2 Peter 3:3-7 The Destabilisers
There are some Christians today who object to any criticisms being made of the beliefs and practices of other Christian groups, thinking that such actions are unloving. Neither Jesus nor his apostles would agree. There are times when firmness is right. Jesus was willing to call the religious leaders of his day ‘whitewashed sepulchres’, Paul denounced the false teachers in the early church as ‘false apostles, deceitful workmen masquerading as apostles of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 11:13) and Peter, in the book we are now looking at, devotes a third of his letter to these false teachers:
“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false prophets among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies . . .” 2 Peter 2:1
Peter returns to the problem of these false teachers in today’s passage, describing them as ‘scoffers’.
“First of all you must understand this that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own desires.” 2 Peter 3:1
These false teachers scoff at the teaching of Jesus and his apostles and their motives are always selfish. In the first two verses of this chapter we have seen that ‘wholesome thinking’ is the teaching of the Bible that has been given by God’s ‘prophets’ in the Old Testament and God’s ‘apostles’ in the New Testament. No document was accepted by the early church as authoritative unless it came from one of the apostles, that small group of people who had been with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry and had been personally commissioned by him to establish his church by passing on his teaching.
‘Above all’
The subject of this letter is no trifling matter - it is of the first order of importance. Peter had used this same phrase at the beginning of the letter when discussing the origin of the Old Testament:
“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For the prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:20
Peter now uses the same phrase to stress the danger these false teachers pose; they are to be distinguished from apostolic teachers:
“First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come.” 2 Peter 3:3
With the coming of Jesus the world entered its ‘last days’, this means the Christian era. Jesus repeatedly warned against these false teachers who appear to be so attractive but are actually opposed to him, they are his enemies. Christ doesn’t recognise them because they are not teaching what God;s message. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus repeatedly warns against these false teachers:
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognise them.” Matthew 7:15
Such church leaders, who fail to act as Christ’s spokesmen, will become apparent at the last judgment:
“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evil doers.’” Matthew 7:22-23
Jesus follows up this cataclysmic statement with a warning about the significance of his words. He is saying that to reject his words, the words of God, is the root cause of separation from God.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man . . .” Matthew 7:24-27
It is of no benefit to accept a Jesus of my own liking yet reject the Jesus of history and what he taught. The authoritative words of Jesus are only passed on to us by his apostles. To build our lives on the rock is to adhere to what Jesus taught.
Scoffers
Today there are unfortunately many in our universities, theological colleges and in leading positions in society who openly reject what the apostles taught. They are contemptuous of the ancient creeds and ridicule those who hold to the apostolic teaching. What are the characteristics of these scoffers?
a. Self-centred lives
Today a common feature seen in the lives of the cynics or scoffers is self-indulgent lives. This was true in Paul’s day:
“ . . . in the last day scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” 2 Peter 3:3
Paul Johnson has written a most enlightening but provocative book called ‘Intellectuals’, In this he describes the private lives of people such as Karl Marx, Shelley, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, Victor Gollancz and others, who have influenced the thinking of our societies. Promiscuity, unwanted children and financial abuse are all too common fetures. Rejection of God inevitably leads to a personal rejection of God’s standards for the way I live.
The existence of ‘scoffers’, who reject the rule of God and build up pretentious lies to hide behind, is as old as humanity. Isaiah wrote in the 8th century B.C.:
“Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. You boast . . . ‘for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our resting place.’ So this is what the Sovereign LORD says . . .” Isaiah 28:14
The personal lives and the lives of their families are good indicators of the hearts of those who profess to lead in God’s name. You only have to look at the private lives of some modern so-called ‘healing evangelists’ and other church dignitaries, to see that dishonesty and immorality can still co-exist with popular ministries.
We must always test ourselves before God and decide what our real motives are. Many of the clergymen who are at the forefront of the movement to change sexual mores of society have openly turned their backs on what the Bible teaches, they are sceptics. False teachers may also follow Balaam, the way of greed with a religious facade. They seek preferment in the eyes of man and power in a worldly sense, instead of honour in the eyes of God. David wrote around 1000BC about those whose goal is clearly worldly success
“O Lord, by you hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life.” Psalm 17:14
b. Erroneous teaching
In Peter’s time the argument commonly used against the authority of the apostles was that what they taught, about the return of Christ, hadn’t happened. This was clearly a common concern as Paul also discussed it in his letters to churches (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15). The scoffers deduced that as Jesus hadn’t returned it is probable that he never would. Isn’t exactly the same argument used today? People argue that as Christ has not returned, he never will; and as a result they convince themselves that God’s judgment is unreal? They teach that the world just drifts along with no involvement from God; it is man who is supreme and who makes all the significant interventions and discoveries. How blind we can be. Have people not seen the miracle of the development of a baby? Why is it that there are no atheists in the heat of battle?
I remember picking up a young hitchhiker who had been a soldier in the battle of Tumbledown hill during the Falklands War. As he and his company were descending the hill down to Port Stanley they came under heavy machine gun fire and they hastily dug in. His best mate next to him had been instantly killed by a bullet in the head. He then volunteered, ‘We all prayed, even the atheists prayed!’ I did ask whether he still prayed but he replied,
“No, I don’t need to now!”
He didn’t realise that the God who had preserved his life still had to be reckoned with.
The stakes are high as we are told that to reject what the apostles’ record of Jesus’ teaching is to reject God and his salvation! Paul wrote:
“I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding on to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.” 1 Corinthians 11:2
“Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you hold firmly to what I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance . . .” 1 Corinthians 15:1-3
It is surely significant that Paul and Peter both consider the authority of the apostles as well as that of the prophets prophets to be ‘of first importance’.
Today, in our schools, universities and in the media all religions are treated as if they were equal and worthy of equal respect. Yet these religions are all so different. Is there no such thing as truth today? The origins of the religions that have sprung up since Christ leave great concern. Any impartial investigation of the origins of Islam, Mormonism or Jehovahs Witnesses should make people question why people prefer such ‘prophets’ to Jesus and his apostles. These religions may have common moral teachings but the great difference is about how people are put right with God. Religion says it is up to us to climb up to God’s righteousness, whereas Jesus teaches us that no-one can climb to God. His great news, his gospel, is that he came down to earth to die as our substitute so we can be given his righteousness simply because we belong to him.
Truth does matter. Either what Peter and the other apostles say about Jesus is true or it is a lie. There is no middle ground.
Peter had personally witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus, he knew he was God incarnate. This experience taught him that the divine Jesus was utterly different from the great prophets, Moses and Elijah, who were only human. He refers to this at the beginning of this letter:
“We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.” 2 Peter 1:16-18
Christ’s return and judgment are highly relevant for us all. If people lose sight of the fact that we will all have to give an account of our lives to a holy God then our behaviour will inevitably slip.
Scoffers often begin with a question doubting the validity of the Word of God. Right at the beginning of the Bible the first temptation faced was the question:
“Did God really say?” Genesis 3:1
Essentially the same question has repeatedly been asked ever since:
“ . . . my friends taunt me, saying to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” Psalm 42:10
This is similar to the question Peter mentioned,
“They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our father died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 2 Peter 3:4
Peter’s reply to such thinking is cutting:
“For they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word, the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.” 2 Peter 3:5-6
Peter stands unashamedly on the authority of the Word of God. He says that the same God who created this world has acted against the world of Noah’s day and one day will act again in judgment. The same God who acted in judgment against the rebellious ‘world of that time’ is still active. Any Christian following in the apostolic line will teach this today. The Scriptures are God’s authoritative Word, they always have been and always will be.
False leaders will fail to teach God’s word in its entirety. They will tend to concentrate on trying to change the political order of the day rather that change the hearts of people back to their Lord and Saviour. They will bow to the teaching of pressure groups in society rather that resolutely teach what God has taught us. They fear man more that God. Just look at how many church leaders today have succumbed to the lobby advocating promiscuity, homosexuality and same sex marriages instead of reminding people of what Jesus, his prophets and his apostles taught about how God thinks.
The Bible is clear that Jesus ‘will come again to judge the living and the dead’, and this is what the historic Christian creeds affirm.
Peter is insistent that God will act in judgment again:
“By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7
How God’s people need to recall this message and warn people that there is both a judgment and a Saviour.
Frank Jenner was a very polite elderly Australian living in Sydney. He was a retired sailor. Every day he would go down to George Street on the lookout for people he might talk to. He did this for thirty years and must have talked to around 100,000 people over this time. Corporal Murray Wilkes was in a hurry to catch a tram on George Street when a voice behind him called,
“Hey, wait!”
The well dressed stranger then politely asked,
“Soldier, would you mind if I ask you a question. I don’t mean to be rude but if you were to die tonight where would you go? Would it be heaven or hell?
“I hope I’d go to heaven,.” the corporal replied.
“Hoping isn’t enough, you can know for sure.”
This strangers question resonated through Murray Wilkes mind over the following days. He was a married , church-going man but he also knew that he was a hypocrite who had never seriously thought about his eternal destiny. He started to ask questions. Two weeks later Murray knelt in his army barracks and gave his life to Christ. This question has helped many search for answers to the meaning of life, answers that can be only be found in God’s word.
BVP
