2 Peter 3:17-18
(A Bible Study Led by Dr. Larry Reynolds)
August 7,
2014
1. Did you see the story in the news this past
week about a woman named Theresa Roemer who lives in the Woodlands just north
of Houston…has 3000 sq. ft. closet in her home…packed with expensive purses,
shoes, jewels, and family heirlooms…recently forgot to set the alarm on her
closet and a burglar broke in and made off with more than $1 million worth of
items… hope she had good insurance coverage!...
2.
Have you ever thought about how much time and energy
and money we spend trying to protect ourselves from things that can potentially
cause us harm? For example—
--spend
thousands of dollars purchasing insurance protect us from financial disaster in
case of accidents or natural disasters or illnesses…
--go outside on
bright, sunny day…sunglasses…sunscreen…
--get in car
fasten seat belt…air bags…sensors…
--constantly
warning our children to be aware of their surroundings and not to let
unscrupulous people to take advantage of them…
3.
To do such things makes sense…if we know there is a potential
danger to us, it would be foolish not to do all that we can to guard ourselves
from that danger…that is something of what Peter tells us at the end of 2 Peter
3 …as have told you numerous times now, 2 Peter 3 written against backdrop of
Lord’s promised return to this world…in this chapter tells us some things to do
in light of that return…we have seen that in verses—
--1-2 tells us
be informed…--3-13 be alert…--14-16 be diligent…
And
today, from vv.17-18 going see tells us be on guard, to protect ourselves from
those who would lead us astray as we await the Lord’s return…(text – 2 Peter
3:17-18)
T.S. – As read NT cannot help but see that a major theme woven
throughout the pages of this book is the necessity of keeping our spiritual
guard up… over and over we are reminded of the importance of being vigilant,
watchful, alert… of not letting our guard down…for example--
--Jesus told His followers to “…keep watching and praying that
you may not enter into temptation…” (Matt.26:41)
--in his farewell address to the leaders of the church at Ephesus Paul
reminded them to “…be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock…”
(Acts 20:28)
--in his first letter Peter challenged his readers to “…be on the
alert [for] your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking
someone to devour…” (I Peter 5:8)
And the reason we need to be
vigilant is that there is a spiritual war raging in our universe…between God
and Satan…good and evil…right and wrong…as Paul put it in Ephesians 6:12, “…for
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
And Peter tells us in this
passage that because that war is raging all around us we need to “be on
guard”…the tense of the verb conveys the idea of continuous action…keep
on being on guard…continually be on guard… and in the verses that follow we are
told that involves two things…
I. Being
on guard involves resisting wrong influences
1.
Tell you
about friend with whom I grew up…his name is Whatley Langham… lived about a
block from me…have no idea where Whatley is today…last I heard he was living
somewhere in Alaska…attended same high school and same church…as child made
commitment to Christ…very active in our church’s youth ministry… brilliant
young man…received academic scholarship to one of most prestigious universities
in our nation…freshman year at college fell into wrong
crowd…pseudo-intellectuals group who delighted in attacking and ridiculing
Christianity…at first tried to resist and counter their attacks…but gradually
gave in to them and renounced his faith…
2. Learned something from that…not that
Christianity cannot stand the intellectual assault of skeptics…it certainly
can…some of the world’s greatest thinkers in virtually every intellectual
discipline have arisen from the ranks of Christianity…but what I learned was
that we need to be on guard against those who would lead us away from truth…
1. That’s why
in v. 17 Peter warns us against “…being carried away by the error of unprincipled men…”…the verb
translated “carried
away” pictures someone being swept along by a crowd…not
necessarily intending to go where the crowd is going, the person just gets
caught in the flow and cannot escape…
- The phrase “…unprincipled men…” is
reference to the false teachers, the counterfeit Christians which Peter
exposed in detail in chapter 2… around the fringes of Christianity there
have always been those who miss the mark…those who take the message of the
gospel and twist it and distort it for their own selfish purposes…all you
have to do is turn on your television to find such people at work in our
world today…
- Jesus often warned about religious leaders who lead
people astray… told His disciples in Matthew 16 to “Watch out and
beware of the leaven (the teaching) of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”…
- In Critical Decisions in Following Jesus
George Johnson points out that Jesus strongly criticized the religious
leaders of His day for their lack of principle…
They did not practice what they taught (hypocrisy).
They put heavy burdens on others but not themselves
(legalism).
They sought and loved public recognition (pride).
Status, respect and titles were important to them
(arrogance).
They locked people out of the kingdom (judgmental).
They established laws to benefit themselves (greed).
They neglected to emphasize justice and mercy
(bias).
They were accomplices to silencing the prophets
(oppressive).
- Being
on guard means resisting people, not being swept away by people like
that…but more to it than that…in addition to resisting wrong influences…
II. Being
on guard means cultivating right influences
1. The first part of v.18 is one of the most
well-known and often quoted passages in the Bible…”…but grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…”…there are
several things about that statement which are important to understand…
·
Verb “grow” is imperative…this is
not a suggestion…not something should do if want to…command…what is expected of
every believer…it is also present tense meaning that growing is a continuing
process…not a one time thing…not something we ever finish in this world…we are
to keep on growing…notice that Peter says we are to grow in two directions…
·
First, we are to grow “in grace”…disagreement
among Bible commentators concerning what this means…
--some say to
grow in grace means to grow in the virtues, the character traits which should
be in our lives…they point back to 2 Peter 1:5-7 where Peter lists eight things
which should be part of our character – faith, moral excellence, knowledge,
self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love…some say
growing in grace means growing in those qualities…
--however,
others say growing in grace means to grow in our ability to withstand trials,
tribulation, and difficulty without buckling under the pressure…one writer
says “We never really experience the grace of God
until we are at the end of our own resources.” [Wiersbe, p.98]…[that
was experience of Apostle Paul…thorn in flesh…serious affliction…three times
asked God remove it…three times heard God reply, “Paul, my grace is
sufficient for you.”…the difficulty Paul faced helped him to rely upon
more, to appreciate more the grace of God…]
·
Second, we are to grow “in knowledge”…grace is the experiential part
of our spiritual development; knowledge
is the intellectual part…both are necessary…we are to grow in our heart
and we are to grow in our head…grace without knowledge can be shallow and
superficial…knowledge without grace can be harsh and legalistic…we need to grow
in both areas to be what God desires for us to be…
1. Carol and I spent most of last week taking
care of three of our seven grandchildren…amazing to us how fast each of the
grandchildren are changing…two of the three we had last week were young
preschoolers who, to put it mildly, are interesting, fun, and difficult to
manage…however, the other grandchild we had was an 11 year old, it she was
almost like being with an adult…reminded me that growth is necessary part of
physical life in this world …and what is true in physical realm is also true in
spiritual realm…
2. It is God’s plan for us to keep on growing,
keep on maturing as Christians…growth in the spiritual realm pretty much
follows the pattern of growth in the physical realm of life…basically we need
two things to grow spiritually just as we need two things to grow physically…
·
We need adequate nutrition…the nutrition for
spiritual growth is God’s Word and prayer…if we don’t spend time in the
Scripture and spend time praying, we will not have much growth in our spiritual
lives…”I’m not getting fed in my church.”…only people in world have to
feed are babies and those who are ill…rest feed themselves!…if been Christian for
any length time, it is your responsibility to see that you are getting proper
spiritual nutrition…know no other way than investing time in God’s Word and in
prayer…
·
Mean church unimportant?…no!…also need an
environment which encourages us to grow…not going be very successful in growing
tropical plants at the North Pole…need warm, loving, caring church fellowship
to hold us accountable and to encourage us to grow…my experience is that
Christians who are not a part of nurturing church family have difficult time
maintaining the vitality of their walk with the Lord…
Conclusion
1. On that morning, as she always did, Dawn
Robinson began her day by spending time in God’s presence…she remembers asking
that day for God to lead her and protect her…then she went to work…day was
9/11/01… worked in south tower of World Trade Center…8:45 a.m. heard loud boom
and saw smoke coming from North Tower…voice came over intercom saying no danger
in south tower and to stay at desk…Donna says she felt that God telling her
something else…had a compelling urge, which she believes came from God, to get
out of the building…not long after she left her office, flight 175 rammed into
the south tower on the precise floor where Donna worked…since that day, she has
asked herself over and over, “What if
I had not begun that day spending time with God? Would I have been in position
to hear God’s warning to me?” [Sermon Central]
2. We live
in dangerous world…need constantly be on guard…this part of God’s Word tells us
we do that by resisting wrong influences and cultivating right
influences…(text)
