From 2 Peter 3: Scoffers

“Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires, saying, ‘Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised? Ever since our ancestors fell asleep, all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.’” (vv. 3-4)

Scoffers gonna scoff.

They scoffed in the days of Noah, before the judgment fell.

And they scoff now, equally certain that the promises of God are something less than promises.

Here’s where that drags us:

The scoffers aren’t just fringe opinions. They aren’t a small countercultural camp. They dominate the conversation. They pervade the media. They have reputations as “experts” and “smart people.” They are the academics. So, when they deride the truth, it’s an onslaught that makes YOU seem fringe, countercultural, and under-informed.

That’s frustrating.

But it doesn’t give them one ounce of real authority.

Hold fast to the truth, even in the face of scoffers, because it is true! God has proven His reliability in every way since forever—and this will be proved, too.

— Tyler

From 2 Peter 2: Heresy

“These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.” (v. 17)

Let’s make sure we know what Peter is warning against in this chapter:

He isn’t merely warning the believer away from all the untruth in the world. He’s warning believers against heresy in the church.

It’s a warning we ought to heed.

So how do you spot a heretic?

Whenever someone claims a Christian identity but accommodates the flesh…

Whenever Christian preaching affirms sin, especially by undermining the plain truth of God’s Word…

Whenever the awesome holiness of Christ is downplayed and the human condition goes unchallenged…

…you’ve got heresy.

And it doesn’t matter how smart the argument sounds: If it is uprooted from the inspired Word, then it is ultimately worthless. It’s a dry spring devoid of Christ’s living water. It’s smoke blown around by the culture’s winds.

So listen up, church! Listen to how they handle the Word, how they speak of the revealed Christ, and how they urge humility and repentance and worship (or don’t). Because that will tell you if you should drink from their well.

— Tyler

From 2 Peter 1: How to Multiply

“May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” (v. 2)

If you are offered more peace and more grace, are you interested? If you could see grace and peace multiplied in your life, would you desire that? If there were a sure-fire approach to exponential peace and exponential grace in your lived days, would you pursue it?

The apostle Peter, in this letter to the church, greets us with a hope of grace and peace multiplied.

Where do we find it?

In the knowledge of Christ.

Think of it this way: The more we know about Jesus, the greater our understanding of His grace and His peace. If you abide in His Word, you will continually experience the richness of His grace-gift, which is the heart of the Gospel. If you investigate and unfold and internalize the Good News—Jesus in our place!—you will continually experience the profundity of His peace. Every time you turn to Him in His Word, you discover grace after grace and peace after peace, multiplied to you in the knowledge of Christ.

The offer is there.

Will you take it up?

— Tyler

From 1 Peter 5: A Word About Cares

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.” (vv. 6-7)

That last phrase is familiar to us, and we are reminded of it frequently: “Cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.”

It’s a genuine encouragement. I don’t know about all you’re carrying, but I do know that you can’t carry it alone. The God who cares for us is the God who takes our burdens in Christ. That’s tender and good.

Now look at the context:

Where do these cares seem to come from? They come from our insistence on exaltation. We have what we have, but we long for the day when what we have is more. We suffer as we suffer, but we hope for the time when our suffering is relieved. We work and we sweat and we serve, yet we desire His invitation to rest—and to a seat higher up at the table.

These desires aren’t wrong. In fact, much of what we hope for is the very substance of His promises. What gets us—what weighs us down—is the demand for exaltation at improper times, at the time before He graciously determines to give it.

Cast your cares on Him! Trust His timing! Believe He cares for you! And you will learn to wait for that day with freedom, not frustration.

— Tyler

From 1 Peter 4: Use It!

“Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.” (v. 10)

I don’t know what it is, but I know you’ve got it.

God, in His grace and His live and His creativity, has given you a gift. It’s something specific to you: a way to serve, a way to love, the means to give, a thing to share. You have received of His diverse grace in a particular way.

Imagine if His grace made all of us exactly alike, if His redemption in Christ reshaped us with a Christian cookie cutter. That would be dreadfully boring! How could those people and that church sharpen one another while serving their neighbors? Where would the dynamism of our worship and service and prayers and hospitality and generosity and compassion all come from? We’d be flat!

Thank God for His diverse grace, then, which saves us by one Name to be one body of many parts. Because you and I are gifted differently—under the same Lord—we can serve with dynamic beauty. Some will teach, some will sing, some will heal—and many will serve in brilliantly creative ways, according to their gifting. That’s what makes the church so great!

Which brings me to the point:

Use your gifts.

Whatever it is, add it to the body. Volunteer it. Communicate it. And jump in.

It’s poor stewardship otherwise. And it robs the church—and the needy world.

— Tyler

From 1 Peter 3: A Good Question

“Who then will harm you if you are devoted to what is good?” (v. 13)

It’s a good question.

“Who will harm you if you are devoted to doing good?”

They might be confounded by you. They might be confused by you. They might even feel confronted by your example.

But it’s hard to want to harm the people who run to the hurting, who help the needy, who show compassion to the lowly, who adopt the orphan and who secure the widow.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be dangers. It does mean, however, that your faith’s most frequent critics will feel their criticism caught in their throats, as you and I go to those they would leave behind.

— Tyler

From 1 Peter 2: Silencing Ignorance

“For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.” (v. 15)

You’ve tried arguing, but that didn’t work.

You’ve tried politics, but that’s been a uniform letdown.

You’ve tried posting incisive content on social media, but it’s changed nothing.

You keep trying to silence ignorance with words…but ignorance rages on.

So try this:

Silence the world’s ignorance by doing good, in Christ.

Their slander can’t touch you if the evidence of your life disproves it. They can say whatever they want, but your testimony leaves nothing but generosity, servanthood, and compassion in its wake. They keep throwing words at you; you keep loving in the light of Christ.

When all their slander—borne of all their darkness—doesn’t shut up your Jesus-loving, neighbor-serving story, it falls silent.

Don’t let ignorance derail that. Serve on!

— Tyler

From 1 Peter 1: Minded for Grace

“Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be sober-minded and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (v. 13)

Whatever you set your hopes on, that’s where you will aim your actions.

If your hope is set on retirement goals, you’ll work and invest and tirelessly track your savings.

If your hope is set on how your kids turn out, you’ll read all the books and all the blogs—and you’ll center your life on their education and activities.

If your hope is set on material gain, you’ll spend and spend—and you’ll obsess over trends—as you pursue all the right stuff.

Whatever you set your hopes on, that’s where you will aim your actions.

What did Peter encourage the church toward?

Set your hopes entirely on grace—the Good News of salvation, known now and fulfilled in eternity—and aim your actions accordingly.

Forsake sin. Pursue holiness. Love one another. Be sober-minded, not hot-headed and not swayed by every argument. Serve in the light of the Gospel.

Because you know God’s grace in Christ, live for Him.

— Tyler

From Titus 3: Mercy upon Mercy

“For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us  —not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy  — through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” (vv. 3-5)

I’m guessing you’re like me:

When you read that verse—“For we too were once….”—you could fill in the blank with a thousand things. What did your own foolishness look like? What were the hallmarks of your own disobedience?

My list is humbling, and I’m guessing your list is, too.

I thank God for the other side of this reality! I thank God for the centerpiece of the Gospel, which is mercy, poured out by Christ and made know to us by His Spirit. Mercy is my only hope, when I consider the weight of my foolish disobedience. And, just when the Word leads to comprehend that weight, it reintroduces me to the mercy that carries it away to the cross.

That is, by definition, mercy upon mercy.

— Tyler

From Titus 2: A Sound Message

“Your message is to be sound beyond reproach, so that any opponent will be ashamed, because he doesn’t have anything bad to say about us.” (v. 8)

How sound is your message?

In Titus, Paul is encouraging another young pastor, so that the church will be solidly organized and scripturally instructed. Among his encouragements, there is this: “Your message must be sound beyond reproach.”

What do you think he means by that?

Try this:

Instead of preaching opinions, preach the Word. Instead of cherry-picking your preferred passages, deliver its full counsel. Instead of proof-texting your predetermined points, exposit the text and its context.

All that, and…

…instead of using it like a reference, hold the Bible as wholly true, inspired, and authoritative.

If any of us—pastors or teachers or learners—root ourselves in that, then whatever we share with whomever we share it will be sound. Our message will always be grounded, and we’ll have the Bible’s own revelation (plus two millennia of faithful confidence) under our feet. Opinions can be assailed; truth cannot.

So…how sound is your message?

— Tyler

From Titus 1: Concerning Pastors

“An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion. As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled, holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.” (vv. 6-9)

Who should lead in the church? Who should be our pastors?

Here’s how a lot of churches are answering that question: job descriptions. If you happen upon a place that is looking for their next shepherd, you’ll find a ready rubric—and it usually highlights the ministerial expectations of preaching, teaching, leading, visiting, administering, attending, and serving.

The Word, however, has an entirely different rubric.

Every time the qualifications for pastor (or elder or overseer) are detailed, they detail matters of character, of faith and faithfulness, and of humility. They detail the primacy of morality and of family. They detail only one job concern—that he teach the Word of God faithfully—and, beyond that, they focus wholly on his Christlike character.

When we consider this God-ordained role in the New Testament church, let’s consider it in the light God gives it. Let’s be gracious regarding a man’s polish and performance, so long as he serves humbly and faithfully and fully. And let’s limit the value we place on superlative platform ministry. Instead, examine his character by the right rubric, and pray that the Lord raises up humble men to shepherd His church.

(And pray for them, please!)

— Tyler

From 2 Timothy 4: The Wrong Thing to Multiply

“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.” (v. 3)

I don’t know how much attention you give to Christian denominations in America, but there’s this thing that has been happening for the last fifty years or so:

Ever time one of them aims for “progressive” doctrine, they find the slippery slope, and they slide. They remove their feet from the solid ground of Christ and His Word—and they wander toward whatever and whoever’s words please the times. They multiply teachers and platforms that, under the banner of affirmation, preach wholly unbiblical and unsound content.

Every time we aim to make the Word of God more appeasing to its hearers, we abandon it. And, worse, we abandon the very hearers we’d hoped to appease, for they are left without root and without truth and without life.

We ought to be multiplying the teaching—the faith once for all delivered to the saints—and not merely multiplying teachers. We have the Teacher, and by His Spirit, we have His Word. Beware the impulse to massage what He gives into what you want.

Hold doctrine. Uphold those who teach it in the church. And let your itching ears be confronted, rather than tickled.

— Tyler

From 2 Timothy 3: The “All” of Persecution

“In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (v. 12)

It’s unequivocal.

All.

As in, “All who live a godly life will be persecuted.”

This should raise some questions: Do you already see it around you? Have you tasted persecution for godliness yourself? How are we even defining “persecution”—and how are we defining “godly,” while we’re at it?

Two thoughts:

First, don’t water down the idea of persecution. Persecution isn’t political disaffection or disagreement. It isn’t rainbow flags or pornographic media. It isn’t even secularized school curricula. Persecution is the endangerment of freedom, relationships, and home for faithfulness. Go slow with claiming it.

Second, godliness isn’t merely moral abstention. It’s not hiding behind the church’s fortress walls. It’s not finger-wagging. Godliness is the pure pursuit of Christ’s Kingdom, calling others to repent as you yourself have repented. It’s a convictional, contrasting life, lived for Him where others don’t. Godliness isn’t a retreat into Christianity; it’s being rooted in Christ.

Everyone who lives like that will be persecuted here.

Which prompts the big question:

Are we part of the “all”?

— Tyler

From 2 Timothy 2: Civilian Life

“No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the commanding officer.” (v. 4)

Be honest:

How entangled are you with civilian life?

Yes, you should be an informed citizen. Yes, you should be a quality neighbor. And yes, you should be interested and engaged and involved in your community.

But how entangled are you?

The Gospel calling calls us out. It challenges the worldly things we permit and pervert. It considers our political obsessions and our social media addictions and our rank materialism, and it puts them to shame. The Gospel calling sets the Lord as YOUR Lord—and that should be fundamentally unentangled.

Let’s let go of some of the “civilian” distractions. Instead, let’s serve the Commander, whose purpose of grace is wholly captivating.

— Tyler

From 2 Timothy 1: Hold on to the Truth

“Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” (v. 13)

A professor once told me, “If you’re the first person to read it that way, you’re wrong.”

When it comes to truth—to the Word, to its message, to the Gospel we are called to guard—we aren’t talking about something new or novel. It has been given, taught, and proclaimed for two millennia. The Spirit still leads interpreters toward insightful illustrations, but the thing itself is unchanged and unchanging.

Paul, to encourage Timothy, warns the young man with a warning that is still relevant today: Hold onto to the teaching you have received! Don’t fall for every novel reinterpretation!

The plain truth roots us to the beginning while pointing us forward. And, by grace through the Spirit, that truth which has guarded and guided every faithful generation is sufficient for your generation, too.

Paul’s words are a caution to every interpreter since. May we listen as we are taught, may we pass every interpretation through the rubric of the Bible, and may we stand as another generation who have guarded it…while also giving it.

— Tyler

From 1 Timothy 6: An Indivisible Verse

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.” (v. 6)

Godliness without contentment could never be a gain: You end up obeying, yet believing you deserve something for it. You keep the rules, but you think riches are rightly yours. You claim grace, yet you crave, as if grace weren’t sufficient.

Contentment without godliness could never be gain: Self-satisfaction (and self-justification) would keep you in sin. Being satisfied without being submitted devalues the One who calls you to repent, and not just revel.

It’s why so many of us across so many generations have bookmarked this verse. It is indivisible, and unfailingly true.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain.”

— Tyler

From 1 Timothy 5: A Motivation

“Publicly rebuke those who sin, so that the rest will be afraid.” (v. 20)

Do you ever worry that someone will find out? Does the notion that someone might uncover your sin and put it on public display terrify you?

Look, I don’t count the potential for shame as a great motivator in repentance, sanctification, and purity. But it is a motivator!

In 1 Timothy 4, Paul teaches the young pastor that an elder (or pastor or overseer) in the church should be publicly rebuked when he sins. Publicly! It’s because the shepherding ministry is sensitive, a weighty stewardship, and a bit of a high-wire act. The standard he is held to—and the pain he can cause in sin—demands dealing with his sin openly and frankly.

And we’re tempted to think, “Thank goodness that’s his standard and not mine.” What’s at the root of that feeling? The fact that we’re all sinners! It’s the reality that, if anyone started turning over the rocks of our lives to put our sins on public display, they would find some!

Yes, hold the elders in the church to that high standard, and may they lean into repentance and purity and goodness. Follow the Scriptures when addressing their sin.

But maintain a similarly repentant, similarly pure, similarly moral life of your own. Remain motivated, and live a life unworthy of rebuke, by grace.

— Tyler

From 1 Timothy 4: Training Benefits

“For the training of the body has limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (v. 8)

I work out some. And I can attest:

It is of limited benefit.

Don’t get me wrong: It’s worthwhile. I feel better, I am stronger, and I remain healthier overall.

But does working out solve everything? Or are its effects permanent?

Certainly not.

Which is why we have to be reminded that there is a better pursuit, a better training, a better exercise. While honing your physical self through physical disciplines has some benefit, honing your spirit through spiritual discipline is better. Those efforts bring everlasting effects: wisdom and purity and generosity and service and witness. The physical is beneficial in a limited way, here and now. The spiritual is beneficial in every way, here and hereafter.

So, yeah, do a bit of both—but don’t neglect the greater.

— Tyler

From 1 Timothy 3: The Pillar and the Foundation

“But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (v. 15)

Add this to the ways you think about the church:

It is the pillar and the foundation of truth in the world.

We treat it like a community organization. We arrange it according to our preferences for religious goods and services. And, if we are getting it as right as possible, we uphold it as a house of prayer and a home-base for mission.

But get this back into the frame:

The church is the pillar and the foundation of truth in the world. It’s where truth stands firm, in a shifting-sands society. It’s where truth is proclaimed, in a cancel-ready culture. The church is the body, given by God, that upholds and elevates and defends and dispenses truth—even as the wider world slides into relativism.

The Gospel. Christ in our place. Conviction and repentance and grace. The purity of the Word of God.

Truth.

May our churches stand, pillars and foundations all.

— Tyler

From 1 Timothy 2: Praying for Leaders

“First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” (vv. 1-2)

Look again at Paul’s inspired instruction:

We are called to pray for, intercede for, and bring petition about our leaders and rulers and authorities. We are called to call out to God—specifically about our earthly officials. It’s a matter of prayer so vital that Paul brings it up as prt of the right conduct of men and women in worship.

Here’s the thing: we don’t actually have much of a problem doing it.

But are we doing it for the right reasons?

I think we often get caught praying wrongly for such authorities. We pray for little else beyond what we hope they will do (and that we will agree with it).

What we are called to pray about is this:

The preservation of just enough societal space for us to work. To live with godly dignity. And, ultimately, to evangelize—because God would have us match our priorities with His, and His priority is the rescue of the lost.

I am far less concerned about getting what I want politically than I am going with the Gospel. May my prayers for those who govern reflect that, as I pray for them to give us that ground.

— Tyler