Today's passage: 2 Peter 3:14-18

Helpful thoughts:

• A Christian who is diligently growing in grace and in knowledge can persevere through false teaching without spot, blemish (participating in the sin) and at peace.
• That diligence allows you to be taught by and grounded in Scripture.
• Proud people who refuse diligence bring their ignorance and resulting instability to the text and therefore misinterpret it.
  • False teachers and their followers remain ignorant and unstable…it isn't just the hearers who are unsteady (Vs. 14).
  • False teachers and their followers are increasingly unstable as they continue in their twisting of the Scriptures. (Vs. 17)  It doesn't remain “sort of off”…it continually gets worse over time.  Even a little false doctrine will produce greater consequences the longer it is believed and practiced.
  • Sadly, both the false teacher and all those who believe and participate in their twisted teaching will go to destruction.
• If you are reading this today and studying God's Word, you are being diligent!  Keep up the good work!

Questions to consider:

1. Why is it so important that the Bible is the final authoritative document in our church and not the pastor?
2. Should Christians simply trust that the pastor always “knows better” and neglect to study the Word on their own?
3. What is the antidote to false teaching?  What do people who are in a setting where false teaching is happening need?  Where will they find hope and stability?  (How sad is it that the very thing they need is being manipulated, causing confusion and distrust!)
4. Peter opened and closed this epistle encouraging us to pursue grace and knowledge in Jesus Christ.  How will you continue to pursue God's grace given to you through knowledge?  How will you encourage others to do the same?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 3:11-13

Helpful thoughts:

• In a book about false prophets/teachers, Peter leaves the readers (Believers) asking how they ought to live.  After enduring false teaching, there is a need to move forward.
• This text is much like 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
• For more on the New Heaven and New Earth, check out Revelation 21:1-4.

Questions to consider:

1. If all that remains is that which is done for Christ in righteousness, how should we live?  What should we pursue? What should our goals in life be centered around?
2. What does it mean to “wait for” the Day of the Lord?  Does this command call us to inaction (Sitting around looking up into the sky) or to action (Living for Christ until He comes)?
3. What does it mean to “hasten” the coming of the Day of the Lord?  Is that hastening from God's perspective or ours?  What seems to make your day go faster, being busy or being idle?
4. To what part(s) of all that follows the Day of the Lord are you most looking forward?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 3:8-10

Helpful thoughts:

• Verse 8 is intended to teach that God is eternal.  He sees the whole picture while we are limited in our perspective.  He sees the end of our suffering while we persevere within it.
  • This verse does not support Deism; the idea that God is aloof to time or what is happening at any given moment in the details of our lives.  This idea would be the exact opposite of the appropriate meaning given the context.
• God is patient toward “you”.
  • “You” is the beloved.  The beloved is the Church, believers.
  • None of the beloved will perish.  All will reach repentance, be saved, and avoid perishing.
• God's judgment will be so comprehensive that nothing in the universe will be left untouched.  No works, no suffering will be overlooked.

Questions to consider:

1. For the Christian, how does God's omniscience (He knows everything) and eternality (He created time and exists outside of its constraints) bring comfort?
2. How does looking at the big picture (Eternity, being one of God's elect, seeing God's grace in my life and for my sin, etc.) help us to be patient concerning God's response to the messed up ways of the world?
3. What could we also learn today about using Bible verses to support our beliefs?  How does context help us?  How do we struggle to understand Scripture when we bring our beliefs to the text instead of letting the text inform our beliefs?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 3:1-7

Helpful thoughts:

• Peter writes about suffering/persecution and false prophets/teachers in the two epistles (1 & 2 Peter)…the answer and hope he gives in both? Exalt Jesus Christ and poor into His Word!
  • We are not encouraged to fight back
  • We are not encouraged to win arguments
  • We are encouraged to look to Jesus and find Him in the written Word.
• Looking to Jesus and finding Him in the written Word will not fix the problems of persecution and false teachers.  But, it will guard our hearts.
• Again, Peter reassures the reader, judgment is coming.  We can not fix the problem…God can and will.

Questions to consider:

1. Why is it so hard to not attack when we see wrong being done?  Why is it right to withhold any offensive attacks?
2. What would our contentment in knowing Jesus Christ and enjoying him in the midst of hardship show us about ourselves that would set us apart from those who are harming others?
3. Should we look forward to the demise of enemies?  What are we to look forward to most?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 2:17-22

Helpful thoughts:

• The nature of false teaching:
  • Waterless springs, which will always leave the hearers thirsty
  • Mists driven by a storm, which seem to signal rain coming but fails to produce
• Speaking loud boasts = Being a “great public speaker” to whom people love to listen.
  • Eloquence can be a great thing…but it does not make a preacher biblical.
• False teachers promise good to those who are fed up or confused with the struggles of this world, and then in their “success” are continually enslaved by their own greed, looking for more easy targets.  A vicious cycle.
• Remember, false teachers come from “within”:
  • They have stepped out of the world from a moralistic standpoint (They look like Christians from the outside).
  • They have heard the Gospel and quite probably made some public profession.
  • They subsequently give evidence of rejecting it with their teaching and actions.
  • Their judgement, having heard the good news of the Gospel and still leading people astray, will be worse than if they had never heard.  (e.g. The judgment for the leader of a cult would be less severe than the judgment for the leader of a Christian church who is a false teacher.) 
    • These false teachers are not and were never saved.  Look back at verses 1, 3, 9, 12, 17.

Questions to consider:

1. How could this passage be misinterpreted to argue that a person can lose their salvation?  Why is that interpretation not a strong argument?
2. What characteristics do we look for in leaders and teachers where, when we place too much emphasis on those characteristics (and too little emphasis on others) we open ourselves up to trouble?  Is it enough for a new youth pastor to be “Fun and really able to connect with young people”?  Should a church call a pastor because they believe “He will know how to bring in young families” or because “He really keeps their attention”?  Is it OK for a pastor to mock these statements/desires to excuse himself for being unfriendly, arrogant, dispassionate and reclusive?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 2:11-16

Helpful thoughts:

• This passage starts with verse 10b, “Bold and willful…“
• False teachers think highly of themselves.  This pride makes them:
  • Irrational
  • Impulsive
  • Speaking as experts (Fully believing they are) in areas of ignorance…which results in more false teaching
• False teachers don't wait until the darkness to unleash their sinfulness.
• False teachers target the church.
• False teachers target those who are “unsteady”.
• The feasting and greed could be termed today as chewing people up and spitting them out.
• False teachers will reap consequences for their actions.
• Balaam's story starts in Numbers 22.

Questions to consider:

1. What kinds of things could be true of a Christian who is presently “unsteady”?  What would make them vulnerable?  What would they need to be “steadied”?
2. Who is the false teacher seeking to benefit?  How would he/she feel toward those they are hurting?  To whom would they attribute fault when conflicts and troubles arise or when their methods and lies come into question?
3. What did it take to restrain (Not stop…) Balaam's “madness”?  How can this give us wisdom in our desire to attempt to confront and stop a false teacher?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 2:4-10

Helpful thoughts:

• If we were to think that God is letting false prophets/teachers off the hook, Peter gives a recounting of how God has judged grave wickedness in the past.
  • There are fallen angels who are in bondage.  Hell fire was prepared for them (Matthew 25:41, Jude 6,  Revelation 20:10).
  • God judged the world through the flood (Genesis 6:5-8).
  • God judged Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:23-29).
• If we were to think that in God's judgment the righteous would be forgotten, Peter recounts their rescue.
  • Noah and his family
  • Lot

Questions to consider:

1. Whose responsibility is it to judge wickedness?  What is our responsibility?
2. Did Noah and Lot have perfect records?  How was their righteous standing the same as ours?  Did they (Or do we) have reason to boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)?
3. How does submitting to the Lord and leaving His responsibilities to Him allow us to focus on His will for our lives?  How would that alleviate stress and anxiety in our hearts?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 2:1-3

Helpful thoughts:

• False prophets/teachers were around when Christ came, they were around in the early days of the church, they are around today, and they will be around until the end.
• False prophets/teachers will be characterized by:
  • Claiming to be Christians (“Bought by the Master”), but denying Him
  • Subtle tactics (Bringing in false teaching from within)
  • Being led by feelings (Less Scripture/More “What feels right to me”)
    • By the way, this implies that false prophets/teachers will not believe they are false prophets/teachers!
  • Greed/Exploitation
• God is not ignoring them.  Their judgment is sure.

Questions to consider:

1. Given the characteristics above, would you expect to find false prophets/teachers working outside of churches or inside of churches?  Would they be starting new religions or would they be calling themselves Christians and pastors of churches? (Or Christian recording artists on Christian radio stations, Christian therapists at Christian counseling clinics, Christian motivational speakers at Christian conferences, Christian authors writing Christian books for sale at the Christian bookstore, etc.)?
2. How would you expect a false prophet/teacher to respond if you told them they were a false prophet/teacher?  What would they say and how would they feel?  How would their feelings guide their response?
3. In our culture today, what would greed and exploitation result in?  How would a false prophet/teacher exploit people in the American economy and marketplace?
4. How should a genuine Christian prepare for a life of following Jesus with the constant threat of false teaching?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 1:16-21

Helpful thoughts:

• Peter is referring to the “Transfiguration” of Jesus from Mark 9:2-13.
• The Word of God (The Bible) is as prophetic as the message from the very voice of God which Peter heard that day when Jesus was transfigured.
  • The way you would listen if God spoke to you while Jesus was shining in glory right before your eyes…read the Bible like that.  Pay that kind of submissive attention to it until Jesus comes again.
• The Bible was written by men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
  • The Bible is God's Word, not the opinions of individual people.
  • It means what God intended it to mean, and it only means what God intends for it to mean.

Questions to consider:

1. What makes the Bible so special?  How wonderful is it that God gave us a book?!?  Why might we be tempted to think too little of it or take it for granted?
2. If the Bible only means what God intends for it to mean, why do people disagree on many important doctrinal issues?  What should we do if we find that our beliefs don't agree with what the Bible says?
3. What might be the danger of the statement, “What the Bible is saying to me is…”?

Today's passage: 2 Peter 1:3-15

Helpful thoughts:

• Godliness comes by divine power (Grace) and through effort (Make every effort-Vs. 5).
  • Reading the Bible with understanding takes grace (The illuminating work of the Spirit).
  • Reading the Bible with understanding takes effort (Studying takes work, commitment, prioritizing).
• The best way to “confirm” your calling and election (To be sure of your salvation) is to be growing.
  • If you are not pursuing growth in virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness (Faithfulness), godliness, brotherly affection, and love, you are probably not going to feel like a Christian.
  • If your pursuit of all these Christ-like traits is not built upon the foundation of faith in Christ (The Gospel), you are not a Christian.

Questions to consider:

1. What does all things mean (Verse 3)?  Is there anything pertaining to life and godliness that we need beyond what God has given to us in the knowledge of Himself through the Scriptures?
2. Is there anything that you are presently seeking answers for from the world when God has already provided the answers for in His Word?
3. What are some ways we can stir one another up in our knowledge and growth?