2 Peter 2:4-10 Whatever Is True!

2 Peter 2:4-10  For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.  This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.

In the above focus, we see the continued theme of false prophets.  Peter warns those who follow errant prophets and false doctrines that God will judge the wayward harshly.  God does not allow humans to distort his word, for the Holy Spirit inspires the word.  Any trespassing on the Spirit’s domain and authority will be punished severely, without recourse.  “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.  In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up.  Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.  Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”  He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”  (Mark 3:25-30)  In the passage in Mark, the religious leaders were criticizing Jesus’ teachings and his miracles.  Jesus’ popularity with the common people exasperated them, so they claimed He was serving the devil, not God.  Of course, this went directly against everything the divine Spirit in Jesus was empowering him to do.  These leaders literally blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  Consequently, Jesus told them they were on dangerous ground when they boldly came against the work of the Spirit.  In today’s text, Peter gives examples of God’s judgement on disobedience and rebellion against his authority.  God’s righteous judgment will fall on angels, people, communities, nations, or any organization that speaks against his word and his position as God of all existence.  False prophets who skew his word for their own benefit face the danger of judgment, for God will not allow his word to be corrupted by mere people or even by holy angels.  His word, and only his word, sustains eternal life.  No corruption from earth to eternity will be allowed to exist without horrendous consequences.  Peter tells us that the rebellious angels are held in chains of darkness; he also tells us the ancient world disappeared because of its corruption and violence.   Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.  God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.  (Genesis 6:11-12)  Sodom and Gomorrah experienced the damnation of fire because of making aberrant sexual behavior common.  In all three of Peter’s examples, we see God’s authority and likeness challenged.  The angels came directly against God’s sovereignty.  The ancient world disassembled God’s likeness by elevating its own nature as preeminent; as the Bible says, We all, like sheep, have gone astray.  (Isaiah 53:6)  In Sodom and Gomorrah we see the radical threat to the propagation of mankind by homosexual activity.  God will not tolerated a challenge to his likeness, his authority, his goodness, for anything that is not as He is will not endure the test of eternity.  All aberration, all disassembling, all rebellion will end in death.  God is eternal: his likeness, his authority, his control will go on forever; He tolerates nothing else.         
    
Earlier in this letter, Peter instructs people on how to live.  He tells his readers that they do not need a new prophet’s inspiration or revelation: Jesus is enough.  He is the revelation of God, for Jesus is from God and He reveals God fully.  Therefore, Jesus is the exact representation of God.  When we accept Jesus as our life, we have the power of the Holy Spirit resident in us.  We are fully equipped to live Christ’s life on Earth.  We do not need another message, another insight into God.  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4)  We are not to team up with diverse doctrines or false teachers who lead us away from Jesus only and away from the divine authority of the scriptures.  We do not function outside of the scriptures, but within the word of God, for the word sets the parameters of a Christian’s life.  The word is our anchor, a foundation that is secure and eternal.  Of course, Jesus is the living word within us, so we listen to his words as He elevates the written word in our lives.  We do not have to listen to others to know how to live a victorious life; the Spirit instructs us as we read the word.  The Bible clearly points the way to a successful life IN CHRIST.  Our nature will succumb more and more to his likeness: loving our neighbors as ourselves, exuding love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (See Galatians 5)  Christians are not to bring themselves under the restrictions of false ideas and devilish doctrines.  We are not to become the automatons of some organization or idea.  God has set us free from that kind of living, even the law of the Old Testament.  Jesus fulfilled the law completely; therefore, walk in freedom.  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  (Galatians 5:1)  False prophets or divergent ideas about the scriptures will almost always demand slavish obedience to the new doctrine or way of living.  Those who do not fall completely underneath the authority of the leader or the directions of the followers will not be tolerated.  Christians are not to be yoked up with anything that demands obedience to a man or woman who teaches a wayward doctrine.  We do not have to judge people, but we should be wary of those who want to make a name for themselves, who want to be the leader of the band.  Peter warns about  people who become rich off the gospel.  Breakfast companions, do not be excessively critical of others or even their beliefs if they are uplifting Christ in their ministry and lives.  Accept them as brothers and sisters in the community of God.  But we should not ignore good biblical advice: Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  (1 John 4:1)

Peter tells his readers to beware of false prophets within the community of believers, but he also wants them to escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  The world’s inundation in sin and inability to express God’s nature and obey his authority remain prevalent in mankind.  Every culture expresses a rejection of God’s nature of goodness and mercy.  This behavior of sin torments the souls of Christians.  The depraved conduct in Sodom and Gomorrah distressed Lot.  Noah willingly followed God’s command to build an ark because he understood the corruption of his community.  Through all the ages, man has failed God by not bringing harmony and love to the people around them.  In our day, mankind still functions outside of God’s goodness and love.  Even when we dress up in religious thinking, we function primarily in way that is beneficial to ourselves.  Peter talks about false prophets lifting up themselves, for all people tend to work for their own benefit, not really thinking about God.  Even in standard Christian circles, we often find ways to avoid obedience or lack honesty in our ways of living.  We break speed limit laws on the highway; we are abrupt with people who do not serve us well; we cut corners on our income taxes; we are disrespectful to people we dislike; sometimes we disrespect authorities such as school principals and teachers.  As Christians, we know to respect people, giving deference to authority and striving for peace in everything we do; but we have embedded in us the Adamic nature of self-will that pulls us toward impure thoughts and actions.  We will determine what is right or wrong, not God.  We will do what is right in our own eyes.  Consequently, Christians feed themselves with violent entertainment with explicit sexual content, knowing this is not for our good.  What happened to Paul’s command: Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  (Philippians 4:8)  We seek subjects and view things that are not good for our peace, tranquility, and walk with God.  We stereotype groups of people and think of them as being worse than we are.  We can be corrupted by the world, and sadly, even though we struggle not to be corrupted, we often are.  We sometimes think as the world, worry as the world, sin in thought and mind as the world.  However, we must remember that the manna of life, the word of God, has been prepared for us, to help us escape false teaching and the corruption of the world.  We must pick up this manna every day to strengthen our inner person, allowing us to combat the corruption that is around us, permeating our environment.  The Lord has promised us that He would live in us if we would seek him with our whole hearts.  He has promised us abundant life—HIS LIFE IS ABUNDANT.  Whatever we believe, however we live, Christ should be manifested in our lives.  His nature of light should be shown to all people who interact with us.  For sure, we know in everything the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.  Wherever you are today, let him rescue you and lift you up into heavenly places with Christ Jesus!  

2 Peter 2:1-3 The New Is Here!

2 Peter 2:1-3  But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.  Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.  Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

Peter warns Christians about false prophets within the church.  Knowing that many humans perniciously desire to be important and recognized within their communities, Peter tells Christians to beware of this obnoxious spirit in their fellowships of believers.  This competitive spirit of desiring to be better than others causes some people to accept and to propagate false ideas of Christianity.  By separating themselves from the fundamentals of serving Christ, they portray themselves as possessing a deeper understanding of God and his purposes on Earth.  False prophets attempt to elevate themselves above others, claiming they have special insights into the world of the Spirit.  In the above verses, Peter says of these people, There will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them.  Sadly, as in the Old Testament, false prophets will infiltrate God’s people with ideas, beliefs, and activities contrary to the message of salvation and to the holiness of God.  Their message will divide the people of God rather than bringing peace and harmony to the church.  They usually pretend to know some hidden knowledge of God that only they know.  Consequently, to know this new knowledge, this new insight about God, people must gather around them, making them the spiritual leaders of the community.  We find devilish manipulation prevalent within the church of today where leaders have gained recognition and positions of power, heading large congregations, by skewing and bending the word of God to fit their own opinions.  In the Old Testament, we hear the Lord saying: Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying.  Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: “Hear the word of the Lord!  This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!”  (Ezekiel 13:1-3)  The false prophets of the ancients told the people of Israel and Judah they had nothing to fear from the countries around them.  They were prophesying good things to the itchy ears of the people who wanted to believe that prosperity and peace were just around the corner.  The true prophets of that age told the people to get ready for adversity and judgment, for God would use foreign nations to discipline the Jews for their waywardness.  Of course, the people rejected the true prophets, so they flocked to the false prophets, glorying in their untrue messages.  In our society, we have such prophets in our midst, telling people they will find success and riches if they follow their gospel.  They will have enduring health and a carefree lives if they believe God’s Word with enough faith.  Of course, God does bless mightily, and He also cares for our physical beings.  God does bless!  He does heal!  But we also must remember, we do not call all the shots in our lives; we are still under the authority of God.  John the Baptist did not want to be beheaded.  Stephen did not want to be stoned to death.  Paul did not want to be beaten.  None in the early church wanted to leave their property and face persecution.  None of this was good according to what the flesh desires: peace, prosperity, safety.  But all of it was permitted because God’s design for man’s salvation goes beyond the fleshly pursuits of man’s well-being here on Earth.  God has a greater plan for the Good News to go forward.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  (Matthew 28:19)

The early church struggled under the influences of false doctrines.  The Jewish Christians, especially the church in Jerusalem, wanted to add the old traditions of Judaism to Christianity.  Many of the Jews wrestled with the idea of leaving behind the customs and the traditions of the Jewish way of living.  For them to know God, they felt it was absolutely necessary for them to be obedient to the rules and regulations handed down to them from their forefathers.  The commandments were the center of their Jewishness.  Following these commandments separated them from other people, other nations.  The bedrock, the foundation, of their culture rested on Abraham and the covenant given to him.  From their earliest years, they were taught what it meant to be Jewish, and why they were superior to other people in the world.  God chose them out of all the people on Earth to know his commandments and to receive his subsequent blessings.  Paul especially fought this idea of incorporating Christianity into the Jewish religion.  He knew if the idea of circumcision was accepted as an obligation for Christians, then all the rest of the Jewish traditions and culture would follow.  Since women were not open to circumcision, how would they be affected by Judaism?  What would be required of them?  What would be required of the young people?  If circumcision creeped into the church, then other things from Judaism would be demanded within the community of believers.  The old Jewish religious traditions and culture would become paramount in being a Christian.  Of course, this way of living and thinking would be an anathema to the Gentiles, for Judaism was based on God choosing a certain ethnic group above all others.  How could the Greeks become Jews?  How could the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Arabs become Jews?  They were not the chosen people.  They would still be shut out by God from his blessings and preference.  But Jesus said, you must be born again.  A new creature must be begotten.  May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the NEW CREATION.  Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.  (Galatians 6:14-16 NLT)  We people of all nations are the new Israel.  We have been chosen from many lands as his people.  Of course because of Christ’s work we are known as the beloved, his very own.  The doctrine of circumcision, the standards of Jewishness, had to be rejected so that the Good News could flow through all lands, to all people.  The cross of Jesus Christ unites us all in one body with Jesus at the head.

Regretfully, many Christians have followed false prophets and their false doctrines.  Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  The protestant church has splintered into many parts for many reasons.  However, cultish ideas and behaviors also have entered into some of these splits, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them.  Harsh judgments will follow those who follow such apostasy.  However, judgment is God’s domain, not ours.  We who love Jesus, who desire his life in us to be current and active, must submit to God completely by faith.  John wrote about the importance of being in the Father and the Son, saying, I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray.  (1 John 2:26)   We are to live holy lives, honoring God.  Only Jesus is completely holy; consequently, we trust in his works, not ours, relying on his holiness, not ours.  After our demise, we will be raised to eternal life because of Christ’s work in us, not ours.  But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.  (Romans 8:10-11)  Presently, we are alive forevermore because Christ is alive in us.  The Spirit of God who resides in us is the energy that will raise us from death.  We are blameless before God because of Christ’s righteousness in us.  With Christ as the center of our spiritual lives, we should be sensitive to false doctrine and able to identify false teachers.  Deceptive men who teach fraudulent ideas about spiritual things to become famous or rich spread lies and heresies to get ahead in this world.  To avoid their influence in our lives, we should read and meditate on the Word.  Beware of the “experts” on ideas just discovered or uncovered after thousands of years.  These ideas may be lies, conjured from their own imagination, or subtle changes to accepted doctrines that make the truth a lie.  Paul wrote, We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.  (Ephesians 4:14)  Be careful about ideas that have not come down through the centuries, ideas that are focused on having a more prosperous, successful life in this existence.  Jesus pointed to the life after this one as the most meaningful existence.  We are to live for that life; consequently, our time here is to be one of serving, preferring others before ourselves.  Presently, we are blessed by God, for we are known as his adopted children, headed for eternity with him.  But we may not always have a prosperous and peaceful life as we journey through this wilderness.  Paul said he would boast in one thing — the cross of Jesus.  This world held no interest for him except as a place to serve God.  For us who are around this breakfast table, we have died and are raised to new life with Christ.  Because of the cross, the things in this world are dead to us.  We might be partakers of this world for sustenance, but it does not feed the new life in us.  We want to feed on the manna from the Word every day.  As Paul said, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.  (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Our desires for more and better of this world have ceased.  We long for the new kingdom, a new city, a place not made by the hands of man.  Breakfast companions, a false doctrine, a false teaching by even the most charismatic person on Earth should not lead us away from Christ alone.  He is our salvation, our life.  He lives richly in us.  
  

2 Peter 1:16-21 A Reliable Message!

2 Peter 1:16-21  For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.  We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.  For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter experienced an event that he would never forget.  He saw Jesus’ appearance influenced by something preternatural, a power beyond his understanding.  More than six days later Jesus took Peter and the two brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone.  As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.  Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus.  (Matthew 17:2-3)   God’s intervention that day in the world of the senses by allowing Peter to see Jesus’ face shine like the sun and by allowing him to hear God’s voice never left Peter’s heart and mind.  Peter wanted to memorialize the event by building shelters for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, but God directed him to Jesus only.  As he (Peter) spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.  Listen to him.”  The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground.  (Matthew 17:4-6)  We see in this scene the end of the Old Covenant as the governing agent in people’s lives.  God, himself, expressed it by saying, listen to Jesus alone; He is the guiding Word.  A new way of living is dawning, a way hidden in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, discovered by faith.  Jesus, the bright Morning Star of heaven, will transform lives, making them right with God, making everything new, doing away with the old lives that could never please God.  The darkness, blindness, deafness of the old creation will fall away.  No longer will humans be primitive in their understanding of God’s nature, for love, not judgment, will be the basis of the Good News.  Jesus has come to unite even his enemies into God’s redemption plan.  The old, sinful lives full of fleshly desires and wayward acts will be eternally discarded, replaced by the purity of God through faith in Jesus Christ and his works.  The blood of the Lamb will free men from their sins, making them white as snow, with beautiful raiments, holy to God and to all the heavenly hosts.  Good News has come to the world.  Once the world existed in darkness and blindness, away from God’s perfect nature of peace and harmony, but now through his Son, perfect light has come to the world, satisfying God’s demands of holiness on the human character.  Now we will please God through Jesus’ transformational power in our lives, fulfilling the purpose of God from the beginning, making humans in his likeness in every way. 

The prophets in the Old Testament saw this new day dawning with the coming of the Messiah.  Their prophecies did not come from their wishful hearts or longing desires; they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.  Peter tells the people, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.  He wants the people to understand that the prophets spoke of his generation, of the arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and of the new covenant: how to be right with God.  Throughout the ages of the Israelites’ existence, God proclaimed this new covenant of the Messiah on Earth through the prophets’ words.  God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.  The Good News is about his Son.  In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.  He is Jesus Christ our Lord.  Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name.  (Romans 1:1-5)  Peter wants the people who are reading his letter to understand that he is not talking about something that he made up or some new doctrine, originating in the hearts and minds of men.  He wishes them to realize that the prophets of old spoke of this time and that he himself saw and heard Jesus lifted up and highlighted by God.  The Good News has come to Earth in the form of the man Jesus Christ.  As Paul indicates in the above quote, God has given the apostles the privilege and authority to tell all people everywhere what God has done for them.  All men and women can be made right with God by taking Jesus Christ as their Savior.  Through faith in Jesus, their lives can find perfection before the Almighty God of righteousness.  Jesus will be the propitiation for their waywardness; eternal life will be found only in him: This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.  God spoke these words at Jesus’ baptism and again on the mountain.  He speaks them today to every hearer who will answer the call to take up the cross and follow Jesus.  In our lives, we find the Holy Spirit is always speaking if we listen: through that still, small voice, through other believers, and through God’s written Word.  But we must have an ear to hear and believe that He is speaking to us with a message of importance for us.  

When we read the scriptures, we should realize we are not reading cleverly devised stories.  We are receiving the inspired words of God given to us through men and their experiences with God and his leading.  If we see the word as merely a guidepost for our lives, we lessen the reality of the dynamic, living word.  The Bible should not only give direction for how to live our lives, it also should speak to our spirits in a resourceful way, giving us spiritual energy to live for the Lord.  When we read the word, we should know that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit and that the words of life will energize us.  As with the Israelites in the wilderness when they picked up manna daily to survive, we too must pick up the manna of the word every day for our spiritual survival.  As surely as the Spirit placed the manna on the wilderness floor, He has prepared manna for us to eat in the word of God.  God plans for us to pick up, consume, and live out his word daily.  Understand that the power of the word enlivens our lives, sets our feet on higher ground than just the daily grind of life.  In our ordinary living, we must orient ourselves on eternal realities, not temporal.  Jesus spoke of the eternal being more important than our fixation on our everyday lives.  When Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for a drink at the well, He tells her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.  He goes on to say, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.  (John 4:10, 13-14)  If you live only for the temporal, if your perspective is only on the daily activities, your spiritual life will become anemic.  Doubts will enter your mind about whether God is real or not.  Anxieties about life will overwhelm your conscious awareness of the purpose of existence.  No Christian will successfully overcome the vicissitudes of life without partaking of the word with excitement and anticipation.  If God’s word becomes dull, and you seek the words of others to excite your spiritual thinking, you are viewing the Bible as merely a book of information and knowledge.  As an intelligent person, you can glean all the information and knowledge contained in the Bible.  But the word of God is living, not merely a book of stories and ideas.  For the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  (Hebrews 4:12)  The Holy Spirit within us wants to use the Bible to encourage us.  He wants to strengthen, edify, and build us up, making us ready to hit the door of life with excitement, and a desire to spread the Good News.  Paul says the apostles were privileged to tell of Jesus, for their ministry brought glory to his name.  Of course, Peter was an eyewitness of Christ’s glory on the Mount of Transfiguration when God glorified him.  We who are IN CHRIST and in the word are also eyewitnesses of his glory as we see him revealed in us.  We should want to express Jesus to the world through our words and actions.  If we do not, we are still functioning in our flesh, unsure of the realities of God’s word and the glory of his Son.  We definitely must hear the voice of God to be excited about him.  Breakfast friends, if his voice is not alive in you, please activate that voice by reading the scriptures daily.  Ask the Holy Spirit to feed and to excite you by making you alive, filled with his power and love.  If you do hear God’s word, the smoldering embers in your spirit will catch fire, igniting those around you with the glory of God.  God is real, He is alive, and He wants to be alive in you in every way.  TODAY, catch the flame of the WORD!  

2 Peter l:12-13 Remember These Things!

2 Peter l:12-13  So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.  I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.  And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

In this letter, Peter reminds the church that they must reflect God.  When he says I will always remind you of these things, he refers to the attributes of the Holy Spirit.  People might have faith in Jesus as Lord, even claiming his promises of eternal life and spiritual blessings, but if they forget to display the living God in their daily lives, they are nothing but sounding gongs.  They are clouds without water to refresh the land, bringing new life.  As we read last week, For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (2 Peter 1:6-8) The seeds of our actions will multiply in abundance, when we commit to following the Holy Spirit’s leading in our souls.  If we cling to our old self-centered lives and our agenda, we will be as seeds on dry land, unproductive, unable to touch people’s hearts.  Sometimes believers use the redemptive work of Christ as a way to salve their own consciences, to bring peace, to give them a reason to live.  As such, they use the salvation experience as a miser would horde precious metals and money.  They partake of all the blessings of God just to improve their lives.  Was this the only purpose for our release from the dungeon of the devil’s domain?  Surely, we have escaped Egypt.  But now, in our wilderness walk, God appoints us as his ministers: to speak his words, not our own; to serve others; to live in his presence.  This was Peter’s life.  When the Sanhedrin forbid Peter and the apostles to speak and live in the name of Jesus, he boldly proclaimed that he would not obey their orders, for he was under a higher authority.  Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!  The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.  God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.  We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”  (Acts 5:39-32)  We now live under orders to that same authority and not our flesh or the dictates of others.  When Peter and the apostles resisted the appeal of the Sanhedrin, they received a flogging from them.  They were treated roughly in an attempt to humiliate these men of God.  Before meeting Jesus, they probably never confronted the Jewish authorities or faced punishment as lawbreakers.  As former men of good standing, they now became outcasts for doing good in Jesus’ name, causing jealousy to rise in the hearts of the Jewish leaders.  But God blessed them: More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.  As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.  Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. (Acts 5:14-16)  They were punished for serving God, for helping people, for delivering people from the devil’s domain.  Now in today’s verses, we see Peter encouraging people to follow their example: standing out from the crowd by doing the works of God.

If our lives fall to the anger of the crowd and we die in the good soil, we will come out of seemingly dead seed to new lives.  Of course that seed possesses all of the DNA that is in God, for we were made in his image.  We have the ability within us to display the attributes of God because of the power of the Holy Spirit in us.  But the seed must crack open, the shell of the old life must be discarded.  We must allow the new life to spring forth.  No one, without prior experience with a certain type of seed, can really predict what will come forth from a seed.  A person would be unable to draw a picture of the new life in that seed if he or she had no prior experience with that plant.  The new creature, the new plant, evolving from that little seed would amaze anyone who has never seen the fruition of that seed.  We are that seed.  The world cannot appreciate what we are and what we will become.  They want us to stay in their design: the inert seed.  They do not want us to flourish, for maturity IN CHRIST will bring a separation from them, a contrast.  Peter wanted to encourage the Christians to display the separation: the goodness of God, the love of God, the mercy of God, the peace of God.  Those are the things he wanted them to concentrate on in their lives.  If the plant displays beauty, a contrast to the world’s way of looking, maybe some will want that too; desiring a new creature to spring forth, desiring salvation for the soul.  Good soil allows seeds to sprout deep roots.  Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  Whoever has ears, let them hear.  (Matthew 13:8-9)  Peter tells the Christians to take care of the soil in which they were planted.  To have deep roots, they must love others, do good to not only their friends, but to those who despise them.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  (Romans 12:14)  When the world flogs you for displaying the goodness of God, praise God for He is with you.  You are suffering what He suffers with a broken heart.  For God made everything that is, especially human beings, and they have rejected his authority and his influence on their lives.  Rather than serve him, they serve themselves, causing violence and discord everywhere, even in their own families.  We are to express God to the world.  We are the seed broken down for the purposes of God: the new plant, the new creature, flourishing and displaying the works and nature of God.  

Without the salvation experience of believing by faith in Christ and his works, the seeds (humans) will never reveal the holy nature of God.  But God’s plan is to display his unique creation for his glory.   All people have God’s beauty within them.  Salvation has to come to them through Christ’s sacrifice for them to please God.  Jesus the Creator creates all things for God’s glory.  We who are IN CHRIST are acceptable and precious to God.  Our maturity as Christians will produce abundant fruit for him.  The plan of God is not only for us to flourish in this world but to be with him forever in his household.  We who are IN CHRIST are destined to live by the side of God, for all things eventually will be under the authority of Christ.  Sin, disobedience, and sorrow will cease.  We who sit with Christ will reign with him forever.  Salvation, new life, originates IN CHRIST and is only viable with CHRIST.  Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Ephesians 2:4-10)  We are to do good works, for Jesus has given us the strength and ability to do so.  Peter reminds Christians that the works of God should be cultivated in their lives.  Peter knows he will not live much longer.  Some believe he was crucified upside down; regardless, his life was coming to an end.  He wanted his beloved Christians to understand that their lives should be examples of new creatures, not lives dedicated to carnal living, but to God.  Let the seed flourish, let the new life be revealed, for it is God’s work.  No other life is worth living.  Everything will cease, pass away, except for the new life, for it will exist when heaven and earth passes away.  Therefore, Peter says, So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.  I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.  And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.  Be as God is: display his goodness, his love, his mercy and grace.  You will not be ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ if you reveal his handiwork in you, for you were created to do good works.  Thank you Peter for your reminder!  

2 Peter 5-11 Mutual Affection, Love!

2 Peter 5-11  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election.  For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

God has given us power to live righteous lives, lives that glorify him in every circumstance.  He has made us new creatures, so our actions will express his divinity.  His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  (2 Peter 3-4)  We have escaped the corruption of the world by faith in his works and his holiness.  The world no longer has a hold on us.  As new creatures in Christ, we are not obligated to live as mere carnal beings.  Although we live in fleshly bodies subject to the vicissitudes and the experiences of being finite, the Bible says in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  (Romans 8:28)  The promises of victory over the world and the devil rest in the works of Jesus Christ our Lord, the perfect man who fulfilled God’s desire for holiness.  God commands all people to be holy as He is holy, for He will not overlook sin.  A righteous and just God will excise sin by the penalty of death.  Jesus experienced that death for us, thereby paying the price that God required for violating his perfect eternal existence.  Since Jesus paid our debt, we walk unencumbered through the Gate to eternal life, exercising our faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  We follow the Great Shepherd of the sheep to the Father God.  In this world without Christ, we are as sheep with our wool marked with the stain of sin, designating us for eternal judgment.  As sheep on this earth’s sphere, caught in this retaining pen of sin, we are without escape from God’s justice, his excising of sin.  But the Gate swung open when the Perfect Man paid the complete price for our sins.  We follow the First Fruit (Jesus Christ) from the captivity of the biological flesh to the presence of God.  That is our salvation, that is the Good News, but then how do we live now, so the world will know that the message of salvation is real, absolutely true.  Peter tells us that these precious promises of knowing God, being right with God, having God within us, living with him eternally, places an obligation on our lifestyle and actions.  He wants us to confirm our representation of our Savior on Earth, just as Jesus represented God as He walked on Earth and resisted his enemies.  Paul wrote, Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  (Ephesians 6:11)  Jesus was the exact replication of his father, God.  When the world saw Jesus, they saw God.  We should also in every way and in every circumstance allow Jesus to shine through us as we attempt to live up to these wonderful promises of a new life.
 
Of course, as Christians we understand the beauty of having God present with us; we know his holiness rests within us.  But our lives must be attentive and especially sensitive to the demands God has on us: how we live, how we interact with others, how we obey God’s will.  We are not our own; we have been bought by the precious blood of the Lamb of God.  He has purchased our freedom from sin and death, but that means our lives should reflect the meaning of servanthood.  Jesus said, Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last and the servant of all.  (Mark 9:35)  To be a servant of God, we must be a servant to people.  Serving God is not something done in a vacuum: we interact with humanity as He desires to interact with them.  We are his instruments, his lights.  Therefore, to fulfill his purposes for us, we must intentionally focus our daily lives on his desire of loving people.  If we lose God’s direction for our lives, we will construct our lives on the wrong foundation: hay, stubble, wood, materials that will not stand the test of God’s judgment of fire.  Of course, to have our life’s work burn up would create great sorrow in us at the judgment seat of God.  What is Peter saying to us in the above focus about living for God?  He wants us to know that the great promises that we hold in our hearts should surface in the reality of our lives: make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  These attributes of God will affect positively the people who live around us.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  With the power of the Spirit, you will build with material that will stand the test of time and God’s evaluation.  These qualities reveal the light that is put on a lamp stand, so all in the world can see clearly.  You are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:14-16)  We who are alive in the world should reflect God and his purposes.  We should be his instruments of kindness, goodness, and love.  God will judge correctly and divinely.  He knows everyone’s life.  He knows the road everyone has traveled in this journey of living.  We must let him be the evaluator of lives.  For us, we have the responsibility to show God to the world by revealing the nature of God.  As servants, we do not have the right to be the master of the house.  We are to show the Master and his qualities to the whole world, for we are his servants, serving him and his intentions, not ours.

If we fail to let God inculcate his characteristics into our lives, if we allow the self-serving, Adamic nature to govern us, we will produce little fruit for God.  Persuasion alone will not convince people that they need Christ.  They need to see the power of God elevating believers to a better place in their interactions with others.  God destroyed the world during Noah’s time because of mankind’s riotous and violent nature.  In reality, we are wayward sheep, judging the world, interacting with the world on our terms alone.  None of this human behavior leads to peace, cohesion, enduring love.  Our destructive actions lead to wars and conflicts as revealed in the history of mankind.  Peter clearly states, those who do not display the qualities of God are nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election.  For if you do these (positive) things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  As Christians, we are God’s light on Earth—we are to reflect him, not ourselves.  The Spirit of God abides within us; his presence brings God’s nature to us.  Therefore, we should put aside our own worldly knowledge and wisdom of how to live and replace them with the Holy Spirit’s knowledge and wisdom.  If we follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, we will serve people in such a way that we will not even realize that we are building our lives on material that will endure the test of divine fire.  Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”  Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”  The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  (Matthew 25:34-38)  How many of us around the breakfast table need to know that God desires to serve humanity through us?  Yes, it is great to minister the salvation message, to cast out demons, to deliver the slaves from the devil’s hands.  That we should do.  But our lives have an equally important obligation along with sharing the salvation message, and that requirement is to show God’s love to the world.  God is devoted to humanity; that is why He is so patient with violent, self-serving humans, the dangerous cancer on eternity.  He desires to bring whosoever will into his intimate family as sons and daughters.  He wants us who are alive IN CHRIST to reveal and to express his nature to the world.  He gave his Son to a hopeless creation, a creation of wayward people, living their lives away from his everlasting goodness and holiness.  Peter instructs Christians to add to their faith mutual affection; love.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  (John 3:16-17)