No doubt about it, I’ve contributed to too many folks’ early Sunday nap while I have been preaching on a Sunday morning. I know how it feels. You are tired, you try to stay awake, and in a moment, you see two preachers standing in the pulpit instead of one, and next thing you know, your head’s-a-bobbin’!!! Then you look around to see if anyone saw you . . . especially the preacher!
What concerns me so much more than this are the folks who sit week-after-week in a Bible preaching/teaching church and are never moved by the Word of God. They hear the truth, but in their heart they are snoozing in the pew. The Word does not reach their heart and subsequently their will.
Perhaps they have never been born again. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
Perhaps they have been converted but need the exhortation found in 2 Peter 1:3-11.
According to God’s divine power, we have been given everything that pertains to life and godliness (1:3) including exceeding great and precious promises that enable us to be daily partakers of the divine nature (1:4).
Based upon this deposit and a personal, growing knowledge of God, we are then exhorted to be diligent! We are to give every effort to add to our original faith the list of virtues found in verses 5-7. Quite frankly this is simply maturing in the faith.
When you give diligence to this growth, then you as believer will not be . . .
Useless (barren, 1:8) This means to be stuck, stalled, ineffective, lazy and apathetic in your Christian life. We are asleep.
Unfruitful (1:8) Too many believers remain spiritual infants throughout their Christian life (1 Cor. 3:1). They are satisfied to stay on the bottle, drink milk, rather than feeding on prime cuts of meat in God’s Word (Hebrews 5:12-14). They remain unfruitful because they are worldly wise not godly wise. We are asleep.
Unseeing (blind, 1:9) We are unable to discern our true, present spiritual condition or to live with an eternal perspective. We are asleep.
Unmoved (forgotten, 1:9) There is never a day that should go by that we are not reminded of the pit God brought us out of through the gospel (Ephesians 2:1-9). That same gospel should have a daily effect upon because Christ’s death, burial and resurrection touches every facet of our everyday lives (Galatians 2:20). Are you asleep?
Then Peter adds that we are to be diligent in making our calling and election sure (1:10) In other words, your life should be lived in such a manner that no one would ever say, “I wonder if he/she is really a Christian? Is he/she sleeping?”
The word sure (1:10) means “to show the receipt.” Our transparent, honest walk with Christ should be a proof of purchase (a receipt) that we have been bought by the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).
If we are diligent to grow in our original faith and in making our calling and election sure, we will enjoy a grand, rewarded entrance into heaven (1:11).
So, when you hear preaching, are you “snoozing in the pew” or diligent to gain all that God wants to teach you? Have you become useless, unfruitful, unseeing and unmoved? The key is to be diligent to hear and quick to obey.
From A Pastor's Heart 