YOU CAN’T BE LIKE A RED DELICIOUS APPLE WITHOUT THE WORD
2 Peter 1:12-21
Mature Christians are like red delicious apples. If you have reached the highest level of Christian maturity, how did you get there?
The process began with the seed of faith - planted within you by the Spirit of God. The seed did not lie dormant; it was nurtured. The nature of the seed changed until it sprouted into a plant; the plant was cultivated until it grew into a tree; as the tree received nutrients, it became a fruit-bearing tree; the fruit continued to mature until it ripened; thus, over a long time, the apple seed eventually became a red delicious apple.
If you are to: grow spiritually to the fullest extent possible, so that you can achieve your spiritual potential . . . become all that you can be . . . attain the highest level of Christian maturity of which you are capable, there is one essential that a Christian cannot do without. That essential is God’s Word.
Prior to the time Peter wrote his two epistles, God’s Word had already been fulfilled in God’s Son Jesus Christ. Jesus was the embodiment of truth. Therefore, what He said, what He did, what He stood for while He was on this earth is of paramount importance to those of us who desire to know Him . . . be like Him . . . be with Him . . . share His glory in the place He has gone to prepare for us. We cannot underestimate the importance of studying the Word of God.
It is just as essential for Christians today to remain true to God’s Word as it was for those first century Christians to whom Peter wrote his two letters. In his second epistle, Peter challenged believers to hold fast to the truth that had been preached to them by the apostles and told to them by other eyewitnesses who were there during our Lord’s ministry.
In our lesson passage for today, Peter reminds believers of the supremacy of the Word of God. He challenged them to: be alert to the Word of God as personified by Jesus . . . be confident that Christ Jesus was the one who personified God’s Word . . . be attentive to God’s Word in their lives.
Be alert. 2 Peter 1:12-15 . . . “To stir you up” (KJV) and “to wake you up” (NIV) means “to be alert” (CEC) – so that we can say and really mean it those words of Amazing Grace that go like this: “Through every danger, toil and snare I have already come; ‘tis grace that brought me safe thus far; and grace will lead me home.” God’s grace is sufficient, but we must stay alert and apply God’s Word to our daily lives.
Why is it so important for Christians to stay alert?
Why is it necessary for Christians to be reminded to stay alert?
What was the urgency that prompted Peter to write a second letter?
What was Peter’s greatest desire for the Christian witnesses who would succeed him after his death? Do you feel that way yourself?
Be confident. 2 Peter 1:16-18 . . . Why is it so important for Christians to have confidence in God’s Word in this day in which we live? Does it occur to you as it does to me that we live in a frightening world?
This fall, as is our custom, my wife and I will go on a trip to a place where we have never been before. Prior to taking our journey, I will study maps and read about the places we will visit in order to prepare myself for any eventuality.
My wife never hesitates to go on a trip with me; she lets me do the driving; she has confidence in me to get us wherever we’re going. She does from time to time look at the map as we travel to see if she can figure out which way we’re going and whether or not there might be a shorter route!
Would you agree that, what a road map is to a traveler, the Word of God is to those of us who consider ourselves to be “pilgrims” on a journey that one day will take us to our eternal home? “As I travel through this pilgrim land, there is a friend who walks with me.”
How much confidence do we need to have in Jesus Christ as our one and only Savior? On what do we base our confidence?
Notice that Peter describes himself and the other apostles as “eyewitnesses of His majesty.” Can there be any greater evidence that Jesus was who He said He was, that He was who His apostles said He was, than the fact that they were eyewitnesses? Isn’t it true that the strongest evidence in a court of law is the statement of an eyewitness? Better still, wouldn’t the evidence be much stronger if there were many eyewitnesses? Of course!
In the court of public opinion, why do you suppose so many folks choose to ignore the eyewitness accounts given by Peter, James and John as recorded in the Bible?
It seems that archaeologists are always trying to uncover some kind of physical evidence that would prove or disprove what the apostles said and wrote. Why not accept eyewitness accounts that were handed down to us, independently, by those who witnessed our Lord’s baptism, His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension?
The New Testament writers not only saw the Lord’s miracles with their own eyes; they heard with their own ears as the voice of God said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
Wake up! Listen! Pay attention to the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. After all, did not the beloved apostle John say, in his own words, “We beheld His glory – glory as of the only begotten Son of God.”
As you and I read God’s Word day by day and study His Word as a group, let our confidence become so strong that we will make God’s Word “a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our paths, and hide His word in our hearts that we might not sin against God.” Amen.
