October 6, 2013 Steve Rahter 2 peter 1 1-11

10/06/2013

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Sunday October 6th2 Peter 1:1-11As we begin our study of Peter’s second letter, we will see in verse 1 that Peter again identifies both who he is and who he is writing to.“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”Before we look at any other aspect of Peter’s greeting, we should stop and take note of Peter’s declaration of “our God and Savior, Jesus Christ”.   In the Greek language that Peter was writing in, the wording is literally “the God of us and Savior” which clearly proclaims the deity and divinity of Jesus. This should put to rest any nonsense about the early Christians not believing that Jesus was God.Just like in his first letter Peter identifies himself as an apostle, which literally means a person who has been sent out to do something on behalf of another. In Peter’s case, he has been sent out by Jesus to spread the good news that forgiveness of sins is available to all who would receive it by faith in Jesus. And here he also adds that as an apostle he has no other purpose, no other goal, than to serve Jesus. He refers to himself as a “bond-servant” which was simply Peter’s way of saying “I am Jesus’ slave!”Then when he indicates who the letter is written to, Peter says he is writing to all “those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours.”Now if you connect those two ideas together, we could say that Peter is writing his letter as one servant of Jesus to those who have also chosen to be servants of Jesus. That’s what Peter would rightly expect if the people who read his letter (which includes us) “have received a faith of the same kind as ours.”Wouldn’t that make sense? If Peter’s faith in Jesus, and his understanding that he’s been saved by “the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:” has led him to totally surrender his life to serving Jesus, shouldn’t he figure that anyone else who put their faith in Jesus would have the same response?And that seems to be precisely what Peter believes, because he then lays out aplan of action that is intended to be carried out by people who have hearts of servant-hood; who want to yield their lives more and more each day to the plans and purposes of God. He says in verses 2-3:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.In essence, Peter is saying that there is absolutely no reason why we CAN’T completely surrender our lives to what God wants from us, because God has already GIVEN us everything we need to live Godly lives. How did He give us these things? By His divine power, through the knowledge of who He is and who He has called us to be. Once I know that God WANTS me to be a certain way AND has given me EVERYTHING I need to BE that way, then it’s simply up to me to decide if I WANT to be who He WANTS me to be!And verse 4 emphasizes that there is really no reason for me to reject this marvelous offer, other than the possibility that I PREFER sin over holiness!4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.That pretty much sums up our choices, doesn’t it? I can “become a partaker of the divine nature”, in other words I can become more like God, OR I can choose to go back to the imprisonment of sin, corruption, addiction and lust that Jesus died to set me free from!It seems like a pretty obvious choice. And Peter figures that hopefully we’ll make the RIGHT choice, because he now starts to spell out HOW to become more and more of a partaker of the divine nature:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.These moral virtues are things that we should be “diligently” applying ourselves to. They aren’t going to just happen on their own! God has given us the power to live this way, but we need to APPLY that power to our lives. In some way it’s like the battery to your car; the battery supplies the power necessary to start your car but you have to turn the key to APPLY the power or you won’t go ANYWHERE! So Peter now says to “those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours” I want you to diligently add some things to that faith, so that you can partake of the divine nature more and more. And you can start by adding Moral Excellence to your faith!We could use one of our favorite words here:“THEREFORE, since you have a restored relationship with God through faith, your life should reflect excellent moral character.”I like this quote about what true moral character is:“Your ideal is what you wish you were.Your reputation is what people say you are.Your character is what you really are.”And the truest sense of the word, the word “Virtue” or “Moral Excellence: in the Greek actually deals with not just observable behavior, but the thought life as well. So my real moral character doesn’t just consist of what people can see on the outside, it includes the things that only God and I know about, the things going on inside me, in my heart and mind!Then Peter says, while you’re working on that moral excellence, you might want to add some additional KNOWLEDGE.The importance of knowledge is shown in 2nd Peter by the fact that the word occurs eleven times in this letter. In some ways, Peter was probably addressing the same problem that Paul had dealt with in his letter to the Ephesians, those “Gnostics” or false teachers who were trying to mislead the people with their supposedly “secret” knowledge. Peter seems to emphasize that the only knowledge worth having is a greater knowledge of God. And of course knowledge of God and of Jesus are connected because God the Father is made known to us through our relationship with Jesus.Hosea 4:6 says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” We can’t go forward in our Christian walk without increasing our knowledge of God and His Word on a steady basis.With more knowledge should come more “self-control.” This has been called “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions.” Unfortunately we have often believed the lies of Satan where self-control is concerned:1. I just can’t help my self2. Everyone else is doing it so I might as well too     3. I was born this way, I’ll never changeSo it should be no surprise that Peter says you’re going to have to add a little PERSERVERENCE to your character if you want to win those self-control battles!A fancy definition of perseverance would be something like “this is the characteristic of a person who is not swerved from his/her deliberate purpose and his/her loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.” A much simpler definition would be - Hang in there! It might seem odd that GODLINESS comes fifth on the list of moral virtues, but we most likely won’t even get close to godliness if we haven’t worked on the previous 4 virtues. Godliness has been defined as a spirit of reverence and respect to God in all matters; understanding that He is a Holy God and that we are called to be holy as well. And just like the concept of moral excellence, godliness isn’t just outward compliance to a set rules, but inward purity of heart.When we’ve learned to be a little more Godly, then we can work on getting along better with one another, because BROTHERLY KINDNESS is the next virtue.The actual Greek word for BROTHERLY KINDNESS is philadelphia, which is why Philly is called the “city of Brotherly Love”. It’s the love and affection that should be found among believers as we treat each other like brothers and sisters in God’s family And that will only work if we wrap things up with Peter’s final virtue – “and in yourbrotherly kindness, love.”Let’s take a look at how serious God is about His desire for us to love each other:John 13:34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.John 13:35By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.John 15:12This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.John 15:17This I command you, that you love one another.Romans 12:10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honorRomans 13:8Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.Galatians 5:13For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.Ephesians 4:2With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love  1 Thessalonians 3:12And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you1 Thessalonians 4:9Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one anotherSo if God is indeed serious about our development of these moral characters, what are the consequences if we Do or Don’t apply them to our lives?8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.Okay, so what’s the first word we need to pay attention to here? It’s not “therefore”, it’s IF!IF these qualities are yours and are increasing, you won’t ever be useless or unfruitful for God’s purposes. But what if these qualities are NOT increasing in my life? Then I’m simply blind, or at least have lost sight of the reason why God called me in the first place. And it’s very dangerous to walking around this world blindly. That’s why Peter says, “as long as (or IF) you practice these things, you will never stumble.” But of course IF I don’t practice these things I shouldn’t be surprised how often and how easily I stumble!In closing I just want to point out an interesting thing. Peter’s list starts with faith and ends with love.Look at this similar list that Paul wrote in Romans 5: 1-5 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.Once again it starts with “having been justified by faith” and ends with “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts.”Why is it so important to recognize that the ultimate goal of faith is more love?Because we are reminded in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.All of the virtues matter, and we should be working diligently to add them to our lives daily, but never, ever, ever, lose sight of love!