Trusting in the Lord: Affirming Your Position

October 18, 2015

Trusting in the Lord

Affirming Your Position

2 Peter 1:1-11

(Advance Slide #1)

Introduction

Have you ever taken a small child into a toy store?

(Advance Slide #2)

• They are full of exciting things, bright colors, and noises.
• They are usually crammed full of things...floor to ceiling, from one end of the shop to the other.

Kids are fun to watch in a situation like this because they do not know where to start.

• So they look quickly this way and that, then round, then up and down.
• The kids are in happy shock at this overload of delight.
• All they can say is, ‘WOW’!

That’s a bit how I feel on reading quickly through the beginning of the letter we call 2 Peter.

• Every sentence, every word almost, glitters and flashes...should generate excitement!
• Every sentence says, ‘Look at me! This is fascinating!’
• To dive into all this goodness it helps to see the big picture within which all this cluster of exciting and challenging ideas.

(Advance Slide #3)

• The BIG PICTURE is what God wants for His people.

Text

(Advance Slide #4)

“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."

2 Peter‬ ‭1:3-4‬

Spiritual maturity begins with God’s provision (vv. 3–4).

• It is “his divine power” that has given to us Christians all that we need both for new spiritual life and for “godliness.”
• It refers to his power to reclaim lost sinners, unleashed through his death and resurrection.

Those of us who are Christ followers...we have a new life!

• If you are not 'in Christ' then you can can have this new life!
• Of course this means trusting in Him.

Lesson

When we think of ‘religion’ or ‘faith’ we often think of things that God wants from us.

• Here in vs. 3-11 we find what God has done FOR us.

(Advance Slide #5)

God has given you everything that you need

It’s like a starter kit for all that we need to become (verse 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,”
• There is indeed quite a lot in this letter about the moral effort we have to make.
• But Peter is quite clear.
• It all comes from God in the first place.

(Advance Slide #6)

He wants us to come to share in His nature

Some Christians have felt uneasy about this idea.

• “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.”
• It is as though the humility to which we are so often exhorted should stop us short from thinking of actually sharing God’s very being or nature.

Others have seen this as central to what it means to be a Christian.

• After all, if we say that the holy spirit is divine, and if we say that the holy spirit comes to live within us and transform us.
• This transformation is leading us forward until we are mature and grow in His holiness.
• We must realize that’s what actually happens when God takes up residence in someone’s life.

(Advance Slide #7)

God has called and chosen those who follow Jesus

“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.”

• In this verse Peter urges his readers to ‘affirm’ this call, choice, and position.
• He doesn’t mean that they can make God more sure of it.
• Instead, they can make themselves more sure.

All this is just the outer framework for this remarkable passage.

• It is all the more important because it shows that whatever we do by way of obedience and allegiance to God and the gospel, it all takes place within the grace of God,
• It happens by means of the promise of God, through the power of God, and leading to the kingdom of God.
• That’s a great place to start.

But it’s not the best place to stop, because the passage has plenty more besides.

• Central to all of this is that, by God’s grace and power in our lives, we are to learn the discipline of Christian moral development.
• This has sometimes been frowned upon.
• The framework I’ve just sketched should make it clear that nothing could be farther from the truth.
• But once this point is grasped, there are two basic things which must happen.

Action Steps:

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The first is that we must ‘run away from the corruption of lust’.

• Why?...that we might become partakers of God’s own nature.
• Resist the devil by run away from the lust which drags us down to the sub-human level.
• How do we run away?
• Think of Joseph when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him (Genesis 39).
• She made a grab at him, but he ran away.
• Lust is a drug...like all drugs it demands more and more but gives less and less.

(Advance Slide #9)

Next Peter urges the readers to go in the opposite direction.

• Improve your Christian character by adding new qualities...one on top of another: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, patience, piety, family affection, and finally love.
• All these take thought; all these take effort.
• They don’t happen by accident....you have to want to do them, you have to choose to do them.
• When you mature in this new character as a Christian you won’t just be a Christian for your own sake.
• You will become fruitful in God’s service (verse 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.”

Conclusion

(Advance Slide #10)

To embrace this new life of trusting in Christ we must live differently.

• Knowing that God has given us the upper-hand should bring us joy.
• How had He?
• We have been chosen, he has equipped us, and He wants to see us mature into His glory.

This new life demands action to take place in our lives.

• Run away from the things that corrupt.
• Got the opposite direction.