Grow in holiness

It would be reasonably fair to say that when we read a passage like 2 Peter 3, our imaginations are most probably captured by those things that speak about the end of days:

The return of Christ.
The final judgment of humanity.
God's judgment upon, and destruction of, this world.
The creation of a new heaven and earth.

But even though Peter talks about all of these things, that isn't really Peter's main point at all. He merely speaks about all of this because he acknowledges that there are those, or there will be those, who reject it all. Those who say that the return of Christ will never happen. After all, it has now been nearly two-thousand years since the death and resurrection of Jesus, and yet, there has been no return, so why worry?

But Peter's main point isn't about the return of Christ or the end of the world. He isn't trying to prove that this will happen. He isn't trying to convince these Christians that Jesus is coming back.

For Peter, these things are going to happen. They are a given. They are a promise by Jesus himself, and, for Peter, that settles the argument, no matter what anybody else says, and no matter how long it takes. And Peter knows that this is a sure and certain event because he was there when Jesus said in Mark 13:24-27:

But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

And Jesus' entire message in Matthew 24, which parallels Mark 13, and which Peter also heard, is all about his coming again and the end of the age.

And right after this, in Matthew 25 Jesus tells us the Parable of the Ten Virgins as a warning to us that we must be ready for his return.[1]
He then gives us the Parable of the Talents to challenge us to use the gifts, abilities, and opportunities that God has given to us until the day of his return.[2]
And, finally, Jesus gives us the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats to warn us that there is a coming day of judgement, a day of accountability, when we must all stand before Christ and give an account of our lives to him.[3]

And so, when Peter says in 2 Peter 3:2:

[I desire] that you remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour spoken through your apostles.

It is those things found in Matthew 24-25 that he wants us to recall, to keep before us, and to let the truths of Jesus found in Matthew 24-25 guide us in our discipleship.

To be ready.
To be working.
Because we are all accountable to God for everything we say, and everything that we do, or, as the Parable of the Sheep and Goats reminds us, we are also accountable for everything that we should do, but don't do.

And so, for Peter, the return of Christ was a given. There was no question about whether or not it was going to happen, for it is going to happen. Jesus is coming back. Of course, Peter didn't know when, just like we don't know when, but he knew that it was going to happen.

And so, Peter's main concern was not trying to figure out "when". The "scoffers" that Peter talked about were only concerned about the "when", for they said in 2 Peter 3:4:

Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!

"When is it going to happen? Come on, let us know!" And Peter's answer essentially is:

I don't know 'when'. And I won't know ‘when’. But what I do know is that it will happen, because God says that it will happen, and God's timetable is not my timetable.

That is, Christ will return when Christ returns. Not one second sooner, and not one second later.

[For] with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.[4]

And these scoffers that Peter talked about were not the first ones to ask "when", for we read in Acts 1:6 that, after the resurrection, the Apostles themselves asked Jesus:

Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?

Is this going to be the end? Are you bringing it all to a close now? Are you going to make a new heaven and a new earth now? And what did Jesus answer?

It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.[5]

The 'when' is not your worry, your concern, or your business. You have a task to do, so be busy with the task that you have, and leave the 'when' up to God.

And what is that task? What is that mission that he has for us, the mission that we are to be busy doing? Jesus says in the very next verse that this task is:

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.[6]

In other words, Jesus' message to them in both Matthew and in Acts is:

Don't worry about the 'when', just get on with the work. With the task, the mission, the purpose that you have of sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ with the world.

And this is what Peter is talking about.

He is reminding us that Jesus is coming back, so what are you going to do about it?
The end of the world is coming, so how will this truth impact upon your life?
We must all stand before Christ and give an account of how we lived, and what we said, so what difference will this make to how we live, and to what we say?

And that is Peter's primary challenge to us in 2 Peter 3. And so, after going through various things concerning the return of Christ:

The creation of the world, and then the destruction of the world in the flood,[7] as well as the future destruction of the world by fire.[8]
The reminder that God's timetable is not the same as ours.[9]
The fact that the return of Christ will be "like a thief", and the only reason that he is delayed is because he is giving people the chance to repent and to believe.[10]
And then he gives yet another reminder that the present world will be destroyed by fire.[11]

After all of that, Peter then asks us the question in 2 Peter 3:11:

Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be?

That is, in light of the coming of Christ, in light of the final judgment, in light of the "new heaven and new earth",[12] how should we live?

What difference should all of this make to our lives today, here, in this place?
What difference should it make in our homes, in our workplaces, in our community?
What difference should the return of Christ make in our families, and in our relationships?

I mean, if the return of Christ is so important, so central to our faith that not only did Jesus talk about it, but Peter, John, and Paul all emphasised it, repeated it, and used it in their preaching and encouragement of the churches, if the return of Christ is that important, then what difference should it make to how we live?

And what was Peter's answer? He goes on to say:

what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.[13]

Peter says that our response to the return of Christ should be "holiness". Our response to the return of Christ should be "godliness".

But what does it mean to live a "holy life"? He tells us that we “should live a holy life”, that we should be godly, but what would this type of life look like? What does it mean to be holy? He answers that in 2 Peter 3:14:

Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things. . .

That is, waiting for the return of Christ and the new heaven and earth.

While you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish.

In other words, the doctrine of the return of Christ should push us, not to speculation about "when" or "signs of the times", but the doctrine about the return of Christ should push us to an ever-greater holiness. An ever-greater spotlessness, blamelessness, and peace with God. Or, as he says in 2 Peter 3:1:

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.[14]

That should be our response to our understanding that Jesus is coming back. The return of Christ should drive us towards an ever-greater desire for holiness, and it should drive us to an ever-greater growth in holiness. As one pastor I had once said:

I want to grow to be so like Jesus in this life, that when he returns and I become fully like him, I won't be able to tell the difference.

In other words, I want to be holy. Not just a "little bit holy", but I want to be "holy as God is holy".[15] Not a holiness that will ease my guilty conscience, but a holiness that is like Jesus in every way.

A holiness that loves God with its entire being.
A holiness that loves my neighbour as myself.
A holiness that gives of itself, that serves, that follows God wherever, whenever, and however God directs.

That is the holiness that I long for. That is the holiness that I desire. I want the character of God, the holiness of God to be displayed in everything I say. I want the character of God to be displayed in everything I do. I want to be like Jesus in my life.

And that is the goal, isn't it, to be like Jesus. As Paul said in Romans 8:29a:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.

What did Paul say was God's goal for us? To be conformed to the image of his son. To be like Jesus. And that is the measure of holiness we should seek after. The holiness of Jesus. To be like Jesus.

Do you remember the song:

To be like Jesus.

All I ask, To be like him.

All through life's journey.

From earth to glory.

All I ask, to be like him.

Is that what you desire? That is Peter’s desire for you, and that is what God has planned for you, and so John can say in 1 John 3:2-3:

Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

When Jesus returns, at the end of the age, at the end of the world, at the beginning of the New Heaven and Earth, what will we be like? We will be like Christ; we shall see him as he is!

And because of that future hope, that future glory, that future transformation - in this life today, I want to be pure, as he is pure. I want to be holy, as he is holy. I want to be like Jesus, now.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

And the common theme throughout these various passages is transformation. Christlikeness. Holiness.

That is Peter's goal for us, Peter's encouragement to all of us as he talks, not only about the return of Christ, but as he talks about the difference that the return of Christ should make to our lives. The difference that it should make to how we live for Jesus every day. For this was the emphasis of Jesus in Matthew 25, and this should be our emphasis as well. What are we doing, how are we living, what change, what difference does it make to us that Jesus is coming back, and that we must stand before him?

There is a marvellous book, written in the early 1980's, called The Philippian Fragment.[16] And the subtitle of the book is: The More Things Change – The More They Stay the Same. It is a totally fictional work, set in second or third century Philippi. But one of the stories in it is about the time when the women's Bible study group was studying the Second Coming of Christ. And in their study they looked at the signs, the events, the timetables, and the theories. And a certain number said, "it is all going to happen in this way". And the exact same number said, "no! It is going to happen in that way". But there was one hold out, one lady who wasn't so sure. And, of course, they had to have a final decision about "how" and "when" Jesus was going to return, for that is all important, isn't it?

Well one day, as the pastor was talking with her, he said to her, "Phoebe, what is your decision? What do you think? Are you ever going to make up your mind? Do you want to be sitting on the fence on this issue when Jesus returns?"

And, as the story goes, she looks across at a group of lepers, sitting on the ground with open wounds, hungry, dejected, and rejected. And she points at this group of lepers and says, "that is where I want to be sitting". And she goes over and feeds them, cares for them, and brings them comfort, peace, love, and hope.

But what about us? Where do we want to be when Jesus returns? What do we want to be found doing when Jesus returns? What do we long for our lives, our characters to be like when Jesus returns? That is the real question, the most important question of all, isn't it?

And so, Peter challenges us with that same question. He makes it clear that the return of Christ is a given fact. We don't, we can't, know when it will be, but we do know that it will be. Jesus will return. And so, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:11:

Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness.

And he tells us in 2 Peter 3:14:

Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish.

Holiness of life. Holiness of character. Holiness in our thoughts, actions, and desires should be our goal. But is it?

However, there is an important first step in all of this desire for holiness.

And what is that important first step?

Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:9 when he says:

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

The first step to holiness is repentance and faith.

Repentance: turning from your sin and turning to God.
And faith: trusting the promise of God that when Jesus died on the cross for sins, it was your sins he was dying for, and that through faith in him, you can have forgiveness, new life, and salvation.

That is the first step towards holiness. That is the first step towards being prepared for the return of Christ, which, of course, is what the Parable of the Ten Virgins is all about.

On my bookshelf I have a biography of John and Charles Wesley.[17] These were two men who strove greatly after holiness. They fasted. They prayed. They gave. They visited the sick and the imprisoned. They preached. They were ordained. They went as missionaries to America. And yet, the holiness that they longed for eluded them, and they were very much afraid of death and judgment. Charles Wesley later wrote the reason why. He said:

I was trying to be sanctified, before I was justified.[18]

I was trying to be holy, before I had been made right with God through faith in Jesus. I was trying to get into heaven by my own efforts, instead of trusting in Jesus Christ, and his work on the cross.

And so, Peter writes to us, in the middle of all of this talk about the end of the world and holiness, he writes to us and reminds us of the very first step to assurance, to certainty at the return of Christ. And that first step is a right standing with God through turning to Jesus Christ. He says:

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.[19]

God wants us to be holy, for sure, but the first step to holiness, is repentance.

The first step to holiness is faith in Jesus Christ.
The first step to holiness is to turn from going our own way, to going his way.
The first act of preparation for the return of Christ, for judgement, is trusting in Jesus.

And holiness, right living, faithfulness to Christ, all of these flow from that initial justification; that initial declaration by God that we are "right" in his sight. For it is only when we are right in the eyes of God, that can we ever do what is right in the eyes of God.

Where do you stand?

Have you turned from your sins and are you trusting in Jesus Christ as saviour? If you haven’t, I challenge you, I encourage you to turn to Christ today and find in him forgiveness and eternal life.

And if you have trusted Christ as saviour, are you continuing to live for him every day? Are you seeking after holiness? Is your goal, as Jesus said in Matthew 25, is your goal to be ready? To be working? To be faithful?

If not, then let us turn from our half-hearted Christianity, let us turn to Jesus with our entire being, and let us be holy. Let us be transformed. Let us become more and more like Jesus, so that when he returns, we are not ashamed before him.[20] Let us Take time to be holy.

[1] Matthew 25:1-13

[2] Matthew 25:14-30

[3] Matthew 25:31-46

[4] 2 Peter 3:8, loosely referring to Psalm 90:4

[5] Acts 1:7

[6] Acts 1:8

[7] 2 Peter 3:5-6.

[8] 2 Peter 3:7

[9] 2 Peter 3:8

[10] 2 Peter 3:9

[11] 2 Peter 3:10

[12] 2 Peter 3:13

[13] 2 Peter 3:11b-12a

[14] NIV

[15] Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:8; 1 Peter 1:16

[16] Miller, Calvin The Philippian Fragment (Downer's Grove: IVP, 1982)

[17] Wilson, Julian The Wesleys: Two Men Who Changed the World (Franklin: Authentic Publishers, 2015)

[18] Wilson, p. 72

[19] 2 Peter 3:9

[20] 1 John 2:28

Grow in holiness

It would be reasonably fair to say that when we read a passage like 2 Peter 3, our imaginations are most probably captured by those things that speak about the end of days:

The return of Christ.

The final judgment of humanity.

God's judgment upon, and destruction of, this world.

The creation of a new heaven and earth.

But Peter's main point isn't about the return of Christ or the end of the world. He isn't trying to prove that this will happen. He isn't trying to convince these Christians that Jesus is coming back.

And Jesus' entire message in Matthew 24, which parallels Mark 13, and which Peter also heard, is all about his coming again and the end of the age.

And right after this, in Matthew 25 Jesus tells us the Parable of the Ten Virgins as a warning to us that we must be ready for his return.[1]

He then gives us the Parable of the Talents to challenge us to use the gifts, abilities, and opportunities that God has given to us until the day of his return.[2]

And, finally, Jesus gives us the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats to warn us that there is a coming day of judgement, a day of accountability, when we must all stand before Christ and give an account of our lives to him.[3]

And so, when Peter says in 2 Peter 3:2:

[I desire] that you remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour spoken through your apostles.

It is those things found in Matthew 24-25 that he wants us to recall, to keep before us, and to let the truths of Jesus found in Matthew 24-25 guide us in our discipleship.

To be ready.

To be working.

Because we are all accountable to God for everything we say, and everything that we do, or, as the Parable of the Sheep and Goats reminds us, we are also accountable for everything that we should do, but don't do.

And so, for Peter, the return of Christ was a given. There was no question about whether or not it was going to happen, for it is going to happen. Jesus is coming back. Of course, Peter didn't know when, just like we don't know when, but he knew that it was going to happen.

And so, Peter's main concern was not trying to figure out "when". The "scoffers" that Peter talked about were only concerned about the "when", for they said in 2 Peter 3:4:

Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!

"When is it going to happen? Come on, let us know!" And Peter's answer essentially is:

I don't know 'when'. And I won't know ‘when’. But what I do know is that it will happen, because God says that it will happen, and God's timetable is not my timetable.

That is, Christ will return when Christ returns. Not one second sooner, and not one second later.

[For] with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.[4]

And these scoffers that Peter talked about were not the first ones to ask "when", for we read in Acts 1:6 that, after the resurrection, the Apostles themselves asked Jesus:

Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?

Is this going to be the end? Are you bringing it all to a close now? Are you going to make a new heaven and a new earth now? And what did Jesus answer?

It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.[5]

The 'when' is not your worry, your concern, or your business. You have a task to do, so be busy with the task that you have, and leave the 'when' up to God.

And what is that task? What is that mission that he has for us, the mission that we are to be busy doing? Jesus says in the very next verse that this task is:

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.[6]

In other words, Jesus' message to them in both Matthew and in Acts is:

Don't worry about the 'when', just get on with the work. With the task, the mission, the purpose that you have of sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ with the world.

And this is what Peter is talking about.

He is reminding us that Jesus is coming back, so what are you going to do about it?

The end of the world is coming, so how will this truth impact upon your life?

We must all stand before Christ and give an account of how we lived, and what we said, so what difference will this make to how we live, and to what we say?

And that is Peter's primary challenge to us in 2 Peter 3. And so, after going through various things concerning the return of Christ:

The creation of the world, and then the destruction of the world in the flood,[7] as well as the future destruction of the world by fire.[8]

The reminder that God's timetable is not the same as ours.[9]

The fact that the return of Christ will be "like a thief", and the only reason that he is delayed is because he is giving people the chance to repent and to believe.[10]

And then he gives yet another reminder that the present world will be destroyed by fire.[11]

After all of that, Peter then asks us the question in 2 Peter 3:11:

Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be?

That is, in light of the coming of Christ, in light of the final judgment, in light of the "new heaven and new earth",[12] how should we live?

What difference should all of this make to our lives today, here, in this place?

What difference should it make in our homes, in our workplaces, in our community?

What difference should the return of Christ make in our families, and in our relationships?

And what was Peter's answer? He goes on to say:

what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.[13]

Peter says that our response to the return of Christ should be "holiness". Our response to the return of Christ should be "godliness".

But what does it mean to live a "holy life"? He tells us that we “should live a holy life”, that we should be godly, but what would this type of life look like? What does it mean to be holy? He answers that in 2 Peter 3:14:

Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things. . .

That is, waiting for the return of Christ and the new heaven and earth.

While you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish.

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.[14]

That should be our response to our understanding that Jesus is coming back. The return of Christ should drive us towards an ever-greater desire for holiness, and it should drive us to an ever-greater growth in holiness. As one pastor I had once said:

I want to grow to be so like Jesus in this life, that when he returns and I become fully like him, I won't be able to tell the difference.

In other words, I want to be holy. Not just a "little bit holy", but I want to be "holy as God is holy".[15] Not a holiness that will ease my guilty conscience, but a holiness that is like Jesus in every way.

A holiness that loves God with its entire being.

A holiness that loves my neighbour as myself.

A holiness that gives of itself, that serves, that follows God wherever, whenever, and however God directs.

That is the holiness that I long for. That is the holiness that I desire. I want the character of God, the holiness of God to be displayed in everything I say. I want the character of God to be displayed in everything I do. I want to be like Jesus in my life.

And that is the goal, isn't it, to be like Jesus. As Paul said in Romans 8:29a:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.

What did Paul say was God's goal for us? To be conformed to the image of his son. To be like Jesus. And that is the measure of holiness we should seek after. The holiness of Jesus. To be like Jesus.

Do you remember the song:

To be like Jesus.

To be like Jesus.

All I ask, To be like him.

All through life's journey.

From earth to glory.

All I ask, to be like him.

Is that what you desire? That is Peter’s desire for you, and that is what God has planned for you, and so John can say in 1 John 3:2-3:

Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

When Jesus returns, at the end of the age, at the end of the world, at the beginning of the New Heaven and Earth, what will we be like? We will be like Christ; we shall see him as he is!

And because of that future hope, that future glory, that future transformation - in this life today, I want to be pure, as he is pure. I want to be holy, as he is holy. I want to be like Jesus, now.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

And the common theme throughout these various passages is transformation. Christlikeness. Holiness.