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Colin Smith: Thank God that being a Christian is more than believing a creed. Thank God that being a Christian is more than adopting a way of life. To be a Christian is to know and to enjoy and to live on the power and presence of Jesus Christ in your life in everything you face from here to eternity.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, that's what our entire series has been about—everything you need for life. And today, we're actually taking a look at how in Christ, we have everything we need for action.

Colin Smith: Yeah, right at the end of 1 Peter so he's wrapping up everything that he's had to say. And a large part of it has been about how many people distort the gospel. They want, having said something about Jesus that makes everyone think, oh well, they must be the real deal, they then take it off in an entirely different direction.

Peter says you've got to be on your guard. There are unstable people who will seek to come into the church and to draw people away. You've got to be on your guard. You've got to be a discerning person. We're going to look at how to do that and what that actually means. And the way in which you do that, of course, is by growing as a Christian yourself.

That's the way in which discernment develops. Let's get into our message and see this from the book of 2 Peter. We're in chapter 3 as we begin our message, Everything You Need for Action.

Steve Hiller: Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: 2 Peter and chapter 3. And I want us to focus in especially on the last two verses, verses 17 and 18, where Peter calls us to action. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 17: "Be on your guard, so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen."

Now, 2 Peter we've seen is all about the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. God has given you everything you need for everything you will ever face in your life in this world in knowing his son Jesus Christ. If you are in Christ, think of this: the Son of God is for you, he is with you, he is in you in everything that you face, in every circumstance of life, in every season of life from here to eternity.

This is an amazing promise. Everything you need in Christ. Of course, it's not just here in 2 Peter; it runs through all of the Bible. "My God shall supply all your need," Paul says, "according to his riches in Christ Jesus." Everything you need, you will find in him. That's Philippians chapter 4 and verse 19. Or again from the same chapter, Paul says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." That's where my resource for life is.

Christ says to Paul on another occasion, 2 Corinthians and chapter 12, "It's my grace," Christ says, "that is sufficient for you, and it's my strength that is made perfect in your weakness." And this is how we face life as Christian believers, isn't it? Thank God that being a Christian is more than believing a creed. Thank God that being a Christian is more than adopting a way of life.

To be a Christian is to know and to enjoy and to live on the power and presence of Jesus Christ in your life in everything you face from here to eternity. And that's what this letter is about: the sufficiency of Jesus Christ for everything you face in all of your life. And so our aim in this series has been that we will embrace the Lord Jesus Christ more fully, more gladly, more joyfully, and that we will prove him, no matter what it is that you face in your life, we face in our life and ministry together.

As we've moved through this series, we've seen that Jesus Christ is everything that we need for life, for growth, for faith, for deliverance, for patience, for hope, and today, that he is everything we need for action. I want you to notice then that at the end of this letter, Peter calls us to action, and he does it in three ways. First, there's something that we're to guard (verse 17), and we're to be real proactive about this: guard against distortions of the gospel that diminish Jesus Christ.

Second, he wants us to grow (verse 18): grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And thirdly, he wants us to glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ both now and forevermore. That's the call to action with which Peter ends this marvelous, marvelous letter. And I want you to notice how all of his call to action is centered in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We're going to look at these three things, disproportionately on the first, just so that you don't think I've completely lost it this week.

Number one then: guard. Guard against distortions of the gospel that diminish Jesus Christ. And of course, if we have seen as a congregation that all that we need for life is in Jesus Christ, we will want to guard very carefully against anything that displaces Jesus Christ, anything that diminishes Jesus Christ, anything that moves the focus of ministry away from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That's where Peter comes at the end of the letter. Verse 17: "Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position." Now, what's he saying? "Since you already know this." Know what? What do we already know that will put us on guard with regards to the gospel?

Well, verse 16 tells us that there are some things in the Bible, Peter says, which ignorant and unstable people distort—notice that word—as they do the other scriptures, and they do this, verse 16, to their own destruction. Now, that in the context is why he says that we as Christian people, individually and together, always need to be on our guard. Why? Because we know, and we must know this, that in every generation there will be people who distort the message of the Bible, which of course is about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

They will do this, notice what Peter says, to their own destruction. The problem, of course, is that the destruction of such ministry has broader effects within the church as well. Distorting the gospel always diminishes Jesus Christ. Wherever you have a distortion of the gospel—and we'll look at just a few examples in a moment—they always diminish Jesus Christ and displace him with something or someone else at the center.

And you can see why that's so destructive, because if it is in Christ that we have everything that we need for life, then moving away from him, we're no longer going to be able to have or to offer what people need in life. It's a very strange thing. Think about this irony: that there are many churches today who feel that they want to focus on helping people to do life. If we move the focus away from Jesus Christ in order to help people how to do life, we lose the capacity to help people how to do life, because the way to do life is in knowing Jesus Christ.

From time to time, I have the privilege of being involved in an interview with a man who wants to be a pastor. One of the questions I like to ask is this: what movements and trends do you see in the Christian world today that you think diminish the gospel of Jesus Christ? In other words, what teachings are out there that you disagree with? Because if a man can't identify error, how in all the world can he guard the truth? Truth matters. It matters in your life and it matters in the church. Getting the gospel right matters. The centrality of Jesus Christ matters. And at the end of this great letter, Peter, the great Apostle, in his last letter to the church, says, "Guard it." Because there will always be people who want to distort it. And since you already know this, be on your guard.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and a message called Everything You Need for Action. It's part of a larger series from the book of 2 Peter called Everything You Need for Life. And in this series, we're really drilling down and seeing how in 2 Peter, in Christ, we can have everything we need for life.

If you ever miss a broadcast in this series, you can always listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen if you have the Open the Bible app. You'll find that for free at your app store. Or you can order the entire series on CD. Ask about Everything You Need for Life when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org. Back to the message. Here's Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: If God has given us everything we need for life in knowing Christ, then knowing Christ matters more than anything else in your life or in the church. Now, notice what he says one more time, please, in verse 17 here: "Be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position."

Fall from your secure position? That sounds scary, doesn't it? Does this mean that I am not secure? No, look at what it says. Peter says you are secure. You're in a secure position. You are secure as a believer in Christ. That's what he says. But remember, your security is in Christ. That's the whole point of the danger of the church moving away from Christ or of any person moving away from Christ, which is what the book of Hebrews is all about. Your security is in Christ. Therefore, you hold to him and do not move away from him, and you guard against anything that would diminish the centrality of Jesus Christ in life or in the church.

No security outside of Christ, which of course is why Paul says to the Corinthians—you remember in chapter 15—"Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel that I preached to you, the gospel on which you've taken your stand, by which you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you." Paul says, "Otherwise, you believed in vain." Do you not know people who once professed faith in Christ but now have abandoned him? They were like the seed that sprang up quickly and then withered. Be on your guard. You cling to the Lord Jesus Christ and you will find him clinging to you from here to eternity.

But you see, if we place our confidence in rules, or in personalities, or in traditions, or the way that this world does things, then what Peter is saying is we will not stand, and our fruit will not last, because our life is in Christ. Just being very practical as to how this works out for a local church, when we say in our mission statement—that all of us of course know completely by heart—that we want to glorify God by multiplying God-centered, Christ-exalting, world-transforming believers in the greater Chicago area and around the world.

What we're saying in that very intentional mission statement is that we are on our guard against becoming self-centered believers. That's why the word "God-centered" is there. We are on our guard against becoming the kind of church where comfort matters more than the advance of the gospel. We're guarding against that. We don't want to let that happen.

We're saying secondly, we are on our guard against becoming self-exalting believers. That's why the word "Christ-exalting" is in there. The kind of church that's all about personalities and everyone getting their own way. We're saying in our very mission statement that we are on our guard against becoming self-absorbed believers. That's why the word "world-transforming" is in there. We're on our guard against becoming the kind of people who are just interested in our own personal spiritual growth, but really don't care about the lost in the community out there and don't care about the lost around the world.

And we're on our guard. That's why you have a mission statement, to say what we are doing and what we're not doing. Now, you say, "Whose job is it to guard the church against distortions of the gospel that diminish our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?" Is it the pastor's job? Yes. Is it the elders' job? Yes. Is it the members' job? Yes. Is it the volunteers' job? Yes. Is it the newest Christian's job? Yes, all of the above.

Now, at this point, you may be wondering, how in all the world can I do this? I mean, you're an ordinary Christian. You've never been to seminary. So how can you discern error and guard the truth? How can you do that in your own life? How can you do that as part of the body of Christ in the church? Let me try and give you just some practical help here on this point because it's so very important.

I think there are two ways in which we can discern error: one is by zooming in and the other is by zooming out. Zooming in is quite demanding. Zooming out is incredibly easy, and anybody can do it. Let me explain these two to you. Zooming in involves developing a careful understanding of what is being said by leaders and movements in our time.

Now, frankly, that is especially a job and a responsibility for pastors and elders. The Bible makes that clear. Paul said to Timothy, who was a pastor to a local congregation in Ephesus, Paul said to Timothy as the pastor, "Guard the gospel." That's 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 14. Then he said in the first letter, "Command certain people not to teach false doctrines, nor to devote themselves to myths." In other words, Paul says to Timothy, "You're the pastor. It is your job to know what is going on, to know what is going on in a particular degree and to be able to address that and to take responsibility for guarding the church against that."

So let me make this application: will you thank God for pastors and elders who are determined to guard the gospel by keeping it at the center of the church, and will you pray for us in that great responsibility? Because it's never easy, never has been, and it never will be. That's zooming in. Here's zooming out. Zooming out, which is much simpler and every Christian can do this—and by the way, this is how ordinary believers can check the pastors, which is a very important thing to be able to do.

But how do you do it? Well, let me put it this way: zooming out, when you listen to Christian teaching, when you're trying to get a handle on a new movement or discussion in Christian magazines or whatever it is, when you're trying to evaluate simply another person's ideas they're talking about this or that in relation to the faith, when you go into the Christian bookshop and you're browsing around and there are a thousand options as to what you could read and you have that long to look at ten titles and you're trying to decide should I buy this one or should I buy that one, ask this single question: does this make more of me or more of Jesus? It's a great question. Ask it all the time. Does this make more of me or more of Jesus?

Steve Hiller: What a place to have to hit the pause button. You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Everything You Need for Action. And we're going to continue this message on our next program. Hope you'll make it a point to tune in. If you ever miss a broadcast, come and listen online. Our website is openthebible.org. You can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen if you have the Open the Bible app. You'll find that for free at your app store. Or you can order the entire series on CD. Ask about Everything You Need for Life when you call us at 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org.

Well, Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry. That's just what it sounds like. It's your generosity that allows us to continue bringing you Pastor Colin's teaching. And as you give a gift of any amount, we'd love to send you a copy of Pastor Colin's brand new 30-day devotional book called *Grow in Love*. And Colin, what's one thing that you'd like people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: Well, I think that most of us feel that we need to grow in love, especially when it comes to loving those with whom we deeply disagree. But here's the question: do you think it's possible for you to become a more loving person than you are right now?

See, the thing is, if it simply depended on what you can generate from within yourself, the answer would have to be no. Our love would depend on our experience and if we hadn't been well loved by others, well, we wouldn't be able to give love to others. But the good news is that love really can be learned. It's possible to grow in love and God's Holy Spirit is given to every Christian believer for this purpose. So, the thing I'd want people to take away from this is the wonderful hope that as you experience the love of God poured into your own heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, so you will be better able to love others really well.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you, as our way of saying thank you for your financial support, a copy of Pastor Colin's new book, *Grow in Love*. You can find out more online at openthebible.org, or you can give your gift over the phone by calling 1-877-OPEN-365. Again, that's openthebible.org or 1-877-673-6365. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: Hi, this is Pastor Colin again, and I want you to know about *Watch Your Doctrine*. *Watch Your Doctrine* is a six-session course that is geared for leaders but accessible for every believer. The six sessions will introduce you to six central truths of the Christian faith: how we know God, how God speaks to us, how sin affects us, how God's Spirit brings new life, how we're made right with God, and what Jesus accomplished on the cross. There are questions at the end of each session and you can use them on your own or you can discuss them with a friend. For more information or to begin this free online course, visit openthebible.org/courses. That's openthebible.org/courses.