Make Sure

2 Peter 1:5-11

Last week we looked at 2 Peter 1:3-4, in which we were reminded that God is sufficient to supply all of our needs, that his 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. God makes it clear that he gives us everything we need. As we yield ourselves to his spirit, we find ourselves participating in God’s nature, having our sinful nature replaced by God’s sinless nature.

And so in that context, Peter writes: For this very reason, (by which he refers to our participation in God’s nature) make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control; perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 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. (2 Peter 1:5-8)

It’s often helpful to look at the end goal: Peter states it in the negative, but to turn it around to the positive, the end goal of all of this is that we will be effective and productive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What he’s cautioning against is the same thing the Lord said to Isaiah: The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made only of rules taught by men.” (Isaiah 29:13)

This is the definition of hypocrisy, unproductive and ineffective Christianity. This type of person goes to church, sings all the songs, says all the right things, but they don’t have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I struggled with how to say this, and as I do, know that I am by nature a people-pleaser and I don’t like having to give tough words that might hurt, but I would rather please God by speaking His Word than say something else that might make people like me but not draw any closer to God. When it comes to those who talk a good game but whose hearts are far from God, this is what God says: I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) In other words, that kind of hypocrisy makes God sick. It makes him want to puke.

We can go to every church service available and be unproductive. We can go to Bible studies every week, every day even, and be ineffective. Think about this: how would your life be different if you didn’t believe in God? The problem is that there are plenty of church people whose lives aren’t any different than non-Christians except that once a week the church people go to church. Our culture is littered with people for whom their “religious preference” is just that – a preference. It’s just a matter of taste. I like Coke, but if there’s no Coke, I’ll take a Pepsi. I like Christianity, but if I can’t have it, I’ll take moralistic therapeutic deism. You know, the belief that there’s a god out there somewhere who wants me to be a good boy and if I am then I’ll feel better.

So what does God want from us? What would God consider effective and productive Christianity? God’s purpose for His people has never changed, because God has never broken His covenant. God’s plan has always been to bless His people so that they will be a blessing to the nations. There are two things that God wants us to do: First of all, God wants us to enjoy His presence. This was the joy of the Garden of Eden – that Adam and Eve could enjoy perfect face-to-face fellowship with God. This is what we were created for. But we weren’t just made to enjoy God; we were also made to share His glory. That’s the whole “blessed to be a blessing” aspect of our existence. God could have chosen any means to spread his glory, and He chose us! That is our purpose. The meaning of life is to enjoy God’s grace and extend His glory.

That’s exactly what effective and productive Christianity looks like – when every aspect of your life points to Jesus.  So how does this happen?

This is where it gets tricky. It happens by being filled by the Holy Spirit. Remember that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. We are already equipped to live out our purpose. We have everything we need; we have the Holy Spirit!

So God calls us to make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control; perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

Though at first glance, it seems like Peter is suggesting a sort of ladder climbing from faith to love, commentaries are clear that this is not the case. It just doesn’t happen that way. But it does seem to be significant that Peter starts at the point of faith. Without faith, we should not expect anything deeper, because none of this is just something that happens and none of it just happens on its own. We do not begin with goodness, because we, at root, are not good. Paul reminds us in Romans 3:10-12 that There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.

So if you think you can start out with “goodness” on your resume, think again. Goodness is a Fruit of the Spirit, meaning it only comes by the Holy Spirit. This is part of going on with God – submitting yourself more and more to God, giving God more and more of yourself. We aren’t good; God is, so to add goodness to faith is to add God. It is part of the process of God transforming us into the likeness of Christ.

To goodness, add knowledge. The Enlightenment taught us that knowledge was our end goal, but knowledge itself can be deceitful and ineffective. I had a District Superintendent who said something along the lines of, “If you do a Bible study or a book study and you come out and haven’t been transformed, don’t look for another one to do; do the same one again, because obviously it hasn’t sunk in.” Knowledge by itself does not save us. It puffs up. But the kind of knowledge Peter is talking about adds effectiveness. This is the third time Peter has mentioned “knowledge” in four verses, so it must be important. The knowledge that Peter is talking about is the knowledge that brings grace and peace. It is a knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  This is the knowledge of the One who has called us by his own glory and goodness, the knowledge through which God gives us everything we need for life and godliness.

To knowledge, add self-control. I might be alone in this, but I think the term “self-control” is misleading. It suggests that we control ourselves – (you’re probably thinking “duh” on that one – this guy went to seminary to figure that out?) but the truth is, God doesn’t call us to control ourselves. God calls us to be controlled and led by the Holy Spirit. Our knowledge that leads to self-control is not simply book smarts. It’s an intimate knowing God. This is what drives our desire to be self-controlled, not just a desire to not do bad stuff. Knowing God like this will lead us to be obedient. Self-control means that we are not led by our passions and our temptations; our culture says, “I was born this way so I don’t have any choice but to behave this way.” Living by the flesh, sure, that might be true, but we live by the Spirit, so we don’t have to live that way!

To self-control, add perseverance. Hang in there. I was going to say that nobody ever said that life would be easy, but I realize that there are some snake-oil salesmen out there who are constantly saying exactly that. There are people who are tricked into the church with messages of health and wealth, and when they get down to reading the Bible for themselves, they find Jesus talking about the fact that persecution is inevitable for the Christian. That’s nothing but the old bait and switch. Truth is, living the Christian life is hard. Jesus said it’s hard. Listen to what he said in Matthew 7:13-14:“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. If you look through the Bible, you’ll find encouragement to persevere. James 1:12 tells us: Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. Though you may go through tough times – no, you will go through tough times – the Lord promises you a crown of life. We are a generation who wants rewards now, and we’ve mortgaged our lives to pay for toys, image and youth.

To perseverance, add godliness. This godliness Peter is talking about is when we begin to worship God in everything we do, not just by acting worshipful, whatever that might look like, but having a transformed heart that is constantly in worship. There are times when I know that I’m supposed to do something, and I do it, but my heart is not in it. There are times when I’ve done something just because I know it’s somehow right for a pastor to do it. This is not godliness. This is honoring God with my lips but in those instances, my heart is far from him. My prayer is for a completely transformed heart.

To godliness, add brotherly kindness. This is not simply being nice to each other. First of all, this specifically refers to how we treat other believers. The literal meaning of the Greek word is “love of the brotherhood.” The brotherhood is the Church. This isn’t just a matter of how you act to other church people – and I’ve seen both sides; I’ve seen Christians demonstrating all kinds of love for one another and I’ve seen unthinkable backbiting, gossip, all kinds of sin – but this is a matter of how your heart is inclined toward other Christians.

To brotherly kindness, add love. Christian love, agape, tops any list of Christian virtues. Paul wrote famously that faith, hope, and love are the last three remaining virtues, but the greatest of these is love. You can’t fake love.

And Peter is clear; all of these virtues are expected of every Christian. You can’t pick and choose. And if you do not have all of these, Peter says you are nearsighted and blind, having forgotten that you have been cleansed from your past sins.

So Peter gets to the “therefore”: Therefore my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do all these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Because of what God has done for us, we have the responsibility to make our calling and election sure. Both these concepts, calling and election, deserve entire sermons, but suffice it to say that God is constantly calling his people to him, to live according to his purpose for us – to enjoy his grace and to share his glory. Election is our place as a part of God’s people. To summarize an often confusing and divisive point, God is the one who elects. God chooses his chosen people. The question often comes up as to what part human will has in this, and it’s usually a smokescreen. We can argue the philosophy for hours until we are all blue in the face, whether or not we have free will, if free will is an illusion, if everything has been pre-determined, but honestly if those debates don’t lead both sides to love God more, then they’re a waste of breath.

Peter is not getting suckered into this debate. In fact, what he is saying is make your calling and election sure. In other words, if you think God has called you, if you think you are in the elect, then you’d better look like it, inside and out. Be constantly submitted to God in everything. Here’s the thing: if your heart is constantly submitted to God, then you are one of His Elect. If you’re not, you might not be. Though our salvation is through Christ alone, not by any of our works, the evidence of our salvation shows through our holiness, inward and outward. If you have any doubts whatsoever, allow the Holy Spirit to transform you. Don’t wait for tomorrow.