Good morning.
We are in our second Sunday, the season of Advent.
We're keeping Advent.
I just learned that actually last week, late to the game.
We don't celebrate Advent, we keep it.
Because we are awaiting Christ's return, his second Advent.
So we're keeping, watch, we're keeping vigil, we're keeping Advent.
We're not celebrating his first Advent, that's what Christmas is for.
Though we do see a lot of similarities between those in a previous age who are waiting for Christ's first coming,
and ourselves who are also awaiting Christ's second coming.
We are both awaiting a Savior, a Rescuer.
Now if you haven't listened to Kevin's sermon from last week, you really need to do it.
Go ahead, when this is over, go ahead and listen to it.
It's so good.
He was looking at the story of Lazarus, and we learned about a type of prayer that we pray in the season of Advent.
Lament.
Advent teaches us to ask, why, Lord?
How long?
This week, we'll see how Advent teaches us to pray,
come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Today I'm preaching right from our prayer guide, the Advent and Christmas prayer guide that we distributed last week.
And so today we're looking at the New Testament reading from today's readings.
It's 2 Peter chapter 3, verses 11 to 18.
They're the last eight verses of this book.
And they were written by the Apostle Peter.
This letter is an amalgamation of different types of writing.
It's part letter.
It's part speech or sermon.
It's also part testament.
Because Peter is facing his last days, as tradition tells us, before he's executed in the city of Rome under the reign of Nero.
Like many other letter writers of the New Testament, he's urging his readers to write belief and to write behavior.
So this morning, we'll look at the belief and behavior of God's beloved.
Let's pray.
Come light our hearts, Lord.
Come.
Come light our hearts.
Come light my heart, Lord, as I preach these words.
Come light the hearts of those who would hear these words, both in this room and at home.
Come light our hearts and bring joy and peace and comfort as we wait.
We've been waiting so long.
So now in the season of Advent and in this next hour together, teach us how to wait.
For your glory and our good, we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
So let's get our bearings and review this letter together.
Peter begins in chapter one with a really deep and astounding claim.
He reminds his readers that through God's power and promises, that his readers are partakers in God's divine nature.
What an astounding claim.
Partakers in God's divine nature.
And because they have this union with God, they are to be diligent to share in his qualities, particularly and supremely love.
Peter then affirms his own authority by reminding his readers that he was a witness to the transfiguration and glory of Jesus on the Mount of Olives.
And then he affirms the authority of Scripture, whose prophecies came about by writers carried along by the Holy Spirit.
In contrast, in chapter two of second Peter, Peter condemns false prophets and false teachers.
And these false teachers are guilty of two things.
First, they deny the second coming of Jesus.
These teachers would say, did he really say he was coming back?
Because we haven't seen him.
And there are those who believe that he was coming back in their lifetime and they've already died.
So why the delay?
Things seem to be going on as they always have.
Why shouldn't they just continue to go on and on?
So that's one false teaching.
That Jesus is not coming back.
The other is this.
That if there is no second coming, then there is no final judgment.
And if there is no judgment, well, we can just do whatever we want.
There are no consequences.
So be sexually gratified in whatever way you like.
And so some Christians were led astray by these false teachers into sexual immorality and pagan idolatry,
while these false teachers profited from it.
So let's look at the second coming, as we see in chapter three.
Peter's very concerned that his readers believe the right things concerning Jesus' second advent.
In verse 12, about the second coming, we read this.
The heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.
And then in verse 13,
But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
At first glance, this might seem to say that God is going to detonate some kind of reality bomb,
completely annihilating the existence of everything,
and then creating a new heavens and a new earth from scratch.
But we know from the rest of Scripture that God prefers to cleanse what exists,
and then to renew and grow what's left.
In Romans 8, Paul tells us that creation is groaning,
that it waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it,
in hope that the creation itself will what?
It will be set free from its bondage to corruption.
We see Peter here in his letter that he's not focusing on world history per se, but on judgment.
We know this from verse 10,
where Peter writes,
Peter is writing about a purification,
Peter is combining both the association of fire with judgment,
and the Greek first century conception of the cosmos,
in order to drive home the point that when Jesus comes back to judge,
nothing will escape his notice.
The commentator Peter Davids puts it this way,
to bring about judgment, the Lord must peel back all that stands in the way.
And this means removing the heavens and burning up the bodies that are in those heavens.
The picture is that of stripping off everything that stands between the eye of God and the earth.
Now, we all want this, don't we?
Whether you are a committed, believing Christian, or you're a complete skeptic,
and you don't know what to think of any of this,
we all want this.
We all want evil to be exposed.
We want justice to be done to all those who, without ever having been caught,
participated in the murder of millions in Hitler's Germany,
Stalin's Soviet Union,
Mao's China,
POTS Cambodia,
and Hutu Rwanda.
We want the exposure and judgment of those who have participated in the 21st century genocide of Yazidis in northern Iraq,
and the ethnocide of China's Uyghurs.
To all this, we say, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
If you read the New York Times closely this week,
you want accountability and exposure
for all those who have made a fortune off of the success of Pornhub,
which gets three and a half billion visits per month,
three billion ad impressions a day.
It's the 10th most visited website in the world,
all the while monetizing child assault,
revenge pornography,
and racist and misogynist content.
Come quickly,
Lord Jesus.
And if we're honest,
we want justice and accountability for those who have mistreated us
and never had to answer for their mistreatment.
Not wanting revenge,
but for everyone to know the truth,
to know the truth about a family member who abused us,
to know the truth about someone in authority
who took advantage of us,
or for some of us to know the truth
about someone with power who mistreated us
or discriminated against us for the color of our skin.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Come and expose.
Come and judge.
Come and vindicate.
What are the implications of a second return of Jesus
for those who are expecting it?
Peter says right belief in a coming judgment
leads to right behavior.
It's in verse 14.
Therefore, beloved,
since you are waiting for these,
be diligent to be found by him
without spot or blemish and at peace.
So let's take a quick assessment.
How are you doing with this?
How diligent are you to be found without spot or blemish?
And to be at peace.
I'd like to think this means something else,
but it means what it says.
In chapter one, verse five,
Peter says to make every effort.
Are you making every effort
to be found without spot or blemish?
Every effort.
You may be saying to yourself,
this is the last thing I need to hear.
If you're watching from home,
maybe you're tempted,
well, I'll just pause it right here
because he seems tone deaf.
Our nation is not just in the middle of a health crisis
coupled with a financial crisis,
but it's a worse,
even mental health crisis
and spiritual health crisis.
And he seems to be saying,
well, I just need to pick myself up by my bootstraps.
Nevermind that I'm about to crack
as I deal with loneliness and stress
and anxiety and fear and guilt
over how I treat those around me
and shame that I have no motivation
to read my Bible or to pray.
Well, I feel the same way you do.
This season has been so hard.
Advent has reminded me I'm not very good at waiting.
I have not made every effort.
So here's some good news.
You are beloved.
Peter says it four times in this chapter.
And if the reader is beloved by Peter,
the apostle who was ordained to feed Jesus' sheep,
the apostle on whose confession Jesus builds his church,
if the reader is beloved by Peter,
then the reader knows they are beloved of God.
You, Christian, are God's beloved.
You are beloved even when you are not diligent.
Here's the good news.
It's actually from Ta-Nehisi Coates
in an Atlantic article
that he wrote about Kanye West a couple years ago.
He drops in this gem.
He wrote,
the most essential function of love itself
is protecting the beloved from destruction.
The most essential function of love itself
is protecting the beloved from destruction.
So how are we, God's beloved,
protected from destruction?
Well, he took our spots and our blemishes
and the destruction they deserve upon himself.
And now we have God's unconditional love,
favor, and delight.
A woman tells a story.
She writes,
one day when I was very young,
I saw my older sister
hanging up my father's white business shirts
on the clothesline to dry.
I was suddenly filled with the urge
to hang up one of my daddy's white shirts.
He was my daddy too,
and I was his daughter.
I loved him in my childlike way
and wanted to express it.
I couldn't reach the clothesline.
It was too high,
but I saw a wheelbarrow in the yard
and its handles were just the right height for me.
I didn't notice how rusty it was,
and I rather joyfully clothes pinned
the wet shirt to the handles.
When my dad got home
and saw the shirt on the wheelbarrow,
he became very angry with me.
He punished me severely
for ruining his shirt.
I had not realized the impact
that event and others like it had made on me.
This memory returns to me
as I realized my disbelief
concerning God's delight in me
and the gracious nature
of my relationship with him.
As I remember these scenes from the past,
I see that through the years,
I have not believed that my father in heaven
was any different than my earthly father.
I have not listened when he described himself.
In short, I haven't believed the gospel
that by faith in Christ
and his perfect atoning sacrifice,
he now loves me
and is forever for me
and delighted in me.
In Christ, he has made me beautiful
and pleasing to him forever.
So I told my counselor
that I thought I was beginning to understand.
I told him the memory
and said that I guess
if the father saw me standing
next to the wheelbarrow
with a ruined shirt on it,
he would forget the shirt and hug me.
My counselor said,
you still don't understand fully.
The counselor said,
God would not overlook the shirt,
but he would take it on.
He would put it on
and he would wear it to work.
And when someone commented on the rest marks,
he would say,
let me tell you about my little girl
and how much she loves me.
Beloved, you have nothing to fear
on the day of judgment.
Your identity as God's beloved
rests not in your ability
to live without spot or blemish,
but rests in what Jesus accomplished
on the cross.
Further, God has united himself to you.
In chapter one,
Peter writes that we partake
of his divine nature.
Yes, effort is required
in the Christian life.
Paul writes in Philippians two,
to work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling,
but by virtue of your union with him,
he writes,
it is God who works in you
both to will and to work
for his good pleasure.
So how does this relate
to Jesus' second advent?
Well, Peter tells us
that our obedience,
our acts of gratitude,
thankfulness for what God
has done for us,
our obedience that comes from
partaking in God's divine nature.
He says our obedience hastens
Jesus' return.
The church has the privilege
of participating in the coming
of the kingdom.
God listens to us
and responds to us
as we pray,
come quickly, Lord Jesus,
and thy kingdom come.
We participate with God
in the redemption of society
and the renewal of all things.
We hasten the coming of the Lord
through sharing the gospel
with those who don't know him,
through our works of mercy
and justice,
through our repentance
and our obedience.
Okay, we've talked about belief,
behavior,
and being God's beloved,
so what?
So what?
What do we do tomorrow
about all this?
How does this help me tomorrow?
As I sit at home,
working,
raising my children,
or all alone in my apartment
where nobody is,
how does this help me tomorrow?
Well, Peter concludes his letter
with this admonition,
but grow in the grace
and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
It is through personal encounter
with Jesus.
As Savior and Lord
that the Christian life begins.
So listen,
it is through
continued personal encounter
with Jesus
that we grow.
We grow through
continual,
personal encounter
with Jesus.
Jesus.
So,
put it on your calendar
to talk to God
and be in his word.
Look, you,
you put everything else
in your calendar,
right?
And you do it
because you're diligent.
You make every effort
to succeed at work,
so right now,
put it on your calendar.
If you're watching this
after our worship time,
you can pause it right now.
Put it on your calendar
and write in
or type in
time with Jesus.
Use the prayer guide
and the Bible reading guide
that we distributed
for Advent.
This is how we prepare
for Jesus' second coming.
So that's one.
The second is
during the season of Advent,
be praying.
Come Lord Jesus.
Say it a lot.
Pray it a lot.
And be attentive.
What is that doing
to you?
What is that doing
to your heart?
Pray,
come Lord Jesus.
I would expect
that this prayer,
prayed many times
over time,
will produce longing,
which will produce joy.
And that will help us
get through this pandemic
as it has helped Christians
in previous pandemics.
So let me close
with this story
from a previous pandemic.
It occurred in the year 1597
when the bubonic plague
ravaged the town
of Unna, Germany.
The pastor of the church
in Unna,
Philip Nikolai,
lived in the parsonage
that lay on the other side
of the cemetery
from the church.
And from his window,
Pastor Nikolai could see
up to 30 people a day
buried in that cemetery
when he wasn't actually
the one burying
these people.
And by the time
the plague subsided,
over half the town's
residents had died.
Half.
Imagine the sights
that he saw
from his window
and the sounds,
the continual shovels
digging,
the steady stream
of mourners
and the sound
of their weeping
and sobbing.
Imagine the smell
of death
barely masked
by the smell
of lime.
Now in the midst
of this death,
Pastor Nikolai
would intensely meditate
on eternal life.
He began to write
devotionals
based on his meditations
and would soon publish them
for his suffering congregation.
He included three songs
in the devotional
and one of them
originated in this way.
It was said
of Pastor Nikolai
that one morning
in great distress
and tribulation
in his quiet study,
he rose in spirit
from the distress
and death
which surrounded him
to his Redeemer
and Savior
and while he clasped him
in ardent love,
there welled forth
from the inmost depths
of his heart
this precious hymn
of the Savior's love
and of the joys
of heaven.
He was so entirely absorbed
in this holy exaltation
that he forgot all around him,
even his midday meal,
and allowed nothing
to disturb him
in his poetical labors
till the hymn
was completed.
And he titled this hymn
A Spiritual Bridal Song
of the Believing Soul
Concerning Jesus Christ,
Her Heavenly Bridegroom.
It has become
a favorite Advent hymn
of the German people
and of Christians
all around the world.
And I'll close
with reading to you
the last verse
and then we'll get
a chance to sing this.
In the midst of death,
distress,
and at times despair,
Nikolai wrote,
O joy,
to know
that thou,
my friend,
art Lord,
beginning without end,
the first and last,
eternal.
And thou at length,
O glorious grace,
will take me
to that holy place,
the home
of joys,
supernal.
Amen.
Come and meet me.
Quickly greet me.
With deep yearning,
Lord,
I look for thy returning.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Lord,
we long for your return.
We long for an end
to sickness
and to death.
An end
to grief
and despair.
An end
to abuse
and oppression.
An end
to addiction
and depression.
An end
to war.
An end
to hate.
But most of all,
Lord,
we long for you.
Jesus,
we long for you.
You have loved us
all our lives
and never done us
anything wrong.
We long for you.
We've talked to you
in the middle of the night
in our darkest times
and the first thing
in the morning.
We long to see your face.
The face of our king,
our rescuer,
our friend.
So come quickly,
Lord Jesus.
Come quickly,
Lord Jesus.
Come quickly,
Lord Jesus.
Amen.