MATTHEW 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
I want more. More time, more money, more recognition. I need newer stuff, better stuff, and more stuff. There HAS to be more to life than this! Ever heard that from your kids? Ever heard it from yourself? It seems to be the battle-cry of this age, doesn’t it? Most of us are too well-mannered to say it or talk about it, but really and truly....we want more! Oh sure, whatever we have as Christians is great...but it’s never enough, is it?
Herein lies the paradox....is it a bad thing to always want more? King Solomon was the world’s smartest guy...look it up...but even he couldn’t be happy with what he had or accomplished. Always chasing something better than he had, indulging himself, going off on wild binges...searching for more and finding less. Read Ecclesiastes sometime. He calls it "chasing the wind". Finally he realized, as we all need to, that we actually CAN be content with what we have. Would’ve saved a lot of time and trouble if we’d only started out with that realization!
Now, having said that, let me say this...you should want more! Does that shock you? You should never be satisfied with just what’s in front of you or content with just what you have. That’s a recipe for emptiness and will wither away your soul. Wanting more is not the problem...we should want more of God, shouldn’t we? I think the main problem is that we seek after things that don’t satisfy or even things that satisfy only temporarily. Jesus said in MAT 6:19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
We should desire the things of God, the treasures in heaven, not the corruptible ones here on earth. I don’t care how rich you are or how much "stuff" you have, it ain’t going with you when you go. Someone once said "if I can’t take it with me when I go, then I’m not going".....guess again! Think about it this way...even if you could take it with you, do you really want to gather up junk to spend eternity with? Most of it goes into the garage sale anyway after a few years...think how you’d feel about having all that junk around for eternity!
No, wanting isn’t the problem. We just have to learn how to want more and less at the same time. What? Yes...more. Jesus says back in MATTHEW 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. We should want more of God, of His goodness, His Kingdom, His righteousness. The trick is to know the difference between what is from God and what is from our own selfish desires.
Did you know that if you are a Christian you already posses everything you need? Turn to 2 PETER 1:3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Then why do we fail sometimes if we have everything we need? Usually it’s because we don’t use what we have.
I have a recording studio at my house. I should have the ability to record CD’s. I told Coy this fact. I can’t record CD’s right now, though. It’s not set up. I have it, but I can’t use it right now. Usually it’s our own laziness that keeps us from using what God has given to us!
Everything you need for life and Godliness you have! 1 PETER 1:5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For 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. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
One faith, seven virtues. Make every effort to add these to your faith we’re told. So I thought we might look more closely at each of these 7 virtues and examine where we are so that we might be able to use what God has already given us.
1. GOODNESS. There was a Greek word that Peter could have used here...chrestotes....which was common in his day. It means basically....to do good! But Peter chose to use another word here...arete...which is a word that describes what we are, not what we do. This type of goodness will produce the kind of action of doing good.
Bad people can do good things. Hitler loved dogs. Idi Amin was said to cry easily. Stalin was extremely kind to his daughters. Jesus even said that even though we are sinful, we know how to give good gifts to our children. What I mean is you don’t have to BE good to DO good. There are mean , evil people that sometimes do good. That’s not the kind of goodness Peter is talking about here. This virtue is a quality of the soul. Jesus told the rich young ruler that "no one is good" and certainly we can’t have this virtue without Jesus!
2. KNOWLEDGE We can miss this one easy if we’re not careful. Knowledge for it’s own sake can be simply an "intellectual trophy". It’s good to know things, isn’t it? God Himself said that we should ask for wisdom. Have you ever met someone who knows so much that you think they’re stupid? Much knowledge hath made thee mad....I had a friend that was a professional student for a large part of his life. He was smart, too! But only about academics. He struggled to live in the real world, made terrible choices and decisions. Had a lot of book-learning, though.
This knowledge that Peter talks about here isn’t that kind. It’s not the knowledge of the mind, but knowledge of the heart that Peter speaks of. Now, listen....it is important to have "mind knowledge" too, but just as a Bible scholar can study and "know" about the Bible, he can also be lost when it comes to "knowing" God.
I know who the pope is. I would probably know him if I met him on the street. But I don’t "know" the pope, do I? How many marriages ended because after they were married the couples found out that they didn’t really know each other? Many "know" who God is, but they they don’t know God. We must beware of theology without worship and doctrine without intimacy and obedience. This virtue should always lead to adoration and surrender. To know God is to love Him.
3. SELF-CONTROL Peter wouldn’t recognize our meaning of this word today. We have reduced the meaning of this word to a "behavioral technique" for anger management or even to describe our New Years resolution....to lose weight! Peter uses this word to help us resist the devil in 1 PETER 5:8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Your KJV Bible says sober, but what the word means is to have clarity. Keep your mind free from fog.....have the mind of Jesus. His clarity, mental toughness....not cluttered, but fixated on things above. And as a bonus, it actually does help whenever you’re trying to lose weight too!
4. PERSEVERANCE We tend to think of this as willpower. Just grit your teeth and get through it! But Peter used a military term that actually means "don’t abandon your post". This perseverance is tied to obedience and calling, or duty. It actually has nothing to do with the strength of your will. It has to do with submitting your will to the will of another.
Perseverance means refusing to quit, even when you are in danger, offended, or even bored! All that stuff is irrelevant. What matters is that you carry out your assignment to completion. If you do not, you become AWOL. Perseverance is desperately needed in today’s church. We have become way too fickle and touchy! If God puts you in a church to serve, you might have to persevere the pastor.......
5. GODLINESS The literal translation here is "good devotion". A wholehearted, unwavering commitment to God’s character and ways. Do you know the exact opposite of Godliness? Worldliness. They are at enmity with each other. Worldliness to to be held captive to worldly values and habits. You think you’re free, but you’re not! Godliness consistently chooses things that exalt God and lift up Jesus....among them humility, purity, sacrifice, and love.
6. BROTHERLY KINDNESS You may be familiar with the original word "Philos" (Philadelphia, brotherly love) which actually has a narrow meaning..."to love the sons of my father"...In the ancient times, your brother might have a different mother than you did. You might have several brothers with different mothers. Come to think of it, it’s getting that way now, isn’t it? Anyway, these sons might not love their brothers. But for the sake of their father, they would practice this "brotherly love" and love one another. This virtue is to love what the Father loves, and that includes all His children!
7. LOVE There are three types of love. Eros, the love reserved for your spouse, Philos, we just talked about it, and AGAPE. This is loving as the Father loves. It’s more than loving our half-brothers and sisters, more than what we feel just for certain bodily needs....it entails loving the "least of these"....people that you may consider "beneath" you. The ones we’d rather ignore. But it also means loving those "above" us. You know, the ones we tend to resent (rich people). I t also means to love those who spitefully use you (that’s a tough one!).
The text I started out with was in MAT 5...during Jesus’ sermon in the mount. Later in vs 44 Jesus said "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you". I don’t know about you, but it is impossible for me to do that in my own strength. But with God.......!
We need God’s empowering Holy Spirit within us so we can let His holy love flow in us and through us so that we can love like Him. We are the salt and light of this world. If we seek these virtues and add them to our faith, we can make a difference.....not only as we shine for Jesus, but it will make our personal and spiritual lives better too.
Unless we posses theses virtues and seek more and more of them, we are going to be stumbling around like Mr Magoo (remember him?) half blind, absent-minded, swerving back and forth, wreaking havoc and being generally oblivious to everything God has for us. 2 PETER 1:9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
Sometimes when you might feel stuck, it may not be Satan sabotaging you...it may be that you are simply suffering from an under nourished virtue! Have you ever said "if only someone would listen to me...or if only I had more time or money". Peter says that you DO have everything you need. It’s been made available to you, you just have to put it all together and use it!
We need to attain that which we already posses! A new car that never gets driven never goes anywhere! A dollar never spent buys nothing! An "I love you" never said touches no one! We can gain the whole world and lose it simply by not using it. These virtues are like manna....you can’t stockpile them, you have to use them. Remember what happened when the people tried to "save up" manna?
Christ has withheld nothing from us, but to taste the fullness of these virtues we must embrace them. Go after it, dig, stretch, reach, and yes, even struggle to use them. Peter almost makes these virtues sound like a recipe. I know I said that already, but think about it. I’m always amazed at how you can put certain ingredients all together and make something totally different. Take a little goodness, toss in some self-control, add some Godliness.....pretty soon this mixture becomes the mind of Christ. Kind of like a transformation, isn’t it? Let’s read on down.....
2 PETER 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
