This Christian message focuses on the themes of faith, humility, and perseverance. It discusses Peter’s letters to the dispersed churches, emphasizing the importance of holding onto the truth, avoiding false teachings, and growing in faith. The message encourages believers to remain faithful and close to God.
A CHRISTIAN MESSAGE
By WARD PIMLEY
Pastor, Journalist, Author
“Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that [pertain] to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption [that is] in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:1-4 (NKJV)
PREAMBLE
I LOVE THOSE OPENING WORDS to Peter’s second letter to the dispersed churches of Asia.
First, he refers to himself with humility. “I am a bondservant (slave) of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
He was not, what we like to call today, a “name dropper.” He could have been, but he chose not to be, because filled with the Holy Spirt, he saw himself as a mere mortal, as just a humble servant of the Divine Mission.
We know him as one of the Lord’s chosen apostles; not only that, but he was one of the favored three and even named leader of the pack.
Although Peter was a close follower of Jesus in His earthly ministry; he does not tout himself as being anything special.
Second, he goes on to say in writing to fellow believers that they “have obtained like precious faith with us” (NKJV) or “a faith of equal standing with ours” (ESV) or “a faith as precious as ours” (NIV] or “a faith of the same kind as ours” [NASB].
Can you imagine that? Peter, who walked with the Lord, is telling fellow Christ followers – both Jewish and Greek – that their faith, their belief, their connection with the Lord is equal to his. That means so is your faith and mine.
The humility that Peter expresses is identical to the humility the other letter writers exhibit, whether it’s Paul (the greatest evangelist of the Church Age] or James (the Lord’s half-brother) or John [the disciple Jesus loved] or Jude (another half-brother of the Lord] and even the anonymous author of Hebrews [who scholars speculate could be Apollos or Paul. I think Paul, with Silas as scribe.]
LET’S REMEMBER AS WE READ through Peter’s two letters that he is writing to the dispersed Christians who are being persecuted by Roman authorities for their religion. While his main focus was on believing Jews, he also included the Greeks (Gentiles).
In First Peter, we learned that the apostle was writing to a persecuted people, so he encouraged them, giving them hope for a better future in Heaven, telling them they are a “chosen” people, reminding them they should always be ready to share their joy and hope, to do their good works not for their own glory but that of God, and to believe in the promise of being raised with immortal bodies, equipped for eternal life.
Even though Peter is facing his own death by crucifixion, as foretold by Jesus in John 21, he is not burdened with his own death. Instead, he is burdened with a heartfelt desire to encourage his fellow believers. In First Peter, he reached out to offer solace and comfort; but in Second Peter, we see him encouraging the faithful to avoid destructive doctrines and false teaching, to hold onto the truth.
In successive chapters in Second Peter, he brings up Grace and Faith, False Prophets and Teachers, and the Day of the Lord (Christ’s return).
While Peter, a Galilean fisherman, did not benefit from the august scholarship of his fellow apostle and church planter Paul, he nevertheless was inspired by the Holy Spirit to tackle key doctrinal issues that were plaguing the early church. As such, we benefit from studying his writings because today’s church struggles with its own set of false teaching.
From our vantage point in the Twenty-First Century, we can see – regretfully – it didn’t take long for the church our Savior installed and died for to begin sprouting weeds, much like our own cultivated yards and gardens sprout weeds.
Fighting for the church – Christian belief and fellowship – has been, is, and will continue to be a struggle for as long as the Church Age continues and Satan rules the world. The present age will end when Jesus returns for His saints, ushering in the seven-year Tribulation before the Lord returns a second time, plants His feet on the earth, and declares the Millennium.
The Millennium will be a literal 1,000-year reign ruled by Christ sitting on His throne in Jerusalem with the aid of His saints – you and me. At the end of that time, Jesus will usher in Eternity.
PART 1. The Christian’s Call and Election
THERE’S AN INTERESTING PARALLEL between the Christians of the First Century and our forebears, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden.
We read that Eve was deceived by evil, and Adam was disobedient to God’s rule, but both the man and the woman had been given ample instruction by God on what He expected from them; that is, what they could and should do and, conversely, what they could and should not do.
The one prohibition was to avoid eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God told Adam directly, and then it became Adam’s job to share the instructions with Eve, which the Bible tells us he did. The fact that Eve got the instructions wrong —God said they could not eat from the tree; Eve told the serpent they could neither eat from the tree nor touch it — could indicate either that Adam misspoke, or that Eve misheard, or – more likely – that neither one of them paid much attention to their conversation.
Doesn’t that sound familiar? Hmm?
Well, someone was listening. Satan heard. Satan paid attention to what God instructed the First Couple to do, and he knew he also had to upend the creation order God established by addressing Eve, who was to be sheltered by and protected by Adam.
Eve failed to follow God’s instructions through Adam, and Adam failed to follow God’s instructions to protect Eve.
Apparently, the only one listening to God’s instructions was Satan, and that was not so he could obey God but to learn what he needed to do to thwart God’s design.
At the start of the Church Age, when Peter is writing, we see in the nascent church the same pattern replicated. [The Church Age started at Pentecost and continues until the Rapture.]
The Apostles benefitted from Jesus’ teachings during His three-year earthly ministry, and they dutifully passed that teaching on to their disciples who were to pass it down to their disciples, and so on through to our own day and beyond to generations that follow us.
Yet, somehow in the translation, the message started growing weeds, or maybe you prefer an analogy of the plaster starting to crack.
Satan, the evil one, listened intently to what God said to His people; not so he could obey God but so he could mislead God’s followers.
Satan today is up to those same tricks.
Do you not see that in your own life, or in the lives of fellow believers, or in the church at large? If you do not see it, I would say it is because you are missing it, not because it is not there.
I am constantly battling against Satan’s lies in my life. I will believe I can accomplish great things in my own abilities, or I will believe someone is belittling me, or stepping on my toes, or infringing in my space, or making unreasonable demands on my time or binding me to unsustainable burdens or maligning my contributions. Oh, woe is me!
I know those are lies, but I still come under their power when I let Satan manipulate the truth. His falsehoods are never outright blatant lies. Instead, they are shadings of the truth, nearly parallel lines that nevertheless bend outward soon enough, or a darkening of the vision, slowly at first before picking up the pace until we see only darkness.
Before you know it, the “almost but not quite right” becomes the outright wrong, and we are walking in quicksand … and sinking deeper and deeper.
Like Peter walking on the water, we take our focus off the Savior and look around us, suddenly more conscious of the waves and the wind than we are of the Savior’s love. So, we sink.
You are not called to show your brilliance. You are called to show your faith.
Ward’s Words
Like Peter when he was drowning, when we call out to the Lord, we find He is still faithful and will save us.
Peter is telling his audience that God has given them all the instructions they need to live a godly and holy life, but he also reminds them that it will be a struggle. To win the battle, he tells them, they will need to keep learning and growing in their faith.
That is the same with us. We need to keep learning and growing in the faith. How do we do that? By walking with the Lord.
We are to read His instructions in the Bible, stay close to Him in prayer, live lives of faithfulness, and be willing to speak when God presents us with the opportunity to share our faith.
We learned earlier in our study of First Peter that sharing our faith means simply giving a brief testimony of what God has done for us.
Giving our testimony does not mean quoting Scripture like an Awana class or spouting doctrine like a systematic theology textbook, nor does it mean a recounting of your entire life. It does mean telling people how Jesus has changed you. First, and foremost, it is a personal testimony.
You are not called to show your brilliance. You are called to show your faith.
PART 2. Peter’s Approaching Death
ARE YOU STRUCK, AS I AM, with Peter’s sanguinity — his peace, his calm — in this letter?
He is not focused, as you or I might be, on our rapidly approaching death, death not by natural causes according to the order of life, but by a crude and gruesome method of torture — crucifixion.
Do you see any sign of the jitters there? Any backing away from his calling? Any shirking of his duty? I do not.
This is what he says, according to the New Revised Standard Version (Updated Edition):
“I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.” – 2 Peter 1:13-14 NRSVUE
That’s it! That is his sole commentary on his impending death.
[I have heard more whining and complaining from someone going to a routine dental appointment than I see with Peter referencing his impending execution. (Most of that complaining has come from me.)]
Why do you suppose he is so peaceful about this torturous event that looms ever closer?
Isn’t it because he has grown in his learning and faith by walking with the Lord, by talking with Him, by reflecting on what He remembers the Lord having said, by revisiting the scenes of Jesus – feeding the crowds, healing the sick, raising the dead, confronting the religious leaders, forgiving sins, and offering Peter forgiveness for his backsliding, when he denied knowing the Lord?
When Peter tells us to remain in the faith and grow our faith through a strong personal relationship with the Master, he is basing his teaching on his own experience, his own life, his own walk with the Lord.
He says: “This is what I do. This method works. Keep on coming. Keep on walking. Don’t quit now. Come on, y’all. You can do it.” He’s encouraging them.
PART 3. Eyewitnesses of God’s Glory
AS A FINISHING FLOURISH, Peter references a special event that he shared with the Lord, along with only two other apostles – John and John’s older brother James – on the mountaintop.
Known as “The Transfiguration,” Peter and the two sons of Zebedee saw the Lord transfigured into a shimmering glow of dazzling white. Alongside Him, talking like long-time chums, were Elijah and Moses.
Interesting imagery for at least two reasons: one, the apostles had never seen either Elijah or Moses, yet the Bible tells us they knew who they were; and two, Elijah and Moses represented the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah).
Revelation 11 tells us during the Tribulation there will be two evangelists witnessing for 1,260 days (3.5 years) until the “beast that arises from the bottomless pit” rises and kills them. Their dead bodies will lie in the streets, unburied, for 3 ½ days, when God will reinstall life to them and call them up to glory.
Like Moses, the two witnesses will be given power to send plagues; like Elijah, God will give them power to keep rain from falling. Now, the Bible does not identify them, but most speculation centers on Moses and Elijah, who best represent the Law and the Prophets.
Moses and Elijah might make another appearance in the Scriptures.
So, Peter was one of the favored three apostles to witness this brief encounter on the mountaintop, and he testified in his letter that they heard a voice from “Majestic Glory” (NRSVUE/CSB/ESV/NASB), although they NKJV calls it “Excellent Glory.”
This is the only “power play” Peter uses in this chapter, and he uses it effectively. He knows that this story is well known within the Christian community of believers, so when he says we heard God’s voice say: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (verse 17), he does not use it to brag that he was one of the Favored Three picked by the Master to witness this event.
Instead, he uses it to reinforce his next point, that the Scriptures were not, and are not, man-made inventions but holy writings inspired by God’s Holy Spirit; and as such, are truthful statements from the Creator, Himself, and you can rest assured in His faithfulness.
Our modern expression might be something like this: “You can take that to the bank;” or “You can bet the farm on it.”
Then Peter hits us, both the “us” of the First Century and the “us” of the Twenty-First Century, with this line:
“For no prophecy (Scriptural text) was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” – 2 Peter 1:21 ESV
Then he says:
“And we have as more sure the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19 LSB)
Church, the “morning star” is Jesus. [Note: In Isaiah 14:12, Satan is referred to as the Morning Star, while in Revelation 22:16 (NKJV), Jesus refers to Himself as the “Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”]
Peter is calling us to remain faithful in our walk with Jesus Christ. That closeness pays spiritual dividends, and you will be blessed if you do. Peter is reminding us, as James — the Lord’s half-brother does in a later book in the Bible — to draw near to God because God will draw near to you.
The apostle John reminds us in His gospel account of Jesus’ ministry that the Lord promised He would never leave us. He would always be with us. That was the point of sending the Holy Spirit to replace Him on earth. Jesus could only be in one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit can be everywhere at once.
If you are feeling distant from God, then you are the one who moved. Jesus tells us to abide in Him because without Him, we can do nothing.
Matthew also reminds us that Jesus made the same point when He commissioned us to spread the Word throughout the world by saying, “And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20b NKJV)
Stay close to God, Church, and He will reward you with “exceedingly great and precious promises.”
FINAL WORDS
As we finish, we return to where we started: Peter addressing the dispersed believers in Asia shortly before his own crucifixion. He’s encouraging them to be faithful servants.
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,” he writes. That means “grace and peace” will grow increasingly in your hearts as you believe in Him and walk obediently with Him.
Check the majesty of the language, the beauty of the blessing, the certainty of the reward.
Yes, my brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, you are blessed if you do, if you remain close to the Lord in your heart and in your prayers.
You can do that because the hard part – paying the penalty of God’s wrath for your sin – has been paid by Someone else. That would be Jesus.
You have the easy part, which is this: Receive and Believe. Receive the gift of grace and believe in God’s promise of life.
If you do believe and receive, you will have no worries; if you do not believe and receive, you will have no excuse.
God gave you the choice.
Which option will you choose?
My wife and I have chosen, choose now, and forever will choose to receive and believe.
Praise God!
PRAYER
OH, LORD, we praise Your Glorious Name, You alone are God. You created all that is, and nothing that exists came about without Your will, Your imprint, Your design.
We are eternally grateful that You sent Your Son to endure Your wrath for our sins so that we would be spared that trauma, that suffering, that pain. Further, You said that believing in Him was sufficient for our salvation. Lord, we bless You for that gift.
For those among us who do not yet know the Lord in a personal way, we ask that You receive their prayers now, their prayers of humble repentance and willingness ~ even eagerness ~ to receive Your Holy Spirit into their hearts and lives, bringing forgiveness of sins and renewal of soul . Hear their prayers now.
For those among us who have been walking with the Lord, we pray for strengthened resolve in our daily struggles, knowing that the perfecter of our faith was raised from the dead as the first fruits of our own resurrection to come shortly.
As You give us opportunity to share our faith, we pray, O Lord, You will give us the words to touch each individual heart, sharing with them merely what God has done for us and then being willing to share more of our heart should they ask us.
Come, Lord Jesus. Maranantha.
In the name of Yeshua, our Lord and Savior, our King and Messiah, we lift this prayer and petition.
AMEN
Ward's Words | BY WARD PIMLEY 