The Ultimate Sign of Peter's Maturity | August 17, 2025 AM

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Second Peter chapter #3 Second Peter chapter 3 in the Word of

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

God, if you would, and when you have found that, if you would

put your ribbon in Galatians chapter #2 if your Bible happens

to have one of those newfangled ribbons that are out there now,

that would be a good thing to turn to Galatians chapter 2,

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

'cause we're going to go over there in just a few moments, but

we are in Second Peter chapter #3 as we've marched through

first and second Peter over the last couple of years.

And you can see that, boy, we are really, really close to the

end. In fact, so much so that by the

time we are done with the message today, we will only have

one verse left in Second Peter. So Galatians chapter #2 is where

your ribbon will be. But then turn to Second Peter

chapter #3 and that's where we will start today.

But Speaking of all those things and finishing up the series and

all that, we're not just really finishing up the series.

In many ways, we're finishing up Peter's life, aren't we?

I mean, because these are the final words that have been

inspired of the Holy Spirit. And the shadow of death is

looming across the pages here as we're in this last chapter.

And the shadow of death is in the shape of an upside down

cross because history tells us that is how Peter will die, That

he was told that he was to be crucified, but desired not to be

crucified in the way that Jesus was because he did not believe

himself to be worthy, to be sacrificed in the way that Jesus

was. And so crucified up died down is

what history tells us that he was.

And we've seen Peter now for a long time, haven't we?

We've seen him from the Gospels when he was a rough and tumble

fisherman. We saw him when he was the

disciple who had the foot shaped mouth, you know, the one that

always said the wrong thing at the wrong time.

It's one of the reasons why so many of us, we feel like we

identify with Peter so much because of how erratic he was

and how he said things that he usually regretted later.

And so we saw him in that way in the Gospels, turned into almost

elder statesman by the time you get to the book of Acts and his

life changes as the Holy Spirit really doesn't work within his

life. And then through first and

second Peter, you see a growth and a maturity in him that never

could have fathomed, that you never could have imagined when

you first read the Gospels and were introduced to this

character named Peter. Well, here in today's message,

as we look at these final verses, well almost all of the

final verses of the book of Second Peter, I want us to look

at perhaps the greatest sign of spiritual maturity in Peter's

life. You say, well, well, what could

that be, pastor? Was it the fact that he preached

so powerfully in the book of Acts compared to his denial of

Christ in the Gospels? You might say it was his

boldness that we find later on in his life compared to the

brashness that he exhibited before.

You could say maybe it was his leadership that he exemplified

as the church began to grow compared to his impetuousness

when we first found him in the Gospels.

There's a lot of different things that you could look at,

but perhaps my answer to this morning from God's Word is one

that could be surprising to you. And the fact of Peter's

maturity, the fact that we see that Peter has grown over the

years compared to the man that we first met in the Gospels, is

this. Are you ready that he was able

to get along with others? The fact that we can see Peter's

spiritual maturity is exemplified here in Second Peter

chapter #3 in these final closing verses was that he could

get along with others. And then maybe if I could add

something to it, it would be this.

And then he enjoyed it because many of us can get along with

others, but we do it with teeth grit and fists clench.

Boy, it's quiet this morning. Let me tell you, I'm already

seeing it is so quiet this morning.

And there's sometimes it's because you're tired and

sometimes because, you know, oh, I think he's talking about me.

Well, listen, I'm not trying to talk about you and I'm not

necessarily trying to talk about me.

It just may be the Holy Spirit reminds us that although we know

that we're supposed to be Christians, other Christians,

and that we're supposed to be the right type of church member

with other types of church members, getting along with

Christians isn't always the easiest thing.

And by the way, it might just be that we're not the easiest ones

to get along with all the time either.

And so as we look at these verses, I want us to look at

spiritual maturity in the light of Peter's life and the fact

that one of the ways that we know that he has grown so much

is the fact that he got along with others even when things

were difficult, and he learned to like it.

Would you please stand for the reading of God's Word?

And second, Peter chapter #3 we'll begin in verse #14 and

we'll actually read into verse #18 the final verse, but we'll

stop short of finishing the book.

The Bible says this. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that

you look for such things, be diligent, that you may be found

of Him in peace, without spot and blameless.

An account that the long-suffering of our Lord is

salvation, even as our beloved Brother Paul also, according to

the wisdom given unto Him, hath written unto you, as also in all

his Epistles, speaking in them of those things in which are

some things hard to be understood, which they that are

unlearned and unstable, rest, as they do also the other

Scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware

lest ye also being LED away with the error of the wicked, fall

from your own Steadvatis. And we'll end with these first 4

words of verse #18. But grow in grace in light of

always seen. Paul is going to end, or Peter,

rather, is going to end this epistle with an appeal to grow

in grace. And we'll look more at that last

next week or the next time we are together in our set text.

But I do want us to consider that everything we're going to

see is because Peter has learned to grow in grace, so he's able

to show some spiritual maturity to others as well.

You'll be seated. Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, do pray to you be with us here today.

Help me as I present your word to be able to present it in such

a way that's understandable that it's helpful.

Lord, help us as we deal with others.

And it's not always easy. And Lord, we're not always easy

to be dealt with. And so I pray that you help us

to learn to grow and to be able to be the church that you have

called us to be. And we do ask it in Jesus name,

Amen. Well, what's interesting here is

we look at Peter's life as we see that Peter is now going to

mention Paul in these final words of his epistle.

And again, we've recognized the last several weeks that when you

get to the end of someone's life or you get to the end of

someone's record of testimony, that the final things they say

speak volumes about them and it speaks volumes about what's

important to them. So the fact that Paul is

mentioned by Peter in our text here is 1.

Not a mistake because well this Bible that we have in front of

us is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

But I believe it is Peters very heart to be able to mention

Paul. And when he mentions Paul he

mentions them in some pretty glowing terms doesn't he?

He speaks very high of Paul. We know first of all, he speaks

highly of him because in verse #15 he calls him this, our

beloved brother are beloved brother.

Now remember, sometimes we call people around here brother or

sister. And it's a reminder that we find

in the Word of God that the brethren that when they were in

church, that when they were around other believers

oftentimes called each other brother and sister.

And by the way, it's not some kind of weird cultish thing.

It's just the idea is that when you get saved, you got a new

family. When you get saved, we're not

saying you replace your old family, but we're just saying

this, that you have gained a new family in Christ.

I'm thankful for the family that I have in Christ here at Liberty

Baptist Church that many times are closer to me than my own

blood family. I don't have much family to

speak of. What I have is extended family

and fairly extended family. But what's left is my father

and, and really well, I have an uncle and an aunt that live a

little bit away, but I'm an only child.

And so I don't have a lot by way of family, but I have God's

family and I'm thankful for God's family.

So I'm thankful to call brothers and sisters in Christ that.

Yes, you are. And so here is Peter saying our

beloved brother Paul, that he's not just calling brother, but

he's beloved. And listen, we may have brothers

and sisters in Christ here, but we don't always call them

beloved. Let that sink in for a second.

Yeah, that's how some of you want to say that, but you

couldn't. All right.

But, but, but one man had the boldness that nobody else did,

right? We don't always call him

beloved, but he says, no, they are my he's my beloved brother.

And he acknowledges the wisdom that was given unto him.

He says Paul is beloved. He's my brother, He's wise.

There's wisdom that has been given unto him.

And then in verse #16 he says there's been some detractors.

There have been some people who have tried to twist the

scriptures that he's written. And he acknowledges that Paul's

writings are the Scriptures. I think that's an important

thing for us to realize that here is Peter who is talking

about the copies of the Word of God that have been made and

disseminated throughout Asia Minor that time and beyond.

And here is Peter saying that those copies of the Word of God

have been preserved and they're the scriptures.

And it reminds us that God is in the business of preserving his

scriptures. By the way, he still preserves

the scriptures today. The fact that we can know that

we have the word of God, that you don't have to worry about

what you have in your hands today, that you can have hold of

the very words of God inspired by the Holy Spirit and preserved

throughout the generations. Isaiah 40, verse 8, the grass

Isaiah 40:8

withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall

stand forever. And thank the Lord that we can

know we have God's word. And so here is Peter and he's

talking about Paul. He says he's beloved and he's my

brother and he's wise. And he kind of comes to his

defense and he says, there's these false teachers that are

out there and they're twisting Paul's words and they're trying

to take his words in the Scriptures and to make them into

something or not. And Peter's devoting his some of

his last words, the last part of his parchment, the last ink that

he has to write here by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

as this way of talking about his beloved brother Paul.

And I don't know what some of you were thinking this morning.

You're thinking something like that.

Well, big deal. So Peter knew Paul, Paul knew

Peter, they were friends, they liked one another.

What's the big deal about that, pastor?

Well, the big deal about that was this, that Peter and Paul's

relationship wasn't always rosy, that Peter and Paul didn't

always get along. You say, well, where?

Where could we find that in the Word of God, believe it or not,

where your ribbon is? Galatians chapter #2 So turn if

you would save your spot here in Second Peter chapter #3 but go

to Galatians chapter #2 and I want to go pick it right up

because you've already got it saved.

Galatians chapter 2. Let's look at verse #1 It says.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

Then 14 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with

Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that the

gospel which I preach under the Gentiles, but privately to them

which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or

I'd run in vain. Neither Titus, who was with me,

being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.

And that because of false brethren unaware is brought in,

who came in privilege to spy out our liberty which we have in

Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage to whom we

have placed by subjection. No, not for an hour that the

truth of the gospel might continue with you, but of these

who seem to be somewhat whosoever they were, it maketh

no matter to me. God accepted no man's person,

for they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to

me. Verses #1 through 6.

And we'll stop right there. Introduce a great debate that

was taking place in the church during that time.

And that great debate was this was that obviously that when we

look at the Gospels that the gospel was being being preached

to the Jews that we find that very rarely were there gentiles.

Sometimes there were Samaritans and there was a Syrophoenician

woman, the Bible says, who would have been a Gentile, but for the

most part that Jesus earthly ministry based in Judea would

have been to the Jews. But it was never the fact that

it was only supposed to stay with the Jews.

Acts chapter one verse 8 tells us the gospel is to go to

Jerusalem, Judea and to Samaria and yes, to the uttermost parts

of the earth. Paul will write later on in

Romans chapter one verse 16, he says for the power, for I'm not

ashamed of the gospel of Christ for is the power of God and the

salvation to everyone that believes to the Jew 1st and also

to the Greek being the Gentile. And so the gospel had gone to

the Jews first, but now Gentiles are getting saved.

And by the way, they're getting saved in very, very large

numbers. But that means that these

Gentiles are coming into the church and they're bringing in

with them their practices. They're bringing in with them

their ways of living that are not Jewish ways of living.

Well, the Jews, the males would have been circumcised For the

Gentiles, that would not have been the case.

For the Jews, they would have eaten in a way that we would

call similar to kosher today, and to the Gentiles, they would

not. And so there was this culture

shock that was there within those local churches where the

Jews had lived a certain way, the Gentiles had lived a certain

way. And now they're coming in

together and the Jews are saying this in the church.

Well, if the Gentiles come in, shouldn't they live like the

Jews? And the answer to that was this.

Well, no, that's not the way they were supposed to live.

They were supposed to live in Christ.

That when Jesus Christ had died on the cross and his blood was

shed, that the Bible says the veil was rented to in the

temple, and that the old Sacramento way of living had

been abolished because there was a new, better way of living in

Jesus Christ. The perfect sacrifice. 1

Sacrifice for all mankind for all time.

That those things were put away of the sacrifices of the bulls

and the goats and the types of eating in those types of things.

None of those were ever necessary to save a person

anyway. That that wasn't what God was

using those for in the 1st place.

All of them were figures to point to a future redemption.

And so here are the Jews that say, well, we've always lived

this way. And here's the Gentiles who are

coming into the church and they had this question about the

Jews. Should the Gentiles live like

us? And there's friction and people

are not necessarily happy with one another.

You find this in Acts chapter 6. You find Peter deals with it

Acts 6 · chapter mention

when God calls him to go talk to the Gentiles, and he has to put

a vision in front of him so that he understands that, yes, it's

OK to preach the gospel to a Gentile.

And so for you and I, we don't think that's a big deal today.

I look around and we see all different shades of color.

We see people who talk different language and we realize, listen,

listen, this is the way God intends it.

I'll say that again. This is the way God intends it.

That's the way heaven's going to be, Amen.

That we're going to have different people's shades and

different languages and different places, but yet that

God has united us all through our commonality in Jesus Christ.

And aren't we thankful for that? But they were struggling with

this in a very different way with the Jewish and the Gentile.

And there was this great debate, but then they came to a great

decision. Come to verse #7 Look with me.

It says this, but contrary wise, when they saw that the gospel of

the uncircumcision was committed unto me as the gospel, the

circumcision was unto Peter, For he that wrought effectually, and

Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was

mighty and me toward the Gentiles.

And when James Cephus and John, who seemed to be pillars

perceived that the grace that was given unto me, they gave to

me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go

into the heathen and and they under the circumcision only that

they would only they would that we should remember the poor and

the same which I also was forward to do.

So this great decision was this was they said, well, there's

missionary work that needs to be done.

There's people that need to hear in the great beyond.

And So what they decided to do was that that Peter was going to

have the realm of influence that he mostly was going to preach to

the Jews and that Paul's realm of influence is he's going to

mostly to preach to the Gentiles.

Now to make clear, Peter preached Jews and Gentiles, Paul

preached to Jews and Gentiles. Acts chapter.

Well the book of Acts makes that abundantly clear.

I'm not going to give you 1 chapter because the whole book

of Acts makes that clear that they preach to everybody.

Listen, if they had a beating heart and a sinful soul, then

they were going to be preached to by either Peter or Paul.

But we would say that Peter's fear of influence was going to

be to the Jews and Paul's fear of influence was going to be

more to the Gentiles. And they had decided on this and

there would not be a problem. But they all came to the

decision that, listen, we're all one in Christ, then we're going

to come together in church, Jew and Gentile.

And our identity in church is this Jesus Christ, not our

ethnic or any other type of background.

We identify in Jesus Christ. And so everything is great.

Listen, Paul's got his sphere, Peter's got his sphere.

They both are leaders in these early churches.

And so everything seems to be going great.

But there's not just this big decision, there's going to be a

big debacle that's going to take place.

There's a very big problem. Someone could check on that.

That would be great. All right, that sounds, that

sounds good. As long as someone saw in the

building in half, all right, we're fine.

So I was trying not to acknowledge what was going on,

but I see everyone looking around.

Everyone sit down. We're OK.

We're OK, but we got people that are looking into it.

All right, thank you. But it was a great debacle.

What is that debacle? Well, here it is in verse #11

But when Peter was come to Antioch, I was stood him in the

face. That doesn't sound good, does

it? When Peter was come to Antioch,

I was stood into the face, because he was to be blamed for

before the certain, before that certain came from James, and he

did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come he

withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the

circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled

likewise with him in so much that Barnabas also was carried

away with their dissimulation. You say what exactly is

happening here? Well, Peter comes to visit Paul

and some of the others like Barnabas there in Antioch.

And Antioch is a Gentile church, and so they're having a meal and

they had to have been Baptist because they're having a meal

together in the church. There's no doubt in my mind is

the First Baptist Church, Antioch, because they're having

a potluck and everyone's together and everyone's having a

good time. And here is Peter.

Now, what is Peter's sphere of influence?

His sphere of influence was the Jews.

Now he preached to Jews and Gentiles, but his sphere of

influence was the Jews. And here he is at this potluck

in this church in Antioch, and he's sitting with a bunch of

Gentiles. But look at this.

A group of Jews show up and they sit down at a different table.

And Peter looks at them and whether it's embarrassment,

whether it's shame, whether he feels like he is being peer

pressured into it, he gets up from his table with the Gentiles

and goes and sits with the Jews. Now why is that a big deal?

Because in that moment he is showing the Jews that he's

ashamed of the gentiles. He's showing the Jews that he

does not stand with or sit with those gentile believers.

So why is that a big deal? What could you imagine our day?

Let's say we had a potluck around here and maybe 3 or 4

homeless people came in. Now by you said what we do, if

homeless people came in and we had a potluck, we would feed

them. I mean, I don't even know what

the question would be about that.

And so they sit around a table and you're sitting at the table.

But then maybe one of your friends comes in and you could

see by the look on his face, he is not pleased that you would

sit down with those homeless people.

They've not cleaned themselves lately.

They maybe aren't acting in a way that's socially appropriate

with everyone else. And you look at your friend and

you look at those homeless people and you say, guys, I got

to go. And you walk up from the table

and you leave. What message would you be

sending? To the church, what message

would you be sending to the other people?

You'd say, you know, these people aren't valuable, but this

person is. That's basically what Peter did

here. He felt the peer pressure of

these Jewish believers who came in and he walked up and said,

well, guys, I'm, I'm done. And he walks away.

He said, well, I don't see what the big deal is.

The Bible says there was dissimulation.

Do you know what that means? It was a mess.

His friend Barnabas, Paul's friend.

Barnabas got up and followed Peter.

By the way, this isn't my message.

But when you make decisions, other people will follow you.

You think you're the only one that affects the decisions you

make. When you make decisions, other

people follow you, parents follow you, children follow you,

grandchildren follow you, church members follow you, workers

follow you, leadership follows you.

You say that doesn't seem like it works like that.

You'd be surprised. Your decisions are never made in

a vacuum. And so Peter gets up and other

people start getting up, and Paul says, hold on here a

second. And the Bible says this.

He withstood him to the face. Now, you don't have to really be

a Greek scholar to know that withstood him in the face means

this. They have words.

They had words with each other, didn't they?

Now, Paul didn't always act like that.

In fact, in the beginning, during this great debate, it

says that he met with the leadership privately, that he

wasn't publicly going out and being a crusader.

He was talking to the Jewish leadership privately, making

sure that the Gentiles had the help that they needed.

And so he was, he was fine working privately.

But there are times that public sins call for public rebuke.

Because if he did not stand for those Gentiles there in that

moment in their own church, He knew that it was going to cause

great harm to the cause of Christ.

He knew there was going to cause great harm.

And so he goes up to Peter and he stands up to him, and in his

face he rebukes him. Now, I don't know about you, but

I kind of wish that didn't stop there in verse #13 and 14.

I wish we had the whole conversation written down, don't

you? I want to know what Paul said.

I want to know how Peter responded.

But here's what I know. If this is Peter from the

Gospels, they're throwing fists, man.

If this is Peter from the Gospels, Paul may not have an

ear anymore. This is, this is not a good

situation. This isn't a good situation at

all. But listen, Peter needed to be

rebuked. He was wrong.

And by the way, he was very wrong and Paul withstood him in

the face. By the way, you can tell someone

they're wrong in love. You can tell someone they're

wrong without having a spirit of superiority or having a spirit

of I'm a better person than you. The Bible even tells us that

there are times that brothers and sisters in Christ, the book

of James talks about this. We need to go one another to try

to convince them and to help them and love them.

If we do so, we gain a brother. And so here is Paul.

He said, I can't let this go. I've got to tell you, Peter,

right now, in front of these people, because you're causing

great harm to this room. I've got to tell you what you've

done here is wrong, and it is wrong in every degree.

Now, listen, Peter and Paul were as different as people could

get. If you wanted to find people on

the opposites of the spectrum, it would be Peter and Paul.

Paul was educated, Peter was not.

Paul's writing style is more technical and Peter wrote more

in a way that would be understood by the common man.

Paul was a Pharisee. Well, we know Peter had very

little regard for the Pharisees, didn't he?

Paul lived with a socially elite at one point in his life.

Peter was never considered one of the social elite.

You know Peter walked with Christ, Paul did not.

These are two men that were as different as different could be.

And I would submit to you that here at the end of James or

Janet James, Genesis, Galatians, there's the one.

All right. I thought I'd get it on the

third try here at the end of Galatians chapter #2 these two

men could have been, you go your way and I'll go my way.

You're my brother, but you're not a beloved brother.

Now, do we know exactly what happened here after the rebuke

took place? We don't.

But I would say to you this this morning, and I believe this is

true just by the way we see Paul or Peter rather take his posture

in second Peter chapter #3 The fact of the matter was this that

Peter had grown up enough to be able to take the rebuke and

still consider the one who rebuked him a beloved brother.

He said, well, Peter, Peter was like that right before.

Do you read the Gospels? Him and John all the time were

like this, well, I want to be the greatest.

And Peter didn't like that. And then you got ready for the

crucifixion, and they're still asking about who's going to be

the greatest. And then you have after the

crucifixion that Peter is running towards the the tomb and

John is running faster and gets there first.

And John stands in front of the tomb and Peter says, forget

this, I'm going into the tomb. And then they go out fishing.

Remember that. And then Jesus has this rebuke

for Peter. He says, do you love me, feed my

sheep. Do you love me, feed my sheep,

Do you love me, feed my sheep. And Peter is just so heartbroken

by the fact that Jesus is rebuking him over what had taken

place just a few days ago when Peter denied Jesus Christ.

And then Peter is given this proclamation, this prophecy

about the remainder of his life. And Peter in this moment with

Jesus, this intimate moment with Jesus, he looks at John and

says, Jesus, but what about him? This is the Peter we're looking

at. This is the Peter that we would

expect in Galatians chapter 2, but it's not the Peter that we

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

get in second Peter chapter #3 Why, I would say to you is for

this reason and this reason only, and I'm saying to the last

four words of the book, but grow in grace.

He grew in grace and in spiritual maturity.

Something changed in his life. He realized this.

He says part of being spiritually mature, part of

growing is being able to get along with other believers.

Hey, pastor, this is a very strange message for a church

because maybe you think this, I've not been at church very

long. But, I mean, part of the thing

about church is that everybody loves each other and gets along,

right? And my answer to that is, OK,

well, is it supposed to be that way?

Is it supposed to be that way? Is it that way?

No. There's a story about 6 men who

were stranded once on a desert island.

Two were Jewish, two were Catholic, and two were Baptist.

The two Jews got together and they founded the temple

Emmanuel. The two Catholics got together

and they established the Church of the Holy Name.

The two Baptist form two different Baptist churches and

thought over who was going to call it First Baptist.

That is satire, but based totally on reality.

Because when we are together as a family, what do families often

do? Fight.

We'll call it squabble to be nice.

But they fight, don't they? Family has blood in common, but

they still fight. They have experiences in common,

but they still fight. And if we're not careful, as a

church family, we have everything in common in Jesus

Christ and we can still. Why?

Well, because there are times people need to be corrected.

They don't want to be corrected. There are times that sometimes

people feel superior and they shouldn't feel superior.

There are times people feel like they have a position of

authority and want to hold that over other people.

There are times that people get this idea that they want to be

prominent or preeminent at the expense of the other people.

There are 100 or 1000 different reasons that people can squabble

and have difficulties in church. But here's what I know.

That Peter who was once an impetuous man, Peter who once

was at loggerheads at any given time with John, got to the place

where once the Holy Spirit was truly in control of his life.

That even when a man like Paul would publicly withstand him, a

man that he had nothing in common woman with, but he got in

his face, he says, Peter, I love you, but what you did was wrong.

That Peter not only took it, but he called that man at the end of

his life, my beloved brother, a man of wisdom.

And he says that some of you are messing with him and his

scriptures and I want you to knock it off because he's my

brother. It's a powerful thing.

There's a lot of opportunities for churches to get in bad

places with each other. Church members.

I was reading an article by church researchers, name's Tom

Rayner, and he put together 25 of the craziest things that he'd

ever heard in his church research of why churches had

fights. Now, I'm not going to read all

25, but consider some of these here.

Here's some highlights. An argument over the appropriate

length of the pastor's beard. I've solved that for you all by

being clean shaven. All right, A church dispute of

whether or not to install stall dividers in the restroom.

A church argument to vote to decide if a clock in the worship

center should be removed. A 45 minute heated argument over

the type of filing cabinet to purchase black or brown, 2-3 or

four drawers. And it says here in parentheses

that it took two meetings to figure out a big church argument

over the discovery that the church budget was off by $0.10.

Someone finally gave a dime to settle the issue.

Business meeting arguments about whether the church had purchased

a weed eater or not. Two different churches reported

fights over the type of coffee. Now, that one I get.

I mean, the others are crazy, but that, I mean, we got to take

a stand, right? You know what I'm saying?

An argument on whether the church should allow deviled eggs

at the church because of the name.

A disagreement over the use of the term potluck, instead

suggesting the term pot blessing, like not using the

word luck. An argument over which has the

authority to buy postage stamps for the church.

Some church members left the church because one church member

hid the vacuum cleaner from them.

It resulted in a major fight and split.

For me, I'd say, well, I don't want to vacuum, I guess that's

great. A dispute over whether the

church should allow people to wear black T-shirts, since black

is the color of the devil. An argument over whether fake

dusty plants should be removed from the podium.

You see that, you say? Those are some of the most

ridiculous things I'd ever heard.

And the answer is yes, they absolutely are.

But I would also say to you this morning this if we were not

careful, that we can take our own personal preferences,

issues, and even sometimes very legitimate things that take

place in the church, and we can turn them into things that God

never intended them to be. Why?

Because like the old saying goes, church is a great place to

be a Christian. I'll let you chew on that for a

second. Church is a great place to be a

Christian. Meaning this We as Christians

ought to act like Christians. We when we go in the House of

God have to understand that we have different personalities,

that we come from different walks of life that that that we

have different jobs, different income levels, different

families, different ethnicities, different abilities, different

marital statuses, different upbringing is different

everything. But yet even in those

differences, that God has called us together to be brethren and

sisters, that God has called us together to be 1 church, to be 1

body, to get along in such a way that that God is honored and God

is glorified. Can I tell you what the issue

often times with church difficulties and the difficulty

with church fighting comes down to 5 letters.

PRIDE in the moment. Peter could have said, Paul, who

are you to tell me off? Were you there with Jesus for

three years? Were you there when He did the

miracles? Were you there when he ascended

into heaven? Were you there on the day of

Pentecost? Listen, Peter could have even

gone low and said something like this.

Who was holding the coats when our brother died?

Steven, who are you to say anything to me?

Do you know who I am? Do you know what I've done?

Do you know what we've sacrificed?

And you come in the Johnny come lately after the 12 of us and

then the eleven of us. We're together for three years

and we're there in the establishment of the church.

And now you come along and you're the one that everybody

likes and you're the one that's going out everywhere.

You're the one that's making all the news.

You say, pastor, it doesn't say any of that in the Bible.

Just use your imagination. This very well could have been

said. These are real people.

We're not talking about Bible characters.

Bible characters are real people with real emotions.

And Peter, in that moment could have cast it back into Paul's

teeth and listen, the church could have been irrevocably

harmed. The church at Antioch could have

split wide open. You say that doesn't happen.

It happens all the time when Christians won't act like

Christians. Are there real things we have to

hash out? Oh yeah.

Listen, that was a real thing in Galatians chapter 2.

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

If Paul didn't address it, it would have caused a whole other

host of problems because Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ.

By the way, the Bible says we're of one blood.

This whole idea. Well, well, this and that.

And I come from here, I come from there.

Listen to this. We all belong to the Lord and we

might as well start getting along now.

Amen. This whole idea of well, well, I

come from here and I come from there and I do this and I do

that. Listen, we were of one blood.

We all have the same common ancestors.

I think we all go back to Adam. We're all related somewhere.

And so Paul had to put a stop to this.

He was right what he did, but Peter was mature enough to be

able to take it. He said this, Paul's a lot

different than me, that we share almost nothing in common, but we

share the only thing in common that matters, and that's Jesus

Christ. And so because that he's my

beloved brother, say, Pastor, why are you hitting this so hard

today? Is there some problem that

you're trying to root out? Well, I hope you know me well

enough that there's a problem that need to be rooted out.

It wouldn't be done from the pulpit.

It will be done privately unless it was done publicly in a way

that it had to be withstood publicly.

But no, this is not a brush back pitch against anyone or any

issue or, or something that I see is a problem here in Liberty

Baptist Church. I don't at all.

But I will tell you this, I am passionate about this for this

reason. It only takes a little bit of

dissension to take what God has done here and to totally ruin

it. We have a beautiful spirit here

at Liberty Baptist Church. I'll be honest with you.

It's it's one of the most unique things I've ever seen as a

church. We're not the biggest church in

the world. I know that's a surprise.

Some of you, we're not the biggest church in the world.

We're not. But I'll tell you this, I feel

like we're the most blessed church in the world.

It's the kind of church where it's like, you know, it's, it's,

it's getting times like, OK, the people you want to go, like you

want to go and it's time to go home, right?

And nobody wants to go home because they're fellowship with

each other, enjoying being around each other.

What a blessing that is it. I will never complain about

that. That's a great thing.

But be sure about this, the blessedness that we have here at

Liberty Baptist Church, Satan despises.

He despises it. And he will find any way to worm

his self into this building, into this assembly, and to be

able to take the blessedness that we have and turn it into a

curse. So what do we need to do?

We need to guard ourselves. And if we're to go back to

Second Peter chapter #3 just go there quickly if you can.

What do we see? Verse #17 yet therefore,

beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest ye

also being LED away with the air of the wicked fall from your own

steadfastness. What are we supposed to do?

Be steadfast. Don't.

Don't be LED away by wicked intentions of others.

Don't be LED away by the way the world handles things.

How does the world handle things?

It handles things with a buzz saw and that's why we have a lot

of the problems we have out in this world.

Why do we handle issues with the scalpel of God's Word, with the

antiseptic of the Holy Spirit? And as we do so, what does God

do? He blesses and he helps and he

grows. But you cannot be this type of

Christian unless you're willing to grow in grace.

Well, they, they don't, they don't deserve.

They don't deserve it. Well, that would be the very

definition of grace receiving what is not deserved.

Again, I'm not saying that problems should just be washed

away like they didn't even happen.

Stick your head in the sand. There's no problems here.

No, no. That we handle them like

believers and that we love one another.

And that if you're the one that has the problem, Matthew chapter

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

18, you handle it in a godly way.

If you're the receiver of the problem, that you receive it in

a godly way and that in all of it, God would be glorified.

I will tell you this. It is one of the true marks that

you have grown as a believer. And of all these other things

that Peter grew in his preaching, his boldness, his

leadership, maybe the greatest mark of how much he grew was the

fact that he took a brother who was stood in the face in public

and rebuked him. And he said, that's my beloved

brother. And you don't mess with my

beloved brother because we both belong to Jesus Christ.

So this week, as we add to our faith, let's be the type of

person that can work well with others and actually enjoy it.

Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of

Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing

to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us

know by contacting us at [email protected].

Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,

MA. May the Lord bless you as you

grow in His Word.