Sunday sermons | Passionate worship

This sermon was preached by Pastor Keith Cardwell at Swift Presbyterian Church.

May 14, 2017 | Third in a short series on short books of the New Testament

Soon, Very Soon ...
Live your life as if Jesus is coming back today
2 Peter 3:1–17

T HIS SHORT LETTER IS SELDOM READ or studied. It is easy for us to skip over this three-page letter. But, since after years of circulation and prayer the value of this little letter was deemed sacred and thereby included in the Bible as Scripture, it is good for us to look at it today.

This letter is most likely written in the very late 1st century or early 2nd century by an unknown Christian writer using Peter’s name nearly 50 years after Peter’s death. The message is to the larger Gentile Christian community around the turn of the 1st century. The Christian community is under attack by false teachers from within the church.

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PETER WARNS THE CHURCHES AND US: “Corrupt doctrine leads to corrupt living.”

There is a direct connection between what we believe and how we live. Bad theology welcomes bad living. We see this in bad theology of how we are to treat foreign neighbors. Have you seen videos circulating of Americans shouting obscenities in the name of Christian nation toward other Americans of different ethnic backgrounds? Or from last week, bad theology that God only cares about my soul so I can do whatever I want to do with my body.

Maybe it’s revealed in misuse of “the poor you will always have with you” verse to mean we don’t have to help the poor or shouldn’t help the poor.

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OUR LIVES AS CHRISTIANS are to be different because our beliefs and our values are to be different from non-Christians.

The concern in Peter’s time is this — people are abandoning the doctrine of the second coming. The result is moral and ethical erosion in the church.

Each week they gather to tell the stories of Jesus’ life, ministry, his death, resurrection, and his ascension, his return to the Father. They also remind each other that the story is not over. They recall what Jesus told them — he will return. Could there be any better news? They are not going to have to endure challenging times much longer. Jesus will return and it will be soon.

They will not be at the mercy of their enemies and oppressors much longer. They will be swept up into the glories of heaven and their troubles will soon be over. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

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“SOON AND VERY SOON,” but how soon is soon? They wait and wait and wait. They expect divine intervention, the day of the LORD, to come any day, any time, any minute. It hasn’t happened by the early second century. Intense hope lapses. Some give up waiting.

There are church folks arguing that since Christ has not returned, he is not returning. The whole thing is a myth. They think and live this way and recruit other Christians.

You can almost hear the conversations going on during coffee hour. “Jesus isn’t really coming back you know.” “Do you really still believe that myth?” “Look around you at what is happening, at all of the violence. Do you see God doing anything? I don’t.” “We have waited for seventy years and we could wait seventy more and he still won’t come.”

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IF THERE IS NO SECOND COMING, then this is all there is. The beer commercial from years ago was right — you only go around once in life; grab for all the gusto you can. Live for today. Take what you can. You have freedom. Freedom from moral demands of Christianity. Freedom from oppressive teachings. Freedom from sacrifice. Freedom from discipleship. Freedom to do as you please. We often justify our positions on shaky grounds. Theology and lifestyle are a package.

The pivotal verse is 1:16. For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ in power. This is not make-believe. To say that Christ is not coming again is in variance to scripture. Peter cries out, “Jesus will return.”

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GOD’S TIME IS NOTHING LIKE our time. You think 70 years was a long time? Not so, “with the LORD … a thousand years are like one day.” Don’t give up.

Like those who lived in the turn from the first to the second century, we also live in chaotic and violent times. We may wonder where God is; what is God up to?

Living during the “in-between time” is not easy. Peter implores us to live lives with believing that the LORD will, indeed, come “with clouds descending.” Encourage one another to live lives of faithfulness and holiness — lives of hope in the new creation. To live lives of expectation and watchfulness. Christ will return and we are to be ready. Abandoning the doctrine of the second coming erodes our moral and ethical lives.

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PETER’S LETTER IS a testimony of hope. God is patient. Remain faithful. Faith shows itself in life lived. Be patient, believe and live. One more day. One more day of life marked by peace and integrity. One more day embracing God’s grace. One more day sharing God’s love. One more day of growth in the grace and knowledge of our LORD and Savior.

Hear the words of hope and encouragement. “The day of the LORD will come.” (2 Peter 3:10) Live as if that day is now here.

— Keith Cardwell

2 Peter 3:1–17
New International Version

The Day of the LORD

3 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our LORD and Savior through your apostles.

3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

8 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. 9 The LORD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 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 done in it will be laid bare.[a]

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 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. 16 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.

17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.

— This is the Word of the LORD.

Footnotes:

a. 2 Peter 3:10 Some manuscripts be burned up
b. 2 Peter 3:12 Or as you wait eagerly for the day of God to come