Managing Mockers - 2 Peter 3:1-9
Posted by Calvary Chapel Fremont at 6/13/2010 6:01 PM 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Pastor Tim Brown Calvary Chapel Fremont Managing Mockers Peter
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Pastor Tim Brown Calvary Chapel Fremont Managing Mockers Peter
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday June 13, 2010
Managing Mockers - 2 Peter 3:1-9
Vv1-2 The Medicine of the Saints
Peter is going to repeat the same truths he has taught b4 because the church is facing the same threats as they have b4. “Well, if they are facing the same challenge as b4, the truth they have already been taught will be sufficient. They don't need to hear a sermon or have Peter remind them, they already know this stuff.” Many use this reasoning/church becomes optional/they've heard it all b4. I know what it's like to listen to a sermon where I can anticipate each point/even the illustrations. “If I've been a Christian for 20 years/church 50 times a year/1,000 sermons/heard it all/why go?”
God's truth/power isn’t like a vaccination – once it has touched your life you can’t be infected. Polio/small pox vaccine once as child. God’s truth/ power is like a prescription – you have to take it every time you face that same pain/attack/challenges or you'll be defeated. seizure disorder/phenytoin daily saturating blood. Truth/power r2 saturate your mind/soul. There is trouble if saturation level falls below safe.
Sin/self/deception/temptation aren't like the polio virus that can be defeated w/ one treatment. They're like asthma that needs 2b treated continually. If you have an asthma attack and only have one pump of medicine in your dispenser, you're in a bad place. If temptation/deception are tripping you up today, you need God's truth/power today. You need as much truth/power as necessary to walk in victory. Romans 12:2
Transformation isn't an inoculation, it's a prescription.
When your family/friends ask why you go to church all the time, tell them that you need your mind saturated w/ the Word of God. When they ask you why you go to church all the time, tell them that you have spiritual asthma and need to keep the passages (Bible) open so you can breathe properly.
The church in Peter’s days was facing an attack on the soon return of the Lord by mockers/scoffers. Peter wants to make sure their mind is saturated w/ the Word of God.
Vv3 & 5 The Motives of the Mockers
They follow their sinful desires.
Peter begins w/ an insight n2 the character of the mockers: they follow after their own lusts. They are not on a journey for truth/faith.
The motive of the mockers is not a concern for spiritual reality. They are not following reason, but their passions. The delay of Jesus gives them an opportunity to rationalize their ungodly lives. His absence becomes further encouragement for them to live ungodly lives. Cf. the unjust servant who said, “My master is delayed a long while.”
We keep telling the world that Jesus is coming back for He has set a time where He will judge the living/dead. He will come as Deliverer to those who love Him and as Judge to those who hate Him. “Where's the Judge/Where's Jesus?” If we have an empty hope, we have a toothless message. We are all roar and no bite.
Our hope is their nightmare. Our expectation is their dread. If we are right, all is lost for those who don't believe. The message of the church stings the conscience of the world. If the message can be proven false, the sting will go away.
They deliberately overlook obvious facts.
V5 – 'they willfully hide...' They have to deny/rearrange the facts in order to make their theories work. They are willfully ignorant. Selective reasoning is reckless. 2b willfully ignorant is to suppress truth. E.g., Fran may want me to convey something to Bonnye. Later she may ask, “Did you talk to Bonnye?” And I can say truthfully, “Yes, I talked to Bonnye.” What I didn’t tell her is that I forgot to tell Bonnye what I was supposed to tell her. I am willfully playing w/ the facts to make me look good. The problem w/ the mockers isn’t that they need more info so they can know the truth. The problem w/ the mockers is that they don’t want this 2b the truth and so anything that allows them to dismiss it fits their purpose – whether it be the secular media or militant atheism.
They attack our hope, not at its root but at its fruit. The root of our faith is not producing the hope of our faith – the return of the King.
V4 The Message of the Mockers
Mockers: 'to hit...' The secular media/militant atheism... Challenge: Your Bible isn't true/Your Jesus isn't God/Your kingdom isn't coming/Your hope is misplaced. Christians can be made to look foolish for having this hope.
Mockers take the fact of the time distance between the 1st/2nd comings of Jesus as proof of the fallacy of His 2nd coming and the foolishness of waiting for it. The 1st coming of Jesus put an engagement ring on your finger. The 2nd coming of Christ is the coming of the Bridegroom. Peter was writing about 35 years after Jesus' ascension. Ill. Meet a woman who has been engaged 35 years – she’s deceived. A 35 year engagement/2000 year engagement is a long time. You have a disappointed hope because you have a misplaced trust.
The delay of Jesus is an issue that the church has to take seriously and provide a credible answer for. Peter responds to the mockers by pointing out a few things.
Vv5-9 The Mistakes of the Mockers
Four mistakes in their thinking – historical/phiosophical/chronological/theological
Vv5-6 Historical: uniformitariansim v cataclysm
In the days of Noah, the people scoffed at the preaching of a coming judgment. The flood of Noah proves that all things don’t continue as they did. The flood points to the drama of God breaking n2 time/history to bring about His will. They willfully ignore the past judgment of God/willfully blind to the coming judgment of God. To remain unchanged by a dealing of God is 2ba fool. Once they said that water will not flood the earth - and it did. They maintain now that fire won’t consume the earth – and it will.
V7 Philosophical: purpose v purposelessness
Reserved for/kept for. Peter says that there is an end in view – the destruction of evil/purifying of the heavens. Mockers: all things continue... The mockers have circular (eastern)/not linear reasoning. They say – ‘round and round’. We say that it’s coming to an end.
“Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them My indignation, all My burning anger; for all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal. For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD, to serve Him shoulder to shoulder. Zeph. 3:8-9
V8 Chronological: God’s view v man’s view
I think it was an Edgar Allen Poe short story – a man accidentally locked into a funeral vault. He ate the candles/slept/despaired/thought time to die was soon for so many days had passed. He was rescued/emerged w/ snow white hair/age wore on his face/stooped over. He had only been in there four hours b4 being rescued.
“I am coming soon” = manner of coming, not imminence of coming.
V9 Theological: Extension of grace & delay of punishment
If ur saved, you should rejoice in the delay of His coming so that others might be saved. What if His coming had been scheduled one day b4 you confessed Him as Lord. If ur not saved, His delay is your opportunity.
Believer: It can be easy 2b lulled to sleep by the reasoning of the mockers – could be today/might be today/hope it’s today/wasn’t yesterday/not yet today/will it ever be? We’re no longer living on the edge of our seats.
Non-believer: How long did Noah preach while it was raining? How long did the door of the ark remain open as the waters from the great deep began to inundate the land? It took a lot of water to float that ark. It took some time for it 2b lifted up. Yet even as the water was rising, the people remained unbelieving.
Gaza flotilla – Turkey turning on Israel/Iran is saber rattling
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Managing Mockers - 2 Peter 3:1-9
Vv1-2 The Medicine of the Saints
Peter is going to repeat the same truths he has taught b4 because the church is facing the same threats as they have b4. “Well, if they are facing the same challenge as b4, the truth they have already been taught will be sufficient. They don't need to hear a sermon or have Peter remind them, they already know this stuff.” Many use this reasoning/church becomes optional/they've heard it all b4. I know what it's like to listen to a sermon where I can anticipate each point/even the illustrations. “If I've been a Christian for 20 years/church 50 times a year/1,000 sermons/heard it all/why go?”
God's truth/power isn’t like a vaccination – once it has touched your life you can’t be infected. Polio/small pox vaccine once as child. God’s truth/ power is like a prescription – you have to take it every time you face that same pain/attack/challenges or you'll be defeated. seizure disorder/phenytoin daily saturating blood. Truth/power r2 saturate your mind/soul. There is trouble if saturation level falls below safe.
Sin/self/deception/temptation aren't like the polio virus that can be defeated w/ one treatment. They're like asthma that needs 2b treated continually. If you have an asthma attack and only have one pump of medicine in your dispenser, you're in a bad place. If temptation/deception are tripping you up today, you need God's truth/power today. You need as much truth/power as necessary to walk in victory. Romans 12:2
Transformation isn't an inoculation, it's a prescription.
When your family/friends ask why you go to church all the time, tell them that you need your mind saturated w/ the Word of God. When they ask you why you go to church all the time, tell them that you have spiritual asthma and need to keep the passages (Bible) open so you can breathe properly.
The church in Peter’s days was facing an attack on the soon return of the Lord by mockers/scoffers. Peter wants to make sure their mind is saturated w/ the Word of God.
Vv3 & 5 The Motives of the Mockers
They follow their sinful desires.
Peter begins w/ an insight n2 the character of the mockers: they follow after their own lusts. They are not on a journey for truth/faith.
The motive of the mockers is not a concern for spiritual reality. They are not following reason, but their passions. The delay of Jesus gives them an opportunity to rationalize their ungodly lives. His absence becomes further encouragement for them to live ungodly lives. Cf. the unjust servant who said, “My master is delayed a long while.”
We keep telling the world that Jesus is coming back for He has set a time where He will judge the living/dead. He will come as Deliverer to those who love Him and as Judge to those who hate Him. “Where's the Judge/Where's Jesus?” If we have an empty hope, we have a toothless message. We are all roar and no bite.
Our hope is their nightmare. Our expectation is their dread. If we are right, all is lost for those who don't believe. The message of the church stings the conscience of the world. If the message can be proven false, the sting will go away.
They deliberately overlook obvious facts.
V5 – 'they willfully hide...' They have to deny/rearrange the facts in order to make their theories work. They are willfully ignorant. Selective reasoning is reckless. 2b willfully ignorant is to suppress truth. E.g., Fran may want me to convey something to Bonnye. Later she may ask, “Did you talk to Bonnye?” And I can say truthfully, “Yes, I talked to Bonnye.” What I didn’t tell her is that I forgot to tell Bonnye what I was supposed to tell her. I am willfully playing w/ the facts to make me look good. The problem w/ the mockers isn’t that they need more info so they can know the truth. The problem w/ the mockers is that they don’t want this 2b the truth and so anything that allows them to dismiss it fits their purpose – whether it be the secular media or militant atheism.
They attack our hope, not at its root but at its fruit. The root of our faith is not producing the hope of our faith – the return of the King.
V4 The Message of the Mockers
Mockers: 'to hit...' The secular media/militant atheism... Challenge: Your Bible isn't true/Your Jesus isn't God/Your kingdom isn't coming/Your hope is misplaced. Christians can be made to look foolish for having this hope.
Mockers take the fact of the time distance between the 1st/2nd comings of Jesus as proof of the fallacy of His 2nd coming and the foolishness of waiting for it. The 1st coming of Jesus put an engagement ring on your finger. The 2nd coming of Christ is the coming of the Bridegroom. Peter was writing about 35 years after Jesus' ascension. Ill. Meet a woman who has been engaged 35 years – she’s deceived. A 35 year engagement/2000 year engagement is a long time. You have a disappointed hope because you have a misplaced trust.
The delay of Jesus is an issue that the church has to take seriously and provide a credible answer for. Peter responds to the mockers by pointing out a few things.
Vv5-9 The Mistakes of the Mockers
Four mistakes in their thinking – historical/phiosophical/chronological/theological
Vv5-6 Historical: uniformitariansim v cataclysm
In the days of Noah, the people scoffed at the preaching of a coming judgment. The flood of Noah proves that all things don’t continue as they did. The flood points to the drama of God breaking n2 time/history to bring about His will. They willfully ignore the past judgment of God/willfully blind to the coming judgment of God. To remain unchanged by a dealing of God is 2ba fool. Once they said that water will not flood the earth - and it did. They maintain now that fire won’t consume the earth – and it will.
V7 Philosophical: purpose v purposelessness
Reserved for/kept for. Peter says that there is an end in view – the destruction of evil/purifying of the heavens. Mockers: all things continue... The mockers have circular (eastern)/not linear reasoning. They say – ‘round and round’. We say that it’s coming to an end.
“Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them My indignation, all My burning anger; for all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal. For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD, to serve Him shoulder to shoulder. Zeph. 3:8-9
V8 Chronological: God’s view v man’s view
I think it was an Edgar Allen Poe short story – a man accidentally locked into a funeral vault. He ate the candles/slept/despaired/thought time to die was soon for so many days had passed. He was rescued/emerged w/ snow white hair/age wore on his face/stooped over. He had only been in there four hours b4 being rescued.
“I am coming soon” = manner of coming, not imminence of coming.
V9 Theological: Extension of grace & delay of punishment
If ur saved, you should rejoice in the delay of His coming so that others might be saved. What if His coming had been scheduled one day b4 you confessed Him as Lord. If ur not saved, His delay is your opportunity.
Believer: It can be easy 2b lulled to sleep by the reasoning of the mockers – could be today/might be today/hope it’s today/wasn’t yesterday/not yet today/will it ever be? We’re no longer living on the edge of our seats.
Non-believer: How long did Noah preach while it was raining? How long did the door of the ark remain open as the waters from the great deep began to inundate the land? It took a lot of water to float that ark. It took some time for it 2b lifted up. Yet even as the water was rising, the people remained unbelieving.
Gaza flotilla – Turkey turning on Israel/Iran is saber rattling
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