Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Already the month of February is nearly gone! 28 days run out quickly, don’t they? I wonder how 2023 has begun for you. Today is, I believe, the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I’m sure your heart has been broken many times, as mine has been, as we’ve watched the pictures of that horrific war. But also, the catastrophic earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have brought heartbreak to thousands of families. Did you know the areas of these earthquakes are places the disciples of Jesus, the apostle Paul, Barnabas, Silas and others may well have visited with the Gospel of Jesus in those years following Jesus’ ascension?
Today, let’s rejoin Peter as he draws to a conclusion a very powerful and challenging paragraph, he wrote in his second letter. We’ve looked at the first part of it the past two days and today let’s consider its conclusion. “…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) We’ve already looked at the attributes which Peter challenges Christians to develop through every effort, adding to their saving Faith in God. Now today let’s look closely at that final statement.
The Holy Spirit leads Peter to select his words carefully: “For if you possess these qualities…” ‘Possess’ is a strong word, isn’t it? It’s more than owning something or obtaining something or acquiring something or even being gifted with something. ‘Possess‘ suggests that something you ‘possess‘ also has a hold on you too! The qualities or attributes Peter listed are not simply acquired, in order for them to be authentic in my life they need to become part of me. Each attribute needs to find a home deep in my soul if my life is going to evidence that attribute consistently.
So, ponder that a moment… how deeply are each of these integrated into our lives, our personalities, our reputations: “faith; goodness; knowledge; self-control; perseverance; godliness; mutual affection; love”? Do you and I really ‘possess‘ these attributes and have the attributes penetrated deeply into our very being?
But Peter isn’t satisfied with only ‘possess‘, even though that’s a very high standard. Look, Peter says: “possess these qualities in increasing measure”! Oh my! That takes me back to the opening words of this paragraph from Peter… “Make every effort to add to your faith…” and then Peter lists these God honoring attributes. Peter challenges me. Am I making every effort to add these attributes to my faith, to the point that I really do possess them as an integrated part of my life? And further, have I reached a point of complacency about them or am passionate about possessing them in increasing measure? Years ago, I was a bit of an athlete in school. Our coach focused most of our practice time on conditioning and skill development. I’ve watched the same with musicians and artisans and people of many different hobbies or skills or vocations. Few things come natural, most abilities need development to be effective and for those people who want to achieve excellence, that development is a lifelong process, do you agree? Can you think of anyone who has that passion for their SPIRITUAL development? That is what Peter is talking about and challenging Christians in the first century to pursue.
Why? Because their world desperately needed people with those attributes and those attributes were only found in abundance in authentic Christians! That’s the power of Peter’s concluding statement: “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive…” Ineffective and Unproductive?! Are you a person who cringes when you hear these words? Regardless if we are talking about relationships or business or healthcare or education or politics or spirituality the words “ineffective” and “unproductive” are painful words to hear, aren’t they? Peter was not only challenging first century Christians to understand that their Christian faith will be anemic without these growing attributes, Peter was calling Christ followers to understand the Roman empire desperately needed Christians to BE God honoring people bringing the LIGHT of God’s truth, the HOPE of God’s help into their world. The Roman empire, like our world today, was decaying. Greed, selfishness, deceit, lust, anger, slander, led to deceptive business practices and broken relationships and crime and corruption in government.
Do you recognize the dramatic contrast between that and how Peter has been calling Christians to live? Now let’s look closely at our cities, our societies… do you see the world you and I are living in is very similar and therefore the Christians Peter describes in his day are just as desperately needed today as they were 2000 years ago, do you agree?
Finally, do you see Peter’s last words of this paragraph are the essential core of it all: “your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”? Peter is not just talking here about understanding information, nor is he talking about having lots of knowledge ABOUT God. Peter is talking about an authentic relationship with Jesus built on a deep understanding of Him. So, it begs a really important question: is your relationship with God information gained from reading books about God or are you growing in your understanding of God as you increasingly experience Jesus in an authentic relationship? That my dear “walking with Jesus” friends is the focus and purpose of my time with you in God’s Word each day. Like my coach from my college days, I’m trying to stimulate both you and me to a stronger, deeper, more vibrant, more authentic, Holy Spirit filled and fueled relationship with Jesus Christ, which will result in you and me becoming more and more the people Peter was describing.
Those are the people who by the power of God can be the people God uses to make the much-needed difference between chaos and calm, destruction and construction, disaster and hope in our world. Oh, I hope that’s you my friends, and here’s a wonderful worship song to help us celebrate the truth of Peter’s powerful words at work in your life and mine…
Today’s Scripture is 2 Peter 1:5-8.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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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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