Oct 1, 1 Sermon (II Peter: Moo vs A)

September 24, Mevo, Sermon, *A
Going back 2 weeks ago since Oct 1 sermon isn't online yet. Starting at 45:25:

And so I don't think he is calling here in verse 14 for us to go after and be better and to be holy and righteous, because the language that he uses here is a language that I would put in the category of what I can never attain.  He says 'be diligent to be found not just good or pursuing God but to be found spotless and without blemish.  Those kind of categories are big kind of categories of really perfection.
And he couples it with this idea of being at peace.  Now, if I thought he was seeing this as something that we are to go and do, something that we are to become, something that we are to work at, then putting together "without spot and blemish" and "at peace" are not something I can couple together.  Because I know myself too well and you know yourself too well.  If you think you are without spot or blemish or you think you have to get there, there is never going to be a moment of peace.  It would be a constant work and a constant effort to say "I've got to be spotless and blameless" "I've got to work at this until I'm at the point that I can be right with God and at peace."  And I can tell you that that would never come [to that point].  Because the moment that you think you are, you discover something else about yourself, you go a little bit deeper and you see not only your actions but your desires that are set against God's.
I think what he is actually calling them to is what I would call a "fight for faith".  He says here "be diligent".  We would tend to see that as "okay, work!"  But, I think actually what he's saying here to be diligent to rest.  Be diligent to see.  Be diligent to live your life in faith, not in what you can accomplish, but in what has already been accomplished for you in Christ.
I think the ready pull of our Christian lives is sometimes towards to the world, but I think it's also towards our own self righteousness.  And what he's saying here is to be diligent that you are resting in, that you are seeing, that you are understanding that Christ is your only hope.  The only one that can be described as spotless and without blemish is Christ himself.  And if I am moving away from that, then I will not be at peace.  And what he's saying here is to be diligent to fight for your faith.  Be diligent to work and trust in what he has already accomplished.  You say "it is what He has accomplished and not what I have accomplished that I am at peace in.
And yet I think we misunderstand this when we think about the end...

Picking up again at 52:57:

This is not a "pursue to do something more", this is a "rest in the security of what Christ has accomplished.  And that in itself is a fight for faith.  And so when you look at the end it should be something that fosters peace.  Because I know whom I have believed in and I know what He has done.

Contrast with Moo, page 208:

"Peter's point is clear: Motivated by the Day of the Lord that is coming, believers should work hard to be found perfectly pure and blameless when God in Christ assesses our lives.  They should strive to be the opposite of the false teachers, who are "blots and blemishes" (2:13).
...
"This is a goal that we are to strive for, not a condition that we will finally be able to achieve... But this realization should not diminish our sincere effort to get as close to that goal as possible."