“The Power of the Gospel”

Scripture: 2 Peter 1:12-21

The human mind is a truly marvelous thing. Even though it doesn’t work as fast as a super computer, it can still process information at an incredible speed – approximately 100 trillion instructions per second! And, according to the internet, while the human brain is calculating a math problem, it is also working, subconsciously, to process data from millions of nerve cells that handle the visual input of the paper and surrounding area, receive the audio input from both ears, and analyze the sensory input of millions of cells throughout the body. The brain is also regulating the heartbeat, monitoring oxygen levels, considering hunger and thirst requirements and deciding wheither you want to keep working or take a "snack break", breathing patterns and hundreds of other essential factors throughout the body, and simultaneously comparing data from the eyes and the sensory cells in the arms and hands to keep track of the position of the pen and paper as the calculation is being performed.
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/brain-facts.shtml

The human mind may be a bit slower than a super computer in actually making calculations, but it also has to monitor and regulate the rest of our body at the same time. However, the greatest differences in the 2 systems is this – the human mind provides us with the ability to reason, to consider abstract concepts, and to act on the information that we are constantly accumulating. Computers can’t even come close to doing all of this. At least, not yet!
We need to understand the information that we have, and not just accumulate more of it.

Read 2 Peter 1:12-15

One problem that we do have is the retention of information - our memory - and our reasoning can also become tainted by all of the information that we have collected and have processed incorrectly! But all in all, if we can just remember the important things, we can do wonderful things.
That is why Peter is so intentional in repeating those important things over and over.

Constance Vanides wrties:
“I have a friend who lived in Oklahoma as a child. She remembers getting the family’s water supply from rain which poured down from rooftop to rain barrel. The water was fresh and soft so long as rain continued to replenish what was in the barrel. As days became dryer, followed by drought with no fresh inflow, the water remaining in the barrel became stagnant. Children discovered “wiggly tails” swimming about! Although they were fun to watch, it meant the water was not fit to drink. No life can come to us from stagnant waters!”
So it is with our spirits.
—Constance Vanides, “Add water and stir,” Christian Inspirations Web Site, May 2000.

Reprinted with permission of Constance Vanides, “Christian Inspiration of Comfort, Edification and Exhortation,” GodCares.org.

We need to constantly be refreshed in the Word, just as Peter rightly knew and told his Christian friends. There is no life in stagnant souls! I struggle with those who claim that they can be with God when they are out hunting, or on the golf course, or relaxing at home on Sunday morning, and don’t see any need to be in some “stuffy, ego-centric” church.
The problem, as both Peter and Constance Vanides know, is that we are seldom refreshed when we are by ourselves engaged in some human activity! We almost never grow in faith when we are by ourselves! It is extremely difficult to discover some new aspect of God’s grace and presence, if we aren’t immersed in faith development that only the collective body of the church can provide.
We need others to help us remember, we need others to help us put all the pieces together in the right order.

Read 2 Peter 1:16-18

Part of this “reminding” is our personal witness of how the Lord is working in our lives. We sometimes envy the disciples who had a first-hand experience with Jesus. But don’t we have those personal experiences, too? Those times when the Lord leads us to just the right place, in just the right time, to make just the right decision, and only later do we understand just how right it was?
We don’t repeat “cleverly invented stories” – we share our personal stories, our personal witness, our personal walk! That is how we remember what God has done for us, and how we help others to remember what God is poised to do for them.
I would have loved to be on that mountain to see the glory come down and settle on Jesus. But that wasn’t to be my witness! Christ has given me other times and places when I have come to know His presence with me, and He expects me to share them with those who are struggling to come to grips with His presence in their own lives, or seemingly, the lack thereof. Peter, James and John weren’t invited to that revealing simply for their own benefit (Matthew 17:1-9) – they went so that they could share that story with others. Peter wanted to stay on the mountain to reflect on what he had seen, but Jesus took them all back down to the valley. The valley is where we share our memories and experiences of glory.

Read 2 Peter 1:19-21

On Wednesday mornings at Gibson Corners, we are currently studying the gospel of Luke, and on Wednesday evenings at Campville we are studying Isaiah. Both of these teachings are equally important to us. We read the Old Testament to hear the word that was given to Israel, and we read the New Testament to discover the word that is being given to the followers of Christ. Without the Hebrew text, the gospels begin to look pretty strange and have no basis for us in truth, and without the gospels, the word that was given through the prophets falls flat. And it all comes together for humanity in one package that we call The Word.
When we read of the trials of Job, we also have to remember Romans 5:3-5 – “we also rejoice in our suffering, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who he has give us.” We need both Job and Romans!
When we read of Christ’s crucifixion, we also must remember the story in Numbers 21:4-8, regarding the poisonous vipers that came among the people and many were bitten. All who were bitten died, until Moses was told to make a bronze serpent, place it high on a pole, and whoever would look upon it would not die. We need Numbers and the gospels!
And we could come up with many more examples of how all scripture works together, but only when we remember the passages and the stories of faith. It is the power of remembering that the glory of God has been coming down to us for millennia, and will continue to do so until Christ Himself comes to bring the glory to us in person. The power of faith, the power of the Word, the power of the prophets, the power of the gospels is all there for us. These gifts haven’t been offered to benefit God – they are given to benefit us, and if we forget these marvelous events of faith, we will be lost.

Elisabeth Elliot writes:
We cannot always, or even often, control events, but we can control how we respond to them. When things happen which dismay or appall, we ought to look to God for his meaning, remembering that he is not taken by surprise nor can his purposes be thwarted in the end. What God looks for is those who will worship him. Our look of inquiring trust glorifies him.
This is our first responsibility: to glorify God. In the face of life's worst reversals and tragedies, the response of a faithful Christian is praise--not for the wrong itself certainly, but for who God is and for the ultimate assurance that there is a pattern being worked out for those who love Him.
--Elisabeth Elliot, A Lamp for My Feet (Mich: Vine Books, 1985), 96.

The gospels, the Hebrew writings, the epistles – all are there to show us that a silent faith is no faith at all. We must hear them, repeat them, share them, remember them, for without their power in our lives, there is no perseverance, there is no character, and there is no hope.

Our first responsibility as the people of God is to bring glory to Him. But first we have to understand why he deserves that glory! Remember the Power of the Word, and rejoice!