2
Peter 3:3-13
(A
Bible Study Led by Dr. Larry Reynolds)
July 10,
2014
1.
I remember hearing some time ago a story about man who
was fishing along bank of a Louisiana bayou… beside him was tub which contained
a number of live fish…game warden appeared and asked man if had license for
fish he had caught…said, “I haven’t caught any fish.”…what about
these fish in this tub…man said, “Those?
I didn’t catch them. Those are my
pet fish.”…of course game warden was skeptical and said he had never heard
of someone having pet fish…man said, “Yeah. Every night I bring them down to the bayou
and let them swim around for a while.
Then I whistle and they jump back into this tub and I take them home.”…of
course game warden didn’t buy that story…man said, “It’s the truth. Here I’ll show you” and he dumped the
fish into the bayou and silently waited…after several minutes game warden said,
“Well?”…man replied, “Well what?”…game warned said,
“When are you going to call them back?”…man asked, “Call
who back?”…game warden said, “The fish. When are you going to call the fish back?”…and
man said, “What fish?”…
2.
In 1st century church some people were
asking something like that about the promised return of Jesus to our world…they
were asking, “What return? Where is
He?”…notice the question in 2 Peter 3:4 – “Where is the promise of
His coming?”…in other words, “Why hasn’t the promised been
fulfilled? Why hasn’t He returned yet?”…want
begin by reading 2 Peter 3:3-7…(text)…
3.
Many 1st century Christians expected Jesus
to return in their life-times…as Christians began to die and the Lord had not
come back, come begin to question whether He was coming at all…they succumbed
to a philosophy which one writer calls uniformitarianism [Stedman, p.2]…it’s
a philosophy which has long gripped both the scientific and scholastic
world…basically this philosophy asserts that if something has not happened
before it cannot happen…it is a way of saying that a supernatural occurrence
cannot break the ordinary course of nature…Peter refutes their thinking by
reminding them that God has the power to break into our natural world at any
time… in vv.5-7 mentions two times that God has done so—at the creation of the
universe and in the great flood in the days of Noah…and says will do so again when
Jesus comes back…
4.
Then in vv.8-13 Peter tells us some things we should do
to avoid being misled by those who are skeptical of Christ’s return… and it’s
those verse on which want us to focus today…look at 2 Peter 3:8-13 (text)…
T.S. – In these verses Peter
points out some things we should remember in preparation for Christ’s
return…while don’t have time to deal in-depth with all that is in this passage,
want to point out three things we should remember to be ready for Christ’s
return…
I. To be ready for
Christ’s return we should remember that God’s view of time is different from
our view of time
- The statement in v.8 “…with the Lord one day is
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day…” is a
reminder of one essential difference between God and humans…we live in the
realm of time, the realm of beginnings and endings…God, on the other hand,
lives in the realm of eternity, no beginning and no ending…one writer
points out that eternity is not just time which lasts forever, it is
existence above and apart from time… [Wiersbe, p.83]
- What appears to be a long time for us, is a mere
instant in the eyes of God…we see this principle at work on much smaller
scale in the differing perceptions of time between small children and
adults…And point Peter is making in vv.8 is that while it may appear from
our perspective that the Lord is taking forever to fulfill His promise to
return to our world, from the perspective of eternity it is not taking
forever at all…
- Now look at v.9…“The Lord is not slow about His
promise, as some count slowness…”…that is, He is going to fulfill
His promise to return at the appropriate time… but there is a reason His
coming has not yet happened…
- The last part of v.9 explains the reason by saying
the Lord ”…is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but
for all to come to repentance.”…that is, the reason Christ’s
return has not yet happened is the Lord wants to give all people the
opportunity to be saved…want point out two things about that statement…
--doesn’t say that all people will be saved…is not
teaching universalism here, the belief that in the end everyone will be
saved…means that anyone who turns to Christ in repentance and faith will be
saved…
--nor does say that God is waiting for certain
number to be saved… find no Scriptural evidence for belief that God has
fore-ordained or pre-destined certain number of people to be saved and will not
come until that elect group has turned to Christ…this verse says God does not
desire “…for any to perish but for all to come to
repentance.”
5.
And main point of vv.8-9 is that to be ready for Christ’s
return we should remember that God has always kept His promises and He will
keep His promise of Christ’s return to our world in His time, not ours…
II. To be ready for Christ’s return we should
remember that it is futile to predict when the return will occur
1.
Reminds us in v.10 that “…the day of the Lord
will come like a thief.”…Peter, no doubt, took that statement from the
teachings of Jesus…in Matthew 24 where Jesus taught His disciples about the
pending destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (which happened in 70 A.D.) and
about His return to this world at the end of the age, they wanted to know when
His return would take place…Jesus said in Matthew 24:36 – “…of that day
and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, not the Son, but the Father
alone…”…and then He told a little story about how the owner of a house
not knowing when a thief may come…and the point of the story and point of this
statement in 2 Peter 3:10 is that no-one knows when the Lord is going to
return…
2.
There are people who think they know…there are
those who make predictions about His return and even make important life
decisions thinking He is about to return…remember during my seminary years
met young man and young woman who were engaged to be married… asked if I would
perform their wedding ceremony and I agreed…called one day and said the wedding
was off…asked why and their response was that they had decided the Lord was
going to return before their wedding date and they saw no reason to continue
with their plans…I’ve often wondered what became of them and what they now
think about their decision not to marry…
3.
No-one knows when the Lord is going to
return…anyone who says they do know, run from that person as quickly as
possible…and while we don’t know when the Lord is going to come back, Peter
tells us in the last part of v.10 that whenever it occurs, it is going to be a
cataclysmic event…he tells us on that day “…the heavens will pass away
with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth
and its works will be burned up…”…seems to me that the point of all
that is that when the Lord returns it is going to be a time of great upheaval…
4.
I know that there is a lot of interest among Christians
about what may or may not happen at the time of the Lord’s return…and I know
that there are a number of views, each supported to some degree or another by
Scripture, about the events which may surround the Lord’s return…
5.
My personal opinion is that it is not particular
helpful to speculate about such things…what we know for sure is that no-one can
predict when the Lord is going return, but when He does return it will be
apparent because cataclysmic changes are going to occur…and that leads into the
third thing that Peter says about being prepared for the Lord’s return…
III. To be ready for Christ’s return we should
remember to live for Him
today
1.
It is important to understand that Peter’s reason for
mentioning the coming return of Jesus was to motivate his readers to godly
living… came across interesting statement in my study of this passage this
week…”The purpose of prophetic truth is not speculation but motivation …
It is unfortunate when people run from one prophetic conference to another,
filling their notebooks, marking their Bibles, drawing their charts, and yet
not living their lives to the glory of God.” [Wiersbe, p.89]
2.
In v.11 Peter reminds us that since the Lord is going
to return at some point in the future, we have every reason to be characterized
by “holy conduct and godliness” today…the word “godliness”
is one of Peter’s favorite words…uses it four times in the three chapters of
this letter… it is another of those compound words Peter often uses…first part
is a word which means “well”…second part is word which means “to
worship”…literally means “to worship well”…
3.
Not speaking of just public worship services…speaking
of an attitude toward God which should permeate our lives…in the secular Greek
world this word was used to describe an attitude of respect for and awe of the
many Greek gods…and the idea behind the word is to live in such a way, to make
decisions, to have personal values which reflect genuine awe and respect for
God…
4.
And knowing that the day is coming when Jesus will
return to this world should motivate us to live in that way…
Conclusion
1. In the book And the Angels
were Silent Max Lucado tells about one of Sir Ernest Shackleton's
expeditions to the Antarctic Circle... left some men on Elephant Island with
intent of returning and taking them back to England...but Shackleton was
delayed and by time could go back for the men, the sea had frozen and he had no
access to the island...three times tried to reach them and each time was
prevented by the ice...finally, on fourth try broke through ice and found a
narrow channel leading to the island...
2. Much to his surprise, when
arrived found crewmen all packed and ready to board the ship...in amazement he
asked them how they knew he was coming that day...they told him had no idea
what day would return, but knew one day would come back...so every morning when
they awakened, their leader rolled up his sleeping bag, packed his gear, and
said to the crew, "Get your things ready, boys, the boss may come
today."
3. Not a bad way for Christians
to live...each day should say to ourselves, "Get ready, the Lord may
come today."...and how do we get ready?...by--
--remembering that God’s view of time is different
from our view of time…
--not getting
bogged down in speculating when He might return and what all is going to happen
when He returns…
--living in
godliness today…
