Alston Road Church of Christ Podcast

Series: 2 Peter (Hastening the Day of God)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

After the airplane highjackings on September 11th, airport security changed dramatically. Before, it was very quick. You could walk through security with ease. Family and friends could walk with you to the gate before heading back home. It was pleasant. Now, we take large electronics out of our bags and our things are scanned more carefully. We take off our shoes, belts, and jackets and step into full body scanners. Do your wife and three-year old baby want to walk you to the gate before you leave them for a month? Forget about it. Why? It is because we have learned very important lessons. Not everyone is who they appear to be. And some of the most destructive things are not easily spotted.

Peter has just fortified our confidence in the Old Testament prophets. What they said about Jesus’ powerful coming has been confirmed in the transfiguration, so we ought to pay careful attention to them in this darkness. But that doesn’t mean that everyone who says “Thus says the Lord…” is being carried along by the Holy Spirit. Peter says in verse 1: False prophets arose among the people back then, just as there will be — notice the shift he makes — false teachers among you. This morning we will consider four things Peter says about false teachers — or, if you will, exploitative expositors.

(a) Scriptural: False teachers secretly bring in destructive heresies by using Scripture wrongly (2:1;  3:15-17). Some of the most destructive things are not easily spotted. And one way the false teachers go undetected is they teach the same Scriptures. False prophets say “thus says the Lord” when the Lord has not spoken to them. But false teachers say, “This is what Paul means when he says that; this is the significance of Jesus doing that.” But actually, they’re twisting the Scriptures. As one author remarked, the most difficult heresies to overcome throughout church history came from people who knew the Scriptures well (Matthew Barrett, Simply Trinity). Satan quotes book-chapter-verse, and so do false teachers.

We are all very blessed to have access to the Scriptures. But we aren’t immune to reading it wrongly or being swayed by false teaching. What makes this especially dangerous is that our generation can tend to avoid weighty doctrine to ask questions that feel more relevant: “What does this Scripture mean for me and my life?” Here’s a caution for our Bible classes. We know well that just because someone preaches the truth to twenty people doesn’t mean twenty people believe it. But just because twenty people have a lively discussion of Scripture doesn’t mean we came to a knowledge of the capital ’T’ Truth. There’s no simple answer for this, but allow me to offer two suggestions from Scripture.

First, Paul told Timothy that the church is a buttress of the truth and he told him to entrust what he heard from Paul to faithful men and women who will teach others (1 Tim. 3:15; 2 Tim. 2:2). If we believe Timothy and others passed on what they heard from the apostles and the church has embodied the Truth and yet we find in ourselves a belief or practice completely foreign to the church over the past 2,000 years — or even beliefs and practices only found in those removed from the church — we should have the humility to consider that we may likely be the ones who are in the wrong. This is not at all to say that the church has  historically been perfect. I see this as more of a proverb that is often true rather than a law. New and novel beliefs and practices will deviate us from the ancient path.

Second, heresies have historically come about when people try to “declutter” ancient beliefs. As one writer cautions, some doctrines may not appear pragmatic, or practical, so we may think it best to declutter our beliefs like Marie Kondo declutters houses. If it doesn’t seem practical — if it does not “spark joy” — toss it out (Samuel James, Does It Matter What I Believe?). Consider one example: the Corinthian church struggled to comprehend how the resurrection worked — “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” — so many set it aside as incomprehensible and unintentionally undermined the Christian hope in the process (1 Cor. 15). Or consider how the Jews in Jerusalem and Galatia did the same with justification by faith: it upended their entire culture to receive baptized believers into their community without circumcision, so they tried to require circumcision and unknowingly nullified the gift of God.

People often ask, “What practical difference does doctrine make?” The challenge is that we cannot often see why it matters. It may take years and decades. That’s why C.S. Lewis urges us to have a different mindset: if something is true, every honest man will want to believe it even if it gives him no help at all (“Man or Rabbit,” in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics). Truth matters whether it seems immediately practical or not. It may feel cluttered to confess that Jesus was begotten of the Father before all ages, or that in the future Jesus will come from heaven to judge the living and the dead, or that the Holy Spirit is worshipped and glorified together with the Father and the Son, or that baptism is for the remission of sins. It may seem narrow-minded to hold that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman, or that we don’t sleep together before we are married, or to not permit divorce and remarriage except for the cause of adultery, or to hardly even listen to someone’s new argument from Scripture about these things. But it is because the most influential heretics know Scripture well. Holding to the ancient doctrines — not decluttering them — will make a difference in the long run by keeping us on the ancient paths.

(b) Sensual: They are denying their Master and leading many to sensuality (2). There is always something attractive about what false teachers say. In this case, they are opening the doors on sensuality. And that doesn’t lead just a few people to follow, it leads the masses. In preparation I listened to a good sermon from John Piper on this text. What he said in this sermon from 1982 struck me: “It seems almost impossible that such a thing as arrogant sexual immorality could actually be taught in the church.” It doesn’t seem impossible anymore, does it? Our world has changed a lot in 40 years — but really, this problem is as old as Christianity. Peter and the generations after him dealt with this. And you’d think that the Scriptures warned enough about this that none of these false teachers would ever be followed, but many follow. It seems like every month I find out about another Christian teacher from my bookshelves who now endorses what is plainly sexual immorality. Peter says they are denying the Master who bought them — whether explicitly or implicitly. Hear that: They come from within our churches. At one time the Lord Jesus snatched from the fire. But they don’t want him as an authoritative Master. They want Jesus the Lamb, not the Lion.

So, don’t be too surprised when someone you love wanders off. Try to snatch them out of the fire! But we ourselves must take care that we aren’t burned, swayed to compromise in the process. Don’t follow the masses. They will repeatedly say that the banner over them is the love of Jesus and the grace of our God, but sensuality is their rallying point plain and simple.

(c) Scandalous: Because of them the Way of Truth will be blasphemed (2). We look back at the crusades, at the mistreatment of Native Americans, and the African slave trade and we wonder how Christians could have participated in those things. More recently, some of us even have grandparents and great grandparents who would not worship with blacks, and we hang our heads in disappointment. But we are not the only ones shaking our heads. Back then, those “Christians” were just going along with culture. They were in the main. But now that the larger culture has awakened to these wrongs, the culture looks back Christians then and blaspheme the way of truth because of them. How could Christians actually go along with something that is so apparently destructive?

Right now conservative Christians are mocked for not going along with sexual liberation. But do you know in the ancient world that Christians eventually came to be seen as the ones helping society become better? One of the many reasons Christianity started turning heads was because churches demanded that husbands respect their wives and restrain their sexual energies to the marriage bed. Paul insisted that wives had conjugal rights too. Even more, he taught that unmarried men and women could play significant roles in the Lord’s work.

Do you think one day people will find that their “theology” of sexual liberation isn’t so progressive and fulfilling as they once thought it was? That it was actually destructive and narrow minded to encourage people to change their bodies to match their minds? Or to divorce when something better comes along? Or to indulge in sexuality without marital vows? Or to pursue an unnatural marriage that ultimately leaves them unhappy and even childless? In that day, they’ll once again look to Christians who caved and shake their heads. Let us beware to not follow false teachers, because in the future it will always become plain that their way was not good, and the Way of Truth will be blasphemed because of them.

(d) Self-Seeking: In their greed they will exploit you (3). False teachers avoid ancient doctrines to make Christianity feel more relevant to us and they seem to offer a more love and grace filled Christianity. They seem like care about us. They agree with us. They get angry at Christians who said hurtful things to us in the past. They are offering a church where you can belong. Max left a mailer in my office advertising a sermon series on Genesis 37-50. The tagline? “Dream Again.” Joseph’s dreams came true, so don’t give up on your dreams. Another ad was for a Numbers series. Tagline? “My beautifully flawed journey.” God’s faithfulness to Israel through their rebellion that led to millions of people dishonoring the Lord and dying  — it’s a beautifully flawed journey? I’m not casting a final judgment on that church, but that stinks like exploitative explanations of Scripture. Regardless of the truth about that church, why do false teachers always sound like they have something so relevant? Peter says that they are motivated by greed. They say what we want to hear because they want our money and our praise.

Wherever we are, it is important to ask who our teachers love most. If it comes across like they love us more than God, there’s a red flag. We ought to love each other because we have learned love from God. And if they seem like they love me more than God’s glory, there’s no solid truth under their feet, and their love is not genuine. They love themselves. What happens if I stop following them and putting money in their pockets? Would they keep praying for us? Plead for us to return to the Lord? Would they honor God and love us enough to tell us something we really don’t want to hear?

Judgment and salvation are coming. Jesus will come from heaven to judge the living and the dead — his kingdom shall have no end. But while we live in the darkness, we are all looking for light. The Old Testament prophets offer us a lamp in the darkness until the day dawns. They were carried along by the Holy Spirit as they spoke from God. But not everyone offering help in the darkness has the Light. Some of the most dangerous people and teachings are not easily spotted. We certainly do not want to be divisive and call everyone we disagree with a false teacher. But false prophets ultimately served as the downfall for Israel, and false teachers have been and will be the downfall of many today. We live in a time where everyone with a smartphone and some marketing genius can create a big pulpit and following for themselves. But avoiding all teachers to simply pick up our Bibles to find truth for ourselves and by ourselves opens us up to danger too. The church gets infiltrated by false teachers, but we need the larger church (and its true teachers) as a buttress of the truth. There’s a balance. What can we do? Truly, this is a time for prayer.

“Father in heaven, your Son has taught us that everything hidden is being revealed in him. Will you help us to listen carefully to you, your Son, and your Spirit that we might know the Truth and be set free from the lies of Satan? And even to be set free from our own wrong-headed ways of seeing things? Guide us safely through the winds and waves of doctrine to the Truth and the Light. Help us to love Truth whether we think it will help us or not, for you are the Truth. Keep false teachers away from us, and help us to see them when they come. Help us to carefully explain the truth to those who are in error, and to boldly correct and drive away those who refuse to repent of error. We long to magnify your name in the world, give us wisdom and courage to do this with the truth and love in an age of obscurity and hate. Come quickly, end the night, bring the day, shine in the world and in our hearts. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit forevermore, Amen.”

Series: 2 Peter (Hastening the Day of God)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Notice Isaiah 59:9-15a. There is no doubt about the dark atmosphere of this passage. These are not the days of energetic revival, faithfulness, and hope. Rather, society is full of unrighteousness and injustice. No one is honest, no one knows peace, they have strayed far from the Lord. And it’s not just out there — they see the sin in themselves. But the environment is so bleak that if they try leave behind evil and speak truth, they’re putting a target on their own backs. And they long for light, justice, and salvation from this bleak state.

It is impossible to miss that this bleak outlook is also shared by many today. There has been a growing sense for awhile that deceit, injustice, and godlessness are winning out more and more. Truth and uprightness are discouraged in the public squares. And even if you simply try to turn from your own sin and do right, you can be tarred and feathered. From the church to the world, anxiety, depression, and hopelessness are becoming pervasive. It’s likely that we all have something we are troubled about — in the world, in our city, schools, churches, families, or ourselves. And the perspective of Scripture does plainly agree: it’s indeed nighttime, but this is the dark before the dawn. The Lord’s final day of judgment and salvation is coming with unstoppable light.

And Peter insists that he will continue to shamelessly remind us about that so that we will diligently prepare for the coming of Jesus’ eternal kingdom. For, Peter says, however much it may sound like a myth, the powerful coming of the Lord Jesus is no myth. When they saw Jesus transfigured on the mountain, they saw a preview of the show-stopping power and glory he’ll literally come with on that last day. And for Peter, this reality warrants a few quick words of instruction and caution about the OT prophets in the midst of our present darkness.

Here’s the point of what Peter says here: Jesus’ transfiguration provides confirmation of what the OT prophets saw about Jesus’ second coming; and those prophecies provide illumination  in the darkness from God’s inspiration, not man’s interpretation. So, with respect to what the prophets said about Jesus’ second coming, we have confirmation, illumination, inspiration, not interpretation.

First, verse 19, Jesus’ transfiguration is confirmation of what the OT prophets saw about Jesus’ coming. Maybe you have read what the OT prophets say Jesus will do on the final day and wondered how fully he’ll forgive sin, whether wickedness will actually be ended, whether all our tears will really be wiped away, whether rebels will really be punished, how much of the curse will really be gone, whether he’ll really come in the clouds in splendor, raise the dead, make all things new, and reign forevermore — Peter’s addressing that. The prophets were already solid and reliable and confirmed before. We knew Psalm 2 was true: God will appoint his Son to reign from Mt. Zion over all the earth. But now? We saw the Jesus in kingly splendor on the mountain and we heard the Father declare him to be the Son. So, now, it and every prophetic word about the powerful second coming of our Lord is more fully confirmed. And if you have ever wondered how real and tangible it will all be, take heart. Peter’s not saying that they just had this spiritual moment in their hearts that is better felt than told, or that he had a moment of intellectual clarity and in his mind it is like Jesus was spiritually splendid that day. No, the transfiguration was real, touchable, visible, audible. They experienced what it will be like when Psalm 2 literally comes to pass — with all the other prophets too. So, we don’t need to read the prophets from a distance and mistrust them. We don’t need to hedge our bets in case none of it is reliable. It was already confirmed and reliable before. But now? It’s more fully confirmed.

Second, verse 19, we need to pay attention to the lamp-like illumination the OT prophets give in this darkness until the prophesied dawn. Though Jesus has come and brought some light into the world, and he’s indeed illuminating the world through us as the light, it was more a temporary preview of the final day than the permanent day of light itself. We’re in a dark place. And it has been dark for a long time. It’s not that there’s not joy and hope and love — there is so much to thank God for! But let’s face it — the Proverbs are right when they say that even in laughter the heart can ache. It’s because we wish the smile and laughter could last forever, but we know they won’t yet. Because evil always seems to drag itself back up out of the darkness to afflict us. And even in our hearts there is still darkness — not only do we still sin, there is also just so much that we don’t know and that is unclear and disturbing to us. We often don’t understand what God is up to. Even when we have light our hearts are just not quite fully illuminated yet.

But notice what Peter says at the end of verse 19. We’re in a dark place, but the day will dawn. We may moan in our hearts and long for clarity, but Jesus the morning star will arise in our hearts. Every shadow will flee, creation will be set free from futility, all things will be made new, the sun and moon will be gone for the Father and the Son will be our light. And not only will everything be illuminated out there, but the illumination of Jesus’ coming will spread all the way to in here — in our hearts. No more fears, doubts, or dangers — all will be made new and all will be made clear.

But how can we last, what can we do until that day? Peter says we’d do well to pay attention to the prophetic word as to a lamp shining in a dark place. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. What do we do when we can’t be with the people we love? Maybe our kids, grandkids, or a spouse? We look at pictures of them or watch a video. It reminds us how much we love them and long to be with them. It makes us start counting the days till we see them next. The prophets are like that for us — they provide little snapshots and visions of what the coming day will be like. Peter says in Acts 3:21 that heaven has received Jesus for now, but only until it’s time to restore all the things about which God spoke by his holy prophets long ago. So what should we do in this darkness until then? Naturally, we should hold up and pay close attention to the prophets like a lamp until the dawn they prophesied comes!

There’s a number of things our tradition does well, but one humble critique I would submit is that generally the prophets are not read like this in our tradition. It has not always been like this, but when dispensational premillennialists started strangely reading the prophets like an ultra specific timetable for the future to fill in their doomsday charts, in our tradition we often did the opposite — treating the Prophets like a time table for the past, like bit of history that’s dead and gone with a little application to us here and there. And though we may feel like we’re just being faithful to the text by only limiting a text to one specific historical referent — like Israel, Babylon, Egypt, or Edom — this way of reading the Old Testament is simply new and novel. It’s a reaction to bad reading of Scripture, but this is not even how the Jews before Jesus read what we call the historical books — let alone the prophets (unless maybe if you were a Sadducee) — and it’s certainly not how Peter or the apostles read them. In fact, Peter sees himself as preparing the church against false teachers who are ignorant and who twist the Scripture and say those OT prophets have no predictions for us. “Our” motive has not at all been evil, but this approach puts us in a similar (not the same) place as the false teachers.

I remember when I was young hoping nobody ever asked me about the prophets or read the prophets around me because I didn’t know how to explain to my friends that it’s just not anything what it sounds like. I didn’t quite understand the spiritualizing abilities of the adults around me. And while the prophets are not necessarily easy — even the Ethiopian Eunuch insisted he needed a guide — I hope that Peter’s encouragement to us here will lead us to scrap these strange readings and run to the prophets and read them with childlike wonder and fearfulness. Let the imagery of national judgments stir you to fear, for they are intended to also preview and prophesy about the cataclysm of the final day. Let their calls for repentance stir you, for our sins are no different than theirs were. And let the their visions of restoration warm your heart and energize your body and fill you with hope as we wait for the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Third, verses 20-21, this comes from no man’s interpretation; those prophecies come from God’s inspiration. In case we are thinking that reading the prophets like this is just some man’s imaginative interpretation, Peter insists that’s not at all the case. He’s giving the true, genuine apostolic interpretation from God. And actually, it’s the false teachers Peter will warn about who are applying their own interpretations. The prophets, Peter says, didn’t even arise at all from any man’s will at all. In fact, God had to drag some of his spokesmen kicking and screaming (Moses, Jonah, Jeremiah). No, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Loads of people have tried to figure out exactly how inspiration of Scripture works — especially the prophets — but here we simply don’t have a specific explanation. Men spoke from God carried along by the Holy Spirit. Clearly when we read the prophets we can see the men were not just lifeless vehicles, they were very much invested and part of what they were doing. God used each of them in different ways, but it appears we can even see their own unique poetic style in each of their books. But at the same time, the words they spoke were very much from God. Men spoke… from God… carried along by the Holy Spirit.

And all in all, that means that though our understanding of God’s word may be limited at times, the word of God is inerrant and infallible, without error. We can very much trust what you read in your hands is God’s word. People frequently say things like, “There are so many scribal additions and errors and it has been translated so many times that the Bible is just nothing like what it used to be.” I understand, they saw some video and repeated what they heard. But the beauty is we have so many manuscripts from the original languages that it is quite easy to see where Scribes made mistakes. And our English Bibles are not translations of translations of translations — they are translated from the original language. And guess what? Jesus and the apostles used Old Testaments translated into Greek too. In fact, today scholars say that by our modern standards, the translation Jesus used wasn’t very good. And yet he and the apostles still trusted and used it, variants and all.

And all this is to simply say that we can trust our Bibles. Pay attention to the prophets as to a lamp. They are not from men, but from God. And they have been fully confirmed.

In that vein, I love Isaiah 59:15-21. We saw before how dark and gloomy everything is. But notice one of Isaiah’s many visions of hope. In the darkness we wonder if God sees or hears and how he can stand by silently for so long. But Isaiah says we can be certain that Yahweh sees the lies, wickedness, and darkness and he himself is displeased by it. He’s been looking for a man set things right — for the offspring of woman to come trample the snakes if you will — but he sees that there’s no man. So Isaiah sees God dress himself for battle to repay his enemies and and to redeem those who turn from transgressions. He sees a day when people fear the Lord from east to west. And then God turns and appears to assure Isaiah: no one’s ever going to forget the words I put in your mouth. Yes, as Peter says, some will try to make us forget; but God promises Isaiah, they’ll be in the mouths of your children and your children’s offspring forever. May that be true for us. May we continue to rehearse Isaiah and the prophets — and long for the day when the Lord Jesus comes from heaven dressed for battle to save we who are eagerly waiting for him.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: 2 Peter (Hastening the Day of God)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

In Avengers: Infinity War and End Game the powerful titan-god Thanos gathers powerful “infinity stones” so he can “bring order” by killing half of the population of the universe. And he succeeds. He descends from the heavens in a mass invasion to snatch up the final infinity stone. As soon as he snatches up the final stone, he vaporizes billions of lifeforms in the snap of a finger — turning the universe upside down. Those left alive are stunned and struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives for years. But the good guys — the Avengers — concoct a gutsy plan to go back in time and reverse it all. And it seems like everything is going to work until everything starts falling apart. Thanos’ forces of darkness close in on the Avengers to extinguish the light forever. But just when all hope seems to be lost, suddenly, Captain Marvel bursts from the heavens to save the day. She obliterates enemies left and right allowing Iron Man to finally get his hands on the infinity stones so he can snap his fingers and restore what Thanos destroyed… at the cost of his own life.

These two films were extraordinarily popular across the world, topping the charts. They and movies like them capture this longing to be part of something much bigger than ourselves. In fact, I think it’s more like a knowledge that we are part of something much bigger. Don’t we feel to our core that evil is more terrible than we can see or estimate? That good is more beautiful than we can put into words? That what we do has cosmic significance beyond what we can touch or see? Don’t we feel that the darkness will keep fighting us, but that one day everything be put right somehow. Whether it’s the Avengers, Avatar, The Lord of the Rings, or the Chronicles of Narnia — there is this strong sense in all these stories that everything matters because everything is moving to a climactic end when good will triumph over evil.

The Greeks and Romans told heroic stories like these too: humans and gods in epic quests to fight evil and find our forever home. And success is dependent not only on the favor of the gods, but also on the humans making good, virtuous decisions along the way. And these stories plainly send the message that bravery and virtue have cosmic, lasting significance that will ripple through the centuries. The good or evil you do matters for future generations.

And we leave these movies and stories ready to take them into our real lives: don’t give up, keep doing the right thing and fighting evil, one day it will matter… unless we are unbelievers who scoff: it’s just a story, it doesn’t point to any Truth. In the ancient world, Epicureans scoffed at stories about final judgment and reckoning in the afterlife: they were just myths made by men to scare people into obeying someone else’s moral standard, and it ruins people’s happiness (cf. Bauckham, WBC Themes, 81). I think their philosophy impacts us today.

But Peter and the apostles brought the news that the long story of history had finally reached its climactic moment. The ancient dragon has ensnared the hearts of men and the whole world lies under his power, but the God we have all been waiting for is Jesus of Nazareth. He came to save his own and to reverse the curse in the world, but his own people failed to recognize him, and they killed him. But God raised him up never to die again. Now this man — the Son of God — has ascended to rule the cosmos from heaven. And he will come back one day in kingly glory to rescue those who wait for and serve him, and to repay with punishment those who do not bow the knee. What we do with our lives has cosmic meaning and eternal significance — and it all hinges on Christ.

And how easy it is to hear this back then and today like any other cleverly devised myth created to inspire and/or scare people into virtuous living. But, maybe somewhat unlike other story-tellers, Peter has not budged. He keeps telling this one story over and over again. And he has said here that he will not stop. He will remind and remind again the churches of the character they must pursue to receive a welcome into the eternal kingdom of Jesus in the end. Why does he keep telling this story? Read 2 Peter 1:16-18 with me.

Here’s Peter’s point in short: I remind you because our message that Jesus will powerfully come on the last day is no clever myth: we ourselves heard the Father declare from heaven that Jesus is the Son who will crush the rebels, and we saw firsthand the majesty with which he will come. Let’s walk through this.

Verse 16, he says when we made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it was no cleverly devised myth. Peter uses the word parousia which, when referring to Jesus in the New Testament, it is used exclusively about his second coming. Peter is saying that he is not going to hesitate to keep reminding them to make every effort to grow in these qualities of faith, virtue, godliness, and love because the promise of Jesus’ powerful coming in the clouds is no clever myth. As Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1: Jesus will be “revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” and granting “relief to you who are afflicted.”

We have been preparing for and anticipating his coming for nearly two thousand years. The promise that Jesus would come was so real to me when I was a child that I laid outside in the backyard and tried to peer around every cloud to see if I could find him. Is it really mature thinking to stop peering at those clouds in anticipation? Or is it one step away from treating the whole thing like a fable? There’s a reason entering the kingdom requires childlike faith — a child can hear and hope in his coming with wonder and excitement, and they’ll actually change what they do because of it. But maybe we try to grow up and not take it so seriously. But Peter wants to insist that this is no clever myth.

In verses 16-18 he cites what he saw and heard at the transfiguration event because this is proof Jesus will come in power. But why the transfiguration? Maybe we say, “Jesus became really white and bright for a moment. That’s great, but what does that have to do with the second coming?” Peter says, “His coming is no myth, because we saw his majesty.”

Peter alludes to Psalm 2 here when he uses the words “You are my Son” and “holy mountain.” In Psalm 2, David laments that the nations continually rebel against God and his appointed king. But God laughs at the rebel's plots and responds in wrath, saying: “I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Then David tells us about the plan he heard Yahweh decree. God says to his king, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel,” (Ps. 2:7-9 ESV). In short, the earth is in rebellion, but God has appointed his Son to reign as king from God’s holy mountain — and he will rule until the ends of the earth are his possession, until every knee bows.

And as Peter thinks back to the transfiguration event on that holy mountain — the majestic brilliance of Jesus, the Father’s voice declaring Jesus to be his Son, himself along with James and John graveling on their faces before Jesus — he sees in his mind Psalm 2 playing out and a preview of the majesty Jesus will come with on that final day when he rules from Mount Zion, every enemy dashed into pieces, and the ends of the earth his possession.

And Peter is emphatic that they saw and heard this with their own eyes and ears. “We were eyewitnesses of his majesty” and “we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.”

One of the troubling trends over the past decade is how difficult it is to know what is actually true. Events are told to us from third, fourth, and fifth party perspectives. One news outlet reports, another broadcasts it with their spin, and every social media user suddenly becomes an expert disseminating their own half-baked reports. Fake news is a problem and so are those who use fake news labels. It can be very difficult be certain that we have the truth about the pandemic, vaccines, the election, incidents with the police, and so on. In many situations different understandings of what the facts are has lead to outrage. Other times, what is actually true is so uncertain us, we just agree to believe what we all want to believe about what has happened and then to make decisions based on it. But I think we can all agree — even in our postmodern, post-truth world — it matters what is true about these things. If we all knew what was really true, it would probably change a lot for us. But in the age of information we have loads of facts and knowledge, but not Truth or wisdom… so we agree to disagree and hope to move on in peace.

And honestly that’s all well and good when it comes to the events of the past three years — they won’t change that much in the grand scheme of things… but when it comes to the good news of Jesus and his promise to powerfully come in majesty on the last day, it’s not like that. Peter is insistent that we cannot treat this like a bit of uncertain news up for being interpreted privately however we like, or like a clever myth that can be accepted, or not as we see fit. Like the news in the good ‘ole days when they asked bystanders, “What did you see?” Peter is reporting to us what he saw and heard. And even better, he’s telling us the authoritative meaning behind it all: the majesty we saw and heard on that mountain is a guarantee that he’ll come in majesty on the last day.

What do you do when you know a day is coming when the true king will come from heaven and not a single person will be exempt from his judgment. What do you do when you saw a glimpse of the majesty he’ll come with on that day… but the majority of people would later ignore it like a myth? Or treat it like one man’s preferred religious opinion? You insist and remind and remind people to get ready: this was no myth, we were eyewitnesses.

C.S. Lewis is famous for referring to the Christian faith as the true myth. He tried to help people appreciate the story of Jesus in all its mythical proportions. After the enlightenment, many demythologized Jesus — stripping away his miracles to just embrace him as a nice, teacher of morality. And the church often has responded throughout the centuries by emphatically defending the reality of Jesus’ miracles — he really did them — but in constantly focusing on arguing that all these things really happened, the church has often forgotten to be captivated by the story of Jesus like we are captivated by a myth. The church forgot to imagine and interpret the beauty of the story of Jesus — it became familiar, true, and boring. And so in his writings, Lewis wrote clever stories to try to surprise his readers with the wonder in the true story of Jesus. He tries show us that the truth is like, but even better than the myths men have made.

We can become discouraged or even start doubting when we constantly encounter people who treat Jesus’ future coming like a clever myth. But consider looking at it from another angle. People equate Jesus and the coming of his eternal kingdom with a clever myth that people want to believe. Many don’t dismiss it as a bore no one wants to pay attention to; rather, they’re saying it is too big, too exciting, too monumental, beautiful, scary, good, and heartwarming to be true. It’s everything we could ever want, so it’s a fairy tale.

But what if the whole world was captivated by those Avengers movies with Thanos’ apocalyptic destruction and the Avengers’ heroic victory over evil not because everyone wants to deceive themselves with a fairy tale… what if stories like that feel so powerful to us because we all know deep in our hearts that history is destined to close out with greatness like that. What if myths like these capture our imagination because God has put a feeling deep in our bones that we are more significant than to die like animals. Because we know if life on earth ends with a random asteroid or an unfortunately large sun flare, that would be an end so meaningless that it simply will never be true. What if movies like these are powerful because we know deep inside that evil is too malicious and powerful to be ignored and that good is too great — it must win out in the end and go on forever. Love is just too weighty to end — ruined beyond repair and redemption. Maybe movies with happy endings are so powerful because there’s still a part of us from God that knows there’s a time and place coming where everything works out. We keep probing space because we’re looking for something more — maybe it’s that hero who’s supposed to be out there somewhere, and who’s supposed to come in the clouds to set everything right.

What if our delight in all these myths is a sign that we’re longing for the day when the true myth — the gospel of Jesus — becomes sight? It’s not that all these other stories are too good to be true — it’s just that they’re not good enough, and they all point to the ache we feel because we know the real story isn’t finished yet. These myths point out holes in our hearts that God very much intends to fill in the reality that is Jesus Christ and his coming. And Peter’s telling us good news: we are eyewitnesses of his majesty and he will powerfully come again in that same majesty to set all things right and make all things new.

May we hope in Jesus’ coming with all its mythical proportions… by preparing with all diligence. Day by day we are not just moving bits of matter here and there in an ultimately meaningless universe. The day of judgment is coming. And for some that will be a terrifying day; for others it will be a day of great delight. And according to Peter, the divine power of Jesus has given us everything we need to live godly lives so that on that day, we’ll be welcomed into his kingdom. There is cosmic significance to our daily decision to get up and delight in the Lord, trust him, do our work, make virtuous decisions, and grow in knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. Let us make every effort, because Jesus’ coming will blow every single man-made myth out of the water.

Series: 2 Peter (Hastening the Day of God)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

I was talking through various challenges with a dear friend of mine from college and though he said other things, he also said something he has said to me repeatedly lately: “Prayer helps.” We have known each other for over 15 years, we have read together, travelled together, cried together, and enjoyed many deep conversations about the bible, theology, philosophy, and family life. He’s intelligent, thoughtful, and knows me well. And yet with all this, his reply to me is: “prayer helps”?

Sometimes we need reminders. And with some things, we need frequent reminders.

People are rising up in the churches with destructive false teachings — promoting cheap grace and sensual living and casting doubt on the Lord’s promise to come. But Peter has urged them to see that God has given them everything they need to lead godly lives. Through God’s great and very precious promises, we will escape corruption and share in the divine nature. So, Peter urges, we must make every effort to practice virtue by means of faith, and knowledge by means of virtue, and self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, beginning with faith and perfecting it all in love. We must not be unfruitful but confirm our calling so that we’ll be granted entrance into Jesus eternal kingdom one day.

It is a beautiful vision of our humanity and of all history, and yet, is there really anything new here? “Make every effort” and “grow in these qualities.” Do we really need Peter to tell us that again? Surely at some point in his first letter he talked about faith, steadfastness, godliness, and love. In fact, why we are here yet again reading the same Scriptures, singing the same songs, praying the same prayers, and listening to another sermon. Why do we keep getting together to praise God and tell each other to serve the Lord?

Peter explains himself in verses 12-15. Here, Peter explains that he finds it important to remind them to grow in these qualities…

(a) Always, though they are already know them (vs. 12). They know Jesus and are firmly established in the truth. They know they need these qualities. Despite that, he intends to always remind about them. And he’s made that more permanent by writing it so that even we today can read… what we already know… again.

Sometimes, we need reminders. And some things are so important and the risk of forgetting them is too great, that no matter how well we know them, we need frequent reminders, always.

A lot of stuff comes at us every day: new experiences, new people, new information, times of great joy, laughter, and blessing, or times of frustration, deep suffering, and grief.

But it is by diligent practice of these qualities that God will richly provide entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus. The bottom line is that we are forgetful. It is amazing to me after such a wild year how much I feel I need to be reminded of. With so many new-different-joyous-and-difficult things that come our way and with our place in the kingdom at stake, the risk is simply too great — we must be reminded of our responsibility to practice these qualities, always, though we already know and are established in them.

(b) In order to stir them up (vs. 13). We might be tempted to think that only new knowledge and experiences can stir us up out of complacency to growth. We might think that being reminded of what we already know only inflates our ego. Or we may mock reminders as repetitive, mindless repetition. But Peter says he intends to stir them up, arouse them by means of… this reminder.

Reminding people to do and be what they already are isn’t a waste! Reminding the faithful to keep excelling in faith, the steadfast to continue being steadfast, and the loving to love all the more doesn’t inflate our egos, it stirs us up to continue to be faithful, steadfast, and loving people — sometimes even more so.

There is a time for correction in weak areas. But it is vital to remind one another to keep doing what we’re already doing and growing in what we already are, lest we be discouraged, forget, and slip.

New knowledge and experiences can certainly stir us up into action. None of this is to discount that. Hebrews 5-6 does warn us to pursue maturity and to not continue as infants who want nothing more than the milk we already have. There is a danger of only staying where we are. But there’s also the danger of  becoming stagnant or veering off the path by forgetting the basic stuff we once knew. We truly can be stirred up by way of reminder. “I see you have been praying, continue to pray without ceasing.” “The love and affection you have been showing will go a long way, keep excelling in that.” “It is hard to be sturdy and steadfast in these times, but keep going like you have been.” “Fruit is evident in your life — keep it up!”

Reminders of what we already know stir us to excel in what we are already doing.

(c) So they can recall them after he departs (vs. 13-15). In some way the Lord had made it clear to Peter that he would soon put off this tent, this body. Maybe it was the conversation recorded in John 21 when Jesus told Peter that when he was old he’d be stretched out and carried where he did not want to go — alluding to Peter’s future crucifixion.  Or maybe it was some recent encounter with the Lord. Either way, Peter would soon depart. But a major portion of the foundation of the church is the apostles. And it has been common throughout history for leaders to give farewell instructions and warnings to guide into the future — Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Paul, and Jesus all did this. And now it is Peter’s time. So he reminds them so that any time in the future they may recall the importance of growing in these qualities.

On occasion in recent history, some will try to highlight Jesus in the gospels while discounting the words of the apostles.

It is vital that we do not treat Peter or any of the apostles as if they and their words and their lives are dead and irrelevant. “Alright, they’re dead, now we have more flexibility around here.” No, even Peter does not even use the word “death” to describe what will soon happen. He may be putting off his tent — his body — and he may not yet have his resurrection house — temple, body — but, Peter, the apostles, and the faithful who have departed are with Christ.  In Christ, those dead apostles aren’t dead and the must continue to be the foundation of this local church and of the whole church. They have departed, but we are not free to depart from their witness nor from the church and foundation they laid.

This is why Peter made every effort in his life to teach, and that’s why even wrote out these reminders — even after his departure we today can continue to take reminders from the apostles on whom everything we do is built.

Think about Peter here as he nears the end of his life, having seen the singularly most significant thing that has ever happened since the foundation of the world — the cross and empty tomb — and having heard the most important words ever spoken; yet, he knows that after he dies many will suck the power out of the gospel with cheap grace and sensuality, while others would chalk it all up to a clever myth. What do you do when you know people will cast doubt on the most important stuff in the world? You live it, preach it, write about it, remind and remind and remind again about it; then you die for it and pray people will still listen.

And here we are nearly two thousand years later still living through exactly what Peter said was coming — and yet still listening.

We live in a technological age of information. There is so much knowledge that appears to be new and important coming at us. There are so many influencers who act like they have rediscovered Jesus and are leading people to love like he did through tolerance; they have finally escaped the harsh, superstitious ways of the past. God won’t punish people. The church is full of arrogant hypocrisy that must end. But it is deception. It reminds me of what John says: they don’t recognize God’s children because they don’t know the Son or the Father. Their condemnation is certain — let’s not be drawn into it.

In these disorienting times with so much coming at us, let’s continue to slow down to receive reminders from God’s word — which we may already know —because it’s about what's most important. We have received a faith of equal standing with the early generations. Jesus’ divine power has granted to us everything we need to live godly lives. He’s made promises by which we may escape the corruption in the world and partake in his divine nature. So, let’s = make every effort to grow in every way — starting with faith and ending in love. If we don’t, we’ll be ineffective and unfruitful. For it is by diligent fruitfulness that we will receive a warm welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter may be dead, but his words are as true today as they were then. We may have been waiting for his coming for two thousand years, but that only means God has been very patient and that we are closer to salvation than we were at the first. So let’s remember to diligently continue in the way we have been going.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: 2 Peter (Hastening the Day of God)

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

No real, health advice here, so ignore the specifics, but let’s say that for some crazy reason you decide to never eat chocolate or dairy again. Then one day someone invites you to their home and after dinner they hand you a slice of the richest, densest, most delicious-looking chocolate cake you have ever seen, and they set a full glass of chilled full fat milk next to it. But, like a pro, you thank your host, but decline: “Thank you so much, but I don’t eat chocolate and dairy because I have found them to negatively impact my health.” But they look at you with innocent surprise and say, “We have been eating this recipe our whole lives, you’ll be fine! You know chocolate is rich in antioxidants, right? And this milk comes fresh from our pasture raised family cow.” Now, unless we are ready for this and fortified with solid reasons to stick to our commitment, we are full of doubt and elbow-deep in cake before we know it.

Peter has said that by our knowledge of Jesus, God has granted us every thing we need to lead godly lives. He promises that we can be exalted from our lowly state of corruption to share in the divine nature. So we make every effort to grow in Christian qualities — starting with faith, and by means of our faith pursuing virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and perfecting it all by love. And I hope that we have all identified a specific way we’re seeking to grow this year. In verses 8-11, Peter gives us four reasons why we need to be diligent and make every effort to abound in these qualities. There will be times when our resolve will be tested — as with the chocolate and dairy — so we can use these four reminders to strengthen us on the days when we are tired, weak, discouraged, and tempted.

So, why do we make every effort to grow in these qualities?

#1 Verse 8: This keeps us from being unfruitful the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. When Isaiah prophesied against Judah, he relayed to them God’s love song for his vineyard in Isaiah 5. God planted a vineyard on a fertile hill, cleared away the stones, planted it with choice vines, and prepared a wine vat so he could make and store wine from all the grapes he’d get from this vineyard. Then he waited. And waited. But, instead of producing nice sweet grapes, his vineyard produced wild, sour grapes. So, God destroyed it. In the song, Judah is the vineyard. God looked for justice and righteousness from them, but an outcry of bloodshed and injustice resulted. The vineyard yielded nothing of value.

But later in Isaiah 27, God gives Isaiah a new song about a day when Satan that ancient dragon will be slayed and when God will finally have a pleasant vineyard. Is. 27:6 ESV, “In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.”

There is great joy that comes from knowing the Lord Jesus, the by whom we and all things were made — the one who has saved us. He is tender enough for us to empty our hearts out to him. And he is powerful enough to blow our minds with all he has accomplished in his coming. But as we abide in him, Jesus desires that our knowing him changes our lives. He desires not that we remain ineffective or unfruitful, but that we be effective and fruitful. As Jesus says in Matthew 21:43, the kingdom of God is being taken was taken from Israel in order to be given to people who produce will its fruit.

Let’s have and abound in these qualities so we’re not ineffective or unfruitful in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus. If we abound in these qualities, we’ll do our part in contributing to God’s project to fill the earth with godly fruit.

#2 Verse 9: Whoever doesn’t is nearsighted, blind, and has forgotten they were cleansed from their former sins. When we first came to Christ, we came because we saw there was filth on our hands and in our hearts and that we had made a mess of ourselves and of the world. We were afraid, ashamed, and guilty. But, by faith in the Lord Jesus, we were baptized and cleansed from all our former sins. And how clean we felt then! We were forgiven, loved, and accepted.

If we stop striving to have and abound in these qualities and virtues, the vices and sins we were cleansed from will grow back into our life, stain us, and chain us up all over again. “Libertine” describes someone with loosened moral standards, especially with respect to sexuality. And Peter’s implied question here to those with a libertine attitude is essentially this: if sin isn’t a big deal, then why did Jesus die? why were you baptized? what were you cleansed of?

If we have lost our earlier energy and focus to flee sin and to grow in these qualities, let’s seriously ask ourselves these questions. Why were we so thankful with tears of joy after we were baptized? Have we forgotten that it was because we ourselves cared deeply about sin and righteousness? Are we so nearsighted that we cannot see back to that time and remember?

If we lack and abandon pursuit of these qualities, we are blind. We have forgotten that Jesus came to cleanse us from the very sins we’re dabbling in, and to create in us the righteous fruit that we are shrugging our shoulders about.

#3 Verse 10: We’ll confirm our calling and election and never fall away. Before Israel ever did anything good or bad, God chose Israel through Abraham to be his treasured possession — they would be his special people and priests to the nations. By no goodness of their own, he delivered them from Egypt, set his presence among them, and prepared to use them to fill the earth with his ways. But in the wilderness and even in the promised land, Israel never rose to their calling or to what God chose them for. God chose them before they were ever born, but they rejected their calling and lost the inheritance God promised them.

From time to time we see or hear about a brother or sister that we love or held in high esteem that similarly falls away as Israel did. Maybe they left the Lord altogether, or maybe they caved to the pressures of remaking God in their own image. Whatever the case, this useful, chosen vessel is no more. They are not useful for what the Lord chose them to be. I have compassion on those who have fallen away. I know from experience how we can come to this place where — in a bout of madness — we walk away from the Lord. Each of us ought to have a healthy fear that this could become us. Peter was most vulnerable when he was certain he’d never fall away. If we have any humility we all wonder from time to time if we are chosen by God and we all fear on occasion that maybe one day we’ll be the ones falling away.

How can we concretely ensure that we remain God’s chosen people, that we will never fall?  Peter says in verse 10, Be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. There may be a lot that goes into falling away, but if we fall away, there’s one thing we can know for certain: at some point we stopped being diligent — actively practicing these qualities. Chosen, elect, called people can fall away. But  God doesn’t want that at all. And Peter’s saying here that if that’s important to us too — let’s be diligent and make every effort to practice these qualities.

#4 Verse 11: In this way, entrance will be richly provided for you into Jesus’ eternal kingdom. To wrap our minds around what Peter is saying here, I’m going to break down what he says starting from the end and working back to the beginning.

(a) Peter references “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” As opposed to filling the earth with God’s fame, rule, law, and ways, the Bible’s perspective is that people have filled the earth with their own corrupt kingdoms and ways for their own honor and power. But God gave the prophets visions of a day when God would send a king who would crush the enemies and rule with God’s Spirit, justice, and wisdom. He would banish death and establish a kingdom where God’s law, peace, and fame would fill the land. Solomon composed Psalm 72 to pray for the coming of this kingdom: “may the whole earth be filled with his glory!” And in Revelation 11 when the 7th angel blows his trumpet, loud voices in heaven declare that end has come: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” We just have no security in the kingdoms of this earth. They all pass away one by one. But we all and all history look forward to the day when the last enemy is defeated and the world has been overtaken by the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Okay, so why is Peter referencing Jesus’ eternal kingdom?

(b) Peter speaks of how “there will be richly provided for you an entrance into” this kingdom. So, while in a sense God’s kingdom has already begun to come in less obvious ways, Peter’s talking about the end of history when we will be provided entrance into this kingdom. But notice, Peter does not say that we carve out a place for ourselves in this kingdom, or that we can deserve a spot in the kingdom, or even make this kingdom on our own. He says that there will be richly provided for us an entrance into the eternal kingdom of Jesus. That sounds like the language of a gift, of grace. It is provided and given to us. But how will entrance be provided - granted, given — to us?

(c) Peter says that it is “in this way” that entrance will be provided into the eternal kingdom. In what way? Peter is speaking about diligently practicing these qualities. It is making every effort to have, practice, and abound in faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love — it is by practice of these qualities that entrance is provided into the eternal kingdom. A rich welcome into Jesus’ eternal kingdom is far more than we could ever deserve, and yet it is a gift and provision that we prepare for. We cannot earn or create a place in God’s kingdom by our works or these qualities, but a rich welcome is given to those who have and abound in these qualities.

And that’s why we are so thankful to know Jesus. On my own, I am a dead, lifeless branch fit to be burned up. We create problems, bear bad fruit, and get nowhere fast. But when the lovingkindness of God appeared, he saved us, not because works done by us in righteousness, but by his own mercy, by washing us in baptism and regenerating us with his Spirit. We were dead and fruitless, but it is this very gift of God that makes us alive and trains us to renounce ungodliness, but instead to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ appearing and kingdom.

If you fear like me that you can’t enter the kingdom “in this way” — by diligently practicing these qualities — stick close to Jesus because there is no other way. “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4–5 ESV) He’s not asking that any of us raise ourselves from the dead or pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps but that we abide in him and he in us. If we live and walk close to Jesus, we’ll bear much fruit and have nothing to fear. Take heart, “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” (Heb. 6:10 ESV) Let us make every effort to practice these qualities — starting with faith and aiming for love.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: John Kilgore

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Various Men