Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/16/2011 - 9:34am
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After last week's message someone asked me to define grace. She said that "grace" is a word that's not often used these days, and that's true. One modern version of the Bible doesn't even use the word "grace" because, the translators claim, no one knows what it means anymore. Instead it uses phrases like "God's kindness" or "unmerited favor."
But even those words can be rather abstract. So how are we supposed to understand grace? One simple explanation is seen in the phrase, "grace period." We understand that. If we're late paying our electric bill, by rule the power should be shut off. Or if we're late turning in our homework assignment, by rule we should get an "F" for our homework. If we're given a "grace period," however, the deadline is extended and we are given another chance. Grace overrules the rules.
That's what God does when he pours his grace out on us. No human being can live up to all the religious rules or biblical laws. In fact, the law was given to show us how impossible it is for anyone to live a perfect life. We've all broken the rules.
But God in love provided a "grace period" to give us another chance. He sent his Son—who was perfect in every way—so he could overrule the rules so we could escape the consequence of breaking the rules. Only God's "grace period" is not just for a month or to the end of the semester! God's "grace period" is forever—for all eternity.
There's another reason why we have trouble understanding grace. That's because human nature tends to think salvation is something we can earn. If we just work hard enough, we think, then we'll deserve another chance. If we can explain to the bank why our payment is late and make solemn promises to catch up, then the banker might be more forgiving. Or if we can give good excuses to our teacher why we need extra time for the assignment, we might be able to talk our way into receiving a "grace period."
But there is no excuse when it comes to being human. We are what we are—sinners: imperfect, broken, flawed human beings. We can't make excuses; we can't earn salvation; and we can never deserve grace—no matter how hard we work at it. Grace is a gift that is not deserved and cannot be earned.
And that's why it's difficult to balance the idea of grace (that we are saved only by what God does and nothing by what we do) with the idea of works (that if we're saved, there should be a change in our behavior and our attitude).
So today we're going to look at another one of those difficult verses which seem to blur the lines between our response to God's grace and working to be righteous...
2 Pet 1:5 - For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith...
Hold on! For what reason? Before we go any further, we need to go back a bit to see why we should make every effort.
2 Pet 1:3-4
Why should we make every effort? Because God has given us "great and precious promises"—and two primary promises in particular are mentioned here: (1) We can become more like God; (2) We can become less like the world.
1. To participate (become partakers [NASB]) in the divine nature; NCV: "share in God's nature"—in other words, our character can become more like God's. We can become kinder, gentler, more patient, more loving, more giving, less selfish, less argumentative... We can become more like God.
2. To escape the corruption (moral decay, rottenness [AMP]) in the world. We can become less like the world.
These two promises speak of growth toward spiritual maturity—that we are to move away from the ways of the world and toward the ways of God; away from sin and human nature and toward a righteous, holy life.
You see, when we say that we're to escape "corruption in the world," we're not talking about avoiding riots and anarchy and looting like we saw in the streets of England this past week. We're not talking about living in some sort of Christian cocoon, insulated from society's evil.
No! We're talking about the need to escape from the evil, sinful nature that lurks inside each human heart—inside our own hearts. You can live in a cave far away from the world and its ways, but you still must deal with the flesh—the sinful, human nature inside each one of us.
But God gives us a promise: you can escape! You can be set free from the corruption caused by sinful cravings [CEB] and evil desires! The Bible describes a process where we "are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory..." (2 Cor 3:18).
God's Word tells us that God predestined us, that he intended all along for us "to be conformed to the likeness of his Son" (Rom 8:29). We're to be conformed to be like Jesus—not conformed to the world.
Read the letter to the Romans in the NT. In it we're told, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).
So it's because God gives us these amazing promises, promises that we can be changed—transformed into the image of Christ—he tells us that we should
1. Make every effort to add to our faith.
"Make every effort" (do your best [NCV], applying all diligence [NASB]) means to give it all you've got; leave it all on the field; give 110 percent; try as hard as you can; pull out all the stops; hold nothing back...
The goal of our effort is not to be saved (we can't do that). Rather, the goal is to discipline ourselves so we can move away from our worldly thinking and worldly ways and toward God's thinking and ways.
We should make every effort to stop being influenced and shaped by the world; to stop being conformed to the world. Instead of giving in to sinful cravings, we should make every effort to be transformed by the renewal of our minds.
That's an interesting phrase: "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom 12:2).
The word "transformed" in the original Greek language of the NT is metamorphóō which is where we get our English word, "metamorphosis" meaning "a profound change in form...a complete change in structure or substance."
We're familiar with the dramatic life change
that a caterpillar makes when it becomes a butterfly. Two caterpillars walking
along a leaf look up at a butterfly flying high overhead. One caterpillar turns
to the other and says, "You'll never get me up in one of those things!"
When a caterpillar is completely changed in its form and structure—and
attitude—that is called metamorphosis.
When we lived in Texas we learned
about—insects that lived underground for 17 years. And then one spring, they
all crawled out of the ground, leaving the lawn covered with holes. Thousands
and thousands of cicadas! They climbed up on a tree and shed their outer skin,
leaving hollow exoskeletons hanging all over the trees. They grew wings and
flew around for a couple months; thousands of them making an incredible,
deafening racket to attract a mate.
Metamorphosis caused an underground,
silent creature to come out in the open after 17 years, shed its old skin, grow
wings and fly around.
The change didn't happen haphazardly,
just any old spring. The cicadas had to go through a process—a 17-year process.
You couldn't dig one up early and force it to grow wings and fly around. It had
to go through the process!
And there is a process God calls us to
participate in. It's the process of transformation—metamorphóō—where we climb up from our old worldly ways and begin
to soar in heavenly ways.
So we are to make every effort to move in this direction. How? By...
2. Adding to our faith—that is, by not stopping once we believe, but by continuing to offer ourselves to God. We add to (or supplement) our faith by deliberately choosing to practice certain things.
If a young athlete wants to succeed at his or
her sport, it requires practice and discipline. Even in the big leagues, hard
work is required. In the Viking training camp, they're going to be practicing
the basics—blocking, tackling, pass routes. They're going to run through
drills—high stepping through obstacles, stuff like that. When my brother played
fullback in high school, his coach emphasized hanging on to the ball. So my
brother started sleeping with his football, holding it tightly even in his subconscious.
In the same way, we are to put
everything we've got into the discipline of becoming more like Jesus and less
like ourselves.
Peter lists certain characteristics for us to discipline ourselves in, certain qualities that we should develop in our lives in addition to our basic faith and trust in God's grace (2 Pet 1:5-7):
- Goodness (moral behavior, right living);
- Knowledge (increased understanding, studying to be approved, seeking to meet with the Lord);
- Self-control (disciplined behavior, restraint, following curfew);
- Perseverance (endurance, determination to keep going, to never quit);
- Godliness (a Christ-like attitude, developing the fruit of the Spirit, having devotion to God);
- Brotherly kindness (concern for others);
- Love (selfless giving, sacrificial care).
Peter says we're to add on to our faith. We're
to expand and grow as believers.
Faith in God—trusting in his grace for
salvation—is like a foundation to a building. It's the beginning; you've got to
start with faith. You can't have a tall building without a solid foundation.
The problem is that some believers are content to live in a basement
when God wants them to be skyscrapers! God wants you to add to your
faith foundation, to build something higher, that is, to become more and more
like him.
Caution: These qualities are not just something we have on a list to be checked off: "OK, now I'm finally self-controlled, so I've got to move on to perseverance... OK, now that I've added godliness to my résumé, I can try my hand at having concern for others."
No! All these qualities are things we should continually work on and develop. Remember, transformation is a process! Verse 8: "if you possess these qualities in increasing measure." These qualities should be...
3. Growing and expanding in our lives. The more we practice and do these things, the better we will become at living them out—and the more we will experience the continuing, ongoing flow of God's grace.
If we respond to God's grace by living it out and walking in obedience to God, then ironically, we will experience more grace! We'll keep moving forward in this journey of faith. Verse 2 (NASB): "Grace...be multiplied to you..."; 2 Pet 3:18: "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior..."
A rabbi taught his students that God meets us
in surprising ways in "...spontaneous moments of grace, almost accidental."
His student asked, "Rabbi, if [it's] just
accidental, why do we work so hard doing all these spiritual practices?"
The rabbi replied, "To be as
accident-prone as possible." —Philip Yancey, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Zondervan, 2006), p.106.
So we keep working. We make every effort to add to our faith, so we can escape the world and draw closer to God.
4. What happens if we add these qualities to our faith (2 Pet 1:8-10):
(a) They will prevent us from being ineffective (inactive, lazy, useless...)
(b) They will prevent us from being unproductive (unfruitful...)
(c) They will ensure that we won't lose sight of God's work and forget we've been cleansed from sin.
(d) They will keep us from falling away from our faith.
We could restate these ideas in positive terms—if we add these qualities to our faith...
(a) They will make us be more effective.
(b) They will make us more productive.
(c) They will constantly remind us that God has cleansed from sin.
(d) They will strengthen our faith.
Are you "making every effort"? Or have you been coasting—haphazardly avoiding personal discipline and commitment?
If you've experienced grace by faith, you also need to make every effort to add to your faith!