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Pastor Vic's Message
“Pregnant with God’s Promise”
November 30, 2008
2 Peter 3:11-18
Last
week we were warned that there will be mockers. Today Peter tells us this
world will be destroyed and we should be expecting. We should be looking for
God’s activity. Look with pure eyes and see what God is doing. We should be
pregnant with the living hope that God is with us.
READ 2
Peter 3:10-15a Peter tells us in these verses that Christians should be the
most aware that the end of the world is coming. They should feel like aliens
without a passport in this world because this world is not our home. You are
on a work visa expecting God to be dealing with the powers of this world.
One
theme in Peter’s letters is your way of life, not how much you give, save, or
consume. He’s concerned about your behavior. Eight out of 13 times the word
for ‘behavior, or way of life’ is used in the NT, you'll find it in Peter's 2
letters. In the Scripture today he uses behaviors in the plural form to let
us know that he is talking to all of us.
There
are 2 other words repeated 3 times in 5 verses.
The
first is ‘loosened’ or destroyed. The word for loosened is in verses
10, 11, and 12. All the things of this world are in the process of being
loosened or melted down or changed in some way. Do you feel like you have a
few loose ends in your life? You should. That is the way life is. Peter
says knowing God gives us the ability to live on the edge of this chaos.
Knowing God and our world is breaking up, knowing that this world is in
transition from the old to the new Peter asks, "What kind of people is it
necessary for you Christians to be?" How then should we live?
Are we
supposed to preach to big crowds on radio and TV? Are we supposed to have
pretty buildings and big programs so we can be attractive to the world? Are
we supposed to organize a Crusade and recapture the Holy Land? Should you
seek political power? Not according to Peter.
The
word for 'expecting' is repeated in verses 12, 13, and 14. It is the
word for pregnant. Knowing the chaos of this world and knowing God, it is
necessary to be expecting. Look for God’s working. Watch and pray. Be
pregnant with the promises of God. We don’t panic or dismay.
Some of
you know what it means to be pregnant. Some of us do not. It is more than a
hope or figment of your imagination. Expecting is more than a dream. It is
something growing within you. You have based your expectation on some
evidence. This word is used in Luke 1:21 when the angel was talking to
Zacharias in the Temple and the people were expecting him to come out because
he had gone in and there was no other way out. In Luke 3, people were
expecting the Messiah to come (Luke 3:15). In Acts 3:5 the beggar was
expecting Peter and John to give him some money. In Acts 10:24, this word was
used of Cornelius expecting Peter.
In this
world everything is being loosened and made ready for destruction. Sin has
broken our relationship with our Creator. The world is in a mess and man
thinks he can fix it? Maybe God has a plan in all this. In Christ we should
be expecting to see a beautiful pattern in the chaos. We should have an
expectant attitude. We should have eyes that see the glory of God in
everything. We don’t run and hide.
A young
pastor in Oregon asked me what is the most beneficial tool that helped me in
my ministry. I thought about it and realized it was not a book, a class, or a
program. It is a missionary couple, Bob and Ina Ashley. I asked Bob one time
how he started the Nazarene church in a couple countries in the Caribbean. He
said, “I believe that every person I meet every day is a potential member of
my church that God has placed in my life.” It is an attitude of expectancy.
Bob demonstrated to me that God goes before me. I expect God to be working in
the lives of all the people I meet. I have found that it is very wise to
remember that God directs the lives of others too. God works all things
together for good with those who love Him. Satan tries to blind us to the
beauty of the chaos.
Another
missionary couple I know has a great attitude toward missions. They
identified 3 steps. 1. pray 2. meet people 3. be Christian.
Do you
expect God to bless you? Do you expect God to bless this church? He promised
He would if we would be holy in all our ways.
God
expects you to have an expecting attitude. If you are a grouch, critic, or
habitually negative, you do not know the joy of the Lord and you have not
appropriated all that God has made available for you.
If I
was an orator I would fit Peter into 3 points:
1. The
certainty of the windup. “loosened”
2. The
certainty of God's Word. “promise”
3. The
certainty of a new world. “New”
4.
Staying healthy. “consider, guard, grow”
False
teachers were telling people that God was not keeping His word. There was not
going to be a second coming. What you see is all you get. But for Peter
there is no doubt that things are about to windup or wind down.
A more
literal translation of 3:11 would read, "All these
things thus in the process of being loosened, how great a people is it
necessary for you all to be by nature in the sphere of holy lives and pieties
(in holy forms of behavior and godly acts)?" This is written to
Christians. It assumes the reader is living in the sphere of holy behavior
and doing godly deeds. So this is what you should be.
"Expecting and desiring earnestly the coming presence of the day of God on
account of which day heavens being set on fire, shall be loosed, and basic
materials being burned with fever, shall be melted." (3:12)
This
does not say that maybe this world will end. This does not say that we will
run out of energy or the sun will fade away. This does not say we will
destroy ourselves with poisonous gases or biochemical warfare. This does not
say the end will come by something that men will do. These only indicate a
fever.
The end
will come by a direct act of God's all-sovereign will. The destruction comes
when God comes.
We read
in verse 9 above that God is patient because he desires all to come to
repentance, but He is coming and when He comes there will be a windup of
everything. The end is certain.
Look at
3:13. "But new heavens and earth new according to the
promise of Him we are expecting, in the sphere of which righteousness is
comfortably at home."
God has
made a promise. Do you know what that means? When Kevin was a teen, he
promised to buy his mother a Mercedes convertible sports car. He had neither
the resources nor the immediate potential of fulfilling that promise. He
could not do what he wanted to do. He did not have a wife in his dreams at
that time.
When we
make promises, we keep them if several things happen. We have no guarantee of
our next breath. We must trust God for our life and strength. We have no
guarantee of our next paycheck. We have to trust God for our daily bread.
But we
did not make this promise. God has made a promise. If God could not keep His
promise, He would not be God. But God is God and He has made a promise.
My
promises are subject to many variables that I cannot control. We write up an
earnest money subject to both the purchaser and property qualifying for a
loan. But God's promise has no subjections. No outside force can hinder His
will being done. His will will be done.
Notice
that something happens according to the promise. The promise is a standard by
which something happens. No more than the promise will happen. No less than
the promise will happen. What happens will be a full measure of the promise.
Not too much and not too little.
There
is a new world coming. Our new world is built according to the standard of
the promise of Christ Jesus. We are to be pregnant with the promise.
Peter
does not tell us much about the new heavens, but he says that righteous
conduct will be comfortably at home there. The phrase 'is comfortably at
home' (dwell) is the translation of a compound word made up of 'down' plus
'house'. Righteousness is not down home in this world, but it will be down
home and comfortable in our new bodies and in the new world. It will be in
permanent residence.
In the
new heavens and new earth, the Christians will no longer be aliens and
strangers scattered throughout a hostile world. We will be brothers
gathered. It will be a family farm again.
Look at
the last phrase in 3:11. Peter is assuming that his readers are now living
holy lives and being good worshippers or doing pious acts. In contrast to the
mockers whom Peter called 'unworshippers' or unpious, we are to be good
worshippers.
The
phrase 'how great a people' is my translation of a word that can be
translated, 'of what sort', 'of what manner of persons', or 'from what country
are you from'. In English we have a question we ask if we have a doubt of the
persons motives or intentions. We ask, "Just where are you coming from?" So
here Peter is asking, "Just where should you be coming from?" What sort of
people should your be?
Notice
the verb "to be" in 3:11. There are 3 words in Greek that can be translated
'to be'. The most common (eimi) refers to ordinary existence (I am living).
The second most common (ginomai) has emphasis on becoming (I am a farmer).
But the 3rd word I have translated 'to be by nature'. It infers that your
current condition is the result of a previous decision. Your nature requires
you to be this way (I am loved by God and forgiven).
What
Peter is trying to say is that you are a Christian. You have made that
decision and you have also committed your life to total obedience. By nature
you are living holy lives and pieties. The plural form is emphatic and means
holy forms of behavior and godly acts. You are more than a physical being.
You are more than a social being. You are a special child of God.
What
kind of people is it necessary to be? Expecting people!
But
this is the day of which the wicked man fears. The heavens are going to be
roasted and loosed and the basic elements will be melted with a fever.
However the Christian is not surprised.
Peter
has said that before the flood the heavens and the earth were maintained by
water and that very water changed the world as it was known then?
Now the
scientists say our world is sustained by the sun and the Bible says that our
world will be changed by that same sun. People used to think that the atomic
bomb or nuclear energy was going to be the source of the heat that God will
use to destroy the world. Peter says it is the sun. Maybe laser light.
3:14
literally reads, "On account of which, dearly beloved,
these things you are all expecting, each of you must make every effort,
without SPOTS and FAULTS, to be discovered by Him in peace."
Can you
hear Peter taking a deep breath as he begins 3:14 and saying, "My dearly
beloved, because these things you are expecting and anticipating, each of you
must make every effort, being without spots and faults, to be discovered by
Him in peace." Work at peace with God and man.
The
word for pure is the word used for the sacrificial lambs. We can live lives
that are pure and acceptable to God as living sacrifices. The word means
without spot, or without blemish. We are to be blameless and acceptable to
God. This does not mean that the lamb never got dirty or smelly. But he was
cleanable and perfect according to God’s standards.
The
word for faultless or without reproach is a word only used of Jesus
in the rest of the N.T. Peter says we are to be like Jesus. People will find
fault with us because they judge with a different standard than God. They
found fault in Jesus. But we can be faultless before God.
Dearly
beloved you know that Jesus is coming again. So how are you going to live
your life? Don't fear and panic as the wicked do. Be expecting the day. And
be expecting the new heavens and earth. Don't worry about all the changes
that must take place and are already in motion. Be expecting a world where
righteousness is at home. And as much as lieth within you live in peace with
all men.
If you
cannot get along with someone here on earth, probably at least one of you is
not going to make it to heaven. God is not running a counseling service in
heaven. You better learn how to get along with your brother here or you may
spend eternity in Hell with him.
Knowing
about God is not enough. Knowing His Word is not enough. Getting our head
straight is not enough. We need an expecting attitude. We need to be
pregnant with a living hope.
The
more I love a person, the more I want them to return. The more I know a
person, the more I am sure they will return as they have said. My hope and
God's patience will bring salvation to many.
In
these last 4 verses we have 3 commands:
Consider the patience of Jesus! (15)
Guard yourselves! (17)
Grow! (18). These are directions for a healthy pregnancy.
1.
Consider Jesus! He set us an example to trace over. Jesus knew the Father
and kept entrusting Himself to God’s will.
The
last part of 3:16 is really a warning against taking the Scripture out of
context. If you think you can let your Bible fall open and put your finger on
a verse and learn something about God, you are deceived. That is magic not
Bible study.
Peter
calls these people 'unlearned' and 'unstable'. You may have a lot of facts
and still be 'unlearned' because you chose not to believe the facts. You can
refuse to learn.
The
word used for 'twist' literally means to turn, but it was used of an
instrument of torture. Like a screw and pulley on a torture rack that pulls
your arm out of its socket, the unlearned and unstable dislocate all Scripture
out of its context.
But
they are going on the way to their own personalized destruction. Peter seems
to be suggesting here that their destruction will reflect the benefits they
twist out of life. He did not just say 'their destruction', but 'their OWN (idios)
destruction'. Their own personalized and unique destruction.
2.
Guard yourselves. This is a military term to be on your guard. Some things
God keeps for us (I Peter 1:4), but I have to do something too. Paul said put
on the whole armor of God. Peter told us in the first of this letter to
lavishly outfit our faith so we don't sin. A Christian must be a
self-disciplined workman. He needs to stay awake.
Even in
the first century, with the original Greek manuscripts, people distorted the
Word of God. Now today we have many translations of the New Testament and
they can be distorted. Jesus promised that His Spirit would teach us if we
will listen.
Revelation is God’s plan of transferring Him mind into our hearts. That
process involved prophets, godly men, memory, words, translation, words,
cultural clarification, Holy Spirit, heart of man.
It
seems to me that Peter is saying here that we can guard ourselves by growing
in grace and knowledge of Jesus. If we hunger and thirst for righteousness,
we will be able to guard ourselves.
Let me
elaborate on 4 other words in 3:17 before we look at the last command.
The
word for 'wandering off the way' is used of a ship without a rudder. Here it
is used of a life without any goals. These abnormal men are wandering off the
way. Abnormal usually refers to sexually abnormal with the word used. The
abnormal men want us to go with them as they wander from the way.
The
word for 'you might fall out of' is used of grace. We can fall from grace.
But the good news is in Rev. 2:5 when John tells the church in Ephesus that
they can be restored after they have fallen.
The
word for 'steadfastness' or 'stability' is the word used for a ship with a
keel and rudder. Our rudder or keel is the grace and knowledge of Jesus
Christ. We can be stable and have direction.
3.
Grow! To grow we must have food, rest and exercise. Spiritually our food is
the Word of God. The rest may be our worship and fellowship. The exercise is
the routines of holy living and doing good as we have opportunity. Our
exercise is obedience. We are purified by obedience. Exercise cleans out
toxins.
To grow
means to be healthy. To grow means abiding in the Vine bearing fruit.
These
are Peter’s last words. Consider Jesus, Be on your guard, Grow in grace. God
does not want you to be in a spiritual coma. He does not want you on a
survival mode. The world is in a mess, but you have a hope in you that is
greater than the world.
God
wants you to grow, be healthy, enjoy life, abide in Him and be fruitful. How
much time have you spent on keeping your spiritual body healthy? What are you
expecting your spirit to live on? How regularly do you feed your spirit?
I have
a suspicion that I spend more time on my physical health than on my spiritual
health. That is dumb, because no matter what I do, this body is perishing. I
have to live with my spirit for eternity. What about you? What are you going
to do about it?
When
women are pregnant, I notice their appetites change. Their moods change. Are
the promises of God changing you and making you hungry and thirsty for some
things that seem odd to this world?
The end
is certain. Are you pregnant with the promise? You can become pregnant with
hope. Confess you disobedience. Commit your life to following Jesus. He
will plant an imperishable seed in you that never dies.
Sunday
Morning Family Worship -- 9:00 a.m.
Vic Dunton,
Chaplain
Phone: (503) 829-8591
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