Our High Calling

Fitchburg Nazarene Church

November 13, 2016

by

Rev. Charles W. Pendleton, Jr.

(These are the Pastors notes. He may have said more which is not noted here. He could have ignored certain portions of these notes in our actual service.)

READ:

2 Peter 1:3-11

3His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers and sisters,amake every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A. Divine Power Given

3His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

As we look at Vs. 3 we see first that it is Gods DIVINE POWER that has secured a place for us in Christ Jesus.

AND it is a high calling which He has brought us into

i.e. a godly life

We have not simply been forgiven of our sins and we have been but we have been called to live godly lives.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9

4I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.5For in him you have been enriched in every waywith all kinds of speech and with all knowledge6God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.7Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.8He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

But God has not asked us to leave our brains at the door when we entered into His family, either. He has brought us knowledge to guide us along the way.

Vs. 3 continues, through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

It is the Divine Power of God which has reached out to any of us who are believers in Jesus Christ.

It is the Spirit of God who has called us.

Listen to Jesus talk about this knowledge that the Spirit of God brings us, from the 6th Chapter of John.

John 6:35-48

35Then Jesus declared,I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.37All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.40For my Fathers will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

41At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said,I am the bread that came down from heaven.42They said, Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say,I came down from heaven?

43Stop grumbling among yourselves,Jesus answered.44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.45It is written in the Prophets: They will all be taught by God.Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.47Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.48I am the bread of life.

Jesus says, The Father draws them

and

Everyone who has learned from the Father comes to me - Jesus

So then, the divine power of God has given us all this insight, knowledge, and ability to not only come to Christ, but then to do what Vs. 4 of our text tells us

4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Whoa!!! Two huge things here:

1st - participating in the Divine Nature, and

2nd - escaping the corruption of the world caused by evil desires.

How do we participate in these awesome things?

The beginning of the verse tells us

4Through these Through His own glory and goodness.

Through His goodness we escape the corruption of the world.

Through His glory we participate in the Divine Nature.

How are we doing with that?

Well, we may be doing fine, and we may not be.

You see, the Lord left us with some direction about how we are to Join In to the work that His Spirit has begun in us.

Lets move on to Peters teaching on this subject.

B. Divine Power for Growing

2 Peter 1:5-7

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

It is SO tempting when I see a list in scripture to spend time breaking it all apart and codifying it for our following it to the letter.

Im going to resist that urge this morning, and simply bring us some thoughts about this list.

ADD to your FAITH

Goodness

Knowledge

Self Control

Perseverance

Godliness

Mutual Affection

Love

The result of our Faith is that we should become good people. (If we were already good then why the need for Christs sacrifice on our behalf.)

The Christian life is not without its curriculum. Like anything else in life perfecting our walk with God involves a great measure of learning; and this is done primarily by a continual, critical reading of our Bibles. (I say primarily because there is much that may be expounded on by good teachers, but the Word is primary.)

All this knowledge is to no avail if we totally lack any self-control in our lives. I can read all kinds of books on how to lose weight and how to become stronger and healthier, but if I dont exercise self-control over the changes that those books say Ill need to make then I will never become thinner, stronger, or healthier. Same thing with the Word of God.

Perseverance is mandatory if we are ever going to live lives which are pleasing to God, and which will remind the watching world of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Show me anything in life which does not necessitate perseverance, and Ill show you something not worth our diligence.

Godliness is, after all, the goal of participating in the Divine Nature. It is Gods restoration of the Imago Dei, or Image of God within us, which was marred in the Fall. (Anyone who believes that they are already godly or god-like either has too low an image of who God is, or too high an image of who they are.

We often say this of one who has passed, who we know was a resolute follower of God They were such godly people. But this is only comparatively true; not infinitely true. They were simply following hard after God, as they walked in obedience to Him and His Word.

Mutual Affection is that warm affection which grows within the body of Christ. It is shown in the high regard which we have for one another, and a caring friendliness which we exhibit as we meet together at church and in our homes.

It is this mutual affection which the world is supposed to be able to see in us, and which makes us different in the best possible way from the rest of the world.

A passage of scripture to back this up...

1 John 3:14-16

14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.15Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

How are we doing with this??

LoveYIKES! What can I say?

Im taking the cowards way out Im only going to quote scripture here.

Luke 6:32-33

32If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you?

1 John 4:18

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:16

And so we know and rely on theloveGod has for us. God islove.Whoever lives inlovelives in God, and God in them.

1 John 2:15

Do notlovethe world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love

for the Father is not in them.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 John 5:2

This is how we know that welovethe children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.

1 John 4:20

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Hosea 3:1

TheLordsaid to me, Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as theLordloves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.

1 John 4:7-12

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 Peter 1:22

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere lovefor each other,loveone another deeply, from the heart.

1 John 4:12

No one has ever seen God; but if weloveone another, God lives in us and hisloveis made complete in us.

And lastly, the one that we desire to be able to say about one another.

1 Thessalonians 4:9

Now about yourlovefor one another we do not need to write to you, foryou yourselves have been taught by God toloveeach other.

So much for verse 7!!

Lets re-read Vs. 8-9

8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.9But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

My friends, this is the message of the Church of the Nazarene. That we are to be growing in our possession of these attributes.

Without using the word here; this passage is a look at what we call SANCTIFICATION.

And for good reason!!

They will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ineffective & unproductive!

On which scale in life do we desire that this is what is said about us.

Yup, they were ineffective & unproductive, but they were good people.

Yeeeeck!!!

I want no part of it how about you???

Vs. 9 states that,

whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind.

What is this them?

It is these qualities in increasing measure.

Okay, perhaps we should settle for nearsighted and blind, right?

God forbid!!

We have been CLEANSED from our past sins!

It is our desire that we never forget this, nor do we desire to live out our lives in some unworthy manner

ineffective

unproductive

nearsighted

blind.

C. Divine Power Generates

Vs. 10-11

10Therefore, my brothers and sisters,make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In this election season Arent we glad its over? we would do well to once again confirm (that is, to approve, endorse, or ratify) our calling and election.

We have been elected (or selected) by God, to receive saving faith in the Son for the salvation of our sins; AND we have been given a calling

A high calling both to live godly lives in this world empowered by the Spirit of God to live lives pleasing to Him, and to witness the same to a lost and dying world, that they may know Christ, as well.

CLOSING PRAYER