Epistle – 2 Peter 1-3

Peter sounded a timely reminder to the Jews and Gentiles scattered abroad away from their homes, to re-establish and nurture their faith in the truth, confront falsehoods and to remember that they will be held accountable for their deeds when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. This reminder recorded in Peter’s 2^nd letter is very much applicable today as it was then.

Fruitful Growth

Let’s read 2 Peter 1.

Bible Passage:  2 Peter 1-3

Do you see them? Do you? Take a closer look at God’s promises to us believers: ‘life and godliness’, ‘exceedingly great and precious promises’, ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Peter 1:2-4).”

Peter writes about all the good stuff that is ours the moment we receive the precious faith! What are we doing with these good stuff today?

When we were younger, all we wished for each year on our birthday was that we would grow up faster. When we are finally 18 or hit the 20 mark, then reach the big 3-0 and climb slowly but surely towards the 40 mark and middle age, we wish that someone would turn back the clock. If we look only at the numbers, then this is indeed depressing, but if age is a reflection of our number of years of dedicated service to God and the time we’ve had to build ourselves up in His image, raise a Godly family, earn and store up gems in God’s kingdom, then it is fruitful and fulfilling.

Peter encouraged a diligent attitude when keeping the faith. Remember the initial joy we experienced when the seed of faith in us sprouted a leafy shoot as we can’t wait for the next prayer session or sermon, or the next opportunity to help out in church work to repay God’s forgiveness and love? Just as we carefully tend to the young seedling of a new plant in hope of seeing it grow and bear fruit one day, we continue in the upward climb in our faith. Peter writes about pursuing virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love (2 Peter 1:5-7). Have we grown in these areas?

Trustworthiness of the Word

The book of Hebrew tells us that the word of God is living and powerful (Heb 4:12). Most of all it is true (Rev 21:5) which is why we believe in it in the first place. The more we read it, the more we come to know God and the authenticity of all which were recorded. Peter writes of the increasing popularity of man-made fables and self-propaganding philosophies, and reminds the believers to hold fast to God’s words alone.

Destructive Doctrines and False Teachers

In Mesopotamia and the provinces of Pontus and Cappadocia in Asia Minor, temple prostitution was widespread. Such a foul sin compels the women to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have sexual intercourse with the men who enter the temple, all this in the name of ‘sacred’ duty discharged to the goddess. How did blatant public adultery become a ‘sacred’ act?

The pursuit of self-gratification drives people to do many things against God’s teachings (2 Peter 2:10). In particular, Peter brings up 2 groups of people who will stand before God in judgement on the last day – those who live in unclean lust and the presumptuous and self-willed who hold authority in contempt.

Today, we see an increasing number of societies and groups formed upholding gay movements and other such causes. In Singapore, we have the Pink Dot Sg group which openly supports gay rights. We have seen gays in the streets. Perhaps we even have colleagues or schoolmates who declare themselves gays. Do we sympathise with them and their choices? God made Eve for Adam, and there are many Bible verses which clearly states homosexuality is sin. We pray for discernment, we pray for light to shine on the truth. We pray that we have the courage to hold fast to the truth. We pray we will remain pure in the light.

The Coming of the Lord

I watched the movie 2012 recently. The cinematography was quite breathtaking, there were shots of the Eiffel Tower, Christ the Redeemer statue, the Vatican, the entire city of Los Angeles, the Tibetian mountains, great oceans, vast expense of land being destroyed and millions of people killed. The big wigs and government people of all the countries had boarding passes to gigantic man-made arks built to contain them in safety when the end of the world arrived. The story also revolved around a regular American guy trying to save his family and trying to board these arks when he got wind of things.

The movie depicted large-scale destruction to earth in the form of earthquakes, tsunamis, plate shifts and volcanic eruptions and a massive death toll. The damage was horrific, nonetheless the good people were saved in fiction, but we know in real life, we would be facing the real second coming of the Lord, and on this day, all heavens and earth will be destroyed, no one will remain. I cannot begin to imagine the magnitude of that destruction. Let’s work towards ensuring that our loved ones and ourselves will be taken up to heaven to be with God then.