THE COIN’S REVERSE
Every story has another side. Every idea has its counterpart. That is true of Grace. We've been talking about the "Ragamuffin Gospel." By that, we mean to say that God's love and the Christian message is specially suited for those who are fully aware of their flaws, their weaknesses, their inadequacies, their spiritual poverty. We are spiritual ragamuffins. Jesus' message is suited for us because we are sinners deeply in need of divine forgiveness. We are not terribly impressed with our own innate spirituality. We stand, right now, completely and utterly dependant upon God's mercy. The fundamental prayer for all spiritual ragamuffins is the ancient, "Kyrie Eleison" – that is "Lord, have mercy."
The message of God's expansive love and acceptance can be misunderstood. You could say it has a backside; the other side of the coin. Many people in Paul's day took his message of God's grace to extremes saying that God had no interest in human virtue or ethical living. The point is to follow your craven nature and enjoy God's forgiveness. Even the Apostle Paul had to say, "Don't think that we continue to sin so that Grace can increase!" To say it simply is this: Grace has two features. So far, we've talked about one of them; grace as forgiveness and pardon. But as true Methodists, we cannot forget the other one because it goes to the core of the Methodist understanding of Christian life. This component is: Grace is also enablement. Grace not only redeems us, it empowers us. This side of the story absolutely has to be told.
TRAGEDY OF OUR TIMES
One of the great tragedies of our time is the increasing loss of the language of virtue. What do I mean by virtue? I mean conformity to a standard of right; the development of character, integrity, moral excellence. In Christian circles, especially in the
In our culture, this language is has gone the way of sin/virtue language. It is passé. It is often noted that the very cultures that emphasized virtue and moral uprightness also justified slavery, violence toward women, and racism. So there is a huge battle in our culture as to the question of the past. Were the values of the past; the Greeks and Romans, or the Puritans, or the 1950’s, good or bad? Some people think things are getting worse and worse. How many times have you heard grandma talk about how bad the world is becoming; how vulgar the speech, how high the skirts, how sexually explicit the clothes, speech and entertainment. Each generation needs to take things a step further, to the point that Janice Jackson has a wardrobe malfunction, and everyone watching says, “Yep, it’s getting worse and worse.”
On the other hand, people think the good old days, the values of the 50’s, are something that need to be left behind. The 1950’s were a period of Jim Crow laws. Racism were tolerated then as they would not be now. Women were expected to behave in ways that they would never expect now. So, is the world getting better or worse? Somehow we all know, when we say it that way, that the answer is probably both at the same time. We would never want to go back to the 50’s in terms of women’s rights or civil rights, but we also are amazed at just how sexually explicit and vulgar our culture has become, with all its wardrobe malfunctioning. There’s a lot of wardrobe malfunctioning these days. We have something to learn from the ‘50’s.
PETER’S LAST WORDS
We're looking to the book of Second Peter for direction here. Second Peter is written as a last will and testament. He was, of course, Jesus' most famous disciple. Great people of faith were often thought to have, on their deathbeds so to speak, their greatest wisdom and prophetic perception. This letter is written as Peter's final words of direction before the death of this great man. It's message is one of the great calling of Christian discipleship in terms of spiritual growth. His primary concern is to address people who are taking the gospel to ridiculous extremes. These persons are preaching that, because God's grace is given in Christ, your personal life is of no interest to God. You can live anyway you want, and please ever craven desire of your physical body, and all you are doing is making God happy by drawing on the resources of divine grace.
2 Peter
1Simon 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: 2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3His 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. 4Through 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.
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, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, 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 if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So here we are: Peter at the end of his life writing down what he believes to be absolutely central. This is the Apostle Peter, the rock on which Christ built the church, making his last pitch effort to keep the church theologically on track before he dies. And what comes at the top of his list? It is this very message. God's grace is more than forgiveness and pardon. It leads you to a life of moral development and perfection. Grace also enables you to actually participate in God's nature. It isn't just about becoming good, its about becoming godly. This is central to Christian discipleship.
THE GRACE FOUNDATION
Let's look at the text more carefully. Everything Peter says about growth in Christian maturity is based upon this forgiveness-type of Grace. This is no bait-and-switch. Forgiveness-type Grace is the beginning, the starting point for all authentic Christian experience. Notice that he begins by emphasizing that the Christian journey with God begins by placing faith in Christ. In fact, in verse one he talks about faith as something that is itself received from God as a gift. Even our faith in Christ is something of a gift, that is, something we cannot attain through effort. In verse 2, he prays for abundant grace and peace on the part of the readers. In verse 3, it is God's divine power that gives us all that is needed for a life of godliness – through an experiential knowledge of God who calls us.
So while Peter has a very clear desire to emphasize the moral development side of Christian life, he never, not for one moment, leaves his rooting in faith/grace/mercy. The Hellenistic world was filled with very specific proposals for moral development (seeking virtue). This is what Stoicism is all about. But Greeks didn't believe, typically, that sin was the problem. They believed the primary problem was ignorance. It is ignorance that needs to be destroyed, and once people know the truth, they can become morally perfect through sheer effort and self-denial.
(Plato and Aristotle)
Greeks believed that man's superior nature, his rational mind, belongs to the divine world and can recover its true, godlike nature and participate in the immortality of the gods. In the mystery religions, this was through secret rituals that they attained union with their god, and in some cases, through an ascetic soul-purification act like self-emasculation. In the Platonic tradition, the soul regained its divine state through the philosophical contemplation of the realities of the divine world, through increasing self-induced detachment from the body and through intellectual and moral purification. For Stoics, it came through training your mind and actions that the only true goodness that makes a person happy is moral goodness. But all of these programs for virtue do not involve grace/pardon/forgiveness. Sin isn't the issue for the Greeks.
This writer is very much aware of these moral traditions. He even copies some of their language here, but sin is the issue and Grace of God in Christ is the answer. But he shapes what he says deeply so that this attainment of immortality and incorruptibility (becoming so good you could never go bad again) comes completely through faith in Christ which is itself a gift of God. He bases this whole first section (1:1-4) upon what Christ has already done for us. And this theme continues even afterwards. Notice that Peter makes faith the root of all the virtues (verse 5). Faith is the rock upon which all others are developed. Faith involves the confession of sin, and of the Lordship of Christ. The top of all the virtues is Christian love. For Jesus, the centrality of love is his primary ethical insight. Peter reflects this Christian development and theme. Virtue begins with faith and ends in love. Peter knew he was a spiritual ragamuffin.
THE
Virtue is a very old-fashioned word. It means, "Moral practice or action; moral excellence; rectitude, morality." I mean conformity to a standard of right; the development of character, integrity, moral excellence. Peter sees someone's faith in Christ as something of a doorway into a whole new process of development in virtue. Authentic faith demands concern for and attention to one's development in virtue. This life of virtue is referred to here in verse 4 as a "participation in the divine nature." This doesn't mean we actually become divinized in some sense or melded into the divine being like a drop falling into an ocean. What this means is that we participate in the immortality and spiritual incorruptibility (eternal life) of God through our seeking of Christian virtue based on God's promises to us. It means that we become godly; God's nature gets rubbed off on us and impacts our character, attitudes and lifestyle.
Peter lays down his understanding of the pathway by which one develops this godliness, this virtue.
vs. 5 "make every effort" – this is not to be a simple pass-time or weekend emphasis.
"to add to your faith, goodness" (arête)- We start with faith, but we seek to add moral goodness to it. Implied: faith alone isn't enough.
"and to goodness, knowledge" – you are to learn all you can about your faith. This would include Bible study and the study of Christian theology, reading, etc. Christian faith involves development of Christian thinking, worldview, etc.
"and to you knowledge, self-control" – you are to develop personal disciplines which train yourself to control your passions, to live according to truth and justice.
"and to your self-control, perseverance" – you are to do this day after day. It does no good to work your spiritual life for two weeks and give up.
"and to perseverance, godliness" – you are to develop a life of godliness.
"and to your godliness, brotherly kindness" – are you kind?
"and to your kindness, love" – Christian love is the center virtue of them all.
Peter is saying, "This is a general pathway whereby you grow into this faith." If you feel like your spiritual path is lacking focus, if you like clarity and specificity, this text is for you.
VIRTUE: ROT OR GROW
Peter lists two very specific rewards that come from a life of virtue. First, we will not be ineffective and unproductive in this life. What this means is that you will be effective and productive spiritually. Nothing destroys your ability to serve God effectively than being out-of-control in your personal life. You must be seeking of the development of this life of virtue. Secondly, you are sure to receive your final reward. This is very specifically what Peter is saying here. Assurance of your spiritual calling and election comes specifically through this process.
C.S. Lewis uses a great illustration for sanctification (fancy term for – the process of spiritual/moral development). He compares it to a chick hatching from an egg.
A egg is either fertilized or not. If it is fertilized, it is growing or dying. In other words, either the chick will live and hatch out or it will die in process. Only in the last case, does the egg not rot (assuming that it isn't eaten). But the one thing it cannot do is remain long the in the same condition. It will either rot or grow. This is not an option.
In the analogy, the unfertilized egg is the person who does not know the love of God in Christ. Their heart has never been fertilized with that love. The person who has come to know God's grace in Christ but fails to grow is like the fertilized egg that isn't exposed to the heat and nutrition it needs and so it dies. It cannot simply remain static as an egg. Only the egg that is fertilized and receives nutrition and warmth can go on to maturity and lay and hatch its own eggs.
GRACE MEANS GROWTH
What kind of an egg are you? Are you growing or rotting? I'll tell you what you are not. You are not static. You are not going nowhere spiritually. Peter here has a very important word for us. He says to us that this process of spiritual formation, of moral improvement, of the pursuit of godliness, is really really important. If you are a Christian and this isn't important to you, you simply are not getting it. The gospel isn't getting through. This grace does indeed transform; it will change your whole life from top to bottom if you let it.
But you have to cooperate. You have to pursue. You have to be determined. Grace is not forgiveness from God so you can continue doing what you've always done. Grace is not license to sin. Grace is a doorway to a life of virtue. This is part of the ragamuffin gospel also. Grace is that which allows us access to divine promises by which we partake of God's very nature. Grace is the trigger that releases the power of the Spirit into our lives which transforms us into God chasers.
CHARTING YOUR GROWTH
I'm going to challenge you to chart your spiritual growth.
How much effort are putting into your spiritual growth – your growth in godliness? Are you making every effort? Look, great sacrifices, like this one, are exhilarating but demanding. This wouldn't be a thrill if it was easy and safe. Following Grace to virtue isn't any easier than this and has its own risks.
I want you to ask yourself some serious questions this week. I'm going to give another little homework assignment.