Are you Blind?
Stand Firm • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewAs we begin Peter's last words to the Church before he dies, we learn a lot about growth, humility and grace.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
In 2007, British Lance Corporal Craig Lundberg was serving in Iraq
An RPG came in and injured him severely
He had serious wounds to his head, face and arms
Worst yet, he went totally blind
Doctors removed his left eye, and his right failed to work
British Ministry of Defence was developing a new technology, and chose to test on Lundberg
The device is called brain port, and it works with a pair of sunglasses
There’s a camera that picks up images and sends an electrical signal to a pad
The wearer puts the pad in their mouth, and the signals shock the tongue
Think of a grid of 9 volt batteries you lick
This enables Craig Lundberg to sort of “see”
The shock pattern creates a rudimentary image in his mind
He can identify simple shapes, he can pick up objects, and he can even read!
I think that’s pretty cool!
Blind people have been able to accomplish a lot of incredible things
Erik Weihenmayer scaled Mt. Everest
Ralph Teetor invented cruise control
Helen Keller was the first person to ever communicate while being deaf and blind
And graduated from Harvard and co-founded the ACLU!
Joe Engressia developed a sense of pitch so perfect he could whistle into pay phone and manipulate the operators systems
In the 1940’s, he could make free long distance calls, setup conference calls and even trace a connection all the way around the globe and right back to his payphone
Just by whistling the right tones!
This was the 1940’s version of a hacker...
He got arrested for this twice BTW...
Now, as amazing as these blind folks are, I have a question:
Who would now like to become blind?
These people are especially amazing because they overcame something incredibly difficult!
We appreciate their awesomeness, but we would never want their blindness
I would rather lose my arms, legs, sense of hearing, and even all of the above...
…Than lose my ability to see
Being blind is not a good thing, most people would never want to be blind...
But according to Peter, there are a lot of people who are spiritually blind
And believe me, he isn’t saying this because it’s a good thing!
YouVersion: Are You Blind?
Starting new series “Stand Firm”
In 2 Peter 1:1-15 today
Let’s hop in...
1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
This letter is written by Peter, a very famous apostle
He’s known for walking on water
Cutting off the soldiers ear
Denying Jesus three times
And being named, “The Rock”
Not to be confused with the wrestler or the Alcatraz movie with Sean Connery...
His name was Simon at birth, and changed to Peter, or “Rock” by Jesus:
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Of course, the Catholic Church teaches that this is a papal thing
Papal, as in the Pope
So that Peter is the Rock that the church is built on
But the problem with that, is that “this rock” Jesus mentions, isn’t Peter himself
But rather what Peter said - and what did he say?
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
THAT is the rock the church is built on, not Peter
Peter says this himself in his first letter:
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Then, in verse 7 he connects the dots:
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
For a mason, the cornerstone of a building is the first stone you set
It matters the most because all the stones after it depend on the first stone
If the first one isn’t level, plumb and square, all the rest are messed up
So Peter himself says that Jesus is actually the stone that we, the church, are built on
And yet, Simon’s name serves to himself as a reminder of Jesus
Not a title for himself
And he is first, a servant of Christ
And second, an Apostle of Christ
And so he greets the people he is writing to
Who is that? Everyone with an equal faith
What does that mean?
Everyone who is a believer in Christ who has been saved!
Remember, Paul taught us that all believers are on the same level:
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
So that means Peter is writing to:
The same church as his first letter
Included Jews and Gentiles...
Also for the other churches in Asia minor
And churches over the last 2,000 years
And for us today
And for churches into the future
It’s for everyone, like I said, that includes us
So let’s see what he has to say:
2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
Jesus offers us all things that pertain to life and Godliness
In that, we share in His glory and excellence
That’s good, because I sure don’t want to rely on my own glory or excellence...
From that glory and excellence that gets credited, we receive what is promised for that
You know, relationship with God, works in this life, blessings, not to mention eternal life...
As a result, we don’t have to live like the world
All the lust and greed and mistreatment… we don’t have to to live like that anymore
Instead, we get to live the way Christ lived
Not perfectly, but the door is opened to live more righteously like Jesus
That is a lot of good stuff, church...
But there’s an important key mentioned there - how this happens!
It happens, “…through the knowledge of Him who called us...”
Knowledge of God is the root of everything good
Knowledge of God is the root of everything good
We humans are obsessed with knowledge!
And we’re always looking for more!
We carry our phones around with access to everything you could want to know!
How does a microwave work? I don’t know! Let’s look it up...
What is world record for the biggest toothbrush? Google it!
How do you change the muffler bearings on a 98’ Mercury Cougar?
Some of you smarties know there’s no such thing as a muffler bearing
But did you know there’s no such thing as a 98’ Cougar?
They ended it when the Thunderbird platform went away...
But Ford made a bunch of Ford Probes that they didn’t want to market anymore
So in 99’ they slapped the Mercury Cougar badges on them and brought the name back
You’re welcome for that little bit of totally useless knowledge...
That’s the thing though, we all want more knowledge
The problem arises when we just go anywhere we want to get it
Right wing people love watching Fox News because it bolsters their knowledge how they like it
Left wing people love watching CNN because it bolsters their knowledge how they like it
But if we want some knowledge that’s actually useful, we need the knowledge of God
Then, all that good stuff comes flowing out
That’s why we have to be careful that the knowledge we’re filling ourselves with is of God
And not whatever else we want it to be
Now watch how Peter builds on that:
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
Notice that word supplement
What is a weight loss supplement?
Something you take to help in losing weight
But if you try to lose weight, don’t sit in your La-Z-y Boy eating McDonald’s and popping pills
These supplements absorb the special sauce and it just disappears!
No, you take them in addition to diet and exercise
Diet and exercise do the work, the supplement just enhances it - improves what you’re doing
But it’s never the core source
That word “supplement” there, is the Greek word epp-ee-khor-uh-gay-oh (epichorēgeō)
It means to support or to add - like in addition to...
So the things listed here: virtue (aka moral behavior), knowledge, self-control... are all behaviors
And those are the supplements - the things you add in
But what are they added to? The thing that is at the core: your faith
It is our faith in Christ that gives us what we need...
But Peter encourages us to add in good behaviors as well
Because it makes our walk that much better!
Why have a faith that’s cruising in the slow lane
When you can add nitrous oxide to your faith and fly down the highway at 200mph?
See, when our faith is supplemented by these things, a lot of good happens
Peter is saying this:
The Christian walk it’s about progress, not perfection
The Christian walk it’s about progress, not perfection
Start with faith, but add in virtue (good behavior)
Young Christians often begin here - I want to do good
I want to be nice, I want to help in the kitchen, I want to do a good job
Then as your virtue grows, you start to pursue knowledge
You open your Bible everyday
What? I never knew it said that! That’s so cool!
And you gain an understanding of truth...
Then, as your knowledge grows, your self control grows too
I think I’m going to stop with the bad influences
I don’t want to use those inappropriate words anymore
I’m not going to let anger swell up in me when I’m mistreated
Then, as your self-control grows, your steadfastness increases
I can handle long-term sacrifice
I can go for a whole year reading the Bible every day
I can build healthy habits
As I become more steadfast, there is less room for ungodly things
So your reputation becomes of God
Your actions are more consistently about God
Worship becomes your identity
You become a more Godly person
Up until this point, all of this change is about you...
But then things turn outward...
As that happens, there is brotherly affection
You know what word this is? Philadelphia...
It means love, but brotherly love...
Remember, Greek has many types of love
Brotherly love (here), erotic love (eros), parental love (storge)...
What Peter is saying, is if you are Godly, brotherly love is a result
That means as you grow, your relationships begin to grow as well
You grow a brotherly love with the Church (big and little “C”)
You connect well with other believers
And other people want to be a part of the church with you
And finally, that brotherly love ends up simply in love
You may be ahead of me here, but any idea what Greek word is used for love here?
Agape...
This is the highest form of love there is
It is undeserved, independent, sacrificial love
It is the type of love that God has, and the type of love that God is...
Ultimately, if we pursue this path, we end up looking more and more like God
Not being God, but being a reflection of Him, which Paul said would happen too:
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
So it is a multifaceted process of growing
Could you stop with faith? I guess...
But why would you!
Wonderful things happen when your faith builds up to something more than just ourselves
Here, Peter says it better:
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
If we all sat around and thought just faith was enough, we’re missing the full picture
Humans often have a huge problem when it comes to this sort of thing
We know salvation comes through faith alone...
But our own personal salvation isn’t the only thing that matters!
I’m saved, who cares about anything else?
I don’t have to do works to be saved, so they’re unnecessary!
The Christian walk it’s about progress, not perfection...
The Christian walk it’s about progress, not perfection...
but don’t use that as an excuse to stop moving
but don’t use that as an excuse to stop moving
Imagine if your child came up to you
Little Johnny, did you clean your room?
Nope! I don’t have to. I’m already in your family so cleaning is unnecessary...
Um, little Johnny. There’s more to being in this family than just being in this family!
You have responsibilities to others outside of you… now get back in there and clean your room!
Yes, faith gets us saved...
But our responsibilities to God are about more than what we get out of it
Peter tells us, if you don’t think you need to pursue those good things
Self control, godliness, brotherly love...
Then you are blind...
All I see is what’s in front of me!
Where’s my easy road? Where’s my blessing? Where’s my happiness?
Me, me, me, me...
If all you see is yourself, and you don’t look to see the need around you...
You’re so nearsighted, you are blind!
What about the woman that needs help with her car?
What about the kid that needs a ride to work?
What about the co-worker that needs to know the Lord?
Peter says this happens when we forget..
Forget what?
Forget what Jesus did for us… cleansing us for our sin!
The antidote for forgetting the needs of others
Is to remember the needs God has filled for us
That’s why Peter says this:
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
You have to keep working on it...
It’s so easy to let things slip
Peter is saying, stick to it - work hard on pursuing the things of God
If you do, you’ll never fall
The word fall in the Greek means to stumble...
It’s like trying to run in a stampede
If you keep pushing, keep moving, you’ll be okay
But what happens when you stop moving?
You get run over...
And at the end, you enter the eternal kingdom of God
Again, this isn’t a salvation issue - you don’t work your way into heaven
But the process here matters...
F.B. Meyer: “There are two ways of entering a port. A ship may come in, waterlogged and crazy, just kept afloat by continual working at the pumps; or it may enter with every sail set, her pennon floating at the mast-head. The latter is what the apostle desires for himself and those who he addresses.”
The idea is to finish strong and do well for the Lord
To help with that, Peter says this:
12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
Like I said, it’s easy to forget what we’ve been forgiven for
That’s how we grow stagnant and stop moving
And then we go blind...
Once we forget, we simply fall
James talks about forgetting in this exact same way:
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Not a lot of good comes from forgetting
Forgetting your keys
Forgetting your PIN number
Forgetting your anniversary
But there’s something we can do
The best way to avoid forgetting, is to be reminded!
We all need reminders along the way
We all need reminders along the way
Peter intends to remind people as often as he can
We should also be reminding people as often as we can
When we see people slipping or we haven’t seen them in church
They need reminders not to lose direction
Reminders to stay the course
Reminders that Jesus died for them, and wants them pursuing Him
Peter wants to do this very badly
In fact, notice he says he’s about to “put off this body”
Jesus made it clear to him, that he’s about to die
Jesus says this to him in the gospel of John:
18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”
The kind of death he had was crucifixion
And he chose to be crucified upside down - why?
He said he was unworthy to be crucified the same way as his Lord...
We hear this from the apocryphal book called “Acts of Peter”
But also the early church fathers
Tertullian, Origen, Peter of Alexandria and Jerome all mention this
So Peter knows he’s going to die, and this is his last writing
So what does he want to do?
He says, “the right thing for me to do, as long as I’m here, is to keep reminding you to pursue Christ...”
Peter wants to go down swinging...
And so he declares that in our last verse for today:
15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
Right now, I want to speak to the leaders...
That’s probably a lot more of us that you realize
I’m talking to business leaders, sports leaders, parents, managers, elders, ministry leaders...
Anyone who leads people through some kind of venture, I’m talking to you
Peter realizes something very important here, and it’s something people miss a lot
Here’s your last point:
If you’re all-important, you’re doing it wrong
If you’re all-important, you’re doing it wrong
People say, “If I ever left, I don’t know what they would do without me; that place would fall apart!”
Now, that’s largely not true -
I’ve seen people leave their jobs and the place is still running
I’ve seen players leave their teams and the team keeps winning
I’ve seen parents pass away and their kids still survive
But sometimes we like to build ourselves up to a level of importance that is unhealthy
When Tash and I went to Kenya in 2013, we were helping a ministry get off the ground
It’s called LuvWay
Mission statement: “Seeking to significantly improve the lives of abandoned and orphaned children in Kenya.”
When we got there, our plan was to buy property, build and orphanage, send off Mari (the founder) as a missionary, and take in every abandoned child we could find
When we got home, the plan completely changed
See, white people had gone in to build orphanages like this for years
And Kenyan people are smart - they realize that this is where needs get met
A large part of the Kenya economy is built on setting up lives in a way that makes white people feel guilty
So then we want to help, and we send money
The ones who get good at manipulating this become very wealthy
But that’s not even the biggest problem
The biggest problem is what orphanages do to families
Often, a mom can’t afford medical care for her child
Or she can’t afford to even feed her child
So, she drops them off at the orphanage
Literally, mom’s feel like they have to drop off their baby because the orphanage will give them a better life than what they can do
Church, that’s not a solution
The problem there, is westerners have decided to operate as the all-important source of welfare
Actually, it just makes the Kenyan’s less able to participate themseleves
Almost 20% of Kenyan children are orphaned or vulnerable
So instead of building an orphanage, Luv Way built a school
This way, mom’s don’t abandon their kids - they have help to get them an education
Also, the mom’s have an opportunity to develop skills to make a living as well
And the best part? Mari didn’t go to Kenya to become a missionary
Instead, she went to Kenya to find women she trusted to run it for her
So the school doesn’t depend on an American to run it, because Kenyan’s run it themselves!
Now, Beatrice Ofwana, the director in Kenya, has a vision to have a bible club in every county
There are 47 counties, and Luv is in 6 of them - reaching hundreds of kids
Of course, you can always help out with donations if you’re interested
Link in YouVersion...
But that’s not actually why I’m mentioning this
I’m say this because when we do things to make ourselves more important, we’re doing it wrong
As believers, the best thing we can do is let others build their own faith
One thing I’m very conscious of, is never convincing you that you need me
If you need me, you will be disappointed in the outcome
Think about it:
If you do an important job, you should be helping others learn how to do your job
If you have an important position, you should be thinking about who might fill that position
If you need vision, you should start by asking about it, not telling about it
If you have kids, you should be teaching them to build their own faith, not standing on yours
Look at Peter, he’s saying, “I’m not always going to be here! So you need to do this without me!”
So let me give you the tools so you will always be growing - even when I’m not here
We should all have that mentality
Jesus died for way more than just me
So how could we try to make our efforts all about us
As Peter is teaching, we must learn to turn our eyes away from ourselves
It does begin with us, but church, don’t let it end there
Keep moving, keep helping, and keep loving
That’s how god is honored by us the best
Prayer
Prayer