2 Peter - Preparing for What’s Next: Stick with Jesus (2 Peter 1:1-4)
January 5, 2025
This is a piece of Velcro. Imagine this cross represents "God – the God revealed in Jesus." Imagine this Lego person representing your life. This map represents "material aspirations." These are desires related to tangible, physical things: pleasure, self-gratification, wealth, health, success, advancements in technology or the environment. This is where we engage in experiential knowledge: knowledge gained through direct experience and personal involvement. Seeing a sunset vs. reading about one. This book represents "immaterial aspirations." These are abstract or intangible desires: identity, race, sexual orientation, political views, personal philosophies (like individualism or the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment). This is where we engage in intellectual knowledge: knowledge gained through reasoning, analysis, and study. Thinking of a better world vs. experiencing one. In life, we're tempted to drift towards either of these directions for meaning and purpose. However, these aspirations leave us feeling unfulfilled.
I'm not originally from the WNY area, so I haven't experienced the pain of four straight Super Bowl losses for the Bills or the "No Goal" controversy with Brett Hull's skate. But after living here for ten years, it's clear that a Super Bowl or Stanley Cup victory means a lot to this community.
Not too long ago on a local sports radio show, a host wondered how the fanbase would feel if and whenever a championship win occurred for either the Bills or Sabres. Would the passion wane? He shared his experience as being Boston Red Sox fan. And how before their 2004 World Series win, they had an 86-year championship drought. The "curse" was believed to have begun with Babe Ruth's trade to the Yankees in 1920. The host explained that the longing for that championship fueled his fandom. But after they won, something shifted. The payoff was realized. The underdog status was gone. Subsequent championships (2007, 2013, 2018) didn't evoke the same feeling. He realized that the initial victory, while incredible, didn't provide lasting purpose to fuel his fandom, and he lost some interest in following the team closely.
His point? Winning the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup might not be the ultimate fulfillment we imagine. It will be amazing in the moment, but what comes next? How do fans prepare for life after that initial "savior" has fulfilled its promise, and the feeling doesn’t last?
Similarly, we constantly ask ourselves, "What 'savior' are you preparing for next?" In the U.S., we’re about to experience the transition between presidential administrations, each transition brings hope for a better future. We hope this particular president or administration will "save" the country from its problems.
We apply this same logic to all areas of life. We seek meaning and purpose by: Experimenting with experiences: "Maybe this relationship will give me meaning." "Maybe sexual gratification will fulfill me." "Maybe wealth will bring me happiness." We seek meaning and purpose by: Pursuing intellectual ideas: "Maybe this identity will give me meaning." "Maybe this political ideology will fulfill me." "Maybe this new information will bring me enlightenment." However, each new experience or idea ultimately leaves us wanting more, unfulfilled, or empty. So, we chase the next "savior" – another experience, another idea – hoping it will finally bring perfect and complete fulfillment.
Even as followers of Jesus, we face this temptation. We might wonder: "Is Jesus still the source of perfect and fulfilled meaning and purpose?" "Was Jesus relevant for people in a pre-modern era, but is there something more meaningful today?" "Is Jesus good, but do I need something else in addition? Jesus + progressivism? Jesus + conservatism? Jesus + other religions? Jesus + self-expression and individualism?" "Do I truly need to "stick with Jesus" at all?"
The recipients of the letter of 2 Peter faced a similar temptation. They encountered voices claiming that something other than Jesus led to a full life – that something more than Jesus was needed for an abundant existence.
The backdrop of 2 Peter is the rise of early Gnosticism. Gnosticism emphasized personal enlightenment as the path to salvation or a meaningful life. It also denied God's revealed morality, suggesting all people are free from moral obligation, so they can do whatever they desire. This belief, combined with the emphasis on personal enlightenment, prioritized intellectual knowledge over earthly experiences. The material world was seen as corrupt and temporary, while the spiritual world was considered more important. This mindset is not entirely dissimilar from some dominant beliefs and worldviews today, where private beliefs and convictions can sometimes be compartmentalized from public behavior. Private stuff here. Public stuff there.
Against this backdrop, Peter, one of Jesus' first disciples, writes a farewell address. He is likely in Rome, facing imminent death for his faith – for his allegiance to Jesus. In 2 Peter 1:12-15, Peter alludes to his impending death. Tradition suggests that he was crucified upside down, believing himself unworthy to die in the same manner as Jesus.
Peter writes this letter to encourage other followers of Jesus to remain steadfast in their faith, despite the temptation to turn to other "saviors." The good news found in 2 Peter 1:1-4 is that Jesus is all we need for an abundant, full, and perfect life.
This passage invites us to consider the radical uniqueness of Jesus and the transformation and salvation he offers. When tempted to believe that something else is better or more meaningful than Jesus, Peter urges us to: Stick with Jesus.
Peter reminds us that Jesus has given us everything we need for a full life, a perfect life, and the undistorted, uncorrupt life that we all long for – a life that only Jesus can make possible. Peter encourages us to follow his example and remain committed to Jesus until the end of our lives. His testimony is that nothing else has satisfied his life's longings like his encounter and relationship with Jesus. Stick with Jesus.
In 2 Peter 1:1-2, we encounter Peter's own testimony – his life united to Jesus. He identifies himself as a "servant" and "apostle" of Jesus, acknowledging Jesus' supremacy and his own role as a servant and witness to Jesus' life and nature. Through the truth and wisdom of God, Jesus embodied a full, perfect, and abundant life.
Jesus is where we see truth lived out. Jesus is where we see "know-how" and "know-that" pursued in healthy, whole ways. Jesus doesn't find meaning and purpose in earthly experiences or intellectual enlightenment alone, but in the life of his heavenly Father – in God. Jesus lived a meaningful and purposeful life of morality, leading to a full, perfect, and abundant life – the kind of life we all desire. Jesus didn't achieve a full, perfect, and abundant life through self-enlightenment, but through the knowledge and guidance of the Spirit of God. When God became flesh in Jesus, the knowledge and wisdom of God were united with a physical, earthly life. Truth isn't something we experience or think our way to alone; it's something we encounter in Jesus, through Jesus, and with Jesus.
Peter testifies, "I have encountered THE truth of life in Jesus." "I have encountered redemption to the messiness of life through Jesus." "I have encountered a full and meaningful life with Jesus."
As Athanasius, a fourth-century church leader remarked, Jesus provided a new starting point for human understanding: a new starting point for understanding the created realm and a new starting point for understanding the life of the Creator, the life of God. To experience the fullness of created life is to experience it through the life of Jesus. To understand the life of God is to understand it through the life of Jesus.
Peter points to this reality in 2 Peter 1:2, where he writes, "Grace and peace be yours in abundance" – that abundant life is found "through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." (2 Peter 1:2)
The knowledge of God that we encounter in the life of Jesus is where we can encounter our fullest understanding of an abundant life.
On my own, I might pursue sex as an end in itself. But with Jesus, I’ll pursue sex as a manner of unity with my wife, for procreation, and as a model of Jesus' faithfulness to his bride, the church.
On my own, I might pursue enlightenment as an end in itself. But with Jesus, I’ll pursue knowledge as a way to become more like him, to discover the many blessings God has written into his created order, to be aware of others' needs, and to grasp more of the width, height, and depth of God's love (Ephesians 3:18).
Peter's audience was tempted to believe that Jesus wasn't as important as he claimed to be – that Jesus wasn't as important as the Old Testament Scriptures foretold – that Jesus wasn't as important as Peter, Paul, and the other apostles claimed.
Peter encourages his audience to stick with Jesus, even when others are falling away. He encourages them not to be fooled by other "saviors" – not to be fooled into believing that earthly pursuits or self-enlightenment will bring fulfillment.
Peter encourages his audience to stick with Jesus and trust that He will overcome the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (1:4b). Peter reminds them that The emptiness of the world will not be filled by anything other than Jesus. Peter reminds them to stick with Jesus. Stick with Jesus.
(All the following on one slide)
Guiding all people to abundant life in Jesus.
Meet Consistently
Share Vulnerably
Invest Sacrificially
Our strategy to help guide all people to abundant life in Jesus involves: Consistently meeting with Jesus. Sharing vulnerably from our life with Jesus and investing sacrificially for Jesus' mission. This includes: Sticking with Jesus by consistently meeting with his Word and talking and listening to Him through prayer. Viewing and living in the world through the life of Jesus. Sticking with Jesus by vulnerably sharing from our life with Jesus to others – in our work, in our commerce, and in our recreation. Interacting with others through the life of Jesus. Sticking with Jesus by investing sacrificially our time, talent, and treasure to make Jesus known to others. Investing in the future through the life of Jesus.
We face a similar temptation as Peter's audience. We're tempted to: Meet consistently with something other than Jesus. Share vulnerably from something other than Jesus. And invest sacrificially for something other than Jesus. It's not that other pursuits are inherently bad. The problem arises when we pursue experiences or knowledge apart from Jesus. This leads to a distorted life, a life lived according to corrupt desires, a lesser life.
Peter declares that even as his life is about to be taken, he still believes that sticking with Jesus is the fullest, most perfect, and most abundant way to live. He believes this so deeply that he will give his life to stick with Jesus. Stick with Jesus.
If you've never united your life to Jesus, I invite you to take a step of faith and taste and see if what Peter claims about Jesus is true. Taste and see if sticking with Jesus provides the meaning and purpose you desire.
Stick to Jesus
Please find me or another trusted follower of Jesus, and we’d be glad to help you discern taking a step of faith towards being united to the life of Jesus.
If you've already united your life to Jesus: Stick with Jesus and renew your belief that your life united to Jesus, lived through Jesus, and under Jesus' guidance is the fullest life you can have. Stick with Jesus and believe that the life of Jesus is the future – that the life of Jesus is what we will live into eternally in a new heaven and a new earth. Stick with Jesus and trust that He will fulfill His promises to make all things right. Stick with Jesus and believe that what we are preparing for next is to live like Jesus into eternity, in a new heaven and a new earth, where we will never be disappointed by the abundant life God has for us with Jesus.
Stick with Jesus.