{"id":1727,"date":"2022-09-18T20:11:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T19:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1727"},"modified":"2022-09-18T20:11:44","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T19:11:44","slug":"do-not-forget-2-peter-13-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pbthomas.com\/blog\/?p=1727","title":{"rendered":"Do not forget 2 Peter 1:3-11"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a certain university town there is a very large bookshop with two entrances on different streets. It is used by lots of people as a short cut, especially when it is raining. In particular there was a certain professor, of theology as it happens, who always took that short cut to and fro between his college and his department. On lunch-time the professor was attracted to a display of new books and after much deliberation he decided to make a purchase. As he was paying, he asked the cashier, rather sheepishly, \u201cYou couldn\u2019t possibly tell me which door I came in by, could you?\u201d
\n\u201cOf course, professor,\u201d the vigilant shopworker replied. \u201cYou came in through that door.\u201d
\n\u201cOh good,\u201d said the professor, most relieved. \u201cThat means I\u2019ve had my lunch!\u201d
\nDo you forget things? Different people are forgetful about different things. It is alleged that men are good at forgetting dates like birthdays and anniversaries. When I go to Sainsburys I usually forget the most important things I specifically went to buy. Some Christians are very forgetful. They can forget all the wonderful things God has done for them in Christ. They can forget that being a Christian means that their lives should be different from the lives they would be living if they were not saved. Some Christians even forget completely that they are saved.
\nThe apostle Peter wrote his second letter to remind Christians of important truths. This evening\u2019s passage talks about God\u2019s generous gifts to every Christian. It talks about how we should live in response to God\u2019s love and it reminds us of our motives for living holy and transformed lives. God\u2019s gifts. Our response. Our motivation. Three areas of our Christian life which we cannot afford to forget about.
\nLet\u2019s start with GOD\u2019S GIFTS
\n3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
\nWhat has God given us as Christians? Everything we need for a godly life, a truly religious life. Peter does not say, \u201ceverything we want\u201d because he knows what we want tends to be selfish. God doesn\u2019t promise to satisfy every whim and fancy we may entertain. But God does promise to give to every Christian \u201ceverything we need\u201d. God has already given every Christian all the spiritual resources we require to live the kind of life God wants us to live. We don\u2019t need to sit around waiting until we feel we have the power to live godly lives. We have already received everything we need.
\nAn important part of \u201ceverything we need to live a godly life\u201d comes in the form of God\u2019s very great and precious promises. We find these marvellous promises in the Bible, the Word of God. Jesus promises to be with us always to the end of the age. He will never fail us or forsake us. Jesus invites us to bring all our burdens to Him. God promises to forgive all our sins and to give us the strength to resist temptation. So many great and precious promises! Here is one reason why it is a good thing to commit verses of scripture to memory. When we have learned God\u2019s promises off by heart we can claim them at the moment we need them. Too many Christians forget about all God\u2019s promises.
\nPeter tells us that God has given us everything we need to live godly lives through his divine power, through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
\nAll God\u2019s blessings come to us by us knowing God.
\nMESSAGE \u201cEverything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s all about knowing God, being conscious of his presence in a personal relationship with him. As we come to know Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord better and better, knowing him provides us with everything we need for life and godliness.
\nJesus has called us to himself \u201cby his own glory and goodness\u201d. It is Christ\u2019s excellence and perfection which draws us to him. Perhaps here Peter is recalling the glory of Jesus which he himself witnessed in the Transfiguration. That event is certainly in his mind later in the chapter
\n2 Peter 1 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, \u2018This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.\u2019 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
\nThe apostle Peter was an eyewitness to Christ\u2019s glory, and it is through this glory that God gives us his great and precious promises, promises beyond all price. The glory of Jesus Christ was revealed in so many ways, not least in the Transfiguration. So we can be certain that will keep all his promises to us. We can trust in his glory and goodness.
\nGod has given us everything we need for life and godliness for two reasons.
\nso that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
\nWhat happens first is mentioned second. We escape from the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. When God made the world everything was good, but since then it has been spoiled by evil and sin and selfishness and greed and immorality. God wants to rescue people from all this moral and spiritual corruption in the world, so that we stop living like we used to. So Peter reminds his readers of the wonderful way of escape which God has provided from \u201cthe destructive lust which is in the world\u201d (Good News Translation). And there\u2019s more. God doesn\u2019t just rescue us from the world\u2019s sinfulness and judgment. He then actually invites us, forgiven sinners as we are, to \u201cparticipate in the divine nature.\u201d This is the miracle of the gospel \u2013 that God makes it possible for human beings to share in his divinity, to share God\u2019s glory and goodness as we grow in our relationship with him. This is a gradual process of transformation which begins from the moment we are saved. Christians share in God\u2019s essential nature. This is our destiny as believers and disciples \u2013 to become like Jesus in every way. Sadly, very many Christians forget about this and go on living their old lives, rather than living the new life God has given us, participating in God\u2019s divine nature.
\nGod has done all this for us and Peter goes on to explain OUR RESPONSE to God\u2019s love for us. How then should we be living?
\n5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
\nSome Christians think that once they are saved all they have to do is sit back and enjoy an easy ride to heaven. Peter says otherwise. For this very reason, because of all that God has done for us, Peter says we should make \u201cevery effort,\u201d do your very best, do your utmost. We should make every effort to go forward, onward and upward.
\nWe start off with faith, but that faith needs to be worked out in practice in all kinds of ways. In God\u2019s strength, and by claiming his great and precious promises, and in our relationship with Him, we need then to build on that faith. The list which follows is made up of the qualities of character which Jesus himself demonstrated. We don\u2019t get to pick and choose which of this list we work on. We can\u2019t say \u201cI\u2019ll have knowledge but I won\u2019t bother with self-control.\u201d Nor are these a progression \u2013 we need all of these qualities, just like we need all of the fruit of the Spirit.
\nWe start off with faith, putting our trust in Christ to save us from our sins. This is the starting point as we are born again. Then faith remains at the heart of our relationship with God, trusting in him more and more day by day. We should also aim at goodness, the very same goodness and virtue and excellence by which Christ calls us to himself. Michael Green called this, \u201cthe manliness which is Christlikeness.\u201d
\nWe also make every effort to attain knowledge, the practical wisdom which teaches us the difference between right and wrong. Then we need the self-control to do what is right rather than following selfish desires which lead us to do what is wrong. We need to persevere in doing good even when that is difficult. We also need to make every effort at godliness, true religion, living a truly devoted life with real reverence for God, which is exactly what Peter just said God has given us everything we need for.
\nWe are called to mutual affection, love for fellow Christians and love for our neighbours. More than that, Christians should show love, agape love, God\u2019s kind of sacrificial love which Jesus demonstrated when he died on the cross for us. It is our proper response to God\u2019s love for us to make every effort to develop these Christlike qualities: faith; goodness; knowledge; self-control; perseverance; godliness; mutual affection and love.
\nPeter explains why we need to do this. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
\n9 But whoever does not have them is short-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
\nIf we aren\u2019t making every effort to become more like Jesus we are forgetting everything that God has done for us. We are forgetting that God has forgiven all our sins. That makes us short-sighted and blind. God\u2019s gifts to us and our proper response to his love. What is Peter saying OUR MOTIVATION should be in all these things?
\nWe started by saying that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness \u2013 we should be truly grateful. We should also be longing to be useful and productive and fruitful for God and to bring glory to God. So there are two great incentives already for us to want to become more like Jesus. And Peter goes on to give us another two powerful motives for holy living.
\n10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
\nWe make every effort to confirm our calling and our election in order to make sure that we will never stumble. When we are pressing on to know God better and serve Him better we will not drift back or fall away. Then, in addition to that, we do so because of the wonderful welcome which is waiting for us when this life ends and we enter into God\u2019s eternal kingdom. The picture of a welcome comes from an interesting background. Nowadays we scarcely acknowledge the magnificent medal winners in the Olympic games. But in those days victorious athletes would be welcomed into their city with a triumphant procession. Sometimes the authorities would even knock a hole in the walls of the city to welcome the winning competitors home. That is the picture here of an entrance richly provided into heaven for each and every Christian. What a glorious hope we have! It is too easy to get bogged down in the things of this world. Too many Christians forget about the wonderful welcome which is waiting for us in glory. Don\u2019t be forgetful.
\nSo Peter has reminded us of all God\u2019s wonderful gifts to us. He has shown us what response we should make and he has reminded us of four powerful motives for godly living. If we ever forget everything that God has done for us and all we should be doing in response, we are just shortsighted and blind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a certain university town there is a very large bookshop with two entrances on different streets. It is used by lots of people…<\/span><\/p>\n

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