The Warning Continues...Don't ignore the red flags...2 Peter 2:17-22

 


The red flag is a sign of severe warning.  The stop sign is red.  It is to get our attention and I believe Peter in chapter 2 has been waving a red flag before his readers.  There are false teachers among them and they have come in secretly with an agenda to turn them from God, His word, and His gospel to focus on themselves (the false teachers), on their words, and another way to benefit them.  These are the 6 red flags.

  • If someone makes God or Jesus less than what He is.
  • If someone presents some other way to God than Jesus Christ alone.
  • If someone twists God's words or replace them with their words.
  • If there is a display of arrogance, the promoting of themselves.
  • If there is a display of lust, the elevation of earthly desires.
  • If there is a display of greed, the focus on getting rather than giving.
These warning signs are so contrary to the true picture of one who is following after Jesus.  Luke 9:23-26 tells us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow Jesus.  Our focus is not on ourselves but wholly on Him.  Our desires go from the earthly to the heavenly even if it means a bearing of a cross.  Our footsteps are in step with what Jesus has said and who He is.  The contrast is stark.

If it is so stark, how did the false teachers get in?  

Is it that we have adopted some other picture of what a Christ follower is that is in between their description and the description of a true teacher of God?  

Have we made excuses to have times when it is okay to be all about us?  Just this one time; it will be okay; and God will forgive me anyways.

Have we made exceptions that cater to some of our comforts or when consequences could make us experience some pain?  What about my pension; that's not my spiritual gift; and we need to make sure we love ourselves with comfort.

Have me elevated other voices that influence our decisions and actions?  They make some good points; they have such a following; and it sounds very logical.

The solution is to remember that we have a great salvation that has come from God.  We are to be actively living out that great salvation from God.  We are to keep coming back to the more fully confirmed words of our God.  When we wander from these actions, may the red flags of warning be waving vigorously before us.  May we also heed to warning and stay out of the false teacher water.  These warnings from Peter's writings which are God's words are out of His love for us.

The first sermon is the next in the 2 Peter series and given by the Associate Pastor of Waushara Community Church, Pastor Robert Timmermann.  He covers 2 Peter 2:4-16 and does a tremendous job with the text.  The second is from me covering 2 Peter 2:17-22.

Adam




A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians #15 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "On The Road Again..."

Image
  Another week closer and it involves some more travel for the Wolfgangs.  I feel like the Willy Nelson song, " On the road again... "  I don't know if I agree with the next line though. " ...I can't wait to get on the road again. " One of the members of the church in Wisconsin calculated that I will travel well over 10,000 miles to make this transition.  Traveling mercies prayers please. Last Sunday we will look at Paul's final words to the churches in Galatia.  He brought them the gospel (good news) message of Jesus and what resulted were churches forming throughout the region.  The letter is to defend that message that our salvation comes from and is in Christ alone.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins.  The summary statement of the letter is found in  Galatians 6:15 (LSB) .  " For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. "  Translated another way earlie...
Read more

God gave us a good weather window to travel...yeah God!!!

Image
  Berthoud Pass Here we are at the top of Berthoud Pass.  It was a whirlwind week to conduct a " hand off " service in Wisconsin on 3/17 and then preach a Palm Sunday sermon in Colorado on 3/24.  We give God all the glory for this happening.  So there are two video links at the bottom of this blog.  One is for the Wisconsin service and the other is for the Colorado service.  I racked up over 12,000 in the last 7 weeks.   I love to take these pictures sitting from the front row of chairs and listening to the one God has provided for the church I had been serving for 20 months.  I now have 3 and I am so thankful for the opportunity God gave us to serve Him in this type of ministry over the last 5 years.  It has been great to add to our daily prayer list Zach in Maine, Chris in Ohio and now Stephen in Wisconsin. This was our set up for the 2000+ mile trip.  No " hiccups " except for the strong eastern winds in Kansas.  Of course e...
Read more

Resurrection Sunday in a new space...Matthew 27.62-28.20

Image
  Resurrection Sunday has come and gone but it was a sweet day to be with the gathered saints of the Stillwater Community Chapel .  We are venturing through the Gospel of Matthew and this Sunday will take us back to Matthew 1.1 but last Sunday we were in Matthew 27.62-28.20.  It was a lot to cover so the white board was truly a help to keep me on track.  This year in my Resurrection Sunday message, I focused on the contrast of the cover-up story of the disciples stealing the body of Jesus fueled by a bride and the commission of speaking of a risen Lord fueled by boldness . After the service upstairs, we ventured downstairs to the lower level and had a great meal together.  The conversations around the tables allowed us to continue to talk about the passage of Scripture we covered upstairs.  Maybe this is a very informal picture of what happens at the  Waushara Community Church called the " Going Deeper " classes of the Come For More hour following t...
Read more