One advantage I have in traveling is tasting the good cooking of others. Along with that good cooking comes some great recipes that either my wife or I have been given over the past 32 years. In fact, unless the Lord allows us to take these recipes along to heaven, we’ll never be able to try them all. When I was once flipping through the recipe cards thinking of the people and places they represented, one caught my attention. I’m not certain I understand what it means and I’m almost afraid to try it.
The recipe is called Armenian Shish kabob. Now I know what an Armenian is when it comes to theology. They believe that having obtained salvation you can lose it by improper living. I have no idea what that means when it comes to food. If you are talking about the kind of entree that having eaten it you might lose it, I don’t care to try it. Then, I looked up the word "shish" in the Webster’s Dictionary where I’m told you can find every word. It’s not there. So I suppose a shish is something the human language can’t describe. That doesn’t sound too exciting either. Then, I assumed the word "kabob" was Greek. It sounded Greek to me. So I pulled my Greek dictionary off the shelf. It’s not there either. So I have no idea what an Armenian shish kabob is. But I’ve said to Tammy, "For your sake and mine, let’s not make it." That is one recipe I can’t understand and I’m almost scared to try it.
But sometime ago I came across a recipe I really like. In fact, it has to be the greatest recipe I’ve ever read. Found in 2 Peter 1:5-8, it’s what you might call the recipe for a godly life. Now, it’s not a new recipe. In fact, it’s older than your great-grandmother’s apple pie recipe. God gave it to Simon Peter more than 1,500 years ago and it’s one of the last things He gave the people of Asia Minor. It’s what is commonly referred to as an "oldie but a goodie."
Before I give the ingredients, let me tell you four reasons why I like it. One, when you find a recipe you want to try, you have to go to the grocery store to buy the ingredients. That takes time. But with this recipe, I don’t have to go anywhere. God has already given me the ingredients. I just have to use them. Verse 3 says, "As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness."
Secondly, when I find something I like I want to try it right away. I don’t want to wait until tomorrow. With this recipe I can. Peter even says, don’t waste any time. Verse 5 says, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence." Diligence means do with earnestness, don’t waste any time. Someone once said, "Satan doesn’t care how godly you try to be as long as you don’t plan to be it today." With this recipe I am encouraged to begin right away.
There is a third reason I like this recipe. I run into a problem I have with other recipes that say "take a pinch of sugar," "a pinch of salt," "a pinch of flour". I want to know, what is a pinch? Are there big pinches, medium sized pinches, small pinches? But with this recipe I don’t have to worry about that either. Because verse 5 says, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence add." That word add means supply abundantly, add lavishly. I don’t have to worry about getting too much. I can just add and add and add. I don’t have to pinch and pinch and pinch.
But there is a fourth reason I like this recipe. Everyone knows that recipes don’t guarantee success. You don’t know how they will turn out. In fact, Tammy who knows my cooking ability knows that even if I follow a recipe exactly, it’s still a guarantee it won’t turn out right. Some time ago Tammy wanted to surprise me with a special meal but somehow something went wrong with her recipe. When we set it on the table, all we had to do was take the lid off for the odor of the outdoors to hit us. We knew that somehow, something went wrong. We normally have about a one minute blessing on the meal. That night we gave the entire evening to prayer, asking God for His protective mercies as we partook of the food. But with this recipe I don’t have to worry about anything going wrong. Because verse 8 says, "For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." That means, you will always have something to do and in doing it you will be fruitful. Therefore, this recipe guarantees success.
Now, where do we start? Every recipe has a starting point and Peter gives it in verse five, "And also for this very reason, giving all diligence add to your faith." In other words, you have to be a person who has trusted in Christ as your only way to heaven. Different times I ask people, "What do you think you have to do to get to heaven?" I usually receive what I call the famous five: go to church, live a good life, keep the commandments, take the sacraments and be baptized. As a man once said to me, "I always figured the harder you worked, the higher you went." But the Bible says eternal life is a free gift. You have to come to God as a sinner, recognize Christ died for you and arose and put your trust in Christ alone as your only way to heaven.
Years ago, a new bank in Sao Paulo, Brazil burned to the ground. It turned out that the air-conditioning units had not been wired properly. Twenty-six stories high and it burned into a pile of rubble. 600 people were in the building at the time; 188 died. One-third died when they jumped or fell to their death. One-fourth died when they went to the top floor to escape the flames and instead were captured by them. But the reason even more did not die was because of a 27-year-old elevator operator. She had been told to get out of the building and forget about the elevator. But she kept going up and down bringing as many as 25 to safety every time. On her way to get a fourth load, when the elevator hit the 20th floor, the power shut off. The next day they found her charred body, lying by the elevator door. In other words, she saved others by dying for them. She died in their place. Jesus Christ took the punishment for our sins, died in our place on a cross and rose again. Therefore, you have to come to God as a sinner, recognizing Christ died for you and arose and put your trust in Christ alone as your only way to heaven. That’s what Peter means by faith. Therefore, this recipe is only for believers. Someone once said, "Education can make you smart. But only God can make you godly."
Now with that in mind, what is the first ingredient Peter mentions? Verse 5 says, "But also for this very reason giving all diligence add to your faith virtue." You may not know what the word virtue means. It’s not used much in the Bible, or even in our day for that matter. It’s like for years I heard the word epistle, like the Epistle of John, the Epistle of Peter. I had no idea what an epistle was. I wondered if an epistle was the wife of an apostle. Here is Mr. Apostle and his wife Mrs. Epistle. That made sense to me. But virtue means "moral vigor." Or, to respond to God the same way He responds to you. Just as He is holy, we should be holy. Just as He is characterized by right actions, our lives ought to be characterized by right actions. Just as He is characterized by pure thoughts, our minds ought to be characterized by pure thoughts. Just as He put us first by dying for us we ought to have Him first in every area of our lives. It means to respond to Him the same way He responds to us.
One day a man in the Army was reading his instructions from the General about what he was to do that day. Now the General of the Army was highly respected and loved. Someone happened to walk by and asked, "What are you reading?" The man answered, "I’m reading my instructions from the General. I need to know what he’d like me to do today." The other man said, "Why should you care what he thinks? What does it matter to him what you do?" The man answered, "But you’re not in the Army. You’ve never met the General. When you read these you might feel you can do nothing. When I read them, I can do no less." It means to respond to God the same way He responds to us. It’s an attitude that says that to live for Christ - nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.
There’s a second ingredient Peter mentions - knowledge. The end of verse five reads, "And to virtue add knowledge." Knowledge is more than intellectual ability but means practical discernment. To be godly we need a certain amount of intelligence but even more we need common sense, practical discernment. The kind of practical common sense that characterized a student at a university in Philadelphia. He had placed his term paper on his car while loading books and packages. He then got in the car and drove off, forgetting the paper. Most of us wouldn’t have thought of what he did. But he had practical common sense. Realizing what he’d done, he drove back to the starting point, placed a magazine of the same size on the car roof and retraced his route. When the magazine blew off he stopped and found his paper only a few feet away. That’s what you call good common sense. And word knowledge there means intellect combined with good common sense. It could be translated practical discernment. Peter is saying if you are going to be godly you need practical discernment concerning the will of God.
With your employer, seek practical discernment concerning the will of God. Raising your children, seek practical discernment concerning the will of God. Managing your money, seek practical discernment concerning the will of God. Now that presupposes two things. The first is that you want the will of God. A young boy was thanking his grandmother for her Christmas gift. The present was a pink velvet pin cushion. The boy said, "I always wanted a pin cushion, just not very much." It presupposes is that you want the will of God. And the second thing it presupposes is that you know where to find it. The will of God is found in the Word of God. There is sufficient guidance in Scripture for every situation - bar none. But Peter is saying, if you want to be a godly person you need knowledge. You need to seek practical discernment concerning the will of God in every area.
Then he mentions a third ingredient - self control. In verse six he says, "and to knowledge add self control." Connie Mack was once a household name in baseball. He said, "I’ve seen some players go into a slump and never come out. I’ve seen other players come out better than ever. But more players lick themselves than are ever licked by an opposing team. The first thing any man has to learn is how to handle himself." Peter is saying, if you are going to be a godly person you need to know how to handle yourself. You need self control with your desires and passions.
Peter mentions that because you can misuse any gift or ability that God gives you. You can take the gift of sex and become an adulterer. You can take the gift of food and become a glutton. You can take the ability to speak and become a slanderer. You can take the ability to think and think wrong thoughts. For that reason, if you are going to be a godly person, you need self control. You need to be in control of your desires and passions instead of allowing them to be in control of you. You might be thinking, "But that’s a whole lot easier to talk about than to do." I agree. But self control is one of the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:23 where it says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and then it says self-control." That’s one reason Peter says that God has already given us the ingredients. All we have to do is use them.
Then he mentions a fourth ingredient and he speaks about this one with a certain amount of expertise because he is awaiting martyrdom. That is the ingredient of perseverance. In verse 6 he says, "And to self-control, add perseverance." Perseverance means endurance, or the ability to stand up under difficulty without becoming angry and bitter. So, if you have a car accident, you stand up under that difficult situation without becoming angry or bitter. Should you have health problems, you stand up under that difficult situation without becoming angry or bitter. Should you have some unexpected bills, you stand up under that difficult situation without becoming angry or bitter.
Too often, the first thing we want to do is bail out. We are like the pilot flying his two-passenger plane which suddenly developed engine trouble. His passenger watched him put a parachute on. Then he said, "Now just sit still and I’ll go for help." Many times, the first thing we want to do is bail out. Instead, Peter is saying, endure. You need to be in control of the situation instead of letting the situation be in control of you.
Years ago a farmer in Illinois bought a new corn planter and planted his corn crop with it. Several weeks later he still didn’t see any sprouts coming up through the ground. He assumed it had malfunctioned and it would be too late to plant again. It meant financial ruin for him. It was just one more depressing situation he had dealt with that year and it proved to be too much. He committed suicide. It’s easy to criticize a farmer who would take his life over a season’s corn crop. But sometimes we make snap judgments and hasty decisions. Peter is saying you need to practice endurance. Stand up under difficult situations. Persevere. You need the attitude that says, though God take the sun out of heaven, yet I will be patient. I will practice endurance.
Then Peter mentions another ingredient and when you’ve said it you’ve almost defined it. That is the ingredient of godliness. Verse 6 says, "And to perseverance, add godliness." It’s when He is at the center of everything you do; He is the reason for everything you don’t do. You don’t live the Christian life on the basis of the filthy five, the sinful six, shameful seven, awful eight, naughty nine or dirty dozen. Instead, what you do, He is the reason. What you don’t do, He is the reason. Everything you do is out of reverence for Him. Everything you don’t do is out of reverence for Him. He’s the center of everything you do, He’s the reason for everything you don’t do. You are simply living a life that pleases Him.
Then Peter mentions two other ingredients because he doesn’t want us to walk around as though our heads are above everyone else. So the last two ingredients have to do with people and he begins with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
In verse seven he says, "But to godliness add brotherly kindness." In the original language, brotherly kindness is one word, not two, and it’s the word from which we get our word Philadelphia. Now, I lived there for four years in college, only we called it Filthy Delphia. We had a slogan, "Keep our city clean. Eat a pigeon." But the word Philadelphia actually means brotherly love. Cherish one another. Love the people you are going to live alongside forever.
Sometimes the people we know the best are the ones we treat the worst. One time a lifeguard was asked, "How do you teach a girl how to swim?" He said, "The first thing I would do is to take her to the edge of the pool and have her watch the water as it goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. All this time I would assure her that everything is okay, I’m going to take care of her. She has nothing to fear. Then I’d have her put her big toe in and just stand there and watch the water as it goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I’d assure her that everything is okay, I’m there, I’m going to take care of her. She has nothing to fear. Then I would have her put her ankle in then pull it out and stand there and watch the water as it goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. All this time I’d assure her that everything is okay, I’m there, I’m going to take care of her. She has nothing to fear. Then I’d have her to step in as far as her knees then, of course, have her come right back out. Then I’d have her stand there and watch the water as it goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. All this time I’d assure her that everything is okay, I’m there, I’m going to take care of her. She has nothing to fear. And after he’d gone through about a half hour of explaining how he’d teach a girl how to swim, someone said, "What if that girl was your little sister?" He said, "Oh, in that case, I’d just take her to the edge and push her in." Sometimes the people we know the best are the ones we treat the worst. Therefore if you are going to be godly, you need brotherly kindness. You need to cherish the people you are going to live alongside of forever.
Then Peter mentions another ingredient and although it’s last it’s not least. It’s the ingredient of love. Verse 7 says, "And to brotherly kindness, add love." He is saying, with love from your brothers and sisters, now stretch it out, expand it, extend it, move it out. Let it include love for anyone anywhere, even the people you can’t stand. In other words, he is saying the same thing Christ said in Matthew 5 when He said, "You’ve heard it said, Love your neighbor, hate your enemy. I say, love your enemy. Do good to the one who hates you."
One time a military man told how he came to Christ. A fellow soldier was a known Christian. One day it rained all day. A downpour. The Christian returned to the barracks and before getting to bed, knelt down to talk to the Lord. The man said, "My boots were heavy with mud." As the Christian was kneeling, the man let him have one boot along one side of the head and the other boot along the other side. The next morning he found his boots sitting by his cot polished to a shine. The soldier said, "That was his answer to me. That’s the day I became a Christian." Peter is saying, "From love for your brothers and sisters, move it out, stretch it, extend it, love anyone anywhere, even people you just can’t stomach." Be characterized by love.
Now you understand why this has to be the greatest recipe ever. It’s a recipe for a godly life. Peter said, you need virtue, you need to respond to God the same as He responds to you. You need knowledge, you need to seek practical discernment concerning God’s will in every area of life. You need self-control; you need to be in control of your desires and passions instead of letting them control of. You need perseverance; you need to endure in the midst of difficult situations. You need godliness; He needs to be the center of what you do and the reason for everything you don’t do. You need brotherly kindness; you need to cherish the people you are going to live alongside forever. Then you need love; love for anyone, anywhere. Again, verse 8 says, "For if these things are yours and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." That means you will always have something to do and in doing it you will be fruitful. You will be a godly person.
What Peter is saying could be reduced to one sentence. Godliness is not a matter of something you need to do, but someone you need to be. Because if you are the person you need to be you will do the things you need to do. Godliness is not a matter of something you need to do, but someone you need to be. Because if you are the person you need to be you will do the things you need to do. Godliness is not a matter of something you need to do, but someone you need to be. Because if you are the person you need to be you will do the things you need to do.
But you might be thinking, "I am so far from being a godly person." The important thing spiritually is not where you are. It’s the direction you are headed. So understanding the recipe for the godly life, go home and head in the right direction. Brooks Robinson did not become the world’s greatest third baseman by showing up at the stadium in Baltimore. He became the world’s greatest third baseman by playing baseball. You become a godly person not by knowing the ingredients of a godly life but by mixing the ingredients together in your life. Whatever you do, do with earnestness. Don’t waste any time.
Cecil Rhodes was a South African billionaire statesman who left this statement among his documents, "If there is a God and He cares for men then the most important thing in the world for me is to find out what He wants me to do and then go and do it." Understanding the ingredients of a godly life, go home and mix the ingredients together in your life. Whatever you do, do with earnestness. Don’t waste any time.
