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.
