“Make Your Calling an Election Sure”
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - On Tuesday night I found myself, like probably many of you, up late watching CNN or whatever your favorite news outlet is. I finally went to sleep in the early hours of the morning praying asking God to work this situation out according to my will, I am just being honest. When I got up literally just a few hours later, I was hesitant about turning on the Television because I wasn’t sure what the outcome was going to be. I was nervous that is was going to be a repeat of 4 years ago. I like millions of other people had cast my Vote for my favorite candidate, yet I wasn’t sure what the outcome was going to be. Even as the morning progressed and the day began to pass by hour by hour, I was not sure of what the outcome was going to be. I knew how I voted, I knew what my desire was, I know what I asked for, but I couldn’t be sure of what it was going to be. As time continued to pass by, I still wasn’t sure of what the outcome was going to be. As hours turned to days, I still wasn’t sure what the outcome would be.
Let me inject this right here - We can and we should Vote, it is a right that belongs to everyone, people have lost their lives just so we can have the right to Vote; although, the right to is a sure thing; however, the Vote itself is not a sure thing.
The word sure according to Webster’s Dictionary On-Line means confident in what one thinks or knows; having no doubt that one is right, certaintly.
The Bible says in 2 Peter 1:10 “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall”. We can Vote and watch our votes fall, we can elect and be dissatisfied with the election, we truly do not have control over that, but we can make our calling and election sure if we are diligent and do a few things.
Today I want to talk about Making Your Calling an Election Sure.
PRAYER: -
Over the past month I taught on Faith During Uncertain Times, I came from the book of Habakkuk and in that 4 part sermon we traveled from Tested Faith, which was when God doesn’t seem to answer our prayers, to Putting Faith into Action, which is writing the vision which is God’s preferred future for your life, waiting for the vision to come to fruition, and remembering the things God has already done in the past. Then we went into The Just Shall Live by Faith, which is we don’t currently see it, but we live our lives trusting and believing God that it will happen because His Words are true, and He cannot lie. Then we ended up with Triumphant Faith which was being able to give God a YET PRAISE in the midst of the storm regardless of what it looks like, despite what we are currently facing I am going to YET PRAISE God and give Him the glory because I know He has everything under control. Now we come here in 2 Peter 1 and we are going to add character / characteristics to our faith.
WATCH THIS: - Character is the distinctive qualities of an individual whereas reputation is the general opinion of others of a person. Reputation is what people say about you Character is what God says about you. Character takes years to build whereas reputation is built in a very short period. Character is who you are internally, but reputation is how the society sees you externally. Gideon was a scaredy-cat, a chicken that was is reputation because he hid from the midianites threshing wheat, he even considered himself weak, but God said He was a mighty man of valor Judges 6:12 that is character. The widow with the two mites was poor that’s reputation but Jesus said of her character she has given more then them all because of her attitude which is character of giving Mark 12:41-44. People may say they are a good person or a bum that is reputation but what God says they are faithful, honorable, more than a conqueror that is character. So today we are going to add character to our faith.
So, let us dive into this lesson.
SCRIPTURE: - 2 Peter 1:1-10. “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord; According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall”.
UNDERSTAND: - The full knowledge of God is the foundation on which Christian character is built.
In verses 3&4 Peter is talking to those that have obtained like precious faith, those that have accepted Christ are now saved and have a measure of faith they came to know Christ at salvation, God imparted to them everything they needed to live a godly life, to share in God's nature, and to escape the sinful corruption of the world in which they lived. He tells them and us how we have received exceeding great and precious promises such as Forgiveness and Victory over Sin, Answers to Prayer, The Gift of the Holy Spirit, Resurrection from Death, and Eternal Life.
Then he starts explaining to them about adding Character to their faith. Every Christian starts out their Christian experience with faith. After all, we are saved by grace through faith. But one of our first responsibilities is to begin to build on that faith a life that is characterized as highly moral and ethical and most of all pleasing unto our Lord and Savior.
Verses 5-7 says “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity”. Peter says giving all diligence.
Diligence is steady, earnest, and energetic effort: devoted and painstaking work and application to accomplish an undertaking. Building character to your faith takes work, it takes being consistent, it takes grabbing hold and not letting go. Philippians 2:12 says this would be working out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Add:- to join or unite so as to bring about an increase or improvement. Understand this adding is not like just gathering a bunch of stones and adding to a pile, it is adding to and building upon making a solid structure. The bedrock quality or foundational characteristic is faith. Faith is the assurance we have in Christ. Faith is the foundation of Christian character.
Out of our faith should flow the following characteristics.
Add Virtue.
The first thing to be added to your initial faith is virtue. The Greek word used for virtue here “areth” is a general word for moral excellence. Moral excellence is doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong, it is doing and being good, goodness - moral excellence or admirableness. It means the quality in a person’s life which made them stand-out as excellent. There is good to be found in people, because most people will not just let someone starve or see they need help in some way and will not help. Virtue is standing out in the sight of God not man. So add to your faith God’s moral goodness.
Add to Virtue Knowledge.
When Peter said to add knowledge to virtue, he was talking about getting to know Christ who is the mediator of your salvation. Knowledge is more than Information and Education. Knowledge alone is wrong. Information and education fill your mind with facts, names, places, events, statistics – all with no meaning, no relationship with your life and purpose. Knowledge alone kills – is dead – just promotes pride. Martin Luther said, “Education without salvation equals damnation”. So, adding knowledge to virtue is a confidence, a calm assurance in what I KNOW to be true and real, despite how I or anyone else feels!
Knowledge is an intimacy with knowing something through and through not just skimming, or superficially. I know my wife, she doesn’t have to tell me what she wants for Christmas or Birthday all she has to do is say Oh or I like that and I know she would like to have that. Because I know her, we can communicate without talking.
I want to Know Him better and deeper 2Timothy 1:12 says “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day”; Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death”.
As Christians we are to be increasing in our knowledge of the things of God. It is not enough that we should coast along on the little knowledge we have at our conversion to Christ. We must have some knowledge in order to be saved. No one is converted to Christ without any knowledge at all. What we know when we are first converted is like the ABC; it is not the whole alphabet.
Add to Knowledge Temperance.
Temperance tells you to listen to your inner guidance and is an indicator that your spirit guides you. Temperance means self-control, particularly about one's passions and desires. The Greek word for temperance is egkrateia literally means inner strength. Biblical Meaning - means being able to master your own desires and passions – to not be controlled or manipulated by your peers, by the world’s fads, or by your own desires and passions! It is a restraint deep on the inside.
Your ability to grow in grace and knowledge is determined by your desire to submit to God. When God first brought you to a state of repentance your life was drastically modified, and your behavior was tempered by the desire to obey. You suppressed the desire to follow the ways of old man through applying temperance. This spiritual temperance can only come through the Holy Spirit.
Add to Temperance Patience
Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. The Greek word translated patience is often translated as endurance indicating an element of longsuffering. So don’t think it strange when you are faced with difficult times, 1Peter 4:12 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” Although trials and tribulations can be painful and hard to bear at the time, remember that you are strengthened with all might according to his glorious power and that no trial will be greater than you can bear, 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Those trials exercise patience and work toward your perfection, James 1:2-4 says “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”.
Add to Patience Godliness
Godliness means to be like God. Desiring to be like God is an expression of love toward Him. Peter said that God has given you, 2 Peter 1:3 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” He called you to salvation and gave you His Spirit which is the essence of His divine nature so that you can become like Him.
Add to Godliness Brotherly Kindness
Brotherly kindness is the product of obeying the command of Philippians 2:3–4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” When we live being a blessing to our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are fulfilling God’s desire for His church Galatians 6:2 says “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ”. His nature should be reflected in your attitude toward fellow brethren. We are to respect them even if our views are different.
Jesus Christ mentioned two commandments which perfectly express God’s divine nature, Matthew 22:37-40 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” When we walk in godliness expresses your love for God as does loving your neighbour.
These two commandments summarize the ten given to Israel in Exodus 20. The first four define love toward God: Thou shalt have no other gods before me, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, and Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. And the remaining six define love toward fellow man: Honour thy father and thy mother, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, and Thou shalt not covet.
Add to Brotherly Kindness Charity
Charity is love this is Agape unconditional Love. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Paul said, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth:”. If you are practicing godliness then you will have this sort of love toward your fellowman, Romans 13:8-10 “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Verse 10 says “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall”.
Make Your Calling and Election Sure!
Sure = confident in what one thinks or knows; having no doubt that one is right.
Calling is God’s drawing a person to salvation John 6:44 says “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day”. Peter alludes to this calling earlier in the same chapter when he speaks of God in 2 Peter 1:3 “who called us by his own glory and goodness”, so the calling is God calling you unto Him. A believer’s “election” is God’s selection of him to be saved from before time began. God wants us to have assurance of our salvation, and the best way to do that is to be pursuing godly virtues and actively growing in the Christian life. Jeremiah 1:4 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations”.
Our election is God’s selection of us to be saved from before time began.
God is the one who calls and elects, so the believer’s calling and election are already “sure” from God’s point of view; therefore, the command for believers to diligently make their calling and election sure must refer to the believers’ point of view.
God wants us to have assurance of our salvation, and the best way to do that is to be pursuing godly virtues and actively growing in the Christian life.
The making sure is making sure in our minds, no to have a doubt. The compound verb translated “to make sure” can mean either to “verify” (in the sense of assuring oneself of something that may not be true) or to “guarantee” or “protect” something that is already true.
It is the latter meaning in view here: we are told to make our calling and election to be holy as God is holy by exhibiting the list of behaviors in verses 5–7, so we do not fall into past sinful behavior.
Those who grow ever more like Christ will be “sure” of their calling and election. They will know they have eternal life; they will be living testimonies of the power of God to change lives.
In my closing, to make one’s calling and election sure is to live out the Christian life in the power of the Holy Ghost and the Beauty of Holiness. The Beauty of Holiness is that it leads us all the way Home to God. Isaiah 35:8 says "An highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it".
We are to do more than simply pay lip service to Christ. Those who profess salvation but never grow in their walk with God will suffer a lack of assurance, always wondering if they are really saved or not. Those who grow ever more like Christ will be “sure” of their calling and election.
When you know that you know that you calling is and election sure then these words take on a whole new meaning:- Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine Heir of salvation, purchase of God I'm born of His spirit and washed in His blood This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long
Perfect submission, perfect delight Visions of rapture now burst on my sight Angels descending, bring from above Echoes of mercy and whispers of love This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long Perfect submission, all is at rest I, in my Savior, am happy and blessed You know I'm watching and waiting, I'm looking above
Filled with His goodness and I'm lost in His love This is my, I know that this is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long
All the day long
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
