Ezekiel 33:7-11 and 2 Peter 3:9: Hope and the Ropes

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 05 September 2021; Swift Current Corps, 24 July 2022; the Summer Rain Evangelistic Festival, 07 August 2022, by Major Michael Ramsay

Let me tell you three stories. These are all true stories; they all happened this week and they do have some other things in common too. They all have a rope in the story. They all have peril. 2 of them have water. 2 of them have happen endings.

 

One evening this week Susan suggested that I should take Heather kayaking for a couple of hours before dinner. She said be home at 7pm. Dinner's at 7pm. Be home at 7pm.

 

I threw the kayaks in the back of the vehicle. Heather and I quickly drove out to Sproat Lake. We didn’t have that much time. We got out there. Heather was already a little tired, I think. I asked her where we wanted to go on the lake; she said, she wanted to go to Manitoba Island. (There is this small private island that you can reach from the boat launch and whoever owns the island has a Manitoba flag that they fly from it, thus Heather and I call it Manitoba Island.)

 

It was pretty choppy out there. The waves were pretty high and the wind was blowing quite a bit. And if you crossed a boat’s wake, the waves coming at different angles could really threaten to swamp or tip the boat. It was a lot of work. I paddled out for a little while and looked behind me (as best I could, I didn’t want to turn all the way around in my seat, lest I dump myself out of the kayak) and here was Heather slowly paddling. I turn back, paddle up to her and ask her how she is doing. She asks for a tow. (sometimes on a nice warm, calm day, I will tie Heather’s boat to mine and instead of paddling she will just lie in her boat – she says she doesn’t sleep but I am not always convinced.) 

 

So here I am paddling across the lake to Manitoba Island; It is hard work! Heather in tow; the waves are coming from every angle and the wind also seems to be working against me. We make it to the island. She wakes up, I mean, she sits up. I check the time because we have to be back by 7pm. Then she lowers herself in her boat again, eyes closed but not sleeping, and I start pulling her back. It is quite a struggle with the waves and the wind and towing someone in another kayak. But part way back, I feel like I am getting into the rhythm because it gets a little easier. When I get about ¾ of the way back to shore I look back - and there in no Heather.

 

I am in a panic for a moment. You know that feeling? I look back and I see the rope has broken and there is no kayak behind me and no Heather. Now Heather isn’t the greatest swimmer, she does have her life jacket on. I am looking everywhere as fast as I can to see her boat. I see it and paddle faster than I think I ever have in choppy conditions to get there. You know that feeling when you are racing somewhere, praying that it is not the worst possible result and hoping for the best!

 

While I am racing towards Heather as fast as I can, a nice gentleman, by the name of Keith, in his speedboat sees this kayak just floating around with no one apparently in it (as Heather is lying down) and goes up to the kayak. At this point Heather sits up, opens her eyes and is wondering what is going on. Keith stays with her until I get there and then he puts both of our kayaks in his boat and gives us a ride back to shore – which is good because I really don’t know how much more I could paddle that day! And then Heather and I head for home and we get there just on time. When I walk upstairs to where Susan is, she remarked on how we timed it perfectly because it was 7pm on the nose.

 

It was quite an adventure. But you know that feeling of panic when you notice your child is missing. You know that moment when you think your child might be lost or have had something horrible happen to them. That was the feeling in the pit of my stomach, even sort of after she was found and we got home safely. Though there was certainly a lot(!) of relief as well.

 

My second rope story is about another water rescue that I heard about this past week, I heard this story from one of our employees, Rees. Rees was at Harbour Quay, I believe. He saw the gentleman there who always plays Frisbee with his dog. I don’t know the man’s name. The dog’s name is Wes. 

 

The man threw the Frisbee into the water and Wes went to get it. He got it in his mouth and started paddling back to shore when he accidentally got caught on a rope hidden under the water. The rope got stuck right in his mouth with the Frisbee; so maybe Wes didn’t even know it was there. He couldn’t or wouldn’t let go of the rope because he would have to let go of the Frisbee. He couldn’t get back to shore no matter how hard he struggled and  - unlike the rope between Heather’s and my kayaks – this rope wasn’t breaking. Rees then took off his shoes, gave his phone and/or wallet to the man and jumped in to save Wes. He had to really struggle to get Wes free of the rope but in the end he did and Wes and Rees both swam safely to shore.

 

My third story about a rope this week is tragic. Russell, a regular on 3rd avenue, who many of us know from the Bread of Life, the food bank, the ‘ghetto’ or other places, hanged himself behind the Friendship Centre this week. It was a tragedy for sure. He was in that tree for 3 days or so before he perished. Many friends went there to try to talk him from the tree. Selene, who used to work for us and now works for the Friendship Centre, called me and I took a turn trying to talk him down. Brandy R., who works in our Thrift Store knows Russell and tried to convince him to come down. I was there when the mother of his children was trying to get him down. One of the people who works with us at the Drop-in Centre, Mya, spent many hours with her friend trying to convince him to come down.

 

Police were there. Fire department was there. EMT was there. One of the police who chatted with me – a good Christian fellow who knew his Bible very well - told me that they would not leave as long as Russell was in the tree. Days later, whoever was on duty did leave and Russell died. Now I don’t know what happened to Russell eternally: I hope and I pray that he is eternally at peace with our Lord.

 

One tragic remark that someone made has stuck in my head since that day. I don’t think the person who said it meant it but my brain has not been able to shake it. While he was still alive and still in the tree, someone said that death was probably the best outcome for him. He is an addict. His life is terrible… I cringed when I heard that.

 

I would never want to see anyone lost – not even one – like it says in 2 Peter 3:9. And in Ezekiel 33:11 even those of us others would call wicked, God does not wish any of us to be lost for now or eternity.

 

I think about how Rees, not to mention Wes’ owner, watched Wes struggle and how Rees had to decide whether or not to dive in to save him from the rope he was trapped on. I think about how I felt when my own daughter was lost on the lake for however long it was before I noticed the rope had broken. I think about how I felt when I did not know whether she was okay or not and I didn’t know how scared she was or was not. I think about how I would have felt if something terrible had happened to Heather.

 

Our Heavenly Father feels the same way about each of us. He doesn’t want any of us to be lost – in this life or the next.

 

John 3:16-17: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 

For any of us to perish hurts the Lord like it would hurt us to lose a member of our family, like a beloved pet, or even our own child. As such, we need to share with people the Good News of Salvation. Talk to people you meet about God, their Father who loves them. Talk to people you meet about Jesus. We don’t know how long any of us have on this earth – and that any of us would have to spend any of our time here - not to mention eternity - away from our Father’s love is tragic. 

 

Some terrible things happen in life. I know when horrifying things have happened in my life I have gone to my Heavenly Father for love and support and I know that God is eternal and His love never fails. He is faithful. If you know anyone who is struggling, please tell them about the Lord who can comfort them in their struggles and save them in their struggles. 

 

I know He will get me through all the tough things in life and He will keep me forever. All of us who love the Lord are able to experience His love and support forever and for now. With this in mind, I know there are people who are part of our church family, our Salvation Army family, and others who aren’t, who are struggling. Let us pray for them. Let us reach out to them. If you are struggling let us pray with you. The Lord loves us; He wants us to be safe in this world and the next. John 3:17: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 

Let us pray.

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1 Peter 3:7-13: The Earth is on Fire

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 15 August 2021, by Captain Michael Ramsay

 

The earth is on fire. Rena and Tim’s son’s family and some friends of Mary Anne and others are in and around Vernon. There is a massive fire burning between Vernon and Kamloops (more than 557 km2 have been on fire there at one time this week alone). Susan, Sarah-Grace, Heather and I were just up there during our furlough. We saw helicopters carrying buckets almost every day, dropping chemicals on the ground (while the water bombers sit quietly by the Lake here). Roads were blocked due to the fire.

 

There were places we couldn’t go. We checked the news every day to see if we would need to be evacuated (like we needed to flee while on our previous holiday; when the plague of coronavirus hit the world, we scrambled to try to get safely home). This recent trip we stayed in Salmon Arm for a week.

 

There was smoke everywhere. We went kayaking, as well as tourist-ing: sometimes you couldn’t even see across the lake it was so smoky and the sun was a strange orange-y-red ball of fire, itself covered by the haze of the smoke. It looked like the heavens were on fire - just like the earth.

 

The earth is on fire. We just finished the Olympics. All around Athens is on fire. The home of the original Olympics is on fire. California is on fire. Australia is on fire. BC is on fire. Lytton burned to the ground. I have some great memories around Lytton. I have gone there with great friends. I have met close friends on trips there. More than once we went white-water rafting there. We have camped there. We have played paintball there. When I was a young adult, maybe about the ages of my oldest two daughters, I had a lot of fun making memories there. Now Lytton itself is just a memory. It has been burned to the ground.

 

There is talk about global warming and talk of climate change. Some climate scientists and others are saying that this is the consequence of our sin of not taking care of the earth – which was one of the very first commands God gave humanity (Gen 1:26-28). The earth is right now cursed because of our sin (Gen 3:17). Many are calling for us to repent of our sins and to take care of the earth.

 

The earth was first cursed because of the sins of Adam and Eve and they fled Eden. The earth was later cursed (different word in Hebrew) with a flood because of the sins of humanity leading up to the time of Noah. God created the earth from water, through water; and then, Genesis 6-9, it was drowned in water and destroyed by water.[1]   

 

2 Peter 3 tells of a time when the heavens and the earth will both be on fire and the earth will be destroyed by fire. Today the earth is on fire. The fire that is consuming the earth at the present time may not be the ultimate fire or even the penultimate fire. It should ultimately however be a reminder of warnings of 2 Peter 3, Genesis 6-9, and so much more.

 

Peter tells us that there are scoffers and mockers; people who just do what they want with no mind to others. Peter (2:3) says that they follow their own evil desires. How many of us in our world today are scoffers and mockers; people who just do what they want with no mind to others? How many of us are following our own desires and scoffing; denying, ignoring God, others, and our responsibilities or pretending that we can do nothing? How many of us are ignoring the warning of the burning fires?

 

The environmental aspect of this passage cannot be ignored. As Genesis (15) and Leviticus (25) tell us, if humanity declines its responsibility to tend for the earth, we will be removed from it just as Adam and Eve, the Amorites and the Israelites were (cf. 2 Chronicles 36:20-21). [2]  We cannot ignore God’s commission to care for the earth and expect the earth to be cared for all at the same time.

 

There is more. Peter knows that every day since the resurrection of the Christ is the last days. Peter was in the last days. We are in the last days. Peter warns us that the end is coming soon– today’s fires should be a reminder of that – and Peter explains how he hopes we will respond to this warning.

 

Peter exhorts us to, 2 Peter 1:5-8, make every effort to supplement our faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with perseverance or steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with kinship or brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For when these qualities are in our lives, we will not be ineffective and we will fulfil our responsibilities to God, our neighbour, the earth, and our world.

 

Peter warns us that there will always be temptations, Chapter 2, to sensuality, greed, much more - and even blasphemy. Peter warns us that even when we get free, the many terrible things in our lives that interfere with our wholeness, holiness, happiness and peace; they will try to grab us and pull us back to misery and enslavement.

 

Even just judging by Facebook and other social media, some of us here have probably struggled with hate in one form or another: either of a person, a political party, an idea, a movement, a pet peeve, or something else. Judging even just by Facebook and other social media, the sins of self-righteous anger, un-forgiveness, and hatred are reaching out like smoke from a fire to choke the life and love out of many people. Greed and self-indulgence also try pull us away from peace, healing, holiness, and wholeness as well. Sin can be like an addiction: just when we think we are free of it, it reaches out to try to pull us into a self-destruction that is accompanied by as much collateral damage as possible. When we are captured by a sin that we had previously escaped, Peter says, Chapter 2:22, we are like a sow which, having just been washed clean, heads directly to the pig sty – rejecting that cleansing that is so freely offered and so effectively applied.

 

But this letter that we call 2 Peter isn’t a lecture telling us that we must be good and we mustn’t be bad. That will come.[3]  This letter is a promise. This letter promises that we can be delivered from the things that are trying to separate us from our peace and our sanity. This letter tells us that we can be delivered from our addictions, self-righteousness, self-indulgence, and greed. We can be restored to wholeness and holiness and God will not give up on us until we all have had our chance. [4]  God is patient. He is perseverance personified.

 

If there is some sin or addiction trying to drag your life away from you, don’t give up. Keep keeping on. God wants you to succeed and to be free from it. He is patient with you (3:9). He does not wish that any of us should perish in our struggles. He desires that we should all turn away from and be free of that which is trying to destroy us.

 

God won’t destroy the earth by fire prematurely. Just like the Amorites were given four hundred years grace before He eventually removed them from His land; and just like the Israelites were given the same warnings in the same land, generation after generation, before He eventually removed them from His land; and just like the people of Noah’s generation were not removed from the land until every inclination of their heart was only towards evil all the time, so too in these last times. When everything else had been done, God finally cleansed the earth with floodwaters. [5] Only when everything else has been done, will He cleanse the earth with fire. The Lord is not slow in bringing this concluding fire and resulting renewal. He will give us every opportunity to be free of all that tries to enslave us before He scrunches up, like a paper, this world of sin that tries to ensnare us, and tosses it in the bin, into the fireplace. God will not end any of our time here before we have all the time and every opportunity to experience the freedom that only comes from serving God. He doesn’t want any of us to miss out on His peace, His love and forgiveness.

 

Peter encourages all of us. As sure as the fires are burning across our world today, people are perishing in many ways – help them. People are struggling with many things – help them.

 

When the world does eventually get so bad that there is nothing left in it but only evil inclinations all the time and God does cleanse it with fire, He promises that even then He will create the world anew: new heavens and a new earth. He promises that in these new heavens and on this new earth there will be no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more suffering, and no more death (Rev 24:4). This is something to look forward to - but don’t worry. The Lord is not being slow in bringing these new heavens and the new earth; He loves us all so much that He wants to make sure that everyone who wants to be present in the new heavens and on the new earth, He wants to make sure that everyone who desires to be a part of His eternal kingdom of love and forgiveness can and will be a part of His eternal kingdom of love and forgiveness. All the same, He is not slow to come. He is coming soon.

 

It is to this end that I really encourage each of us today: if you know someone who is struggling, reach out to them. If you see someone who is suffering, reach out to them. If you are struggling, as it is possible, reach out to someone; if you are suffering, reach out to the Lord. For as we come to Lord and as we bring each other to the Lord, He will transform us, making each of us anew, even before He makes the whole world anew, so that even now - in the midst of the very real challenges of our lives - we can start to live new whole, holy and peaceful lives that will continue on in love and peace for now and eternity - even unto the new heavens and the new earth.

 

Let us pray.

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[1] Doug Oss and Thomas R. Schreiner, 2 Peter3:4-6, in ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, Illinois: Good News Publishers, 2008), 2422.

[2] Captain Michael Ramsay, The Nipawin Journal, "What is My Responsibility to the Environment?" (September 2008) Available on-line: http://sheepspeak.com/sasknews.htm#environment And cf. Laird Harris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Leviticus/Exposition of Leviticus/IX. Laws of Land Use (25:1-55), Book Version: 4.0.2

[3] Tokunboh Adeyemo, Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1554: By the Yoruba of Western Nigeria, “Faith is regarded as a gift that brings salvation. But accepting this gift has consequences...We do not receive faith without it taking something away from us. It will take away sorcery, idolatry, adultery, witchcraft, and the like.”

[4] Cf. Duane F. Watson, 2 Peter, (NIB XII: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1998), p. 353

[5] The story of Noah demonstrates God’s ability and desire to deliver the righteous even in the most extreme circumstances. Cf. Pheme Perkins, First and Second Peter, James, and Jude, (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1995), 183.

2 Peter 1:3-11: Keep Your Stick on the Ice!

Presented to Swift Current Corps on 06 March 2011

By Captain Michael Ramsay

There has been a lot of civil unrest and other things in the world lately: Let’s have a bit of a quiz to see if you can identify the incidents in the press:

• This country is now under military rule after their President Mubarak who had won 5 consecutive elections was ousted. (Egypt)
• This country issued warrant for its past President and its Prime Minister resigned this week. (Tunisia)
• Civil unrest continues in this country and the American Military surrounded the nation this week; Canada even sent the HMCS Charlottetown there. (Libya)
• A Canadian man has recently been abducted by the Taliban in this country. (Afghanistan)
• I read a headline also this week that says this country invades Denmark. Who invades Denmark? (Holland)

The headline read: Holland Invades Denmark. Sounds scary. Anybody know what the story was about? What the article is really about though is a little less scary: The Canadian women’s curling championship, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, was this past week. For those who don’t know  - Skip Amber Holland and her team of curlers from Saskatchewan won the tournament; so now Holland and her team are off to the world championships that are held in Denmark this year; thus Holland invades Denmark.

Today’s scripture reading – I think has a lot to do with team work and identifying with a team and what it takes to win as a team and how you identify people who are on a team.

Let’s see how we can do at this? Can we identify these teams?

 

 

• Team Canada Men’s Hockey celebrating their medals.

• Swift Current Indians celebrating their championship.

• Saskatchewan Roughriders practicing adding.

How do we identify teams? What do they have in common? They all play the same sport, usually play different positions, they wear the same uniforms, they practice together, they usually play at the same level – juniors play juniors, seniors play seniors, amateurs play amateurs, pros play pros: our Swift Current Broncos of the WHL for example aren’t going to challenge for the Stanley Cup with the professionals – actually they probably aren’t even going to challenge for the memorial cup with the juniors anytime soon but that is another story …

2 Peter 1:3-11 that we are looking at here talks a little bit about what it is like to play for Christ’s team. We remember 1 Peter that we have been looking at these past few weeks. In 1 Peter we are encouraged as to how to act and interact with outsiders, with the world in general.[1] Peter was instructing people to be holy as God is holy and how to stand fast in the grace of God in the midst of the world around us (1 Peter 1:15, 5:12; cf. John 17:14-18, James 1:27).

Today we are looking at 2 Peter. Both 1 and 2 Peter are occasional letters that were meant to be passed around to different church groups in different cities (cf. also Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27; Revelation 1:3 for evidence of the practice).[2] 2 Peter was likely written by the same author as 1 Peter. There is good reason to believe that the Apostle Simon Peter wrote 1 and 2 Peter– for one reason, it says so right at the beginning of each of these letters (1 Peter 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1).^[3]  Both letters were probably written to churches in the Roman province of Asia, which is in modern day Turkey. And these letters would then need to have been written sometime before 68 CE or so because 68 CE was probably when the Roman government executed the Apostle Peter.[4]

Where the letter 1 Peter addressed the question of being holy in our dealings with the outside world, 2 Peter addresses how to interact as insiders[5] – which isn’t that much different by the way. This letter even tells us that there will be imposters posing as insiders, as our teammates who are in reality working for world, for the other side (and they might not even know it; see 2 Peter 2). 2 Peter is very concerned with both how to identify our true teammates and how to keep on playing as a team for Jesus (1 Peter 1:5-9; 2:1-22). This letter is like a hockey coach’s talk to his team as they head into the 3^rd period of game 7 of the Stanley Cup final – or the final encouraging words in the fourth quarter of a big game to the Roughriders from their math tutor. These are words that are supposed to motivate them and get them going.

2 Peter 1:3-4: “His [Jesus’] divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life 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, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

This paragraph is exciting and it is very much like 1 Peter that we have just finished looking at. It says that we can be free from the burden of sin (cf. TSA SB 281). We can be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:13); we can even participate in the divine nature of God himself -not through our own efforts- but through Jesus Christ and this is exciting (2 Peter 1:4; cf. John 1:12, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10, Hebrews 12:10, 1 John 3:2). God called us to be saved. God called us to be saved from our sins. We no longer need to be a slave to sin; instead we can be free from the power of sin (cf. Hebrews 10:19-40, Romans 8:9-17; cf. TSA d.7, d.10). We can be holy and this is good news (cf. 1 Peter 1:15, Leviticus 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7; cf. also Psalm 89:35, Matthew 5:48, 2 Corinthians 13, Colossians 1:28, Hebrews 11-12).

I’ll skip down to Verses 10 And 11. Here Peter writes, “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things [from verses 5-9 which we will look at in a moment], you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10-11; cf. Philippians 3:16; cf. also cf. TSA d.7, d.9, d.10).

This is neat. Verses 3 and 4 and Verses 10 and 11 are the bread of the gospel sandwich that contains the meat or the peanut butter and jelly of Verses 5-9. Verses 3 and 4 and 10 and 11 tell us that Jesus Christ has called us and has made it so that we can indeed be saved and be holy and that as we do the things listed in Verses 5-9, then there is absolutely no reason why we wouldn’t, Verse 11, “receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Doctrine 10 of The Salvation Army states, “We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Peter is encouraging us to keep on keeping on. Peter is encouraging us to keep on going (cf. 2 Peter 1:15, 3:14; cf. also Philippians 3:12-14). Apparently in the time that this letter was written there were people in the Christian community who did not believe that Jesus was coming back soon. They believed that if he was going to come back soon then he would have come back already. Because they didn’t believe that he was coming back soon, they were telling their friends from church that it really didn’t matter what were their actions.[6] It didn’t really matter. ‘Jesus isn’t coming back tomorrow so if you just do what you think is right in your own eyes, if you aren’t overly concerned about doing what is right, it will be okay’, they’d say, ‘He’ll forgive you’. Some of the actions that people had given up upon becoming Christians, such as attending business dinners or social functions in pagan temples, they were starting to return to.[7] They were slowing ceasing to separate themselves from the profane elements of a pagan culture.

We see and hear this same sort of thing today, don’t we? I’m not going to go on today about the epicureans or their modern near equivalent, the secularists;[8] but are there ways in which we in the churches are tempted to slide back into the ways of the world? How many times are we tempted to cut holiness corners, so to speak, figuring that God understands; God will forgive us? ‘I’m late for work; God will understand if I speed just this once’: one holiness corner cut. ‘I have heard some really important news; God will forgive me if I share it with someone – even if it is gossip – they really need to know’: another holiness corner cut. ‘Jesus isn’t coming back in the next couple of moments while I am filing my tax returns, he won’t care if I don’t declare this money that I earned under the table.’ Or another holiness corner that people tend to cut all the time: how about this one? ‘God doesn’t care if I don’t at tithe at least 10%; I need the money more that Jesus does right now. I can’t even afford to make ends meet.’ This is the sort of trap that Peter is encouraging us to avoid here (1 Peter 1:5-9). He says in effect don’t cut holiness corners!

I remember when in university, I was a janitor. I was diligent in refusing to work Sundays which I claimed for religious reasons at least on one occasion but – as my boss wasn’t with me when I worked - I would often finish my four hours of work in two hours and go home two hours early and still write down four hours on my pay timesheet. You know how you know when some things just aren’t right but you do them anyway? I don’t know what bothered me most about leaving after only 2 hours and consistently writing 4 hours on my time sheet that I still remember it now, 20 plus years later. I don’t know whether it was the fact that I was technically cheating my boss or the idea that I was letting God down or the reality that the security guard who always saw me leave early inevitably asked me everyday what God would say about my leaving early? When we cut holiness corners like this, we are giving Christians a bad name. When we aren’t giving holiness, salvation, and God 100%, we are making God look bad because people associate Him with us.  When we do this, we are like athletes on a team who believe that the game is out of reach for their opponents; who believe that their position is secure. It is like the team who is so far ahead in the standings that they don’t think that anyone can possibly catch them – they already have enough points to be the league champions. They have the star player on their team who has basically already assured them of victory so the other members of the team, they stop playing. They figure that their star player has already assured them the victory so they stop putting in the 110% that athletes like to say is expected of them.

While it is true that the race for the Cup of Everlasting Life is already secured and that Jesus has already scored the penultimate goal, giving us everything we need for a godly life; Coach Peter tells us that that doesn’t mean that we can stop playing because if professional athletes quit playing they can find themselves traded or sent to the minors and then even though the victory is already guaranteed, even though their team is to be awarded the cup, if they are no longer playing for the team, they won’t experience the victory (Romans 13:11-14; cf. TSA d. 9).[9]

Jesus is God –2 Peter 2:3 – and He has already given us everything that we need for a godly life. He secured the victory for His team which [hopefully] we are on. We don’t need to sin. We don’t need to fail. Christ has already won the championship and secured the victory. We have already received everything that we need for a godly life through simply knowing Jesus and being on his team.  And Jesus himself is the one who called us to play on his team (2 Peter 1:3; cf. 1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 17:14). Because Jesus himself has given us absolutely everything that we need for this godly life, we don’t need to give into sin or evil desires anymore instead we can - Verse 4 – we can be like God. As athlete on the Christians’ team, we should play like Christ!

This is the beginning of the Coach Peter’s spiel. In the letter to the Christians in Asia in the first century and to us here today, Coach Peter is telling us that we can do it, as Christ has done it (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). Christ has already secured us the cup. We can experience the victory with Christ when the season is finally over. The championship is ours for the taking; provided we just don’t give up, quit the team, or get ourselves sent down to the minors because we have quit playing for the team.[10] Keep your eye on the ball, Peter says. Keep your stick on the ice, Peter says. Keep your head up, Peter says. Give 110%, Peter says. The victory is ours, Peter says, Verses 5-9.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; [Coach Peter says, Verse] 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; [Coach Peter says, Verse] 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love [Coach Peter says. Verse] 8, For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 9: But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

Coach Peter is telling us that this season’s championship is in reach for us. Jesus has secured us the victory. All we need to do is keep playing, keep giving our 110%, and stay on God’s team. Keep seeking God with all our heart and mind and live up to what we have already obtained simply by being with Jesus who loves us. When we love someone, such as a husband, a wife, a child; we don’t want anyone to hurt them. We, ourselves, want to do everything we can for those we love not so that they will love us any more than they already do but because we do love them as much as we do; we naturally do these acts of love for those dear to us simply because we love them. It is the same Christ as we love Him; Verses 5-9 again:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

The game is almost over, in just a little while the final whistle will sound and we, Coach Peter says – so long we don’t quit playing and thus get traded to another team or sent to the minors – as we remain on Christ’s team, everything will be okay; we will be crowned champions with Jesus Christ at the end of the day. As we are huddled around Coach Peter now in the text with time ticking off the clock; Coach Peter says, just keep your stick on the ice, play your heart out, don’t give up and the we will experience that victory that Christ, our Lord, has already won for us for eternity. 2 Peter 1:10-11, “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, [let us] make every effort to confirm your [our] calling and election. For if you [we] do these things, you [we] will never stumble, and you [we] will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Let us pray.

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[1] Donald W. Burdick and  John H. Skilton ‘Introduction to 2 Peter’, in NIV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), 1938.

[2] Cf. Edwin A. Blum, ‘The Expositor's Bible Commentary’, Pradis CD-ROM:1 Peter/Introduction to 1 Peter/Literary Form of 1 Peter, Book Version: 4.0.2

^[3]Michael Green, ‘2 Peter and Jude: An Introduction and Commentary’, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 18), S. 30: “It is unfortunate to find in many commentaries on 2 Peter a virtual abandonment of the normal criteria used for establishing the authenticity of any other ancient document—for example, the Letters of Plato. There is a clear methodology among literary critics, and that is to allow the text to speak for itself. It is then considered whether the grammar, style, contents, what the letter claims and what the author says or implies about himself contradict the putative authorship. If not, the claim is allowed to stand. Nothing has been demonstrated in the language, style or content of 2 Peter which falsifies the claim that it is a mid-first-century ad letter, deriving from Simon Peter.”

[4] Simon J. Kistemaker, ‘Commentary the First Epistle of Peter’ (NTC: Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2007), 99.

[5] Donald W. Burdick and John H. Skilton, 1938.

[6] Duane F. Watson, ‘The Second Letter of Peter’ (NIB XII: Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1962), 325.

[7] Duane F. Watson, 325.

[8] Cf. Jerome Neyrey, ‘2 Peter, Jude’ (Anchor Bible 37C: New York: Doubleday & Co.: 1993), 122-128

[9] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Victory: The Final Whistle (Romans 13:11-14)’, presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on December 02, 2007 and to Swift Current Corps on August 16, 2009. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/victory-final-whistle-romans-1311-14.html

[10] Cf. Pheme Perkins, ‘First and Second Peter, James, and Jude’ (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky, USA: John Knox Press, 1995), 170.