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You're listening to audio from Faith Church Indy. This spring we're studying the book of 2nd Peter, learning about how we can find our anchor in God during unsteady times. Now here's the teaching. 

Stand for the reading of God's Word. Our scripture reading this morning is from 2nd Peter chapter 3 verses 14 through 18. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace, and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. 

There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. 

Amen. This is the Word of the Lord. When our kids were little, I got an invitation to speak at a church camp for a week out in Colorado, and my wife Amelia and I were excited about this. 

We thought this would be a great family trip, so we started planning out all the things that we wanted the kids to see, all the experiences, you know, Garden of the Gods and Royal Gorge and the great sand dunes and, you know, drives through these beautiful mountain roads up in the Rockies, and we had these great visions of meaningful family time and all kinds of enriching experiences, and then the trip actually started. When are we stopping? How much longer? I'm hungry. Why does he get the window seat? Dad, these mountain roads are making me car sick.

And you hear yourself saying things like, all right, you kids, this is for your good, so be quiet and enjoy the beautiful scenery of God's creation, right? Never been on a road trip and found yourself completely consumed by the details, right? You just start obsessing about the traffic and the weather and where the next gas station is and where we're going to find food and making good time and getting the kids to stop fighting in the backseat. The destination hasn't changed, but somewhere along the way we've sort of lost track of what we're actually heading for. We've misplaced our priorities. 

The immediate has crowded out the ultimate, you could say. And I think that's what often happens in our spiritual life. I know it happens in our lives. 

In my life, most of us are not, you know, obsessed with Christ's return. If anything, the opposite is true. We believe that Jesus is coming again. 

We affirm it. We sing about it. We confess it, but we don't really live day to day as if it's an actual reality that influences me here and now. 

Other things demand our attention, right? Work and family obligations and health concerns and finances and what's going on in the world. And it all matters, but that is exactly why Peter ends his letter the way that he does. In his final word, Peter tells us what we need to do in the present to live in light of what's coming. 

Not how to speculate, not how to calculate the return of Jesus, but how to live in light of the return of Jesus. So the big idea from Peter's message for us today, I think, is this. Live today in light of that day. 

Live today in light of that day. And through this section that we're looking at, Peter unpacks that for us, I think, and we could say three short kind of memorable phrases. Look ahead, stand firm, and keep growing. 

Now we'll unpack these as as we go through, but I don't know about you, I find having short things like that, sometimes maybe writing it out and taping it on my refrigerator or the bathroom mirror, it helps me. It helps orient me. It helps remind me what I want to be about. 

So that helps us live in light of the day. So if you haven't already, open up your Bibles to 2nd Peter chapter 3. We're finishing up 2nd Peter, our series starting in verse 14. The first thing Peter tells us is, look ahead. 

Look ahead. He starts in verse 14. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for, or literally looking for, these things. 

Peter begins with a therefore, and that's the signal to us, right? To look back and remind ourselves of what is he talking about. He said everything that encapsulates everything he said about Christ's return and the fulfillment of God's promises. And he says, therefore, because you're looking for these things, here's how to live in light of that day. 

To look ahead is not merely to remember that Christ is coming, to believe that it's true, it's allowing that future reality to shape your present life here and now. What you believe about the future shapes the person you're becoming today. What you believe about the future shapes who you're becoming in the present. 

And how does that happen? Peter says then, be diligent. That means to be intentional, to exercise effort, to labor towards something, to be found in him without spot or blemish. To be found in him is what's known as a divine passive. 

It means that we are meant to read that as God is the one doing this. So Peter's saying, be diligent so that God will find you, God will judge you, God will recognize in you being without spot or blemish. Does that language sound familiar at all to anyone? Does that ring any bells? Maybe our Leviticus series that we went through in Lent? That's the description of the animals that were available, that were required by God for sacrifice. 

They had to be without defect, they had to be without blemish. And Jesus is also described in this language. In his first letter, Peter reminds us, you were rescued from the futile way of your forefathers by the blood of Jesus, a lamb without spot or blemish. 

So he's drawing a connection between who Christ is and who we're called to be and what we're heading towards. Look just back quickly in verse 13. We are waiting for, again we are looking for literally, a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 

You see what Peter's saying? He's saying, look, I want you to strive towards the righteousness that is going to define your ultimate reality, your eternity, to reflect Jesus' character in our lives here and now. I think Peter here also has in mind, he's drawing a contrast. Remember these false teachers that Pastor Nathan taught us about in chapter 2 a few weeks ago? How were they described? The exact opposite. 

They're blots and blemishes. They are stains heading towards destruction. And so Peter is warning us not to be like them and not to end up in the same situation as them. 

To be found without spot or stain and at peace. Now if you know that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, you have peace. You are at peace with God. 

And when Jesus returns, his final appearance will be the day that God demonstrates that we actually belong to him, that we are raised in glory with Christ. And calling to mind the return of Christ gives us a perspective that brings peace into what we live through here and now. Someone recently shared this with me. 

What helps me is asking, this thing that I'm upset about, that I'm worried about, that I'm frustrated by, is it gonna matter a year from now? Am I even gonna remember it five years from now? I wish that I'd remembered it this morning when I was getting stressed and frustrated and really a little freaked out about half an hour before coming to church when I couldn't print out my sermon notes at home. And so I'm getting a little agitated and my wife Amelia is trying to help me by suggesting solutions. Anyone ever been in this situation? Come on, it's not just me, right? And I'm getting a little amped up. 

You're not helping, right? Now having sermon notes printed out is obviously important. It's not as important as being loving and kind and patient with a sister in Christ that I also happen to be married to. An eternal perspective. 

Jeff, are you even gonna remember this five years from now? Is it gonna matter? That brings peace. It generates faithfulness. It produces holiness. 

Peter doesn't say, you know, you're looking forward to this reality, so try and figure out the how and the when that this is gonna happen. No, he's saying my concern is for your character. That's what means to live in light of the end. 

Jesus will return to bring us home with him and because righteousness dwells in our eternal home, we align ourselves towards that ultimate reality. False teachers, remember, are the ones who disconnected belief and behavior. Yeah, you can believe those things about Jesus, but that doesn't mean you have to actually do anything with it. 

Peter says that's leading to their destruction. Peter says hope produces holiness. It changes us to look like Jesus. 

And one of the great dangers for us in walking with Jesus is forgetting where we're heading. And when we do, the things right in front of us begin to seem most important, ultimate. The problem with the printer becomes ultimate. 

The things going on in the world becomes ultimate. Political outcomes become ultimate. My happiness becomes ultimate. 

My finances become ultimate. The pressures of today, the desires for tomorrow become ultimate in my life. Peter says look ahead. 

Remind yourself where this story ends up and live in light at the end. And it's important that we hear Peter's heart in this. Did you notice how he introduces in verse 14? He calls him his beloved. 

This isn't a frustrated teacher, a nagging scold. It's a the voice of a caring shepherd, a pastor who knows his departure is near and he has a final message that that he wants to give to the people that he loves. And he reminds them, since you are waiting, Christianity is a waiting faith and it always has been. 

We are always living between Jesus' first coming and his second coming. We are living between the promise and the fulfillment. The biblical waiting is never passive. 

It's living today in light of that day. And one of the ways that we can do that is to ask ourselves, how will Jesus find me? Not like geographically, but in Peter's language. What is he going to find in me when I stand before him? Imagine that. 

Standing before Jesus, the one who loves you, the one who died for you, the one who came to set you free from slavery to sin. And Peter says, be diligent to be found in him in this certain way. What do you want Jesus to find in you when you see him? What would you be glad for him to see? What would you want to be different from where you are now? And what habits are shaping you in that direction? What loves are grabbing your heart? What habits are defining you to the kind of person that you're becoming? Peter isn't trying to frighten us. 

He's certainly not threatening us. He wants us to live intentionally to make the most of the time that we have, as he says in verse 15, to count the patience of our Lord as salvation. Every day that Jesus does not come back is another day for sinners to repent, another day for us to share the good news of the hope of Christ, another day for salvation, another day for our sanctification. 

God's patience is his kindness, and that means every day is a gift, another opportunity to trust him, another chance to make sure we're actually following him. So Peter says, look ahead. Remember where this is all going to end up and live in light of that day. 

And lifting our eyes to the future, now Peter brings us back down to kind of a present challenge or concern. Look in verse 16. Peter talks about the writings, the scriptures, and he says, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction. 

Peter says, as you look ahead, make sure that you stand firm. Make sure that you stand firm. Now Peter's warned at length, remember in chapter 2, about these false teachers. 

They weren't necessarily denying the scriptures, they weren't even denying Jesus, but they were apparently suggesting that Paul and Peter had different messages, it's kind of hard to understand, and you really need to just listen to us. We'll tell you what they really meant and what it really means to follow Jesus. And we're the ones you can trust. 

Peter and Paul, you can't make sense of them. Look at what Peter says in verse 15. Count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him. 

He's his beloved brother. There's no disagreement, there's no conflict between these apostles. Paul writes with the wisdom given him, which again is another divine passive, saying God has given Paul wisdom to write the things that he's instructing you. 

And then at the end of verse 16, Peter makes this amazing statement. He includes Paul's letters among the scriptures, among the authoritative inspired writings of God. Very early on, Peter and Paul apparently had a clear understanding that God was the one inspiring them by the Holy Spirit to communicate his words to his people. 

It's encouraging to know as well as Peter goes on to say, there are some things in them that are hard to understand. Like okay, even Peter apparently has trouble understanding some of the deep stuff that Paul dives into. He's not just me. 

But it's helpful to remember as we look at scripture that, as it's been said, the main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things. The things to stand on, to be assured of, are clear in scripture, and they're not confusing, and it doesn't take a lot of wrestling to understand them. But instead of encouraging God's people to have confidence in his word, these false teachers, the ignorant and the unstable, he says, are twisting them to their own destruction. 

Now listen, this is important. Ignorant is not the same thing as unintelligent. Ignorant literally just means uneducated, unlearned, uninstructed. 

Peter is saying that some people choose not to learn what they could learn. It's not a matter of ability, it's a matter of intent, because they would rather twist the scriptures. And I think there's maybe a little warning, encouragement for us here, that if we don't know exactly what a scripture means, it's better to just admit that, and maybe find someone who can help us understand it, than twist the scripture by making it mean what we want to mean. 

That's what these people are doing, these blots and blemishes, these ignorant people heading to destruction. And that's why Peter warns us, you therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you're not carried away. Pay attention, be careful, he says. 

You're not carried away in the error of these lawless people, and lose your own stability. And what is that about? Peter's talked a lot about stability in this letter, right? False teachers destabilize people, and you are rooted and stable in Christ, but some people want to come along and confuse, and throw you off your feet. And Peter's saying, don't be swept away by these subtle forces that maybe are not obvious on the surface. 

That's the thing, right? Like, I don't think anyone wakes up and decides like, yeah, today I think I'm gonna abandon the faith. It's a slow drift away from where we started. Drift happens, it's imperceptible, right? But there are signs. 

A neglected prayer life, decreased appetite for Scripture, growing comfort with sin, cooling affection towards Christ, an accommodation to the world. Small shifts, small compromises, small currents that over time move us in a direction maybe we didn't intend to go. If you think about an ocean ship, the captain sets the direction, right? And he points the ship towards where they're trying to head. 

And then, of course, he's on alert for big storms and powerful winds that would clearly pull them away. But that's not the only danger, because in a calm sea, the ship can also drift without noticing. And that's why the wise captain is constantly checking his position against the destination that they're heading for, to make sure that they're not drifting off course. 

And that's the picture that Peter has. Most of us don't drift because of some dramatic decision. We drift because we stop paying attention. 

Life gets busy. Other things demand our attention. Things that once nourished your soul become optional, become secondary, maybe even become forgotten.

And gradually, stability gives way to shifting and drifting. Are there habits that keep you close to Christ that you've let slip? Disciplines, routines, practices to nourish your faith that have just kind of gone by the wayside. Foundational beliefs, even, maybe that you once affirmed, but now you're starting to question, did God really say? Peter says, take care, stay anchored, stand firm.

Future hope doesn't eliminate the need for watchfulness. In fact, it strengthens the need for it. Because if Christ is truly coming again, and we're going to see him, then faithfulness matters, and truth matters, and character matters.

Peter's not calling us to live nervously. He's not calling us to anxious introspection. He's calling us to live intentionally and attentively, to stay rooted in the truth that we've received, to know that we are anchored in Christ.

Peter says, live today in light of that day. Look ahead and stand firm. And then Peter's final exhortation, his last written word to these people that he loves, his burden for the church, in verse 18, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Keep growing, Peter says. Keep growing. Grow, not arrive, not achieve perfection, but keep going. 

Keep moving forward. After everything that Peter has said, after the warnings, after the promises, after the encouragements, the reminders, he comes back to this. The Christian life is not static. 

There is no neutral. We're either moving towards Christ or we're in danger of drifting away from him. Because we don't live in a world that's neutral and just allows us to sort of hang out. 

Peter says, keep growing. Stay focused, but not in your own effort. Look at what he says. 

Grow in grace. Not merely understanding God's undeserved forgiveness, living in it, experiencing it, being changed by it, seeing yourself more and more as a person who is the recipient constantly of God's kindness, patience, and forgiveness, so that that starts to flow out from you to other people. Learning to trust and rely more on Christ and less on yourself. 

Grow in knowledge. Yeah, that means understanding, knowing more about Jesus, but more it's growing in relationship with him. It's growing in love for him. 

It's growing in your actual experience of Christ in you and with you. Peter's final command, this is important, it's not be a better person. Peter does not say try harder. 

He says know Christ more deeply. That's the important thing. Christian growth is not self-improvement. 

It's a growing connection, attachment to the person who actually changes us. Maybe for some of us the challenge is believing that we actually can change. You remember back in the beginning of this letter, chapter 1, Peter makes this absolutely amazing statement. 

You are partakers of the divine nature. You have God himself living in you by his Spirit. What does that open up in terms of the possibilities of what God can do in our lives if the all-powerful Holy God of the universe is actually in me? Grow means take the new life that God has planted in you and nurture it, feed it, encourage it, grow in it, because growth is possible. 

It's normal. It's even expected for God's people. Have you learned to live with certain habits and patterns in your life that maybe don't really align with Jesus? You tell yourself, you tell others, well that's just the way I am.

You know, take me as you find me. Have you declared peace with attitudes and perspectives in your heart that are actually enemies to your soul and want to enslave you and destroy you? Ugly attitudes, fears, bitterness, unforgiveness, impatience, arrogance, unkindness, a sharp tongue, a short temper, they're danger to your soul and they're a drain on everyone around you too. And you just accept it because you told yourself, I can't change. 

Or maybe you say, yeah I can change, God can help me change, but you never actually get around to it. Right? Like we can all face that temptation. Yes, I know Jesus can change me, but am I really doing anything to cooperate with him in changing me? Peter's challenging complacency and stagnation and accepting the status quo. 

Keep growing, he says. If we avoid the trap of thinking I can't change, we have to face another danger. We want dramatic transformation, instant maturity, right? We're Americans, we're impatient, it should happen yesterday. 

We should be able to plug in the resources and get the answers tomorrow, and there's got to be a technology to fix this right now. Weeds grow quickly. Fruit trees take years to produce peaches, cherries, apples. 

So much of God's work happens slowly. When we moved into our house 10 years ago, one of the things that we appreciated about some of the landscape was this really nice row of arborvitae, the shrub bushes, you know, the evergreens, conical things, six, seven feet tall. They were a nice arrangement of about a half a dozen that formed a little screen between us and our neighbor's house, and they look nice year-round.

You know, they're just kind of there, right? They're just in the background. Last year, David Miller kindly helped us plant a new row of arborvitae on the other side of our yard, and I noticed something. The ones that David helped us plant are definitely six or seven feet tall.

They're like the same height as me, but they were a lot smaller than the ones by our kitchen window, and I suddenly realized after living here for 10 years, those six or seven foot arborvitaes are now three or four feet taller. I didn't notice it happening. Beneath the surface, something was taking place. 

Roots were deepening. Strength was developing, and the funny thing is I walk past them all the time. I see them every day, but because the growth was gradual, I didn't notice it until one day I had something to compare it to, and I think that's how spiritual growth often works. 

You keep coming to God in prayer. You keep investing in looking to His Word and listening to Him. You keep repenting. 

You keep forgiving. You keep obeying. You keep trusting, and we don't wake up in the morning most of the time and suddenly feel dramatically different, right? But over years of walking with Christ, something is happening beneath the surface, and you can step back at times and say, you know, by God's grace, I'm not where I want to be, where I will be, but I'm not where I was, and you step back and you can see ways that you've become more patient, less prone to need to correct everyone all the time. 

Your fears no longer control you the way they did. Maybe you recover from failure more quickly. Maybe you can own your mistakes and failures more openly, more humbly. 

You look at people with more kindness, more patience, because you're growing in grace, because you know God is showing you grace.

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