II Peter 3:8-14 *
In the name of Jesus, who was and who is and who is to come, dear friends:
Whenever I prepare a sermon, one of the first things I do is read the verses of the text in their context. When I preach on a text from Isaiah I rarely read all sixty six chapters, but I do read the chapters that come before and after the text. And if the sermon text is taken from one of the epistles, I almost always read the entire letter to get a feel for its content and purpose.
II Peter isn’t very long, only three chapters. And as I read it on Tuesday morning, I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before. In three different places Peter tells his readers something like this (what follows is a paraphrase):
“My dear friends, what I am writing to you
isn’t anything you haven’t heard before.
I know of your faith. I know you
know the truth. The purpose of this
letter is to remind you of the truth, to reinforce the truth, and to encourage
you to stand firm against those people who oppose the truth” (see
Peter wasn’t reluctant to state the obvious, and he wasn’t worried about being redundant either. In fact, that was the reason he wrote the letter. And as we prepare for Jesus’ coming during the season of Advent, perhaps we can learn from his example.
Already in the season of End Time recently completed, with Sundays called Last Judgment and Saints Triumphant and Christ the King, we turned our attention to our Savior’s glorious return. Follow that up with four Sundays in Advent and three midweek Advent services, and the message that Jesus is coming can get a little stale.
But it doesn’t have to, not if we remember what Jesus’ return means for us, not if we anticipate the joy that will be ours on that day, not if we treasure these opportunities God gives us to review the “old, old story of Jesus and his love.”
And so I have chosen a sermon theme this morning in the spirit of Peter. You have heard these words before. You will probably hear them again. The theme isn’t very catchy. Some might even call it boring. But it is clear and concise, and it serves to remind Christians what these weeks before Christmas are all about…
JESUS IS COMING!
I. What he wants us to know about that day
II. How
he wants us to prepare for that day
When? That is the question people were asking Peter about Jesus’ return. And even though it was less than a generation after his ascension, some scoffers had come to the conclusion that Jesus would never return.
But they forgot. They forgot that God created the world out of nothing (see verse 5). They forgot that God had already destroyed the world once with a cosmic flood. They forgot Jesus’ promise that he would return. They forgot Jesus’ clear words about the coming judgment.
And because Peter didn’t want God’s people to make the same
mistake, he told them: “But (you) do not
forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand
years, and a thousand years are like a day” (8).
We are bound by time. We are shackled by our watches. We are slaves to our calendars and clocks. But God isn’t. God created time. God is above and beyond time because God is eternal. He has no beginning and no end. And he doesn’t think about events in terms of “when” they will happen.
But we do. And if we find ourselves asking the same question two thousand years later, if we wonder to ourselves if and when Jesus will return, if we want to know why Jesus hasn’t come back already, here is God’s answer: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (9).
Jesus hasn’t forgotten about his promise. Jesus isn’t thinking about going back on his promise. He is waiting. He is patiently waiting for the names of the saints to be recorded in God’s book of life. And even before the ink on that last name is dry, he will come.
Jesus is coming, and when he does, he will come
suddenly. “The day of the Lord will come like a
thief” (10). Peter didn’t come up with this
comparison. Jesus used it (Matthew
24:43). Paul used it (I Thessalonians
5:2). John used it (Revelation
So why did all of these men use the same description? What makes this such a good comparison? Like a thief, Jesus will come unexpectedly. Like a thief, Jesus will catch many people off guard. But unlike a thief, every person on earth will know when Jesus arrives.
“The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (10). Mere words can’t even begin to describe the sights and sounds of the Last Day. What we do know is that the world as we know it will come to an end.
“And the earth and
everything in it will be laid bare,” or more literally, “the earth and all it’s works will be
revealed.” What do you think about a
statement like that? How does it make
you feel to know that all your works will be revealed, that everything you have
ever done, every word you have ever spoken, every thought that has ever entered
your mind, your entire life history will be brought into the light of day on
the Last Day?
It makes me more than a little uncomfortable. It makes my sinful flesh squirm. It makes me realize how selfish I am. It makes me stop and think about all the bad things I have done and all the good things I have left undone. On the one hand it forces me to come to grips with what I deserve, but on the other hand it makes me appreciate what I have. What do I have? What do we have?
We have a Savior who has already come. We have a Savior who came for sinners like us. We have a Savior who lived a perfect life for us. We have a Savior who died for us and rose for us and ascended for us and will come back for us. We have a Savior who has made Judgment Day a joyful day.
In his mercy, Jesus has told us everything we need to know about that day. And while we watch and wait for our Lord to return, he tells us how he wants us to prepare for that day.
But before we get into the specifics, before we develop an eight-step plan to prepare ourselves for Jesus’ return, before we come up with a list of action plans, we need to remember that our attitude is just as important as our actions.
Peter understood that. In fact, he used the same word three times in four verses to describe the kind of attitude that sets believers apart. He wrote: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” (11,12).
But Peter wasn’t just telling other people what they should do either. He included himself a couple verses later when he wrote: “In keeping with his (God’s) promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (13).
I can remember a time when I was in school, maybe about 4th grade, when I was really looking forward to something later in the week. I don’t remember if it was a birthday party or a basketball game (and I guess that shows how important it really was). What I do remember is that I said a prayer in which I asked Jesus not to come back until after that Friday so that I wouldn’t miss it.
That was not a good prayer. That prayer revealed some mixed up priorities. Looking back, I am embarrassed about that. And now that everyone here knows the story, I should probably feel very embarrassed. But I don’t think this kind of attitude is unique to children or unique to me.
Maybe we don’t specifically ask Jesus not to come, but we don’t always give him the impression that we are eager for his arrival. We are so busy. We have so much to do. We have so much life to live. We don’t have time to stop and look up.
That is why we have Advent. That is why we make time to review the fundamentals of our faith. That is why we take the time to remind ourselves that this sinful world is not our final destination. That is why it is so good for us to repeat those oft-repeated words: Jesus is coming!
Jesus is coming, and we look forward to it. Like a child who counts down the days until Christmas, we count down the days until our Savior returns. On the Last Day, everything will be made new. On the Last Day everything will be made right. On the Last Day, we will go home.
But we’re not there yet.
So what do we do now? How do we
pass our time? Is there anything we can
to do get ready? Peter’s answer is an
emphatic “yes”: “So then, dear friends,
since you are looking forward to this (eternal life in heaven), make every
effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (14).
No one would ever accuse Peter of setting the bar too low. He says: “While you are waiting for Jesus to come back, as long as you are living on this earth, this is what I want you to do. Be perfect.”
But we’re sinners. We
can’t be perfect. We will never be
perfect. So why should we even try? Because we have been made
perfect. We are spotless. We are blameless, and I don’t believe it’s a coincidence
that Peter uses the same two Greek words in his first letter to explain how it
happened: “You know that it was not with
perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed…but with the
precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (I
Peter 1:18,19).
Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. Jesus’ blood has removed our every blot and blemish. Because of Jesus we have peace with God. Because of Jesus we have hope for the future. Because of everything Jesus did for us, we have every reason to live our lives for him.
How can we prepare for Jesus’ coming? By reading his Word. By obeying his Word. By worshiping him. By praying to him. By eating his body and drinking his blood. By daily contrition and repentance, we prepare our hearts for our Savior to come.
“The British are coming.
The British are coming.” Paul
Revere shouted those words throughout the towns and villages of
“Jesus is coming,” sounds very similar, but the meaning of those words could not be more different. “Jesus is coming” is a promise, not a threat. “Jesus is coming” fills our hearts with joy, not fear. Because we know what will happen on that day, because we God has given us everything we need to prepare for that day, we pray: “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” Amen.