Missions Paul

If Jesus came back this moment and met you what condition would he find you in? Even if your life is not all that it should be would he find you spotless, blameless and at peace with him?

“So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Peter 3 v 14)

That’s quite something isn’t it?

To be spotless.

I’m not usually a messy eater. But those who really know me know that in the morning whether it is my family, friends or work colleagues I need to be checked because after brushing my teeth there is usually several spots of toothpaste splattered around my body. I’m not sure why it happens but it does. I am never spotless.

To be blameless.

Recently a friend casually mentioned that a certain person blames me for their demise. It was a matter that I had to as sensitively as I could deal with in regards to the discipline of their life. But even after such a period of time, I am blamed. It shocked me but it confirmed to me that I am actually never blameless.

At peace with Him.

One of the things I have focused on as I pastor Pastor’s is for them to have a sense of well-being. As important as their work is the health of their soul. This not only about taking time out etc. much is said about those things. But it is also about dealing with the attacks upon our soul. Dealing with anger when you see injustice and being calm when all around you people are speaking of how stormy the moment is. Recently I have found my self saying a lot that I am trying to protect my heart. Why? I need to live at peace with Him and myself. I find this a constant battle.

In answer I think you can see I am never spotless, nor blameless and I struggle with peace.

However I am looking forward to the return of Jesus and so I continue to ‘make every effort’ in all 3 of those things.

I may not be a master of them but I am working hard so that if Jesus came back today he would at least see me working hard, making every effort and being diligent in these matters.

How about you?

We all like to look forward to things. Right now in my country the majority are either on holiday or looking forward to one very soon. We look forward to many things and when we do we focus our attention, we make decisions that show where our attention is, our behaviour is a mirror of the fact that we believe an event is happening in our near future which will be great!

‘So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this …. ‘ (2 Peter 3 v 14)

So then … or therefore … or because of what has just been said …. this is how we live.

Peter has been reminding the Church that this world is passing, the day of the Lord is coming and all that we have known will be renewed in the new heaven and new earth.

Here is a question for us all: are you ‘looking forward to this’? Peter knew the Church was.

Would he say that of this present generation?

Am I looking forward to this?

Attend a Christian funeral and it is obvious that we do not mourn as the world mourns for we know we will see our loved ones again. The world has no hope nor belief of that.

Attend a worship service in a Church and it is obvious there is a longing to see Jesus again, a confidence that we will.

Attend a gathering of the Suffering Church and sit and listen to the stories of the persecuted and it becomes obvious that what sustains them is that life will get better, their struggle will end, for the dawn will soon rise.

But are there any other indicators in the demonstration of our lives that we are looking forward to the return of Christ and the culmination of all things leading to a new heaven and new earth ?

In where we invest our time and our money?

In the generosity and kindness of our lives?

In how we react to those who hurt us?

In the nature of our ambitions?

In how often we tell people the good news of Jesus?

Let it be said of this generation of the Church that we are looking forward to the Second Coming of Jesus.

Let the way we behave mirror what we believe.

Peter has been reminding his people not to be tempted away like some had by the influence of their world especially in only focusing on their present lives. This is not it. That was the message. There is a day of the Lord coming when Jesus returns when the heart of our world will disappear, those who scoff will be exposed and nothing will be hidden anymore. So how should we live our lives knowing this?

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3 v 11-13)

So 

• We don’t put our trust in the things of this world because they are not permanent.

• We don’t expect to receive our true happiness from this world because it has no future.

• We are not discouraged by our experiences in this world for there is a new order coming. 

• We filter our decisions through the fact that we will not be in this world but the new heaven and new earth.

• We lift our eyes and radiate a joy simply because we have a strong future where others only face a bleak one.

Peter is speaking of the return of Jesus and is opposing the ‘scoffers’ who doubt He will come. He is reminding God’s people that the return is a promise and it will surely happen. God is not slow but is waiting for us to reach as many people with His love and gospel as we can for He does not want anyone to perish.

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.” (2 Peter 3 v 10)

The day of the Lord is coming. We find this phrase throughout the Old Testament to indicate the intervention from God into His world. The cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the day of the Lord, the great move of God where the power of sin and death was defeated as we surrender our lives at the feet of this great act. But there is a further ‘day of the Lord’ to come and that is the ending of all that we know and the beginning of the new. It is the return of Christ.

This day will be like a thief. Even though the promise of the day is throughout the Scriptures it will catch people unaware especially the ‘scoffers’ who are not thinking it will happen at all. Remember that Peter’s intention is to confront the ‘scoffers’ and not to give a detailed account of the return of Jesus. So can you see the 3 things Peter says?

“The heavens will disappear with a roar” – whatever Peter has in mind it is clear that though Jesus’ return will be surprising it will not be hidden. It will be heard!

“the elements will be destroyed by fire” – Peter then says that the very centre of everything will be gone. The matter that holds everything together, the heart of our world, it will be burnt up.

“and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare” – with a swipe at those ‘scoffers’ Peter says everything will be exposed. What is hidden will no longer be hidden.

Jesus will come when the world is not expecting it (and that could even be the Church). When He does everything that Christ has held together will be released. Christ sustains everything and when He comes He will stop sustaining. He will take His hand off this world and what we know will change … ready for the new!

I wonder how much the return of Jesus Christ occupies the mind of even the most fervent of Christians. In Peter’s day and so soon after Jesus’ own words of His return it seemed the Church was already taking their attention away this important truth. In fact Peter is attacking those ‘scoffers’ who have risen from within the Church and were teaching that Jesus was not returning, this was not a literal Second Coming but a figurative one.

Today the Church is being tempted to focus so much on life on this earth as if it will remain like it is. Each generation wants to live their best life while they can but that only serves to make every generation more self-centred, following their own desires, being who they are, not surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus. If the children do not believe their parents are actually coming back home for a very long time then the temptation is to run riot and behave badly for they have time to fix it before they do. But what if the parents come back in the next hour in the middle of the mess the children have made?

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3 v 9

Peter reminds us that the return of Jesus is ‘his promise’.

This is a promise of God. God cannot be God if He breaks His promise. But Peter goes further and says He is not dragging His feet to fulfil this promise either.

Rather it is His patience which makes us feel the return is delayed. He wants every person that you know to change their thinking and come to Him because He does not want anyone to miss eternal life. God doesn’t want anyone in hell.

He is patiently waiting for your loved one to turn to Him? God loves and wants that person with Him even more than you do. Sometimes it takes time for people to see the light and turn away from their sin. God is waiting and in the waiting He gives you and me time also to do all we can to reach the lost with the love of God.

Perhaps this is the point. He is patient with the Church, with you and me. He waits to give us time to reach as many as we can. He waits for us to get out of our church buildings. He waits for us to stop hesitating with the gospel. He waits for us to be compelled by the Spirit to go to the lost, the least and the last. He waits for us to willingly count the cost and pay the price that others may know Jesus.  He is patient with us. He is waiting. And in His waiting He asks whether we will go. For make no mistake Jesus is returning soon.

Last week I was away on holiday in Cumbria surrounded by mountains and hills that have been walked upon for thousands of years. I was also thinking about my last 10 years before retirement and how short a time it feels. The difference between the ancient and the modern seemed vast. Ten years as a child seemed such a long time away. Now it will be gone before I know it! There is so much I want to achieve still. In my present work I know it will take many years to accomplish what my heart desires to see. I have this in mind this morning as I continue with this second letter of Peter thinking about whether I will see the return of Christ in my generation.

In the context of criticising the scoffers who say Jesus hasn’t returned and won’t return he quotes Psalm 90.

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness…” (2 Peter 3 v 8-9)

So people walking on the mountains and hills of Cumbria for thousands of years is actually just days to God.

This is not a formula to work out when He will return because no one knows not even Jesus.

Peter’s quote is from a prayer of Moses in the Wilderness. When you are in that place it can seem like a thousand years and not 40 years. The point is that time for us can at times be very slow and then also be very quick. Our perspective of time is different to God’s.

So just because the scoffers say ‘where is this return of Jesus’ does not mean a thing. Is there a reason for this delay? Peter says there is and we know what that is and it is because of His grace and mercy to mankind.

Peter focuses on a group of people who have been ridiculing in particular the belief in the return of Christ. He calls them scoffers. Having reminded God’s people to hold on to the truth of what the prophets wrote in the Old Testament, the words of Jesus and those of the apostles he now focuses particularly to address those mockers of our faith.

“Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” ⁵ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. ⁶ By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. ⁷ By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 3 v 3-7)

The last days will contain scoffers as well as the family of God. Since the ascension of Jesus Christ the world moved into the last days. During this last 2,000 years the ‘brothers and sisters’ (1:10) will exist alongside those who ridicule the faith, the ‘scoffers’. It was always going to be. Just because they exist and ridicule this belief doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is returning soon.

Scoffers will follow their own evil desires. These are not just the last days but they are days of evil. Not only do they scoff the Coming King they scoff by their behaviour the Lordship of the King. Look around you and see what is happening to the Church. The scoffers with their behaviour scoff at the Lordship of Jesus and they do it from within the Church.

Scoffers will reject the promise. They won’t accept the promise found in the Old Testament, the Gospels, Acts or what the Apostles Paul, James, Peter and John confirm. They will turn their back on the Communion/Lord’s Supper that we regular partake of until He comes and they will reject the eternal promise which is in the heart of every born-again believer.

Scoffers will say ‘there has been no change’. They will rule out the divine intervention of God through Jesus Christ and they will say God has not intervened since Creation and He does not and He will not bring any change to this world.

Scoffers will forget the story of Noah. There were scoffers in Noah’s day and in Peter’s day and so there is no surprise also in our day. Scoffers may talk of the love of God. “God loves everybody so live how you want”. But they deliberately forget. They choose to forget God’s judgment with the Flood. Ignore the Flood and you don’t have to worry about future judgment nor any return of Jesus.

The promise remains even if the foolish scoffers do.

Do you still remember those words that humiliated you? Those words that honoured you? What words do you remember?

“I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.” (2 Peter 3 v 2)

Remember Bible verses, stories, commands. Learn to recite them. To bring them to the surface of your mind on every occasion. Write them down. Buy the fridge magnets. Do whatever you need to do to recall the words spoken by the prophets and the apostles in the Scriptures.

Remember what you have received and heard. Look back on what has been taught you over the years. Remember the songs, the worship times when you experienced the presence of God. Bring to the surface the shaping of God in your life. Those high moments when the Spirit came on you and the Word directed your life. Don’t let go of the past victories.

Fill your mind with these words and see what happens to your life today!

How many friends do you have? In the world of social media that doesn’t mean much really.

Last night I attended a birthday party and it was lovely to see the friends that the person had around her. Over the years they had gathered true friends.

Friendships is so important. Some have been blessed to keep their childhood friends into adult life and others find a friend in university and they stay friends for the rest of their lives.

Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the 13th century sought to discover humanity’s original language – thinking it might be Hebrew, Greek or Latin. So he experimented by isolating a few infants. The nurses involved were sworn to absolute silence, and no one ever spoke to or in the presence of the children. The babies heard not a word, not a single sound from a human voice. Tragically, within several months. they all died. A lamentable result of a bizarre search for knowledge gone awry, the Emperor never learned the original language of humankind – but he did prove one thing: people cannot survive without relationships.

“Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you.” (2 Peter 3 v 1)

Four times Peter uses the words, ‘dear friends’ in this chapter.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: v8

… dear friends … make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him, v14.

… dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard, v17

If you have a friend who contacts you, v1; or helps you to focus on the important things in life, v8; or wants you to be the very best you can be, v14; or who has your back and doesn’t want you to get hurt, v17; then you have indeed found a dear friend.

You may survive but you cannot thrive without friendships.

Be that friend to someone.

A phrase suggesting it is make-believe and not real. Peter moves into the final part of his letter and reveals why he has written to them.

“Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.” (2 Peter 3 v 1)

He has written to them so that they would think better.

He is not writing to promote himself or to raise their support in his leadership.

He is not solely wanting them to change their behaviour though that is the hoped outcome.

He wants them to think right. He doesn’t want them to be influenced by the thoughts of their world and what is around them. He wants them to have kingdom thinking.

The voices around them are akin to the voices around our world. How will we think? Will our thoughts reflect our society or will they stand out and be different. Will they be wholesome?