Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

God as chosen and call His people for a purpose – that they may be like the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And what’s more is that God desires for us to know that we have been called and chosen for godliness. So Peter says, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure.” But how are we to make our calling and election sure? Peter tells us in verses 5-7.

Today is celebrated as Ascension Sunday throughout the Christian Church, marking the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father as Lord and King of all. In an important sense, this celebration marks the day on which all that Jesus did in this world was fulfilled. He was born as Lord, lived as Lord, died as Lord, rose as Lord, but the ascension marks His enthronement as Lord. In this sense, we can speak of Jesus arriving where His entire life was aiming toward. Or using the language of our sermon text, in the ascension, Jesus found His life.

Today we are commemorating the Lord’s Ascension into Heaven, the time when He received universal dominion, absolute and unfettered, from the hand of His Father. But we must never forget that His Ascension is built on the bedrock of His Descent. We are told that He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. One of those gifts is the privilege of imitating Him in this pattern—true glorification is always set on the granite foundation of sacrificial suffering.

Peter is preparing is readers for a battle with false teachers, sexual invasion, persecution, corruption in the church. Peter will get to these battles in chapter 2 and 3. But we first my be armed with the knowledge of God, and what he has done for his people. Right knowledge leads to right living. The church needs courage to face these challenges. A corrupt people, both of mind and life, will not be a courageous people.

1. Peter’s Confidence“And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:192. Sense of Urgency“...knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me." 2 Peter 1:143. What is coming shortly?New Heaven and New Earth“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create;For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing,And her people a joy." Isaiah 65:25End of the Age"But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14The Day of the Lord"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." 2 Peter 3:104. What is Peter’s exhortation based on this urgency?“'For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,' says the Lord, 'as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites,” says the Lord.'" Isaiah 66:18-21

As Peter has done throughout the letter, he calls Christians to look to Christ, to be like Christ, to act like Christ. In this final chapter, he does this again, and we are to be like Jesus the Shepherd––humble and glorious. To imitate the Shepherd, Peter gives two primary exhortations. The elders are to shepherd the flock of God (vs. 1-4), and the flock of God is to resist the devil who is a roaring lion (vs. 8-9). How are church leaders to shepherd the flock and how is the flock to resist this lion? The answer lies in the middle verses, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (vs. 6). As the church follows our Chief Shepherd, we follow him both into his humility and into his glory.

"Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed" (1 Timothy 4:1-6).Teaching of Demons: The LieThe Good Teaching of Jesus Christ: The TruthThe Good Confession: The Goal

The apostle Paul wanted to sing in the Spirit, but wanted to sing with the mind also (1 Cor. 14:15). In a similar way, we come here week after week to worship God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, empowered by the Spirit of God. But it is important for us to understand what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Otherwise we will drift into a mindless routine—which is quite distinct from a Spirit-led routine.

Dr. Michael McClenahan is an Irish Presbyterian minister and Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological College. He has degrees in Jurisprudence, Theology, and Ecclesiastical History from the University of Oxford, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on the theology of Jonathan Edwards. He is the author of Jonathan Edwards and Justification by Faith (Ashgate, 2012). This academic year he is the holder of the New Saint Andrews Lectureship.

The Problem of Pain is a well known booklet written by C. S. Lewis making the argument for why a good God would allow pain in His universe. One aspect of his argument is our culture’s confusion between kindness and love. We prize kindness with the view that we would prefer a God with more of a benign “grandfatherly” kindness over a father’s disciplinary love. The difference is mainly one of outcome. The former is seen as just watching over us to keep us content and happy, the latter is focused on making us good using whatever means are necessary to achieve that benefit. Lewis in his chapter on God’s Divine Goodness puts it this way:“When we want to be something other than the thing God wants us to be, we must be wanting what, in fact, will not make us happy.”Given how much Peter deals with existing and anticipated suffering in his letters, approaching this with the right calculus is extremely important. I’ve labeled it using God’s new math.