2 Peter Episode 5 : Living Hopefully in a Cynical World

In Episode 5 of our 2 Peter series, we explore 2 Peter 3:1–14 and Peter's warning that in the last days "mockers" or empaiktēs—those who ridicule and dismiss God's promises—will arise. We consider how this spirit of cynicism and scepticism is increasingly evident in our society and, perhaps surprisingly, often among older generations who have experienced disappointment, loss, and disillusionment. Yet Peter calls believers to resist cynicism, remember God's faithfulness, and live with hope, holiness, and expectancy as we await the return of Christ. This episode is an encouragement to keep our hearts tender, our faith alive, and our eyes fixed on the God who is patient, faithful, and true to every promise He has made.

Transcript

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Welcome to episode 5 of our series through 2nd Peter. In this episode, we come to one of the most relevant passages in Peter's letter because it addresses something we see all around us: cynicism, scepticism, and the tendency to mock or dismiss spiritual truths. Peter begins by saying, Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I've written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I find that interesting because Peter understands something about human nature. We forget. We don't necessarily reject truth outright. More often, we slowly drift. The pressures, disappointments, and attitudes of the world around us gradually shape our thinking. That's why Peter keeps reminding his readers. He wants their minds to remain clear, sincere, and anchored in God's truth. Then he says something that sounds remarkably contemporary. Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. The Greek word translated scoffers or mockers is empaectors. It comes from a verb meaning to mock, ridicule, make fun of, or treat something with contempt and derision. Peter even uses a form of the word twice. Scoffers will come, scoffing. Literally, you could almost translate it, mockers will come, mocking. Peter is emphasizing that this spirit of ridicule and contempt will characterize the last days. Now, we need to be careful here. Peter is not talking about people who ask genuine questions. The Bible never condemns honest inquiry. Many people wrestle with doubts and difficult questions, and God is patient with those who sincerely seek understanding. The mocker is different. The mocker has already decided. They are not searching for truth. They are dismissing it. They ridicule faith. They mock the promises of God. They treat spiritual things as irrelevant, naive, or even foolish. Peter says their question is, where is this coming? he promised. In other words, people have been talking about Jesus coming back for centuries. Nothing has happened. Everything just keeps going. Why should anyone believe it now? I must admit that over many years of ministry I've seen a significant increase in this attitude. What surprises me is that I often encounter it among older people. You might expect young people to question and challenge ideas. That's often part of their journey of discovery. But I've met many older people who have become deeply cynical. Some have experienced disappointment in churches. Some have seen Christian leaders fail. Some have endured pain, suffering, and loss. Others have prayed prayers that seem to go unanswered. And slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, disappointment has hardened into cynicism. The language becomes familiar. I've heard it all before. I've seen too much. Nothing ever changes. Why should I expect anything anymore? Cynicism often masquerades is wisdom. It can sound mature, it can sound realistic, it can appear intelligent, but Peter warns us that it is actually spiritually dangerous. Cynicism slowly robs us of hope. It extinguishes expectation. It closes us to wonder. It causes us to withdraw emotionally and spiritually. I've often thought that one of the great challenges of growing older is not simply maintaining physical health, it is keeping our hearts tender and hopeful. The Christian faith calls us to become wiser with age, but never cynical. Real faith remains hopeful. Real faith continues to trust. Real faith refuses to surrender to despair. Peter then says the mockers deliberately overlook something. They forget that God created the world. They forget that God judged the world through the flood. In other words, history is not an endless cycle of meaningless events. God has intervened in history before, and he will intervene again. History is moving towards God's purposes. It is heading somewhere. Then Peter gives us one of the Bible's great perspectives on time. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. God does not experience time the way we do. We become impatient. We measure life in weeks, years, and decades. But God sees all of history from beginning to end. What seems delayed to us is not delayed to him. Then Peter gives us the real reason Christ has not yet returned. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. What appears to be delay is actually mercy. Every sunrise is another expression of God's patience. Every new day is another opportunity for someone to encounter his grace. I often reflect on my own life. I came to know Christ in my twenties. If the Lord had returned before then, I would never have known his forgiveness, his friendship, his presence, and his faithfulness through all the seasons of life. The very delay that some mock has been an expression of God's grace. But Peter also reminds us that God's patience has a purpose and an end. The day of the Lord will come like a thief. Christ will return. There will be justice. There will be renewal. There will be a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells. And then Peter asks the question that every believer should ask: what kind of people ought you to be? Notice where Peter places the emphasis, not on speculation, not on trying to predict dates, not on endless arguments about prophecy, but on the kind of people we are becoming. Peter says we are to live holy and godly lives. We are to be people of peace. We are to live with expectation and hope. As I reflect on these verses, after many decades of following Jesus, I hear Peter gently saying, Don't allow disappointment to become cynicism. Don't let the passing years extinguish hope. Don't allow the scoffing spirit of the age to shape your thinking. The world may mock the promises of God. People may ridicule the hope of Christ's return. The impictus, the mockers, may dismiss it all as wishful thinking. But as followers of Jesus, we are called to be different. We are people of hope, people who continue to trust, people who continue to expect, people who know that God is faithful and that every promise He has made will one day be fulfilled. Because the promise still stands. The Lord is patient, the Lord is faithful, and one day the Lord will come.