28th message in a series on 1-2 Peter
Pastor Ron W. Hammer
5-7-2000
Have You Forgotten Something?
2 Peter 1:1-11
Introduction
Forgetfulness. It is something that we all struggle with, from time to time. Some like to refer to them as "senior moments" - but certainly forgetfulness is not something reserved only for those who are eligible for membership in AARP.
As one writer said, "I write down everything I want to remember. That way, instead of spending a lot of time trying to remember what it is I wrote down, I spend the time looking for the paper I wrote it down on."
Here are some other things that have been said about memory:
Memory is what enables you to dial part of a telephone number correctly.
A filing cabinet is a place where things get lost alphabetically.
Then of course, there was the man who discovered a cure for amnesia, but he forgot what it was.
I’d love to tell you one of my favorite stories about my own forgetfulness, but I’ve forgotten that one, too.
But you may have heard about the two elderly women who were discussing the problems of growing older.
One commented, "The worst thing is when your memory starts to go. I've known you all my life, and I can't think of your name. What is it?"
The second lady thought for a moment and said, "Do you need an answer right now?"
When it comes to the Christian life, forgetfulness is a major issue of life! In fact, one of the prime motivations of many of the writers of the Bible was to give people reminders about important spiritual concepts. This morning, as we return to our study of the two letters that Peter wrote to believers scattered abroad in Asia minor, we see that this was especially true for Peter when he wrote his second letter. The underlying theme of this epistle remains the same - knowing how to live a life that goes against the flow of a godless, anti-Christian culture. But, the tone changes from the first letter. There is a greater sense of urgency in this second epistle.
At its heart, this second letter is a brief note of reminder and warnings. Reminders to live godly and remember the promises of God. Warnings about the dangers of moral and doctrinal compromise. Warnings about what the end times will bring.
None of this is new, the whole letter seeks to "stir them up by way of reminder" as 3:1 says. Why, because we have such a strong tendency to forget. This was one of the great fears that Moses had when he was preparing them to enter the land! The book of Deuteronomy is, like 2 Peter, a book of reminders. Over and over Moses challenges the people not to forget:
Deuteronomy 4:23 - "Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you…"
(Deuteronomy 6:12) "beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt…
(Deuteronomy 8:11) "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,
(Deuteronomy 8:14 NKJV) "when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
(Deuteronomy 8:19 NKJV) "Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.
(Deuteronomy 9:7 NKJV) "Remember Do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
Moses understood the tendency of God’s people to forget. So did Peter. But, do we? Have You Forgotten Something? That’s the question before us today - let’s turn to 2 Peter 1 for the answer.
As Peter takes up again the task of writing these beleaguered Christians, he wants to be sure they remember some of the key beliefs of the Christian life and that those beliefs have an impact on the way in which they live. Peter begins by reminding them of something that already have. In essence he is asking them…
1. Have you forgotten WHAT YOU’VE RECEIVED?
(2 Peter 1:1-4)
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There are several little tidbits that we need to touch on in verse one, but they are not the focus of our study. As Peter addresses the church at large, he also stresses the essential unity that we have in Christ. His audience would be made up of a mixture of Jew and Gentile. But, he makes it clear that they are all one in Christ and they are one in Christ with Peter and the other Apostles. He says they have received a "like precious faith". They don’t’ have a second class or deficient faith, they have the same kind of precious faith that Peter and the other apostles have. But, notice the source of that. It isn’t because of something in them - it is because of "the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ."
But, verse 3 is really the heart of this section. Peter dives right in by reminding us about our resources in Christ. He says, "His divine power has given us…" What? What has He given us? Has He given us some of what we need? Does God give us some of it and then we have to make up the difference? No! Does He give us most of what we need? No! God gives us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness.
This is such an important reminder. As a believer in Jesus Christ you are not lacking anything that you need. In fact there is a broader principle that grows out of this. God never expects us to do something that He does not give us the resources to accomplish! So, if we are not growing, if we are not living a godly life, the problem is not with our resources, it is with our acceptance or use of those resources.
But this is where the problem of forgetfulness enters in! The problem is that we forget who we are! We forget what God has done for us. We forget our resources. Just think for a minute about what the Bible says about the resources that are available to us as Christians!
(Philippians 4:19 NKJV) And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 3:20 NKJV) Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Shortly after Dallas Theological Seminary was founded in 1924, it almost came to the point of bankruptcy. All the creditors were going to foreclose at noon on a particular day. That morning they met in the president's office with Dr. Chafer for prayer that God would provide. In that prayer meeting was a man by the name of Harry Ironside. When it was his turn to pray, he prayed in his characteristic manner: "Lord, we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are Thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money."
While they were praying, a tall Texan with boots on and an open collar stepped up to the business office and said, "I just sold two carloads of cattle in Ft. Worth. I've been trying to make a business deal but it fell through, and I feel compelled to give the money to the seminary. I don't know if you need it or not, but here's the check!"
A little secretary took the check and, knowing how critical things were financially, went to the door of the prayer meeting and timidly tapped. When she finally got a response, Dr. Chafer took the check out of her hand. It was exactly the amount of the debt! When he looked at the name, he recognized the cattleman in Ft. Worth, and turning to Dr. Ironside said, "Harry, God sold the cattle!"
God provides for His people. As a church we have been looking to the future and wondering what might lay ahead for us. Some of us have been praying about adding another pastor to our staff to give direction to our youth ministry and help out in some other areas. But, it seems hard to see where the finances for such a venture might come.
I had been praying about that and asking God for His direction in our finances and He began to burden my heart about the mortgages on our two properties (this one here and the one of the other side of the creek where our office building is). It just seemed that these mortgages were a continuing obstacle from the past that were hindering our ability to move towards the future.
Recently I had the opportunity to stop in and visit Emily Price, one of our charter members, who lives in an assisted living community in Phoenix. As we talked, Emily began asking me without any prompting from me, about our mortgages. I shared about where they each were and then she laid out the proposal that most of you heard about in a letter this week. We have a goal of paying off the mortgage on the office building, which is just over $5,000. And Emily has offered to match every dollar that comes in for that purpose. Our goal is to pay that mortgage off by the next payment date of June 7th. Then we will take the payment from that mortgage and add it each month to the payment on this property. This will allow us to pay off this facility no later than October of 2002 - at least 14 months early.
But I don’t think it’s going to take until 2002 to pay this facility off. I think God has other plans, and I would ask you to pray about this. I’ll be honest, we don’t talk a lot about money here at Cornerstone. We know that many people have the idea that all churches ever do is talk about money. Well, let me just say, if you’re visiting here this morning, this isn’t the norm. But friends, let me also say this, if our faith doesn’t have an impact on our finances, then it won’t have much of an impact on our lives. I believe with all of my heart that there are two fairly accurate gauges of our commitment to Christ and His church. It is how we use our time and our money. People invest time and money in the things that are really precious to them.
Enough said. There are special envelopes that have a vine and some grapes on them and say "Special Offering" - those are the ones you can use to give to the mortgage reduction. Or just write on your check "Mortgage Reduction."
Would you please pray about this project. I am confident that God is going to provide the resources for this and for all that He has planned for our church in the months and years ahead.
But, what about us as individuals? Have we forgotten what we have already received from God? In your bulletins is a special insert. It is bright green and it says on it "Who Am I?" I would encourage you to take the time and read through this. Take it home with you and read it on a regular basis. Make a commitment to read it out loud every day this coming week. Get these ideas into your head. Be reminded of who you are in Christ. Have you forgotten something?
The second memory test that Peter gives us is in verses 5-8 and in those verses Peter asks,
2. Have you forgotten HOW TO LIVE?
(2 Peter 1:5-8)
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God has given us everything that we need, but there is something that we must supply - "All Diligence!" What a supreme waste it is, if we should ignore the provision of God and live lives that fail to draw upon these incredible provisions. We are called by God to use what He has given to build godly character into our lives in the midst of an ungodly world!
That is precisely why Peter begins by saying "for this VERY reason." It is as if he is saying, because God has done something, we must do something. But notice, even in the doing, we are not doing it alone. We have already seen that it is by His divine power that we have been given what we need and of course at the heart of that provision is the Spirit of God!
In Philippians 1:19, Paul is convinced that his situation will work out for the best because of two things, Paul says:
For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
So, we are not denying here that the development of godly character is a work of the Spirit of God - but it is not a forced work. We must cooperate with the process. We must be willing to "apply all diligence" in the process of spiritual growth. Spiritual growth is a CHOICE. It doesn’t come automatically or inevitably. If you think that simply coming to church each week will make you a godly person, then you are sadly mistaken.
We must make a choice as to how we will live. We must make a decision to apply all diligence, to make every effort, to do all that we can in cooperation with the Spirit of God to live the life to which we were called. But, we forget, or we live like we have forgotten the life that God desires, so Peter reminds us what that life looks like!
It begins by adding something to the faith that we have as we begin the Christian life. Now this isn’t adding something so that we might be saved - we will see that clearly next week - it is adding something so that we might grow.
Every Christian starts with "faith" because it is the entry point of the Christian life. We are saved by grace through faith. But, as Zane Hodges states in an article on this passage, "one of our first responsibilities is to begin to build on that faith a life that is "virtuous"-that is, a life that can be characterized as highly moral and ethical." The reality is that if we fail to begin adding a virtuous life to our faith, we will see our Christian experience begin to lose its edge, lose its strength and vitality. In fact James calls this kind of faith dead. Not because it will not save you from Hell, but because it will have no value or worth in this life. If your salvation cannot add even the most basic morality, what good is it in this life.
But we can’t stop at mere morality. We must add to this morality, knowledge. At first glance this may seem the most odd of the items in this list of Christian virtues. All of the rest of them are more active virtues, thing that we do. Knowledge doesn’t seem to fit, yet it is so vital. Knowledge is the guard against legalism. If our morality becomes nothing more than adherence to a set of rules for conduct, the danger is in sliding into legalism. Knowledge allows us to see the reason for our actions. As Hodges says, "God wants us to grow in spiritual understanding so that we not only do what is right but also understand why it is right! In other words, in Christian living God wants us not only to do but to discern. For that we need the ever-deepening "knowledge" of God's Word."
But, Peter doesn’t stop there. Next we see the need to add self-control and perseverance. These two go hand in hand. Self-control is the disciplined ability to say "NO! to sin when face with temptation. Perseverance is the ability to say "YES!" to God when we face hardship. Self-control doesn’t give in and perseverance doesn’t give up!
But that is still not enough, we still haven’t become all that God desires us to be. We must add godliness. One of the tendencies is to see this word "godliness" as merely a summation of other Christian characters. We may think of it as living a chaste and virtuous life, calling such a person "godly." But that may be the wrong focus. This word is not so much about the person’s activity as their mindset. On three different occasions in the book of Hebrews the writer uses this same word in the Greek - eusebeia. First he uses it of Jesus praying in the garden, then of Noah’s motivation for building the ark and finally in challenging his readers as to how we should live. Instead of translating the word "godliness" it is translated "godly fear" or "awe".
Godliness is about our attitude towards God. Peter is saying, temper all these character qualities with an attitude of "godly fear" of reverence for God! It is a reminder not to get haughty as we see these traits grow in our lives, but to walk humbly with our God.
Finally, he adds what have been called the two "crowning pinnacles of fully developed Christian character," brotherly love (philadelphia) and love itself (agape). Again, I appreciate the words of Zane Hodges on this: "Experience among the Lord's people shows only too plainly how often "brotherly love" fails or is absent altogether in Christian-to-Christian relationships. This should not surprise us since "brotherly love" is here presented as one of the two final additions to developed Christian character. And although babes in Christ may experience it intermittently and in measure, consistent, ongoing "brotherly love" is the product of the qualities that precede it in Peter's list. For in constructing a Christian character marked by virtue, knowledge, balanced self-discipline, perseverance, and a God-fearing behavior, the Christian lays down exactly the right kind of supporting platform for a life marked also by "love toward the brethren" and "love toward all men."
Few things require more character than to consistently love one another. People can, at times, be so difficult to love. They can be the source of disappointment and trial. People can hurt us, they can cause us deep pain and sorrow. To show love for fellow Christians is not an easy thing, nor is it simple to have a love for those in the world. It will only come as we begin to exhibit godly character, to exhibit the very character of Jesus, Himself.
As Hodges concludes, "…the character Peter describes in this list turns out to be, in the last analysis, the character manifested here on earth by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
Have you forgotten something? Have you forgotten what you have already received? Do you find yourself clamoring before God for Him to give you something more so that you can live for Him. Have you forgotten that He has already given you all that you need?
Have you forgotten how to live? Have you forgotten what it means to live a life of virtue. That very word has fallen on hard times in our day. It seems so stale and archaic. But it is a wonderful word. Virtue. To be a man or woman of virtue or morality is a great thing. And it is seen far too seldom in our world today. Will you stand up for virtue? Will you remember how God desires you to live and give all diligence to living a life of virtue and knowledge? Will you say "no" to sin and "yes" to God? Will you live in reverent fear of God and act in love towards both those within the church and those outside?
We must never forget!
This week we celebrated the national day of prayer and it reminds me of another day of prayer established in 1863. In the declaration of this day of prayer at the conclusion of the Civil War, President Lincoln said:
"It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, who owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by a history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. The awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has grown, but we have forgotten God."
HAVE WE FORGOTTEN?
Let’s pray!
Next week:
3. Have you forgotten YOUR SALVATION?
(2 Peter 1:9)