1/6/08 Epi-What?

We return this morning to our series on spiritual growth,

and with our study this morning

we will also begin our study of Second Peter.

In the two Sundays we spent together before Christmas

we used most of our time

to try to get rid of some of the misconceptions about spiritual growth

that would make it more difficult for us to hear the truth.

We looked at a lot of things that spiritual growth is not.

And then, before we pulled out of our study for the holidays,

we began to talk just a little bit

about what it is.

Through the help of a story about a little boy,

and a wall,

and his discovery of the daddy he’d never known

we saw that, when correctly understood,

true spiritual growth is no more complicated

than that little boy growing in a love relationship with his father.

Sounds simple, I know.

But I also know that everything we hear in the world of religion

comes to us heavily flavored with 2000 years of religious tradition,

a tradition that sometimes deeply corrupts our ability

to correctly hear even the clearest and most basic truths.

And so,

to help us reenter our study

I want to pick up right where we left off

and begin by reminding us of this same truth

as we see it illustrated in Jesus’ relationship with His disciples.

And we’ll start with Andrew, Simon Peter’s younger brother.

Before Jesus entered his life

Andrew was a faithful follower of John the Baptist.

In just six verses in John 1:35-40

John gives us a brief account of Andrew’s first encounter with the Master.

But what we have there is all we need.

I’ll let you read the passage on your own,

but let me share with you what I hear John saying to us

about that first meeting between Jesus and Andrew.

Andrew and an unnamed friend of his

were well known by John the Baptist.

Apparently they spent most of their free time with him,

listening to him,

learning from Him.

But then one day this newcomer shows up on the scene,

a man named Jesus.

Andrew had no idea who He was,

but John seemed to know Him well.

Andrew and his friend had been hanging around Jesus and John for hours,

watching them,

edging closer and closer to them,

hoping to catch a few words of their conversation.

This new-comer, this Jesus was fascinating -

the things He said,

the way He laughed,

the look in His eyes,

even the way He carried Himself communicated a confidence,

and an authority,

and a kind of contagious love for life that these men had never seen before.

This guy was clearly worth getting to know better.

John and Jesus finally ended their conversation

and Jesus started walking down the road.

For a minute Andrew and his friend stood next to John watching Jesus walk away.

Then John made that statement, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”(John 1:36).

They had no idea what it meant,

but they were determined to find out.

They started trotting along after Jesus, a few paces behind Him.

Then came that terrible moment when Jesus turned around,

looked straight at them and said,

‟What do you want?” (John 1:38).

They didn’t know what to say.

What they wanted was... well, it was Him.

They wanted to know more about Him -

who He was, what He was doing, where He was going.

They wanted to talk with Him.

They just wanted to get to know Him.

But there was no way they dared put that into words.

There was a strained silence for a few seconds,

and then Andrew blurted out, ‟Rabbi, where are you staying?” (John 1:38).

Oh, that was great! Of all the stupid things to say!

‟Oh, Teacher, we’re just sneaking along behind You here because we were wondering what kind of house You live in.”

Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!

Andrew felt his face turning bright red

as he dropped his eyes to the ground

searching frantically for some hole large enough to crawl into.

Then Jesus spoke those five amazing words that changed Andrew’s life forever.

He said, “Come and I’ll show you.” (John 1:39).

Andrew looked up and saw a big grin on Jesus’ face,

and saw in His eyes

a combination of kindness, and compassion, and acceptance

that made Andrew realize this Man knew - He knew everything.

He knew what Andrew was thinking and feeling.

He knew what Andrew really wanted.

He knew, and He welcomed it.

In fact He seemed to be expecting it.

And so began Andrew’s personal friendship with his God.

And then there was Matthew’s first encounter with the King.

Matthew was just a grubby little Jewish man

sitting inside his tax office

with stacks of coins piled neatly on the table in front of him.

He knew what everyone thought of him -

they hated him.

And why shouldn’t they?

He’d sold his integrity to the Roman Empire

for a handful of silver and a heart full of emptiness.

There was a new teacher in town, a man called Jesus.

Matthew had heard Him speak

and found himself drawn to the man in the most remarkable way.

If only things were different,

if only Matthew’s life wasn’t such a mess

he would have tried to meet this Jesus.

But of course that could never be.

There was no way such a man would even know

or care that Matthew existed.

Then came that remarkable afternoon

when a shadow filled Matthew’s door

and a man stepped inside his stuffy little office.

He looked up and saw Jesus standing there.

Matthew said nothing,

waiting for the attack,

for the condemnation from this teacher

that he knew he so much deserved.

Jesus looked at the stacks of money,

then at the terror in Matthew’s eyes.

But the words of judgement and condemnation never came.

Jesus just looked at Matthew for a moment,

then smiled and said, ‟Follow Me!” (Matthew 9:9).

And Matthew followed.

With Philip, Peter, Nathaniel, James, and John the pattern was the same.

Jesus simply stepped into each man’s life and offered them Himself.

It was an uncomplicated, uncluttered offer.

He wasn’t hiring them to do a job,

He wasn’t enrolling them in a course of study,

He wasn’t calling them to join some new religious movement.

He was simply offering them a friendship with Himself.

And the terms of that offer never changed.

For Jesus’ disciples in the first century,

faithful Christian living meant nothing more or less than being with Jesus,

building a friendship with Him,

following His leadership.

When Peter opened his eyes in the morning

there was no list of religious duties he had to fulfill

before He was fit to once again meet the Master.

Jesus began and ended His earthly friendship with Peter exactly the same way.

He began the friendship by meeting Peter on a beach and saying to him, “Follow Me!” (Matthew 4:19).

More than three years later, just after Christ’s resurrection,

He once again met Peter on a beach and said simply, “You follow Me!”(John 21:22).

Jesus didn’t ask His men to follow His teachings,

or to follow His example,

or to follow His values,

or to follow His philosophy of life.

He wanted it clearly understood

that the offer He was making to the world

was the offer of Himself - His friendship,

His leadership,

His forgiveness,

His love,

His death in our place,

His life lived through His people on a moment-by-moment basis.

Those first disciples understood well

that the heart and soul of true Christianity

was the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

But now, nearly two thousand years later,

the world of Christianity has changed dramatically.

The simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ

has been replaced by a seemingly endless array

of definitions and explanations for what true Christian living involves.

Nearly every group crowded under the ‟Christian” banner

offers its own unique twist on the theme.

One group tells us

that true Christian living means

participating in bazaar and even dangerous activities designed to ‟prove” our faith in Christ.

Another group tells us total submission to the leadership of God

will result in the child of God plunging into a kind of total emotional abandonment

to the point of exhaustion or collapse.

Still others tell us true devotion is best expressed

through lighting candles and speaking memorized prayers in endless repetition.

Yet others affirm confidently that the true measure of Christian living

will be found in how diligently we follow a carefully outlined devotional program

or how faithfully we perform or avoid certain activities on certain days.

What began as a group of real men and women

building a real friendship with a very real Jesus

has somehow become twisted and distorted into forms and systems

that are often meaningless and at times even bazaar and self-destructive.

The same Jesus who violently objected to any meaningless form or show of religious activity in His own day

is now credited with being the author

of some of the strangest and most meaningless religious side-shows ever to invade the human race.

At the same time many of those who long for an honest, growing walk with their Lord

don’t even know where to begin.

They come away from the endless religious parade

feeling confused and condemned because they haven’t been able

to learn the tune or follow the steps to the intricate dance being crammed down their throats.

But there is hope, folks, lots of it!

Knowing how crucial it is for us

to understand the true nature of spiritual growth,

our Lord led exactly the right man

to write exactly the right letter to the people of God,

a letter in which he shows us with remarkable simplicity

what it means to walk with the King.

That letter was written by Peter,

a man who, in so many ways, was just like us.

We actually have two of his letters preserved for us in the New Testament,

but it’s his second one that we’re going to study together.

As we study Peter’s words

it’s crucial to keep in mind that this is Peter the fisherman talking to us,

not some clerical-collared theologian tucked away in a classroom or cathedral.

He isn’t philosophizing about the way people should act.

Practical daily living was all Peter had ever known

and he writes with an urgency born out of his certain knowledge

that he will soon be martyred for his witness to Christ.

This isn’t some mystical Saint Peter pontificating from on high.

This is a real man,

writing to real people

about living a very real Christian life.

And the power of Peter’s words begins with the opening statement of 2 Peter 1:1. ‟Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours...”

I do live that!

Before Peter shares a single word of instruction

he knows there’s an issue that has to be cleared up.

Even before Peter’s death there

were those within the church who believed that Peter and the other apostles

were somehow different from other Christians.

These men had known Jesus as a man.

They’d touched Him, talked with Him, listened to His voice.

They’d been personally chosen by Him as His disciples.

Peter knew his fellow Christians ran the risk of believing

that there was something inherently different about the kind and quality of his walk with Christ

and the type of walk available to us.

It was a lie that he knew had to be corrected.

So, in Peter’s opening sentence I hear him saying,

‟Fellow Christians, we need to get one thing clear before we go any further -

there is no difference between what you have entered into through Christ

and what I have entered into through Christ.

Sure, I was one of the few who knew Christ when He was physically on this earth,

and I’ll forever be grateful for that honor.

But that doesn’t mean that what I now experience as a Christian

is any different in kind from what you can experience too.

For you see, you’ve received a faith of the same kind as ours.

It’s equal in value and identical in nature.

Both you and I have entered into

the amazing adventure of discovering what it means

to build a friendship with our Lord through learning to trust Him.

You have your unique battles and growth points, and I have mine.

Each of us have places where we find it hard to believe He’s there,

places where we wonder if He understands or if He’s able to meet our needs.

But the central issue with each of us is identical -

we are all learning what it means to trust Him one step, one issue, one day at a time.”

Of course Peter’s growth in trust

had a jump-start through his friendship with Christ here on earth,

but the underlying issue was identical.

When Peter’s hands griped the edge of that boat,

as he stared at his Master walking across a churning sea

and he heard Jesus tell him to step out onto the water,

the issue was trust - Peter’s trust in the Person of Christ.

Three weeks ago I told you about that day in my own life

when I sat on that Caribbean beach so many years ago

with my doctrinal world collapsing around me.

At that critical point in my own life

the issue with me was identical - can I trust my Lord in the middle of my storm?

Just this past week

there were at least two points of turmoil in my own life

where I faced exactly the same question - can I trust Him...will I trust Him?

The fact that Peter could reach out and feel the physical fingers of Christ

and I can’t

in no way changes the central issue involved.

Our calling is identical - to trust the character, love, friendship, and power of Christ.

And then, before we end this morning

I want us to take one more step in our thinking.

Peter reinforces what he’s saying in the next two verses.

In Second Peter 1:2-3 he writes,

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

In this amazing sentence

Peter tells us that everything we need for a truly abundant life,

for practical growth in godliness,

even for experiencing the reality of God’s grace

and the inner peace He wants us to know,

all of this comes to us through a growing knowledge of Christ.

But here’s the tricky part.

Peter isn’t talking about learning facts or stories or historical content about Christ.

He’s not even talking about learning the teachings and values of Christ.

Peter selected a fascinating Greek word

for that word that we translate as ‟knowledge” in the English text.

He didn’t use the more common word, “gnosis”,

which refers to the accumulation of facts or intellectual understanding through personal research.

He used the word ‟epignosis”, a strengthened form of gnosis.

Literally epignosis means full or complete or true knowledge.

But the literal definition doesn’t capture the real intent

of what the New Testament writers are seeking to communicate through this word.

Maybe I can explain the difference between these two words

with a little bit of personal history.

In the Spring of 1976 I was working as the youth pastor at a church here in Soldotna.

There was a young lady in our congregation named Sandee Davis,

a remarkable young lady who fascinated me.

My fascination drove me to find out all I could about her.

I learned that she was teaching grade school at Cook Inlet Academy.

I learned that she lived with her parents.

I found out where she’d gone to school,

and where her parents lived,

and what time school was dismissed each day.

Every time I was with someone who knew Sandee

I would casually pump them for any information they could give me about her.

I was gaining knowledge, gnosis, about her.

Then came the day when I threw caution to the wind

and asked Sandee for a date.

She accepted my invitation

and we drove a hundred and fifty miles

on icy Alaskan roads

in a Ford Pinto with a pathetic heater

to have dinner at a restaurant somebody told me was good.

From the minute I picked her up

until the time I brought her home

she and I were in a constant state of communication.

We communicated with our words,

with our eyes,

with our attitudes,

even with the way we walked and the way we stood next to each other.

That evening, for the first time, I began to grow in epignosis about Sandee.

I wasn’t simply gaining knowledge about her,

I was gaining knowledge of her through personal interaction.

In the fall of 1976 Sandee Davis became Sandee Huntsperger,

and my process of growing in epignosis about her has never ended.

More than thirty years later our communication with one another continues,

and my knowledge and understanding of my life partner continues to grow.

The New Testament writers knew that a very special word was needed

to describe the kind of relationship a believer shares with his or her Lord.

It had to be a word that communicated more than just a process

of gaining facts or intellectual knowledge about God.

The word had to communicate

the kind of knowledge that could only come

through a living, growing, interactive friendship with the Creator.

That is epignosis.

It’s impossible for an unbeliever to possess epignosis about God.

In fact, (and this is fascinating,)

Paul warns us in Second Timothy 3:7

to be on guard against those around us who are, “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge (epignosis) of the truth.”

He wants us to know that epignosis of our Lord

does not come through gathering more and more facts about God.

It comes only through developing a growing personal friendship with Him.

Peter begins his letter to us

by affirming the central growth principle of life -

everything we need,

everything for which we hunger

comes to us through developing a growing, intimate friendship with our God.

That friendship is not just part of the Christian life, it is the Christian life.

When Adam and Eve first placed their bare feet in the Garden of Eden,

long before all of creation became twisted, confused, and filled with tension because of man’s sin,

there was a brief time when a man and a woman and their Creator

walked together in the garden in the cool of the evening.

Why?

For friendship - they walked together for friendship.

When Peter spent several years bouncing around Jesus,

like a puppy dog bouncing around his Master,

Peter was drawn to just one thing - friendship, building a friendship with this incredible Man.

Now, as Peter begins this letter to us,

he wants us to know that the goal has never changed.

God created us for friendship with Himself

and, through His own death, He’s redeemed us for the same purpose.

He’s called us to friendship with Himself

and has now granted to us

everything pertaining to life and godliness, through that friendship.

But how do we do it?

Jesus isn’t here in bodily form any more.

We can’t feel His touch,

or see His eyes,

or hear His voice as the disciples did.

How do we go about building a friendship with our Lord?

Peter answers this question in the next few verses,

and that’s where we’ll head the next time we’re in this study.