An Experienced Teacher

At the conclusion of our look at the parable of the two builders, I posed the question, "what, exactly, are we supposed to apply?" We need to be doers of the Word, but what specifically does that mean. What should the priority be?

One of the letters in the New Testament was written to a church with a similar question. This church was sorting through what was important. There was information overload, with false teachers overemphasizing the wrong thing. There was confusion as to what should be done. They needed someone to bring them back to the basics. Does that sound like a lot of church situations today?

The writer of this letter was Peter, and it goes by the name 2 Peter. Is there a character in the Bible that had a bigger roller coaster of journey then he did? When we think of Peter, we often think about his loud mouth and brashness to be the first to do anything. He was the one to walk on water. He first acknowledged Jesus as the Christ. He was in Jesus' inner circle.

Peter was also the one to tell Jesus he would die for Him, and then denied Him three times (In Peter's defense, he did make good on his promise - in the garden he decided to take on the Roman army trying to arrest Jesus. He was swinging at the soldier's head when he missed and lopped off his ear). His whole world was shaken when the Messiah didn't fit his preconceived beliefs.

Peter, a fisherman, was called out of humble beginnings. He was at the top of the world in ministry - the right hand man of the Son of God, the Messiah come to earth. He lost everything when he denied Christ and returned to fishing. He was restored to leadership and lead many to the faith with powerful preaching through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He was a man who hit rock bottom and reached the top of the world a couple times each. In other words, he is someone with a qualified perspective to help us in our walk with Christ.

Peter said many words while on earth... the letter known as 2 Peter were some of his last - it was written within a few years of his death. If we want an outline of how to grow in maturity, 2 Peter is a good place to look:

⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 2 Peter 1:5-7 NLT

We'll dive into this verse in context next post.