BEING FOUND FAITHFUL
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on July 24, 2019 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: July 24, 2019 from 2 Peter 3:14-18
Theme: We will be found faithful by the Lord at His coming, if we keep true to certain practices.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
The apostle Peter was very concerned that his believing brothers and sisters were ready for the day of the Lord’s return. He wrote that—in spite of the mocking of unbelievers—”the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (3:10); and he didn’t want any of his fellow believers to be caught unprepared. In the closing verses of 2 Peter, he told them;
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen (2 Peter 3:14-18).
The Lord Jesus is also very concerned that we be prepared for His return. In Luke 12, He told His followers,
“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.” (Luke 12:35-37a).
Peter—whose letter we are studying together—heard these words of our Lord; and he wondered at the time if they applied only to the twelve apostles, or if they were meant for all people. So he asked the Lord; “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?” (v. 41). But Jesus went on to make it clear that His words applied to whoever it may be that He calls to be faithful—in whatever age they live before His return:
“Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (vv. 42-43).
Peter never forgot those words from our Lord. And as he wrote to assure his fellow believers that the Lord Jesus will come again, he stressed to them that they needed to live in a constant state of readiness. In the closing five verses of his letter, he tells us as Jesus’ followers what we need to do in order to be found ‘faithful’ by the Lord Jesus at the His coming.
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First, as a regular practice of life, we must …
1. BE DILIGENT TO LIVE A HOLY LIFE (v. 14).
Peter wrote, “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless …”
When Peter wrote that we must be found by our Lord “in peace”, he wasn’t talking about a subjective experience of inward peace. Rather, he was writing about maintaining an outward relationship of peace with each other—maintaining good, loving relationships with one another in the body of Christ. (The NIV translates this verse, “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him”; as if we’re to be found at peace with the Lord. Of course, the Lord would want to find us at peace with Himself; but in the original language, the reference to the Lord is best seen as modifying the word “found” rather than the word “peace”.) The Lord Jesus cares very deeply about our relationships with one another; and when He comes, He wants to find us in a peaceful unity of love with each other.
But we must be careful how we pursue that peace. Peter also says that we’re to be found by Him “without spot and blameless”. In 2 Peter 2:13, Peter spoke about false teachers within the church and described them as “spots and blemishes”. But in 1 Peter 1:19, he wrote that our Lord Jesus is a lamb “without blemish and without spot”. In keeping peace with each other, then, we are not to be like those false teachers—who bear secret sin in their lives, and who are slaves to the lusts of the flesh. We are to, instead, be like our Lord—who always walked before the Father in purity and holiness. We’re to confess our sins to one another, and help each other to live morally pure lives. The Lord Jesus wants to find us holy in His sight when He comes.
Peter said that we’re to be “diligent” in this. The word that he used refers to being ‘earnest’ and ‘intentional’ about a thing. The NIV has it that we are to “make every effort” to be characterized by a spirit of loving peace with one another, and personal holiness in our daily walk. We’re to give ourselves to it with seriousness; because we want to be found pleasing to our Lord at His return. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9, we must discipline ourselves and bring ourselves into subjection, lest we become ‘disqualified’ (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Nothing could be more important than to be found by the Lord Jesus in a way that pleases Him—and that means to to be at peace with one another, and to be holy in our personal lives. If we have any strained relationships with another brother or sister in Christ, or if we are holding on to any secret sins that we harbor in our hearts, then now is the time to diligently make things right—before the Lord’s sudden return!
Another regular practice of life should be that we make it our habit to …
2. THINK RIGHTLY ABOUT JESUS’ LONGSUFFERING (v. 15).
Peter goes on to say, “and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation …” This is not speaking of our longsuffering, but of the Lord’s longsuffering. A good clue to what Peter means by this is to be found in what he said just a few verses earlier—in verses 8-9;
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:8-9).
The seeming-delay of the Lord’s coming is really an act of mercy on His part. He is allowing unbelieving people time to hear the gospel message, to believe on the Lord Jesus, and to be saved. But notice also that he makes reference to Paul. He goes on to speak of this “longsuffering” of our Lord as being “salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you …” Apparently, Paul had written something similar to the same Jewish believers to whom Peter had written. We can’t know for sure; but this may have been the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 10:35-39, we find the words that Peter may be speaking of;
But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
“For yet a little while,
And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul (Hebrews 10:32-39).
The Lord’s return is our ‘salvation’ in the sense of our being glorified at His return. If we want to be found faithful by our Lord, then we need to make it our regular practice to think rightly about His delay. Let’s not allow ourselves to be troubled by those who mock at the Lord’s return and say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” Let’s keep our eyes on that day; and share the gospel while we have the chance; and grow in our walk and our love for Him; and make it our habit of life to consider His longsuffering to be our salvation—and the salvation of others!
Now; Peter had mentioned others of Paul’s writings; saying in verse 16 that Paul wrote about such things to them, “as also in all his epistles …” And this leads us to another habit we must regularly practice if we would be found ready by our Lord. We must …
3. FEED OUR SOUL FAITHFULLY FROM THE SCRIPTURES (v. 16).
Many of the letters of the apostle Paul would have been copied and would have been circulated among the Christians by that time. Peter went on to speak of the content of these letters in verse 16 when he writes, ”in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.” Peter here refers to the letters of Paul as “Scripture”; giving them the same divine authority as the Old Testament Scriptures that the Jewish people read and honored. They are inspired and protected by the same Holy Spirit.
Paul’s letters are profound. In them, there are found many things that the untaught and unstable have a hard time understanding. But their difficulty doesn’t ultimately lie in any lack of ability on their part—or in any fault on the part of Paul’s letters. The real cause of their problem is moral. As Peter says, they take the Scriptures and “twist” them—a word that had the idea of putting them on a rack of torture and wrenching them for wicked purposes. They don’t harm the word of God in doing this though. They only twist Scriptures to the destruction of their own souls. Wicked people cannot break God’s word. They can only break themselves against it.
So; to be found ready, we must make it our daily habit—our whole lives long—to read and study the Scriptures faithfully. And we must be dedicated students of it—working at it diligently; studying carefully; interpreting it correctly; applying it accurately and reverently—never twisting its meaning to suit our own purposes; but trusting in what it says.
And very much related to that, we must also …
4. KEEP ON GUARD AGAINST ERROR (v. 17).
Studying the word of God carefully is the positive habit that informs our minds and our hearts with saving truth from God. But if we want the Lord to find us ready, then we must be careful to look to ourselves “that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward” (2 John 8).. There are people all around us who have wandered from the truth of God by carelessness. And so, Peter warns us in verse 17 “You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked …”
Many professing Christians start out strong. But they gradually end up suffering loss because of a failure to “beware”—that is, to be on guard with respect to what they listen to. With too much confidence in themselves, they start listening to ungodly philosophies and alternative world-views. They read articles or books that speak badly of the Christian faith without due alertness and prayerfulness. They fail to examine what they read or hear by the sure word of God, and by asking the Holy Spirit to guide them. They listen to this world’s wisdom in order to ‘hear what the world is saying’; but they don’t—at the same time—challenge what they hear with what God Himself has said. They try to be “informed”, and “open-minded”, and “scholarly” in the things of this world. And it’s the ‘mature’ believer, who think he or she is most immune to such a danger that is—in fact—in the greatest danger of all. As Peter said in his first letter, our adversary the devil “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
If we want the Lord Jesus to find us faithful at His return, then we’d better be careful who it is that we hear and what it is that we listen to in this world! We must constantly keep ourselves on guard against being led away by the error of the wicked and made to fall from steadfastness.
And finally—and most important of all—if we would be found faithful, then we must make it our regular, ongoing practice of life to …
5. GROW IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS HIMSELF (v. 18).
Peter closes his letter by saying, “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” This stresses to us the absolute importance of maintaining an ongoing, personal relationship of love with our Savior. We’re not to simply be content with the fact that we prayed a prayer once in our lives to receive Jesus as our Savior. We must maintain an ongoing, personal fellowship of love with Him. We must grow in our relationship with Him.
Peter says that we are to grow in the “grace” of our Lord. This means that we must make sure that we have received the complete forgiveness of our sins as a gift of God’s grace; and that we now rest only in God’s full love and acceptance through what Jesus has done for us. We’re also to grow in the “knowledge” of our Lord. This means that we are to become life-long students of our dearest and most beloved Friend. We should spend time with Him. We should bring our troubles to Him in prayer. We should learn what the Bible tells us about Him. And most of all, we should make sure that we are obeying Him; because we cannot love Him and grow relationally with Him unless we do as He commands. He Himself has said;
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:9-10).
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Nothing could be more important than to be found ‘faithful’ to the Lord Jesus when He returns. And if we would do these five things habitually—if we would be diligent in how we live, consider the longsuffering of our Lord rightly, learn devotedly and accurately from Scripture, keep on our guard against stumbling into error, and grow relationally with Jesus Himself—then we will ensure that, when He comes back unannounced, He will find us ready and faithful.
Then, we’ll be able to say, as Peter did at the end of this letter, “To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”
EA
