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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Second Peter chapter #3 Second Peter chapter 3 in the Word of
God, if you would, and when you have found that, if you would
put your ribbon in Galatians chapter #2 if your Bible happens
to have one of those newfangled ribbons that are out there now,
that would be a good thing to turn to Galatians chapter 2,
'cause we're going to go over there in just a few moments, but
we are in Second Peter chapter #3 as we've marched through
first and second Peter over the last couple of years.
And you can see that, boy, we are really, really close to the
end. In fact, so much so that by the
time we are done with the message today, we will only have
one verse left in Second Peter. So Galatians chapter #2 is where
your ribbon will be. But then turn to Second Peter
chapter #3 and that's where we will start today.
But Speaking of all those things and finishing up the series and
all that, we're not just really finishing up the series.
In many ways, we're finishing up Peter's life, aren't we?
I mean, because these are the final words that have been
inspired of the Holy Spirit. And the shadow of death is
looming across the pages here as we're in this last chapter.
And the shadow of death is in the shape of an upside down
cross because history tells us that is how Peter will die, That
he was told that he was to be crucified, but desired not to be
crucified in the way that Jesus was because he did not believe
himself to be worthy, to be sacrificed in the way that Jesus
was. And so crucified up died down is
what history tells us that he was.
And we've seen Peter now for a long time, haven't we?
We've seen him from the Gospels when he was a rough and tumble
fisherman. We saw him when he was the
disciple who had the foot shaped mouth, you know, the one that
always said the wrong thing at the wrong time.
It's one of the reasons why so many of us, we feel like we
identify with Peter so much because of how erratic he was
and how he said things that he usually regretted later.
And so we saw him in that way in the Gospels, turned into almost
elder statesman by the time you get to the book of Acts and his
life changes as the Holy Spirit really doesn't work within his
life. And then through first and
second Peter, you see a growth and a maturity in him that never
could have fathomed, that you never could have imagined when
you first read the Gospels and were introduced to this
character named Peter. Well, here in today's message,
as we look at these final verses, well almost all of the
final verses of the book of Second Peter, I want us to look
at perhaps the greatest sign of spiritual maturity in Peter's
life. You say, well, well, what could
that be, pastor? Was it the fact that he preached
so powerfully in the book of Acts compared to his denial of
Christ in the Gospels? You might say it was his
boldness that we find later on in his life compared to the
brashness that he exhibited before.
You could say maybe it was his leadership that he exemplified
as the church began to grow compared to his impetuousness
when we first found him in the Gospels.
There's a lot of different things that you could look at,
but perhaps my answer to this morning from God's Word is one
that could be surprising to you. And the fact of Peter's
maturity, the fact that we see that Peter has grown over the
years compared to the man that we first met in the Gospels, is
this. Are you ready that he was able
to get along with others? The fact that we can see Peter's
spiritual maturity is exemplified here in Second Peter
chapter #3 in these final closing verses was that he could
get along with others. And then maybe if I could add
something to it, it would be this.
And then he enjoyed it because many of us can get along with
others, but we do it with teeth grit and fists clench.
Boy, it's quiet this morning. Let me tell you, I'm already
seeing it is so quiet this morning.
And there's sometimes it's because you're tired and
sometimes because, you know, oh, I think he's talking about me.
Well, listen, I'm not trying to talk about you and I'm not
necessarily trying to talk about me.
It just may be the Holy Spirit reminds us that although we know
that we're supposed to be Christians, other Christians,
and that we're supposed to be the right type of church member
with other types of church members, getting along with
Christians isn't always the easiest thing.
And by the way, it might just be that we're not the easiest ones
to get along with all the time either.
And so as we look at these verses, I want us to look at
spiritual maturity in the light of Peter's life and the fact
that one of the ways that we know that he has grown so much
is the fact that he got along with others even when things
were difficult, and he learned to like it.
Would you please stand for the reading of God's Word?
And second, Peter chapter #3 we'll begin in verse #14 and
we'll actually read into verse #18 the final verse, but we'll
stop short of finishing the book.
The Bible says this. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent, that you may be found
of Him in peace, without spot and blameless.
An account that the long-suffering of our Lord is
salvation, even as our beloved Brother Paul also, according to
the wisdom given unto Him, hath written unto you, as also in all
his Epistles, speaking in them of those things in which are
some things hard to be understood, which they that are
unlearned and unstable, rest, as they do also the other
Scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware
lest ye also being LED away with the error of the wicked, fall
from your own Steadvatis. And we'll end with these first 4
words of verse #18. But grow in grace in light of
always seen. Paul is going to end, or Peter,
rather, is going to end this epistle with an appeal to grow
in grace. And we'll look more at that last
next week or the next time we are together in our set text.
But I do want us to consider that everything we're going to
see is because Peter has learned to grow in grace, so he's able
to show some spiritual maturity to others as well.
You'll be seated. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, do pray to you be with us here today.
Help me as I present your word to be able to present it in such
a way that's understandable that it's helpful.
Lord, help us as we deal with others.
And it's not always easy. And Lord, we're not always easy
to be dealt with. And so I pray that you help us
to learn to grow and to be able to be the church that you have
called us to be. And we do ask it in Jesus name,
Amen. Well, what's interesting here is
we look at Peter's life as we see that Peter is now going to
mention Paul in these final words of his epistle.
And again, we've recognized the last several weeks that when you
get to the end of someone's life or you get to the end of
someone's record of testimony, that the final things they say
speak volumes about them and it speaks volumes about what's
important to them. So the fact that Paul is
mentioned by Peter in our text here is 1.
Not a mistake because well this Bible that we have in front of
us is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
But I believe it is Peters very heart to be able to mention
Paul. And when he mentions Paul he
mentions them in some pretty glowing terms doesn't he?
He speaks very high of Paul. We know first of all, he speaks
highly of him because in verse #15 he calls him this, our
beloved brother are beloved brother.
Now remember, sometimes we call people around here brother or
sister. And it's a reminder that we find
in the Word of God that the brethren that when they were in
church, that when they were around other believers
oftentimes called each other brother and sister.
And by the way, it's not some kind of weird cultish thing.
It's just the idea is that when you get saved, you got a new
family. When you get saved, we're not
saying you replace your old family, but we're just saying
this, that you have gained a new family in Christ.
I'm thankful for the family that I have in Christ here at Liberty
Baptist Church that many times are closer to me than my own
blood family. I don't have much family to
speak of. What I have is extended family
and fairly extended family. But what's left is my father
and, and really well, I have an uncle and an aunt that live a
little bit away, but I'm an only child.
And so I don't have a lot by way of family, but I have God's
family and I'm thankful for God's family.
So I'm thankful to call brothers and sisters in Christ that.
Yes, you are. And so here is Peter saying our
beloved brother Paul, that he's not just calling brother, but
he's beloved. And listen, we may have brothers
and sisters in Christ here, but we don't always call them
beloved. Let that sink in for a second.
Yeah, that's how some of you want to say that, but you
couldn't. All right.
But, but, but one man had the boldness that nobody else did,
right? We don't always call him
beloved, but he says, no, they are my he's my beloved brother.
And he acknowledges the wisdom that was given unto him.
He says Paul is beloved. He's my brother, He's wise.
There's wisdom that has been given unto him.
And then in verse #16 he says there's been some detractors.
There have been some people who have tried to twist the
scriptures that he's written. And he acknowledges that Paul's
writings are the Scriptures. I think that's an important
thing for us to realize that here is Peter who is talking
about the copies of the Word of God that have been made and
disseminated throughout Asia Minor that time and beyond.
And here is Peter saying that those copies of the Word of God
have been preserved and they're the scriptures.
And it reminds us that God is in the business of preserving his
scriptures. By the way, he still preserves
the scriptures today. The fact that we can know that
we have the word of God, that you don't have to worry about
what you have in your hands today, that you can have hold of
the very words of God inspired by the Holy Spirit and preserved
throughout the generations. Isaiah 40, verse 8, the grass
withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall
stand forever. And thank the Lord that we can
know we have God's word. And so here is Peter and he's
talking about Paul. He says he's beloved and he's my
brother and he's wise. And he kind of comes to his
defense and he says, there's these false teachers that are
out there and they're twisting Paul's words and they're trying
to take his words in the Scriptures and to make them into
something or not. And Peter's devoting his some of
his last words, the last part of his parchment, the last ink that
he has to write here by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
as this way of talking about his beloved brother Paul.
And I don't know what some of you were thinking this morning.
You're thinking something like that.
Well, big deal. So Peter knew Paul, Paul knew
Peter, they were friends, they liked one another.
What's the big deal about that, pastor?
Well, the big deal about that was this, that Peter and Paul's
relationship wasn't always rosy, that Peter and Paul didn't
always get along. You say, well, where?
Where could we find that in the Word of God, believe it or not,
where your ribbon is? Galatians chapter #2 So turn if
you would save your spot here in Second Peter chapter #3 but go
to Galatians chapter #2 and I want to go pick it right up
because you've already got it saved.
Galatians chapter 2. Let's look at verse #1 It says.
Then 14 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with
Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.
And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that the
gospel which I preach under the Gentiles, but privately to them
which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or
I'd run in vain. Neither Titus, who was with me,
being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
And that because of false brethren unaware is brought in,
who came in privilege to spy out our liberty which we have in
Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage to whom we
have placed by subjection. No, not for an hour that the
truth of the gospel might continue with you, but of these
who seem to be somewhat whosoever they were, it maketh
no matter to me. God accepted no man's person,
for they who seem to be somewhat in conference added nothing to
me. Verses #1 through 6.
And we'll stop right there. Introduce a great debate that
was taking place in the church during that time.
And that great debate was this was that obviously that when we
look at the Gospels that the gospel was being being preached
to the Jews that we find that very rarely were there gentiles.
Sometimes there were Samaritans and there was a Syrophoenician
woman, the Bible says, who would have been a Gentile, but for the
most part that Jesus earthly ministry based in Judea would
have been to the Jews. But it was never the fact that
it was only supposed to stay with the Jews.
Acts chapter one verse 8 tells us the gospel is to go to
Jerusalem, Judea and to Samaria and yes, to the uttermost parts
of the earth. Paul will write later on in
Romans chapter one verse 16, he says for the power, for I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ for is the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believes to the Jew 1st and also
to the Greek being the Gentile. And so the gospel had gone to
the Jews first, but now Gentiles are getting saved.
And by the way, they're getting saved in very, very large
numbers. But that means that these
Gentiles are coming into the church and they're bringing in
with them their practices. They're bringing in with them
their ways of living that are not Jewish ways of living.
Well, the Jews, the males would have been circumcised For the
Gentiles, that would not have been the case.
For the Jews, they would have eaten in a way that we would
call similar to kosher today, and to the Gentiles, they would
not. And so there was this culture
shock that was there within those local churches where the
Jews had lived a certain way, the Gentiles had lived a certain
way. And now they're coming in
together and the Jews are saying this in the church.
Well, if the Gentiles come in, shouldn't they live like the
Jews? And the answer to that was this.
Well, no, that's not the way they were supposed to live.
They were supposed to live in Christ.
That when Jesus Christ had died on the cross and his blood was
shed, that the Bible says the veil was rented to in the
temple, and that the old Sacramento way of living had
been abolished because there was a new, better way of living in
Jesus Christ. The perfect sacrifice. 1
Sacrifice for all mankind for all time.
That those things were put away of the sacrifices of the bulls
and the goats and the types of eating in those types of things.
None of those were ever necessary to save a person
anyway. That that wasn't what God was
using those for in the 1st place.
All of them were figures to point to a future redemption.
And so here are the Jews that say, well, we've always lived
this way. And here's the Gentiles who are
coming into the church and they had this question about the
Jews. Should the Gentiles live like
us? And there's friction and people
are not necessarily happy with one another.
You find this in Acts chapter 6. You find Peter deals with it
when God calls him to go talk to the Gentiles, and he has to put
a vision in front of him so that he understands that, yes, it's
OK to preach the gospel to a Gentile.
And so for you and I, we don't think that's a big deal today.
I look around and we see all different shades of color.
We see people who talk different language and we realize, listen,
listen, this is the way God intends it.
I'll say that again. This is the way God intends it.
That's the way heaven's going to be, Amen.
That we're going to have different people's shades and
different languages and different places, but yet that
God has united us all through our commonality in Jesus Christ.
And aren't we thankful for that? But they were struggling with
this in a very different way with the Jewish and the Gentile.
And there was this great debate, but then they came to a great
decision. Come to verse #7 Look with me.
It says this, but contrary wise, when they saw that the gospel of
the uncircumcision was committed unto me as the gospel, the
circumcision was unto Peter, For he that wrought effectually, and
Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was
mighty and me toward the Gentiles.
And when James Cephus and John, who seemed to be pillars
perceived that the grace that was given unto me, they gave to
me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go
into the heathen and and they under the circumcision only that
they would only they would that we should remember the poor and
the same which I also was forward to do.
So this great decision was this was they said, well, there's
missionary work that needs to be done.
There's people that need to hear in the great beyond.
And So what they decided to do was that that Peter was going to
have the realm of influence that he mostly was going to preach to
the Jews and that Paul's realm of influence is he's going to
mostly to preach to the Gentiles.
Now to make clear, Peter preached Jews and Gentiles, Paul
preached to Jews and Gentiles. Acts chapter.
Well the book of Acts makes that abundantly clear.
I'm not going to give you 1 chapter because the whole book
of Acts makes that clear that they preach to everybody.
Listen, if they had a beating heart and a sinful soul, then
they were going to be preached to by either Peter or Paul.
But we would say that Peter's fear of influence was going to
be to the Jews and Paul's fear of influence was going to be
more to the Gentiles. And they had decided on this and
there would not be a problem. But they all came to the
decision that, listen, we're all one in Christ, then we're going
to come together in church, Jew and Gentile.
And our identity in church is this Jesus Christ, not our
ethnic or any other type of background.
We identify in Jesus Christ. And so everything is great.
Listen, Paul's got his sphere, Peter's got his sphere.
They both are leaders in these early churches.
And so everything seems to be going great.
But there's not just this big decision, there's going to be a
big debacle that's going to take place.
There's a very big problem. Someone could check on that.
That would be great. All right, that sounds, that
sounds good. As long as someone saw in the
building in half, all right, we're fine.
So I was trying not to acknowledge what was going on,
but I see everyone looking around.
Everyone sit down. We're OK.
We're OK, but we got people that are looking into it.
All right, thank you. But it was a great debacle.
What is that debacle? Well, here it is in verse #11
But when Peter was come to Antioch, I was stood him in the
face. That doesn't sound good, does
it? When Peter was come to Antioch,
I was stood into the face, because he was to be blamed for
before the certain, before that certain came from James, and he
did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come he
withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the
circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled
likewise with him in so much that Barnabas also was carried
away with their dissimulation. You say what exactly is
happening here? Well, Peter comes to visit Paul
and some of the others like Barnabas there in Antioch.
And Antioch is a Gentile church, and so they're having a meal and
they had to have been Baptist because they're having a meal
together in the church. There's no doubt in my mind is
the First Baptist Church, Antioch, because they're having
a potluck and everyone's together and everyone's having a
good time. And here is Peter.
Now, what is Peter's sphere of influence?
His sphere of influence was the Jews.
Now he preached to Jews and Gentiles, but his sphere of
influence was the Jews. And here he is at this potluck
in this church in Antioch, and he's sitting with a bunch of
Gentiles. But look at this.
A group of Jews show up and they sit down at a different table.
And Peter looks at them and whether it's embarrassment,
whether it's shame, whether he feels like he is being peer
pressured into it, he gets up from his table with the Gentiles
and goes and sits with the Jews. Now why is that a big deal?
Because in that moment he is showing the Jews that he's
ashamed of the gentiles. He's showing the Jews that he
does not stand with or sit with those gentile believers.
So why is that a big deal? What could you imagine our day?
Let's say we had a potluck around here and maybe 3 or 4
homeless people came in. Now by you said what we do, if
homeless people came in and we had a potluck, we would feed
them. I mean, I don't even know what
the question would be about that.
And so they sit around a table and you're sitting at the table.
But then maybe one of your friends comes in and you could
see by the look on his face, he is not pleased that you would
sit down with those homeless people.
They've not cleaned themselves lately.
They maybe aren't acting in a way that's socially appropriate
with everyone else. And you look at your friend and
you look at those homeless people and you say, guys, I got
to go. And you walk up from the table
and you leave. What message would you be
sending? To the church, what message
would you be sending to the other people?
You'd say, you know, these people aren't valuable, but this
person is. That's basically what Peter did
here. He felt the peer pressure of
these Jewish believers who came in and he walked up and said,
well, guys, I'm, I'm done. And he walks away.
He said, well, I don't see what the big deal is.
The Bible says there was dissimulation.
Do you know what that means? It was a mess.
His friend Barnabas, Paul's friend.
Barnabas got up and followed Peter.
By the way, this isn't my message.
But when you make decisions, other people will follow you.
You think you're the only one that affects the decisions you
make. When you make decisions, other
people follow you, parents follow you, children follow you,
grandchildren follow you, church members follow you, workers
follow you, leadership follows you.
You say that doesn't seem like it works like that.
You'd be surprised. Your decisions are never made in
a vacuum. And so Peter gets up and other
people start getting up, and Paul says, hold on here a
second. And the Bible says this.
He withstood him to the face. Now, you don't have to really be
a Greek scholar to know that withstood him in the face means
this. They have words.
They had words with each other, didn't they?
Now, Paul didn't always act like that.
In fact, in the beginning, during this great debate, it
says that he met with the leadership privately, that he
wasn't publicly going out and being a crusader.
He was talking to the Jewish leadership privately, making
sure that the Gentiles had the help that they needed.
And so he was, he was fine working privately.
But there are times that public sins call for public rebuke.
Because if he did not stand for those Gentiles there in that
moment in their own church, He knew that it was going to cause
great harm to the cause of Christ.
He knew there was going to cause great harm.
And so he goes up to Peter and he stands up to him, and in his
face he rebukes him. Now, I don't know about you, but
I kind of wish that didn't stop there in verse #13 and 14.
I wish we had the whole conversation written down, don't
you? I want to know what Paul said.
I want to know how Peter responded.
But here's what I know. If this is Peter from the
Gospels, they're throwing fists, man.
If this is Peter from the Gospels, Paul may not have an
ear anymore. This is, this is not a good
situation. This isn't a good situation at
all. But listen, Peter needed to be
rebuked. He was wrong.
And by the way, he was very wrong and Paul withstood him in
the face. By the way, you can tell someone
they're wrong in love. You can tell someone they're
wrong without having a spirit of superiority or having a spirit
of I'm a better person than you. The Bible even tells us that
there are times that brothers and sisters in Christ, the book
of James talks about this. We need to go one another to try
to convince them and to help them and love them.
If we do so, we gain a brother. And so here is Paul.
He said, I can't let this go. I've got to tell you, Peter,
right now, in front of these people, because you're causing
great harm to this room. I've got to tell you what you've
done here is wrong, and it is wrong in every degree.
Now, listen, Peter and Paul were as different as people could
get. If you wanted to find people on
the opposites of the spectrum, it would be Peter and Paul.
Paul was educated, Peter was not.
Paul's writing style is more technical and Peter wrote more
in a way that would be understood by the common man.
Paul was a Pharisee. Well, we know Peter had very
little regard for the Pharisees, didn't he?
Paul lived with a socially elite at one point in his life.
Peter was never considered one of the social elite.
You know Peter walked with Christ, Paul did not.
These are two men that were as different as different could be.
And I would submit to you that here at the end of James or
Janet James, Genesis, Galatians, there's the one.
All right. I thought I'd get it on the
third try here at the end of Galatians chapter #2 these two
men could have been, you go your way and I'll go my way.
You're my brother, but you're not a beloved brother.
Now, do we know exactly what happened here after the rebuke
took place? We don't.
But I would say to you this this morning, and I believe this is
true just by the way we see Paul or Peter rather take his posture
in second Peter chapter #3 The fact of the matter was this that
Peter had grown up enough to be able to take the rebuke and
still consider the one who rebuked him a beloved brother.
He said, well, Peter, Peter was like that right before.
Do you read the Gospels? Him and John all the time were
like this, well, I want to be the greatest.
And Peter didn't like that. And then you got ready for the
crucifixion, and they're still asking about who's going to be
the greatest. And then you have after the
crucifixion that Peter is running towards the the tomb and
John is running faster and gets there first.
And John stands in front of the tomb and Peter says, forget
this, I'm going into the tomb. And then they go out fishing.
Remember that. And then Jesus has this rebuke
for Peter. He says, do you love me, feed my
sheep. Do you love me, feed my sheep,
Do you love me, feed my sheep. And Peter is just so heartbroken
by the fact that Jesus is rebuking him over what had taken
place just a few days ago when Peter denied Jesus Christ.
And then Peter is given this proclamation, this prophecy
about the remainder of his life. And Peter in this moment with
Jesus, this intimate moment with Jesus, he looks at John and
says, Jesus, but what about him? This is the Peter we're looking
at. This is the Peter that we would
expect in Galatians chapter 2, but it's not the Peter that we
get in second Peter chapter #3 Why, I would say to you is for
this reason and this reason only, and I'm saying to the last
four words of the book, but grow in grace.
He grew in grace and in spiritual maturity.
Something changed in his life. He realized this.
He says part of being spiritually mature, part of
growing is being able to get along with other believers.
Hey, pastor, this is a very strange message for a church
because maybe you think this, I've not been at church very
long. But, I mean, part of the thing
about church is that everybody loves each other and gets along,
right? And my answer to that is, OK,
well, is it supposed to be that way?
Is it supposed to be that way? Is it that way?
No. There's a story about 6 men who
were stranded once on a desert island.
Two were Jewish, two were Catholic, and two were Baptist.
The two Jews got together and they founded the temple
Emmanuel. The two Catholics got together
and they established the Church of the Holy Name.
The two Baptist form two different Baptist churches and
thought over who was going to call it First Baptist.
That is satire, but based totally on reality.
Because when we are together as a family, what do families often
do? Fight.
We'll call it squabble to be nice.
But they fight, don't they? Family has blood in common, but
they still fight. They have experiences in common,
but they still fight. And if we're not careful, as a
church family, we have everything in common in Jesus
Christ and we can still. Why?
Well, because there are times people need to be corrected.
They don't want to be corrected. There are times that sometimes
people feel superior and they shouldn't feel superior.
There are times people feel like they have a position of
authority and want to hold that over other people.
There are times that people get this idea that they want to be
prominent or preeminent at the expense of the other people.
There are 100 or 1000 different reasons that people can squabble
and have difficulties in church. But here's what I know.
That Peter who was once an impetuous man, Peter who once
was at loggerheads at any given time with John, got to the place
where once the Holy Spirit was truly in control of his life.
That even when a man like Paul would publicly withstand him, a
man that he had nothing in common woman with, but he got in
his face, he says, Peter, I love you, but what you did was wrong.
That Peter not only took it, but he called that man at the end of
his life, my beloved brother, a man of wisdom.
And he says that some of you are messing with him and his
scriptures and I want you to knock it off because he's my
brother. It's a powerful thing.
There's a lot of opportunities for churches to get in bad
places with each other. Church members.
I was reading an article by church researchers, name's Tom
Rayner, and he put together 25 of the craziest things that he'd
ever heard in his church research of why churches had
fights. Now, I'm not going to read all
25, but consider some of these here.
Here's some highlights. An argument over the appropriate
length of the pastor's beard. I've solved that for you all by
being clean shaven. All right, A church dispute of
whether or not to install stall dividers in the restroom.
A church argument to vote to decide if a clock in the worship
center should be removed. A 45 minute heated argument over
the type of filing cabinet to purchase black or brown, 2-3 or
four drawers. And it says here in parentheses
that it took two meetings to figure out a big church argument
over the discovery that the church budget was off by $0.10.
Someone finally gave a dime to settle the issue.
Business meeting arguments about whether the church had purchased
a weed eater or not. Two different churches reported
fights over the type of coffee. Now, that one I get.
I mean, the others are crazy, but that, I mean, we got to take
a stand, right? You know what I'm saying?
An argument on whether the church should allow deviled eggs
at the church because of the name.
A disagreement over the use of the term potluck, instead
suggesting the term pot blessing, like not using the
word luck. An argument over which has the
authority to buy postage stamps for the church.
Some church members left the church because one church member
hid the vacuum cleaner from them.
It resulted in a major fight and split.
For me, I'd say, well, I don't want to vacuum, I guess that's
great. A dispute over whether the
church should allow people to wear black T-shirts, since black
is the color of the devil. An argument over whether fake
dusty plants should be removed from the podium.
You see that, you say? Those are some of the most
ridiculous things I'd ever heard.
And the answer is yes, they absolutely are.
But I would also say to you this morning this if we were not
careful, that we can take our own personal preferences,
issues, and even sometimes very legitimate things that take
place in the church, and we can turn them into things that God
never intended them to be. Why?
Because like the old saying goes, church is a great place to
be a Christian. I'll let you chew on that for a
second. Church is a great place to be a
Christian. Meaning this We as Christians
ought to act like Christians. We when we go in the House of
God have to understand that we have different personalities,
that we come from different walks of life that that that we
have different jobs, different income levels, different
families, different ethnicities, different abilities, different
marital statuses, different upbringing is different
everything. But yet even in those
differences, that God has called us together to be brethren and
sisters, that God has called us together to be 1 church, to be 1
body, to get along in such a way that that God is honored and God
is glorified. Can I tell you what the issue
often times with church difficulties and the difficulty
with church fighting comes down to 5 letters.
PRIDE in the moment. Peter could have said, Paul, who
are you to tell me off? Were you there with Jesus for
three years? Were you there when He did the
miracles? Were you there when he ascended
into heaven? Were you there on the day of
Pentecost? Listen, Peter could have even
gone low and said something like this.
Who was holding the coats when our brother died?
Steven, who are you to say anything to me?
Do you know who I am? Do you know what I've done?
Do you know what we've sacrificed?
And you come in the Johnny come lately after the 12 of us and
then the eleven of us. We're together for three years
and we're there in the establishment of the church.
And now you come along and you're the one that everybody
likes and you're the one that's going out everywhere.
You're the one that's making all the news.
You say, pastor, it doesn't say any of that in the Bible.
Just use your imagination. This very well could have been
said. These are real people.
We're not talking about Bible characters.
Bible characters are real people with real emotions.
And Peter, in that moment could have cast it back into Paul's
teeth and listen, the church could have been irrevocably
harmed. The church at Antioch could have
split wide open. You say that doesn't happen.
It happens all the time when Christians won't act like
Christians. Are there real things we have to
hash out? Oh yeah.
Listen, that was a real thing in Galatians chapter 2.
If Paul didn't address it, it would have caused a whole other
host of problems because Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ.
By the way, the Bible says we're of one blood.
This whole idea. Well, well, this and that.
And I come from here, I come from there.
Listen to this. We all belong to the Lord and we
might as well start getting along now.
Amen. This whole idea of well, well, I
come from here and I come from there and I do this and I do
that. Listen, we were of one blood.
We all have the same common ancestors.
I think we all go back to Adam. We're all related somewhere.
And so Paul had to put a stop to this.
He was right what he did, but Peter was mature enough to be
able to take it. He said this, Paul's a lot
different than me, that we share almost nothing in common, but we
share the only thing in common that matters, and that's Jesus
Christ. And so because that he's my
beloved brother, say, Pastor, why are you hitting this so hard
today? Is there some problem that
you're trying to root out? Well, I hope you know me well
enough that there's a problem that need to be rooted out.
It wouldn't be done from the pulpit.
It will be done privately unless it was done publicly in a way
that it had to be withstood publicly.
But no, this is not a brush back pitch against anyone or any
issue or, or something that I see is a problem here in Liberty
Baptist Church. I don't at all.
But I will tell you this, I am passionate about this for this
reason. It only takes a little bit of
dissension to take what God has done here and to totally ruin
it. We have a beautiful spirit here
at Liberty Baptist Church. I'll be honest with you.
It's it's one of the most unique things I've ever seen as a
church. We're not the biggest church in
the world. I know that's a surprise.
Some of you, we're not the biggest church in the world.
We're not. But I'll tell you this, I feel
like we're the most blessed church in the world.
It's the kind of church where it's like, you know, it's, it's,
it's getting times like, OK, the people you want to go, like you
want to go and it's time to go home, right?
And nobody wants to go home because they're fellowship with
each other, enjoying being around each other.
What a blessing that is it. I will never complain about
that. That's a great thing.
But be sure about this, the blessedness that we have here at
Liberty Baptist Church, Satan despises.
He despises it. And he will find any way to worm
his self into this building, into this assembly, and to be
able to take the blessedness that we have and turn it into a
curse. So what do we need to do?
We need to guard ourselves. And if we're to go back to
Second Peter chapter #3 just go there quickly if you can.
What do we see? Verse #17 yet therefore,
beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest ye
also being LED away with the air of the wicked fall from your own
steadfastness. What are we supposed to do?
Be steadfast. Don't.
Don't be LED away by wicked intentions of others.
Don't be LED away by the way the world handles things.
How does the world handle things?
It handles things with a buzz saw and that's why we have a lot
of the problems we have out in this world.
Why do we handle issues with the scalpel of God's Word, with the
antiseptic of the Holy Spirit? And as we do so, what does God
do? He blesses and he helps and he
grows. But you cannot be this type of
Christian unless you're willing to grow in grace.
Well, they, they don't, they don't deserve.
They don't deserve it. Well, that would be the very
definition of grace receiving what is not deserved.
Again, I'm not saying that problems should just be washed
away like they didn't even happen.
Stick your head in the sand. There's no problems here.
No, no. That we handle them like
believers and that we love one another.
And that if you're the one that has the problem, Matthew chapter
18, you handle it in a godly way.
If you're the receiver of the problem, that you receive it in
a godly way and that in all of it, God would be glorified.
I will tell you this. It is one of the true marks that
you have grown as a believer. And of all these other things
that Peter grew in his preaching, his boldness, his
leadership, maybe the greatest mark of how much he grew was the
fact that he took a brother who was stood in the face in public
and rebuked him. And he said, that's my beloved
brother. And you don't mess with my
beloved brother because we both belong to Jesus Christ.
So this week, as we add to our faith, let's be the type of
person that can work well with others and actually enjoy it.
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org.
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
grow in His Word.