Add to your faith…KNOWLEDGE & SELF-CONTROL
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 7 of 7: “Strangers…Is it worth it?”
Full Sunday message, CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: 7 Things to Add to Your Faith to Be an Effective Christian!
2 Peter 1:5 “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control;…”
“Wait until you get out in the ‘real’ world!” I remember this phrase in high school and college when the idealism of a student is challenged by an adult that has lived years in the ‘real world.’ While the theories and philosophies one learns in school fill our heart and create passion for the years ahead…then one hits the ‘real world.’ The theories don’t always work in every situation. The philosophies that sound so certain, don’t seem to always apply.
What is the difference between theory and ‘real world’?
Experience.
Yesterday we added to our faith, goodness, the reality that our faith permeates all of who I am and what I do. Today we add knowledge. The knowledge Peter talks about is knowing something by experiencing something. Take Peter’s own example. When Jesus was walking on the water and startled the disciples, Peter asks, “Lord, if it is you, call me to come out on the water.” Peter knew Jesus could work miracles. When his feet hit the water and he didn’t sink…he knew by experience the power of Jesus…until he doubted and then experienced the consequence of doubt.
Being filled with the goodness and character of God is great…experiencing it day to day is knowing how real and practical the goodness of God is for the ‘real world.’
Peter continues. Add to knowledge, self-control.
Self-control is power over one’s self. For the Christian it is drawing on the Spirit’s power to not give into the sinful nature and allow it to control my thoughts, words and actions. The spiritual battle is very real and powerful within us. You see how Peter is moving us…the more we trust in Jesus as Savior leads to us desiring to be characterized by the goodness of God and to know how real that is in every experience of life. To maximize these reality we must daily fight the sinful nature and not give into it…practice self-control.
Sunday we read from 1 Peter 2:11: Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
The Apostle Paul engaged in the daily struggle.
Romans 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. …24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
A Christian can truly practice control over their sinful desires because they have the power of the Spirit and the victory of Jesus over sin on their side.
Self-control comes from Spirit control.
Self-control keeps us focused and effective for the Lord.
Apply: Evaluate your experiences today. What do you learn about your Savior and your faith through that experience? What is the sin that challenges you? Ask for the Spirit’s help to practice self-control and overcome it.
Prayer: Lord, lead me to both experience the reality of my faith each and every day as well as learn more about my faith from every experience. Spirit, help me abstain from sinful desires today which wage war against my soul. Amen.
Add to Your Faith…GOODNESS!
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 7 of 7: “Strangers…Is it worth it?”
Full Sunday message, CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: 7 Things to Add to Your Faith to Be an Effective Christian!
You wouldn’t ask a kindergartner to pilot a commercial aircraft. Every passenger would get off the plane if they saw a five year-old sitting in the captain’s seat. That five year old would be ineffective as a pilot. Why? That five year-old could grow up to be a very proficient pilot and also skilled enough to train other pilots…but there were a lot of steps of learning and growth along the way to be a skilled and effective pilot.
In a similar way, the life of a Christian is one of growth and development. To say that once God has worked faith in Jesus as my Savior, I have reached full maturity and am ready to be the most effective ambassador for Jesus would be as foolish as to say a five year-old could fly a commercial airliner.
Don’t get me wrong. Simple faith in Jesus as my Savior is the essence of saving faith. However, to be increasingly effective as a Christian, takes the ongoing work of the Spirit to mold and mature us. This week we will look at seven things God wants to add to this saving faith to keep us effective and productive as one of his children.
These seven are found in 2 Peter 1:5-8. Today, the first found in verse 5. “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness;…”
Put another way, “Add to your trust in Jesus as Savior, a reality that he permeates your whole being.” The word translated “goodness” has its origin in the word “virtue” or the “character” of a person. Faith is deepened when it takes over the very being of who I am. It is what defines me when love for God takes over my heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength. It is not just an external good deed or kind act, it is the reality of the heart and goodness of God affecting your whole being.
How does this happen? The Apostle Paul helps us out in Ephesians 3:14-19:
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Goodness is added to your faith as you spend time allowing the goodness of God to fill your heart. It is the work of God’s Spirit that is transforming you into the image of God that was lost at the fall into sin.
Ephesians 4: 20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. … You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Apply: Think of a challenging situation you may face this week. Ask the Spirit to add to your faith, goodness. How will you face the situation differently with goodness added to your faith? Do you think you will be more or less effective for the Lord?
Prayer: Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in endless praise. AMEN
You are the PEOPLE OF GOD!
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 6 of 7: “Strangers…Am I the only one?”
Full Sunday message, CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
5 IDENTITIES God wants you to embrace!
1 Peter 2:10 “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
In the midst of a presidential campaign, key messages of the candidates put forward a message of what defines America and what unifies America. As a voter, you evaluate those messages and try to determine, “What type of nation, what type of people do we want to be?” Are we a people defined by “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” or something else?
We search as a nation to define who we are as a people. What are our values? What is our shared vision? Perhaps the struggles we are seeing in our culture are the challenge we are facing to define ourselves as “a people.”
While we strive to understand our values as citizens of this country and find unity as a people, we probably will never experience that perfectly in a secular society.
Many nations have come and gone. Many people groups have been defined by different values or customs. But none of them is stable and lasting.
But there is one that is stable and lasting…and you are part of it. Peter gives us the fifth identity to embrace. “you are the people of God.” This designation has always been a special reality that God has given. For Old Testament believers God chose the descendants of Israel to be a special group to be part of his salvation plan.
King David said it this way: (1 Chronicles 17:20-22) “There is no one like you, O Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, O Lord, have become their God.
Israel was singled out of all the nations for a special purpose. God’s people today are not defined by a genetic make up or a physical border. The key definition of what makes us the people of God is the fact we are the recipients of God’s mercy. We are not defined by how long we’ve been a church member, how many hours of service I’ve performed, or what causes I have been part of. We are defined by our need for a Savior. Our sin made us “not a people.” Before Jesus in our life we “had not received mercy.” But now in Christ we “have received mercy” and therefore also given the identity as “the people of God.” Simply put, we are defined by the forgiveness God has graciously given to us.
Enjoy living in the reality that you are the people of God who has received the mercy of God!
Apply: What difference does it make in your life to know you are a person of God who has received the mercy of God?
Prayer: Lord thank you for defining me in your love as an individual who is a chosen, holy, royal, belongs and is one of your people. Help me each day to embrace this identity and live it and share it with others.
You BELONG!
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 6 of 7: “Strangers…Am I the only one?”
Full Sunday message, CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
5 IDENTITIES God wants you to embrace!
1 Peter 2:9 “…you are a…people belonging to God…”
About 40 years ago, I had to have it. I saved up money from my newspaper route for a few months. I watched the ads to see what the best price was. In some ways I don’t remember why I wanted it so much, but when I had that Sony dual cassette, mega bass, boom box in my possession, it was a great day. The boom box I had always wanted belonged to me. (I still have it by the way – if anyone ever needs to play a cassette!)
In our culture we don’t like to think of ourselves as people “belonging” to someone else. We value our independence and don’t want someone “owning” us and able to force our decisions, our actions, our schedules etc. To understand this identity God gives us, think of your most treasured possession and how proud you are that it belongs to you. Think how lovingly you treasure the children in your family and that they belong to/are connected to you. Now magnify this truth about you…YOU BELONG to GOD!
The phrase in the original literally reads, “a people for a possession”…here’s what God did for you so that you would belong to him:
- He desires you.
God’s heart is for YOU to be part of his family. “God so LOVED the world…” (John 3:16)
- He paid the price for you.
The price was not just a few dollars, it was the price of his Son’s body and blood. Peter wrote of it earlier, ‘For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
- He does not want to lose you.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 2:9)
- He is proud to associate with you.
And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised. (Deuteronomy 26:18-19)
Just like when you invest in purchasing something to be your own, you desire it to accomplish the purpose for which you purchased it. God purchased us for a purpose…a loving and privileged purpose. What is it? “that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). God has us part of his family to simply share the amazing work that he has done in our life to bring us into his wonderful light…who knows, your praises may be the tool God uses to bring another soul into his wonderful light!
Apply: What happens as you embrace the identity that you “belong to God”? What opportunities do you have today to “declare the praises” of God in your words and in your work?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for finding me important enough to spend the blood of your son to purchase me from a life of sin to belong to you and enjoy a life of declaring your praises to you and to others! AMEN.
You are HOLY!
Daily Devotions based on the Sermon Series: “STRANGERS in the World”
Week 6 of 7: “Strangers…Am I the only one?”
Full Sunday message, CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
5 IDENTITIES God wants you to embrace!
1 Peter 2:9 “… you are a HOLY people…”
“Nobody’s perfect.”
This phrase comforts us when we have a failure in life or say or do something we later regret. Comparing ourselves to others eases our conscience as we give ourselves a pass and breathe a sigh of relief that there are worse people who have done way more wrong than I have.
It is true, nobody’s perfect. Unfortunately, it’s also easy to say this to God to dismiss or tell ourselves that his command to “Be perfect, as I your heavenly Father is perfect” is an unreasonable demand that no one can live up to.
Yet, the words don’t go away. They ring in our ears. “Be perfect. Be perfect. Be perfect…”
“But, God” I plead, “Nobody’s perfect!?!? How can you expect me to be perfect?”
To which God responds, “I am God. Be perfect!”
We quickly realize the status God demands is one we can never achieve. In fact, it would be more natural for us to embrace the identity we often confess, “I a poor miserable sinner…”
Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Like the owner of a theater has every right to prevent you from seeing a movie if you don’t have the proper admission cost, so God has every right to refuse us admission to heaven because we fall short of the holiness he demands. Yet, realizing nobody’s perfect and without lowering the standard of holiness, God, our holy and loving Father did something we could never do.
Romans 5:8 God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He died because he took our imperfection and made it his own…even though he WAS perfect!
2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The result?
Hebrews 10:14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
YOU have been GIVEN a new identity: HOLY! Because of Christ, you are no longer a poor miserable sinner (although we certainly still struggle with our sinful nature) but a HOLY person of God!
Why does this identity matter? You have been given the status necessary to be in the presence of a holy God! You ARE holy. You ARE perfect!
Apply: What happens when you shift your primary identity from sinner to saint (holy one)?
Prayer: Thank you Father for not lowering your standard of perfection, but rather raising me to meet that standard through your son Jesus. Lead me to enjoy each day knowing I AM a HOLY person! Amen.