2 Peter: Preparing for What’s Next - This Era Won’t Last
2 Peter 3:1-7
Jordan Byrd
This is a piece of guardrail. Many of you know Joe Ludwick as part of our congregation. Joe works with the New York State Department of Transportation. And part of his job is overseeing crews to install, maintain, and repair broken guardrail on state roads in our area. In asking him about the process of installing guardrail, Joe recalled the tragedy that occurred on The 198, near Delaware park in 2015, when a driver likely fell asleep, and their vehicle jumped over a median and into the park, and killed a 3-year-old boy in the process. Joe recalled that months before that accident, word had come down from the departments above him that guardrail should go up in the spot where the accident ended-up happening. The guardrail installation was stalled, due to pushback that the guardrail would mess with the aesthetics of the park. In the end, this tragic accident happened. No guardrail was in place to intervene at a moment of such chaos.
This situation reflects how we’re often tempted to view life. Chaotic situations happen day-in, and day-out, and it never seems to change. It often seems like there’s no intervention in the chaos. And when life seems that way, it’s tempting to believe: That’s just how life is. IT’S THAT WAY NOW! IT’S BEEN THAT WAY BEFORE! IT’LL ALWAYS BE THIS WAY!
We have three kids that we adore: Pace, Towns, and Rhynn. But, before they were conceived, Julia and I went through a season of infertility. After constantly having trouble conceiving it was tempting to believe. This is just how it is. Nothing’s going to change. And it never will. This was a period of gloom. It was a season of soul-searching. It was an era of wrestling with where God was in the midst of that moment. Where was God to provide for us to participate in the original creation mandate, to “Be fruitful and increase in number….” (Genesis 1:28, NIV). We were desiring to be faithful to what God called us to be as a husband and wife, as a family – but it didn’t happen. It wasn’t happening. And seemed like it’d never happen. For us, this was an era where we were tempted to believe: GOD IS ABSENT AND INACTIVE. Life is chaotic. And, maybe that’s how life just is, and seeking God in this moment is worthless.
Isn’t this how we all often feel about life some times? Life is chaotic. Life’s been chaotic before! Life’s chaotic now! Life will always be chaotic! And if life’s chaotic, it must mean God is absent and inactive. God doesn’t care. God is unable to do anything to intervene. God doesn’t want to intervene. BECAUSE CHAOS… JUST… KEEPS… HAPPENING! When this belief creeps into our lives, we make decisions one way or the other based on this belief. If we believe God isn’t going to step in, then we’ll doubt having faith in him; and we’ll move away from pursuing his way of life – we’ll be ok with loosening our morals or counter chaos with chaos: lies with lies, violence with violence, unhealthy desires with unhealthy pleasures. If we believe God is absent, then we won’t expect him to ever do anything; and we won’t seek him and ask him to intervene. Reality often seems like this: chaotic – that people being over and against each other, pursuing their own benefit over others is what is normal for life. Nothing will ever intervene. And why should we view life differently?
The audience of 2 Peter was faced with the same temptation to believe that: Life goes on in it’s chaotic form, and nothing has ever changed it. The audience was tempted to doubt belief that God will intervene to right what’s wrong. They were tempted to doubt Jesus will come back, as the Scriptures foretell. One example being Acts 1:11, This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11b)
But, God’s word in 2 Peter 3:1-7 presents an alternative to this temptation. 2 Peter 3:1-7 presents an alternative view of life; and how this view of life enables belief and ongoing trust that God is not absent – that God is not inactive amidst the chaos. 2 Peter 3:1-7 calls us to see life through the timeline of God’s active word. To view life through the lens of Scripture – God’s narrative.
Viewing history through God's actions enables us to have faith that God intervenes in the chaos.
Viewing history through God's actions enables us to keep trusting—having faith—that God HAS, IS, AND WILL intervene in the chaos. The perspective that every real intervention in the world's turmoil has always been impacted by God's spoken word IN ACTION. 2 Peter 3:1-7 calls us to believe that God’s word enables us to best make sense of the past, present, and future – that faith in Jesus enables us to navigate the chaos of life, even when it’s not obvious to us how God is at work.
Through faith in Jesus, know this era won’t last. God will intervene and bring change at last.
2 Peter reminds us of the good news that Through faith in Jesus we can know this era of chaos won’t last. God will intervene and bring change at last. Through faith in Jesus, know this era won’t last. God will intervene and bring change at last.
In our season of infertility, we had to remind ourselves, and others in the body of Christ reminded us in their own words – that God is not absent. God is not inactive. God loves us. God cares for us. And God is active in our lives and the world around us to bring about his best for us.
In 2 Peter 3:1-7, Peter is reminding his audience to not forget how God’s word has acted in the past, and how that is indicative of how he is acting right now, and how he will act in the future.
Don’t forget, this era of chaos won’t last.
On our own, and without faith in Jesus, and using his revelation as the lens through which we view life, we will only see the past, present, and future as unchanging, hopeless chaos. But through faith in Jesus, Peter reminds us to not forget that this era of chaos won’t last. God has time and time again, intervened in the chaos of this world. And we have his promise that he will still intervene and bring change at last. One example of this is Revelation 21:4-5, ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:4-5)
Through faith in Jesus, know this era won’t last. God will intervene and bring change at last.
When I was younger, my younger brother’s bedroom was in my parent’s basement. Being the basement, the sun didn’t intrude into his room very much. So, it was easy to think it wasn’t morning yet, with little light to indicate that. Beyond that, my brother was a deep sleeper. He is the kind of person who goes, goes, goes all day long, and then is OUT when goes to sleep. And when I say out, I mean OUT! I remember many times yelling from the top of the stairs for him to wake-up, and he never would. Many of those times, someone in my family would physically go down into his room, and tell him to wake up. And many times that still didn’t wake him up. Many times someone would have to gently shake his body to wake him up; and it was life the dead coming back to life, with a giant GASP of air and sudden alertness.
That imagery is what Peter is using when he writes, “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to STIMULATE you to wholesome thinking.” (2 Peter 3:1)
Peter’s writing is intended to be the verbal equivalent of shaking his audience: “WAKE UP!” Saying, “THERE’S A DIFFERENT WAY TO VIEW LIFE than the worldview that says “everything is chaos” – the worldview that says, “nothing will ever be different.”
In the story I referenced earlier about the guardrail that was supposed to be installed on The 198, near Delaware Park, the intervention of the guardrail is a double-edged process. Joe and his team physically would install the guardrail – making it a physical reality. But that intervening action of installing the guardrail doesn’t start there. The intervening action starts with the authority of someone’s word – someone further up the chain of command from Joe and his team.
Peter is highlighting that this is how God’s word intervenes in the world. In 2 Peter 3:5,
Peter points to how “long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being….” How the cosmos came into being by the spoken word of God. But God’s word isn’t just exhaled, invisible breath. God’s word intervenes into reality, with physical planets being shaped and formed. And Peter continues by noting how “...by God’s word… the earth was formed out of water and by water.” How the land and water became separated from each other by the spoken word of God. But again, God’s word isn’t just exhaled, invisible breath. God’s word intervenes into reality, with land physically being separated from the water. And Peter finally concludes this point by noting in 2 Peter 3:5-6, how, “...by God’s word… these waters… the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.” How God removed the barriers that kept water under the earth, and in the skies above; and removed his protection to intervene in the chaos caused by those who turned away from God in Noah’s day. The removal of this protection occurred by the spoken word of God. But again, God’s word isn’t just exhaled, invisible breath. God’s word intervenes into reality, with God’s intervening action in physical reality – with God intervening in this world against chaos.
2 Peter 3:7 continues this point by pointing to a future time when God will intervene against the chaos going on in the world right now. It was promised for Peter’s day, and it’s just as true for our day too. Overall, these verses, 2 Peter 3:5-7 point to a timeline of God’s intervention against the chaos in the world. These verses point toward a worldview where God constantly intervenes against the chaos of this world.
Creation → Fall → Redemption → Restoration
One simple way to capture this worldview is to look at the timeline of the world in four stages: Creation –- God creates everything. Fall – The world separates from life with God, and starts heading toward life-lessness. Redemption – God steps into history to intervene in this separation. This accounts for all that we encounter in the Bible after Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 through Jesus’ birth and death and resurrection. God intervening against the chaos of the world, even in the most intimate, personal manner. Restoration – God bringing new life out of chaos. God fulfilling his promise to right the world. God bringing change at last.
Peter is writing to his audience to GET THEIR ATTENTION to have faith and not forget that the timeline of God’s actions is reality – that this is the TRUE way to view the world – to continue believing that God WILL intervene in the chaos of this world, and eventually once and for all!
Sometimes in the collision repair process of a car a metal body part is repaired with a filler: scratches, dents, stuff like that. From far away, such a repair is probably unnoticeable. But someone with a good, critical eye can probably point-out a repair area. Such a person is able to tell the difference between what’s unblemished and what’s blemished – between what’s true and what’s false.
Peter uses similar language to compare the worldviews of the false teachers and scoffers of his audience’s context – when he writes in 2 Peter 3:1, Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to WHOLESOME thinking. (2 Peter 3:1)
“Wholesome” thinking unblemished, pure thinking. This is the concept of sifting – separating the useless from the useful, leaving something pure and unmixed. Or similarly the idea of how military personnel must maintain a clear-cut division from civilian affairs to avoid distractions and stay focused. In the context of 2 Peter 3:1-7, it’s the ability to tell the difference between the true worldview, given by the word of God in Christ Jesus; and the false worldview, given by false teachers, scoffers, and doubters of God. It’s the ability to think and make sense of the world according to the rightness of God’s perspective, and not the perspective of survival of the fittest amidst never-ending chaos.
Keep viewing the world through the story of God’s historic actions.
Peter writes to encourage and instruct his audience to keep viewing the world through faith in Jesus – through the story of God’s historic actions. We, like Peter’s audience, are constantly tempted to interpret the world according to only what we see – only what we feel – from our perspective. We’re constantly tempted to believe the chaos we see and feel is reality, instead of what God reveals about reality.
Few forsake God outright, but the more we accept a worldview contrary to His word, the more our faith becomes divided – trusting God in some moments while doubting Him in others. As doubt grows, our belief fractures, leaving us without God, hopeless, and grasping for anything to make sense of this chaotic world.
Continue to view the world through faith in Jesus.
Peter’s instruction and encouragement to his audience and to us today, is do not forget how God’s word has already intervened in our world, time and time again. Continue to view the world through faith in Jesus, the truest surest guide to navigate you through this chaotic world.
Meet consistently with Jesus.
Part of our strategy, as a church, for experiencing and developing as people who guide all people to abundant life in Jesus is by meeting consistently with Jesus. By meeting consistently with Jesus, through time in his word, and with his people – to remember that true story of reality – that God’s HAS, IS, AND WILL continue to intervene amidst the chaos of life. By reminding ourselves that God is always present and active. By reminding ourselves that faith in Jesus is what enables us to continue entrusting our future to God’s ability to right the chaos of the world.
Through faith in Jesus, know this era won’t last. God will intervene and bring change at last.
By reminding ourselves that through faith in Jesus, know this era won’t last. God will intervene and bring change at last.
See life through faith in God.
If you believe nothing will change in this chaotic world, please consider seeing it through faith in Jesus. You can start by taking steps to follow Jesus, in faith, and letting Him guide you to see the world through God's history of intervening in the chaos; and have a hopeful view of life ahead. Please find me or another trusted follower of Jesus, and we’d be thrilled to help you discern your next steps.
Remind each other of God’s intervention history.
If you’re already following Jesus in faith, spend some time evaluating if you’re default view of the world is through God’s story or the story of chaos? How might God’s Spirit be prompting you to be reminded of his ongoing story of historic interventions? What time with God’s word can you make part of your daily rhythm? What other members of the body of Christ could you start meeting with more regularly – to help remind each other of God’s story of ongoing intervention?
The story of Jesus is good news, and as the body of Christ, we have the opportunity to remind each other of the hopeful good news that we have, when God will intervene and bring lasting change, once and for all. The good news we’re invited to hear and respond to today is that: Through faith in Jesus, know this era won’t last. God will intervene and bring change at last.