We Don't Belong Here

Preached by Ben Bechtel

February 7, 2016

What we believe affects how we behave. Now this may not appear to be true on the surface, but I would argue that it is very true underneath. Maybe if we modify the statement a bit: what we truly believe affects how we behave. Someone can claim to believe something and not act on it but our true beliefs are exposed by our actions. This is a truth that is incredibly important to our lives because it shows us that we must believe right and true things about God if we are going to properly live as Christians.Whitley and I just recently watched a movie called Seeking a Friend for the End of the World starring Keira Knightley and Steve Carrell. The basic premise of the film is kind of dark. It goes like this: there is a massive meteor that will strike and destroy earth in 14 days. How will you spend your last 14 days? I won’t spoil anything for you, but almost all of the characters spend their last days absurdly partying and engaging in every kind of activity imaginable. Several other characters spend their last days in a nobler manner, trying to reconnect with people in their lives that they had lost contact with. This past week I was telling Jason about this movie and he commented, “As Christians, even if we knew when the end was coming, I don’t think our last 14 days should look much different than all the rest.” I think that is exactly right. And I hope to show today that Peter is saying something very similar in the passage we will be looking at today.The big idea that Peter wants us to see in this passage, and I would argue in the whole book of 2 Peter, is that what you believe about the return of Jesus at the end of history affects how you behave in the present day. With this in mind, let’s look at God’s Word. If you would, turn with me to 2 Peter 3:1-13. If you are using the brown Bibles it is on page 1168:

2 Peter 3:1-13

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies[b] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.[c]11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

1. A Reminder and Rebuttal (1-7)

First Peter gives a reminder to his congregation and a rebuttal to the false teachers. If you remember, the specific reason Peter was so adamant and stern in his warning about these teachers is because they were teaching that Jesus was not going to return, that there be no final judgment, and therefore, we can live however we please. This wasn’t just a matter of theoretical end time theology for the people in Peter’s church body. It was a matter that affected their very lives and Christian character. So Peter, getting back to his persona of a “one trick theologian,” sets out again here as he did in chapter 1 to remind his audience of this specific element of the Christian faith which the “scoffers” doubted, Jesus’ second coming.Peter captures the essence of the false teacher’s argument against the second coming of Christ in verse 4:

4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

If I were going to formulate the argument of the false teachers in my own words it would go something like this: “The sun rose and the sun set yesterday, and every day before that. Every time I throw something up in the air, it always comes down. Clouds continue to produce rain which eventually evaporates back up into the air and forms clouds. Everything on earth has been going on the same way it always has and it will continue that same way. There is no divine interference or intervention in the world. Therefore, there will be no second coming of Jesus.”If you think this argument sounds familiar, that is because it is familiar. This way of thinking is used by many in our society today who hold to the worldviews of deism or what I am calling hard naturalism. Deism essentially says, “God created the world and then let it alone.” The Deist would argue that God wound the world up like a clock and now is hands off and lets it run its natural course. A hard naturalist would argue that the material world is all there was, is, and ever will be. There can be no interruption of nature by an outside, supernatural force. They rule out any type of divine intervention at the outset.There are many others in our world as well, who wouldn’t claim either of these worldviews, but who functionally adopt this basic premise for their lives, simply choosing to ignore the potential of a second coming of Christ in judgment. I would sum up this group of people by the mantra, “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.”But friends, do not be mistaken. This world is not a clock wound up by a laissez faire God. Nor is this a universe that excludes God and his judgment for good and evil. Nor can you live in blissful ignorance of a second coming of Jesus in judgment. Look what Peter says in verses 5-7:

5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Peter offers his rebuttal to the false teachers based upon the flood of Noah in the Old Testament. He argues that if there was a day in the past when God did intervene and judge the sin of the whole earth with a flood of water then why do you say the world has always gone on in the same way? Furthermore, why do you say that God can’t do it again? Simply put, Peter says you’re wrong. The world hasn’t always gone on in the same way. In the flood of Noah, God completely upended the entire world as a punishment for the sins of the wicked generation of Noah. He did it once and He will do it again at the end of the age. Only this time it will be final. All unrighteousness and ungodliness will be judged at the second coming of Jesus.

2. An Assurance of Action (8-9)

Some of us might say here, “Ok Peter, we are with you that God acted once, but why is it taking Him so long? If He truly is going to fulfill the promise He made to return and judge all things couldn’t He have done it a little sooner?” We all feel this ache don’t we? We may not scoff at the idea of the second coming, in fact, we may even believe strongly that He is coming back but it is hard to maintain faith in that from day to day. It simply does appear at times as if God is absent or simply waiting silently until the day when He returns. Peter responds this way:

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Our experience of time is a very funny thing. Time can either feel like it is crawling or flying by solely depending upon your circumstances. Take this sermon for instance. This sermon could either feel to you like it has been an hour long already, or it has only been a matter of minutes. The key difference between these two things is how engaged you are in this sermon. This applies to time in general. How engaged and involved you are in what you are doing directly impacts the way that you experience time.This is the point Peter is trying to make about God. He is not saying 1,000 years is a literal day to God. He is not telling us the exact time until the return of Christ. Rather, He is borrowing a metaphor about God from the Old Testament to show that to God this gap of time between Jesus’ first and second coming is like no time at all. God is not sitting aloof in heaven, not engaged at all, just watching the time go by until He comes. He is not a bored manager of an office, twiddling his thumbs until its 5:00 and he can punch out. He is actively engaged in the world right now, seeking to save a people for Himself before He comes again! He is lovingly, patiently, and joyfully tarrying His coming out of a desire to see more men and women repent of their sins and have relationship with Him. God is delaying the fulfillment of His promises out of mercy for the people of the world.There is a point of great irony here in this passage.1 Watch this carefully. God delays His second coming purposefully, lovingly, patiently, desiring that men and women would turn to Him in saving faith. He gives them ample time to repent. Yet, what do the people of earth do with this time He gives them? They turn it right back into an argument against Him! In sin, humans use the very time that God has given them to repent to instead scoff and ridicule His plans!If you are someone here today who fits this bill, someone who has used this time God has given you to launch assaults against His name, I would implore you today to repent. Recognize that God is slow not because He is unfaithful to His promises but because He is merciful to sinful people! Turn from your sin and place your faith in this loving and merciful God who delays the judgment we all deserve for sin. There will be a day when He delays no longer. Do not presume upon His kindness but recognize it and love Him for it.If you are someone here today who has repented and is daily repenting and trusting in Jesus, I would submit to you that we need to be people who make use of the time given to us. We need to be a church that has broken hearts for lost people in our city and all throughout the world. Each new day we are given is an urgent opportunity to join God in His work of drawing people to repentance. Our last 14 days on earth, were we to know them, should be similar to all the rest of our days: lived with a Gospel urgency to see people come to know Jesus. We are in the last days. We do not know when the Lord will come. Let’s adopt the merciful attitude of our God and make every effort to see the Gospel permeate the city of Harrisburg and the nations of the world while God gives us time.

3. An End-Times Ethic (10-13)

As I said in the beginning, I believe that this passage, and the whole book of 2 Peter, is about how we as God’s people are to live in light of the fact that Jesus is returning. I am convinced after reading my Bible and studying this issue that we do ourselves a great disservice when we make our study of the end times more about speculation than godly living. When we only think about the end times only in terms of, “are you post-mil or pre-mil?” or trying to predict based purely on speculation that Jesus is coming back in the next 50 years, or the Left Behind novels, then we turn this doctrine which was designed to motivate and encourage us into a doctrine that divides and discourages us. God did not put this information in His Word to curb all of our curiosities about what will happen in the end; He put it in His Word to motivate how we live right now. He gives us a true belief about the end times to affect how we behave. In fact our behavior in light of Jesus’ second coming has so much gravity to it that it can in some sense “hasten the day of God.” How does this happen? How can God still be sovereign in this instance? Does this mean God changes His mind? These are all important questions to ask that we will not answer here. But this shows the reality of how much our godly actions matter.There are two end-times motivations for godly living, two true beliefs about Jesus’ second coming that affect our behavior, that Peter gives in these final four verses.

a. Jesus Will Come in Judgment (10-12)

If I said the words “Black Monday” would that mean something to any of you in here? October 19, 1987 is what is referred to as Black Monday. This is the date of the largest single day stock market crash in history. The market dropped over 22% in one day. People, who lost millions of dollars in a matter of minutes, were frantically scrambling to sell their shares. What Jesus says here is that a once-and-for-all crash is coming to this world. He gives us this information in advance so we know how to invest accordingly. Look at verses 10-12 with me:

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies[b] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!

What Peter is saying here is that the stocks of this world, all the wealth and possessions that you could possibly accumulate on this earth are all going to burn up! For followers of Jesus, to know that this world will not last and continue to live for the things of this world is like knowing that a historic market crash is going to happen and yet continuing to put more money into the market. Those stocks are worthless! If you hear something drastic is coming you prepare for it and live accordingly. This is why so many people go buy milk, bread, and eggs before a big winter storm. The false teachers did not believe the truth that Jesus is coming again so they invested in money, sex, power, and intellectual prestige. They acted amorally because they did not believe Jesus would judge their sin. If we believe the Bible, we are warned not to invest in the things of this world for the day is coming when they will burn. We must prepare for that day by doing acts that invest in godliness and holiness rather than selfish, worldly gain.Notice also in verse 10 he says that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. It comes in secret. No man knows the hour or the day of the Son of Man’s coming. That’s what Jesus said. So, if Jesus is coming back at any point, any day, any hour, this makes a huge difference. Jesus is not just coming back some day but He could come at any point. This means that we must live with a sober expectation that any day could be that day. We don’t know how much longer Jesus will delay. Thus, we should be the quickest people in the world to give of our money to the poor. We should be developing relationships with non-believing people in our lives rather than blissfully ignoring the fact that they exist. We should be quick to repent of sin and idols in our own hearts. And we should cling with urgency to God’s Word, the lamp shining in a dark place as Peter calls it, knowing that we are in the last days. We know that Jesus is coming, we don’t know when, but we live in such a way as to be ready when He does come.However true the reality of the judgment of the earth is, it is incomplete as a motivator for godliness and holiness. There is something else that will happen at the return of Christ besides judgment.

b. Jesus Will Make a New Creation (13)

Look at verse 13 with me:

13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

God promises not simply to judge the earth but he promises also to recreate it. This is the promise we cling to. The language of God’s promises has been used several times throughout this letter. If you remember back to the very beginning of the letter in 1:3-4 Peter writes:

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

You see, Peter says here that through the promises of God we become partakers of the divine nature and are motivated to live a life of godliness. Of the many promises that are given to us in the Gospel, the greatest of these promises is that we will be given a home with God, that God will make all things new and come to dwell with His people there. He promises to redeem the earth and make it a place of absolute goodness and beauty. God promises in the Gospel, on the basis of Christ’s substitutionary death for our sin, to bring us home. This is our hope.Notice the logic of Peter here. He is not only saying that we need to focus on godliness because the things of this world will burn up and be destroyed. If this is what he has in mind then he would have only mentioned the judgment of the earth without touching on new creation. By bringing the new havens and new earth into the picture, his argument is not primarily based upon what you lose when Jesus returns but in what you gain! We get a new land, the home of righteousness, where Jesus Himself will dwell with us. We get a new earth where all the things about this earth, whether it be food, or drink, or mountains, or work will be recreated and we will get to enjoy them to the glory of God in resurrected bodies. And most importantly, we get Jesus. Peter is saying: without the second coming of Christ you have nothing but with His second coming you have everything!If our joy and hope is in Christ coming and making new heavens and new earth where we will live with Him, if this is what we believe about the second coming, it will free us for a life of godly and holy behavior. If we gain everything in the coming world we don’t need cars, or money, or a house, or another promotion, or the approval of man, or pornography. All of those things are going to burn up AND we are promised so much more than those things! We are able to do hard acts of obedience like love our unlovable co-workers, serve our spouses, work hard at our jobs even though our boss is cruel, and fight against injustice and poverty in our city because we have a king who is coming who has given us everything. We can freely make loving, godly sacrifices because we’re not living for this world. We don’t need to live our lives for comfort, ease, and earthly gain. We gain the greatest treasure in Jesus and are promised rest in an eternal home with Him. Knowledge of Jesus’ second coming in judgment and restoration is what motivates us for godliness and holiness.If we, like the characters in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World were told we only had 14 days left on earth I’d pray that our lives would hardly look different than they do right now. I pray we wouldn’t have to frantically attempt to squish all the pleasure we can into 2 weeks. I pray we wouldn’t have to abandon all morality and do whatever we selfishly wanted. I pray we wouldn’t have to stop working because there would be no point in it. Rather, if we truly believe that Jesus is coming back, every day will look oddly similar. Every day we should live with a sober, hope-filled, urgent expectation of the end, gladly laying our lives down in acts of godliness and holiness knowing that nothing is greater than life in our home with God. As people who have been given a righteousness that is not our own by Jesus and are promised a home of righteousness with Jesus, let us seek to live righteous lives here and now for Jesus.

1This idea is borrowed from the audio of John Piper’s sermon preached on June 6, 1982 entitled “Where is the Promise of His Appearing?”