Therefore, Lead A Godly Life Series

Therefore 2 Peter 1

When I was at university, one of the courses I had to take was homiletics, which is simply defined as the art of preaching or writing sermons.

The goal of the class was to teach us to do both things: how to write sermons and how to preach sermons.

My professor was a former pastor by the name of John McElhinney, or as we affectionally called him, Mr. Mac. Very early in our course, Mr. Mac told us the story of the old preacher who summed up his preaching style by saying, “First I tell ’em what I am going to tell ’em; then, well, I tell ’em; and finally I tell ’em what I’ve told ’em.”

And that has stuck with me through the years, and if you’re paying attention when I preach, then you will probably discover that I often tell you what I’m going to tell you, then I tell you, then I tell you what I told you. And if you aren’t paying attention when I preach, that’s exactly why I tell you what I’m going to tell you, then I tell you, then I tell you what I told you.

This is week five of our series, Therefore. It is based on another principle that I learned in homiletics and that is, whenever you see a therefore in the bible, you need to go back and see what it’s there for.

And so I’ve spoken from Galatians 6:10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

And Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Pastor Deborah spoke from Ephesians 6:13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.

Last Sunday Pastor Rob preached from Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And if you missed any of those messages, you can always check them out at www.hfx.church/home and click right there.

Today, I want to take a look at 2 Peter 1:12 Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.

Peter is saying, I told you, now I’m telling you and get ready because I’m about to tell you what I told you.

But what was it that Peter had already told them? What was the, therefore, there for? In order to put things into perspective, let’s jump back to the very beginning of the letter.

2 Peter 1:1 This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour.

It’s here that we discover The Who of the Promise

Who the letter was from and who the letter was for. Well, the answer to the first part is spelled out very clearly because it begins with these words: this letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.

There are several Simons mentioned in the New Testament, but there is only one Simon Peter. If you know the Jesus story, then you are familiar with Peter’s introduction to Christ in John 1:42 Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”).

And while that may seem a little weird to us, it didn’t seem to be weird to those at the time. At least we don’t hear Peter, saying, “Hey that’s really weird.”

Imagine if you were meeting someone for the first time, and they immediately renamed you. Really, I just met you, and you think you can give me a new name? Seriously?

Renaming yourself is a different story altogether. I have a cousin whose name is Theo. She was named after her grandfather, whose name was Theophilus. But when she went to university, she began introducing herself as Teddy.

If you have ever wondered, my name is actually Dennison. But, I was never called Dennison. When I was a kid, I was Denny, and there are some people who still call me Denny. It used to annoy me, but not so much anymore. Not because I’ve become more gracious about it, but just because I’ve come to understand there is nothing I can do about it.