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September 28, 2008
2 Peter 1: 19-21
Exordium: It was very early on a Saturday morning in ancient Greece; the sun was just coming up when the Jewish residents of the town saw a small company of travelers descending from the top of the mountain toward the city. Who were they? What is their business here? Are they friend or foe?
The little town of Berea was waking up – the lovely green of the city sparkled with the morning light. The Jewish folk had been up for a while. They were the first ones up on Saturday. It was their Sabbath – the queen of the all the days. They were preparing to go and worship at the synagogue.
As they went they saw that the visitors were also directing their steps toward the small flat building where the Jewish people met each Sabbath. When the strangers entered and introduced themselves, they offered to the go ahead of the congregation to speak from the Scripture about the Messiah promised to Israel and eagerly awaited. “We have come to tell you that He has come to Palestine.”
They were welcomed and the folk heard them and many believed the words of the strangers, Paul and Silas. When Luke described the people of Berea he said that they were “noble” folk. Nobility here does not mean aristocracy as it means in the worldly sense. Here is means a tender receptive heart toward the Word of God and an independence of spirit that will search the Scriptures to see “if these things are so.”
Explication: This experience may have been in Peter’s mind when he charged his Christian friends before his departure. He wants this kind of nobility for them, this kingdom nobility – a nobility that will last after he is no longer on this earth. He has already told them of his personal sight of the majesty of Christ on the mountain and of the voice from Heaven he heard, “This is my beloved son. Hear Him.”
And now he comes to other part of his legacy for them – A “noble” interest in the Word of God. In this last section he is focusing our attention on the written word of God that we, like the Bereans, might have a kingdom nobility in the Word as well. Read the rest of this entry »
September 21, 2008
II Peter 1:12-19a
Exordium: Some difficulties in the Christian life come because believers lose sight of the glory of Jesus Christ.
Their faith may be eclipsed by doubts, arising from reading authors hostile to the faith; books that challenge His deity and His value in the world. There are many out there.
Or faith may be dulled by sins of rebellion or envy, or by being enamored of the world. Once we were charmed and gripped by the Lord Jesus, perhaps in childhood. But somehow the vision of the greatness and the wonder of Christ dimmed and left us wondering.
Explication: It was to us that Peter wrote this part of his second letter. He is older now than when he first met Jesus and yet he doesn’t forget the prediction of Christ for him: that one day he would be carried away where he did not want to go-to a painful and cruel death for Jesus’ sake.
As he sees the day of his departure coming He writes to us, to each of us, to fix our minds on the glory of Christ in something of the same way as he sees that glory. It did not fade in his mind and heart; rather it grew brighter and stronger. That is God’s pattern for us, that faith should grow brighter and brighter as the sun grows brighter until it reaches its highest point.
What we are learning here is that it is not necessary or good for us to lose our focus on the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s see Christ’s glory through Peter’s experience……Listen to him now.
LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I SAW WITH MY OWN EYES Read the rest of this entry »
September 14, 2008
II Peter 1:5-11
Exordium: What are we living for? There are many answers-to raise my family, to earn a living, to find peace, to win the lottery, to serve others, to acquire as much wealth as I can, to gain pleasure, to graduate and start living, to get married, to be useful to others…and on and on.
Explication: What this little letter is asking us to do is change all of that and begin living for God. That is what God is saying to us through Peter. And that is not a vague, amorphous, sentimental kind of wish. That is not the way God is. The shape of the life lived for God is outlined here in these few verses of Scripture.
I. THE LIFE LIVED FOR GOD IS A RESPONSE TO WHAT GOD HAS DONE
It all begins with the gift of faith. No one can conjure that up on his own. It is God’s work in us that enables us to believe the Gospel and follow Christ.
I know a lady who sailed around the world and then wrote a book about the voyage. I read the book because I wanted to be able to relate to her when I saw her. I discovered her musings on “Nightwatch,” and they all contained one theme. “Why am I not of the elect? Why was I not chosen to believe?”
That was the wrong way to go about the question of faith. When I asked her to seek the gift of faith from God she appeared not to be interested.
But He gives it and asks us to seek for it. When He gives it everyone receives the same powers and privileges from that one gift. The gift of faith comes through the knowledge of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. First we are given knowledge to know about Him and then to actually know His presence and His love in the depths of our hearts.
Faith is not based on an inner feeling in the midst of a moonlit night or a stroll along the seashore. Faith is based on knowing about Jesus Christ and who He is and what He did for us and how He is alive and close by to be our friend and Master.
Faith is borne in us as a result of our call-that is the wonder and the beauty of His character and His tender voice reach into our inner lives and whisper our name and we come to Him.
That is not something we initiate. It is like the father who comes home from work and his little girl chases him round and round until he stops and catches her. We pursue God but we do not catch Him. In the midst of the pursuit he turns and embraces us and we are His forever.
Just like a loving suitor promises all to his beloved so does our wooing Master make wonderful plans for us and tell us of them. He will never leave us and someday we shall live forever in His kingdom. These promises draw us ever closer to Him and ever farther away from the moral decay in which this present world finds itself because of its insatiable desire and lust. Read the rest of this entry »
