Calvary Bible Church - Pastor Ken’s Weblog

II Peter Chapter One
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

Restoration Results

The message last week got me thinking about Peter and about restoration and about the results of the restoring power of God in a believer’s life.  As most of you know, Peter is one of my favorite Bible “Heroes” and one with whom I often relate well.  Not so much in personality, but in his struggles to be the man God called him to be.  The fact that he learned obedience and submission and became the “shepherd” Christ commissioned him to be gives me great hope in my own struggle.  Peter is a “success” story, and I intend to be one too!  One reason I love the restoration and reinstatement story we looked at last week is because I too have been reconciled, restored and reinstated by the Lord I once denied.    Peter also reminds me that the Lord can call into service a regular guy, one who is already married and possibly has a family, has his own career going, even has business partners, and radically transform him into an instrument in the Lord’s hand.  Now of course, not everyone who is called and responds to that call has as dramatic a ministry as Peter did, but some may!  And all have a ministry!  Ephesians 2:10, remember?  “For we are God’s workmanship, (work of art) created in Christ Jesus (Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  II Corinthians 5:17) to do good works (ministries), which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  We’re going to spend the next couple weeks in II Peter, so I thought I’d begin this morning with a little more background information to add to what we saw last week so we have a better idea of the man God called, equipped and used.  In fact, is still using!

We first meet Peter in John 1:40-42: “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).  And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter) (rock).”  In the Gospel accounts, we see that Peter was anything but a rock; he was often impulsive and unstable.  In Acts however, we see him grow and Luke portrays him as a pillar of the early church.  Jesus named him not for what he was but for what, by God’s grace, He knew he would become.  It would be a process, to be sure, but Jesus knew his potential!  Jesus calls us not for what we are, but for what we will be, as we yield to his control.

As we saw last week in Luke 5, Simon was a fisherman by trade, in business with his brother and had as his partners James and John, and probably their Father, Zebedee.  We know that he was married from the Synoptics and a statement Paul made in I Corinthians.  Luke reports it this way: Luke 4:38-39: “Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon.  Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.  So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.”  He may well have been one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of the 12, and is the only one mentioned in the gospels as being married, though Paul alludes to the fact that some of the others were by the time he wrote I Corinthians.  His age and position may have been one reason he tended to be the “unofficial” leader of the 12.

His name is usually listed first in accounts that list the 12 by name.  He, along with James and John made up kind of an “inner circle” of disciples who experienced a special privilege with the Lord.  They were the ones allowed to witness Jesus raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Luke 8:51-56), were the witnesses to the “Transfiguration” of Jesus on the Mount (Luke 9:28-33) and were asked to keep watch with Jesus in the garden at Gethsemane. (Matthew 26:37-38)  Peter was the one who usually is credited with first professing Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, though Jesus reminded him that the revelation came to him from the Father, it wasn’t something he figured out on his own.  (Matthew 16:13-17.)  He also was the one who took it on himself to take Jesus aside and “straighten” Him out!  (Matthew 16:21-23.)  He questioned Jesus’ ability to discern a singular touch in the midst of a crowd pressing in on Him.  (Luke 8:45.)   And yet, he was the only one with enough faith to actually step out of the boat onto the water.  (Matthew 14:25-33.)

For all that, it would seem he had a pretty clear idea of where he stood compared to the Lord, as we saw last week in his heartfelt confession after the first miraculous catch of fish when he said: “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” in Luke 5:8.  We see another glimpse of Peter’s sense of unworthiness in his initial refusal to let Jesus wash his feet.  John 13:1-9:  “It was just before the Passover Feast.  Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father.  Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.  He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”  “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”  Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”  “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”  Peter meant well, he just didn’t “get it” yet!  He was still trying to tell Jesus what to do!  But again, he was the only one who protested the Lord taking on this servant task.  Then last week we saw his last arrogant display, claiming a greater love than the others, vowing that he would face imprisonment and death before he would deny the Lord, his futile attempt to protect Jesus in the garden and then his failure, three times denying he even knew Him, and his brokenness at the realization of his failure.

We see him three days later as one of the first disciples to run to the tomb to verify the report that it was empty and that the Lord had risen.  In fact, in John’s account he reports that even though he beat Peter in the foot-race, got there first and looked inside, Peter, when he got there, went right inside the tomb to really look around!  (John 20:3-7.)    Last week we saw too the restoration and reinstatement of Peter by Jesus after an early breakfast on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  We saw a changed man, humbled and ready to serve, commissioned to “shepherd” God’s flock.  In Acts 1:15-22 we see him once again take a leadership role as he guides the disciples in finding a replacement for Judas.  We see Peter stand and defend the believers at the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the effect of this now “Spirit empowered” apostle as he preaches his first sermon, and 3000 people believed!  In Acts 3 we see Peter healing a man crippled from birth and hear his second message.

This mornings reading was the account of Peter’s first arrest for his witness, the results of that second message and his bold witness in defense before the council, and we saw a man once afraid, now emboldened!  In Acts 5 we see his leadership in the church with the prediction of Ananias and Sapphira’s death for lying to the Lord, his growing evangelistic and healing ministry and his second arrest and imprisonment, prompted by the jealousy the high priest and the Sadducees, his first miraculous release by an angel, his first flogging and his reaction to it; rejoicing for being counted worthy to suffer for Jesus.  Fast forward past his ministry to Samaria, his visits to Lydda and then to Joppa where he raised Dorcas from the dead and had a vision of a sheet containing clean and unclean animals. Continue on past where he receives the servant of the Centurion then goes with him to Caesarea; preaches to and baptizes the Gentile Centurion and his household in Acts 10.  Past where he advocates, in the council of the apostles and elders, the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles in Acts 11, to Acts chapter 12.

I think this story gives us a picture of the Peter who had become the “Rock” Jesus named him so long before. “It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.  He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.  When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.  This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each.  Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.  So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.  The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.” (Now that is what I call a man at peace.  Facing trial and almost certain death in the morning, Peter sleeps, chained between two guards.  The “Rock” had learned to trust the Lord whatever his circumstances may be.  “Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.  Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.”  And Peter did so.  “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him.  Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.  They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city.  It opened for them by itself, and they went through it.  When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.  Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”

If we had the time, we would continue to follow his spiritual development through the book of Acts, but I think you get the point.  The aging apostle who wrote this letter at the end of his life was a very different man from the impulsive, arrogant and headstrong fisherman who first went with his brother to see the Messiah.  Let’s turn again to our text.  I think it’s interesting that his position and fame apparently didn’t go to his head, it seems he never forgot who he was, where he had come from:
II Peter 1:  “Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,” (Peter was Jesus’ slave.  That’s what the word servant really means.  And it usually means a bond-slave, one who chooses to sell himself to bondage to his master.  His life was the Lords; he lived to serve Him.  He also was an apostle, and the letter carries apostolic authority.)

To those who, through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, have received a faith as precious as ours:  Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”  First of all, it is important to point out that Peter clearly and intentionally acknowledges here the Deity of Jesus.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he intentionally wrote the words: “our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”  This asserts that Jesus is both God and Savior.  Secondly, he was writing to a group of primarily Gentile believers, and he points out that the faith they have is as precious as that of the apostles own.  God, in his justice (one aspect of His “righteousness”) imparts to people the ability to believe, regardless of race, ethnicity, social status, wealth, sex or any other distinguishing feature.  People.  We have received a faith, a saving faith, through the righteousness of God.

He is not talking here about a “body of truth to be believed”–the faith–but the act of believing, or the God-given capacity to trust in Christ for salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9, remember?  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”   He is writing to those who have believed.  To them he states:  “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”  Grace is the unmerited or undeserved love and favor of God expressed toward man.  John records Jesus’ promise of peace in John 14:27:  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  One commentary said: “the term speaks, in effect, of the salvation that Christ’s redemptive work will achieve for his disciples–total well-being and inner rest of spirit, in fellowship with God.  All true peace is His gift, which the repetition emphasizes. I do not give . . . as the world gives. In its greetings of peace the world can only express a longing or wish.

But Jesus’ peace is real and present.”   No wonder Peter could sleep chained between two guards, awaiting trial and execution!  Peter says that the key to abundant grace and peace in the life of the believer is a fuller, more thorough knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  The concept of Christian knowledge is prominent in II Peter, part of the reason he wrote the letter was to combat heretical teaching, and he knew that one of the best antidotes for heresy is the clear understanding of true knowledge. The old analogy of the counterfeit money comes to mind.   Peter goes on.

Verses 3-4: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.  Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”  What an amazing promise!  Did you hear that?  Look at it again.  “His divine power has given us (That means it’s a done deal.  It’s in the bank, its already happened.)  everything we need for life (specifically life eternal) and godliness” Did you catch that?  EVERYTHING we NEED for LIFE and GODLINESS.  What else is there?  What else do you need, besides life and godliness?  And Peter says it is ours!  Are you kidding me?  Nope, it’s right here in the Bible.  Well, there must be a catch, yer thinkin’, right?  There is.  Look at the next couple words: “through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”

The key is the knowledge of God. Not just awareness, head knowledge, but experiential knowledge.  Listen to the opening words of Jesus longest recorded prayer, what is commonly called the “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17:1-3: “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Eternal life won’t consist of sitting around on clouds, playing celestial harps; it will be living in relationship, knowing God and Jesus Christ.  Back to II Peter.  Peter reminds us that it is through God’s glory and goodness that we have been called.  One commentary stated: “glory and goodness: the excellence of God: “Glory” expresses the excellence of his being–his attributes and essence; “goodness” depicts excellence expressed in deeds–virtue in action.”  It is because of these that we enjoy this relationship, nothing we do.  “Through these (His glory and goodness) He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them (the promises) you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”  We who believe are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, we participate in the divine nature, and as a result of His power in us we are able to escape the pull of the world and our own flesh.  We can, and should, live godly lives, here and now.  We too can exhibit restoration results the world can see!

Our celebration of Communion is a celebration of that participation in the divine nature, of our escape from the corruption of this world into the life eternal we now have through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, of our knowledge of Him, and the assurance of those promises.

In His grip,

Pastor Ken