Fragile Faith: Why Can’t I Stay Strong? - 2 Peter 1:6b Series

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, having made every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 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. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

Introduction

How robust or fragile is your personal holiness? The virtues in your life—your joy, your love, your self-control, your peace—what happens to those when they come under pressure? Are they steadfast and reliable, or are they fragile? How many times have you been in a good place spiritually, you have a good attitude, you’re thinking on things above, your mind is right, you have self-control, but then some pressure squeezes you, and poof, it’s all gone. “I worked so hard for that good attitude—where did it go?” “I was doing so well resisting temptation, and now all of a sudden I’m like Samson with his hair cut off.” What can be done about weak, on-again-off-again, unreliable virtue?

Review

We’re in 2 Peter 1:5-7 where Peter gives a list of seven virtues that we’re supposed to make every effort to build onto our faith—three, one in the middle, then another 3. So far, we’ve covered the first three—moral excellence, knowledge, and self-control.

Now, before we look at that middle one (#4 in the list), let’s remember the format of this list. Peter’s grammar indicates that each virtue comes by means of the previous one. So the way to get self-control is through knowledge. Athletes have self-control because they know what the prize is—it’s that gold medal, and they really, really want it. You can have self-control over sinful impulses if you understand what prizes are at stake, you really want that prize, you understand what’s so great about it, and you understand what jeopardizes it so you know which impulses you have to control.

The Centrality of Perseverance

Keeps Self-Control Going

That’s where we left off last time—use knowledge about the prize to increase your self-control. And at this point, it really seems like the list could end right there. By the time you have moral excellence, spiritual knowledge, and self-control—so what you love and desire aligns with God’s heart, you’re thinking like God, and you have the self-control to resist the impulses of the flesh, wouldn’t everything you do be pleasing to God?

The answer is yes. When you have moral excellence, knowledge, and enough self-control to keep the impulses of the flesh at bay, you won’t sin and you’ll never have to worry about sin again—that is, as long as your self-control holds up. The moment your self-control gives out, all bets are off.

You might hear that and think, “Well, what good is self-control? The answer is, it’s really not much good if it doesn’t last.

The question isn’t really, “Do you have self-control?” Everyone has self-control. The real question is, “How much pressure does it take for your self-control to collapse?”

And if we’re honest, we’ll have to say, “Some days, not much. There are times when all it takes is the slightest nudge and my self-control waves the white flag. What’s the trick to getting self-control that will hold up even when it’s under pressure?

If you want it to hold up, you’re going to need another virtue. You’re going to need the “stay strong and keep it going” virtue. The biblical name for that virtue is perseverance. Self-control is useless without perseverance to keep it going. So Peter says:

2 Peter 1:6 [Add to your] self-control, perseverance.

The Greek word is hupomene. Mene—to remain; hupo—under. hupomene is the ability to remain steadfast even under pressure. What kind of pressure? Whatever pressure threatens to make you quit. Perseverance is the stay strong and keep it going virtue. So when you have a little bit of self-control, perseverance makes it so you can keep controlling yourself even when it gets hard.

Keeps all Virtues Going

So you need perseverance for your self-control, but not just for your self-control. Remember I told you that this list has three virtues in the front and three in the back and one in the center? Very often, when you see a list of seven in the Bible, the reason it’s seven is to point you to that middle spot. Just like we saw with the structure of the Gospel of Mark so many times—that middle spot is especially important. Peter places perseverance dead center as the lynchpin of this whole list that reaches both directions to the first three and last three and holds them all together. It’s in the middle because without perseverance, every virtue in this whole list becomes useless. And not only this list, but every virtue in the Bible.