One of Jesus’ bond-slaves, in this case Peter, offers others sharing in a faith equal to his, a condensed summary of how to live as a Christian. Parts of this passage are 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.

Verse 3 reads, “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 verse 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 challenged if we are to ever radiate great light. One of them is the idea that Peter was a bond-slave, and that we are just believers; Peter was called to build the church; we, on the other hand, are called to 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 had the clear understanding they were no longer their own masters; they had been bought with an exceedingly high price and that they too, were bond-slaves of Jesus Christ.

That is why we pick and choose the verses that appeal to us and ignore the one’s that don’t. We who remain our own masters are those who omit the meat 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 shortsighted 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 (N.T. Wright Translation)

As a very young believer, I did trip up one weekend. The sense that I had betrayed Jesus 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 (if you could call it speech) in the clearest, most profoundly intimate way imaginable conveying, “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 me: “I am his and he is mine.”

The next time I fell and was bogged down in the mire of dark thoughts, 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, to validate his promise. 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 lifting up my hand, I experienced the promises in today’s passage. I discovered that he really had bestowed sufficient power for me to get up and resume the journey and that he really had richly laid out a kingdom before me to inherit.

I don’t 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 radiate great light. I do not believe that Christ ever intended there to be a track for “called” and super zealous disciples and a separate one for those who just believe and attend a local church. Peter clearly explains that the divine life of God 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 assures our hearts of our calling; by it, we have a rich entrance into the kingdom of God.

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

 

 

 

 

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap