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.
When you look at Peter’s description of what it looks like to share in God’s nature in this list, you might say, “Peter, aren’t you forgetting a few big ones?” Where is humility? Patience? Joy, hope, fear of God, peace, meekness, wisdom—shouldn’t we make every effort to add those to our faith too?” I think Peter would say, “Yeah, that’s why I made it a list of 7.”
Groups of 7 don’t happen by accident in Scripture. When you hear that 7 is the number of perfection or completion—that’s a real thing. I believe what Peter is doing here is giving us a representative list of 7 that stands for all the virtues—every aspect of what it means to share in the divine nature.
So you can apply the general principle to everything in the Christian life. Spiritual growth happens when you make every effort to use every virtue you already have to develop the virtues you don’t have. No matter how many virtues you have, never start coasting, never stop striving—always be growing. So don’t be too worried if you can’t remember the exact sequence here in Peter’s list. Just in general, use the things you’re good at to grow the godly traits you’re weak in.
And by putting perseverance in the center, it highlights how essential it is for every godly trait in the whole Bible. You’re a loving, kind person. That’s great. But will you keep loving when it gets hard? Only if you have perseverance. What good is joy if it dies as soon as you feel some pain? What good is seeking God if you give up before you find him? What good is selflessness or humility or any other virtue if it collapses as soon as there is some resistance? Everything in your Christian life depends on perseverance. Any virtue that can’t handle pressure is doomed to fail because life is full of pressures—people pressuring you to do the wrong thing, the culture shoving you in wrong directions, the pressure of suffering, pressure from Satan, pressure from your own flesh—any virtue that can’t handle all that is useless.
No matter how holy and righteous and pleasing to God you are in a given moment, the only thing keeping you from veering off the road and crashing into the ditch of sin the next moment is perseverance. You can’t overstate the importance of it.
Priceless
This is why suffering is so precious to the Christian, because every hardship is an opportunity to build perseverance.
James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
I’ve heard Bible-believing Christians laugh at that passage as if it were totally unrealistic. Many times I’ve heard Christians—even pastors say, “Don’t ever quote that passage to someone who is suffering—that would be so insensitive.” A passage in God’s Word telling us how to respond to suffering and we’re not supposed to read it to people who are suffering? Why? People have that attitude because they have no idea how priceless perseverance is. It’s so valuable that, if you had any idea how valuable it is, you really would be full of joy when you suffer because of how much you want more perseverance.
James 1:3 is a beautiful passage to read to people who are suffering because it’s a promise. Remember Peter taught us back in v.3 that all spiritual growth comes through trusting God’s promises? This is a promise—respond the right way to suffering and it will increase your perseverance. And the next verse is an even bigger promise.
James 1:4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Perseverance is priceless.
Jesus said:
Matthew 10:22 He who perseveres to the end will be saved.
How’s that for high stakes?
How to Get It
So how do you increase your perseverance? Remember, you grow each virtue by means of the previous one in the list. What comes before perseverance? Self-control. Use self-control to increase your perseverance.
Self-Control Workouts
You say, “How can I use my self-control to build perseverance if the whole reason I need perseverance is my lack of self-control keeps giving out?” The answer is this—you strengthen weak self-control the same way you strengthen a weak muscle. Exercise it. And with each workout, you push a little farther and you get a little stronger.
However weak or fragile or transitory your self-control is, use whatever little bit of it you have as often as you can and it will grow.
The problem is, we don’t exercise our self-control on small things because they’re, well, small. They aren’t a big deal. Nothing much is at stake, there’s no real consequence if we bail on our self-control.
But those are the times we must exercise that self-control muscle so we can build it up. Right in that moment when there’s that impulse to eat something you really shouldn’t eat—hold out just a little longer than you normally would. And the next time, a little longer than that. Each time, hold out a little longer, building that muscle.
Maybe when people hurt you, you typically go a day and a half dwelling on what they did wrong and allowing your anger to smolder before you finally get a grip and have a godly response. If it usually takes a day and a half before you have the strength to let go of that anger and stop giving that person the cold shoulder, next time, shoot for sundown the same day to start showing warmth and love.
You know you should turn off the TV and get up and do something that needs doing or go to bed or whatever, click that TV off a little sooner than you normally would. And the next time a little sooner.
You’re working on something and it gets a little boring or difficult and your flesh says, “Just set this aside and do something else.” Push just a little longer. And again, this is hard when it’s not something that’s very important or you don’t have any hard deadline anytime soon. You think, “It’s not going to hurt anything if I just take a little break.” You’re right—it won’t hurt anything … except your perseverance. It will keep your perseverance muscle weak and fragile so it won’t be strong when you really need it.
Not only that, but quitting too soon will train your soul to always obey your flesh, and that’s a really hard thing to unlearn. It may be something really small. Cleaning out your car or paying bills or doing some exercise—if you procrastinate on getting started or you quit as soon as it gets boring or hard, that may seem small, but what you’re doing is setting your life on a trajectory of enslavement to your feelings. And if you draw out that trajectory on the graph of your future, you’ll find that path takes you to a very different life than that line that keeps at that hard task just a little longer each time or that gets started on an unpleasant task just a little quicker. A whole different future.
Just be a little quicker to start each time. Postpone your quitting threshold 2 or 3 minutes longer each time. Build that muscle. That’s how you build perseverance.
Suffering Workouts
Earlier I mentioned James 1—about how suffering can teach you perseverance if you respond the right way. If you have a hard time responding the right way to hardship, use tiny, little hardships to build that muscle. Never let small, manageable suffering go to waste. You stub your toe or hit three red lights in a row, or something that bugs you a little bit but you’re still in control—that’s the perfect time to do a little perseverance workout. Preach to yourself. “I just hit three red lights—what does it look like to regulate my emotions in a situation like this? What does it look like to respond according to principle rather than living by feelings?” Keep doing that with bigger and bigger trials.
Self-control is the ability to not be bullied by your feelings. You feel an impulse of desire or a wave of sadness or despair or anger or discouragement, and you say, “That’s just a feeling. It can’t hurt me. I’m not afraid of it. I won’t be bullied by it. I know the right thing to do and I’ll keep doing it.” Every time you do that—every time you choose not to live by feelings, you strengthen your perseverance. You make decisions based on how you feel less and less often, and you establish a habit of making your decisions based on principle. And doing that over and over strengthens those perseverance muscles.
Jesus’s Example
Maybe the most helpful passage of all on learning perseverance is the one that teaches from Jesus’ example.
Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who persevered (hypomeno—same word) under such opposition … so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Considering how Jesus persevered will enable you to persevere. So what was Jesus’ secret? How did he pull it off? Verse 2 tells us, but before we look at how he persevered, let’s do what it says and take a minute to consider him who persevered. Let’s just recall what Jesus endured. He lived his whole life and never gave in to a single temptation.
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.
And don’t think that was easier for him than it is for you. It was not easy. It was agonizing. We’re told about the Spirit thrusting Jesus out into the desolation for 40 days with no food or shelter being assaulted full blast by Satan. Do you think God told us about that so we would think it was easy for him?
Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him 8 … he learned obedience from what he suffered.
How often do you have loud cries and tears when you pray? That doesn’t sound to me like he was finding it easy. And yet even after 40 days without food, Jesus stood strong against the temptation to so much as have a bite of bread apart from the Father’s will. That’s perseverance.
All through his sham trials, he didn’t open his mouth , even though he could have easily turned all those prosecutors into knots and humiliated them. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. The whole time they were spitting in his face, punching him, slapping him, mocking him, humiliating him, all he did, according to Hebrews 5:8 was learn obedience through what he suffered.
The night before the cross, he’s sweating blood, begging God, “Don’t make me drink this cup.” And yet when the answer to that prayer was no, he stayed the course.
Have you ever been in such excruciating pain that you felt like you couldn’t endure it another second? And you feel like you would do anything in that moment if you could just make it stop. I have. A few times I’ve been so sick, I didn’t think I could handle the suffering even another moment, much less another hour. Every time I’ve felt like that, I know for a fact I couldn’t have been in as much pain as Jesus was in while they were scourging him. And if he had those moments where you say, “I feel like I can’t stand this another second—make it stop!” all it would have taken was a single thought and he could have summoned twelve legions of angels to come bring him relief. But instead, he persevered. Talk about self-control in your thought life!
And he persevered in that obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross. That’s Jesus’ example of perseverance that we fix our eyes on.
Now back to Hebrews 12:2—how did Jesus do it? Jesus was human, with the same human weaknesses we have. How did he manage such amazing perseverance?
Hebrews 12:1 … let us run with perseverance … 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus … who (here’s his secret) for the joy set before him endured the cross (persevered through the crucifixion), scorning its shame.
“Scorning” means he thought little of it. He gave those feelings of shame and humiliation only a tiny space in his thinking. How is that possible? It says he did it “by the joy set before him.”
What’s the key to self-control again? Understanding the prize. Jesus understood the prize—that joy set before him. He valued the joy he would get from that prize probably more than a guy like me can even imagine. Jesus wanted that joy so badly, he would crawl over broken glass to get it. In fact, he’d do a lot more than crawl over glass. He’d do anything to get it. Nothing could distract him from it. His desire for it gave him unbelievable self-control and perseverance.
One of the most remarkable examples of how this works in your emotions is Jacob working 14 years to get Rachel. 14 years—that’s perseverance, and yet it was easy for him. In Genesis 29:20, it says that decade and a half of working seemed like only a few days to Jacob because of how much he loved Rachel—his prize. His desire for that prize gave him unlimited perseverance and unlimited self-control and made it feel easy the whole time. He wanted that prize and he was going to do whatever it took.
So back to Jesus. What was his prize? What was the joy set before him? What did Jesus stand to gain that he didn’t already have before he ever became human in the first place?
He already had glory and honor in heaven throughout eternity past. He had perfect fellowship with the Father. He had eternal blessedness and happiness. What didn’t he have that would require coming to earth persevering through the crucifixion to get? What was his Rachel?
You. And me. His Bride.
Titus 2:13 Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 … gave himself … to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
That was the joy set before him. You are his Rachel. His affection for you is what gave him the self-control and perseverance to tell those legions of angels, “No, stand down. I will endure this.”
That’s not to say his prize was only the Church. There was also special honor from the Father that he would receive. But even that is tied in with a worshipping, adoring Church full of people who are eager to do what is good.
Jesus kept his focus on that prize. He believed from the bottom of his heart that if he didn’t go through with the cross, he would forfeit that joy. It wasn’t maybe; it wasn’t probably. In his mind, it was a clear, black and white choice. Get the joy or forfeit the joy—no in between. And that gave him persevering self-control that to you and me seems impossible.
Your Rachel: The Promises
That was Jesus’ Rachel—what’s your Rachel? What could be such a precious prize that it would give you that kind of self-control and perseverance? Everything God promised. It always goes right back to trusting God’s great and precious promises.
All of God’s conditional promises will help you with perseverance, and some of the promises are expressly given for the specific purpose of helping you persevere. For example:
Romans 2:7 To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
The promises at the end of each of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. “To him who overcomes, I will give …” Those are all promises designed to enable us to overcome and persevere through the tribulation. Those are all promises designed to help you not lose your faith.
And then there are promises designed to help you in times when you’re tempted to give up or lose heart. Here are some of my favorites.
Hebrews 10:35 Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
If your boss says you’ll be richly rewarded for something, that might mean a bonus, a promotion—something like that. What if Elon Musk says he will richly reward you? For him, millions of dollars are like pennies. What do you think it means to have Almighty God say, “You will be richly rewarded?”
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
When you’re tempted to quit because you’re not seeing any benefit from doing what God called you to do, remember this promise.
Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Whether it’s something small, like quitting too soon on a mundane task, all the way up to giving up on life itself—don’t grow weary in doing good, the harvest will come—set your sights on the prize, persevere, and don’t give up.
Summary
Self-control (and all other virtues) are worthless if they don’t last. So we must add perseverance to all of them, indicated by the central position in the list of 7. Get it by exercising your self-control muscle in small things, like weight training. And by following Jesus’ example of setting your sights on the joy set before you—like Jacob persevering 14 years for Rachel. What was Jesus’ Rachel? You!
