Fruitfulness, not Legalism Pt.2

Intro to 2nd Peter:

Date:  Peter probably wrote this letter from Rome not long before his martyrdom, sometime during a.d. 64–67.

Purpose & Background:  Peter writes this brief, final reminder to the churches so that his readers will by God’s grace live a life that is pleasing to God. In doing so, Peter must also combat the false teachers who were apparently exerting pressure on the churches to depart from the true knowledge of Christ (see esp. ch. 2). The false teaching is not only a theological challenge but also a moral one, holding forth some form of sexual permissiveness as a legitimate Christian lifestyle. While the false teaching can be described based on what Peter writes, it is historically impossible to identify who the false teachers were. For example, there is no clear historical evidence that these teachers were Gnostic or proto-Gnostic.

Read 2 Peter 1:1-15 in it’s entirety, then we will go back and hit it verse by verse.

1:1

• “Peter” – One of Christ’s inner 3.  Walked with and talked with and learned from Jesus.  He was with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Appointed head of the Jerusalem church.
• “Servant” – Bondservant/slave “Devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interest.
• “Apostle” – “A delegated messenger, one sent forth with orders”.  There is a difference in the office of apostle and the spiritual gift of apostle.  The office of apostle was limited to those sent out personally by Christ and closed with the death of the last apostle (John).  The gift of apostleship is given to people today as the Holy Spirit sees fit and is marked by boldness and bravery to establish or plant churches where there are none.
• “To those who have obtained a faith” – He’s writing to believers.
• “of equal standing with ours” – In God’s eyes, we have equal standing to the apostles in Christ.  The ground at the cross is level!
• “by the righteousness of our God” – All of this is based on His righteousness not our own!
• “God and Savior Jesus Christ” – Other religions say you worship a god and then work on your life to get rid of your sins or faults in order to save yourself.  That’s why I love Jesus so much!!

1:2

• There is no greater aspiration in life than to know God.  Not just knowing about Him, but truly knowing Him intimately.  In his book “Knowing God” J.I. Packer states that knowing someone is really more dependent on them allowing you to get to know them than it is your attempt to know them.
• Therefore knowing the God that created the universe would be nothing but grace.  He has opened Himself up to us in His Word.  He has given us that grace and granted that we should know Him.

1:3

• He has placed His Holy Spirit within us and the Spirit has given us the grace, power, strength, and desire to live the godly life that he will go on to mention in a minute.  If you were just to read the next section you might get the idea that Peter is telling us we need to work for our salvation.  That’s why it’s so important to read the sections above and below the section in question as well as keeping in mind to whom and why the letter was written.  There was a teaching floating around at that time that stated that you could live however you wanted, the most important thing is that you love one another and that pleases God.  Sounds a lot like where we find ourselves in “American Christianity” doesn’t it?
• We can not work for our salvation… In verse 1 he says that our right standing before God is based on Christ’s righteousness.
• Nor are we working to keep our salvation.  Christ started it, not me.  He will finish it, not me.

1:4

• It is through the Holy Spirit that He has granted us these great promises and it is through these promises that we are partakers of the divine nature.
• Partakers – “Partners/associates/companions”
• “having escaped…” – The Holy Spirit gives us freedom from our sinful desires.  Without Him, we are slaves to the flesh, always doing what it desires.

1:5

• What reason? (v3) – Because He has given us the power and promises to do so…
• There are 2 commands in this verse.  One we will spend the bulk of our time on, the other I think gets overlooked because we just read over it like a newspaper.
• Supplement or “add to” your faith – That’s the command we will look at the most.
• “make EVERY effort” “employ every effort in exercising your faith” (AMP)- He is not saying that we should just give it a try and if we fail… ahh oh well, at least you tried. No!  Make this your life’s goal, make every effort.
• What are supplements? – Physically, they are things you take to help you have a better quality of life and get the most out of it.  They did not give you life nor do they keep you alive.  They help you feel better ie. give you more energy, help you sleep, aid digestion, lower blood pressure, etc.
• Some translations read “add to your faith”  You cannot add to your salvation, Christ paid it ALL.  Anyone who teaches Jesus plus anything for salvation, preaches a false gospel.  So what is Peter talking about?
• Taking the power and promises God has given us and applying them to live moral, godly lives, so that we may experience the abundant life Jesus promised us in John 10:10.  When we apply His power and cultivate these qualities, we are becoming more like Christ and increasing in our knowledge of Him.

Side Note:  Biblical living is often mis-labeled as “legalistic” so that others can continue to live guilt free in their immorality.

1:5-7 – Supplements

Virtue

• “Moral excellence or goodness”.  Greek word for virtue is sometimes used to express the idea of strength or power.
• Bravery or boldness to do what’s right in all situations.

Knowledge

• Greek – “A deeper knowledge of the faith”
• Are you still learning?  are you still trying to know more about God?  We all have so much more to learn, no matter how old we are or how long we’ve been saved.
• Are you reading & studying your Bible?  Are you reading or listening to other books, teachers, preachers?
• If you WANT to know… you can!  There are so many great resources out there today!  Keep learning!

Self-Control

• “Being one who masters his own passions and desires”
• There is an emphasis in this verse on sensuality since that was one of the main heresies Peter was trying to combat.
• Paul says in 1 Cor 6:12 “’All things are lawful for me’ but I will not be enslaved or mastered by anything”.
• Again, Christ has set us free from the enslavement of the flesh.  That’s not to say that those desires won’t be there, but we are to use His strength to master those desires.

Steadfastness

• “Perseverence, constancy, endurance”. “Someone who is not swerved from their intended purpose no matter the circumstance or trial”.
• Don’t be wishy washy.  Stay the course you know God has marked out for you.
• “A holy stuborness” – Mark Driscoll
• Don’t give up, don’t quit.
• We live in a world that says “If you see that you’re going to lose, bail out and save face.”
• Don’t give up on God because He doesn’t “show up” and get you out of every jam that you get yourself into.  He never promised us He would do that.  He did promise us He would get us through them.
• He will never give up on us.  He will never leave us nor forsake us!

Godliness

• “Reverence, respect, piety”.
• In an age where so much emphasis is place on God’s desiring a “personal relationship” with us, it would be easy for us to begin to view God as a person.  He is not!
• He is different from us, high above us, Holy, Awesome, All-knowing, All-powerful, mighty, just, His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts!
• He is personal with us for sure.  He opens Himself up to us in that way.  But He is in no way like us except for the fact that He added to His divinity, humanity and clothed himself in the body of Jesus of Nazareth in order to save us and sympathize with us.

Brotherly affection

• “Love between siblings”
• We are to treat fellow believers as brothers and sisters.  Not just in name only.
• Rom 12:10

Love

• Greek – “Agape” “Affection, good will, benevolence, brotherly love”
• Love is not just a feeling, it is an action we must choose!
• We have been influenced way too much by the Greko-Roman idea of love and romance.  If we do not feel it, then we don’t do it.
• Agape love says “Christ loved me, I can love others whether I feel like it or not.
• 1 Cor 13

1:8

• You will be fruitful in Knowing Jesus.  Doing these things helps us know God.  It’s not about getting or staying saved.  He is writing to believers.
• We will also be effective in ministry.

Let’s be doers of the Word and not just Hearers only!

Let’s not get trapped into this Americanized, ho-hum Christianity that is lazy and self-centered.

Let’s head the words of Peter and do something.