Advent Series: Taking the Long View - 2 Peter 3:8-15a

Snippet of sermon by Rev Tan-Yeo

INTRODUCTION
The media has gone wild over the 2012 craze. This Mayan calendar thing has almost eclipsed the relevance of the Second Coming of Jesus. Are the two events one and the same? Is it possible that the Lord Jesus will use December 21, 2012 as the date of his return to the earth? All speculation is vain, but there are some very important Bible facts that have not changed, even though many are, even as we speak, throwing out any and all Bible beliefs, and swallowing hook line and sinker all the Mayan Myths. Nostradamus, Church prophets, New Age Humanists, New World Order followers, and all the internet websites in the world cannot change the validity of the Bible.

This letter, 2 Peter, was written to young believers to rescue them from spiritual disaster. The seductive influence of new and forceful teachers in the congregations was already destabilizing the faithful. They were attracting a following that was growing with high-sounding promises to bring believers to a hitherto unknown “freedom of experience (2:19). It was Peter’s intention to expose the false teachers and also to alert the congregations about guarding against error less they are deceived from the truth. Today in our text, the Apostle Peter shifts his attention from false teachers (which were in the previous chapter) to Christians in the community. Generations of believers have found in the eternal God alone a true refuge and satisfying dwelling place. By contrast, the new teachers are entirely content with the world as their home, and look for no other. This is because they do not know the Lord, either in his compassion or in his justice.

SERMON PROPER

THE LORD’S COMPASSION: Many times when coming to parts of scripture like this one here, I would not be thinking God’s compassion. When he comes and he presses the red button “delete”, I think of the people who will be left out. BUT again Peter reminds his readers that there is something they must keep in mind when thinking of the parousia of Christ. In vv. 8-9 Peter recall to them the nature of God as different from men. Time and Eternity are two quite different entities, and since God is eternal and man finite, they look at time in different ways. The quote is from Psalm 90:4 where man is pictured as "numbering his days" while God is "from everlasting to everlasting." In eternity there is no time, i.e. past or future, but only the present. Thus "time" and "delay" are virtually meaningless to God, and man must learn to adjust to that. This should help us greatly in facing the centuries that have passed since New Testament times.

3:9 LONGSUFFERING TOWARD US: Moreover Peter was anxious to reverse his opponents who insisted that the seeming delay in the parousia is proof that God is untrustworthy in fulfilling his promises. The Apostle Peter who had witnessed the love of God in Jesus explained that it is not faithlessness or even slowness tardiness which delays the coming of the end, but because God is patient! The word is makrothumeo, "that quality by which God bears with sinners, holds back his wrath, refrains from intervening in judgment as soon as the sinner's deeds deserve it, though not indefinitely" (Bauckham). God’s mercy moves Him to prolong the day of salvation. Instead [Not the usual contrast word but a strong contrast word meant to awaken the hearers] God is patient [Present Active Indicative: He keeps on staying patient. I am learning about patience these days… patience is not about having the offending element taken away. No… patience is an exercise in enduring the troubles, the injuries and offenses of the one who grates us. So Patience is not without sacrifice or value. Imagine the Lord suffering the indifference of man, their cursings, their finger-pointing, their ignorance and arrogance… and not acting to repay them for all of these… that’s patience. He keeps at showing mercy and delays his return for that very reason that someone may turn, repent and be saved. [Alla but]That they may, with that delay, make that once and for all decision to make space for the truths of God for the love of God. 

So when those who do not understand this truth about God go ahead and rant at God, do not join them. Don’t join in all that scoffing. The word for “scoffing” only appears another time in the whole NT in Jude 18. Jude 18-19 reads, ‘They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”’ These mockers were also the false teachers who interpreted God’s mercy and forbearance as betraying divine impotence or negligence. 

Peter reminds us that the non-appearance is because God is still keeping the door open… waiting.

Reflection Question:

1.     What then is left for us to do in view of God’s compassion? Can we share God’s compassion, God’s heart to rescue? We make it our urgent task in life, to ensure that God’s compassion is not “wasted/abused” by our non-action/ indifference. The very fact that you are placed next to someone who does not know Jesus is God’s assignment for you. Let his compassion be rewarded by our diligence to save one more from destruction.

Behind His apparent delay is a heart that is not willing that any should perish. Many scriptures establish that fact, notably 1 Timothy 2:4, Romans 11:32, 2 Corinthians 5:19, and Ezekiel 18:23 (let’s take a look at them). He has made provision for all to come to repentance, but if they exercise their God-given free will to refuse He cannot prevent it, for it is that free will which marks us out as men and not animals or robots.

Many of us have plenty of cool ideas about the end of the world. It is just a separation of the devoted followers and the nominal followers of God… we are mostly also not thinking unbelievers. Then God metes out the punishment to all the different groups. A mild closure… after all how scary can it get. We also secretly hope that there is a safe place to catch all (those who have not professed faith in Jesus)…

THE JUSTICE OF GOD

At least twice in this passage is the description of the end. There is nothing cool there. Jesus will come like a thief in the night and then the destruction of the present heavens and earth will take place. It would be as previously stated, by unceasing fire, totally destructive. Everything as we know it is going to melt or dissolve into nothingness. Think of the expensive homes that we have invested our monies in… all things material will not be preserved. The structure (Gk. stoichea) of the universe would melt and the present civilization of men would disappear. There is no safe place to be. For many of us, it’s like yes, I know but isn’t all this just scare tactics used by the Apostles to control people and exercise power over them.

Chuck Colson is right when he says: Not to believe that there will be a time for the reckoning of all accounts, for the consummation of history as we know it, is not to believe in a just God. For Christians the great eschatological hope is that Christ will return and judgment will be rendered, accounts will be set straight, the scales balanced, wrongs righted, and we will live in the love of God for eternity. This is why most Christians are able to affirm what the apostle Paul said, that to live is Christ, to die is gain.

In view of God’s justice,

Reflection Questions

2.     Examine your priorities, how much of your time is for laying up treasures on earth, only to watch them burn up in the day of the Lord?

3.     How can you re-prioritize your life if the fiery end is a certainty?

4.     Are we asleep basking in the sunshine of God’s Kingdom oblivious to how the day will turn out?

RESPOND WITH THE DAY OF THE LORD IN MIND
Only those who diligently lived out their pilgrimage on earth will be spared. Set against the fearful background of the Day of the Lord, how are we to live? The false teachers lived as men of the world in contrast to those who know the truth. Today, even within the church, there are teachings that promise their listeners that spiritual hunger and heavenly aspirations can find complete satisfaction in the here and now. There is no urgency to long for Jesus’ coming. It will merely be an enhancement of the happiness solely in this world.  Nothing spectacular. The end is going to be a smooth ride out of the turmoil, just like the way we go through the rides at the Universal Studios. After the scary explosions, come the calm. With striking incisiveness Peter returns to his exhortation to godly living.

· 3:14 BE DILIGENT: Peter now returns to his word of 1:5 and 1:10 "be diligent," to urge a practical result of their forward-looking hope. Jesus himself had raised the question: "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8). He left the question hanging in the air, waiting for each hearer to answer in his own heart. Peter suggests a diligent response that seeks to avoid the shame of the false teachers ("spots" and "blemishes"), has dealt biblically and honestly with any personal failure and therefore has found peace that passes understanding. We need to make every effort, hasten to exert yourself  give it due diligence and make that once and for all decision not to waver but be found to be spotless (i.e. unsullied) and blameless (that cannot be censured, blameless, without rebuke) and at peace with Him. Illustration: Talking about spots and blemishes, my girls are growing up and increasingly we notice these on their faces. However, they are still not too conscious or even if they are, they want to appear pretty cool about them. Their resolve to put the cream on their spots each night is weak… they waver and just let them be when they are too tired after a day in school or when they think the spots are improving a little. My husband is particular about them so when he sees them appearing on the faces of my girls, he will run after them with the Daktarin, his miracle cream, and smear it on the blemishes and spots every night. He goes at them with a vengeance.

 Reflection Questions:

5.     What about you when it comes to the spots and blemishes that continue to be in us? Do we decisively work at them with the intention that they are removed for the sake of Christ? Or do we simply let things be or keep wavering in our resolve to deal with the parts that sullies our lives and our witness to Jesus Christ?

Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a season for training in righteousness for those who desire peace with God. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place. Check the blemishes and the spots:

Reflection Questions:

6.     "During this season of Advent, let us daily make an Advent examination. Are there any feelings of discrimination toward race, sex, or religion? Is there a lingering resentment, an unforgiven injury living in our hearts? Do we look down upon others of lesser social standing or educational achievement? Are we generous with the gifts that have been given to us, seeing ourselves as their stewards and not their owners? Are we reverent of others, their ideas and needs, and of creation?

These and other questions become Advent lights by which we may search the deep, dark corners of our hearts. 

Many of us believe in God but haven’t come round to believing in God-in-me. Many of us believe in God in heaven, but we haven’t come round to believing in God-on-earth. This is to take the short view about the end. Don’t let this advent season go to waste. Let the Holy Spirit stoke the kind of fire in our worship and devotion that can truly change our hearts.

Peace is the heritage of Christians and its presence indicates one whose expectation of the return of Christ has given a sense of balance and proportion despite whatever chaos the world may present.