2 Peter 1:12-21
Prophesy and Scripture
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.
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour 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.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, 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. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 17:1-9
The Transfiguration
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Our faith will be fruitful if we have been with Jesus through scripture and the Spirit
A few evenings ago, I was channel hopping and came across the BBC Proms concert – American Classics. I didn’t watch it all, but I did catch an astonishing performance of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. It’s memorable music with some unforgettable melodies. It’s also very complex rhythmically with lots of intricate percussion work woven through the rest of the instruments. As I listened, I kept thinking how easily the musicians could get it wrong as there were so many syncopations and dropped beats. And more remarkably the conductor - an American woman called Marin Alsop - conducted the whole piece with no score in front of her. The whole, complex piece was conducted from memory. She knew it inside out and back to front.
So perhaps we were not surprised to learn, in the interval blurb, that she was a prodigy of Bernstein himself. He had mentored her as a young conductor. We saw some still photos of her as a young woman, conducting with Leonard Bernstein standing behind her prompting and guiding as she played his music. No wonder she knew how the music should be performed - she knew its composer as a friend and guide. She delivered an outstanding performance, because she knew the writer. Her qualification was that she had been with Bernstein.
And there’s an interesting parallel here with St Peter. He was a great communicator for the Gospel, a great pastor and missionary to the Jewish people. God used him to build the very foundations of the Church. What was Peter’s qualification? That he had been with Jesus.
If you were with us last Sunday at Holy Ascension, you’ll know that we’ve started a new sermon series from the 2nd letter of Peter. Its author is the Apostle Simon Peter. The letter is addressed simply to those who have received a faith in Jesus Christ; it was probably intended for the fledgling churches in Asia Minor, what we know as modern-day Turkey, but it’s equally applicable to us in our context and our generation. And its purpose is to encourage church members to live faithful Christian lives: to show forth fruit from their faith by developing Christian character, growing in godliness and love.
There are also warnings about false teachers who would arise in their midst and rock people’s determination to live for Jesus - warnings not to be led astray into the unfaithful and loose lifestyle that they would promote. But more of that from Chapter 2 next week. So for now let’s take a closer look at what Paul has to say from today’s reading. I have 3 headings today we start by looking back briefly to last week’s sermon. Our first heading:
1. Reminders
So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 2 Peter 1:12
What are these things he’s reminding them about? Well, he’s written about them in the preceding verses, and we thought about them last Sunday. We can summarise it like this:
You have been called by God - saved from your sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and now God invites you to live godly lives for him. The slate has been wiped clean, and now we must be productive and effective in our faith. We are to be a work in progress, growing in godliness.
And Peter will keep on reminding them of these things, he says, while he has breath in his lungs, because they are so important. He wants to be sure they have these principles set solid as the foundation of their faith. He writes
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. 2 Peter 1:13-14
Peter knows his own death is imminent - indeed just a little while after writing this letter he would be martyred in the terrible persecutions of the Roman Emperor Nero.
Peter is anxious that the fledgling Christians shouldn’t be seduced by false teaching. For the arguments were persuasive and dangerous. False teachers were promoting immorality as if it were of no consequence, and weaker Christians were at risk of being led astray. Their false theology was based on cleverly invented stories, writes Peter, even to the point of denying Jesus.
So, if the Christians are to keep their doctrine and their lifestyles pure, why should they listen to Peter rather than the new teachers? What is the basis of Peter’s authority? Two things, so two more headings: his encounters with Jesus; and the testimony of the scriptures.
2. Encounters
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour 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. 2 Peter 1:16-18
He’s referring to the Transfiguration on the Mountain where Moses and Elijah appeared alongside Jesus.
Peter had been with Jesus. He had of course spent three years with Jesus as his disciple; but for Peter the pinnacle was the experience of the Transfiguration. God’s voice: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” was for Peter the confirmation of Jesus’ authority and the truth of his message.
Peter had seen the evidence first hand of Jesus’ divinity - that he was God in human form. And that was a transformational experience. It was akin, I suppose, to Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road - seeing Jesus’ majesty, hearing his voice and being changed from persecutor of the church to growing into one of its most important leaders.
There’s something about being with Jesus that does that to people - when they glimpse his majesty and glory they are changed forever. Peter was changed - Paul was changed - and you and I can also be changed. When we have an encounter with Jesus personally, life changes. Some have said it’s like life has gone from black & white to colour.
And that change is mediated through his Holy Spirit - when we hand our lives over to Jesus, his Spirit comes into our hearts to bind us to him, and to start that process of change and renewal from the inside out.
We too can be with Jesus.
Peter knew that, and the early Christians knew that. But for Peter there was a second source of authority: the testimony of the scriptures
3. Scriptures
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, 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. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:19-21
Peter is saying that the scriptures - the prophesies that foretold the coming of Jesus, and his nature as Messiah - dovetail with what Peter and those early Christians had experienced. The false teachers were in effect ditching scriptures in favour of their own scripts - coming up with their own explanations as to why morality wasn’t important. And don’t we see that sadly in our day - church leaders who brush aside scriptural teachings as being ‘out of touch with modern society’ or who even deny fundamental tenets of the faith like the resurrection and the virgin birth.
Peter will have some pretty strong words for those men in chapter 2 and no doubt he would have pretty strong words for their equivalents in our day.
But the scriptures are to be foundational - we meet there with Jesus, and by his Spirit he opens the scriptures that we might understand. Why? Because the whole canon of scripture is there to point us to Jesus. He is the focal point, the culmination, the consummation of all that the prophets spoke. And so, says Peter, v19,
you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place.
I wonder, how do you view scripture? Is the bible a dusty book that sits unopened on your shelf? A text written in Jacobean language that mystifies you more than moves you?
Oliver and I frequently champion our home groups, gatherings where we look at biblical passages and chew them over to increase our understanding as we learn together. I currently lead two - one in Westcote and one in Icomb - and I am sure those who attend will agree that we never cease to marvel at the scriptures - we even get excited about them - as we grow in our understanding.
And my prayer as I facilitate those groups is that we won’t just grow in understanding, but also in godliness.
But you don’t have to join a group to read the bible. You can read it in the privacy of your own home. If you have never really done that before , you may need help - in which case ask, and I can give you some pointers. And if you find the language confusing, there’s a number of modern-language translations that make the scriptures so much more accessible.
I picked up a new car this week. It’s a complex self-charging hybrid and when I lifted the bonnet I was amazed at the mass of cables and tubes that I saw. With such advanced mechanics, long gone are the days when you bought a Haynes workshop manual to go with your car. You may remember them - they contained everything you needed to know about how to keep your car on the road when there were things that needed attention.
Similarly, the bible is like a Haynes manual - it’s the workshop manual for mankind. Our handy guide to how we work and how we relate to our Creator. Now if you own a Volkswagen or an Audi, you would hope that the manual would be in English rather than German. If you own a Nissan or a Honda, that it would be in English rather than in Japanese. Because workshop manuals need to be clear, in a language we can easily access - and likewise the bible.
So, choose a version you can understand. If you’re good at Jacobean English, go for the King James Version; if you’re better at contemporary English, our church New International Versions may well suit you better. Or use both if you prefer. Or others.
But can I urge you to pick up a bible and read it? Just read a little every day. Start with the New Testament which you will probably find easier than the Old. Maybe a Gospel like the Gospel of Mark, which will enthral you.
Because this book is not just a collection of sayings and dogma. This is the inspired Word of God. As Peter tells us
Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:21
It is God the Holy Spirit who lies behind the texts that we read. Written by men but breathed by the Spirit. And those texts are to be for us
a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. v19
Who is the morning star? That’s Jesus; and these are the texts and the wisdom that will keep us close to him until the final day dawns - the Great Day of Judgement, when Jesus will take us to be with him for all eternity.
These scriptures enable us to grow in our relationship with Jesus - as we combine them with prayer and worship, they are our lifeline until that time.
So, there we are - Reminders, Encounters, Scriptures.
Over the years I have met, from time to time, people whose faith overflows into their lives. People who are fruitful for Jesus - who live godly and productive lives displaying all those wonderful fruits of the Spirit. Somebody once said that they are people who have been with Jesus. Marin Alsop performed West Side Story impeccably because she had been with Bernstein. Peter was fruitful as an apostle for Jesus, because he had been with Him.
So, what of us? Will people see your faith and its fruit and wonder if you too have been with Jesus?