Qualities You Possess

“Qualities You Possess”

2 Peter 1:5-11

Pastor John Bright

2 Peter 1 “5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

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.” NKJV

Whenever the price of gas goes up, people start thinking about saving gas by coasting their cars downhill. I have a vague memory of a news story from the 1970s about a guy who was going downhill and decided to turn the car off to save gas. One little problem – that was when new cars locked the steering wheel when the car was turned off. So, when he realized he could not steer the car, he panicked and ran off the road. (You and I both know he could have just turned the key and restarted the car.) Today, most folks believe that you can shift into neutral and save gas. Here’s what I found: “We find modern cars can conserve fuel better when the engine is connected to the drivetrain, even during coasting. This is due to a process known as ‘fuel cut-off’, which modern fuel-injected engines employ to cease fuel flow when the throttle is not engaged, and the vehicle is in gear. Therefore, contrary to some beliefs, keeping the vehicle in gear while coasting may result in better fuel efficiency than shifting to neutral, particularly in newer car models.” https://ranwhenparked.net/coasting-in-neutral-is-fine-and-it-saves-gas/

Let me share a hard truth with you right up front this morning: I do NOT believe you can make it to heaven if you spend your time coasting through life and surfing a church pew every Sunday. Have I just shocked some of you? Let me explain – there is no coasting or standing still in the life of a Jesus Follower. You are either moving forward or falling backward. If you spend your life in a slow, steady fall backwards, I can’t look at you this morning and give you assurance and hope.

WHAT?

What is 2 Peter? It’s a letter. In the New Testament, we call these letters “epistles.” This is one of the “general epistles.” “Unlike the writings of the apostle Paul, whose letters were addressed to specific individuals or audiences (Timothy, Titus, Philemon, or the saints in Rome, Corinth, et al.), by and large, the general epistles, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2, and 3 John, and Jude, make no mention of specific audiences.” https://www.gotquestions.org/general-epistles.html

Qualities of the Advancing Jesus Follower v. 5-7

“5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.”

Last week, we ended on a discussion of the phrase in v. 4, “partakers of the divine nature.” I tried to clarify the lies from the truth. The lie is that each of us is a god or goddess. The truth is that you are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), and when you accepted the free gift of salvation, the precious Holy Spirit of God came to live in you. The Holy Spirit is the source of spiritual gifts and fruits in our lives. He is our direct connection to the source of all these virtues that flow from God, such as the divine love I mentioned earlier.

I need to talk about this list and the need for context when we read the Bible. One simple example is assuming that every word the Biblical author used means the same thing today as 2000 years ago. No, we need to consider what that word meant in the 1st century AD. Another thing we need to consider when discussing context is what form of writing is being used. Back then, writers linked together a series of virtues (or vices) in lists called “sorites.” Another example in the Bible is Romans 5:3-4. Here’s a quote from the NIV Application Commentary (1996), by Douglas J. Moo: “What is important for us to understand about the sorites is that ancient writer did not always intend the order in which he put the vices or virtues to be the actual order in which they must occur. …in 2 Peter 1:5-7, a logical sequence is not at all clear: Why, for instance, should “godliness” lead to “brotherly kindness,” rather than the other way around?” (Moo, p.50-51)