Good “Ash Wednesday” morning to you my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
Yesterday I gave you a brief explanation of the global significance of yesterday… “Mardi Gras” and today “Ash Wednesday”. For many people today is a day of somber reflection as they consider the contrast between the celebration of Palm Sunday and 5 days later, the agony and supreme price Jesus Christ paid with His crucifixion death about 2000 years ago, on that Passover weekend in Jerusalem.
All four Gospel writers in the Bible give us an account of those two remarkable, contrasting events: (Matthew 21/27; Mark 11/15; Luke 19/23; John 12/18,19) The dark splotch you may see on people’s foreheads today are a sign they are remembering and beginning their Lenten journey toward Easter week. That splotch is ash, the result of the burned palm fronds from last year’s Palm Sunday celebration.
How appropriate that in our journey with the Apostle Peter, he is writing his second letter to Christians in the mid first century. In Peter’s first chapter he writes these words: “For this reason, 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, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, 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)
Central to our Christian experience is FAITH, would you agree? The writer of Hebrews says it this way: “Now FAITH is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see… Without FAITH it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to God must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:1,6)
The primary purpose for Peter writing his second letter is to challenge Christians to be sure they know God’s TRUTH and to distinguish God’s Truth from any distortions of truth no matter how appealing they may be. This is one of the greatest challenges of 2023 no matter where you live in the world, because much of everything we hear or read, every day, is NOT entirely true!
Now think about that! So, consider how many decisions people make every day based on incorrect information or simply outright lies! Peter is echoing the wisdom of Hebrews 11, which not only has those two great statements about how essential FAITH is if a person is pursuing an authentic relationship with God, Hebrews 11 also gives us 33 verses which some refer to as the ‘roll call of Faith’. A long list of men and women whose lives are distinctive in human history primarily because of what they accomplished in their great FAITH in God! Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and so many more. So, here’s a big question for you and me on this “Ash Wednesday”… how do you measure the size and strength of your FAITH in God? If Ash Wednesday points us back to a Palm Sunday and Passover/Easter weekend 2000 years ago, which changed the world, how much FAITH is required for you to believe something you did not witness, nor have you seen any actual photographs of the events, nor do you personally know anyone who was eyewitness to those events? Of course, life changing faith in Jesus and all He accomplished for us in His atonement death and resurrection is what unleashes the power of God into our lives that results in our salvation from our sin condemnation and our receiving the Holy Spirit to live within us, right? But today Peter is calling us to more… more than powerful, life changing FAITH. Look again at what Peter wrote: “…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance…” Peter is calling us to put FEET to our FAITH. Please notice this call to action by Peter: “make every effort to add to your faith.”
Now is Peter saying FAITH is not enough for our Christian life to be genuine? Is Peter saying God needs our help in completing the work of our salvation? Oh NO my friends! Ephesians 2:8,9 and many other Scriptures make it abundantly clear that our salvation is entirely a miraculous work of God which is accomplished in us by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
But Peter here is calling us to fully engage our hearts, minds and wills, to maximize our new identity in Christ, by working with the Holy Spirit to fully develop all these attributes of our Christianity which will give us the strength to BE all God has saved us to BE in our world! What does that mean? Do you know God’s great work of saving you from your sin condemnation is NOT for you alone? Peter here is helping us understand that if EVERY authentic Christian made every effort to maximize their potential in Christ… this world would be a very different place! Do you agree?
That’s why this fits so perfectly with Ash Wednesday. Look at each of the words Peter calls us to make every effort to develop to maximum effectiveness and world impact as followers of the risen Jesus Christ: “make every effort to add to your faith GOODNESS…” How much difference would it make if with every conversation, every action, every attitude you and I, and every Christian, lavished “GOODNESS” on the people our lives touch? Maybe another word for the Goodness Peter has in mind here would be God’s GRACE!! That’s how Peter started both his letters: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance”. So, what’s preventing you and me from being a channel of God’s grace to our world?Peter continues: “…and to goodness add KNOWLEDGE…” Now what knowledge do you think is most helpful to making you and me the people who can be most helpful to our world? I think that’s Knowledge of God and God’s Truth! So how do we make every effort to add a maximum amount of God knowledge to our FAITH? That’s what I’m trying to do every day with “Walking with Jesus”... helping you and me grow in our knowledge of God and His Truth!
Peter continues: “…and to knowledge add self-control…” Oh that’s self-discipline, isn’t it? That’s controlling our tongues, controlling our responses and reactions, controlling our choices and behaviors. How? By controlling our minds and hearts and keeping them focused on living God honoring lives! Right?
And let’s consider one more statement from Peter today: “and to self-control add perseverance…” Oh perseverance! That’s staying on the path of life God is leading you when life gets painful and difficult! That is the story of every great spiritual hero you can think of, isn’t that true? That is the story of what Ash Wednesday is about… the Perseverance of Jesus, especially in the days between Palm Sunday and the afternoon of Good Friday! Let’s pause right here and we’ll finish this remarkable challenge from Peter tomorrow. But as I close today, consider working backward with me through the list of key attributes Peter is calling us to make every effort to develop Perseverance is built on Self Control; which is built on Knowledge; which is built on Goodness, God’s Grace. And all of these are built on the foundation of our FAITH in God. Let’s not rush past this my friends.
From personal experience Peter is calling all Christians to make every effort to become strong so we can make the difference in our world Jesus transformed us to make. What action plan does this call you and me to develop? And yes, I’ve found a song that might help us with this…
Today’s Scripture is 2 Peter 1:5-6.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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