The Lost Art Of Spiritual Regurgitation Series

Series: Dog Days

Week: 1

Passage: 2 Peter 2:22

Title: The Lost Art of Spiritual Regurgitation

Focus: Maturity

INTRODUCTION: The book of 2nd Peter is letter written by the Apostle Peter (apostle being one who has seen Jesus) to all of those who have confessed Jesus Christ in faith (the gospel – the saints).

ON 2 PETER AND THE APOSTLE: The book of 2 Peter is ultimately a warning to those who were/are teaching anything different than the Gospel (truth) and choosing to live outside of the faith (acting in a way they were not created to be).

Simon Peter (Greek “Cephas”, the name given by Jesus) was an eager and immature follower of Jesus. In his time with Christ, Peter was the one who publicly disowned Jesus as Messiah at the crucifixion. Jesus understood Peter’s longing to follow Christ and act the way he was made to be which leads to Jesus giving him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Peter is a model for us on how to follow Christ because he is a faithful disciple regardless of his shortcomings because he is willing to fail and take risks to be more like Jesus. Peter operating outside of Christ was overeager, afraid, and flawed. However, with Christ, he was calm, collected and composed equipped with the ability to operate the way he was originally created. Peter is a rock living out the faith and unafraid to communicate the truth that is Jesus as people in his path preached against the Jesus who brought him back to the fellowship with God.

ON OUR PASSAGE: In 2 Peter the first two chapters serve as guides (reassurance) that the church is/will always be alive and growing when the Christians are preaching the Gospel (Jesus Christ)! We (Christians) are saved by Christ (restored). Peter says, “We were eye witnesses of His Majesty” (1:16), people, “Moved by the Holy Spirit” (1:21). We impact the world when we preach the truth of the Gospel. We are acting not like ourselves, who were created to be, if we give into sin.

Sin is not what it seems. Sin pulls us away from who we were created to be and the life we were called to in Christ. Today we will explore sin, how it is not what it seems and how it pulls us away from who we were created to be.

TITLE: The Lost Art of Spiritual Regurgitation (2 Peter 2:22)

#1: Understanding the Dog’s Vomit (Sin)

• Explanation: It was common for some Jews to refer to Gentiles as dogs (considered unclean animals – think how Purdue fans view those from Notre Dame or vise versa) because they had thought they had gone away fro God’s ways. In biblical times the dog usually referenced a wild dog/something despised because of the capacity for violence and filthy habits. Therefore…

o You didn’t give a wild dog something sacred: Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy”

o You didn’t trust a wild dog: Philippians 3:2 “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh.”

• Therefore the Jews saw themselves “above” the ways of the ungodly gentiles. However, Peter was taking talking to the Jews (those tat saw themselves as religious) as the real dogs because they were the ones causing the gentiles to miss out on the kingdom of heaven.

o How? The term (“dogs”) described how some Jews (God’s people) and other false teachers abandoned/turned away/gone wild from God’s truth by twisting legitimacy to live a life of “mutilating the flesh” (living in sexual immorality) to be in a relationship with God.

• 2 Peter 2:18 “they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.”

• The false teachers of the day had not only submitted to their own sin (vomit) and deemed it appropriate for glorifying God, they preached that their way was God’s way.

o They not only preached vomit but they ate it too!

• Illustration/Transition: While the physical action of vomiting is uncomfortable, the process helps protect you from serious injury or even death.

• Application: Sometimes we need to throw up spiritually in order to grow into maturity! We get so enamored/engorged with the world and it’s ways, we forget how sick we are making ourselves. Therefore, we need a good spiritual throw up! Here’s how it’s done…

#2: Rejecting the Dog’s Vomit (Throwing up Sin and not Returning)

The lost art of spiritual regurgitation…

• Step 1: Listen to the Warning - If poisonous or harmful areas are in your life, the Holy Spirit sends warning signals to your brain (“this is not good” or “back out now!”). The defense against the attack on growing in Christ is to immediately eject that poisonous material from the body.