Man, I need to write sometime today”.

These letters were meant to offer teaching and in most cases some rebuke and course correction for the recipients of the Letters. There was something amiss and the Apostles were faithful to offer the teaching and correction needed to insure those who would claim to be in the household, the family of Jesus, were living like it.

The Purpose of this letter was a plea by the Apostle Peter for Christian development, for lives committed to transformation.

For Peter, it was a horrifying thought that there would be those under his care that would claim to have knowledge of God and of Jesus the Christ, but don’t have a behavior that reflects this at all.

This idea of Knowing Jesus and yet continuing to live in a manner that is not in alignment with Jesus, his teachings or His Holy Spirit was a CANCEROUS LIE that Peter thought must be addressed and swiftly cut out.

In the next few verses, Peter will mix Wisdom, Knowledge, Real Love for his Readers and some Sarcasm and give us a roadmap for the developmental progression that we ALL should be committed to.

Notice is this first verse how Peter identifies first as a Slave, before he does as an Apostle.

This is important to catch, because this isn’t just any word for Slave.

No this word is the greek word Doulos!

And when the Holy Spirit was inspiring Peter as he wrote this letter, I am certain that this attitude of heart expressed in this one word was meant to be front and center.

A Doulos was a man who had purposely sold himself into the service of another.

Exodus 21:5-6 we are shown where a man that wished to become a Doulos, would express his love for his master and his desire to never leave his master’s side.

Exodus 21:5–6 (NET)

5 But if the servant should declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his master must bring him to the judges, and he will bring him to the door or the doorposts, and his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

His master would bring this man to the tabernacle, the place where God’s presence dwelled, met with Moses and the Aaron and there before God and other witnesses, the man’s ear was pierce and he as marked for life as a doulos, a man that loved and swore his life to the honored service of his master.

Simon the loud, bold, aggressive and somewhat unbridled man that see in early days of Jesus’s time here on Earth is NOW Peter, the Doulos of Christ.

Do you feel that? I feel that deep inside of me, that deep honor, that desire to wholly give yourself in the service of something or Someone much greater that yourself.

That same heart that drives the Heroism that resonates within us when we read a great book like Lord of the Rings, or King Authors Knights of the Round Table, or the Marvel Characters we love to watch on the big screen even as grown men, that’s that heart Holy Spirit is appealing to in these first few words.

Remember going to the movies as a kid and watching a movie with a great hero in the story?

Remember how you felt as you walked out into the light, your eyes adjusting from the dark room and the deep longing in your heart to be that sort of hero.

I remember feeling so well. I remember Mama taking me to the Saturday Matinee because its was cheap and that’s all we could afford. I remember how for a little while, I felt I too could be that hero and then as the day wore on and reality of my own poor self image sank back into my heart that feeling was gone.

We may not recognize it, but it is that desire to be a Hero that drives so much inside of us. You can deny if you want, but it’s there. Maybe it’s buried under mountains of the garbage this world has cast on top of you, but it’s there non the less.

This is what I want to leave you with Today!

I want you feel the heroism that Peter may have personally denied he exhibited, but was present all the same as he daily swore his allegiance to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I want to feel that sense honor, character, self-denial that drives a man to love another so much that he devotes his entire life to that man’s service.

One of favorites movies is the Last Samurai with Tom Cruise. If you haven’t seen it, it is well worth the time.

The term Samurai is said to be derived from a word meaning to SERVE.

The devotion that the Samurai give to training, preparing and serving their Emperor is inspiring. The Honor of dying in battle for your King was greatly revered. It was a good death they would say.

These men gave themselves in the service of a man thought to be a god, the Emperor of Japan.

Peter, gave himself in the Service of the Man proven to be the full embodiment of God Most High, creator of Heaven and Earth. The Risen King Jesus

How I pray that each of you listening today as well as myself would have this attitude forged in our hearts.

That we would deeply desire to be the Doulos, the Samurai of the King of Kings.

When we get to a point where this becomes the craving of our hearts. When our love for him becomes so strong that we willing sell ourselves into his service., then true transformation is well under way.

This is WAY that the Apostle Peter is inviting us to engage in. And we will see as we move through this part of his letter, the roadmap he gives us to pursue after our Lord as Doulos.

You will be a Slave to something or someone. If you think not, you are deceived brother.

If you are be a Slave, then wouldn’t you rather be a Doulos? Wouldn’t you rather your life be marked with Honor and Character that is driven to Serve in true Love, those around you because by doing that, you serve the King you are sworn to.

Until next week

24 ‘May the Lord bless you

and protect you.

25 May the Lord smile on you

and be gracious to you.

26 May the Lord show you his favor

and give you his peace.’