Hidden Eternities

sermon slides here if you click on this link to open in a new tab - the slides go along with the sermon

[slide 1]
2 Peter 3:14-18 (New Living Translation)
14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.
15 And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him 16 speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.
17 I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. 18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.


Let me start out with some math lessons today. They involve zero and infinity. The void and the eternal. Very spiritual concepts but also very familiar to the mathematician. Throughout history there have been some well-known mathematician who were also theologians: Blaise Pascal is probably the most well-known. He is best known for describing our need for God as a God-shaped hole in our hearts that can’t be filled by anything other than God. Pascal was also the father of the principles of vacuum and proved, despite opposition from leading scientists and philosophers of his day, that vacuum did exist – everyone in that time was terrified by the void – nothingness – vacuum –Aristotle’s famous quote "Nature abhors a vacuum" is not entirely true. The vast majority of the universe is more or less empty space and there doesn’t seem to be anything rushing to fill it. To his credit, there are circumstances that do fit this description, but what Aristotle and the leading thinkers of his time were trying to avoid were nothingness and, its partner, eternity.

Eternity is hidden in the strangest places. [slide 2] Measure the distance across any circle at its widest point and now measure the distance around the circle. These two distances can be accurately measured with the correct tools – but something crazy happens if you divide the larger distance by the smaller one – no matter how big or small the circle – the answer will always be the same. And it is not a nice number [slide 3]– it is a number that never ends and never repeats – a little bit of eternity hidden in a circle – since we can’t write a number like that we represent it with a symbol – π [slide 4]. The same thing happens with a square. [slide 5] We have a nice neat perfect square – we can measure the length of a side – they are all the same – let’s say 1 foot long – now we can draw a line from one corner across the square to the other side. Easily drawn and impossible to measure. Again, we find an eternity hidden in this seemingly simply object. Poor Pythagoras was determined to find the ratio but in the end (after drowning a fellow philosopher for suggesting this truth) he had to admit that it was indeed ‘irrational’ – a messy number with infinite, unpredictable digits.

My favorite hidden eternity in math has to do with dividing by zero. When you divide a number, say 1 for example, by zero you are asking “what number multiplied by zero will give me 1?” a question that has no answer because you can multiply by zero all day long and get nothing but zero. BUT we can get really really close to zero say 0.00000000001 and when we divide 1 by this number we get 10 billion – so we add more zeros – 100 more zeros before the 1 and now we are getting ridiculously large numbers when we divide – so as we get close to zero – we are approaching infinity. If we apply this mathematical concept to Einstein’s “field equations” [slide 6]which illustrate the spacetime fabric being curved by matter; we find solutions that approach infinity which give us a simplified description of what we now term a ‘black hole.’ [slide 7]Since density is defined as an object’s mass divided by its volume, when a large star dies, it’s volume (the space it was occupying) decreases – in fact it reduces nearly to zero, and the mass remains fairly constant and so the resulting infinite density of the black hole is similar to division by zero. But because of this immense density, it has a strong gravitational field and any object (even light) that gets close to this hole will be pulled in and compressed into a single point that is infinitely small – sounds a lot like zero.

So even if you have understood nothing of the math I have shared with you today, hold on to this thought: the creation of a black hole happens when a star dies - a massive nothingness pulls down on space and time with a force of gravity so strong that it basically compresses itself to nearly nothing –– all that is left is that strong force – sucking in anything that comes too near the edge.

Pascal’s God-shaped hole idea is found in his writings in defense of Christianity, entitled, Thoughts or in French, Pensées: [slide 8]
"What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him … though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself." - Blaise Pascal, Pensées

He said we had an infinite abyss. Sounds a lot like a black hole to me. A hole created by the death of the perfect relationship with God – destroyed by sin – and all that is left is an empty print – but this emptiness has a pull that will suck everything into its strong force – every relationship, every desire, every pursuit – and compress it into nothing – all that will remain is that force and its never satisfied hunger. Should we join Paul in saying “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?”

The answer, according to both Paul and Pascal, is the Infinite – God Himself.
So how do we do fill this abyss with God? Our text today has some excellent advice. “Make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.” This sounds great. But unfortunately it leads to two extremes. The “make every effort” extreme and the “pure and blameless in his sight” extreme.

Peter mentions something to this effect in the next few verses “those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted [Paul’s] letters to mean something quite different…this will result in their destruction.” We see in Paul’s letters how he feels about the “make every effort” extreme which we will call “legalism” – or a rigid following of rules. “If I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? … As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” Strict adherence to rules is not a way to fill that black hole with God. We can join the rich young ruler and say to Jesus, “Teacher, all these [commandments] I have kept since I was young.” But we will be found lacking. The law wasn’t given to us so that we could have a holiness checklist of do’s and don’ts. The law is meant to show us God’s perfection and our imperfection. The Law is the measure of God’s holiness – an infinitely large number that, even if we spent every waking moment counting, we would never reach. It’s like we are trying to solve a cosmic equation [slide 9] { me + x = ∞ } - the only solution is something infinite – because we can add any number large or small to infinity and the result is still infinity. So God solved this equation Himself by becoming a man and perfectly fulfilling the law so that the new equation looks like this [slide 10]{me + ∞ Jesus = ∞ holiness}.

This leads to the other extreme, the “pure and blameless in His sight” extreme, the “I’m saved so it doesn’t matter how I live” extreme, we will call ‘antinomianism’ [slide 11]– lawlessness. Paul had something to say to these people too, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!” This extreme is an immature response to God’s grace and forgiveness and leads to rebellion. It is like the Prodigal Son using his renewed position as son to invite his old friends over to party. Alfred Norris says “Though there is everything to be lost by rebelling against the Lord Jesus, we can be absolutely certain that, so long as there is human nature, for so long will obedience be irksome and rebellion attractive.” Oh, the rebel – how we love thee. “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love” When we justify our godless actions and entertain our lawless thoughts we grow ever closer to the edge of that deep aching need of our soul and, if we are not careful, the pull will be too great and we will find ourselves destroyed by that which we desired.

[slide 12] We can often feel ourselves close to the edge of this cosmic waterfall and, even though we paddle with all of our might, the pull is stronger than our ability to fight it. “Be on guard so that you will not be carried away...” Peter says in our text. Don’t go near the edge, guard your salvation, be wise about the company you keep so that you don’t slip and fall. Rather, he says, preferably, grow in grace, grow in knowledge, GROW UP! Fill yourself with infinite truths.

How do we do this? By living in eternity. By practicing the presence of God. By storing up treasures in heaven. By setting our mind on things above. As C.S. Lewis puts it by “listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.”

In my job as a math teacher, I am reminded of hidden eternities – mysteries so vast that we replace them with symbols so that we can apply them. Where are your hidden eternities? Do you find them by looking at the stars or a leaf? Keeping death daily before your eyes? Imagining heaven? Talking to God? Talking to each other about God? When people are in love, almost anything can be a reminder of the other. When I am away from my family, there are a thousand little things that remind me of them. And it’s surprising how much their names come up in conversations with those around me. Because my home is with them and I long to be with them.
It is the same with God. He is crazy about us. Psalm 139:17 says “How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!” And He has placed infinitely many reminders of Himself around us so that we don’t lose sight of Him. Our text begins with this thought, “And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.” The things we are waiting for are described in Revelation 21 “God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.” A mystical and eternal union of God and man.

A here-and-now example of this is Brach and Hannah – who are getting married in February – they are looking forward to their day. They are buying the things they need and fixing up their apartment and spending time together. They are not making a list of do’s and don’ts NOR are they seeing how much they can get away with before they tie the knot. This looking forward, this waiting, creates in them a deep desire to be pure and blameless.

While I think I could end here and have covered the whole text, I missed a deeply significant part of it. And I would have missed it entirely if I had not elicited some help from my students for this sermon. I handed a sheet of paper with the scripture to a few of my students and asked them to write down their thoughts and return it to me. And all of them zeroed in on a part of the text that I skipped right over: “remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved.” A thought that we see earlier in this same chapter “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” One of my students put it this way, “if you haven’t led a perfect life – it is not too late and don’t tell yourself it’s too late to turn to God and repent” and another underlined this portion of the scripture and wrote “comforting”. Another student said, “He gives mercy and forgiveness to those who still looking for God and those who aren’t on their best.” But my very favorite (I know, I’m not supposed to have favorites) and I will end with this quote, was what Ellen wrote (she told me I could use her name) “We are so blessed to be with such a forgiving God.”

Peter and Judas

Living in community has changed the way I read the bible. I think especially the stories about the disciples. Like what Rudolf said about encountering mirrors in those around us - it’s challenging to live so close together and it is hard to receive truth from one another – these were the things I was thinking about when I wrote this …

Matthew 16: 15 – 26

Peter is trying to stay with Jesus. The disciples are confused about who Jesus hangs out with, His seeming lack of direction, His total lack of ambition… but now in this intimate encounter, Peter has figured it out – “You are the Messiah – excellent, now we have a plan” but then Jesus starts talking of death and suffering at the hands of the religious leaders – “no Jesus, you don’t have it right, we need You – now come on, You’re gonna scare the other guys. Maybe we can go raise up some more followers in the countryside…people yearning for some authentic leadership…” to which he receives a public rebuke … but Peter is determined to prove himself to Jesus.
Judas is trying to hang in there too. But he is clearly growing weary. The other guys have seen him dip his hand into the common purse for a little personal bonus. “What’s the big deal, it’s not like we’re making millions, here…” When a woman pours expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet he protests – “all that money spent on perfume should have been spent on the poor, right Jesus?! – see, I have been paying attention” … but no, a public rebuke from Jesus – it’s for His burial – “I’ve had it … I can’t keep up – You’ve been dragging us all over the countryside with no place to sleep, no respect, and now You are talking about being killed… this is great! There’s gotta be a way out of this…” from then on, Judas watched for an opportunity to betray Him…

Can’t you imagine the disciples all hanging out in the fields together? They are a small group – they have been together for years. They tease each other. They jockey for position. They are competitive, tired, from different backgrounds – it is hard to live in community! – can’t you just hear them, “whoa Peter, Jesus really let you have it today!” “He called you Satan!” “Get behind me” “hey, leave my brother alone” Can’t you just see it?

But I’m not sure Judas appreciated this kind of banter. All 11 other disciples were most likely from Galilee. It is not known for sure, but from his second name, Iscariot, it is possible that Judas was from Judea…an outsider – a true Jew…Judea is the region where we find Jerusalem and Bethlehem – it was the center of all Jewish life. If Judas was from Judea, he would have a different accent, different customs than the other 11. …Scripture doesn’t say…………but what it does say is “from then on, Judas watched for an opportunity to betray Him…”’

At a certain point, for whatever reasons we might try to understand – jealousy, ambition, greed, feeling left out or fed up – Judas had had enough. Here he is at the eve of the most important event of all history, a time when Jesus needs His disciples near Him, supporting Him, following closely, listening carefully, and Judas is far away in his heart. “I am done following you and your filthy Galilean fishermen friends. I am sick of your tax collectors and prostitutes and Samaritans. How could I have been so foolish – I have wasted years, and for what?”

Peter is becoming more and more sure of his status as one of the more important disciples. He is invited by Jesus for a little day trip. Just him, John and James. They find themselves on a mountain and suddenly they are trapped between two worlds – heaven opens up and they see Jesus bright as sunlight and talking to Moses and Elijah…….Peter cannot keep his mouth shut – he always has a great idea – “we’ll set up some shelters up here for You, Jesus and Moses and Elijah - people from far and near will come and see who You really are…” while he is still speaking – God interrupts “listen to My SON” stop your own agenda and discard your messianic dreams and LISTEN!

All of the disciples are getting restless. Tensions are high. Jesus is talking more and more about death and the end of the world. The disciples argue and bicker about who is the best, the most important. Jesus talks about serving each other, forgiveness and becoming like children. Strange words. Where are we heading? To Jerusalem for the Passover. Jesus has set His face like flint in that one direction.

And what an entry. People shouting and waving branches and calling out “Hosanna – save us Messiah” The disciples follow in amazement and wonder – sure, over the last few years there have been crowds, lots of crowds, but this is the holy week in Jerusalem and the city is packed. The disciples follow behind Jesus on the donkey straight to the temple where Jesus goes wild. He overturns tables and benches and doves are sent flying – Jesus is asserting His authority – and the Pharisees want to know whose orders He is carrying out. “Who gave You the authority to do these things?!”

He evades their questions. He is speaking in parables... the Kingdom, the powerful Landowner, the King’s Son’s wedding feast…more powerful words, authority and then the big rebuke of the Pharisees – “I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God's kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won't let anyone else in either. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds.” On and on – pouring out judgments and rebukes on the Pharisees.

Peter is enjoying the show…little does he know he is the gravest danger of becoming just like these Pharisees… Listen to what Jesus is saying, Listen to My SON! “If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. …don’t try to take the best seat….” But Peter’s head is swelling with the events of the last few days… “Here it comes – the start of the rule of the Messiah. Bring it on!”

Judas is enjoying the show, too. Jesus is playing into his hands. Judas’ heart attitude is ugly, but he is good at playing the part – no one suspects a thing. Fredrick Buechner describes this tendency in all of us: “We’ve always known what was wrong with us, the malice in us even at our most civilized, the way we focus on the worst in the people we know and then rejoice when disasters overtake them which we believe they so richly deserve. Our insincerity, our phoniness, the masks we do our real business behind.” “Keep talking Jesus. Keep criticizing those Pharisees – we’ll see who has the last word”

Now the Passover is almost here. The disciples go to Jesus and ask where they will have their meal. Passover not only celebrated the Jews coming out of slavery but had definite Messianic overtones. It was a holiday that looked back at the history, but also pointed forward to the One who was to come and restore the nation. Jesus identified Himself plainly to His disciples as the Messiah and so this was a particularly important Passover. Was Jesus going to take His place as Messiah and restore the nation of Israel as prophecy foretold?

So here we are at this meal. It is an intimate setting. Is this the time when Jesus will reveal His Messianic strategy? But what is he doing? He is taking off his outer clothing and getting a cloth, and He begins washing the disciple’s feet. Before John tells us this story, he describes it like this, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” This was an act of love. A disarming, unsettling love.

Jesus washes Judas feet, too. When your enemy shows you love, the bible says it is like having hot coals poured on your head. Judas is keeping up appearances, but inside he is thinking, “get up, Jesus. This is humiliating. Do you not know how the messiah is supposed to conduct himself?” With every rub of the cloth, Judas is being rubbed the wrong way.

Jesus gets to Peter. “No, you shall never wash my feet.” This isn’t what he has in mind for the Messiah either. But Jesus tells him, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." And now he sees it as some sort of inclusion ceremony – an initiation of sorts and he says, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" Peter seems extra excited and super loyal – is he perhaps hoping to be second-in-command in the new regime? “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” Peter is so eager to understand Jesus, but he is not listening. He is trying to figure out Jesus’ every move. “Listen to My SON” Stop talking Peter, please stop talking and listen.

Judas can no longer allow Jesus this dangerous and free mission, he is now going to force Him into his own agenda. If he doesn’t act soon, his very life may be in danger. He is afraid that Jesus was taking him places he definitely does not want to go. As Jean Vanier says "I'm beginning to see in myself and in many people a sort of feeling that if I get too close to Jesus, well maybe then he's going to ask of me something I don't want to give. If we get close to God, well then it's going to be painful … we see him sort of calling us and then giving us a smack.” Judas gets up and leaves. I’m not waiting around for the punch line, I am out of here, what I am about to do, I will gladly do quickly, Jesus.”

They sing a hymn and go out into the night. Jesus wants to pray – He is clearly troubled. He invites them to participate in this hour of prayer but they are tired and fall asleep. Jesus is praying so hard He is in a bloody sweat “please take this cup from Me – not My will but Yours” His humanity at its height. And where is Peter? Sleeping. And Judas? He is on the way with a small army – defenders of the faith – people that the chief priests and elders have assembled to defeat Jesus. The hour is almost at hand.

Peter wakes to the sound of footsteps – lots of them – who is coming to the garden at this hour? What is going on? Here is Jesus, saying, “get up, let’s go, here comes my betrayer.” Peter rubs his eyes and can’t believe what he is seeing. People with torches and clubs and spears and who is that with them? The chief priest? And Judas? Peter is enraged. He grabs his sword and cuts off a guy’s ear. He is ready for the showdown. But Jesus heals the man and lets Himself be betrayed by Judas and taken away by the crowd. The disciples run away.

Peter stops running away and decides to follow at a distance. He can’t let them take Jesus away and not know what is happening. He gets to the courtyard of the building where Jesus is being questioned and the others there identify him as Jesus’ friend. “you must be thinking of someone else” and even as he speaks these words he further implicates himself with his Galilean accent – “listen to the way he talks – he is one of those guys” “no, I’m not!” he says twice more and then he hears that rooster crowing and remembers Jesus’ words and he weeps bitterly.

The realization of what Judas has done crushes him. He runs to the high priests and confesses "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." Isn’t this the right place to go with sins – to the priests for atonement? They give him the cold shoulder and he doesn’t know where else to go. The whole system is crumbling before him and he doesn’t realize why. He can’t see that Jesus is making everything new – a new way to be made right with God. The priest have failed him and he doesn’t see another way – he can’t go on living with the guilt and shame. “what have I done? What have I done?”

Peter is lost. Jesus is dead. He was not able to stay with Him – to die with Him like he said he would. "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." The words ring in his ears. “what have I done? What have I done?”

Two disciples. Men who followed Jesus every day for years. Men who gave up everything to follow Him. And here they are – devastated, disappointed, disillusioned. All of the events of the years are flooding back to them. Words spoken, people healed, miles and miles of road traveled together. Jesus rebuking them for trying to be the best, for not having in mind the things of God, for not letting the children come to Him, for not having enough faith. And all Judas hears in those rebukes is “you’re not doing it right, you’ll never be good enough, you don’t understand me” but Peter hears what Jesus is saying “you’re not doing it right, but I know the right way. You will never be good enough, but I am. You don’t understand Me, but I will send you My Spirit so that you can understand”

Brennan Manning describes these two men this way “Accepting the reality of our sinfulness means accepting our authentic self. Peter … befriended the impostor within; [Judas] raged against him. Judas and Peter both betrayed Jesus. Judas could not face his shadow, Peter could. Peter’s life changed; Judas ended his life. Neither outcome was a knee-jerk reaction to the circumstances. Each man decided he could not go on living that way.”

When Peter sees Jesus again, he is ready to listen. It has been a long weekend. From Friday night to Sunday he believes Jesus is dead. And not just dead, murdered. And not just murdered in some random act of violence: systematically subjected to the government machinery and executed in public with thousands shouting for his death. Cheering. The disciples are afraid. Hiding in a locked room. What next? Where do we go from here? Some women come from the tomb and say Jesus is alive. What? Tell the disciples “and Peter” they repeat the angel’s message. And Peter. Because Jesus knew he was disqualifying himself because of his failings. And Peter! - he runs to the tomb and finds it empty!

They go to Galilee like the angels told them to. No Jesus. Peter is antsy. John 21:3 says ‘"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.’ In the morning, they hear a voice from shore “throw your net on the other side” and just like the day Peter left all to follow Jesus, the fish are breaking the net apart. And Peter is so excited he jumps out of the boat and swims to shore to see his Lord.

And then Jesus restores Peter in a beautiful way. He doesn’t say “I told you so” but He also doesn’t brush it under the carpet. He makes Peter face his failure by asking him 3 times the same question, “do you love Me?”. 3 times denied. 3 times restored. And the first time Jesus asks him He says, “do you truly love me more than these?" and Jesus restores Peter not only to Himself but also to his fellow disciples – “even if these other guys fall away, I never will” Really, Peter?

Jesus knows him and loves him for who he is – with all his spontaneity and loud mouth suggestions and impatience – “feed my sheep” Jesus tells him. Take all that energy and use it to take care of others. Starting here. With this group of men that you know and love. Peter has died to all those messianic dreams and to his visions of greatness. This is the only place to start. Eugene Peterson says it this way “That's the whole spiritual life. It's learning how to die. And as you learn how to die, you start losing all your illusions, and you start being capable now of true intimacy and love.”

That is why Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily and follow. Because we get in the way. Denying self means more than saying no to worldly pleasures and material things, it means dying to this idea that somehow we failed, we are not good enough, that God can’t possibly use us. This self must be denied – but it must be recognized first – so that it can go on that cross. Each of us - with all of our accomplishments and failures, all our best thoughts and worst – all of it must die. Because the more you try to save your life you will lose it. Who are the men and women God uses? Whose stories are told and retold? Murderers, adulterers, connivers, liars, prostitutes, Moses, David, Rahab, Jacob, Peter, you. Me. Why? because it’s not about them. Or you. Or me. It is about the resurrection power of God. The power to restore and to change lives. We have to get out of the way and let Jesus live through us no matter how much OR how little we think we have to offer.

A.W. Tozer says “We must do something about the cross: and one of two things only we can do--flee it or die upon it. If we are wise we will do what Jesus did: endure the cross and despise its shame for the joy that is set before us. The cross will cut into where it hurts worst, sparing neither us nor our carefully cultivated reputations. It will defeat us and bring our selfish lives to an end. Only then can we rise in fullness of life to establish a pattern of living wholly new and free and full of good works.”

Judas fled but Peter stayed to die. It only seems like it was the other way around.