Full Life in Christ - 2 Peter 1:3-11

So today we wrap our month of revisiting the Mission and Vision of Good Shepherd. As I’ve said before, our mission is why we’re here; our vision is how we fulfill our mission. You can see our mission printed on page 6, but with a significant addition: “To join God on mission by producing mature followers of Jesus Christ for His glory and our joy.”

[Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties we were unable to record the sermon.]

That italicized phrase clarifies our mission as we enter this new season. It’s good to clarify it for newcomers, but primarily, we need to clarify it for ourselves as a body. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen how Jesus calls us not to just profess belief with our mouths but to follow him however and wherever he chooses, and only through His Word and alongside His people (the local church, the body of Christ) can we grow into mature followers. 

But for this growth to take place, the church must be the life-giving community that Jesus established and that we need. We grow to maturity together in the ways established by God and modeled in the Scriptures. This “togetherness” is the plan of God, and it’s our focus this morning. Notice in our Vision statement - our “how” - that since we began, we have been a church, “gathering as one body on Sundays and in small groups throughout Florence during the week.”

To frame our understanding of this aspect of our Vision, let’s look at 2 Peter 1. Turn there in your Bible or electronic device, or look at Page 6 in the Worship guide. I’ll begin by reading it, but let’s bow again in prayer and ask God to illuminate His Word for us. O God, You are our God; earnestly we seek You. Our souls thirst for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. How sweet are Your words! Through Your principles we get understanding; so speak to us now, Giver of Life. Give us ears to hear. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen. 

Follow along now, I’m going to read beginning with verse 1, but focus on 3-11 as I preach: [1] Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: [2] May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. [3] His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. [5] For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, [6] and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, [7] and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. [8] For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [9] For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. [10] Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. [11] For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

This is God’s Word, and may He write his eternal truth on each of our hearts today. 2 Peter is another letter to the churches. We looked at some of 1 Peter last week, also written to local churches or bodies of believers. And Peter starts with this intro, talking about their common faith in and through Jesus. In Verse 1 he refers to Jesus as God, but then in verse 2 he distinguishes between God the Father and Jesus the Son. That contributes to our understanding of the Trinity. Three persons (Father, Son, and Spirit) but one God. Not three Gods - one God.

Their common faith is rooted in knowledge of Jesus and the Father that they share. And Peter writes what sounds would make a good Benediction: [2] May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. “Grace and peace.” Sounds like a phrase we rush past as we read the Bible.

But Peter wants it to be multiplied to, or increased to, us. To have more and more of it. How does that happen? Well, it seems that in the next verses Peter tells us. In fact, in order to follow Peter’s line of thinking, we could read verse 3 with the word “because” in front of it. “Because his divine power has granted to us” and so on.

Here’s a question: what is this “grace and peace?” We can have it in abundance. Well, I know something else that Jesus came to give us in abundance. He said he came that we might have life, and have it abundantly. To the full. You get the sense that this “full life in Christ” is stored up and ready to be given to us by God.

It may sound too good to be true. Could it really fill us up inside? Could it heal our hurts? Could it calm us down and cause us to rest within? Jesus promises this to his people. He said it is why he came to earth and Peter prays that it would be given increasingly to us.

But we should understand some things if it would be increased to us. You can see those listed on page 6 and 7 in the worship guide. 1. Full life in Christ is made available through God’s powerful work in us. (v.3-4) 2. It is worked out through relationships with others. (v.5-9) 3. and it is evidence that we are truly saved. (v.10)

Look again at verse [3]: His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life, in other words, a fulfilled life, vitality, a sense of having been richly blessed, to be able to say “I have all that I need.” “Life and godliness, which means a holy life, a life of obedience to God. The very power of the one true God has made this kind of life - this perspective on life - possible for his people. 

How? “through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,” That is the knowledge Peter mentions back in verse 2. It means to know Jesus Christ in a saving way. To have a saving knowledge of Jesus. Not just to believe he existed, not just know what the Scriptures say he did, not even a mental assent or agreement that Jesus saves, but knowledge within that you need Jesus, and you have deep love for and devotion to Jesus. That you believe that your whole life belongs to him. 

This is a transforming knowledge. You don’t simply have a factual hold on it. It has a transforming hold on you. Only by the divine power of God can a person have this knowledge. God must grant it to you by giving to you a saving knowledge of his salvation in his Son. God must “call” a person to it. There’s a kingly connotation to the Greek term Peter uses: “through the knowledge of him who summoned us.” 

Ever received a summons to jury duty? It is an invitation of sorts. But you’re required to be there. Notice also the words “to his own glory and excellence.” That could also be translated “by his own glory and excellence.” What is meant by “excellence.” It’s his goodness. His purity. The triune God, awesome in power and glory, set apart from us in holiness and purity, exercised his power by summoning his people to come to Jesus in saving faith so that we could say to him, from our hearts, “You are my shepherd; I have all that I need.” 

He summoned us because of His praise-worthiness (his “glory”) and his goodness. We must recognize this if we would enjoy full life in Christ. Do you know God like this? Look at verse 4. Because of God’s praise-worthiness and his innate goodness, “he has granted to us his precious and very great promises.” What promises? Look at the next part of the sentence: “so that through them (the promises) you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 

Those who have a saving knowledge of Jesus, who have surrendered their whole lives to him, receive the Holy Spirit and are, forevermore, sons of God being made more and more like Jesus throughout their lives. God promises that he has done away with our sinful record, he has given to us the full righteousness of Jesus, he has secured our place with him in eternity, when he will make us new, and as we follow Jesus, he will change us. The Holy Spirit will bear good fruit in us. 

Love will be produced, and joy will increase, and peace will be more and more prevalent in us. We find that we are more patient with God’s timing and plans than we used to be. We become kinder than we were, and we love purity more than we used to. We become more faithful to God over time, and we have mercy and gentleness toward others. We even develop more self-control as time goes on, as we grow more like Jesus. 

As we grow toward maturity in Jesus, we transform in these ways. Sinful humans like us produce and experience qualities that only emanate from God. God produces these things in those who have this saving knowledge. We can only participate in divinity by his divine power.

How preposterous would it be for the average British person to go to Buckingham Palace and demand that Queen Elizabeth allow him or her to participate in the royal family? We are naturally sinners - all the way through. Dead in sins. There are no grounds for us to participate in the divine except by his grace. You must understand: only by his grace can we “escape the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” and experience full life in Christ.

But full life in Christ must be worked out in relationships with others. I’ve consistently seen that people do not hesitate to point out what’s wrong with the world, and what is wrong with others, but the hardest thing is to see what is wrong with themselves. I’ve spoken recently about how Jesus established the basic structure of the church. But it is still just people - individuals making decisions. It’s each person within the body of Christ making an effort to follow Jesus each day. 

We can be filled with bitterness, we can blame others for our troubles and disappointments, we can passionately hold on to our gripes and grudges til our knuckles are white, but can tell you just as passionately say what’s wrong with you personally? Do you look in the mirror? Do you stare at yourself? To have full life in Christ multiplied to you, you must look at yourself and be determined to reject your sin and to change.

Look at verse [5]: For this very reason, (because of what God has done) make every effort to supplement (or show) your faith with virtue, and (show your) virtue with knowledge, [6] and (show your) knowledge with self-control, and (show your) self-control with steadfastness (in other words, with endurance), and (show your) endurance with godliness, [7] and (show your) godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection (show your) with love. When Peter says “make every effort,” the language and tone communicates that we should be diligently, even hasty, to make changes in our own lives.

I remember as a young boy, I was working on the farm with my dad. I got upset with the job he had given me, and I said, “Daddy, I can’t.” He said something to this effect: “Son, it’s like that t-shirt you have that says, ‘Just Do It.’ No complaints son, no excuses. Just do it.” 

When it comes to pursuing full life in Christ, just do it. Does grace cover every sin? You better believe it. But should we pursue holy lives? Absolutely. Why? Notice the next verse. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ineffective, in other words, useless. Unfruitful. You get the picture.

There is a great deal at stake when so-called followers of Jesus don’t pursue this. For one, we become useless in the work of the kingdom. We can’t join God on mission. We get stuck in spiritual immaturity and we aren’t equipped to serve God and bear good fruit. But something else is at stake. Look at verse [9] For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 

It is possible to slip down briefly or for an extended period of time. Grace reigns, but the law of sowing and reaping is always in effect. Bad decisions yield bad results. Your effort to follow and obey matters. It does not save you or make God love you more, but it matters in your life. 

And what you have to understand is that you don’t work these things out in solitude. Peter lists these things in a way that builds. At the height is brotherly love. It gets worked out through relationships with others. Frankly, it will be hard sometimes. 

You will have to go against what comes naturally. You don’t want to forgive? Do it anyway? You want to sink into isolation? Pursue community anyway. And you must walk with God on your own each day. You don’t like mornings? Get up early anyway, and meet with God in the quiet place. You don’t like overlooking someone else’s fault? Look at your own sin and do it anyway. You have a sinful, unhealthy habit you need to break? One that you don’t want to let go?

Do it anyway. Do it for your Lord and Savior and his kingdom, do it for your spouse or family, do it for the lost around you, but also, do it for yourself. Because there is a third thing to understand about full life in Christ. Look at verse 9 again, along with 10 and 11: [9] For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. [10] Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. Never fall away from the faith.  For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Until you invite others in, you aren’t making every effort. “On your own” is not “every effort.” Making every effort to follow Jesus demonstrates that you are truly born again. Ask yourself, “Am I born again?” If you say “yes,” how do you know? Are you experiencing full life in Christ? Is it being multiplied to you? Is it multiplying in your private life? Multiplying in your relationships? None of us are perfect, but we must do our best to produce evidence in our lives that we have been summoned by God to salvation and show that we were, before the foundation of the earth, chosen by God to receive his grace.

This is why we fulfill our mission as a church by gathering. Hebrews 10: let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, [25] not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. Pursuing full life in Christ together.

We need worship together on the Lord’s Day (Sunday, the first day of the week). God is clear on that, and so an essential part of our Vision is to worship God together according to the directives He gave us in the Bible. Maybe we do some things here at GS that you haven’t seen or experienced before. But we have a Scriptural basis for all of it. 

In fact, we believe that we miss something given to us by God if we don’t do these things. Our style is contemporary but the content and elements of our worship is not a question of style. It is one of Biblical obedience. We believe God commands each of these things. As we experience them together week after week, God transforms us. 

So many of you can testify to that. In fact, if you’re new to us, I urge you, don’t just give us a week or two. What Jesus does through Biblical worship and gospel-centered preaching, he does over time. We worship God in a present-day style while drawing on the rich Biblical traditions of the Church through the centuries because we see examples throughout Scripture of what we should do in our worship services, and the Church over the past 2000+ years has modeled these things for us. 

So we gather as one body on Sundays, but also, at many other times. Our smaller gatherings are essential as well. We have many different kinds of gatherings, but to close here I want to say something about our Life Groups. We actually began our groups before we launched our public worship service. We call them “Life Groups” for a reason, but maybe not for the reason you think. 

One popular phrase around churches is “doing life together.” Which is fine to say; I’ve used that phrase before. But from the start, the role of our Life Groups was bigger than that. The vision of the groups is not so much about living life together (although that’s good) as it is about finding and experiencing life in Christ together. Christ puts the “life” in Life Groups. It’s about the “life” that he imparts to us, not so much the lives we all live until we die. 

We bring the groups; Christ brings the life. In Colossians 3, the apostle Paul says [4] When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Christ is not just your life or my life. He is our life. This is why the church should be a life-giving community, when each part is working properly.

Good Shepherd will produce mature followers of Jesus only as we experience the full life or abundant life that Jesus came to give us. We are beginning a new format in our Life Groups, and I invite you to stay for lunch today to hear more about it. And if you are not in a group, I encourage you to join one, because we are taking new steps to pursue full life in Christ together as we fulfill the mission God has given to Good Shepherd.

Let’s pray together.