Music Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. This is part three of a message first preached on October 22nd, 2023.
It is part of a series on 2 Peter titled, Live as People Who Remember. Let me make something real clear. Peter's directive here is not challenging us to perfection, but direction.
You with me on that? The trajectory of your life, is it moving Christward? Or do you feel like, oh, I have to arrive, I have to arrive. And this day, oh man, I wasn't like Christ.
Oh, I'm such an awful person. Stop it. Live and delight in the grace of God.
Sounds like a radio program, doesn't it? Live in the grace of God. And may the trajectory, direction of your life be Christward. Because we're all a work in progress. So stop thinking about, oh, I have to be perfect.
But think about the direction, the trajectory of your life. Are you becoming like Christ? Are you doing what is necessary for you to become like Christ? This is why he says, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish. Pursuing Christ, walking in his steps. If you're walking in his steps, you're moving Christward. This is what Paul's ambition was as he wrote to the church as an apostle to the Gentiles.
Be diligent to be found. He says in Colossians chapter 1 verse 22, Paul writes, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. When is that? When you are face to face with Jesus Christ and not before. You're moving in that direction. Secondly, pursue Christ to become like him. First of all, holy. You are his chosen ones, holy and beloved. And then three words at the end of verse 14, and at peace. And at peace. This is what I mean by beloved.
Rich, how do you figure that? I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you. And at peace means, what does it mean? Free from worry. Free from worry. But rich, you don't know what I have to live with.
You don't know what I have to work with. Day in, day out, and I'm thinking of all these people that are reached by the satellite ministry of Monir and Salim. What do they have to live with? Can they know the peace of Christ?
Yes, they can. When they recognize that they are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. And they can be at peace, free from worry. In other words, they're not distracted. And when we are at peace, we are not distracted by the brokenness and evil of our world.
Not distracted by it. We're in a rescue boat and the sea is raging around us. And that rescue boat is anchored, anchored in the very presence of God. And it will bring us there, regardless of what's going on in the raging sea around us. This is what Hebrews teaches.
I'm reviewing Hebrews here a little bit. Sure, we moan. We moan under the weight. We groan under the weight and in the expectation of things to be renewed. For justice. Justice for the oppressors.
For the wicked, for the greedy. But though we groan and we moan under its weight, we are not pulled away from the one who has the words of eternal life. I talked about a boat and a storm. Jesus was in a boat, in a storm. Wasn't he? Storm is raging. What's Jesus doing? What are his disciples doing? Freaking out. There it is.
It's exactly what they are. They are freaking out. Jesus, don't you care?
That's you and me, isn't it? We have a tendency to do that. When things are raging, we ask God if he cares. Jesus wakes up, sees the storm. What did he say to his disciples?
O you of... It's not how much faith they had. The whole point was, what? The object of their faith. The sovereign of the universe is in this boat, and we're preoccupied with a storm. So Jesus stands up, and he says three words. Say it with me. Peace, be still.
That's the one we worship. That's being at peace. You see, Jesus, do you know why he was asleep? He was at peace. He was at peace. He was not distracted or preoccupied by the storm. He was at peace.
And he calls us to do the same. Why was Jesus at peace? Because he's all powerful, and he knew he had it over the storm.
That's not why. You know why he was at peace? Because as Peter tells us, he entrusted himself to the faithful creator. The storm is raging, but I am in the hands of the faithful creator. That's being at peace. That is knowing that I am loved and cared for by the infinite, sovereign creator, redeemer. I know that I am loved and cared for. That's what it means to be at peace.
Jesus was in the hands of the Father, and as Peter tells us, 1 Peter 2, 23, even when things were violent against him, he did not revile, but he continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. When I recognize, yes, I acknowledge and I mourn, I lament the storm that is raging around me, but I can be at peace because I know I am cared for and loved by the infinite, sovereign creator, sustainer, redeemer. Doesn't it make sense to pursue him? Yeah.
Yeah, it does. Why are we so preoccupied about all the stuff we can do for him when all he wants is our hearts? Because that takes surrender, doesn't it? We're all recovering control addicts. To be beloved means you are cared for and secure.
And if you are cared for and secure and you know that and you're convinced of that, then you are at peace, as Jesus was in the boat. Picture the scenario of a child that is alarmed. Something just, my grand-niece, I was down in Darlington, South Carolina last Saturday helping my brother and his wife move into their house, unloading a 53-foot trailer. Their little daughter, their little granddaughter, Brooke, cute as a dickens. She goes over to the back property line and there's a fence there. Guess what's on the other side of the fence? A big dog.
You could almost put a saddle on the thing. And that dog runs up to her. Of course, it's friendly, it's wagging its tail. And what does Brooke do? She freaks out.
She lets out a blood-curdling scream. And where does she go? Where does she go? Into the arms of mom.
And what does mom do? It's okay, honey, everything's okay. That statement is not true unless there is a sovereign God who cares. And he cares about you. Picture yourself in the arms of your Heavenly Father, who is the only one who has the authority to say, it's okay. You're going to be alright.
Everything's going to be fine for you. Only He can say that. And only if you are in His embrace at peace. Do you know what that is? That child in her mother's arms?
You in your father's arms? What is that? Even though this huge dog is barking at you, even though the storm is raging outside the boat, I am at peace. You know what that is? That is a settled satisfaction in the one who has you. Do you know what we call that? Joy. That's what joy is. You've been listening to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. To hear this message and others, check out www.delightingrace.com. To discover how to live by grace, tune in with us on weekdays at 10 a.m.
