Make Every Effort

If I seem a little unorganized today, it's because I am. I'd like for you to turn to 2 Peter, if you would, chapter 1. We'll be reading verses 1 through 11. Simon Peter, a servant and an 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, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

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, 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, for this very reason make every effort to supply your faith, to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 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.

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Let's pray. Father as we look into your word today we pray you would give us wisdom give us understanding that we can heed these words Father and set our minds and our lives in order to follow you to grow in our faith to determine Father to be examples of your love, be examples of your righteousness and of your grace in the world around us. So we just pray now, Father, for clarity, that we would be able to understand these words and again father that you would be glorified through them we pray in christ's name amen whatever your political views if you've watched the television funeral of president george hw bush you probably wiped a tear from your eyes when his son George W.

Bush gripped the pulpit, bent over choked in grief and called his dad a great and noble man and the best father a son or daughter could have. That poignant moment occurred near the end of Bush's eulogy of his father and as I listened to the tribute I was particularly struck by one statement. The younger Bush said of his father, He taught us that a day was not meant to be wasted.

He played golf at a legendary pace. I always wondered why he insisted on playing so fast. He was a good golfer. Well, here's my conclusion. He played so fast that he could move on to the next event, to enjoy the rest of the day, to expend his enormous energy, to live it all. He was born with just two settings, full throttle, then go to sleep.

I believe the Apostle Peter was a full throttle guy too. His adrenaline never seemed to run out, and he encouraged his readers to be fully engaged in their pursuit of Christ and the Christ-like life. If you know Charles Spurgeon too, we've all heard of him and his great work. He was also one that was on full throttle all the time. He once said a man cannot be idle and yet have Christ sweet company Christ is a quick walker and when his people would talk with him they must travel quickly too, or they will soon lose his company.

On another occasion, Spurgeon exclaimed, The sin of doing nothing is about the biggest of all sins, for it involves most of the others. horrible idleness save god save us from it now we've seen in these verses we just read peter's on a mission here he's concerned about the new young believers in the churches in his day mainly because if you look ahead in the next chapter there's false prophets false teachers indoctrinating these people and they're young young believers uh not uh fully maturing of faith and those kind of people are easily overtaken by false doctrine false preaching so this is a letter of encouragement to them also a letter of warning to us as christians here today and peter you know we can take to heart what Peter says. He's got quite a resume behind him. He was kind of, in some ways, a leader of the disciples.

He had witnessed the miracles of Christ, the transfiguration of Christ. He was eyewitness to the resurrection. He witnessed Jesus walking on water. But, you know, in the early days, I think, of Peter's walk with Christ, he was a little bit rambunctious wasn't he a little bit pushy a little bit uh wanting to be in first place or that kind of uh manner but we need to listen to what he says because he matured and you know you know he brought the first message at pentecost uh he followed christ and he witnessed his ascension and he spent his life proclaiming the gospel and he died a martyr's death we need to hear and heed what peter has to say and he starts by telling all believers if you'll turn back to if you still in second peter what they have obtained through the righteousness of Jesus Christ They've attained a faith equal to him and the apostles.

We have the same, we've attained the same faith that Peter had. We have that faith and the apostles. You know, Christ shows no partiality. His grace is for all, not more for some, less for others. God is not partial. We're all equal in his eyes.

We need to heed what he says about what he has given us here. This grace we have, this faith we have, has not been earned. We know that. We didn't earn it. It's been given us by his right, the righteousness of Christ. now faith is a is the capacity to believe god initiates that faith in us when the holy spirit awakens us to the need for christ and along with faith we have received grace and peace think of that peace we have peace with god is there anything greater to have in this world today than to know you're at peace with god we have that he's told us we have peace with him and that peace which will multiply and grow in us as long as we seek to learn the truth of God and Jesus Christ.

And we do that by growing in knowledge. Romans 5 tells us, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained our introduction by faith and to this grace in which we stand. so we receive that faith we receive that peace and the grace when we look at that peace once once again this peace we're talking about is not what the world thinks of peace you know peace i grew up in the 60s and we know what that meant back then you know peace love and everything is good let's let's go live in a commune that's not the kind of peace God's talking about. Peace with God.

The world don't perceive that. And he's also granted us if you look back in verse 4 He's granted to us his precious and very great promises that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature. You know, that's amazing that we can partake of the divine nature of God. The divine nature and power that God, the God that raised Christ from the grave, the God that created this world.

We can partake in his nature. I don't think we think about that very often. At least I don't. But he has given us everything we need if we read on. And pertaining to life and godliness. Not only has he given us faith and grace and peace.

He's given us everything we need that pertains to life and godliness. and the true believer knows he or she is secure eternally secure in the salvation of god because he's given to us and because of that we need to grow as this passage will tell us we need to grow and persevere why because we have received everything necessary to live in this life and to gain eternal life through christ we have all we need to live godly lives it tells us right there everything in life and godliness we have everything we need and we talk about his promises that i just read about his good and precious promises he's given us what what some of the promises abundant life eternal life the privilege of being God's children, and the promise in Hebrews that he will never leave us nor forsake us. He's given us the promise of the Holy Spirit. And we have escaped the power that the rottenness of this world had over us before we were saved, the sinful nature that ruled over us.

You know, corruption is still here. We're still subject to it. We shouldn't be enslaved to it. At conversion believers are delivered from that corruption the corruption of this world which is rooted in what Sinful desire The corruption is still here We see it every day don we Just turn on the If you can stand to watch the news for three minutes. It's there.

Corruption. Selfish desires. Sinful desires. But it doesn't control us as believers. It should not control us. we're not strangled by the sinful desires or held captive by them why because we are new creation we are partakers of the divine nature now because of all those things we've just looked at the faith the grace and peace we have with god we have everything we need to pertain to life and godliness he's provided all of these things to us through the righteousness of jesus christ peter now urges us to make every effort to add to your faith to supplement our faith with these seven qualities before we look at them quickly uh if you noticed all through first peter second peter Peter is a like we talked about earlier he's a mover he's a motivator I think it's the word I'm trying to look at you see by words such as make every effort prepare your minds be holy put away all malice and deceit abstain from fleshly passions humble yourselves be all the more diligent and always be reminded of who you are and what you have received so he was a motivator when i think of peter i think you would have made a good coach today you know football wrestling basketball whatever and he would have made a great motivational speaker a coach is always motivating his players to get better to try harder, to train, to get in shape, give 100%.

You know, I don't want to take your mind off of things, but one of my favorite movies is Hoosiers, the basketball movie. I don know whether you guys have seen that or not And I don mean to think when I think of Simon Peter I don think of Gene Hackman okay But Coach Dale was the name of the coach. Well, you talk about a motivator and a pusher and a guy who's expected the best out of his players. there's one quote in there when he's training his players when he first meets his players and finds out he's only got five guys to start the team how he motivates them how he trains them and they're sweating and they're they're mad and said when we're ever going to shoot we never get to shoot the ball we never get their scrimmage he says we're not ready for that yet you gotta you have to be trained he said it's a long season well he didn't say that but he said uh No player of mine will ever run out of steam before the opponent.

He trained his players. That's what we're seeing from Peter. He wants the people of God to be ready, to stay focused, and to grow in their faith to be able to face the situations in the world. So, don't think of Gene Hackman now every time you see Peter's name in the Bible. Excuse me. So here Peter exhorts us to add to our faith.

One writer, when he gets to these seven qualities, he calls them the ladder of faith, which is good. And the first one on the ladder is virtue or, some versions say, goodness, moral excellence. That's the first thing we need to strive for in growing in our faith, moral excellence. A person of virtue is a quality person, a person of integrity. He's kind.

He's generous. He's one or tries to be one above reproach, not bringing disrepute to the gospel or to himself. It's a life that should be seen worth of imitating. that's what a virtuous a good moral excellent person should be someone you would want to imitate that shows the qualities of christ matthew 5 15 and 16 says let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven Remember, people remember, people are watching us.

If we claim to know Christ, we claim to be a believer, they'll watch us. Even here at church, people that aren't believers, at school, you know, at your office, at work, if you're on the assembly line, they know you're a Christian they're watching you to see your reaction to things are they seeing Christ's goodness and kindness in you moral excellence sometimes we think of sexual purity we know what God's word is about that you know what he says about that subject moral excellence and sexual purity sadly is rare in today's society in today's culture. We know that.

But God is pleased when we reject the world's immorality and indeed practice virtue in our lives. Philippians 4.8, if you remember what that says, Sorry, that's not the right passage. What I'm looking for as believers are to fill their minds with things that will inspire worship. Worship of God and serving others. So that's moral excellence, folks. People around us watching what we do.

Are we doing what God expects us to do? are we virtuous are we good that's the first one after that Peter tells us add to your faith this quality knowledge knowledge refers to the divine truth that's a foundation of spiritual discerning or perception Having one's own mind enlightened about the truth of God's word. How true knowledge starts with a desire to know Christ and to follow him. Jesus tells us himself in Matthew to learn of him, Matthew 11, 29, 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.

Learn from me. Learn knowledge from Christ and his word. we need to do this how do we do this we study we read his word we study his word we meditate his word and we follow it you know i think back i'll be 70 years old next week and i think back of all the time that i wasted when i could have been in the word it's really a shame because you realize at a certain age that you know you should have you should have been more faithful you should have been more knowledgeable by now you should have been more mature by now we need to do that take that to heart take time to read God's word that's how you're going to gain knowledge you're reading his word and letting God speak to you what that word says. If we really want to learn of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, listening to scripture being read on Sunday morning is not enough.

It's pretty sad when Sunday comes around and you can't find your Bible because you forgot where you laid it down when you came home from church last week. Growing in the knowledge of God means devoting yourself to the study of God's law and of God himself. we'll never learn anything in the Bible in our lifetime, everything in the Bible in our lifetime. There's so much we don't know.

But we must keep learning. Have you ever read a passage a hundred times, never really understood it, and all of a sudden it clicks? That's what comes from constant study, constant reading of God's Word. He will reveal it to you. If you don't understand it, you will. We need to devote ourselves to learning God's truth through his word.

The only truth we ever learn is God word God word is truth Remember 2 Timothy we all know 2 Timothy 3 All scripture is inspired by God preaching and for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. We know that. So as we add virtue and knowledge to our faith, the next step on the ladder is self-control.

If we're all good for that, can we just move on? I don't think so. Self-control, this might hit closer to home than any of the other ones. Self-control means self-discipline. you know peter had a little trouble in his early days about self-control but we can learn from him he followed christ his whole life christ's whole life and he learned discipline through learning from christ you know the greek definition for self-control holding i don't can't remember what the word is but it means holding oneself in abstinence or having power over it's having power over your emotions it's it's let letting your your heart roll your nose your emotions not your body self-control Now, you've heard other, you've heard even maybe a brother and sister in Christ say, well, this is just one thing I can't, I just can't do.

I can't control myself in certain circumstances or that person brings out the worst in me. Sorry, that's just the way I am. No, you're not. What does Peter say in verse, the first five verses? You have everything you need pertaining to life and godliness. you have the ability to have self-control. We have the Holy Spirit, right?

The day we were saved the Holy Spirit was introduced into our lives The Holy Spirit is there to help us to control our actions and our feelings and what we say our tongues You know, I was shaving today. I don't know what made me think of it, but there used to be a song when I was in Sunday school when I was a kid. Maybe some of you know it. Be careful, little eyes, what you see.

Be careful, little ears, what you hear. what's the other one be careful little feet where you go uh i think there's another one but i don't know what it is what's what's the meaning for the father up above he's looking down on love he's looking at you be careful what you do what you say what's in your heart where you go now we can control that we no longer have the sinful desire. We have, it might be there, but we can control it. We have the Holy Spirit.

A couple of examples. Well, I think the example of that song is probably what I was going to use. Oh, I know. It was in Proverbs 25. There's a proverb about about self-control. Proverbs 25, 28.

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. Lack of self-control is the work of a fool. He is like a city without walls. That is, he's with no means of defense against enemies. You know, you're left and you, there's no uh there's no limit probably to what you can get away with so self-control is something that is really got to be at one of the main areas we need to grow in our faith okay i keep saying you and we i used to have we used to have a preacher when i was a kid that would point and say these things he said remember i'm pointing at you but there's three fingers pointing back at me.

So it's for everybody. You know, we need to heed what God says. You know what Titus 2 I think Lonnie read today in Titus 2 You see how many times the word self was mentioned Paul was speaking to Titus to teach the people self The older men have self They have to have it and they need to teach it to the younger men. The older women need to be self-controlled in their lives so they can do what?

Teach it to the younger women. Everyone needs to learn self-control. Okay? pray that we would seek greater discipline lies through the health help of the Holy Spirit growing by adding self-control to knowledge builds a wall that Satan cannot breach and these qualities lead to the next one steadfastness or perseverance to bear up under these words imply patience endurance in doing what is right standing firm and what is right in the midst of difficulty you know we during the humdrum of life even though me you may not something hard you may not be going through a trial something hard that's always a another time that you can kind of relax and and sit back no Well, you've got to remain steadfast.

Remember to endure for Christ, to do what he has instructed us to do, is steadfastness. When I think perseverance, I've got three quick illustrations. You know, Pastor Tim has a whole volume full of illustrations with six kids and I don't know how many grandchildren, and he can use illustrations for just about anything. I was trying to think of an illustration in my life for perseverance.

The only thing I can think of is when I was in the Army. Basic training in Kentucky in the middle of winter, which is just as cold there as it is here. At least it was that winter. I remember one of the things we had to do before we could graduate, go on this long, long hike. I can't remember how long it was. But there's two hills in Fort Knox, one called Misery Hill, one called Agony Hill. and we had to go up one of them.

I can't remember which one it was. But we left base with, of course, full uniform, steel pot, backpack full of our bedding, clothes, our mess kit, I don't know, whatever. It seemed like it weighed 40 or 50 pounds. Our rifle, we had to carry our rifle, and we started on this, and we knew what was at the end of it. For one thing, we was going to have supper, but we also knew what happened if you didn't make it.

So, I don't know, we was like five yards apart going up them hills. Guys started dropping out. You couldn't take it. You're going straight uphill. This is toward evening, and I forgot, there's an ammo bucket full of rifle or M16 machine gun shells or M16 rifle shells. I don't know which, but it must have weighed 50 pounds, and you had to take turns carrying that as you was going up that hill, but guys kept dropping out, okay, and we walked by, and they'd be laying in the ditch moaning and groaning and finally we got to the end but before we got to the end there was a truck a big old five-ton truck would come back beside us had everybody in the truck that had dropped out we pulled into the camp and those guys were standing there each of them had a shovel each one of them had to dig a hole deep enough that they could stand up and cover their head we knew that was coming that motivated us so the army had great ways of motivating you I can remember sitting, they would take you out in the morning after a breakfast, take you on a hike in the cold, really bitter.

Like I said, it was bitter cold. They'd even make you take your coats off and just wear your hat and shirt and pants. But that made you, motivated you to move faster, you know. But then they'd bring you back into a warm classroom. I mean, they would heat it up and lecture to you for an hour, expect you to stay awake. You know, you had a full stomach, you just went on a cold hike, then they set you in a warm.

I mean, that's the way they discipline. If you fell asleep, they throw a chalk eraser and hit you in the head with it. And you'd have to go up and stand in the back of the room. And, you know, they had great ways of disciplining you. But I survived and most of us made it. But when I think of perseverance, that's one thing I think of.

But that's a temporary deal right there. That's temporary persevering. What's a great example we have in the Old Testament? Job, right? I don think anybody endured as much as Job did in his trials But you know Job had a goal He knew what was in the future He knew what he was looking forward to I see in this great article, this was in the American Star of all places yesterday, a preacher talking about Job.

You know, Job lost everything almost, except his life. He sold his family, his cattle, his riches, everything. but he stayed faithful you know why Job 25 it says for I know that my redeemer lives and that he shall stand at last on the earth that can be our hope that can make us persevere knowing what lays ahead knowing we have eternity with Christ we have peace with God so that should be our motivator for being steadfast for persevering and then Jesus the greatest of all let us run the race with endurance let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith who for the joy that is set before him endured the cross despising shame and seated at the right hand at the throne of God he knew the joy set before him he was going to save the people of God he knew that he endured the cross for that so again steadfastness there is always a forward look look at the promise of the future the reward we have in Jesus Christ even in suffering to know you know that you're doing God's will. We can rest assured that God knows the future.

He's begun a good work in us and will see us through to completion. Christ is the one that enables and empowers us to keep going. Next is godliness. Next on the ladder of growing in our faith is godliness. we hear this all the time you need to be godly you need to live a godly life you need to show godliness what is it specifically I heard one preacher say Godliness is becoming more like God every day which is to say it's becoming more like Christ all the time.

Is Christ being seen in me every day in what I do and what I say, how I do my job, how I treat my spouse, how I raise my kids? Are we being obedient? to him in all of these I like this one I've seen too it says is our example of being godly in the world around us drawing people to God or is it driving them away you know we can know all the scripture we can quote scripture we can tell you where to turn to it memorize it you can say all the right things you can discuss doctrines different doctrines but does the way we live show God do we show God by the way we live instead of just lip action as we said earlier if your friends and co-workers know you claim to be a Christian they're going to watch you your witness to unbelievers can come crashing down in one little act of deceitfulness or sexual impurity. I've seen this in my life with people who claim to be believers.

They know the word. They know how to quote it, how to memorize it, but their lifestyle is not godly. We need to grow and to learn that, to stay in the faith because people are watching. when you're working, whatever you're doing. Matthew 5, 14 through 16 says, You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket.

But on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. That what other people should be seeing in us as believers Brotherly affection is next As we've seen at the beginning of this passage, Peter told us that God has given us all we need for a godly life through his promises, but we need to put this free gift he's given us to use. brotherly kindness must be added to our faith we are commanded to love one another you've heard that many times in church in our reading when jesus tells the pharisee lawyer and matthew you shall love the lord your god with all your heart soul and mind this is a great and first commandment and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself You know, this was first commanded back in the Old Testament, Mosaic law from God to Moses on how to love one another in Leviticus.

God instructed Moses on how to treat your neighbor. You know, if we truly love our neighbor, the love signifies the responsibility to seek the greatest good of your brother. the way we look at our for our own interest is how we should look at the interest of others paul even takes a little bit further remember what he says when he tells the philippians to count others more significant than yourselves this is radical love that you don't see much of in the world today. But it's brotherly love and affection that God, that Christ expects from his people.

In 1 John 4, 19, we all know that one. We love because he loved us first. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this is commandment we have from him. Whoever loves God must love his brother.

You know, brotherly kindness was the sixth quality. Love is the seventh quality. You know, those two kind of overlap each other. But love is the most significant step on the ladder. It gives meaning to all the other ones leading up to Christ. Selfless love should motivate us to serve others.

Unconditional, sacrificial love. The same kind that Jesus has for his children. that love flows from Jesus into our lives and then through us to others it should anyway Romans 5.5 says God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us I don't know if you've ever heard of a missionary named Amy Carmichael she was a missionary long time missionary in India back in the late 1800's up through the early 1900s. She looked at this verse.

I want to read real quick what she says, how she thinks of this verse about God's love to us being poured out to us. She says, I think of the love of God as a great river pouring through us as the waters pour through our ravine at flood time. Nothing can keep this love from pouring through us except, of course, our own blocking of the river. Do you sometimes feel that you have gotten to the end of your love for someone?

Now listen to this. Do you sometimes feel that you have gotten to the end of your love for someone who refuses or repulses you Such a thought is folly for one cannot come to the end of what he has not got we have no store of love in us we are not jugs we are riverbeds our love should never cease you keep on going there's not there's not a stopping point well i've loved this person enough She's not showing, she or he's not showing any love in return. I'm done.

There's no place for that as a servant of God. We're riverbeds of love. It should always be flowing. So God's love has no limits. Neither should ours for other people. So we should crown all the qualities in life with the love of Jesus Christ. this world, this country, this town is filled with people starving for that kind of love you know you see bumper stickers God is love, you see necklaces, people wearing necklaces with crosses on them you see fish symbols on the in your cars, you see signs in t-shirts saying God loves you what is the mark of a true Christian?

John 13, 35 by this all people will know that you are my disciples if what? if you have love for one another that's how they're going to know that you are God's children if you show love for one another no matter what they show to you so as we close this passage you know Peter written this to us for instruction how to grow in our faith And he also says there towards the end, if you're not showing these qualities in your life, If you're not showing these steps, you're unfruitful, you're ineffective as a believer, as a Christian. Unless you not only have these qualities, you increase in them. You need to increase them.

That needs to be our thought, folks. We need to grow in the faith that we have in Christ. grow in these qualities that he tells us, that Peter tells us to look at and to put into our lives. So don't be lazy in your faith. Don't drift away from Christ who is our hope. Fight the good fight, holding on to eternal life. You know this also, if you're practicing these qualities, you know your salvation is sure.

I mean, we know that anyway, but if you fall away, don't you begin to doubt some things? If you slide away from Christ, if you start living life the way you want to, staying away from church, staying away from Christian friends, sooner or later you're going to start doubting. If you continue increasing your faith in these ways, you're not going to have that doubt.

We know now we know that we secure in Christ right now We stay faithful and grow in these things So fight the good fight of faith holding on to eternal life lay aside sin run with race run with endurance the race before us press on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of god in christ jesus to advance and grow and go forward in goodness and knowledge self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, and most of all, love. And in this way, to reassure our hearts and make our confidence firm that we are indeed going to share in God's glory. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this day, for this beautiful, beautiful morning you've given us to gather together to listen to your word. to sing songs of praise, to give you honor, to give you glory. And we pray, Christ, as we leave this place this day, that we would remember the words of your servant Peter, telling us, Father, always to strive forward, to make every effort, to be diligent, to confirm our calling, to never quit, to never get so relaxed and so satisfied that we become stale and indifferent and ineffective. Make it our goal, Father, to serve you more each day.

And we just thank you and praise you that you have given us your instruction through your word that we may learn and grow in knowledge of Jesus Christ. In his name I pray. Amen.