Divine Power

 2 Peter 1

Welcome! I encourage you to continue praying the secret prayer. Today we begin a journey into the book of II Peter. The message this week is entitled Divine Power. In my opinion, power is a unifying sort of theme throughout the book of II Peter, and we will touch on this as we go through the series.

This series was prayerfully planned several months ago, and it was then that I first saw this theme of power running through II Peter. As you all know, the world has been witness to a different kind of power in the last week and a half. I looked up information on the Richter scale to see just how powerful a 9 point earthquake really is, to get some kind of equivalent measure that I could compare it to. I found that a 9.0 earthquake has the energy release equivalent to 476 megatons of TNT. By comparison, the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had an energy release equivalent to about 15 kilotons of TNT. In other words, the recent earthquake in Japan had the energy release of more than 30,000 nuclear bombs of the type that destroyed Hiroshima.


And, tragically, on top of the terrible loss of life and the complete destruction of towns and villages along Japan’s eastern coast caused by the earthquake and especially the accompanying tsunami, we have seen another kind of power crisis emerge, the ongoing situation at the Fukashima nuclear reactor complex. There, the destruction of the quake and tsunami led to a lack of power to keep the nuclear material cool, and now they are dealing with, in a sense, runaway power, power they don’t want, the power of nuclear decay.

In contrast to this, I am struck by the power of a man. A healthy man can produce about one horsepower for a short time or about a tenth of a horsepower for extended times; a tenth of a horsepower is about 75 watts. Comparing the awesome powers of the forces around us with what man can do physically, which is basically power a single 75-watt light bulb, leads to a proper feeling of humility. What is the power of man compared to the power of what surrounds us?

I encourage you to keep reflecting on the weakness of man as we read our passage.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. – II Peter 1:1-3

In comparison to the weakness of man, Peter speaks of the divine power, the power of God. Frankly, we cannot even begin to imagine the power of God. We cannot really imagine the power of a 9.0 earthquake, even after seeing the images and videos and hearing the reports we have heard this week; how are we going to grasp the power required to create the universe?

That amazing earthquake, which shook the oceans of the world like the way a person shakes the water in his bathtub when he gets out of the bath, is nothing compared to the power of God. The power of the atom, the power of nuclear fission and fusion, is nothing compared to the power of God.

And yet this passage begins by telling us that this unimaginable power, the power of God, has been focused on giving you something. Do you think that something that God gives us through His divine power will be ineffective? Of course not! And what does the passage say? This power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Everything we need for life and godliness.

Now, this is an astounding statement. It is so easy to gloss over this, so let me ask you, do you believe you have everything you need for life and godliness? I think most of us, if we were honest, might say no, because we are tempted and sin and fall so much. We might say, “if we have everything we need for life and godliness, what is that exactly? Where is it? How do you use it? Where is the ‘on’ switch?” Or you might say, “Maybe you got that package, but I think mine was lost in the mail somewhere or delivered to the wrong address.”

You have everything you need for life, zoe, that is, a full, joyful, rich life, both now and for all eternity, and godliness, eusebeia, that is, a life no longer stained and saturated by sin, one that is characterized by loving and serving God and doing what He would want us to do. Really?

Well, let’s try to answer some of these questions. If it is a package, the passage tells us where it comes from, how it gets to us – through Jesus. He has called us, and as it says, He has given us faith – precious faith. And in addition to this precious faith, He has given us knowledge of Jesus, who He is, what He has done: His fulfillment of prophecy in His very coming to us, His acts and miracles and teachings on earth, His death on the cross – something He could have easily avoided if He had wanted to, but yet something He chose to do out of love for us unsaved sinners and out of obedience to His Father in heaven – and His resurrection from the dead, proving that He was who He said He was, and His ascension into heaven, making it so that the Holy Spirit could enter into all believers, indwelling them and guiding and equipping and protecting and teaching them and interceding for them. This knowledge of Jesus, combined with believing faith in Him, is the source and delivery vehicle of this incredible package called “everything you need for life and godliness.”

Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. – II Peter 1:4

Wow, what a verse! Through what? From the previous verse, Christ’s glory and goodness. Through these, He has given us promises. A promise from God is a promise kept. And how are they described? Very great and precious. It is hard to use a stronger superlative. Great as in wonderful beyond imagining. Precious as in of great value; precious as in it came at great cost. What promises? Well, from the previous verses, the promise to give us everything we need for life and godliness. Through them you may participate in the divine nature – what does that mean?

You may participate, you may partake, you may be a partner (the word means all of these things) in the divine nature. In part, this is referring to the Holy Spirit placed in you, but it goes beyond this. It is not just that the Holy Spirit is in us, but that we partake in it. We are transformed, changed, rebuilt by it. Who we are will no longer be just who we were. Not that we lose our identity as some eastern religions teach, but that we will be improved, enhanced, healed, fixed, perfected, dramatically so, by this divine nature.

And in addition to this, we will escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. The word for corruption is also used to describe the stench of decaying garbage. You all know the smell! You know exactly what I am talking about!

The world is corrupt. You may hear people speak of a Christian worldview. The Christian worldview is that the world stinks. It stinks of garbage. It is filled with sin. It is driven by evil desires, desires and lusts that are totally opposed to God because they focus on self or on idols. The world is a powerful place. The world seeks to bring down all to its own level of sin and filth. The world is strong.

And yet there are very great and precious promises. Through them we can escape the claws of the decaying world and instead participate with the divine nature.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. – II Peter 1:5-7

“For this very reason” – what does that mean? It means that because we have these very great and precious promises through which we can escape the claws of the decaying world and instead participate with the divine nature, here’s what you should do.

Do? I have to do something? Yes. You don’t just “let go and let God.” That’s not how it works. You have a job to do, and it is “make every effort.” That could also be translated as “apply all diligence.” The word for effort or diligence more literally means haste. Make haste. It also means zeal. I’m not a very athletic guy, but I picture a football training camp where the coach is getting his team into shape, making them run as fast as they can through the tires and hitting that weighted thing that that sort of looks like a player, that thing that simulates what happens as an offensive and defensive lineman collide when a play starts. Haste. Zeal. Every effort.

What about the Greek word for “add”? This is an interesting word, epichoregeo. The root, choregeo, means, of all things, chorus leader! What in the world does a chorus leader have to do with adding something, with supplying something?

Well, the chorus leader in Ancient Greece didn’t just wave the little stick, the baton; he also had to supply everything that was needed for his choir. Here is what William Barclay says about this word:

Perhaps the greatest gift that Greece and especially Athens gave to men was the great plays and dramas of men like Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, works of literature and art which are still among the most cherished possessions of the world. All these plays needed large choruses for the choruses were integral parts of them. It was therefore very expensive to produce such plays. In the great days of Athens there were public spirited citizens who voluntarily and willingly took on the duty at their own expense of collecting, maintaining, training and equipping such choruses. It was at the great religious festivals that these plays were produced.

For instance, at the city Dionysia there were produced three tragedies, five comedies and five what they called derhythms. Men had to be found to find and equip and train the choruses for them all. It could cost such a man a great amount of money and it was the pride of such men to train and equip their choruses as nobly and splendidly as they could. The men who undertook these duties voluntarily out of their own pocket and out of love for their city were called choregeo.

Something similar apparently goes on today with the Carnival festival in Rio de Janeiro. In the parades there are large dance troupes that wear lavish costumes and perform complex dances. The different troupes are judged and one is declared the grand winner; the troupes that compete spend fortunes trying to outdo one another. These troupes are often funded by wealthy individuals who make this work their life’s passion. Such people could be called modern-day choregeo. And note the word choreograph, which means to plan out a dance, has this same root.
I realize that the pictures of football players and Carnival parades should not be put together, so forgive me. The point here is that with zeal, with intensity, with every effort, says this passage, be a choregeo, be a person who puts things together. What things?

Using the choir-master analogy, there are seven singers you need to obtain and train and build into until they produce beautiful music. Before we start assembling our choir, though what does it say is our starting point? Faith. Faith is the starting point. You are a believer? Good. Now here’s what you need to add:

First is goodness, or virtue, or moral excellence. In Greek it is arête, and traditionally it was used to describe one who did heroic deeds, but it more generally described someone or something that did what they were supposed to do very well. A singer was arête if he sang in perfectly in time and in key. A horse was arête if it was strong and galloped with great speed and endurance. A weapon was arête if it was well-balanced and the blade was sharp. In the context of being a Christian, it doesn’t just mean to do some good deeds, but to be heroic in your virtue, solid, unwavering.

Second is knowledge, gnosis. This could also be translated as wisdom. Proper understanding, insight, not only knowing the truth but applying it to your life. Third is self-control. Literally, in the Greek, it means to hold yourself in, to suck in your gut. The word was used to describe athletes. Picture a modern-day Olympic athlete, how they control their time so they can practice long hours at their sport, how they regulate what they eat, and so on, and you have the right idea of this word.

Fourth is perseverance, or endurance, never giving up, never giving in. Again, the word has athletic overtones; picture a long distance runner. He runs and he runs and he runs. It actually goes far beyond this. Picture a soldier who holds his ground even after his buddies are shot, who keeps on fighting even after he himself is shot, knowing he will die, still fighting, fighting, and you get a picture of the real power in this word. I think of Churchill’s famous speech that includes these words:

Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…

Fifth is godliness. It could also be translated as reverence, or pure worship. In Greek, the word referred to those who faithfully worshiped and sacrificed to his god or gods. For us this means that we think about God as part of our regular lives. We think about what we are doing and whether this is honoring to God. We reflect on who God is and sit in awe of Him. We praise and worship Him.

Sixth is brotherly kindness, caring for one another, doing things for one another, showing compassion to one another, building deep as opposed to superficial friendships among one another. And seventh is love, agape love. This is love that is action, a choice to die to self for the sake of another. This love is volitional rather than just emotional. Christ is of course our example of agape. But He is also our example for all 7 of these virtues.

So there is our 7-part choir. We need to pursue each and every part. We need to be choir-masters, deliberate, intentional, pursuing each of these character qualities: heroic goodness; knowledge applied to life; Olympic athlete self-control; Churchill perseverance; godliness expressed in continual worship; friendship and fellowship of brotherly kindness; sacrificial Christlike love. These are not really separate character qualities; they grow own out of another. In fact, this is the way the passage is worded. They overlap. They connect. If I would ask you to remember one “take-away” from this, it is that these are to be pursued intently; with zeal, not just to be used as a spiritual “speedometer,” asking yourself how you are doing.

Note – and I think this is so important: being good is not just not being bad! Not being bad is only “not bad.” But this passage so clearly emphasizes that we are to pursue these good things, to hunt for them, to run after them when you see them. Be a choir-master! Build up your choir! Give it your all. But why? The next verses tell us.

For 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. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. – II Peter 1:8-9

If these things are in your life, you are going to grow in Christlikeness. If these things are in your life, you are going to bear spiritual fruit. If these things are in your life, you are going to influence those around you for Christ. But if these things are not in your life, your Christian witness will be hindered, impeded. If these things are not in your life, you will not grow spiritually. If these things are not in your life, you will not bear fruit. And if these things are not in your life, not only will you be stagnant, but you will go downhill. You will feel defeated, and your understanding of Christ’s forgiveness will be ruined. You will be crippled by guilt and feelings of failure. That is what this is saying.

To grow as a Christian you should spend time in His Word, yes. To grow as a Christian, you spend time in prayer, yes. To grow as a Christian, you should spend time in the fellowship of other believers, including going to church, yes. But Peter here is saying that’s not enough. You have to live it out. You have to be intently seeking ways to do Christianity. Being a growing Christian isn’t achieved just by being.

If I can give you one practical on this – we all have blind spots to our lives. Seek out other believers to provide feedback into your life. John and Fred and I spent Friday evening and Saturday morning together, just the three of us, in a mini-retreat. We do this annually. We do many things at these times, including praying for the church, strategizing, and so on, but one of the most important things we do is provide each other feedback as to what we have seen in each others’ lives over the past year, the good and the bad. Not just the bad! I know some of you will tune out the fact that we also talk about the good. This is human nature.

When we do this, we learn which choir members are singing beautifully and which choir members are just lip synching, to use our choir-master analogy. We see where to focus our efforts. And then, and this is the whole point of Peter’s passage, we pursue it! That’s where we focus! We pray about it. We think about it. We look for small steps, daily steps, that can help. It becomes a priority. And as we do this, God in His power changes us.

Our time this weekend was so good! I would strongly encourage you to ask someone into your life in this way. You may find one of us asking if we can do this for you. We desire to do this for you because we love you! We don’t want to see anyone in the way Peter describes in verse 9. That’s tragic! We desire not to tear anyone down, but to build them up. And you all should know that you can always do this for us as well. Someone in the church recently did this for me, and I am so thankful that they felt that they could do this. I view it as a powerful answer to prayer, not that I prayed for that, but that I had prayed for change. Thanks to what this person shared, I see where I was neglecting some of my “choir.” Again, I would ask you to allow us to serve you in this way so that we all can be experiencing the blessings of verse 8 instead of the tragedy of verse 9.

By the way, what does it mean to be nearsighted, spiritually speaking? It means to lose sight of eternity. It means you are only looking at the present. You are only looking at the “tyranny of the urgent,” at day-to-day life. The person who builds a “choir” is looking into the distance. He is building his life in light of eternity.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. – II Peter 1:10-11

What in the world does this mean? Does it mean you can lose your salvation? No. This goes back to the previous verse. If you don’t build your “choir,” you may end up not even sure if you were ever saved. But if you do pursue these things, it will become clear to you that it was God, it was the Holy Spirit in you that actually did the changing in you. Your pursuing these things was necessary for God to act. But you won’t end up giving yourself the credit, because you will know that it wasn’t you. It wasn’t your power, but divine power.

Intense effort need not be self-effort. Let me say that again. Intense effort need not be self-effort. These seven things we are to pursue are not legalistic actions; none of them are. They are character issues. You cannot pursue them legalistically. You pursue them by relentlessly examining your heart, by continually bringing your weaknesses to God in prayer, asking God to change you in specific attitudes and areas. And then you go out and live your day for Him, and then you restart the process the next day. You run, but God gives you the breath. You run, but God gives you the breath.

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. – II Peter 1:12-15

I love verse 12. This is how I often feel – I know many of you have read through the Bible many times, and that you have heard a thousand or more messages. For those of you like this, the job of whoever is giving the message is not to tell you something new, but to remind you of things you have already heard and read. I love Peter’s attitude about this – it doesn’t bother him in the least that he has nothing new to say; he is content to remind and remind and remind for as many days as he has left.

Now there is reason to think that Peter may have written this letter from prison. At the end of this letter there is no mention of companions, unlike the end of I Peter, which says that Peter wrote the letter “with the help of Silas.” By the way, Greek scholars have noted that there is a significant difference between the style of the Greek in I and II Peter. I Peter is exceptionally eloquent, using powerful and descriptive phrases all over the place, whereas II Peter is written in more plain language, using some more quaint sayings. I Peter is in the clouds, while II Peter is on the football field. This may be a bad analogy, but I think of I Peter as “city” and II Peter as “country.”

Why is this? Some say it is because Peter never wrote II Peter, but given the content of the letter that makes no sense at all to me. I think the answer is as plain as day, and I thank John Farmer for pointing this out to me – I Peter says that Silas helped him write it. And I think it is neat to think about this – John also pointed this out – we tend to think of the authors of the Bible as being always alone, perhaps suddenly channeling the Holy Spirit, writing down word after word exactly what the Holy Spirit says to write. I don’t think it works quite like that; I agree that the Holy Spirit ensured that exactly what was supposed to be in the Bible is in the Bible; but I think He did that through people that He allowed to express things in their own style; how else can you explain the stylistic differences between the various books of the New Testament? I would even say that the fact that the Holy Spirit could do this is a greater miracle than if it were all simply “Thus sayeth the Lord.”

And then, in the case of I Peter, a greater miracle still to think that the Holy Spirit was working through two people together. And what a picture this is of the church, in which the Holy Spirit desires to work through each one of us, not only growing us in Christlikeness individually, but fashioning us corporately as a local church. And then to think of Him taking all of these local churches and weaving them all together to make the Bride of Christ – now you are talking about the real choirmaster!

But back to our passage: Peter may have written this from prison. In any case, the Lord somehow had shown him that he would soon die. Tradition says that Peter was crucified, and that he insisted that he be crucified upside-down because he thought himself as nothing compared to Christ. Actually, I would use a stronger word than “tradition” for this, as this is mentioned by some of the early church fathers in their letters.

Now I love the phrase “the tent of the body.” What is a tent? A temporary structure, a mobile structure. Nomads live in tents. Peter viewed himself as living in a tent. What does that tell you about what he was focusing on? He was focusing on eternal things. I recently came across this quote by C. S. Lewis that I think captures the same thought:

You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. – C. S. Lewis

How do you view yourself? Primarily as a body that has a soul, or as a soul that has a body? Souls are eternal. Bodies are tents.

And I love how Peter speaks of his death as a departure. He’s not dying; he’s just moving on, leaving his tent behind. Again, this is an eternal perspective. I am convinced that having such a perspective is essential if you are going to truly live for God. Do you think this way? When someone asks you where you home is, what is your first thought? Is it heaven? Heaven is our home. We just haven’t arrived yet. For now we are in tents, strangers in a strange land.

I pray that you would earnestly strive to grow in the 7 areas spelled out in this chapter. Again, man is weak – remember my comparison between man and the earthquake. But God is powerful, dunamis in the Greek, a dynamo. He is dynamite. He is mega mega mega mega mega tons of TNT. He has the power to enable you to truly grow in Christlikeness and He promises to do this for you if you earnestly strive for growth in your character. Be a choirmaster!