2 Peter 1:10-15 Power and Progress pt3
Good morning! We are continuing our work through the second letter of the Apostle Peter. Today we are going to look at verses 10-15 of chapter one, page 1018 in the pew Bibles.
We have been looking at this first section of Peter’s second letter to the elect exiles of the dispersion which, in the First Century were the churches spread throughout Northern Turkey. But praise God, He has preserved His Word so that we can read it almost two thousand years later just as it was first delivered and translated into our own language!
I know that I said that we are going to be looking at verses 10-15, and we are, but we can’t look at just those verses without examining them in their context so we are going to read verses 3-15 so that we can try to preserve the continuity of the context of our text for this morning.
Let’s look at it together.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
Let’s pray.
Early on in the life of our little church family the elders adopted a statement that became a kind of measuring stick for everything that we do as a church family. If somebody had an idea to do something and it didn’t really fit with our little phrase we didn’t do it. We haven’t done it perfectly, and I’m sure if you’ve been around for a while you could make a case that there have been things that we have done that didn’t fit. Sorry about that.
Making and maturing disciples was that original statement, later amended to: Making and Maturing Disciples Together as a Family.
If there was an idea that didn’t fit that statement, we don’t do it. Simple.
What isn’t simple is what exactly “maturing disciples” means. Or at least it may not appear that way at first.
Making disciples is easy enough to understand, calling people to faith in Jesus through the gospel. When a person puts their trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sin they become a Christian, a disciple of Jesus.
And that begins the journey of maturing as a disciple, meaning that once a person is saved, they are just beginning not ending their journey. We don’t simply board the cruise ship called salvation and sit on the deck waiting patiently until we arrive at Heaven’s port.
As we discussed last week, we are not passengers on a cruise ship but we are crew members on a battleship, each expected to do their part to serve the captain and the crew and rescuing those around us that are drowning in their sin and welcoming them aboard to become part of the crew through faith in Jesus.
Peter laid out a list of qualities that are to be added to our faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. All born from faith.
He said in verse 8-9, 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
Having and increasing in these qualities are what maturing as a disciple looks like. Once we come to faith in Christ it is our responsibility to learn and grow and increase these qualities in our lives, when we don’t we become ineffective and unfruitful, when we don’t, we willfully close our eyes to the truth of our salvation having forgotten that we have been forgiven of all our sin.
Now, all of that to bring us to our text for this morning.
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
There is so much we could talk about here! Lots of people have!
Peter uses some of the same words several times in this whole text, one of which is the word for “diligent.”
When he wrote in verse 5 to “make every effort,” it is the same word as he used in verse 10, only here he admonishes the church to kick it up a notch, “be all the more diligent.” He uses it again in verse 15 saying that he will make every effort.
So just as the church is to be diligent to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love, we are to be all the more diligent to make our calling and election sure.
This phrase has often been separated from its context and that hassled to a great deal of confusion about what Peter really meant when he said it.
Calling and election are two thoughts that go hand in hand, one dependent on the other. The main idea is that of election, in which God, in His sovereignty and grace, chose people out of the world for Himself, and then, in His omnipotence and grace, called them to faith in His Son, not based on anything that we had done to deserve it but based solely on his grace.
These are ideas of much debate but the Bible is quite clear on this truth.
But if we leave it all alone by itself, “be all the more diligent to make our calling and election sure…” It would seem like God needs further convincing, like we need to show Him that we really are saved somehow.
Friends, God is not the One that needs convincing!
If you have faith in Jesus Christ it’s because God, in eternity past, willed it so, and when the time was right, he called you to faith in His Son, you were made a disciple.
But now that you are a disciple you need to mature as a disciple, you need to grow in your faith. This is not an abstract idea of impossible to measure mystical growth.
Listen to the verse again with more context…
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
JP Lange wrote, “depend not on the case of the dying thief.”
The dying thief was the one crucified next to Jesus and asked Jesus to remember him in His kingdom and Jesus told him that he would be with Him in paradise.
That should be an encouragement for those who are converted on their deathbed, that it is never too late for someone to be forgiven of their sin through faith in Jesus. It is not, however, an excuse for us to wait until the last second to live for Christ.
Being diligent to add the qualities to our faith of virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love is how we make our calling and election sure, it’s how we confirm it to ourselves and those around us.
The Christian life requires God’s grace for our salvation and our diligence to live it out.
Calvin wrote, “Labor that you may have it proved that you have not been called nor elected in vain.”
Paul addressed this idea in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15,
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Through faith in Jesus Christ the boat we are on will make it one day to Heaven’s port, and our diligence to mature as disciples, to add these qualities to our faith, will determine the reception we receive there and whether we come in to port with our flags unfurled and welcomed in like Olympic champions or if we come paddling in clinging to a plank like we escaped a shipwreck.
12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
Amen.
