2 Peter 3 - Closing Calls
Turn with me this morning to the book of 2 Peter, chapter 3. We have been going through this book that we find at the end of the NT, five books before Revelation, the last book of the Bible. It is written by Peter, the bold fisherman who ended up leaving his nets and following Christ. And we saw last week that in 3:1, Peter is writing to REMIND us of things that we already know to be true, because we need to keep them in the forefront of our thinking. He says, Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. Here in 2 Peter 2, Peter is reminding us of the dangers at hand in the church. He is writing to remind us of things we know to be true. He reminds us that we need to go beyond just being comfortable in being a Christian, and
• we need to add to our faith 7 different qualities - I call them spiritual One-a-days. He reminds us that
• the Lord is returning - and we need to look for His return constantly. Peter reminds us that
the OT prophets are reliable, and we can rely on what the scriptures record for us.
there are also false prophets out there. - we need to identify and reject them!
Last week we looked at the idea that there are many scoffers trying to shake our faith by telling us that the Lord is not returning. But the truth is that God is NOT slow - He is not on the wrong timetable - but He PURPOSEFULLY is waiting for more people to repent and be saved. Because God wants EVERYONE to be saved. Will they? No. But God wants to give every possible chance for people to repent.
So today, we come to the end of 2 Peter and we see Peter’s closing words.
How do you close a letter? We write our names at the end, but we normally also have some form of salutation - Love, Sincerely, Your Friend - or we write on the envelope SWAK - sealed with a kiss - or SWCL - sealed with Christ’s love - or even this one: SWALCAKWS - Sealed with a Lick cause a Kiss wouldn’t stick!
So how does Peter end this letter? Let’s look here in chapter 3 of 2 Peter, verse 14. READ 3:14-18 PRAY
Peter ends his letter with 4 calls to his readers - 4 calls to us today. The first is found in verse 14 -
Be Diligent - Peter says here, So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Peter says, Because Christ IS returning - He is not late, He has not forgotten His promise, He is just being patient - In light of this truth - that Jesus IS returning, we need to be diligent. He says we should “make every effort” - the term has the idea of taking great pains - doing whatever is necessary. We are to make every effort to be at peace with God. How do we do that?
We examine our lives TODAY, and make whatever changes we need to so that we can have peace. What gives us peace with God? A clear conscience! Those who are under conviction with a guilty conscience face sleepless nights, racing pulse, fear, constant worry of being “found out” - but those who live spotless, blameless lives have nothing to fear. We have used the phrase recently, Live in such a way that you wouldn’t be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip. Those who live faithfully don’t have to worry what will be found out about them - them can be at peace. We have a society plagued with stress and high blood pressure - the last thing we need is to worry about someone finding out what we are really like. When we live faithful to the Lord, we can live at peace.
So Peter tells us in closing, first, be diligent, second
Be Confident - We can be confident that Christ’s delay in returning IS purposeful. Peter proves this by citing Paul as another who taught this. He says in verse 15 - Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. Peter says Paul says the same thing I do!
Peter and Paul taught the people a LOT about end time events. Paul teaches in 2 Thessalonians 2 about the antichrist, and then he says in verse 5 - Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? We somehow think that in the 20th century we figured everything out that Christians never knew before - but Paul says I used to tell you this!
So what does Paul say about Christ’s delay? 1 Timothy 2 - This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Paul says the same thing Peter has just said, that it is God’s desire for the salvation of men’s souls that affects the timing of Christ’s return. Peter says that false teachers will twist right teaching. Peter says in vs 16 - His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. There are many who will dream up a teaching that they want to promote as truth and then they go to the scripture to try to find verses to support it. But that is always a “twisting” of the truth. If we want to know what is true, we read the scripture and let it tell us what is true.
So, Peter says we should be diligent - living at peace because we live a godly life - we can be confident that Christ’s timetable is correct, because even Paul tells us the same things. Then thirdly,
Be On Guard - the wording is literally, “be constantly on guard” - it is a military term used of a soldier standing watch or standing on guard duty. The idea is keeping your eyes focused for the enemy to stick his head up at any minute. Peter says in verse 17 - Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. Since you already know that Christ is returning, that other apostles affirm the truth, that false teachers will twist the truth, we need to be on guard for two dangers we face.
The first danger is that we will be carried away by error - that we will be influenced by false teachers and end up believing things that are not true. It is so easy to be influenced by those you listen to. If you say, “I’m bored, I’ll just turn on this preacher even though I know everything they say isn’t true - you will find it easy to let your guard down and end up straying from the truth and believing their twisted thinking. We need to be on guard against false teaching - but there is a second danger - falling from our secure position.
I don’t think that Peter is as much talking about losing our salvation as he is talking about our spiritual growth. Back in chapter 1, as Peter talks about our spiritual “one-a-days” he talks about spiritual growth, and in 1:10 he says, For if you do these things, you will never fall. It is our spiritual maturity that is in danger of slipping. It’s been said, “being a Christian is a lot like riding a bicycle: if you do not make forward progress, you will fall.”
During the school year, Jacqueline and Joy will come to ask me questions about things they aren’t sure of. Some things like English I find easy to answer. But other things, like inorganic Chemistry or Algebra 2, I need to spend time reviewing before I try to help them, because I have forgotten so much of what I knew at one time. It’s the same way with spiritual things: we need to be on guard to make sure that we do not lose our spiritual maturity and insight by failing to hold on to all the truth of scripture. Finally, a fourth call Peter gives us:
Be Fruitful - Peter wants to see us grow. He says in verse 18 - But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Normally when we think about growing spiritually, we think of one area: knowledge. We want to learn more. We want to know more bible facts. We want to be ready for a game of Bible trivia. But the sad fact is that most of us have more bible knowledge than we can live out. Should we keep learning Bible facts? Of course! But don’t just stop there. Peter says the key area to grow in is GRACE!
Grace is “unmerited favor” - and we want to be good grace givers. Peter exhorts believers to grow in both grace and knowledge. The challenge for us is to keep these two pursuits in balance. It can be easy to take one to an unhealthy extreme, but we must maintain both.
Grace keeps us tolerant and loving; Knowledge keeps us strong and confident
Grace gives us mercy and compassion; Knowledge gives us discernment and discrimination
Grace helps us believe and accept; Knowledge helps us question and examine
Grace results in vulnerability; Knowledge results in stability.
We need to grow in both grace and knowledge. Do others notice a measurable change in your character? It’s not just a question of whether they see you learning more facts, it’s a question of whether they see you living out more grace in your life. So Peter ends his letter of reminders - he has written to remind us of things we already know to be true - he ends with four calls: he calls us to be diligent and live a godly life so we can be at peace; he calls us to be confident, to know that Jesus is coming for us; he calls us to be on guard, not to fall because of false teachers, and he calls us to be fruitful, to grow in grace and knowledge. Let’s make a decision today that we will heed these calls. Let’s pray.
