144. Beginner Bible Course: The first and second letters of Peter

EPISODE 144:  Simple Bible overview of THE FIRST AND SECOND LETTERS OF PETER

In the retail world,

1

00:00:05

It's called bait and switch a store, advertises a product to lure you in. When you get there, they tell you we're all out of that one, but we have this one over here, or maybe they advertise this product, pop it out of the box. It sets itself up. But when you get it home and plug it in, you need a degree from MIT just to do the setup on it, bait and switch. You're told one thing, but it turns out you get something very different that all too often happens with the go all in on Jesus package. We're told by pastors, evangelists, TV, preachers, or youth leaders, the Jesus package is amazing and people, it really is, but we're not told what comes with the package.

1

00:00:51

The first letter of Peter tells us what comes in. The Jesus package is also suffering and hardship. Peter's not in the bait and switch. His first letter makes it clear while the Jesus package is amazing. It comes at a price and suffering is the best way to describe that price. I tell my students this at the ripe old age of 13, many of them think, wait a minute, Mr. Nelson, I believe I'm all in on Jesus. And my life is actually pretty great. I have two responses to them. First is your life is only about 15% over. Give it some time suffering and hardship is coming, but then I delicately add.

1

00:01:36

Maybe it's great because you aren't following Jesus super well. I give them an example. Girls, you see a student sitting in the cafeteria by herself all the time, something inside you stirs, I'd suggest it's the helper. The Holy spirit. You feel compelled to go join her for lunch daily. Suddenly you find you're not on the invitation list to the parties. Those other girls, you used to sit with throw. They don't seem to be as excited about you having lunch with the gal, with no friends being excluded. That's hardship, that's suffering. Jesus made it pretty clear that following him would not be easy.

1

00:02:20

He used terms like take up your cross and die to yourself daily. Even in his sermon on the Mount, those beatitudes, we studied two of the blesseds involved being persecuted for the sake of righteousness, things like men, casting insults at you and saying all kinds of evil against you. Falsely on account of following me in Peter's first letter, he adds all who desire to live godly in Christ. Jesus will be persecuted. He continues Jesus suffered. And was an example to us who follow in his steps. Peter also says much of our suffering is not because of righteousness sake.

1

00:03:04

No, we bring it on ourselves. He says, when we suffer for doing stupid things, things like being holier than thou judgemental, speaking harshly, that's on us. What Peter is talking about is suffering for doing what is right. Peter starts his first letter telling us it's all worth it. People by his mercy, we're God's kids again through Jesus. And we've been given an imperishable, inheritance something, waiting for us in the future, something extraordinary. And while we wait for that, we're protected by God through these various trials and God uses these trials like fire with gold to refine us.

1

00:03:49

So that one day when we meet him, we'll be purified in our character. Peter adds one more thing. As you go through this suffering for Jesus' sake, for righteousness sake, we'll experience a sense of his love and a joy that you couldn't explain based on your circumstances. I'd describe it as a wholeness of soul. A sense of the applause from heaven in the midst of it, Peter concludes by saying this whole package of being bought back by Jesus, going all in on him and suffering with him is so amazing that the angels watch with their eyes bugging out.

1

00:04:30

Many of us older geezers, like my students think, I believe I've gone in on Jesus and my life has been really pretty great. I would reply to you as I do to my students. Your life isn't over yet. But second, and I say this gently, maybe you're not experiencing suffering because you're not following Jesus. All that well in his first letter, Peter gives a whole list of things that people who are following Jesus will experience as hardship and suffering. He starts by saying, Jesus followers are aliens and strangers in this world. That's how they see it. Have you ever experienced what it's like to be in a foreign place, a different language and culture?

1

00:05:15

How out of place you feel? That's a bit of hardship and suffering Christ followers view this world as that foreign place that they're made for another place. And another time Peter continues, Christ followers refuse to be conformed to their former lusts before going all in on Jesus. There were certain passions that drove us, but now we are told to fight them, to kill some of these negative former passions off and replace them with new passions that requires some suffering. Peter says we are to live with the understanding. We have been purchased with the blood of Jesus.

1

00:05:57

That's pretty weighty before going all in on Jesus. We could just sort of float along and live life. But now we realize we're here on purpose and we are to live with accountability and intentionality. It's no longer, don't worry. Be happy. Now it's be faithful. Peter urges us to be obedient to the truth. Being obedient to the truth requires dying to some of our own desires. When my nephew, Matt was a little guy, he spent an awful lot of time with his uncle in the middle of one of our great playtimes. His mom said, come on Matt. We have to go maths reply.

1

00:06:39

There's just one problem I don't whine to. There it is. Obedience requires putting aside our desires. That's hard, but when God says it's time to do this or stop doing that. Even if we don't whine to, we do it out of obedience. Peter reminds us if you're following Jesus, there's an expectation to fervently love each other from the heart. Of course, you know how hard it is to love from the heart unlovely or unlovable people, but we're called to do it. That takes work. And sometimes it's very unpleasant.

1

00:07:20

Peter reminds us, we are to develop a taste for spiritual things, not just the delicacies of the world. Moses did this. He put aside the pleasures of sin for a moment in order to take the side of God's people. Did you catch that? Sin has momentary pleasures. It's very likely. If you gave a two year old, the option of eating cocoa pebbles, three meals a day, he or she would do it, but they need to acquire a taste for food. That's more healthy for them. So do God's bigger children. Peter continues that God is polishing us up as living stones for God's house polishing up requires grinding off or even chiseling off.

1

00:08:04

Some of the old sludge that world has on us. One writer has said you can't build a team temple out of a mixture of mud and manure. God needs stones of quality and getting prepared as that stone, that polishing process can be very painful. And not only that, as you're being polished up, you're going to tick off some people. They don't want you to be polished up. They want you to be just like them. And I'm not just speaking of people who are irreligious. Sometimes the ones who are the most ticked off are people around you in the church. Peter says, Jesus expects our behavior to be excellent among the Gentiles that might mean keeping our house and property up well in the neighborhood and being a great neighbor.

1

00:08:54

Peter then talks the suffering of submission that is setting aside our rights preferences and comforts for the greater good of others. Ouch, that can be painful. He gives the example of doing right as citizens and employees. Then he starts meddling in our marriages. It's painful for a wife to submit her desires. Who's a selfish jerk or unwise in his decisions, or even not a follower of Jesus. It's painful for her to work on inside qualities rather than focusing on the external bling and flash of her appearance and husbands.

1

00:09:34

It's painful living with a high-maintenance prickly wife with tenderness and understanding. And more than that showing her honor is your life partner, but that's what Christ followers do in a marriage. Then Peter moves into our relationship with other believers. When you refuse to be Laden down by religious rules and you refuse to live with unbridled freedom, you're going to tick off both ends of the Christian spectrum. Most churches, aren't very good at showing grace to their members who try and navigate the messy gray areas of life. Peter urges us to endure bad treatment for doing what is right. Jesus modeled this.

1

00:10:15

He didn't retaliate. Instead. He blessed those folks in those situations. Peter urges us to keep our tongues in park and to respond with gentleness and reverence. That's painful too. It's way more satisfying. Initially to retaliate. He urges us to refuse to run with the herd into their excesses. That's with unbelievers and with Christians around us. And when you refuse to run with the herd that herd's going to separate you from the herd, Peter adds we're to love rather than walk away from prickly people where do use our spiritual gifts to serve others, not ourselves we're to shepherd each other in the church without any motive of personal gain that all requires dying to ourself and we're to fight pride and fight the devil.

1

00:11:08

Peter summarizes that the suffering and following Jesus can be intense. He calls it a fiery ordeal, a fiery ordeal of inside desires and outside pressure of the world and our peers. If you and I are seeking to live out Peter's instructions as followers of Jesus, our lives are going to be difficult. Yes, we'll sense his love and joy and being faithful and the outcome of it all is going to be incredible. But it's not going to be a cakewalk. If you speak to a follower of Christ, who's suffered greatly in looking back on that period, it's kind of strange. It's hard to find someone who would change what they went through because of what it has in their lives.

1

00:11:55

Peter then moves to his second letter. This one's not focused on suffering. It's focused on how to feed the faith of his readers. He writes this letter, knowing he'll soon be killed. Jesus had told him that three decades earlier in that post-resurrection talk at the sea of Galilee. Peter writes the grace of God and his peace flows out of a knowledge of God. He tells us we have everything we need for living a godly life. And how do we have that? Through the knowledge of God, God has given us precious and magnificent promises, which help us grow to be like Jesus, and to escape the lustful corruption of our pasts, Peter urges, his readers know God's standards, God's things and practice God's things diligently.

1

00:12:46

That's the message of second Peter, how do you know what God's things are? Prophecy. The words God spoke forth scripture. Here's where Peter gives us our inspiration verse. No prophecy of scripture is of human origin, but men moved by the Holy spirit spoke from God. We talked about that in episode two, Peter is saying scripture is more powerful to shape us than even being with Jesus. As Peter had been, Peter then gives us a warning. If prophecy scripture is so critical to know God and how to please, God, then false prophecy, false scripture is so destructive.

1

00:13:30

What do we have to watch for? So that scripture isn't false scripture. Well, first we have to be careful with our interpretation. Peter says, scripture is not a matter of human interpretation. That simply means we cannot go to scripture and say, what this passage means to me is instead we need to know what the writer intended by that passage. Second, we have to be aware of false prophets or teachers. Peter gives us some characteristics to recognize these false teachers are profits. If they in any way, deny Jesus deity or they're driven by sensuality and greed or they despise authority or they're all about themself or they preach what they don't practice.

1

00:14:18

Those are telltale signs that are false teachers or profits. Peter gives two word pictures there, Springs without water and windy storms with no rain. I love that Peter warns that their fate will be dire. That it's much better to have not known God's ways at all than to corrupt God's ways and teach that to others. Jesus said a similar thing. It would have been better to never have been born at all than to lead. One of his little ones astray. Peter closes his second letter by saying, mockers will pop up saying, where's the promise of Jesus coming. Things just keep going on and on.

1

00:15:00

He's not really coming. Peter responds really haven't you read about the flood. That's what they were saying before the flood, until the arch door closed and the heavens opened and in the future, God's going to do something similar next time. He will judge not with a flood, but with fire and about that things go on and on. You need to understand God's timeline. God is outside of time. A day to God is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day, plus God is being patient. It's his desire that no one should perish, but that everyone should hear about Jesus and have an opportunity to go all in.

1

00:15:42

But be assured that day will come like a thief. Peter closes with his. So what, how should we live in the light of all this? Don't be carried away by the air of unprincipled men, but instead grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord, Jesus Christ. A knowledge that comes from scripture properly interpreted and applied. There's no replacement for the word of God in our lives, make it a priority. At the end of Peter's letter, he disses Paul a bit. He says Paul has written many letters that are tough to understand, but their scripture while Paul was deep and hard to understand John, the disciple on the other hand was not difficult at all.

1

00:16:29

We have four little letters at the back of the new Testament, three written by John and one by Jude, they wrap up our section of letters. We'll look at John's three simple yet profound letters in our next wordpicture.