2 Peter 1:3-11

One of Jesus’ bond-slaves, in this case Peter, is offering others who are sharing in a faith equal to his, a  condensed summary of how to live as Christian. Parts of this passage are very popular, perhaps most familiar is, “He has given us…his precious and wonderful promises.” Oh how we love his promises! Let’s look at just three of them.  In verse 3; “God has bestowed on us, through his divine power, everything that we need for life and godliness.” Verse 4; “..that you may become partakers of his divine nature.”  And vs 11; “ You will have, richly laid out before you, an entrance into the kingdom of God’s coming age, the kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus the Messiah.”

In the contemporary practice of the Christian religion the gospel has been corrupted with some ideas that need to be addressed if we are to ever radiate much light. One of them is the idea that Peter was a bond-slave, but we are just believers. Peter was called to build the church; we, on the other hand are called to just attend one. Without buildings and programs to attend, this idea would have been nonsensical to Peter’s audience. It should be ludicrous to us as well. I believe Peter’s audience not only shared a faith on par to his but also a clear understanding that, “We are no longer our own masters. We have been bought with an exceedingly high price. We too are bond-slaves of Jesus Christ.”

That is why we pick and choose the verses which appeal to us the most. We who remain our own masters ate those who omit the meet of today’s passage…

So, because of this, you should strain every nerve to supplement your faith with virtue, and your virtue with knowledge, and your knowledge with self control, and your self control with patience, and your patience with piety, and your piety with family affection, and your family affection with love. If you have these things in plentiful supply, you see, you will not be wasting your time, or failing to bear fruit, in relation to your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah. Someone who doesn’t have these things, in fact is so short-sighted as to be actually blind, and has forgotten what it means to be cleansed from earlier sins. So, my dear family, you must make the effort all the more to confirm that God has called you and chosen you. If you do this, you will never trip up. 2 Peter 1:5-10

As a very young believer, I did trip up one weekend. The sense of betrayal I felt was intense because I had experienced the power of God in my conversion and had enjoyed his presence for many weeks. As I sought his forgiveness, he spoke to me in the clearest, most profoundly intimate way imaginable saying, “In your life you are going to fall many times but if you will reach up to me, I will never fail to rescue you.” As I wept and laughed and rejoiced (as I was driving) something was deeply reinforced between God and myself. It was, “I am his and he is mine.”

The next time I fell and was bogged down in the mire of darkened thoughts such as excuses and rationalizations, I didn’t just wait for God to reach down and lift me up. I had to reach up, as he had instructed me, and this was more than just asking. His rescues always involve the thinking and the choosing associated with faith, knowledge, self control, patience and love.  As his son, this is how I confirmed that he had indeed chosen and called me. In this reaching up my hand, I experienced the promises we looked at. I discovered he really had bestowed sufficient divine power to get up and resume the journey and that he really had richly laid out a kingdom before me to inherit.

I do not know how God will do this but somehow the roles of Jesus as Savior and Jesus as Lord must be reconnected for western christianity to ever radiate much light. I do not believe that Christ ever intended there to be a track for “called” and super zealous disciples and a seperate one for those who just believe and attend a local church. Peter clearly explains that the divine life of God with us is evidenced by a merger of our faith and our will power that produces a vigorous and intentional lifestyle. He concludes by saying, the presence of this lifestyle is how his called ones assure their hearts of their calling as well as have a rich entrance into the kingdom of God.

Father, let those prophets emerge in the body of Christ with their grace filled words of correction. Let the stock value crash of those who only preach of the appealing promises. Let our hearts be incised with the scalpel of your word cutting away any delusions we may be entertaining about our faith. May your Word and Spirit prevail in our hearts. Amen

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