Last week: Pretty intense look at ‘The Day of The Lord’. What do you believe about Jesus returning? How does it change the way you live? Do you have hope in the return of Christ… What does hope look like day after day, year after year? Lifestyle, values, behaviors and choices. We are called to recognize the grace…and then live like that grace is real important…because it is!
Christ’s second coming is Inevitable. The Old Testament Saints didn’t know it would the 2nd Advent of the Messiah… the one they kinda envisioned…
Last week we ended with this:
But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief… and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. ~ 2 Pet. 3:10
Ch3:11-18 (NLT)
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along.
- He is speaking on behalf of God: ‘It’s going to happen’
- The audience of this message is the redeemed in Christ
- What does it look like to live in these ways?
- Holy
- Godly
- Looking forward to Christ’s return
- Hurry it along
- [Plural Adverb] ‘Make Haste’ = level of speed that is necessary
- Based on being given mercy, what is our ‘Sense of Urgency’ to be like?
On that day, He will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth He has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
- ‘That Day’ Jesus had a lot to say about that day… Matthew 24 & 25
- Contrast this destruction with the flood… the day of the Lord is by fire
- Common idea from scripture that fire purifies
- Once this world is purified by fire it will be where righteousness dwells
14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in His sight.
- This is repetition of V 11 & 12
- The end is going to happen… so we live totally in light of that reality
- Do everything you can to live at peace with Christ’s people
- What matters is what is pure & without blame in Christ’s sight [HIS perspective]
- HE makes us blameless when we surrender our lives to Him
15 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— 16 speaking of these things in all of his letters.
- Why would this encouragement to remember Christ’s patience be repeated?
- The leader of Christ’s disciples declares Paul’s writings as ‘God-breathed’
- ‘These things’ could be described as God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness & love.
Some of his [Paul’s] comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
- It is not easy to understand God’s Words spoken or written by HIS prophets…
- Ignorant = Not enlightened by Christ’s Spirit
- Unstable = Unregenerate (in context with use in 2:14) unsettled, without peace
17 You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing.
- Peter’s audience: leaders and stalwarts of Christ’s Body…they know this stuff
- You must combine ‘Knowledge’ with being ‘on guard’
- Without these two combined in your life you WILL be sucked into sin & struggle
- How important is secure footing?
18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.
- To avoid the errors of: The wicked [lawless & unrestrained] we have to GROW!
- We have to grow [be discipled] into new ways of thinking & living
- Laban made a great point two weeks ago about the practical application of Scripture: You have to replace sinful thinking & habits with NEW thinking and habits. It is a losing strategy to think you can just stop it what is wrong…
- This is the way this letter began and it is how it ends (IMPORTANT)
- The call to discipleship is the call to live as Christ desires us to live
- Responding to the call to discipleship is how we give glory to God
SUMMARY:
Christ’s return is an essential part of the Biblical Gospel. Christ’s Body ‘eagerly anticipates’ this day to begin eternity surrounded by God’s righteousness. That conviction informs how we live: holy, godly, peaceful, pure, and blameless in His sight.
The message of God’s Word [Protestant Christian Scripture] is consistent! Peter & Paul agree with Moses & Malachi. The understanding of; The Day of The Lord, God’s ‘long suffering’ mercy & how Biblical Christian should live, is found in the historical interpretation & application of our old & new testaments together.
Growing ‘IN CHRIST’ is our job as Members of THIS Body. You gotta show up to grow up!
We must be diligent to build and reinforce Biblical Culture, based on the sound and practical application of God’s written Word. We call this: ‘Body Discipleship’.
APPLICATION:
Read and discuss Matthew 24 & 25 with someone. [Homework]
What specific ways can YOU live holy, godly, peaceful, pure and blameless? What do YOU use to define that kind of living?
What is YOUR [reading, studying, watching, researching] PLAN to grow in your understanding of the whole Bible?
“As followers of Jesus who believe that the eschatological promises have broken into the present through the work of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit, we don’t wait idly for Jesus’ return, nor do we live like the corrupt teachers who saw Jesus’ delay as an opportunity to indulge the flesh. Rather, like Peter, we live as new, transformed humans who take advantage of the divine delay to join in God’s redemptive purposes. We live out our days bearing witness to Jesus, continuing his mission, fighting back the powers of darkness, and hastening the day when those purposes will be fully accomplished.
So yes, we wait. But we wait patiently, knowing that God is orchestrating all of human history towards his glorious end. And we wait purposely, joining in God’s redemptive mission to make disciples of all people.” ~ Whitney Woollard
RECOGNIZE THE GRACE! LIVE BASED THE GRACE!