1.  Peter understands the importance of reminding people. As we said last week, most people don’t need instructing as much as they need reminding. This is the basis of natural law. We assume people are born with a basic sense of right and wrong. Paul even talks in Romans about the Gentiles who do not have the Jewish Law but they do “by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.” So, again he is reminding them of the importance of being “roused” or “stimulated” to have a pure mind that is fully awake. A book was written about C.S. Lewis with the title A Mind Awake and that is what Peter is describing here. It is a mind that is not lulled to sleep by the monoxides in the world that surrounds us. Remember from last week the power of monoxides? They do not attack the body, they simply prevent the body from getting oxygen so we fall asleep with no indicators that we are in danger.

Peter is describing a mind that is awake but is also pure and unmixed. I’ve always like what Soren Kierkegaard said about the pure in heart. It is the ability to will one thing. It is not just a sinless mind but a focused mind. We will never be able to eliminate all the complexities of life to a simple formula but Kierkegaard is saying a pure heart is a heart that seeks an overall purpose. “One of his last journal entries reads: “What the age needs is not a genius—it has had geniuses enough, but a martyr, who in order to teach men to obey would himself be obedient unto death. What the age needs is awakening” It’s as true now as when he wrote that. We need minds that are awake.

2.  “Scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” Scoffers or mockers are not simply those who poke fun at religious people. That is oftentimes a stop along the way for them – like Bill Maher and his film “Religulous” that attacks all religion as foolishness and deception. The same could be said of Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins. They see us as self-deceived fools who have lost our minds. They make fun of us and they are cynical about faith overall but as George Carlin said, “Scratch a cynic and you will find a disappointed idealist.” I like what Peggy Noonan says about cynicism. “Cynicism is not realistic and tough. It is unrealistic and kind of cowardly because it means you don’t have to try.”

The best comment about cynics is from the Screwtape Letters. “But flippancy is the best of all. In the first place it is very economical. Only a clever human can make a real Joke about virtue, or indeed about anything else; any of them can be trained to talk as if virtue were funny. Among flippant people the Joke is always assumed to have been made. No one actually makes it; but every serious subject is discussed in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. If prolonged, the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour-plating against the Enemy that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from joy it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practice it,” Cynics are a thousand miles from joy.

But mocking and scoffing is more than that. It is a hatred of believers. The soldiers were mocking Christ when they whipped him. The Psalmist talks about scoffers who want to see him dead. Mockers want to stir up anger and violence – not just make fun of people. Ecclesiastes says, “anger rests in the bosom of fools” and Proverbs says, “mockers stir up a city”. Their real target is God. Psalm 74:22: “Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long.” The mockers that Peter is describing are those who want to see the Christians dead – and not just disgraced.

3.  What is the reason for their mocking? They do not believe in the second coming of Christ. “Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” In other words, there is nothing that can happen outside the realm of the natural. There are no miracles. There is nothing that is supernatural – only what we can see. The world as we know it is all there is. For some people, they think this is the way pure scientists think. It’s not. It is the way “naturalists” think. The Christian philosopher, Alvin Plantinga, puts it this way: “One of the things atheists tend to believe is that modern science is on their side, whereas theism is in conflict with science: that, for example, belief in miracles is inconsistent with the scientific conception of natural law; faith as a basis of belief is inconsistent with the scientific conception of knowledge; belief that God created man in his own image is inconsistent with scientific explanations provided by the theory of evolution. In his absorbing new book, Where the Conflict Really Lies, Plantinga turns this alleged opposition on its head. His overall claim is that “there is superficial conflict but deep concord between science and theistic religion, but superficial concord and deep conflict between science and naturalism.” By naturalism he means the view that the world describable by the natural sciences is all that exists, and that there is no such person as God, or anything like God.
Proverbs says mockers and scoffers hate knowledge – especially knowledge that conflicts with what they believe.

4.  “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.”

There is a difference between slowness and patience – just as there is between procrastination and purposeful waiting. Patience is a characteristic of God and a fruit of the spirit. It is how we are to treat each other. It is not the inability to make a decision but the ability to wait. It is waiting with a purpose in mind. Slow means off schedule or delayed or not as fast as expected. Patience is a mark of maturity.

What is God’s purpose in holding off? Repentance. Ezekiel 18:30-32: 30 “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!”

And who is he waiting for? Let’s read Romans 11:11-29: 11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! 13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits(J) is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. 22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

All Israel Will Be Saved

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not think you are superior: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

There is a purpose in God’s waiting.

5.  The end of this world and the creation of the next. “That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”

Some have taken this to mean the world will end in a nuclear holocaust and that we will self-destruct. I don’t think that’s what is meant here. The words say the world and the universe will be reduced to nothing again – just as it was prior to creation. It does not mean we will be blown to smithereens. There will be no smithereens. There will be nothing at all. Even a whole series of nuclear explosions could not accomplish that. Nothing in the natural world can destroy the world in the way Peter is describing. The elements themselves – atoms, molecules, dark matter – will disappear and the world will be re-created. It does not say the world will be improved. It will go back to the void – the total and complete nothing as existed before God created. But this time the world will be eternal.

6.  So, “since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” In the face of complete and total annihilation where the heavens roll up like a scroll and the elements themselves are reduced to a void of nothingness, how should you live?

Not anxiety or care. Not lives of dreading the end of the world. Not lives of desire. Not lives detached from the world itself but holy and godly lives. This is not easy. I wrestle with this just like Bonhoeffer did and as David Brooks does in his article titled, “Why We Love Politics”.

“We live in an anti-political moment, when many people — young people especially — think politics is a low, nasty, corrupt and usually fruitless business. It’s much nobler to do community service or just avoid all that putrid noise. I hope everybody who shares this anti-political mood will go out to see “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner. The movie portrays the nobility of politics in exactly the right way. It shows that you can do more good in politics than in any other sphere. You can end slavery, open opportunity and fight poverty. But you can achieve these things only if you are willing to stain your own character in order to serve others — if you are willing to bamboozle, trim, compromise and be slippery and hypocritical. The challenge of politics lies precisely in the marriage of high vision and low cunning. Spielberg’s “Lincoln” gets this point. The hero has a high moral vision, but he also has the courage to take morally hazardous action in order to make that vision a reality. To lead his country through a war, to finagle his ideas through Congress, Lincoln feels compelled to ignore court decisions, dole out patronage, play legalistic games, deceive his supporters and accept the fact that every time he addresses one problem he ends up creating others down the road.
Politics is noble because it involves personal compromise for the public good. This is a self-restrained movie that celebrates people who are prudent, self-disciplined, ambitious and tough enough to do that work.

Again, I like what Paul says to the Christians at Thessalonica. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” However, how do we reconcile that with what Brooks says about the willingness to stain your own character in order to serve others? How do we live in this in-between time?

And that, in the end, is Peter’s reminder as well. Live with a single purpose. Live in patience with each other. Live a productive life. Live with the knowledge of a returning Christ who will, literally, make all things new and earth will be the home of righteousness.