This is a sermon I had to write for a missions trip I am going on soon, and boy am I glad that I did now that I've finished it. Some formatting may meet a poor end in the posting (like indents) but I hope it will be readable. I'll attach it, too.
Attachment:
Mission Trip 2011 Sermon.doc [37.5 KiB]
Downloaded 12 times
Have you ever found yourself wondering, “What’s the point?” We all ask ourselves that from time to time. We ask that question at our lowest moments, wondering why we even bother to try. We ask it after our greatest triumphs when we find ourselves wondering what’s next. For many of us, our life is about the next big win, the next home run, the next meal, the next big event, the next person, or the next big thrill. When we live that way, we become like fires burning up fuel, and only growing hotter to burn the next chunk of fuel faster, until, finally, there is no more fuel left, and we burn out.
God doesn’t want us to be confused as to our point in life. He explained exactly what we are to do, and why we are to do it, in the Bible. One of the clearest statements of our purpose comes in II Peter 1: 3-4. Peter writes:
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
God clearly explains, our purpose is to be “partakers of the divine nature,” in other words, enjoying unblocked fellowship with Him. He also says the purpose is to “escape the corruption that is in the world.” He wasn’t talking about ignoring the worlds’ problems or living on top of a mountain or something like that, but that spiritually, we’d be free the sin in the world. I Corinthians 10:31 says it even more simply, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” Short and simple, as Christians we are to bring glory to God, which means we are to cause others to come to right opinions about God. By the way we live and what we say, we are to help other people understand God better. Peter goes on to say, “but also for this very reason” (that is, to be partakers of the divine nature)…
5 …giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,
7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter didn’t just tell us what to do in vague terms like “bring glory to God.” He have us eight fruits to grow on our lives in order to have a purpose in living, to bring glory to God After all, what does that phrase even mean? Oftentimes, when we think of God’s glory, we think of some big bright glow that sort of, knocks us off our feet, sends us flying, maybe even kills us its so bright, because that’s how it seemed to work in the Bible. That’s what is called in Hebrew the “shekinah” glory.
The glory-bearing that Peter is requiring of us means to cause others to come to right opinions about God. But Peter got even more specific than telling us to help other people believe the truth about God, he illustrated exactly how we are to do it.
He lays out the primary building block in verse 5, Faith
Peter declares openly at the beginning of his instructions to believers that the only way to glorify God, the only way to have a point in life, is to have genuine faith. You can’t wrap together your own ideas with enough Christianity to be able to have a point in life or have God’s blessing. God didn’t leave options. The only, way to not have a totally pointless, miserable, existence begins with saving faith in Jesus Christ alone of salvation. Any existence apart from that being in your life is pointless, and will end with a terrible eternity apart from God. What you’ll find about all the fruits that Peter lists is that each one depends on the ones before it. So if you think that adding self-control and love, for example, to your life will give you real meaning and purpose, you will find yourself exasperated and sadly disappointed.
But also Peter shows that Faith is only the beginning of glorifying God. Also in verse 5 he says, assuming that faith is present, to add to faith, virtue.
Virtue
Virtue here carries much more than being a good person or doing good things or maintaining purity. Virtue means purposing to develop and display the character of Jesus Christ for the glory of God (which is to be the motivation for all of the glory-bearing fruits that Peter will list). It is deciding, “I will follow Jesus. I will try to bring glory to God, for the glory of God.” The Apostle Paul put it very succinctly in First Corinthians 10:31, “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God.” Virtue is the root for all the fruits that follow, because if we are not committed to God’s glory, any other fruit is selfish and not for God’s glory, defeating all purpose to cultivating them. Each fruit is useless if they are for us, and each fruit is all-important to having a reason to live.
Peter’s next step of faith is Knowledge, that is knowing the person, words, and ways of Jesus Christ. If Virtue is committing to be like Jesus in his character, then we have to know what Jesus was like. We can learn by reading the Bible, studying it, discussing it, memorizing it, and by practicing what we learn. That last method is what makes Knowledge more than lists of facts. I know a lot about people important to history, but I know my best friend in a totally different way. It’s about knowing the person of Jesus Christ. But again, knowing what Jesus was like, what he said, how he acted, it’s all useless unless you have already committed to be like that yourself. You can know the order of the Bible books, who wrote them, what they’re about, you can be studying for ministry, you can be in the ministry, you can read books and write books, but unless you have committed to be like Jesus, that’s all absolutely pointless. It’s that plain… there is no reason to live apart from Christ and bringing glory to God.
To knowledge Peter instructs us to add Self-Control. Self-control is instantly obeying God’s Word in the power of God’s Spirit. Now remember that one of Jesus’ many names in the New Testament is “the Word” so another way of seeing that definition, is obeying Jesus in God’s strength. Since knowledge is knowing Jesus’ words and ways, Self-Control is doing them. It’s what I call the “push the button principle.” Lot’s of things work with buttons: computers, some lights, door bells, weapons. All those button-activated tools do absolutely nothing until the button is pushed. We can have the most spectacularly awesome machine and until it’s turned on the lights don’t go, nothing moves, and nothing gets done. I needed to “push the button” to get myself to prepare this lesson rather than socializing on the internet. The same goes for us. We can be totally committed 100%, just like any machine, we can have the task perfectly ingrained us, like a calculator, but until we “press the button” absolutely nothing happens!
But then, a lot of machines break down. Cars wear out, computers get corrupted, Christians get corrupted, we get our gears out of line, or maybe we run out of electricity. I once had a calculator that still could think pretty straight, but its screen was all messed up because it was old and confused. That calculator had perfect commitment to crunching numbers; it knew its math perfectly, it even had the control to do it right… but it was missing the next crucial ingredient to fulfilling its purpose of existence: Endurance. Endurance is faithfully obeying God’s Word even in the face of difficulty and pressure. When the batteries are out, when your wires are crossed, you’re out of sleep and out of sorts with the world, you keep doing what is right even though it stinks. There is no point to living with a half-hearted attitude where you quit on your program as soon as it gets hard. The reason you are on this program of glorifying God is because you want the fulfill God’s purpose, so it’s pointless to join that sort of plan if you are getting off as soon as it gets hard to obey. And what you’ll find is that once you’ve been enduring, you acquire
Godliness. Have you ever found that you can love doing pretty much anything can once you’ve been doing it for a while? I find that chopping wood, mopping floors, cleaning, moving boxes. For me, pretty much anything can be fun! (And now everyone is thinking, “If that’s so, have I got a job or four for you!) Godliness is a whole-hearted loving devotion to God and His ways. If Endurance was a “never look back” mentality, Godliness is a “look back” mentality. Endurance means that despite trouble you go on, for Godliness you don’t even care about trouble. You have come to love God’s way, and loving it you become devoted to God’s ways.
This is where Brotherly Kindness comes in. Brotherly Kindness is affection for and service to those in the household of faith. It’s sharing all of the other fruits that are in your life with others. One way we do this is by exemplifying the fruits so that others can see them, but that isn’t enough. If I show you a banana, can you describe the tree it came from very much? Maybe a little, it’s bark is like this and it has that many leaves… but that’s about all. If I showed you what in America call a “pine cone” most of you would have absolutely no idea what kind of tree that came from! Just showing the fruit isn’t enough, we have to reveal the whole plant. Jesus himself explained this in Matthew 5 when, in the Sermon on the Mount, he told us to be Salt and Light. Salt used to used all the time as a preservative, and that’s how God wants us to act, preserving the world and the church from evil, but he also wants us to be light. Salt gets deep into the meat to preserve it, light comes shines out all over the house. Salt preserves what’s good in the meat, light reveals whole new things and changes are perspective. I can be salt by being joyful and thankful all the time in the sight of others, I am light when I remind them of First Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all things, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you.” When I walk around content despite trouble I am salt, when I tell others that “I have learned to be content in whatsoever circumstance I am” I am light! I personally struggle with being light. I can do salt pretty well, since I am naturally a pretty happy and joyful guy, but light, that requires traits that I haven’t cultivated yet.
And, strangely, we find Love at the end of the list. Love seems to be such a basic value, but really it is the tip of achievement in cultivating the fruits that give us purpose in life. Love is unconditional sacrifice for the purpose of meeting the spiritual needs of others. It’s throwing all else to the wind so that others can enjoy the purpose you have found in life, and so that you can fulfill it too. Like I said earlier, it is utterly useless to love God until it’s hard. We love God especially when it’s hard, not until it gets hard! When we have the love of God in us, we won’t leave when we are laughed at for loving, we won’t hide when we are hindered in helping others, we won’t quit when we are questioned.
And now the greatest paradox! We no longer matter when we love! We have moved beyond self-service, our purpose is for God alone! It’s not to have a purpose, it’s not to feel fulfilled… and yet by the wonders of God we get all that when we fulfill God’s plan. When we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, when we add to our faith virtue, and to our virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control endurance, and to endurance godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love, then all those things will be added unto us! When we give everything up we get it all back.
But that sounds really goofy. If we have it why don’t we just keep it? Why is it a good idea to give it all up just so we get it handed back?
Remember the first step? Faith. If you don’t believe God’s promises, if you don’t trust him for salvation, than none of these fruits are helpful for you at all, and they aren’t particularly helpful for God’s glory either.
So do you have faith? Here’s a good question… have you taken a leap of faith and reached for fruits of God? If you see none of these fruits than most likely you don’t have the root, which is faith. We are saved when we have faith that God the Father sent Jesus Christ the Son onto earth to save us. That he died and came back to life, signifying that no one need ever die for their sin again, for he who didn’t have to die did. If you believe that, then you have faith, and you will find virtue ready to bud on your life. If you don’t, then you no amount of good fruits is worth anything at all.
