2 Peter 1

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.

You can visit kalamazoo.church in order to do that.

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

Amen.

Family.

It's great to, it's great to see you all, it's great to be able to worship, uh, here at the Kalamazoo church in the park, um, we ran an extension course, it worked out.

We got everything set up.

Thank God for the 21st century.

There's some, there's some cool things that I just wanted to just follow up with and announce last week.

Uh, we weren't, we weren't here.

Me and Bianca were not.

Um, and then Natalia wasn't either.

And then Gavin and uh, Dugan, uh, two, uh, you know, disciples in the campus ministry, they weren't either.

Uh, we were all in Oklahoma for a, a college ministry, uh, retreat of sorts, or it was a conference.

Um, there was 1300 college students there.

There's a bunch of great worship.

It was, uh, I, when I go to these things, this is, uh, doing the math here.

I think this is the 10th or 11th that I've been to.

Um, and I haven't been in college for all that time, but, uh, but I'd be a doctor, uh, or I'd just be a bad student.

One of the two.

Um, no, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, it's not, the answer to all that, especially ears being theirs full risen, clapping.

Uh, these are these are college students, young people in 18 to 20 something years old who have so much, uh, so many other things that they could be doing, but instead you're deciding, I want to live my life for Jesus.

And I think it's incredible because when I listen to some songs, um, on the radio or when I listened to songs on YouTube and try to connect with God that way it's awesome.

It's really, really powerful.

Maybe it's the cynic in me, but whenever I hear your songs live, I'm like, yeah, but everyone's singing it.

Who's actually following it?

You know what I'm saying?

And again, maybe that's just me, but both of these conferences are so powerful because I know that these students really believe it.

They're doing everything they can to really follow this call.

And so that's the power in it.

On top of that, Natalia came back from the conference and decided, I hope you stay in the way of me being baptized.

So we're gonna do that.

So Natalia was baptized this Sunday.

And I don't think you guys missed it, but if you did miss it, Tony was baptized a week prior to that, a couple of Sundays ago.

And we praise God.

It's so cool that we're not a church that just schedules baptisms a couple of times a year and is like, go for it.

You know, who wants to sign up?

We're people who decide we're gonna live our lives for Jesus.

We go through a series of Bible studies to see is this really what you wanna do?

And so these two are two of many, two of many of us, two of many to come, who decided, you know, I'm giving up everything that my life stood for and I'm turning to him.

Amen?

Amen.

Let's go over to 2nd Peter.

2nd Peter, all right.

We kind of closed up.

We've got a little bit of time.

So we kind of wrapped up or finished up 1st Peter last week.

And you guys remember, some of the themes really of 1st Peter was talking about the stress and the struggles from the outside world and making a point to not to acknowledge them, but then still turn to God throughout all of it.

2nd Peter, it's really cool.

Peter actually communicates why he's writing this letter.

And he says, this is a little bit, it's not in the first chapter, but he says the reason that he's writing is to stimulate them to wholesome thinking.

And so that's why he's writing to us as well, why we're reading it.

What's the point?

Well, it's to stimulate us to wholesome thinking.

One of the other cool things is if 1st Peter was intended to warn people about the outside world and what to be aware of, then 2nd Peter is actually talking about what's going on in the church in that day and to be aware of the false teachings.

And not just to say that every teaching is good or as long as you mention Jesus's name, that's all that it's about.

There are even 60, 70 AD, there's already false teachers that have spread in Christianity.

And so this is him saying, no, no, no, I'm writing this letter with my own hand.

Trust what I'm saying.

It is true.

Anyone who teaches something different about Jesus is wrong.

Another thing he does that's pretty cool that we're not gonna talk about this morning that much is he actually validates Paul's letters as being scripture.

And so he says it in 2nd Peter 3, he says, he compares Paul's letters to scripture.

He said, hey, you guys know this scripture?

Just like Paul's letters, they take that people try to mess with them, don't mess with them, take them for what they are.

And that matters in the context of the whole Bible.

We're gonna start here in 2nd Peter 1 and there's a lot to pull.

If there's one main thing that we can pull, I think that the big key that he's talking about, especially in this first chapter, is just you've already been called so that you live as if you are called.

We'll make sense of it in a minute.

It's 2nd Peter 1, starting in verse, I'll start in verse one, this will pick up in verse three.

To 2nd Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a face as precious as ours.

Grace and peace be yours and upon us through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a Godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in this world caused by evil desires.

There's a pause here.

To start, what does the Bible say?

He says, he tells us we have everything we need to live a Godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and by his own goodness.

We'll talk about what that means, that we have everything we need.

It's a pretty incredible promise.

But notice for a second how it starts.

It says, he called us by his own glory and goodness, okay?

So what does that mean?

What's the significance of it?

Well, it shows us his glory because he's still able to work despite us, right?

And so God's saying, I'm going to use you.

You have everything you need.

It's pretty glorious that he still decides to use us and to do something great because I know just like me, you guys haven't done everything great.

You guys have made mistakes along the way.

Even deciding to live for Jesus, we've made mistakes along the way.

There's shortcomings, there's failures.

I bet you even perhaps this morning, maybe you had a great morning, at least yesterday.

There's something that you did that you messed up.

It's according to his glory.

He says, you know what?

It doesn't matter that you messed up.

I still called you.

It's glorious when someone can take something so messed up like you and me and make it great, right?

And then it says according to his goodness.

And so his goodness, it means basically that he's not looking at us saying, ah, shucks, I've got to use these people.

That's tough.

He's saying, no, no, no, according to my goodness, I just really, really, really want to use these people.

What an amazing opportunity I have to partner with these people in order to do good things and in order to live a Godly life.

You know, I think really this brings to mind the idea of God using us, basically God being the father and teaching us as children, okay?

So me and Keith and Dominique, we'll get together just about every week just to talk about our lives, what's going on, how are we doing as dads, as husbands, just as Christians.

What's some of the difficult parts of life?

What are some of the things that we can really glory in?

We'll do that just about every week.

And I think about this, and I think about Keith talking about how he interacts with Sam, specifically.

Is this, you know, at three, four, there you go, yeah, four-year-old son.

So if you guys don't know, I'm sorry to put him out there.

Keith is like the handiest in our church, okay?

So if you've got a problem, this is what I'll say.

If you've got a problem, I know Keith can fix it in your house, but you don't have to ask Dominique right away, okay?

Or you can ask for guidance instead of, hey, come on over.

And so Keith, he's the handyman.

He knows what he's doing, and he's great at home reno stuff.

Specifically, they took their upstairs, their attic, and basically converted it into a bedroom.

And I remember Keith talking about how he would interact with Sam, and he said, you know, it does take a little bit, it takes a lot more time out of my day, but I want to do this project, and I want to get it done, and it's just taking so long, but Sammy just kind of dolls up the stairs, and I'm like, I'm committed that I'm going to help Sammy to help me, basically.

I'm going to go a little bit slower, I'm gonna make sure that he doesn't use the wrong tools, but there's gonna be some things that he's gonna be able to help me to be able to accomplish.

It's to Keith's, it's rather to Keith's glory, or to his power, that it doesn't turn out poorly.

If it was somebody like, maybe like me, and I say, I'm just gonna let, me and Jordan are gonna do it together, it's gonna end up messed up.

If it's just me doing it, it'll still end up messed up, but if it's me and Jordan, it'll end up even more messed up.

So it's to his power that he's able to use somebody, and it still turns out great.

It speaks to his goodness as a father, that he's able to do that, not because, not begrudgingly, oh man, again, no, because he really, really wants to do it.

And we were talking, and you just explained why he really wanted to help Sam along the way, and you kind of mentioned a couple of things.

One is he wants to create memories for him and Sammy.

Growing up, man, I helped dad to do this.

One, to create memories, and the second is that so he can eventually do it himself.

He can learn a little bit and do it himself.

It's really cool.

God does the same thing with us, though, doesn't he?

He decides, I'm gonna go a little bit slower, it's gonna take a little bit longer, it's not gonna be the most convenient for me, but doing it, so these guys can create memories.

Peter talks about some of these memories we're gonna read even a little bit later.

He says, I'm gonna use these people, so they can know that we're partners in this whole thing.

Come on.

Wow.

And the Bible says, though, that we have everything we need to live a Godly life.

Again, I don't know about how your week was.

Maybe you feel like you had a great week and you have everything you need and I know it, or maybe you just feel like, hey, it wasn't that week.

I don't know that I got everything.

I know for me, even, I feel it oftentimes in interactions with people, where I feel like just a little bit unequipped, or just late to the party a little bit.

There's a conversation that I answer, and I put, how do I bring up God?

Maybe there's even an opportunity to bring up God and I just, I bail out.

I don't have, maybe he's not open.

I don't have the right words to say.

It doesn't make sense.

So I'm just gonna let it, I'm just gonna let it rock.

It's those times, I wish I had a scripture to share.

I wish I could, the Bible says we have everything we need.

Doesn't it?

Right.

I would ask this.

How often do you feel unprepared spiritually?

And then maybe even more specifically, where do you feel most unprepared spiritually?

Maybe it's the start of the morning, and you feel like, well, what am I reading the Bible?

It's a big book.

I don't know where to go.

Maybe it's at school, and you just, it's just tough to know how to schedule day by day, to know what to do, when, and when to figure it out.

Maybe at work, like, what is my role at work?

I know that I'm supposed to do everything for Christ, but it's really difficult to work for this person who doesn't even acknowledge me as being a good employee.

Maybe it's coming home, and you feel like you've had a day at work.

Now you gotta have another day with your family, or maybe it's just being a parent, and the struggles that go with that.

How do we discipline?

When do we discipline?

Or what do we discipline, and to what nature do we discipline?

How am I possibly gonna be patient every single time with my children?

God says you have everything you need, but maybe it's with being a spouse.

Maybe your spouse is struggling spiritually, and you're frustrated.

Maybe your spouse is doing so well spiritually, and you're looking at me like, hey, this is fake.

Why are you doing so good when I'm struggling?

Whatever it is, though, I'm just gonna give everything we need to live a godly life.

It's not necessarily everything we want all the time, right, it's not what someone else has, but it is everything we need.

That's a rallying cry, I hope, for us this week, when you are going through it, when you're struggling, when you're in a conversation, that you don't have that scripture.

The Bible's clear, you have everything you absolutely need to live a godly life, it doesn't really matter.

Let's keep reading here, verse five.

It says, for this reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection, and to mutual affection, love.

Man, that's a lot of things.

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting they've been cleansed from their past sins.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election.

For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside as I look forward to the days ahead of me, and I will make every effort to see that after my departure, you will always be able to remember these things.

There's a lot in this scripture.

We're gonna unpack it in a sec, but I wanna put before you that the religion, perhaps the religion that you grew up with, maybe it was Christian, but listen now, the religion that you grew up with and what the Bible teaches are in disagreement for this area specifically, because I think we're probably taught growing up that we have to act a certain way, we have to look a certain way, we have to respond a certain way in order to be good-looking God.

And if we do all of these things, oh, here we go.

Ooh, that's very cool.

That's my Holy Spirit.

I hope I didn't blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, so we're taught growing up you have to act a certain way, you have to do a certain way, you have to, if you do this list of things, then you're gonna be okay with God.

Then God is able to commune with you and be right with you.

That's not what the Bible teaches, right?

This is what, this is the jump, really.

The Bible makes extremely clear that our actions, they're not what can save us.

Living for Jesus and according to his teachings is what we're supposed to do when we've been saved, okay?

You notice in the last passage that Peter says that we have the opportunity to participate in the divine nature.

So he's saying, you guys are participating in the divine, I think it's in verse four.

And then in verse nine, he says, for this reason, for this reason that you can participate, for this reason, make every effort.

Not make every effort and then you can be good, but no, because you are good, you should be able to participate.

Then for this reason, make every effort.

We're having a fun time.

And then notice again, though, in verse nine, it says, if you aren't doing this, then you just forgot that you've been saved.

Thank you, Paul, I appreciate that.

You did a lot of good things.

If you aren't doing this, it means you've forgotten that you're good with God.

And it's something to a group of saved Christians.

And then in verse 10, he says, it says to confirm your calling and election.

And so it's not saying to earn your calling and election.

It's not saying you got to get there with your calling and election.

He's saying, no, no, no, to confirm your calling and election, live this way.

And so as we read all of these things to continue it, and even reading it felt a bit overwhelming to you, or to me, rather, I wanted to give to you, that's all in response to being good with God.

That's in response to it, that's not to get there.

It's such an important concept that I hope we don't miss it, because Peter made very clear, he said, I've talked about this before.

I've mentioned it before.

And you probably think I'm a broken record.

I got to do it again, because there's going to be a time when I'm not here, and I need you all to remember that, is what he's saying.

Specifically, remember that we are called to make every effort, absolutely.

We're called to make every effort not to get saved, but because we have the opportunity to be saved.

We have the opportunity to be saved.

This doesn't, I hope you don't take this wrong, it doesn't negate the call to repent, that's clear.

But if you've been living as a Christian for any length of time, I think we'd be lying to ourselves if we said that we were committed of all of our sins, as far as, and when I say repent, I mean, turn away and change our mind about it.

The Bible's clear, we have to do that.

But if we totally change all of our actions prior to becoming a Christian, if you think, man, I changed my actions one time, and then I just lived like it.

You're missing it, right?

Because the reality is there's a continual call, and the way we were living, I bet as soon as you came out of the waters of baptism, and if you're thriving as a Christian, the way you're living now, you actually have become more closer to Jesus, right?

The way that you're living has become closer to Jesus, and so it'd be foolish for us to say, we've got to do all this in order to get saved.

No, no, no, we do this in response to Jesus.

This is a concept that we understand pretty acutely.

You think about your children, or you think about somebody close to you, you don't make them earn their way into the family, right?

They're born, they're in a family.

It's not about how many chores they do, it'd be ignorance, and if you do these chores, that's the only way you're gonna even get any kind of, maybe you don't even need an ice cream parlor, and you mix it up, right?

In order to get fed, you've gotta walk the distance.

It's tough, right?

Unless there's a certain age, then there's a context to it, but it'd be detrimental to us.

And to even say, in order to be a part of the family, you've gotta get A's and B's.

If you don't get A's and B's, you're out.

That doesn't make any sense.

Nobody would ever do that.

It creates, in your child, I would assume, it hasn't happened to me, but it would create this constant insecurity, right?

Like, I'm not living up to it, I'm not doing enough, I've got a little bit more to go, I'm missing it.

It would produce a sense of fear in your average day-to-day life, that you're trying to not fail.

Let me try to not fail, let me try to not fail, let me try to not fail.

What the Bible's saying is, as Christians, we need to be those who just try to not fail, and if we are, then we're entirely missing God.

So what do we do to our children?

We give everything we possibly can to our children, within reason, we give advice and all that stuff, absolutely, we give everything we can, all the love we possibly can, and we teach them, this is what it means to be a part of the problem man.

And so when our children say, well, Sally does this, we're like, okay, great, is Sally a saint?

I don't know, is she?

No, okay, so let's not worry about Sally.

You know, we say, let's just, but what do you want me to do?

Dad, what do you want me to do?

We're just, and my brother's for you to make me proud, right?

Now we do have to, we have to act like saints, and what do saints do?

Well, we'll see, I'm old, but saints get good grades.

Saints are neither good nor good.

Saints give our money, and every time we give it free.

And so we honor our parents, because they are our parents, and so we should act like them.

And these are all things that when you're a part of the family, you want to pursue more and more and more, and that's what we're here for, we're here to help our parents, we're here to support our parents.

There's a quote by, this guy, I think it's a great name, so he has a quote that I love.

He passed out a few times, he loves me, and it's really powerful, it shaped the way that I view Christianity, I would say.

He said, the most compelled argument in our day to know God is the horror of not knowing something.

But Jesus didn't use fear, because he knew that fear was the heart of the problem.

Fear is only a temporary fix.

Certainly, you can fear your way into acting right, can't you?

Just like you can fear your way into getting a good grade if you know that you can't go home without it.

That's not gonna create lasting discipleship, it's not gonna create lasting connection to God, and so Peter is saying, don't forget about this.

We ought to do the same, we ought to not forget about it.

I want to ask how, this week, how would your week have been different?

Had you just viewed, I'm just a little-earned Christian, because God already loves me.

God already loves me, so that's why I'm living this way.

Not, I'm on the fence, I'm teetering between the two, that's faithful religion, that's what we were taught growing up, that's not real.

Takes us to a place that actually, and then this difficult question we gotta answer in our heart then, right?

Because then the question is, why do I do what I do?

That's a scary thought.

If all I was is compelled by Jesus' love, what would I do?

If I knew that nobody was gonna hold me accountable, what would I do?

If all I was was Jesus' love, that's the only thing that's holding me accountable for what I do, that's a scary thought to think about.

But if we're mature, we'd run towards it, right?

Yeah.

Let's keep reading, and we'll bring it in for a close here, for a few minutes.

The Bible says, well, we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we were told about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

He received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came to him from the majestic glory, saying, this is my son whom I love, with him I am well pleased.

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on that sacred mountain.

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place.

Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, above all, you must understand that no prophecy or scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things.

For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, no human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

We're gonna look at one of the memories that, you said God loves to make memories with us, that's what brings him great joy.

In Mark 9, it talks about one of these memories, and it's what Peter references here.

Certainly, we had to ask, what's the evidence of his majesty?

We might be able to answer personally.

Peter walked with Jesus for three years and was able to answer this.

It seemed like more relevant than anything else in this part, as he's recording this text.

He says when he was interacting with, we'll read about it in a moment.

But it actually ends up, Peter actually was almost, he was almost corrected, basically.

He was rebuked, essentially, on this mountain, and it came to be this great source of joy for him.

But it's one of the memories of the transfiguration.

It says in Mark 9, verse 11, after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were called, and there he was transfigured before them.

Mark 9:11

His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.

And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking to Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it's good for us to be here.

Let us go to three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

He didn't know what to say.

He didn't know what to say, and they were so frightened.

Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came to the cloud, this is my son whom I love, listen to him.

Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what does rising from the dead mean.

And they asked him, why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?

Jesus replied, to be sure, Elijah must come first and restore all things.

Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected?

But I tell you, Elijah has come and they have done to him everything they wish, just as it is written about him.

Stop here.

Here, when he's talking about Jesus's majesty, goes to this story, goes to this place.

I can't even imagine, right?

And this is one of those things in heaven where you're like, let me get the videotape of what actually occurred.

I just wanna see it for myself, right?

There's so much, there's so many things that I think we don't even understand, even the, I'd love to hear them interact.

Like, what is he talking about, rising from the dead?

It's really powerful that Jesus, in almost every story and every interaction, he's pointing to his death, right?

In this story, he was referencing it, and he says, the Son of Man must suffer and be rejected.

Do you know that?

What does that mean?

Jesus is like, no, this was the plan all along.

This was to suffer, to be rejected, and then rise from the dead.

In fact, don't mention this to anyone until this happens to us.

And so, as you and I, as we prepare to take communion, it's important to remember, Jesus went to the cross voluntarily.

It wasn't something we could ask, why did Jesus do it, what was the point?

Why?

Oh, because it was the plan.

Oh, yes, it was.

Oh, this is the path that he chose.

I wanted to get him, I wanted to, yes.

But why?

He did it voluntarily, he did it because he loves us.

He wanted to give us the opportunity to participate with him according to his glory and goodness, amen?

Amen.

And so, right now, we're gonna take communion.

I really wanna ask that we just take this time to consider his sacrifice, but then also consider the reason why he did all that he did and then consider, though, what our motivation is for pursuing him, amen?

And the communion's gonna be right at the back.

We're not gonna pass it out.

And so, as you feel compelled and you feel moved after the prayer, feel free to get up and take some communion.

Dear God, Lord, we don't deserve to interact with you in the way that we do, Father.

We come before you, we're honored, we're challenged by your sacrifice, Jesus.

Lord, we feel challenged at the prospect of being motivated by love, Lord.

It's so cool to know that you were motivated by love when you went on the cross, and then you call us to live that same way as we love other people.

But as we really reflect your love back to you, Father, we just ask that we will do that in the best possible way.

We'll ask that right now we'll just embrace your loving arms.

We love you.

This is in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

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.