Power and Progress pt2 - 2 Peter 1:5-9 - November 7, 2021

 2 Peter 1:5-9 Power and Progress pt2

Good morning, you came back! Welcome! I tried to warn you but here you are!

We are continuing through 2 Peter with chapter 1 verses 5-9 this morning, page 1018 in the pew Bibles.

Last week we looked at verses 3-4 and talked about what God has provided for believers in Jesus Christ with the promise that this week we would talk about what He expects from believers in Jesus Christ. 

So let’s look at that whole text, 2 Peter 1:3-9 so we can get that whole picture and then we’ll pray.

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.

Let’s pray.

I don’t know who said it first, or who used the illustration first, but there has been a comparison made of the church to a ship, actually two different kinds of ships, and our attitude about it determines what kind of ship that we think we are on.

Here is what I mean: When you hear verses 3-4 and stop there, there’s a danger that you may perceive the church to be the first kind of ship.

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.

Through faith in Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven, you board the boat, you have been promised everything that you need for life and godliness, you have been granted His great and precious promises, you get to be a partaker in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world.

It sounds like a cruise ship, get out your Hawaiian shirt, or put on your sundress and ridiculously big hat and sunglasses and sit back and relax. There’s nothing more to do than to soak up the “Son” shine and wait to arrive at your heavenly destination.

It seems a little silly but that is exactly what the church is guilty of, just boarding the boat is the goal, we’re saved from the corruption of the world, our sins are washed away and now we can just cruise. 

We expect to be served, we expect our room to be cleaned, and for there to be plenty of deck chairs for us to chose from, and lots of food to eat, all we have to do is show up.

That’s what you do on a cruise ship, so I hear.

But the church is not like a cruise ship. The church is more like a battleship.

When a sailor boards a battleship they have responsibilities, they are expected to contribute, they are expected to serve the ship and its crew, they are expected to train so that they can know and do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Preacher that sounds like work! Exactly.

What’s the main difference between the passengers of a cruise ship and the passengers of a battleship?

One consumes, the other contributes.

The idea that God actually has expectations of His children is not  popular, it’s not easy, but it is the truth.

James 2:18-19 says, “…someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”

So what is it that God actually expects from believers, what are the works that James was talking about?

Peter gave us a nice list. Some call this the ladder of virtues because they think that each one builds on the one before it but in reality this list is more like fruits on the tree of faith. If I hadn’t named this sermon something else already I might call it, “The Seven Fruits on the Tree of Faith.”

God the Father has done His part and now is expecting us to do ours. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness and so now He expects progress, He expects diligence from us.

In our family we have a saying, “the secret ingredient is effort.” Here in our text, the Lord clearly agrees.

5 For this very reason, [the fact that you are partakers in the divine nature through faith in Jesus] For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,

Remember first of all that faith is not just belief, it is not just agreeing with facts. Faith means trust, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, not only for the forgiveness of our sins, but also for the direction of our lives.

Forgiveness of sin gets us on the boat, but if that is all we trust Jesus for we are in essence demanding that He serve us while we sit and soak up the sun. When we trust Jesus as not only Savior but Lord, we take our orders from Him not the other way around.

This is what James meant in James chapter 2 when he said, “I’ll show you my faith by my works.”

How we act and what we do will not earn our salvation, but how we act and what we do will prove that we are saved.

So Peter tells us to make every effort to supplement that faith with virtue. 

Virtue means moral excellence, moral excellence as described by God in His Word not by the world. The world’s standards are constantly changing and changing for the worse, God’s standards do not change and they never will. We are to live lives, as Calvin put it, “that are honest and rightly formed.”

Virtue is the first of the seven fruits of the tree of faith. And we are to add to virtue knowledge.

This is knowledge of Christ and our relationship with Him and our responsibilities as His disciples. This is not philosophical or mystical, this is practical and experiential. This is not just knowing Jesus but knowing how to act because we know Jesus. This is the source and fruit of our faith.

The fruits of the tree of faith are virtue, knowledge, and also self-control.

Self-control is to have command of one’s desires and actions, lusts and passions. Self-control is what makes athletes successful, they exercise self-control when they say no to the passions of their flesh, when they choose to eat spinach instead of pie, when they say no to binging another episode of Tiger King and go for a run. 

Paul said that the athlete exercises self-control for a crown that fades but we do it for a crown that will never fade.

Alistair Begg said that self-control is the ability to appropriately handle the pleasures of life while the next fruit on the tree of faith, steadfastness, is the ability to appropriately handle the problems of life.

Steadfastness is perseverance under abuse. Henry Alford said this is, “not to be mere stoical endurance but united to and flowing from trusting God.”

True steadfastness acknowledges that God is in control no matter how difficult the circumstances. Sometimes we are quick to say, “God’s got this,” and we do so almost not believing it but nothing could be more true. True steadfastness is based on and borne from trust in the Lord, nothing is outside of His power and control. 

He is not lacking in power, sometimes we are just lacking in perspective.

Make every effort to add to your faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, and godliness.

Godliness gets a bad rap. The world sees godliness right up there with uselessness. But in truth, godliness is intensely practical. Godliness allows the consideration of God to control the whole of life, honoring Him and seeking His approval.

Godliness asks the question, “What does God say about whatever it is I’m thinking about or dealing with? Does God approve of this action or that action?” Godliness cares about what God thinks!

The last two fruits on the tree of faith here go hand in hand, brotherly affection and love.

Brotherly affection, Philadelphia, is the fervent, practical caring for others within the church family. It is faith in Christ and adoption by God that makes us brothers and sisters and it is that same faith that should motivate us to care for others like us.

Love, on the other hand, agape, is universal kindness toward everybody, desiring the highest good for others in spite of our differences, loving our neighbors as ourselves.

These are all nice things, aren’t they? It’s a nice list… can we close in prayer please before the other shoe drops?

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.

Cruise ship Christianity is ineffective and unfruitful. The attitude of all saved, all set, kick back and watch the waves roll by until we reach heaven, dishonors the Lord Jesus Christ.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, what he expects from us is progress, what He expects from us is that these qualities are ours and increasing, that what is actually growing is our faith, our virtue, our knowledge, our self-control, our steadfastness, our godliness, our brotherly affection, and our love.

If you are the same as you were five years ago, if these qualities are yours but are just in the bud stage of fruitfulness, it’s time to add the secret ingredient: effort.

The English translation of what Peter says about nearsightedness is a little weak here. A little better way of saying this is that “whoever lacks these qualities has intentionally closed their eyes so that they are blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from former sins.”

One commentator wrote, “The continually present sense of one’s sins having been once for all forgiven is the highest stimulus to every grace.”

And Calvin adds, “Though we daily sin and God daily forgives us we ought not let sin rule in us but the sanctification of the Spirit ought to prevail in us.”

The simple fact of the matter is, not growing in these graces that Peter describes is a choice and it is a sin. It is a choice to shut the eyes of the spirit to that which is disagreeable. It is a choice to remain a lifelong baby Christian, to focus only on the earthly stuff that is right in front of our faces and not on what is distant, the heavenly things.

But if you’re left thinking that these things are great and I’d like to grow in them, “I’d like for this fruit to grow in my life but I feel powerless to do anything about it,” you’re right you don’t have the power to do it on your own…

 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.

Amen.

Power and Progress pt 1 - 2 Peter 1:3-4 - October 31, 2021

 2 Peter 1:3-4 Power and Progress pt1

Good morning! We are returning again to our study of 2 Peter chapter one, verses 3-4, page 1018 in the pew Bibles. 

Last week we looked at Peter’s introduction of this letter and we saw how he used a very powerful phrase in addressing his readers: “to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Peter the great Apostle and those scattered believers in Christ that received this letter originally, as well as all the other believers down through the centuries, and even down to us, all have equal standing before God through faith in Jesus Christ. What a wonderful truth!

Today we are going to look at another powerful statement from Peter in verses 3-4 that applied to Peter, to his original audience, and to all believers in Jesus Christ for all time, in hopes that it will stir us up and remind us of what exactly God has done for us so that we may embrace the truth of what is ours as believers in Jesus.

Let’s look at verses 3-4.

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.

Let’s pray.

It’s very difficult to separate verse 3-4 from verses 5-8 because they are two sides of the same coin but we are going to have to split them up in order to give them the attention that they deserve while not missing the Patriots game this afternoon. 

So even though we typically go verse by verse through complete books of the Bible, these two sections will be like a two part series.

Part one: What God does for believers in Jesus, and,

Part two: What God expects from believers in Jesus.

The “in Jesus” part there is very important, because if you were to read these verses to your unbelieving friend, they would not be able to apply this truth to themselves without a saving faith in Jesus Christ, they may however be drawn to a faith in Jesus Christ after seeing what would be available to them if they were to come to Him in faith. I guess you’re just going to have to try it yourselves.

Either way, the point is, that these verses are for those who have a saving faith in Jesus Christ, these are things that God has done for you, that God the Father has made available to you.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness

I’m not sure that I can accurately portray the power of this statement, mostly because I am so poorly practiced in the application of this truth to my own life.

Most days I feel unfit, ill equipped, and woefully inadequate. 

But God’s Word says, right here, that by God’s divine power I have been granted everything I need for life and godliness. So who’s right, how I feel or what God says?

If I have Jesus, I have all I need. If my life ends today, if I have Jesus, I have everything I need to enter into eternity. If my life continues until I’m a hundred, if I have Jesus, I have everything I need to live a godly life.

That’s what God says. And if I feel differently than that, guess who’s wrong: not God.

God can be trusted, God’s Word can be trusted, our feelings cannot be trusted. When how we feel disagrees with God’s Word it is not God’s Word that needs correction, it’s us.

This was supposed to be encouraging…

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness

If we read this and feel like we are lacking somehow in what we need for life and godliness, if it seems like we may need a little more than what we have presently in order to live a godly life, then we need to keep reading!

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

Last week, in verse two, we read Peter’s words, “may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Just as knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord is the vehicle or grace and peace, knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord is the vehicle of everything we need for life and godliness.

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

This is not just information, not just knowledge about Jesus, you can read that in secular history books.  Peter means knowledge of Jesus, to know Him personally. The more we know Jesus, the more we will know the Father, and the more we will see that we have all that we need for life and godliness granted to us by the divine power of God.

As our knowledge of Him grows so will our grasp on reality!

But it keeps getting better!

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

If you’re anything like me and have been around the church for a little while, you’ve heard about God’s promises. You can even sing about standing on the promises of God. But have you ever wondered what they were exactly? What exactly are those promises, and here can we find them?

The “where” part of that question is the easy part: In the Bible.

But what are some of the promises to which Peter refers? All of God’s promises are wonderful, but let’s look at some of the promises related to Peter’s next words in our text, these are not ALL the promises in Scripture, these are just a few promises concerning the believer’s forgiveness, eternal life, and participation in the divine nature:

Psalm 23:6, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Isaiah 1:18, “‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”

Ezekiel 36:26, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.”

John 6:37, Jesus said, “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”

Matthew 11:28–29, Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Acts 2:21; citing from Joel 2:32, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

John 7:38, Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

Acts 10:43, “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Acts 13:39, “Through [Jesus] everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.”

John 10:28, Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

John 14:3, Jesus said, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

John 14:19, Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live.”

John 6:40, Jesus said, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

These are not just empty words. They are God’s “great and precious” promises to us in Christ. They are more than words on a page; they are reality.

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.

By faith in Jesus Christ we escaped from the corruption that is in this world and now we have godliness in place of sinful desire. And though it doesn’t always feel this way, we have the power to resist sinful desire. 

We have the power to say “no” to the corruption of the world even though at times it feels like we are absolutely surrounded by it.

God the Father is showing us the truth here in His Word, He is showing us the reality that no matter how weak we may feel, or how insignificant we may feel, or how sinful and defeated we may feel, by faith in Jesus Christ, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted us His very great and precious promises, so that through them we might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

We are citizens of a different kingdom, and God Himself has given us what we need. He has provided the power, and next week in verses 5-8 we will see what He expects: progress.

Paul wrote in Colossians 1,

“…be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Amen.

Every Word Counts - 2 Peter 1:1-2 - October 24, 2021

 2 Peter 1:1-2 Every Word Counts

Good morning!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Since every word of Scripture is breathed out by God Himself every word of Scripture counts, every word is God’s Word.

With this in mind we are going to look at just a few words, the few words found in 2 Peter 1:1-2, page 1018 in the pew Bibles. 

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Let’s pray.

So, as you may remember from last week, and as I hope is clear from a plain reading of the text, that the author of this letter is Peter, the Apostle Peter, originally named “Simon,” or, “Simeon,” but renamed Peter by the Lord Jesus after his confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

The Catholic Church teaches that Peter is the rock upon which Jesus was going to build His church as the first Pope, the reality of course that it is the confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God that His church is built on.

It’s certainly not that Peter isn’t important, he truly is, but the things he writes in these two verses share a little bit more of the reality of Peter’s standing and ours.

Peter calls himself, “a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.”

This phrase, used by Peter and also Paul, “servant and apostle,” was one of both humility and dignity.

The Greek word, doulos, translated servant, means slave, one compelled to serve, someone who was completely subservient to someone else. Peter recognized his relation to Christ and his total dependence on Him.

The word for Apostle, means a special messenger, one who is sent. This term was not limited to the Twelve Apostles as we call them but also applied to Paul and Barnabas and other people in the church sent out to proclaim the gospel and plant churches. Peter’s mention of this office was a reminder of the dignity that was his as an eye witness and one who was sent to proclaim the gospel by Jesus Himself.

I tend to give Peter a hard time, especially when I read the accounts of his early life in the Gospels, mostly because he made it pretty easy, he was a numbskull. But after the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost he became the kind of man that we can all look up to and emulate. He boldly preached the gospel without fear, even across cultural boundary lines, and wrote these wonderful letters to remind us of all that we have in Christ.

And it’s important for us to remember how important Peter was in the life of the early church so that his next statement can have its full effect.

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

Simon Peter, THE Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, one of the originals, witnessed the transfiguration, walked on water, was there at the empty tomb Easter morning, saw Jesus ascend to the Father, preached at Pentecost, brought the gospel to the Gentiles, THE Peter!

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of out God and Savior Jesus Christ…

Obtained a faith of equal standing with ours… equal standing!

First of all, the word that Peter used that is translated, “obtained,” is a grace-oriented word. It excludes any kind of work or merit, it’s related to divine favor, by grace independent of man’s control.

We, like Peter, have received faith by the grace of God. We don’t deserve it and neither did Peter.

That faith that Peter obtained, that the original recipients of this letter obtained, that we obtained, is the truth of Christian doctrine, the ability to believe and trust Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness, justification, sanctification, and future glorification, is given by God’s grace alone.

Ephesians 2:8-9, says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Peter could have boasted, look at all he did, think about all he saw! But here he clearly states that all believers for all time, by God’s grace, have a faith of equal standing with his and all the other Apostles as well.

The simple truth is that no matter how much we like to elevate other people and hold them up as higher or better or more loved by God than us, in God’s sight, by faith, we are all the same. Peter, Paul, James, John, Calvin, Luther, Billy Graham, Joel Brown, me and you, by faith we stand equal.

Billy Graham said, “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.”

Paul said in Galatians 3:28, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

John Calvin said, “All possess by faith the same Christ with His righteousness and the same salvation.”

Their faith, our faith, Peter’s faith, is all equally precious in the sight of God. There are no secret circles, there are no higher levels, no separate classes, we are all one by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

His righteousness is what is important, not who we are, but who He is!

Jesus satisfied the justice of God which demands the death of the sinner. He did so Himself by paying a sufficient ransom for all mankind, he gave His own perfect, sinless, and holy life for ours. 

Romans 3:22-26 says,

For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says,

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

By faith in Jesus Christ, we, along with Peter and countless others, have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, its value added to our accounts. When God looks at us, He sees only Jesus.

And what is Peter’s wish for those of us who have obtained a faith of equal standing with his own?

2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

It’s been said that knowledge is the vehicle of the multiplication of grace and peace.

But the word that Peter used for knowledge means more than to just know something or someone, that word is gnosis. The word Peter used is epignosis, to know fully.

Paul expressed this idea beautifully when speaking of the return of Christ in 1 Corinthians 13:12,

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Now we know the Father in part, we know Jesus in part, when He returns we will know Him fully as He knows us fully. 

And though we only know Him in part, that part can increase, getting to know Him better through the way that He has chosen to reveal Himself to us: by studying His Word, and our perception of His grace and peace increases as our knowledge of Him grows.

If you want God to speak, read His Word, if you want Him to speak audibly, read it out loud!

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Amen.