May 21, 2021 2:00 am
Although Peter was at the end of his life, it's clear where his focus and energy was directed: he was thinking about others. As Skip shares the message "How to Live and Die Well," he shows you how you can live for the benefit of others.
This teaching is from the series Rock Solid.
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Do you ever feel like you sort of fall asleep in the light? I have a dog who likes to find the bright window where the sun comes in and fall asleep. I look at that and go, I do that.
That looks very attractive. I love the sunshine just falling asleep in that warmth. Sometimes we live in the light of the gospel truth and it's so easy to become drowsy and lethargic. And so Peter said, I want to stir you up. I want to wake you up.
Do you want to break free from complacency? God wants to ignite a fire in your life that makes a difference for his kingdom. Today on Connect with Skip Hyten, Skip shares how you can build a life legacy that impacts the people around you and outlives you. But before we begin, we invite you to catch Skip's Sunday message live at 9 and 11 a.m. at live.calvarynm.church.
That's 9 and 11 a.m. at live.calvarynm.church. Now we want to let you know about a resource that will ignite a deeper desire in you to pursue Jesus. You know Proverbs 31, the go-to passage that describes the ideal Christian woman and life. But let's be honest, that ideal can be as intimidating as it is inspiring. Here's Skip Heitzig with more. Can I just tell you it's exhausting to just read that, let alone how on earth women could you ever do that?
Well let me say first of all, you can't do that in a day. He's not giving the 24-hour description of the virtuous wife. This is a woman over time. Get to know some of the most incredible women in the Bible and in history with two inspiring resources. A six-message CD collection from Pastor Skip on prominent women in scripture, plus the book Seven Women by best-selling author Eric Metaxas. This bundle is our thanks when you give $35 or more to help expand the Bible teaching outreach of Skip Heitzig. Charm is deceitful, beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Call now to request these captivating resources as our thanks for your generous gift 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer.
Okay we'll be in second Peter chapter one for today's study so let's join Skip Heitzig. The truth is we don't know when we're going to die. We don't have any kind of way to predict that exactly usually.
But when you think about it you get real because you don't know when it's going to come and second because just thinking about it makes you live more wisely. Here's an example. Let's say you go to a lawyer.
I'm not picking on lawyers but let's say you go to a lawyer and you have one hour with a lawyer and he says this is going to cost you $250 per hour. Okay so the clock begins. Do you immediately ask him superfluous questions like so tell me about your upbringing. You could care less about his upbringing or her upbringing at that time.
You don't care about the weather what's going on. You want to get your money's worth. You want to make sure that in that hour you're thinking about how much this is costing you. You're going to use it wisely. So when you start thinking about your life in these terms that you know what this lifetime well it's costing me my life. You start thinking and planning. So live with death in mind. That's the first key.
Here's the second. Live your life like you're camping out. You're camping out.
You're doing something that is not permanent. Now I want you to look at a word that he uses. We've already seen it but I'm going to zero in on it. Twice he uses the word tent. In verse 13 he says I think it's right as long as I am in this tent his body to stir you up by reminding you. Knowing that shortly I must put off my tent just as the Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. Peter uses the familiar metaphor of the human body being like what they in that time saw so often around that part of the world. Nomads traveling in tents.
Temporary shelters on their way from one place to another place. So when a person dies it's like taking down one's tent. It's a camping metaphor for those of us in the modern world. Well Peter didn't alone do this. Paul also spoke of death this way. 2nd Corinthians 5 we know writes Paul that if our earthly house this tent is destroyed the word literally means taken down. We have a building from God. A house not made with hands that is eternal in the heavens. It's just interesting that the word both Peter and Paul used to describe the body is a tent. I understand for Paul he was a tent maker.
Peter was a fisherman but he knew that metaphor. Now when you think of a tent you think of something temporary. You think of something flimsy and you think of something that isn't really all that beautiful.
It's just very temporary. Show of hands how many of you like to go camping? Honestly raise your hand.
You like to go camping. Okay hands down. Of those people that raise their hands how many of you would like to go tent camping?
Raise your hands. Okay you like the tent better. Okay hands down. RV? Okay. Motel?
Hotel? Okay yeah. Yeah see there's different ways to do it right. So camping in a tent is very rudimentary.
It's down to basics. Camping in an RV you still got 400 channels on television if you want. Really not like roughing it. You still got a bed. You still got a shower. You still have a stove.
Hotel room you got room service. But when you're in a tent you are down to the basics and that's the advantage of it because you boil life down to its irreducible minimum. You realize how much stuff you can live without right.
It's just the basics. It's very helpful to be reminded of that sometimes. Also the advantage of camping out in a tent is you cannot wait to get home. If you're camping for very long. Now you go oh not me I could be out here forever.
I don't know if you've ever tried a long time. I was once camping for three straight months. I traveled around America and Canada in a tent. Well I was in a truck that had and then I'd pitch a tent at night.
It was wonderful. I'm glad I did it but you know what? After three months I was done. I could care less if I ever saw a tent after that. Now I did go camping but it was a while. You can't wait to get home. You want a bed. You want a shower.
You want real food. So a tent for that reason has an advantage. Now our body like a tent is temporary and after a while like a tent the threads unravel and the flaps get torn and the tent leaks like all tents do. What's amazing to me. What's interesting to me. I've always been amused at it.
We all have this tendency is the tendency to make our tent last forever and so some people will surgically lift the tent flaps to make it look like you just bought the thing or dye the threads that are unraveling because it looks so young or at least they think it looks so young. I remind you of what James said and he said, what is your life? It is a vapor. That's you.
It appears only for a little time and then it vanishes away. So just think of the tent, the body that you and I live in and compare that with this promise. Jesus said in my father's house there are many mansions. When I think that I'm going to trade in the tent for a building, a mansion, give me the mansion. Give me the mansion. Give me the building, a mansion. Give me the mansion because after a while living in this tent, you're done with the tent. Now I'm looking at lots of tents right now.
I'm looking at lots of you. The real you is not your tent. Your spirit is the real you. The body is simply the means by which you can convey and relate and communicate with others.
It's helpful but after a while it ceases to be helpful. It becomes less and less helpful in conveying who you really are and one day when what we call death happens, the movers will come and you will move from one place to another. You will make your own exodus, a departure, a taking down of the tent and that is the best way to view death. It is not accurate to say of a believer, he died, she died.
It is more accurate to say he moved, she moved into the everlasting kingdom prepared for you by the Lord. No wonder Paul when he writes Philippians says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Only a believer can make that statement. It's gain because the believer says for me to live is Christ.
Now substitute Christ for something else. For me to live is money. To die is well to lose it all. For me to live is pleasure. For me to die is to cease the earthly pleasure and have to face the music of my life with God. But to say for me to live is Christ is to say for to die then is gain.
Paul goes on to say to die is much better. So live your life like you're on a campground and don't make it all about my tent. Hey how's my tent look today?
Like a tent. However do you know that you can send supplies up ahead for your mansion? Jesus said don't lay up treasures for yourself on earth where moth and rust can destroy and corrupt and thieves can break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.
The idea, the thought that I can start decorating now intrigues me. Live with death in mind. Live like you're camping out. Here's the third key. Live for the benefit of others.
Live for the benefit of others. Now here's what's interesting about the passage we're reading. Peter as I mentioned is in his 70s. He's getting older. The tent is unraveling but it's clear where his energy and his focus is.
Not in himself. His focus is on others. He's all about being motivated for others. As I looked at chapter one this week I counted four times the word your appears in 11 times the word the pronoun you appears. He's doing this for them, for you, for yours. Here's just a sampling look at verse 11 if you don't mind. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly. Verse 12 for this reason I will not be negligent to remind you of these things though you know and are established in them.
Verse 13 I think it's right as long as I am in this tent to stir you up. Peter is thinking about others. Peter is living for the benefit of others. Now he does it two ways. One by reminding them of things that they already know and two by waking them up. By reminding them and by waking them up. First of all he wants to remind them. He says you already know these things you're established in the present truth even though that's true I think it's right that I remind you of what you already know.
A good teacher will do that. So if you ever wonder I've heard this before that's a good thing. Jesus would often repeat himself in his parables, in his sermons. Solomon would do this in proverbs. David in psalms. There would be certain themes that are repeated because a good teacher will repeat himself over and over again. Let me say that again.
A good, no I'm just kidding. Now here's why that is. Here's why you need to be reminded simply because you forget and I forget. Virtually every study on learning I have ever found gives the most dismal statistics of retention.
Do you know that the average person retains at best. That's if you're locked in and not looking at your cell phone right now. You're locked into you're locked into the message. You will only remember 25% of this and some experts say only if you hear it twice. So you have to listen to what I'm saying and get the tape or tape the electronic digital media provided and listen to it again to get a 25 or better percent retention of anything you hear. That is very discouraging for a teacher can I just say that. However you will retain 45% if you see it and hear it.
70% if you see it hear it and do it. That's why we say get involved in connect groups, small groups because the more you can interact over that truth and reinforce it the better you will be at retaining it. So here's Peter saying I know you already know this stuff but I just think it's right. I'm an old guy now and I'm reminding you of these things over and over and over and that's good. Have you ever had this experience I have where I've read a text I know the text but I've forgotten that truth and I get back to it over after several months or even years I look and I open up that section in my bible and I see that I've underlined it I might even have a note on the side of it but I've forgotten about it till now and just now this is so helpful to be reminded of that and Peter's doing that he's he's stirring them and reminding them. Second thing he's doing is waking them up look at verse 13 at the word stir yes I think it's right as long as I am in this tent to stir you up could be translated to arouse you or wake you up from your lethargy or your drowsiness that's what the word means to awaken from drowsiness or lethargy. Do you ever feel like you sort of fall asleep in the light? I have a dog who likes to find the bright window where the sun comes in and fall asleep I look at that and go I do that that looks very attractive I love the sunshine just falling asleep in that warmth sometimes we live in the light of the gospel truth and it's so easy to become drowsy and lethargic and so Peter said I want to stir you up I want to wake you up and what I think he means here is what he's going to write starting in the very next chapter you'll see he kind of he unleashes it and he writes head on about the danger of false prophets and false teachers in the church and their need to be able to spot a fake when they see one or hear one so he wants to stir them up he's living for others to remind them as well as to stir them up but here's the greater point Peter is nearing his death his departure is near he's in his 70s but he's not thinking about himself he's thinking about others that's the point I want to leave you with he's thinking about others he's living his life for others instead of becoming consumed as so often happens when we're about to die or we're getting old and we just sort of think about how I'm doing is that he is thinking about others somebody once said a man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package I remember growing up my parents had a subscription to life magazine never seen that magazine it was a large magazine great photographs I wanted to be a life photographer I just fell in love with the pictures and the articles I enjoyed it it came out in the early in the early 1900s and and it continued till around the year 2000 life magazine well years later another magazine sort of overtook the sales and that was a 1974 magazine called people magazine still very successful and read by a lot of people so we went from life to just people now now in 1977 something else happened in the print world a new magazine sort of eclipsed people it was called us magazine do you see the trend from life to people to us 1979 yet another magazine was spotted on the market and that's called self magazine do you see this trend life people us self and I used to note this and I used to make jokes one day there's going to be me magazine did you know in 2004 they unveiled me magazine so the circle the tendency in life for most people is to draw that circle tighter and tighter have you ever seen a magazine called others I haven't there might be one but I've never seen one and I don't think if there is one that it's popular and yet the bible tells us we had to live for others and think about others and place others above ourselves in fact the bible would say if you want a joyful life think about others more than yourself ask any missionary who is camping in another culture and has stripped himself down or herself down out of all the pleasures of the western world and and gives his or her life for another people group and ask them are you happy you're gonna oh I'm so happy I so don't have what I had in the states but I'm so filled with fulfillment in doing what I'm doing ask any relief worker who feels God has called them to do that as well when they pour themselves out for others there's an increase in the quality of one's life so you want to live well and die well live with death and mind live like you're camping out live for the benefit of others and finally we close with this live for a legacy that outlives you one day you're gonna die unless the lord comes back before then what are you gonna leave behind you what legacy will you leave that will outlive you verse 15 is Peter's moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my deceased I'm I'm thinking that at the very least he's has in his mind the book that he's writing first peter and second peter the one he's writing don't you find it interesting that after two thousand years two thousand years we are still being instructed and nourished by first and second peter talking about leaving a legacy that outlives you that's amazing one of the reasons that I feel peter knew his time was up right about here is because of a promise the lord jesus had given him when he was a young man it was right after the resurrection you know the story I'll just jog your memory jesus appears to peter after the resurrection peter's a young guy and jesus says something like this you know peter when you were younger you got dressed however you wanted to and you went wherever you wanted to go but when you are old you will stretch out your hands a euphemism for crucifixion in the new testament you will stretch out your hands and others will clothe you and they will take you where you don't want to go and then john adds these words jesus was telling peter about the death he would die in which he would glorify god so peter has a promise when i'm old this is going to happen this this is helpful to me because when i read passages like acts 12 where peter is threatened they said that he was going to die the next day he was put in prison his buddy james was killed and the romans said you're next tomorrow you're going to die it says and peter fell asleep in prison funny it doesn't strike you the same way it struck me how do you fall asleep knowing you're going to die the next day would you just say okay good night i'm going to die in the morning but you know why he could do that because jesus said peter when you are old you're going to die when you are old this is going to happen to you peter was still a young man so he said good night went to sleep now he is old and now the lord has freshly impressed upon his mind the time is up you're going to take down the tent you are making an exodus from one place to another place and so he says because that's true because i know this really is the time i want to make sure that i'm leaving something for others behind so i ask you what are you leaving behind what is your legacy what are you leaving behind what is you leaving the next generation in the very least are you leaving an example of a well-lived life here's another suggestion how about getting your affairs in order now like a will like a trust like your funeral so you don't encumber children and grandchildren with that the most important thing is are you passing your faith on to the next generation i keep a couple of journals that i've written in over the years about private matters and issues of faith and struggles and victories and triumphs and i write them down by hand and i want to give them to the next generation of my son and my grandchildren i want them to read that i want to leave that legacy with them and i think that living well is seen in these four keys that you live with death in mind you live like you're camping out it's only temporary you live for the sake of others but you live wanting to leave something that will outlive you here's a great native american proverb that says when you were born you cried and the world rejoiced make sure that you live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice would it be horrible if it were the opposite when you die for people to go hallelujah out of my hair nah you want you want to be the one rejoicing when you leave and others weeping and well we should because we would miss your presence and your contribution moses the only psalm he ever wrote psalm 90 said lord teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom every day hundreds of thousands of babies are born on this planet every day hundreds of thousands of people leave into eternity this earth is sort of like a giant titanic sailing with doomed people toward eternity all of us have an exit date it is appointed for all of us to die once what then well right now right here in this sphere and this time we can live well and thus die well that Skip hides it with a message from the series rock solid now here's Skip to share how you can keep these messages coming your way to connect you and others to the lord the bible tells us that every day draws us closer to the return of jesus one day the lord will return and that means our time to reach others with a gospel is urgent people need to hear the good news that changed your life and mine so today i'm asking for your help to reach more people around the world with these teachings from god's word here's how you can partner with this ministry to make that happen give us a call at 800-922-1888 to make a donation 800-922-1888 or give online at connectwithskip.com slash donate that's connectwithskip.com slash donate your support is vital to help connect more people like you to christ so thank you for giving generously did you know there's a great biblical resource available right at your finger to help through your mobile device Skip has several bible reading plans available in the you version bible app you can dive deeper into several books of the bible to gain new insights just search Skip heitzig in the you version bible app and be sure to come back next week as Skip heitzig looks to god's word to affirm your beliefs and give you confidence in your faith so connect with Skip heitner is a presentation of connection communications connecting you to god's never changing truth in ever-changing times
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-11-16 01:05:51 / 2023-11-16 01:15:26 / 10