BEING FOUND OF HIM IN PEACE

BEING FOUND OF HIM, IN PEACE

2 PETER 3

The problem with sinners is unbelief.  Every problem in the world can be traced to unbelief.  God says one thing, men believe another, and nothing but trouble can come of it.  And whatever men believe, they likewise teach and confess, whether they realize it or nor.

Earlier in this epistle, Peter noted that there will always be people that deny the deity and substitutionary atonement of Christ (2:1).  Here he adds four more teachings from the Bible that men will continually ridicule in unbelief.

·         The second coming of Christ                    3:4

·         The Biblical account of Creation              3:5

·         The Biblical account of the Flood             3:6

·         The certainty of future judgment              3:7

In v.11-14, Peter tells us that in response to that unbelief, we are to be persons of holy conversation, godly, “in peace”, “without spot” and “blameless” – and also expresses that as looking for the Second Coming, and all that goes along with that. 

Indeed, we are promised that if we do, we can expect to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs all glory both now and for ever.  Amen.

So while the godless world goes on in unbelief, openly declaring it and taking every opportunity to teach it, the Church, as the household of faith (Gal. 6:10) is called to believe all that God has said in His word, teach it to everyone that will hear, and confess it openly before those that won’t be taught.

Now this is the second week of Advent.  Last week, we started off our Advent season messages talking about Hope – which is the first of the four things emphasized during this time – the others being love, peace and joy. 

The message today grows out of v. 14, which tells us  that if we do “look for such things” as he just described, diligently, we “may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”  Now that’s something every Christian should desire, and to which he should aspire.  By the way, that’s another example of how the New Testament never speaks about the Lord’s return without pointing out that looking for it and waiting for it should have a purifying influence on us.

And while it is clear that Peter did not say – Christan, go celebrate Advent, what he is telling us to remember, and to do, certainly fits in to the message of the Advent season, as I hope you’ll see for yourself directly.

As you probably remember, the word “Advent” means "coming" or "arrival."  You could figure it out easily enough, because those of us that go to Church regularly often hear the term “Second Advent” used to designate the Second Coming of Christ, and sometimes we even heard talk about the First Coming as the First Advent.  I think that’s mainly because it’s nice to be able to use more than one word to describe something. 

Now the word coming is a perfectly good word, but it’s nice to have a synonym to change off with once in a while, and Advent serves that purpose well.  But sadly, that’s about the only time and the only way that American Fundygelmatics use the word advent. After that, it seems to get uncomfortable for some people.

But the season of Advent is not just about the first or the second coming of Christ, although it is easy to see how people can be confused about that.  Advent, as a season, is about waiting for the coming of Christ.

Centuries ago, this time was set aside to commemorate the waiting of the world for the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, when He came as a lamb to be slain, as well as in anticipation of the return of Christ, when He returns as a lion to reign. 

What better way for Christians to mark the beginning of the yearly cycle?  It sure beats getting plastered, locking arms with a bunch of blubbering inebriates, watching a ball drop in Times Square and singing Auld Lang Syne (a perfectly good poem by Robert Burns set to perfectly good music, and nearly ruined by that sort of corniness. 

When the world breaks out the party clothes and booze gets around to celebrating the start of a new year by acting altogether as much like godless pagans as they ever dare, the confessing Church has already begun their new year a month before, but reflecting on the 2 comings of Christ – first to die for the sins of the world, and save those that believe, and next, to judge those that refuse to believe.

So don’t confuse observing Advent with merely marking off something that happened on a given day (certainly not Dec. 25^th, by the way) 2,000 years ago.  That’s what we do on Christmas.  But Advent is different from that.  On Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ – a one time event. 

But during Advent we commemorate that it was long-awaited, and that once the Son of God finished what He came to do the first time, He ascended to the right hand of the Father and now we’re waiting again – for His next coming.

Advent is the commemoration of the fulfillment of a long-awaited promise from God to reconcile the world to Himself.  And it is also a way for us to enter into and empathize with the Messianic hopes and longings of Israel that went on for about 2,000 before He actually came, and another 2,000 for the whole human race before that.  That’s the part in the past.

But it also serves to remind us that while we are now born-again citizens of the Kingdom of God, we await the salvation of our bodies, and the new heaven and new earth.  It is the acknowledgement that;

For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:19-23)

And with that, Advent also commemorates the consummation of His Kingdom – the also long-awaited future coming in judgment against sin, and destruction of His enemies, the renovation of all created things that are now marred by the curse of sin, and the entry of His own beloved into the promised joy of eternal life.  That’s the part in the future.

So then, Advent should bring out to the foreground our own Messianic anticipations. 

Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of preparation, of longing. There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils of the world, the yearning expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of all those who have experienced the tyranny of injustice in a world under the curse of sin, and yet who have hope of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed slaves and brought deliverance!

And with this already/not yet, past, present and future tension going on, and us somewhere in between the 2 comings, we can liken our sojourn here as something of a journey, a long, slow one, which has a start, and a finish, and an unknown distance between the two, and a changing cast of characters, kinda like Israel in the wilderness – not in Egypt anymore, but not in the promised land either.  

Of course, we don’t know how long the journey will be, and if we ourselves will be around when the promised land is reached.  But we do know that about 2,000 years of it is behind the people of God, and we like to think that there only a matter of a few months at the most remaining.   

Of course, if the people fooling around with the Mayan calendar are right, we’ve got till the 21^st, which would be fine with me, since Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” is coming out on the 14^th.  But seriously, of course, we’ll be here.  American Fundygelimatics are obsessed with sensational interpretations and date-setting.  But we will never know when it will be until it arrives.

But back to this journey between the two Advents, it’s His journey, but it’s ours too.  The Advents are His.  They are for us but they are His Advents.  However, during the time in between those 2 Advents, He is waiting just as we are.  And the marvelous and comforting thing that brings peace to us now is that He is with us.

He’s with us, because we are traveling with Him - from first coming to second, not because He’s traveling with us from our start to our finish.  We have our time on the journey, but it began before we got here, and will almost certainly continue after we are gone. 

Now as Peter explains in our text, it will come to an end.  And somebody will be here when it does.  I hope we all are living at the time.  But we have no guarantee of that.

It is a big mistake to mock at the idea of the Lords return.  But it’s also a mistake to conclude that just because things are less than perfect right now that it means that the rapture has to happen in the next couple of weeks.

HOW DOES THAT WORK?  A LITTLE CHRISTOLOGY AND PNEUMATOLOGY

And although He IS with us, He’s also at God’s right hand.  How can that be?  As omnipresent God, He can be seated at the right hand of the father (Psa. 110:1) and in the midst of His people through the mediation of the Holy Spirit.

Physically, the God/Man Jesus Christ is not here.  He’s at the father’s right hand.

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Psalms 110:1)

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. (Hebrews 10:12-13)

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5)

And the Holy Spirit has come to take His place, and as pure Spirit, unfettered by a human body, He can indwell each and every one of our bodies. 

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:16-18)

And if  Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Ro 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

The God/Man Jesus Christ can’t do that because the divine is joined to one human nature in what theologians call “hypostatic union”, and that union shall have never been broken.  His continuing humanity prevents Jesus from indwelling every believer.  But the Holy Spirit of Christ can dwell in many all at once. 

And since the Spirit of God is just that – the Spirit of God, and just as Christ is God, so the Spirit is God.  Technically, Jesus doesn’t live in you.  Jesus lives at God’s right hand.  But the Spirit of God is also named the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ does live in you.  I hope the distinction makes sense.

SOJOURNERS

And so, as Peter tells us,

And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: (1 Peter 1:17)

That word means “dwelling for a time”.  We are strangers and pilgrims now

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (1 Peter 2:11)

And as we travel along the course of time as His covenant people, as strangers and pilgrims here – as His promised bride, trying to keep the flesh in check , we affirm (believe, teach and confess) several things simultaneously, to one another, and to the watching world.  I can give you three right now.

• We believe, teach and confess, that, as God promised, Christ has come, and that He paid for the sins of the whole world that all might be saved – that was at the start of this age.

•  We believe, teach and confess, that He is present now, among His people, in the world, today, already, leading them in hope to their promised destination of a perfect kingdom of peace and love and joy.  That’s during the time we are in right now.

• We believe, teach, and confess that at the end of this pilgrimage, He will also come into His complete glory and destiny, the praise of every living thing, and the confession of His lordship by every speaking voice.

The Old Testament saints mentioned in Hebrews 11 did exactly that.   The taught and confessed what they believed about their God as they awaited His promised coming. 

After naming several of them (Abraham, Sarah, Enoch, Noah, Abel, the writer exclaims;

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, (we belive) and embraced them, and confessed (we confess) that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly (we teach) that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

Can you see there - persuaded/embraced = believe, confessed is right there, to declare plainly is to teach.

They lived in the time of promise leading up to the First Advent.  We live in the time between, but our calling is the same – to live as strangers and pilgrims, to pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, as faithful stewards of the things entrusted to us, and thereby to teach and confess what we believe about all that.   

And so we live in expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing, aching to be delivered from the evils of the world, from oppression and injustice, from the systemic evil of the world expressed in evil empires and tyrants.  

Of course, there is the problem of longing for vindication from an evil world when we are contributors to that evil.  Which is why we also long for deliverance from our personal evil and guilt of sin.  

At times, our hope wanes, our faith wavers.  But being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And God, however distant He sometimes seems, will one day overthrow all challengers and rule with truth and justice and righteousness over His people and in His creation, and there will be peace on earth for the first time ever since the fall.  

For that we longingly await, and in the meantime we believe, teach and confess that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and that He is coming again in power and glory to restore all things to the way they should be.