2 Peter 2

Hello and welcome to the Kalamazoo Church of Christ podcast.

Thank you so much for listening.

We're Startup Church.

We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together.

And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect, be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more.

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We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today.

Good morning, everybody.

It's good to see you all.

I'm grateful that you decided to make the trip despite the weather.

We didn't plan for it.

I don't know, for those of you who have been a part of the Kalamazoo church for a series of years, when we first started, the majority of where we met was outside, at least for the first, I think, five, actually through most of October.

We came here in August and through most of October, we were outside.

And for whatever reason, well, I know the reason, but there was no storms, no rain at all.

And so we were like, we felt super blessed for like, I guess Sundays in Michigan, it just doesn't rain.

There's no, the weather, the weather would be like 40, even right about the end of September, the weather would be 40s or 50s, random day.

Every Sunday was about 60 degrees and we were able to worship.

What God said, your faith is strong enough that we're not going to do that anymore.

And so despite it, despite the weather, we're still worshiping outside.

Amen.

You guys can open up to 2nd Peter.

You know, we've been, we've been going through a series and first it was 1st Peter and now it's 2nd Peter.

1st Peter talks basically all about the struggles of the outside into the church and some of the difficulties and to be strong in the faith.

And it's written to a group, what it says is exiles.

And so there's little pockets of Christianity inside of the culture that's not Christian.

This, this letter though, is written pretty much to Christians and it's written in a way that says, you know, you've got to be aware of what you're hearing and what you're learning from people.

The difficulty, I think, as I had preparing this, like 2nd Peter 1, there's something there.

2nd Peter 2, we'll read and I just had a really difficult time preparing the lesson for us this morning.

It was tough because we're outside.

I want to be joyful, energetic, and we'll read the text and a lot of it is, it doesn't come off that way.

It comes off pretty strong, pretty direct, a lot of warnings inside of there.

But what I would say is I think it communicates so much of how God feels about what we consume.

Specifically, what God feels about what we consume, even inside of the realm of Christianity.

I think my job today is to illuminate this chapter and what I, what I want to do is I was preparing it, something clicked right towards the end of my preparation because initially it was written and I'm like, man, this is what we should be focused on as we're looking at who we can follow, who are we going to follow, who are we going to follow?

And then something clicked that was, what if we didn't necessarily, we still read it like this is some of these teachings of who we should follow, but what if we just assumed that it was actually talking about us?

And I'm going to ask you guys to do something that's pretty mature this morning.

And that's to, as we read, to assume the Bible is talking about us.

And now why is it mature?

Because you'll read, there's a lot that doesn't necessarily apply to your life situation, but there's some stuff that will.

And so I ask that we grow in our maturity and just decide this is going to be about me.

Of course, it's about who's teaching and of course it's about what we're learning, but it's going to speak to me this morning.

Amen.

Now you'll see what I mean in a sec.

We're in first Peter, second Peter, rather, uh, we're going to pick up here right at the beginning.

Uh, second Peter two says, but, but there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.

They will secretly introduced destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them bringing swift destruction on themselves.

Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute and their greed.

These teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.

Their condemnation has long been hanging over them and their destruction has not been sleeping.

All right.

Pause here.

Um, this first part is what the Bible says.

There's going to be false teachers among you.

It's written a bunch of years ago, but what it's going to come up later and say is even before it was written, there was false teachers after it was written.

There was false teachers.

And so, you know, just like I know there are false teachers today.

And when I say false teachers and when the Bible is talking about it in this text is not talking exclusively about false teachers from the world, it's talking about false teachers who call themselves Christians and who are supposed to act like Christians.

What it does though, there's a little bit of a roadmap then of what to follow, but of who not to follow.

And what is the Bible saying?

Well, this is, this is what it says, who are these false teachers?

And this is where the challenge now is for you guys to see, okay, where does this, where does it apply in my life specifically is that on one hand, it says they operate in secret.

It says they deny God in the work of salvation.

And so that could mean exclusively a grace-based theology that I don't have to do any work that what the Bible outlines, I don't have to listen to.

It could also mean though, a workspace that I'm going to work super hard to get to a good spot in salvation, but you deny God in his work in salvation.

It says they bring swift destruction on themselves.

How Peter uses the word is not a total annihilation.

It's, it's like a judgment basically.

It's a popular attractive option.

We can't just look and say, what are most people following?

That's what we should follow.

It says that it says there needs to be, they need to answer to it because you give Christianity a bad name and people from the outside malign Christianity because they see that men, us Christians, we don't really follow what we, what we talk about.

It says they're motivated by greed.

This could be money or power or status or something.

And at the end of it, people are exploited.

And so it's for a personal gain and people feel it.

You know, I bet just, just see, I bet you this week, if you were to talk to somebody and you were just to, I'm not telling you to invite them to church.

I think the Bible wouldn't, it's a good idea.

But if you just invited them to church, if you said, Hey, I would come to my church.

And they said, no, no way.

I don't believe in God.

And you started to ask them more.

There's a, there's a high likelihood that the reason that they don't go to church or attend church is for one of these things, right?

That they tried to show up or they were supposed to, or they grew up in church.

And at some point along the way, some leader acted in, in one or a few of these ways.

They didn't practice what they preach.

They preach something that was less than what the gospel teaches.

And, and you can, you can go on and on, but, but so many people, maybe you're in this room right now, not this room, whatever this pavilion right now.

And maybe you're, you're still on the edge.

Like, I don't know about Christianity.

I'm kind of either way I could take it or leave it, or it's a good teaching, but I don't know if I want to give my entire life, meaning how I live, not just what I believe.

I don't know if I want to give it all to God.

I bet you, if you've been in church for any length of time, you've probably been burned by a leader who acted in this way.

The response though, the mature response is not to say that because somebody acted this way, then that gives me the right to not act.

It's not be a Christian, not to follow what the Bible teaches because Peter's not giving them that out.

He says, you guys, people are going to be jacked up and live this type of way.

You guys can't follow that though.

You've got to follow sound teaching.

Let's keep reading.

It says, for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment.

If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness and seven others, if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly.

And if he rescued lots, a righteous man who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless.

If this is so drop down to verse nine, if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority.

So Peter, then he says, don't follow what these guys are teaching.

And what does he do?

He points to three examples of judgment in the Bible.

The last two you've probably heard about the flood, the first, the flood.

And basically God saw people.

It said that he was distressed in his heart.

He was like, man, these people, they just can't listen to me.

And he identified Noah as being the righteous, this righteous family.

And he gave them direction and Noah was saved.

The rest were not.

Sodom and Gomorrah, we understand God's righteous judgment to say that people are doing bad things.

And so they're not going to just, I'm not going to just allow that to happen.

This last one is, uh, it's not from the Bible that you're going to read this morning.

Um, it's from the book of Enoch, but it's similarly, it's used to remind people that the same God who we serve today and who they serve then is righteous in his judgment.

Um, you know, if you, if you had, if you had siblings growing up, uh, then you would understand that there were a few things worse than an empty threat of punishment when your brother or sister did something they weren't supposed to do.

Um, you know, your sibling, they say something, they speak some type of way to your, your mom or dad.

And what does your mom or dad say?

You know, this is what's going to happen.

Uh, maybe you said, Hey, how are we just going to let my younger sister say this thing?

Um, you got to do something right.

Uh, you know, if you are, if you're a sibling and you can't relate to that feeling, then you're probably the youngest is what I would say.

You know, I, I, I sometimes I have, I struggle because my, my dad's in the audience.

And so I'm like, what, what can I say?

What, what, but, but here, okay.

So there was a time, there was a point I was 12.

My sister was 10 and we figured out that my dad didn't understand what the word grounded meant.

Uh, so, so growing up, so growing up, my mouth will be what, what gets me in trouble.

Um, it still is what gets me in trouble, oddly enough.

Uh, but, but it wouldn't, it wouldn't usually be to my dad.

It would at times.

Yes.

Most of the time it'd be at school, uh, is where I get in trouble.

And then, but at home, I think I was, I was pretty compliant.

Like I didn't want to, I didn't want to test my dad.

Basically.

My sister, she's two years younger.

She was the exact opposite.

Uh, you know, she, so there was one time we're eating dinner.

My dad made some type of food.

She didn't like it.

Um, I don't have the problem of not liking food, but my sister, my sister didn't, didn't like the food.

And she was like that.

I'm not going to eat this.

I don't like this.

And I'm like, man, okay, you're testing them.

And then, then he kind of did some kind of finagling, put something extra in it.

And she said, you know, I don't want that either.

And I'm like, okay, this is going to get interesting here.

How could you say that to my dad?

Um, and so, you know, she said something smart.

Um, and, and he just said, Hey, you're grounded for three days.

So, okay.

Uh, and I'm like, good.

She got grounded.

She deserves it.

Right.

Um, she did something bad.

She deserves to be grounded.

Right.

The next day we come back from school and, and we, you know, the neighborhood, we're like, let's go.

We're going to go play football.

I'm like, Ronnie, you got to stay back.

You can't go play with us.

Um, we need you, but you can't play.

And she, she wasn't even fazed.

She said, I'm just going to call him and ask him if I can go outside.

I was like, no, no, no.

You're grounded.

You don't know what he, he, you're grounded.

You can't go outside.

He was like, she was like, he doesn't know what grounded means.

And, and so 10 years old, unfazed calls him up from, from work.

Hey, can I talk to Calvin saying, okay, it gets redirected.

Great.

And she just says, Hey dad, uh, can I, can I go play outside?

Um, he says, well, Ronnie, are you really sorry?

Yeah, I'm really sorry.

Ronnie, will you do it again?

No, I'm never going to do it again.

He said, okay, go, go ahead and have fun.

I'm like, right.

This is three days turned into one pretty quickly.

Right.

The empty threat of punishment, it frustrates people, doesn't it?

This is, I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a benign example, right?

You, you're, you're, you're sibling doing something foolish.

Great.

Uh, but this is, this is speaking something a little bit similar though.

The same feeling you can feel.

That's what it's talking about here.

And it says, Hey, you know, the, the messed up way that these people are teaching.

I see it is what God is saying.

I know what's happening.

I see it.

They'll have to pay.

He's saying that there, there will be judgment.

I, I'm, I, I know what the word grounded means.

I get it.

I'm going to, I'm going to act what that means for you and me though, is that means that when your boss, uh, is being unreasonable, that means God actually sees it.

Nobody gets it.

No, no, no.

God does when your coworker is just tending towards gossip.

And then you're like, I, I, I want to fight the urge to know.

He sees that.

He sees when your children aren't responding to correction.

He sees when your spouse is acting distant.

He sees all of it.

And he says, if you do good, and if you follow me, good things will happen.

Just take that to the bank.

You can trust that the Bible sees the Bible.

The Bible speaks to it.

Jesus sees all of it.

Let's keep reading here.

Uh, tough lesson, tough lesson.

This morning says bold and arrogant.

They are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings.

Even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on, on them from the Lord.

These people blaspheme and matters.

They do not understand.

They're like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct born only to be caught and destroyed and like animals.

They too will perish.

They'll be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.

Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight.

They are blots and blemishes reveling in their pleasure while they feast with you.

With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning.

They seduce the unstable.

They are experts in greed and a cursed brood.

They have left a straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam, son of Bazar, who loved the wages of wickedness.

But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey, an animal without speech, who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

Pause here.

Peter's not mincing words.

You don't have to wonder what he thinks about these people.

But as he's writing, it's inspired scripture.

You don't have to wonder what God thinks about these people either, right?

The one thing that he says, and this is something that you sit with the frame like the time you realize the world tries to do this as much as possible, is to divorce the idea of leadership and character.

The world will say that the character of somebody is not, it's inconsequential in terms of how great of a leader they are or how worthy they are to follow.

If they make you money, it's all good.

Or if they do this or that or they got to this spot, we better buy their book.

They know what they're talking about.

They made this money or they reached this level of success.

What the Bible is saying is you can't divorce the two ideas.

You can't divorce the idea of somebody having strong character and somebody being a great leader just because you're a great leader.

You have a lot of people who follow you.

Does that mean that you're somebody who has strong character?

And what is the characteristic that it gives?

It says at the top of the list, it calls people that act this way bold and arrogant.

So this is where, sit with me for a moment.

This is where I think we can apply it to ourselves.

Maybe there's already been things, but when you're thinking about the idea of arrogance, I met with somebody this week and he's like, of all the sins, arrogance is not something I care very much about.

What's the big deal?

Who does it hurt?

What does it affect?

And the thing is, I don't think it's his fault.

I really don't.

I mean, sure, you can study the fight.

I think the world is pretty okay with arrogance, especially if you're a leader.

I think there's an acceptance, right?

You're like, oh, man, this guy, he knows what he's talking about, so I have to wade through this level that shows that he's better, that he knows more.

This is contrary to what the Bible's teaching, though.

And so how do you know if you are someone who's arrogant?

What else does it say?

It says they left the straight path, they followed this way, they seduced the unstable, they're experts in greed.

Before that even, they blaspheme in matters they don't understand.

If you're somebody who tends to want to be right about things you don't know very much about, you're probably a little bit arrogant.

Maybe you're a little more than arrogant.

If you're somebody, though, what else does it say?

They're unreasoning animals.

If you look at your life, and maybe this is, I think the question is not are we arrogant.

The question is probably in which area of our lives are we most arrogant?

How do I know?

Good question.

I think if there's an area of your life that you're not willing to seek regular advice about, then you're probably arrogant in that area.

But I think I know how to spend my money the best possible way, and so I'm not going to seek advice about that.

Well, I'm arrogant in the way that I determine how to spend my money.

In your marriage, if you decide I don't need, what's the point of giving advice or getting advice?

If somebody sees something, they'll bring it up.

Fine, maybe, okay, but why put it on them when it's your marriage, isn't it?

There's a level where whatever area of your life that you feel like, I haven't sought advice about it, I don't know the importance, I don't really see the importance, I put before you that you're probably arrogant in your understanding of that area.

The illustration given is there's so much here that's in Numbers 25.

We're not going to look at it, but it talks about essentially this leader that decides the best way to gather the most following is by just telling the people what they want to hear and doing so in a way that's going to create goodwill for myself.

It's going to create a good relationship with the people.

They're going to like me more and more will follow me.

I'm going to have a status that grows with it and this donkey speaks up.

What's interesting is the Bible's calling these men after Jesus resurrecting worse than even one of these guys that if we understood the Old Testament well and understood the culture, it was one of those things that you pointed to that were like, don't be like Balaam, don't be like that guy.

He's messed up.

He's saying, no, he's messed up because he listened to an animal.

These guys are just animals.

It takes it to another level.

We're going to keep, we're going to keep reading here and then we're going to make a little bit of sense of it.

Just stay, stay with us here.

It says in verse 17, these people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm.

Blackest darkness is reserved for them, but they mouth empty, boastful words and by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.

They promised them freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity for people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing their Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.

It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then turn their back on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Of them, of them, the Proverbs are true.

A dog returns to its vomit and a sow that is washed returns to wallowing in the mud.

Maybe there's a reason that it's raining and that it's just not, if it was sunny, then I may maybe would have a difficult, more difficult time preaching this because I feel like, well, it's just a day's going good.

I'm like, it's already raining.

So I might as well just, just read what the Bible says.

Right.

Uh, you know, you know, as, as we read this text, uh, it feels, it can feel hopeless.

I think as you read it and we, we look at these people and if you'll, if you, if you went where we wanted to go and you said, where do, where does this talk about our lives?

Actually, how does this communicate to us?

And what is it saying specifically about us in this text?

It's a heavy place to be.

It's a much easier place to say, well, that's just for a specific group of leaders.

Uh, it doesn't apply to me in my life.

And yet there's, there's these, these strong, these strong promises or these strong, uh, these promises that, that are, that are difficult to embrace and, and to, um, to sit with.

Uh, I think what, what do we do with all of it?

How do we, how do we make sense of it?

And I, I think if you'll, if you'll sit with me, everybody on this earth, except for one person has been guilty of the stuff that's talked about here.

Everybody's been guilty of speaking about things.

They don't know much about everyone's been guilty.

Of, of following what sounds good to them as opposed to what, what actually is right.

Everyone's been guilty of actually blaming somebody else and saying that the leaders are doing it.

And so they're the ones that are going to have to answer.

Everyone's been guilty of it at some point or another, at least in one facet of our lives.

And, and I've sat with it.

I'm like, man, there's, there's more than one, um, everyone, but one, why don't, why don't we go over to John 18?

We'll, we'll make a little bit of sense of this tax, and then we're going to take communion together.

Jesus had every right to be bold and arrogant.

Did he like, there's, it's, it's even worth questioning.

Is there, could he have said anything about himself that that would be deemed bold or arrogant?

Is there, is there anything he could have said?

I'm God.

Yeah, that's not bold or arrogant.

Anything less than that.

Can't be bold or arrogant either.

I've never been wrong.

Can't be bold or arrogant.

When somebody spoke, you get the impression of Jesus sitting and listening.

Why would he want to listen to you and me?

We have, we have nothing good compared to his infinite wisdom, right?

And so our, our, our challenge, what are we supposed to do?

I think, how do we, how do we turn away from this, this stuff?

Maybe you're not there this morning, but how do we never get to this spot?

I think the response is we have to look at the life of Jesus and do everything we can to cling and try to actually follow it.

We're going to look just a little bit about at his, at his crucifixion or leading up to his crucifixion.

And what you're going to see is you're going to see absolutely no arrogance.

You're going to see absolutely no pride.

You're going to see infinite patience.

And these are all characteristics of leaders that I know you want to follow leaders that I want to follow, but people who I want, the person who I want to become and the person who I know you want to be as well.

Let's pick up in verse 28.

It says, then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the place of the Roman governor.

By now, it was early in the morning and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness, they did not enter the palace because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.

So pilot came to them and asked, what charges are you bringing against this man?

If you were not a criminal, we would not have handed them over to you.

Pilot said, take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.

We have no right to execute anyone.

And they objected.

This took place to fulfill what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

Pilot then went back inside the palace, summon Jesus and asked him, are you the king of the Jews?

That's your own idea.

Jesus asked her, did others talk to you about me?

Am I a Jew?

Pilot replied, your own people and chief priests handed you over to me.

What is it you have done?

Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world.

If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders.

But now my kingdom is from another place.

You are a king then said pilot.

Jesus answered, you say that I'm a king.

In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.

Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.

What is truth?

Pilot retorted with this.

He went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, I find no basis for a charge against them, but it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover.

Do you want me to release the king of the Jews?

They shouted back.

No, not him.

Give us Barabbas.

There's certainly there's many places where we understand even even because Jesus is God, he could have, he could have just thought something and it would have been certainly there were times when he did just think things and they just happened.

I imagine, you know, this, this, the fig tree dying, or you, you think about with just his words, he was able to speak the waves to be silent.

He was able to pick and raise a little girl from the dead by just grabbing her and saying, she's, she's actually alive.

He was able to just speak and it would happen in a, in a, in a divine way.

But this isn't even that the impression that we get with this.

If you, if you say Jesus is God, we can't relate.

We can't do anything like him.

You'd be right.

But here, he's not, he's not calling to any of his divinity, right?

All that he said, he's actually engaging in this conversation, leaving in some ways, his divinity at the door.

He could have just like you are.

He could have explained his way out of that situation.

He didn't have to, he didn't have to call down legions of angels, although he could, he could have just spoke it and it would have happened.

He could have just, he could have just convinced pilot pilot.

It seemed like he was really ready to just not, not allow him to die.

And yet he decided that I'm leaving my divinity at the door during this time.

Certainly this is who we, we want to follow.

And so as you look at your life and as we prepare our hearts to take communion, to take the bread that represents his body and to take the juice that represents the blood, he said, my, my, my challenge, what I'm asking all of us is to consider who we followed this week and, and make decisions to follow Jesus.

Certainly next week, but for the rest of your lives, amen.

Let's, let's, let's pray right now.

Jesus, we, we come before you and, and we, we can't measure up Lord left to our own devices.

Uh, there'd be nothing good.

We could try to point to you and we've messed.

We, we, we mess up every step of the way.

Father, we're, we're grateful.

Uh, we're grateful that you overcome.

We're grateful that you've overcame.

Uh, we're grateful that we have examples all over the Bible of you, uh, divinely, uh, using, using your power for good Lord.

I'm so grateful that we even have in the Bible of, of areas of you just, you just living as a man and, and, and not even calling on your divinity at all.

Lord, this being one of them, father, you Jesus, you are who we want to follow.

You are the only one worthy of absolute followership.

Uh, Lord, we, we need you.

We desperately, we call, we call to you, God, please convict us Lord.

Let us show us in our hearts where we're not, uh, where we are rather acting like, like those in second Peter to father.

We don't want to be that.

Uh, we certainly don't want to, don't want to die that way.

Father, uh, we love you, Jesus.

Thank you so much for your sacrifice.

Uh, Lord, I pray that, that for us, it is not in vain.

Um, this is in your name that we pray.

Amen.

Uh, in the back is, is communion.

Feel free.

Um, feel, feel free to, to take communion and then you can throw away, uh, the trash after that.

Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast.

If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected.

Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on.

In any case, you'll be hearing from us next week.