2 Peter – Innocent lives

2 Peter 3:10-18

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 in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 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. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Luke 21:25-36

“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

“I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

2 Peter – The day of the Lord

2 Peter 3:1-9

The Day of the Lord

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 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.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly men.

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. 9he Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Matthew 24:36-44

The Day and the Hour

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

To Be Continued…

We all know the rhythm, don’t we, of a good television series. One episode ends, the immediate problems resolve, the music begins and the credits roll. But that’s, of course, not the end of the story. The characters remain, the story continues, and often the next episode opens up something bigger than we first imagined.

And this is a helpful way to read the beginning of Acts. Luke wrote the first part of his report about Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, and we heard the ending of that as our first reading. And we might think, well, there we go, that’s the story done. Jesus has done his work. The credits roll.

But Acts opens by saying these amazing words: that actually Luke’s first book, the Gospel, was all about what Jesus began to do and teach. Acts shows us what Jesus then continues to do and to teach, no longer visibly in Galilee and in Jerusalem, but invisibly and powerfully from heaven, by his Spirit, through his witnesses, the apostles.

So Acts is not really the story of Peter and Paul and Barnabas and all the others, or even of the early church. At the deepest level, the book of Acts that we’re going to be studying in our sermon series for the next few weeks is the story of the ascended Lord Jesus continuing his mission by the Holy Spirit through ordinary people who bear witness to him.

So three things to think about this evening.

The continuing Christ.

Verse 1 of Acts 1 says, “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” And that’s amazing, isn’t it? Because it shows the earthly ministry of Jesus was only the beginning.

The ascension that we’re celebrating this evening doesn’t mean that Jesus has gone away into retirement, as it were. It means he’s gone to the throne. He’s continuing his work, orchestrating salvation, but from heaven. So really, Acts is not the Acts of the Apostles in the strictest sense. It’s a bit of a misnomer. It’s the acts of the ascended Christ through his apostles.

Imagine watching the opening episode of a great drama. The first episode introduces the characters, the conflict, the promise, the mission. And then, just as it ends, the words appear: “To be continued.” And that’s what Luke is doing. Acts is that continuation.

This matters for church and ministry even today. It shows us that we’re not caretakers of religious memory. We’re not kind of museum custodians. We serve the living, reigning Christ, who still speaks through his word.

Jesus began to do and teach amazing things in his life on earth. And that didn’t finish with the last chapter of Acts. It continues even today. Jesus still does his work through his church: in the preaching of the word, in gathering sinners, in building up our faith and in changing lives.

So when we pray, when we share the gospel with others, when we welcome people into church, when we study the Bible together, we’re not trying to keep a dying institution alive. We’re participating in the continuing mission of Jesus.

The confused commissionees.

That’s people who’ve been commissioned. That’s a real word, but it’s alliterative.

In verse 6, they say to Jesus,

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?”

And if you’ve been following Jesus’ mission, that should be a facepalm moment. You should be thinking, “Oh, disciples, have you really still not understood? Do you really still think that Jesus’ mission was about restoring the kingdom of Israel as a kind of military power against the Romans? Oh gosh, come on.” But actually, it’s not a stupid question, because the Old Testament really did promise restoration. Jesus really is the King. But the disciples still don’t fully grasp what his mission is all about.

And that shows us the missing piece is the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told them to wait for the promise of the Father. It shows they don’t merely need more information. They had more than enough knowledge. What they needed was illumination. They needed the Spirit to open their eyes and to fit them for the task.

It’s like a problem I increasingly have with long-sightedness. Is anybody else here long-sighted? These glasses will get increasingly thick as I get older, basically, which means my eyes will look all huge. So when I pick up a book without my glasses, I can see that there is writing on the page, but I can’t actually understand the specifics of what it’s about, because it’s all a big blur.

In the same way, the disciples knew that there is a kingdom of God, but they needed the glasses of the Spirit to enable them properly to understand its actual meaning. And it’s the same for us today. That’s humbling for us, because it shows we can be religious but still misunderstand Jesus’ mission, because it’s a blur. We’re not using the Holy Spirit to understand what the Bible says about him.

The disciples needed the Spirit not merely to make them bold, although they did need that, but to make their understanding clear. So our churches must not be driven by nostalgia or habit or institutional survival. We need to keep asking: what is the risen Jesus actually doing? What mission has he given us? What would it mean to be led by his Spirit rather than by our own assumptions? We need to make sure that we’re putting on the glasses of the Spirit when we read the Bible, when we think about the world around us, and praying that he would do that for us and for others. Because Jesus continues his mission by his Spirit, and that shows we mustn’t assume we naturally understand what he’s doing. We’ve got to depend on the Spirit to realign our vision with his kingdom.

The worldwide witnesses.

In verse 8, Jesus says,

“You will be my witnesses.”

And Jesus doesn’t answer their question, “Are you going to restore the kingdom?”, by giving them a date. He says it’s not for them to know exactly when that’s going to happen. But what they will know is that they’re about to receive power from on high through the Holy Spirit.

Don’t worry about the coming back of the kingdom, but do worry about this: your job is now to witness to me, beginning in Jerusalem, spreading out throughout the Mediterranean, and then, wonderfully, at the end of Acts it culminates in Paul preparing himself to go to Rome itself, the heart of imperial power, to witness to the emperor himself about Jesus. And notice what the disciples are witnesses to. They’re not witnesses to values, as if “try harder to be good” is Jesus’ central message. No, they’re witnesses to his person: Jesus’ life, Jesus’ death, his resurrection, his reign, his mercy, his salvation.

So think for a second what it means to be a witness in court. The witness isn’t there to entertain, to speculate, to impress. A witness is just there to say, “This is what I’ve seen. This is what I know. This is the truth I have to tell.” And as the church, we’re meant to be in the witness box, testifying to the world, not to look impressive but to be faithful in telling the truth about Jesus. And that gives us the shape of Christian ministry. We’re not called to be successful or popular or respectable or busy or useful. We’re called to be witnesses first and foremost.

That means church life must keep moving outward: from worship to witness, from fellowship together to mission, from receiving the gospel to speaking the gospel to others.

So this new series through Acts will encourage us to keep asking: how does the ascended Jesus bear witness to himself through his people today? How is he calling us to join in that here and now? And so the ascension is not Jesus leaving the mission behind. It’s Jesus taking the throne from which the mission goes forward.

And Acts begins with three great truths.

• Jesus has not stopped working. It’s the same today.

• Jesus’ disciples can’t do the work without the Spirit. It’s the same today.

• The church exists for one purpose, and that’s to witness to Christ.

And it’s the same today.

2 Peter – False teachers

2 Peter 2:12-22

But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.

They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—a beast without speech—who spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

Matthew 12:43-45

“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

2 Peter – False teachers

2 Peter 2:1-11

False Teachers and Their Destruction

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 shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgement; 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 filthy lives of lawless men (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 godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement, while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority.

Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.

Matthew 7:15-23

A Tree and Its Fruit

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognise them.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

2 Peter – The prophetic message

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?

2 Peter – Growing in goodness

2 Peter 1:1-11

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Making One’s Calling and Election Sure

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness 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 and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

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, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, 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 if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

John 15:1-11

The Vine and the Branches

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

We aim to live godly lives because we have a personal relationship with Him

Today we begin a new sermon series from the second letter of St Peter. This is of course Simon Peter the fisherman, son of John, brother of Andrew, whom Jesus nicknamed ‘Peter’ because he was to be the rock on which the church would be built.

It’s that same Peter who was impetuous, turbulent, brave, cowardly, rash and yet also wise; the same Peter who famously denied his Lord three times after the arrest at Gethsemane; and yet was wonderfully restored on a beach at a fish barbecue by the risen Jesus himself who charged him to ‘feed my sheep’.

It’s that same Peter who stood boldly in the heart of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and proclaimed to the crowds the resurrection of Jesus, with the exhortation to

‘repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins’.

It’s that same Peter who was a leader in the Jerusalem church for some 30 years, and a missionary to Palestine and probably to parts of Asia Minor beyond. Peter who was eventually martyred under the Emperor Nero in his mid-60s.

And in the years shortly before his death, he wrote two pastoral letters or Epistles. The first was addressed to the churches in Asia Minor - modern-day Turkey - and is an encouragement to those Gentile and Jewish Christians to keep faithful in the face of persecutions and pressures from outside the church.

His second letter was probably intended for that same readership but is more concerned about pressures arising from within the church - from false teachers and those who would distort the truth of the Gospel for their own advantages.

So join us over these next few weeks as we take a closer look at what Peter had to say for his readers back then, and how we might learn from those same teachings in our context, in our day. Today we’re concerning ourselves with just the first 11 verses of 2 Peter, which you can find on page 1222 in the church bibles. You might find it helpful to follow with me. And for today I have just two headings: Knowledge, and Fruitfulness.

1. Knowledge

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 1:1-3

When I was working as a GP I had a patient called Tessa. She was in her 70s, a native of Cork in southern Ireland. And she had surely kissed the Blarney Stone more than once as she could certainly talk for Ireland. She was housebound, and for the most part also bed-bound. So she would summon me from time to time when she had medical issues to her little bungalow which was decked out in a slightly Bohemian style with velvet drapes and rich furnishings.

I knew I had to allocate at least an hour to those visits because she would talk, and talk, and talk. Because Tessa was a Jehovah’s Witness. And being housebound and therefore unable to go knocking on doors to witness to Jehovah, she would do it from the comfort of her bed. With any poor unsuspecting visitor!

We had some good chats, and I became quite fond of her. And one day we were talking about the possibility of a personal relationship with God in Jesus. She flung her hands up in horror. ‘What a load of nonsense. Of course you can’t have a personal relationship with Jehovah!’ she cried. ‘He’s far too great, far too remote to be accessible personally. No, we obey him. We can’t know him’.

How wrong she was, and how tragic, for someone who in her own way had such a robust belief. Because the bible tells the story from start to finish about how God relates to humankind, and most importantly relates to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, God-made-man.

And in our bible passage today this is where Peter begins his letter - our relationship with God. And what is the basis of our relationship with God in Jesus? It’s our knowledge of God. Peter writes that we have

everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him

Now in a way Tessa was right that God is too great, too remote for us to access him. We call that his transcendence. But in Jesus he became a man like us, so we could relate to him - and do so personally, individually. We call that his immanence.

We’ve just had a very old friend to stay - he and I have been friends since we were teenage undergraduates. I’ve known him longer than I’ve known my wife. And of course, I know about him - his job, his family, his likes and his dislikes - but I also know him, personally. I understand him. I read him. He understands and reads me. You might say it’s a kind of heart knowledge in addition to the head knowledge.

Remarkably, we can have heart knowledge of God in Jesus. This goes beyond the head knowledge of knowing about him.

Now in Peter’s day this was an important distinction, because heresies were just beginning to bubble up about secret knowledge. False teachers were saying that you needed special knowledge to be a Christian, to which they held the secrets and therefore also power over their people. And the trouble was, that shifted priority around secret knowledge began to dominate the ethical outlook of some Christians - it was less important how you lived morally, so long as you had found this special enlightenment. And Peter is at pains as this letter kicks off to overturn that notion.

So how do we know God in Jesus? It’s nothing to do with secret knowledge - we come to know him

who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Here’s the point: he called us to know him. He called us through his glory - his character, the splendour of his nature, his very essence of wonder and majesty; and through his goodness - the outworking of his character in his dealings with mankind. God is a missionary God who reaches out to you and me and countless others before and after us. That’s his goodness. It’s his initiative in calling us.

And it’s always been that way - he called to Adam as he walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day; he called Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, the prophets, the disciples. The nation of Israel. The people of God. He called you and me.

His calling doesn’t depend on who we were or even how we behaved. He called people while they were still ignorant and living in sin. He didn’t call anyone through their own merit. He calls people not because of what they are, but what they can be, in relationship with him. And Peter goes on to underscore this.

Through these (that’s his glory and his goodness) he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. v4

Again, it’s God’s initiative - his promises of new life and the gift of the Holy Spirit enable him to work with us to overcome those evil desires and their corrupting influence.

We participate in his divine nature. That doesn’t mean that we somehow become divine, that would be ridiculous - but we become linked to him spiritually, by the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit, dwelling in our hearts and giving us (v3)

everything we need for life and godliness.

That’s where our heart knowledge of God resides. And that knowledge, through his Spirit, empowers us to become more like Jesus.

It’s really important to understand this order of things. God calls us, pardons us and saves us through what Jesus accomplished on the cross - so that we might then live a life of godliness for him. He never called us because we were godly. We don’t find salvation because we live well. If it were true that we earned our salvation by how well we lived, if we could find God through our own efforts, then Christ’s work on the cross would have been in vain. That is the ultimate heresy, but how prevalent we find that misunderstanding today. But, having been saved, entirely through the work of Jesus on the cross, we will of course want to live lives pleasing to God. And that’s my second heading:

2. Fruitfulness

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, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, 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. v 5-8

The false teachers played down the importance of godly living: they even suggested that their version of salvation permitted a much freer, libertarian lifestyle.

So, Peter reminds his readers of the importance of godly living, which is about knowledge of God, goodness, self-control, perseverance, kindness and love. He lists these virtues in much the same way as Paul also lists the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The lists are very similar. These are the characteristics we should expect to see developing in our lives as Christians - they are not a pick and mix list, but rather a set of virtues that we should be developing. All are equally important in our lives.

And they are very everyday things. Last week I had one of those days when everything went wrong - I spent ages talking to online chat bots and then to real people on help lines, and the frustration grew. I got angry. But as I did so I was aware that my behaviour needed to reflect my Christian faith. And it’s not easy when your blood is up to exercise goodness, self-control, perseverance, kindness, love. But it matters. These are the fruits that Jesus looks for in our lives. He expects them in my life, and he expects them in yours.

If we don’t see these things developing as we grow in the Christian faith then something is wrong - indeed, it means, says Peter, that we are blind, we’ve forgotten that our sins have been cleansed. We’ve forgotten how much God has done for us in giving his only Son to take away our sins.

But let’s remind ourselves again of this fundamental truth: that we never work towards godliness to earn God’s approval. We work towards godliness because we have God’s approval. Let’s not forget, in St Paul’s words, that

while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

So, there we are - Knowledge and Fruitfulness.

But we need to finish. And we do so with Peter’s final sentences in this section:

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. v 10-11

Our changed lives will be evidence that our calling and salvation are sure. You and I are still a work in progress - this side of heaven there will be some victory over sin, some godly living, some softening of our hardened hearts. We shall never achieve it all in this life, even with the power of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, because our sinful nature is still there fighting against the path of godliness that we so want to tread. But let us be eager to live for him. For we have the blessing of a personal relationship with God in Christ. He knows us, and we know him. We know his comfort, his peace, and his joy, And it’s heart knowledge as well as head knowledge because our spirits are bound to his through the Holy Spirit.

I am sad that Tessa could never see this - and she died some years ago, still, to my knowledge, declaring that a personal relationship with God was impossible.

But as we grasp what Peter taught, what the bible as a whole teaches about our relationship with God in Jesus, let us rejoice as we live for him now, as we allow him to remake us from the inside out, and anticipate that rich welcome that will be ours into his eternal kingdom when our days are done.