Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:3-9)

Many great tales in our world are woven of the stuff that 2 Peter references. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is one of them. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Galadriel speaks of the ring of power, and says: “some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.”

Tolkien speaks through Galadriel here of something quite commonplace. Us human folk can live no where else but in the present moment we inhabit. So events of the distant past and promises given for the future can equally pass from history, to legend, to myth, to becoming lost entirely.

This is what Peter confronts. The line between remembering and forgetting is very thin indeed. All it takes is a few people to question the narrative, to buck the norms, to “reinterpret” things according to their liking for the foundation underneath our feet to unravel. In nothing more than the serpent’s words from Eden, whole worlds of meaning and cohesion can be undone. A wee seed of doubt: “did God really say…?” That’s all it takes.

The serpent’s voice echoes in the words of the scoffers (and in the words of Morgoth and Sauron in Tolkien’s world). The lie enters when Peter’s scoffers ask “where is this ‘coming’ [Jesus] promised?” It is an argument from silence, or an ad hominem attack against God’s faithfulness—logical fallacies we are warned not to entertain.

Peter responds that these scoffers have made a deliberate choice to forget the scriptures and the Word of God that created the world, spoke in judgement and in redemption in the days of Noah, and that has decreed an end to history when all will be set right and made well in the cleansing and justice-bringing of God.

Peter invites us to make a different choice: to deliberately choose to remember what we have received in the scriptures instead of forgetting it. God is still faithful to his promises. Jesus will come again.

One other doubt is addressed here too though. We tend to find God’s judgement too indecent and, well, “judgemental” for modern consumption. Yet don’t all our most satisfying stories and movies still end with a “putting things right” that resolves the narrative tension? And when they don’t—like in the movie Marriage Story that matches our modern sensibilities of “no resolution please”—we’re left with nothing more than a discordant, restless malaise. Yuck.

Peter writes to remind us both that the scriptures are a reliable witnesses to His-story (God’s), but also that this God in whom we have believed is a Good God. His desire in judgement is not to punish, but in his patient, merciful forbearance to restore all people to himself. The narrative tension will be resolved to justice, but God is willing to wait long years and ages for a positive resolution. Will we wait as patiently as God, in hope and trust that the one who began this work will see it through? Peter invites us to, even as he sends us out with a blessing.

Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. (2 Peter 3:1-2)

Remember what Peter said in chapter 1 about the importance of remembering? Peter isn’t so sure you do—so here come those memory words again! Over the course of this chapter, more encouragements are given to shore up our memory and stave off our forgetfulness.

In case you forgot you were reading 2 Peter—Peter is here to tell you. And he doesn’t only wish to tell you that he has written, but why. These letters are “reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.” He wants us to “recall” the scriptures—both Old and New Testaments such as they were in his day—and so be grounded again in a firm foundation from which a wholesome life in Christ can be imagined and lived.

The Christian life is a life of apprenticeship to Jesus as we come to know him more deeply through the Bible and conversations with him directly in prayer. There is nothing new or fancy or complicated about it. So Peter hammers home the same thing again and again. “Recall the words” of the scriptures, he says.

Of course, this reminder needs to be given, because it is so easy to take all that God has done for granted as we (again) talked about yesterday. Precisely because we are “free in Christ,” there is no whip on our back driving our obedience or coercing our response. Instead comes an invitation: “remember and believe.” “Recall.” “Let your mind be stimulated to the wholesome virtues that are the gifts of Christ” as you remember all God has given you through these letters.

Remember, remember, remember. Peter drums away at the theme. A broken record that repeats the things we already know over and over is no sin, because knowing something in the deep ways of habit and muscle memory takes exactly this: time, attention, and repetition. So today, if you’ve already forgotten the list of virtues to add to your faith—go back and read it again. Start right at chapter 1, verse 1 and recall again what you already know: the “everything” that God has given us to make his calling in our lives sure.

Against the false teaching we heard about in the previous chapter, ultimately what Peter offers here in these reminders is the ability to come back to ourselves—to remember what we have known, to return to our first love, and think again on what we have first believed. The world is full of distractions that put us to sleepy forgetfulness. This letter comes to us as the whisper that awakens prodigal daughters and sons from their sleepwalking to recall the home of the Father with its lavish gifts and place of belonging. It is the invitation to come home.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master. Grow in the grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Amen! (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18 MSG).

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text of Matthew 6:5-15. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

DIVE IN QUESTIONS:

1. How does “At Home” describe our praying?

2. There are two things Jesus tells us not to do when we pray. What are they? Can you name examples in which the Christian community disregards these instructions?

3. What three words did Martin Luther use to summarize how we should pray? (HINT: they each begin with C)

4. What three words were used to summarize the intent of the Lord’s prayer? (HINT: they each begin with S).

5. How does “At Home” describe the Lord’s Prayer?

6. What two specific things can you to help you practice the pattern Jesus lays out for us?