2 Peter 1
A man once complained to his wife, “I
hate going to church! We always sing the same songs, hear the same readings,
and the pastor always talks about the same thing!” She replied, “Dear, maybe
you’d hear something different if you didn’t only attend church on Christmas.”
Across a year pastors preach on a wide
variety of topics and, where the lectionary is read, the congregation will hear
over 150 different scripture readings. However, the critique that the pastor
always talks about the same thing can be a good thing; that is, if he is
talking about the right thing.
Peter tells us that, “… no prophecy of
Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever
produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along
by the Holy Spirit.” With this in mind,
the message of the church should be the same thing week after week. It should
be the message that God delivers to us in His Word.
What is that message? Is it a diatribe on
getting our act together? Is it the message of health, wealth and prosperity? Could
it be the message of permissive-anything-goes love the world talks about? Is it
about morality? Does it focus on a sovereign God who demands our worship?
No. We might talk about all of those
issues in a year, but these are not the message God would have us hear. So what
is it?
It is the message of the righteousness
of God that has been extended to us through Jesus that God would have us hear. It
is the message that we have been cleansed from our sins. (Re-read v. 5-7 and
notice that the reason we are called to do these good things is because we have
been cleansed!) That is what is to be
declared from the pulpit, the lectern, the altar, and everywhere in our
churches.
How do we know this? It is not through
myths and stories. We aren’t telling stories to explain why things are or sharing
morality tales. What we have are the eye witness accounts of Peter, John,
Thomas, and the other disciples telling us about Jesus and the forgiveness He
won.
O Holy Spirit, help me to hear and love the
Word you have given us and rejoice in the message of Jesus’ sacrifice for my
forgiveness. Amen.
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