Lesson 41
Second Peter
Warning against dangers
facing the Church
Chapter 3
The Certainty of the
Believers Hope – The Return of Christ
Now in this verse
This discovering by Christ will be at His coming, at the
rapture.
#1. in peace evn
eivrh,nh| this does not refer to positional
peace or being reconciled to God which is a fact from the moment we believe in
Christ but this is referring to peace in our lives as believers that is being
adjusted to the POG in all areas of our life
- you have a relaxed mental attitude, a peace of
mind from the application of doctrine in
all areas of life
- this comes from a maximum utilization of the
DOA’s in time
#2. spotless a;spiloj without stain or spot
what believers are to be in contrast to the false teachers as noted in
2:13
- How are we as believers spotless or without stain? To be in fellowship having no un-confessed
sin, the Holy Spirit empowering and the sin nature
being isolated.
#3. blameless avmw,mhtoj blameless or uncontaminated; without
justifiable cause for reproach.
Phil.
We are to reflect distinctive
character traits as advancing believers; (growing maturity means advancing in
truth; both in
knowledge and application)
- "blameless and innocent" Does this mean
sinless?? NO! Only Christ fits that!
- innocent refers to the motivation of the believer being free
from the dross of human viewpoint, the opinions of man.
- while blameless emphasizes the overt conduct not being in
direct, willful violation of the imperatives of the WOG.
Absolute sinless perfection is not
in view, not the issue but rather not having the kind of behavior, lifestyle
which consistently and flagrantly contradicts the WOG.
so that you may prove yourselves to
be blameless and innocent,
-
"children of God above reproach"
a;mwmoj no obvious
flaws to disfigure or distract from our witness, to be w/o blemish,
- This
expresses the stage of spiritual growth, where BD and the empowering of the H/S
dominates the believer's life; not the sin nature.
Where
are we now? Where do we live now?
"...in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation..."
Make no mistake we
have the spiritual resources for us to be able to be spotless and blameless not
entangled by the contaminants of the kosmos in time and when we arrive at the
return of Christ!
-
Paul describes it as "crooked and
perverse".
- skolioj - crooked,
curved – this stands in stark contrast to the straight and narrow path of God
that leads to life, and the pattern of life we should live by the straight edge
of the Word
- diastrefw - twisted, distorted, to twist in two; has a strong moral sense in that it is used
to refer to those operating outside God's std. (perf. ptc. puts emphasis on the
existing condition that existed and
keeps on existing and will throughout the Church age).
Several Pertinent Observations:
1. The world today, like theirs, is unscrupulous
and perverted. Most people have turned their backs on God and His truth.
2. In the midst of this moral blackness, the
believer, as God's child is to stand out, as stars at
3. As Believers we are to stand in complete
contrast to our culture.
4.
As lights we are to represent truth in this crooked and perverse generation,
the culture in which we live.
The result:
"...among whom you appear as lights in the world."
-
as we walk worthy of the gospel we are to reflect the
character of Christ, DVPT, truth in the midst of this crooked and perverse
generation.
Mt 5:14-16 Mankind is to see the reflection of Christ and His message
thru your life.
-
We have no inherent light, we only have reflective light; as we grow and mature
in the word, become
grounded in it and its precepts, we are developing character in sync with DVPT
and we are to reflect that character.
Another
aspect with the analogy of stars.
Stars shine forth, not just as individual stars, but also as clusters.
As we look up at the
dark sky each night and see shining clusters of stars, all beautifully and very
intricately placed in the universe by God, so the non-Christian world should be
able to look at local bodies of Christians and see the oneness and beauty of
Christ reflecting in the message "that God was reconciling the world to
Himself in Christ." (2 Cor
This truth is vital,
I think, to Paul's illustration. It also
correlates with his emphasis on love and unity in the body of Christ in the
context of the previous paragraphs.
Back to
2 Pet 3:14
Therefore,
beloved, since your are eagerly expecting these things, Be diligent to
be found by Him in peace, unstained and uncontaminated.
Summary Observations:
1. We will have confidence and assurance today since we
have a knowledge of the Word including the TTC which
motivates our eagerly anticipating the fulfillment!
2. Peter challenges us to be diligent to be
experientially righteous in f2.
- this is only possible with a F/O/R of DVPT and a willingness
to live it out
3. Diligence is something that only you can accomplish
for yourselves.
4. The ultimate goal of our diligence is to be found by
Jesus Christ at His return:
a. to have peace of mind
through consistent use of DVPT.
b. to be without un-confessed
personal sin.
c. to not be contaminated by
the distractions of the kosmos which includes being influenced by family,
friends who are unbelievers and negative to BD since they are operating from a
totally different frame of reference.