Recipe For Life & Godliness
2 Peter Series: Make Every Effort
A Sermon By Jim Hammond from 2 Peter 1:3-11
You’ve probably already heard about the family
from a remote area some years ago who made their first visit to a big
city. They checked in to a grand hotel and stood in amazement at the
impressive sight. Leaving the reception desk they came to the elevator
entrance. They'd never seen an elevator before, and just stared at it,
unable to figure out what it was for.
An old lady hobbled towards the elevator and went
inside. The door closed. About a minute later, the door opened and out
came a stunningly good-looking young woman.
Dad couldn't stop staring. Without turning his head
he patted his son's arm and said, "Go get your mother, son."
We wish transformation were as easy as getting in an
elevator. Unfortunately, many Christians have the same faulty notion
about transformation of character. We think becoming a Christian will
instantaneously change everything. It does change some things
immediately, but there is also a process for character growth changes.
And that process requires more than getting in an elevator. It requires
more than getting to church on Sundays.
Focus: Spiritual
growth requires faith and effort. God gives us everything we need, but we
must follow his directions.
Step One: STIR YOURSELF INTO (“PARTICIPATE IN”) THE DIVINE
NATURE
2 Peter 1:4 Through these he
has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them
you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in
the world caused by evil desires.
Christianity is not a spectator sport. You must
participate for the benefits to come to you. There is little to no
benefit in mere observation. He is after our participation. Don’t come
to church as a spectator hoping you are going to catch something.
Commit. Stir yourself in. Jump in. Participate. Do this personally.
And not just on Sunday. This is a continual, lifestyle thing. This
definitely is a daily thing. Jesus said we need to deny ourselves and
pick up our cross daily. We are talking total commitment here. Total
lifestyle. Not just adding God to your life. It means being all stirred
in, God in you, and you in God. A willingness for a complete makeover.
What are we participating in? The Divine Nature.
What does that mean? What Peter is saying is that believers can come to
share in some qualities that are characteristics of God himself. It does
NOT mean that we are granted divinity. It means we are given some
participation in that nature. The next question might be, what qualities
that are characteristics of God is Peter talking about. I believe he
lists a sampling of these qualities that are characteristics of God in the
very next sentences starting from 1:5. But before we go to verse 5 notice
the end of verse 4, the results of participating in the divine nature.
2 Peter 1:4 Through these he
has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them
you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the
world caused by evil desires.
EVERY PARTICIPANT CAN EXPECT SUPERNATURAL RESULTS
When you participate in the divine nature, stirring
yourself into God, and God into you, you can expect supernatural results.
Though it is supernatural, it is the NORMAL result, it can be expected.
You can count on these supernatural results to occur consistently if you
are consistently “participating in the divine nature”, or stirring
yourself into God, and God into you. I can’t help but think of the need
to spend time with God personally and intimately regularly as being part
of that stirring of self into God. How would you grade your personal
participation? Is it personally entered into? Is it regular? Daily?
More often than daily? Is your spiritual knowledge personal and
intimate? Is your love for God growing with this participation? Here is
what is to be expected if you are in such a personal participation with
the Divine Nature.
What RESULTS can I expect?
…he has given us his very great and precious
promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature
and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
WE CAN ESCAPE THE CORRUPTION CAUSED BY EVIL DESIRES.
A. Then You Can Escape The
Corruption Caused By Evil Desires.
In the Newsletter for
this month, I included an article called “Battling
Strongholds”. This gets into some of the nitty gritty as it relates
to escaping corruption cased by our own evil desires. I encourage you to
read it for some of the practical steps of “Making Every Effort”, which is
the theme of the very next section of 2 Peter that follows starting with
1:5.
3His divine power has given us everything we need for
life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his
own glory and goodness.
Jesus’ divine power has given us everything we need
for life and Godliness. How do we gain EVERYTHING WE NEED? Through
knowledge of Jesus and His glory and goodness we already have everything
we need. When we invite Jesus into our lives, all the ingredients are on
the counter ready for us to put it together in our own life. How?
Because everything we need is in Jesus, and Jesus is in us, and with us.
His Spirit is in us.
4Through these [ambiguous here. These what? faith? Divine
Power? Knowledge? His Glory and goodness?, probably this last phrase
which stands closest to the phrase “these” and it makes good sense—Through
Christ’s glory and goodness…] he has given us his very great and
precious promises, so that through them [them what? The precious
promises] you may participate in the divine nature and escape the
corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Step Two: ADD TO YOUR BASIC FAITH
For this very reason, make every effort to add to
your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;6and
to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to
perseverance, godliness;
7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness,
love.
Believers are to use God’s Power AND every ounce of
determination to add to their faith. Peter then lists steps. It is a
common literary devise. I don’t think the order of the steps is the
critical part of the list so much. It is like a recipe, you need to add
all the ingredients, and in this case in increasing measures as you grow,
but it isn’t that you can’t add the 8th ingredient, love, until you have
all the first seven ingredients in place. As you are stirring yourself
into God and God into you, keep adding all these. In fact make every
effort to add these. Having said that however, it is significant that
Peter starts with Faith the foundation of all virtues and ends with Love,
the crown of all virtues. Without Faith the others cannot be added.
Without Love the others are not real.
A. Add to Faith
FAITH is what makes all the rest work. FAITH is what
empowers your every effort with more than your effort. Faith is what
accesses the divine power mentioned in verse 3. Faith is what stirs
divine power into your every effort. You know your efforts are empowered
efforts when you see it is God enabling you. If you are taking the
credit, and you think you are doing it alone, watch out, it won’t last,
and you will fail.
1. Good Character (Goodness,
virtue, moral power)
...make every effort to add to your faith
goodness (v. 5)
·
Make Every Effort to do something good today.
Good
Character starts with little choices, and little habits.
We
teach in CLASS 201
"Sow a thought, reap an act.
Sow an act, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny."
Scripture is very clear. You reap what you sow. What kinds of seeds are
you sowing? Are you sowing for good character, goodness, and virtue?
In
the movie Karate Kid, young Daniel asks Mister Miagi to teach him
karate. Miagi agrees under one condition: Daniel must submit totally to
his instruction and never question his methods. Daniel shows up the next
day eager to learn. To his chagrin, Mister Miagi has him paint a fence.
Miagi demonstrates the precise motion for the job: up and down, up and
down. Daniel takes days to finish the job.
Next, Miagi has him scrub the deck using a prescribed stroke. Again the
job takes days. Daniel wonders, What does this have to do with karate? but
he says nothing. Next, Miagi tells Daniel to wash and wax three
weather-beaten cars and again prescribes the motion. Finally, Daniel
reaches his limit: "I thought you were going to teach me karate, but all
you have done is have me do your unwanted chores!"
Daniel has broken Miagi's one condition, and the old man's face pulses
with anger. "I have been teaching you karate! Defend yourself!" Miagi
thrusts his arm at Daniel, who instinctively defends himself with an arm
motion exactly like that used in one of his chores. Miagi unleashes a
vicious kick, and again Daniel averts the blow with a motion used in his
chores. After Daniel successfully defends himself from several more blows,
Miagi simply walks away, leaving Daniel to discover what the master had
known all along: skill comes from repeating the correct but seemingly
mundane actions. The same is true of godliness.[1]
2.
Spiritual Understanding
(Knowledge, understanding God’s
will, insight)
make every effort to add…to goodness,
knowledge;
·
Make Every Effort to add to your knowledge.
Did you know ...
--that a
West
Virginia
man once escaped from jail by using a rope made out of dental floss?
--that only two people in Saudi Arabia subscribe to
Surfer magazine?
--that Englishman John Evans kept 66 bricks, weighing a total of 296
pounds, balanced on his head for 10 seconds, a world record?
--that
Iceland
consumes more Coca-Cola per person than any other country in the world?
--that you can sing "Amazing Grace" to the tune of the theme song from
Gilligan's Island?
Now I’ve lost you. There
you go trying it. “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me…”
Peter
isn’t telling you to add any kind of knowledge but a specific kind of
knowledge. He’s asking us to add the kind of knowledge that helps us
understand God’s will. Knowledge helps in very practical ways. Here are
some examples.
Are
you struggling in your marriage? When is the last time you tried to add
to your knowledge about healthy marriages? Have you read any books on
marriage? Have you seen a counselor? Have you studied the Bible on
marriage?
Are
you struggling as a parent? Add to your knowledge. Have you studied
proverbs as it relates to parenting and have you attempted to pass along
this knowledge to your children? Or have you relinquished this to schools
and church?
Many
people go to the self help section before they go to the Bible. How are
you doing reading the best self help book ever written?
NEEDED PERSPECTIVE: I believe God uses men and women with great
knowledge and intellect for significant purposes, but only if their faith
is greater than their knowledge.
Are you adding to your
FAITH, with Goodness, and Knowledge?
3. Alert Discipline (Self
Control, holding controlled reigns on you desires, able to avoid
temptation)
make every effort to add…to knowledge,
self-control;
·
Make Every Effort to build into your life the disciplines
that help you avoid temptation.
The
Christian life is the life of a disciple. Discipline comes from the word
disciple. It’s not easy being a disciple.
Jesus
said in Luke 9:23,
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
APPLICATION suggestion: Each day look for something to do that is
right to do, that you don’t want to do, and do it anyway out of
love for Christ.
Now
remember, Christianity is effort, but it isn’t effort by itself. Make
this a matter of prayer and faith as well as effort. God will empower you
as you take these steps.
BALANCING PERSPECTIVE:
Christianity is effort, but it isn’t effort by itself.
That’s all we have time for this week. We will look at the other 4
ingredients next week.
CLOSING SUMMARY:
1)
FAITH: How would you grade your personal participation AS IT
RELATES TO YOUR DAILY DEPENDENCE ON GOD’S POWER…that’s the essential—FAITH
2)
GOOD CHARACTER: WHAT ARE THE “Tiny seeds” of character you
are sowing? Are you sowing any weed seeds? Are you sowing seeds of good
character?
3)
SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING: How do you rate your daily routine
for adding to your spiritual understanding of God’s ways, and God’s will?
4)
ALERT DISCIPLINE: Ask God to help you make a commitment to
look for something to do (each day) that is right to do, that you don’t
want to do, and do it anyway out of love for Christ.
[1]
Duke Winser, El Segundo, California.
Leadership, Vol. 16,
no. 4.
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