St. Matthew’s Ev. Lutheran Church + Benton Harbor, Michigan

The 2^nd Sunday in Advent, December 5, 1999

2 Peter 3:8-14

“Look Forward to the Day of God”

By Pastor Timothy H. Buelow

⁸ 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. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. ¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. ¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

Dear Friends in Christ,

I have a confession to make. There are certain predictions Jesus made which I personally wish wouldn’t come true. Those are the ones that talk about what is going to happen to many Christians as we approach the end of days. For example, Jesus said “Many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,” and “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” (Mt 24:10,12) “…The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Ti 4:3) Jesus even asked the pregnant question: “…When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Lk 18:8)

It’s no wonder Jesus warned: “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 evildoers!’” (Mt 7:22-23) So that no one could say he wasn’t forewarned, Jesus said “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Mt 7:13-14)

St. Peter wanted his hearers to be part of that number who remained on the narrow road and entered the kingdom of heaven. By inspiration of the Holy Ghost, these words were intended for our ears and hearts as well. Peter urges us to “Look Forward to the Day of God” 1. With Repentance, 2. With Faith and 3. With Faithfulness.

1. With Repentance (v. 9)

There were scoffers already in St. Peter’s day, and he said we could expect many more. Just before our text he wrote: First of 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 fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” (2 Pet 3:3-4) Just as Peter predicted, so it is—not only among the heathen, but even more and more among those who would call themselves Christian. They may not out and out deny the coming of Jesus in judgment, although some do. Many simply live as though this world is all that counts.

Things were not good in the days of John the Baptist either. He warned his contemporaries to repent. And he didn’t mince any words in doing so: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Mt 3:7-10)

John the Baptist’s message makes it clear just what repentance entails. As the good news Bible translates that word, it means to “change the way you think and act.” It means to genuinely feel sorrow and regret over our sins. It means to turn to Jesus for forgiveness, placing all our trust in him. And it means to be a different person than we were before.

That’s the only way to be ready for the Lord when he comes. That’s why Peter says in our text: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

That “everyone” includes us. And we’ve got plenty to repent of—every day of our lives. It’s no wonder that Luther wrote in the first of his 95 Theses, that when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said “Repent!” he intended that the entire life of the Christian should be one of repentance. Every day when we go to bed, we need to fold our hands and ask God to forgive us.

“Look Forward to the Day of God” With Repentance.

2. With Faith (vv. 8,12-14)

Secondly, Peter asks us to “Look Forward to the Day of God” With Faith.

There have always been plenty of doubters, and there always will be. We don’t want to be among them. We trust Jesus. And that means we trust everything he says also. But to trust Jesus doesn’t just mean that we nod our heads and say OK. To trust Jesus means to rely on him, to count on him. It means that we take to heart what he says. Peters says that we “Look Forward to the Day of God.” If we really believe that Jesus is coming back, if we’re true looking forward to that day, then that’s going to affect our whole outlook on life.

To the whole world around us, the idea of the actually looking forward to the destruction of our planet is absolutely crazy. People don’t want to think about such a thing, because they have no desire to face their maker. The thought terrifies them. Everything they live for is in this life and this world. When our faith is weak, we sometimes think that way ourselves, and that truly ought to frighten us. We need faith. We need strong faith to face the temptations that come our way every day. All those temptations, unrelated though they may seem, are part of a well-organized, carefully orchestrated plan from our adversary the devil. They’re all aimed at just one thing—to get us to lose our faith one way or another. Sure he gets some through Mormon missionaries, or atheistic evolution teachers. But the vast majority of his prey within the church, are those he gets to simply drift away. He gets people to lose the one thing needful. He gets us to stop listening to his word. He gets us to let our Bibles sit on the shelf only to be dusted once a week so the tell-tale, embarrassing evidence of our drifting faith isn’t so obvious to the casual observer. He gets us to feel uncomfortable about including our faith in our everyday speech, lest our friends or coworkers or even our children think we’re some kind of religious nuts.

And yet Scripture tells us our everyday speech should be filled with the word of God. Colossians 3:16 says “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Paul wrote to the Ephesians that they should “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” (Eph 5:19) The Epistle to the Hebrews says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (He 10:23-25)

Why is God so insistent upon this theme in Scripture? Because of the Doctrine of the Means of Grace. God has bound himself to the Word and Sacraments as the only means by which he works and strengthens and preserves us in the faith. And without faith, we can’t possibly “Look Forward to the Day of God.” Every day, people ignore God’s insistence on the “one thing needful” to their own eternal peril. Every year we have to remove more members from our church who don’t even make an attempt to hear and learn God’s Word any more. That didn’t all happen at once.

We need the Word and we need the Sacrament, because we need faith to Look Forward to the Day of God. It is through faith that we are forgiven and justified—not just any faith—the one true faith in Jesus Christ that comes to us and remains in us through a constant fresh supply of the Word.

“Look Forward to the Day of God” Peter says, with Faith.

3. With Faithfulness (vv. 11,12a)

Finally, Peter urges us to “Look Forward to the Day of God” with Faithfulness. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. ¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

Remaining faithful to God and living our faith take work—hard work. Where did people ever get the idea that the Christian life should be easy. “Just do what comes naturally.” God forbid! What comes naturally is sin. What comes naturally is laziness. No, it takes work to be a Christian and stay one. And it takes effort to produce the fruits in keeping with repentance that John the Baptist preached about. If I am truly penitent for my indifference to the word, what is the fruit of repentance? To resolve anew to prioritize hearing and reading and studying God’s Word. If I’m truly penitent about my lackadaisical offerings, what is the fruit of repentance? To resolve to be more generous toward the Lord with the things he’s given me—my time, my talents and my treasures. The Apostle James wrote “Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. …As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (Ja 1:22, 2:26)

Peter speaks in our text of us “Speeding the coming of the Day of God.” That’s what we do when we are faithful Christians. Faithful Christians pray and work and live as witnesses for Christ, who will come when the work of evangelization of the world is complete. Paul tied it all together when he wrote to the Philippians: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” (Php 2:12-16a)

Dear friends, we don’t have to be part of the fulfillment of Jesus’ negative prophecies about the end of days. We won’t be if we “Look Forward to the Day of God” with repentance, with faith, and with faithfulness. May God work in us both to will and to do, according to his good purpose. Amen.