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.
o Radical Amputation: Matthew 5:29 “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
• This radical amputation is the act of vomiting/realizing that we need to get rid of the one thing that makes us sick.
• Symptoms of sickness:
o Ear Infection: Listening to the things that tear us down and not build us up.
• Proverbs 17:4 “A wicked person listens to deceitful lips; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.”
o Sore Throat: Using your words in an ungodly way.
• “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings… out of the same mouth come praise and cursing… this should not be.” James 3:9-10
o Eye Sore: Watching what will honor or dishonor the Lord.
• Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.”
• Note: The mind
• All this consumption makes you sick and emphasis the need to throw up.
• Step 2: The Ejection - Naturally when you physically throw up the muscles around the stomach will start to contract violently, forcing the poison up and out. This can be either a painful but rewarding process. In the end it is worth it because the purification has been complete.
o 2 Corinthians 7:1 “Dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
• This perfecting of holiness in our purification refers to God’s promise of giving the believer His presence (2 Corinthians 6:16) and fellowship (2 Corinthians 6:17–18). Our doing what is right (obedience) is our rejecting sin (spiritually vomiting), which purifies us (separates) everything (sinful) that contaminates the body and the spirit!
o 2 Timothy 2:22 “Flee the evil… pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
• Timothy was to choose to what made him healthy and not that which would make him spiritually ill.
• The expulsion of the poison that is sin is the beginning of all healing and maturity in the Lord.
• Step 3: The Resting - Although it is extremely uncomfortable to throw up, we no doubt feel much better afterwards but need time to recover.
o Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
• As Christians our fatigue comes from enduring the weight of sin and its consequences in our life. When we come to Christ, (be yoked with Jesus) we choose to learn (be disciplined) by Jesus on how to truly live (be healed from our sickness) so that we can find rest for our souls and relief from sins’ heavy burdens. True disciples of Jesus join Him to restore the relationship we once had with God and proclaim that His wisdom is greater than our own. That is what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
CONCLUSION: Hell is full of people who are living in their uncreated form eating their own filth. As the last book of the Bible, Revelation, says, “outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” (Revelation 22:15)
God wants to give you something sacred. God wants to trust you. How can he do that if you keep turning back to vomit (the life you once left). Why in the world would you put back into your body that which your body rejected? Are you sick? Go ahead and throw up… you’ll feel better and you’ll be a better disciple for it and you’ll be able to preach the gospel to those that are lost better than you could have ever imagined!
