Today’s study is twofold. First we will be looking at 2 Peter chapter 1 which gives us instructions on how to become productive and effective concerning our relationship with Christ. These things will help us to examine ourselves and to move closer to the lovers relationship we long for. Second, we will approach today’s lesson as if it were a personal study. There are millions of ways available to study God’s Word and “get something” from it. I hope that through this group we explore many of them so that you can find the one that works for you. The same method doesn’t work for every person or every situation, so don’t feel locked into just one or two and don’t feel like if one doesn’t work none of them will.
Turn to 2 Peter chapter 1 beginning in verse 3
“His divine power has granted to us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness” What does this mean to you? Jot it on you paper. God doesn’t give us just a little, or only enough. Through His power he has given us EVERYTHING that has to do with this life, that has to do with being like Him. He grants it to us; He give us permission; He gives what is requested. It is ours if we request and accept it!
“Through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness” Thoughts? Jot them down. WE can’t accept what we don’t know. Do you take presents from strangers? Not usually and if you do you tend to be leery of them. You can’t really understand or truly reap the benefits of all that He has given you if you don’t first take the time to know Him and trust Him and know what He is really offering to you. Not because of who you are, or what you can give Him in return but because of His love for you, His glory and His goodness He calls you to these things.
“Through these (knowledge of Him, His glory and goodness) he has given us his very great and precious promises,” Thoughts? This is the why and how. Notice He gives us promises. They aren’t maybes or possiblies or if I feel like it, or any other wishy washy things. He has made us a promise and when God makes a promise you know He will keep it because He can not lie to us.
“So that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” Thoughts? We get to be a part of his divine nature, to participate! Not just stand on the sidelines and watch. I used to hear about going to heaven and spending an eternity worshipping God. Didn’t really sound appealing to me then because I didn’t get it. He offers us so much more. He offers for us to join Him, to be a part of who He is and what He is doing. I think that is why everyone is worshipping Him in heaven, they are so happy to be a part of the wonderful thing He is doing, they get to be a part of Him! To be honest I don’t really feel worthy to be a part of who He is. He knows that though and tells us that we can escape that corruption. The more we participate in His divine nature, the less the corruption of evil desires has a hold on us. The less trapped we are.
“For this reason,” because we accept the promise of God, because He provides for us, because we can participate in His nature we should…..
“make effort to add to your faith goodness” KJV says virtue thoughts? We first have to have faith. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is more than just agreeing that God is real. Even the demons believe that and I wouldn’t say they have faith. Faith is knowing God, agreeing that what He tells us about who He is and what His plans are is true, and finally it is trusting Him. Faith is listed first because if you don’t have complete trust in Him and don’t rely on Him and His promises to us then the rest doesn’t really matter. To this we add goodness or virtue. Goodness is defined as the state of being good (valid, genuine REAL) according to Webster. Goodness is being REAL, not hiding our hurts, our mess ups, our faults or shortcomings. When we are real about our walk with God we demonstrate virtue because we are attempting to live a life of moral excellence. We try very hard to do what is right and are still humble enough to admit when we make a mistake and ask for forgiveness, both from God and from those we have wronged.
“then to goodness, knowledge” What is knowledge to you? 2 col 2:3 tells us that knowledge is in Christ, that it is hidden there. First we have to trust God, then we have to strive to have moral excellence and to be real, then we continually seek and add knowledge. You can’t stop learning about Him. Remember the big difference between the master/servant stage and the friendship stage is knowledge, knowing His business.
“then add to knowledge self-control” What do you think this means? Control of our emotions, desires and actions. We live in a corrupt world caused by evil desires. We have to get ourselves straightened out first, control our own desires before we even think of looking to others. Matt 7:3-5 tells us to examine ourselves first and fix it before we begin to even look on others. This is a full time life-long process. As you begin to gain self-control in one area God will, through your search for knowledge, bring to light another area you need to control, then another and another and another. Not an easy task to undertake.
“and to self-control perseverance” or patience I found it interesting that perseverance fell after self-control. God knows that self-control is a difficult one so He has Peter tells us to continue in spite of the difficulty, to be steadfast in our purpose. In our struggle for self-control we will be faced with things about ourselves that we don’t want to see. We will have to act in ways that may at first be counter to how we want to, we may have to shut up when we want to scream and speak out when we want to shut up. Satan doesn’t want us to maintain self control any more than it wants us to seek knowledge, to be virtuous, or to have faith. He wants us to act just like the world, because when we don’t, when we hold on to these things, it becomes a light shining in the darkness. When the people in the world see this light though, it can be scary for them because they don’t understand it. Scary causes people to strike out. We have to persevere and keep on trekking and patience to stick it out.
“and to perseverance, godliness” Wow! The quality or state of being god, devoted to God. We begin to truly be a part of Him. We give ourselves up to Him (devotion). Think less of me and more of Him.
After these things THEN we begin to focus on others through brotherly kindness and then through love.
“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.” Increasing measure – it’s a process. He knows we won’t get it all right all at once. He doesn’t expect that, but if you aren’t trying you aren’t reaching out to Him and you will be ineffective and unproductive. John 15:2 tells us that if you aren’t bearing fruit you may be pruned. If you aren’t striving to be effective and productive for Christ then are you really devoting yourself to Him?
“But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” Peter ought to know about this and personally I think this statement has more impact because of who is giving it. Jesus personally prayed for Peter’s faith to not fail, (Luke 22:32) but knowing it would He also told Peter that when he turned back to strengthen his brothers. The man who was one of Jesus inner circle (he was one of the chosen 3 to stay up and pray with Jesus at Gethsemane indicating that He was very close to Jesus) and yet denied even knowing Jesus when things went bad. Peter knows what it is to forget what has been done for him, to be near-sighted and blind. He has been there and I dare say he doesn’t want us to experience that.
“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,” IF that is the key here. If you do these things then you will NEVER fail. If you are maintaining faith, striving to be real and virtuous, to maintain self-control, persevering, moving toward godliness then your life will begin to fall more and more into God’s will. Your thoughts and desires will become His and we know that He can’t fail. It is when WE move away from these things and back towards letting our desires take control and moving back towards the corruption of the world that we begin to see failure in our lives, we begin to stumble. We can’t just do what we want to and expect God to bless our mess.
“and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” NKJV says our entrance into the kingdom will be supplied abundantly. Not that we should be doing these things for an abundant or elaborate welcome because if we are doing it for others to see how good we are and how much we will be rewarded God tells us we will have received our reward here rather than in heaven (Matt 6:1) However, if we are truly striving to live a life that pleases God JUST to please God he promises to show us his pleasure when we arrive.
Homework - continue to set aside time with God daily, schedule Him and make Him a priority. Ask Him to reveal an area in your life in which you either lack self-control, or in which you need clarification as to what He considers to be good or virtuous. Then spend time learning what He has to say about the area. Write it down! We will ask for people to share at the next meeting, but you will not be forced to.
*This method of study is called “phrase by phrase”. Every word and phrase within the Bible is intentional in is placement and wording. Taking a passage phrase by phrase focuses us on its meaning, allows us to make it personal and forces us to slow down and examine it. Writing it down helps us to focus and it allows us to keep a recording of it. God doesn’t always use the same words to mean the same thing to us all the time. As a matter of fact when I sat down and journaled these passages the first time there were some thoughts that I had that were “ah-ha” moments for me then but when I sat down later to type them for this meeting there were several points that were brought to me in a new way. Not that the words changed or the meaning changed but the understanding changed based upon circumstances. You will find that happens often.
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