Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Life throws so much at us on a daily basis.

If you are anything like me, all too often if I do not write something down I find myself forgetting it.

Our bodies even forget things.

Our muscles learn habitual motion.

When I began to learn how to play basketball, after a certain amount of time and practice my muscles and my brain just go into a certain motion when I shoot the basketball.

When I get on a bike my body balances, I do not have to think about it.

Our Christian life is very similar.

Every day we either are strengthening habits or forming new ones.

These habits can be mental, social, physical, and/or spiritual.

We have influences that seek to shape the mental, social, physical, and/or spiritual areas of life.

As a Christian it then stands as vital to our lives that we have each of these areas shaped in Christlikeness and to the glory of God.

Because of sin, we can fall prey to blindness in our spiritual lives.

For the Christian, blindness takes on a life where we spiritually don’t see what is taking place physically.

We continue to do those things that displease God and grieve the Holy Spirit.

We perhaps publicly hurt the testimony of God.

We confuse those around us because what they have come to know as Christian is not at all what we are living as a Christian.

We become frustrated and upset at others living in sin when we have glaring sin issues our own life.

In these situations and many, many others these sin problems are awe problems.

We have filled our awe cup with something other than God.

Something fundamental has failed to be lived out in our life because we have misplaced awe.

This fundamental failure is simply we forget God!

We forget God’s gracious and glorious work of salvation and sanctification.

We forget what Christ went through as he died for us on the cross.

We have forgotten what it means to be a child of God.

This failure of awe must be remedied.

It must change in the Christian life.

You and I who are Christians here this morning must look into the “perfect law of liberty”, God’s Word—the Bible, and repent where we are living blindly.

Our passage this morning will help us dive into both the theological and spiritual truths on how awe centered on Christ’s Work is life altering and freeing from the torment of sin.

Context:

Peter is writing his 2nd letter and begins the letter by explaining the basis or foundation for the believer’s spiritual growth (1-2).

The background to this writing is a false teaching that was centered around a faux gospel.

He was writing to help people not live lives of counterfeit.

Rand Hummel in his devotional from 2 Peter looks at the letter as Peter exposing counterfeit Christianity.

True Christianity comes from the one true God who has called us through his own glory and excellence and not of anything of our own.

Salvation is granted by God and provides eternal security from the pains of eternal damnation in hell.

It is salvation that gives the Christian to defeat the spiritual blindness in their life.

It is God’ power through salvation that we have all we need to live righteously.

Salvation is living out a true knowledge of Jesus Christ!

Peter in 2 Peter 1:5-7 deals with the process of spiritual growth.

Peter gives to us the mentality and attitude we must have in adding to our divine nature, to our spiritual growth.

This attitude is not one of indifference or complacency but one of determination and total dedication.

The phrase “apply all diligence” refers to maximum effort.

The Christian life cannot honor God without effort.

God has given to us the power to live the Christian life but alongside that requires us to be disciplined in every way possible to live a life that honors, respects, and glorifies God.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary (B.

The Function of the Divine Nature (1:5–9))

In this beautiful paragraph Peter orchestrates a symphony of grace.

To the melody line of faith he leads believers to add harmony in a blend of seven Christian virtues which he lists without explanation or description.

A carnal Christian has spiritual myopia (v.

9), but a spiritual Christian is both effective and productive (v.

8) in his understanding of the Lord Jesus and his application of biblical principles to daily life.

In applying diligence to our life we are to apply this diligence in adding to our faith (Philippians 2:12).

The word “add” is better translated supply or nourish.

We are to nourish our faith.

What does it mean to nourish?

The Christian is to provide their faith with the necessary food to promote growth.

This is the idea of everything needed not just something here or something there but dedication to nourishing your faith.

Peter than lists 7 specific aspects of being devoted to living a righteous and Christ-centered life.

He in verse 8 reveals to us the results of having or not having these 7 qualities in your life.

Virtue/Moral Excellence – quality of live which made someone stand out as excellent.

Peter is telling us that our lives must demonstrate excellence.

This excellence is the desire to live our lives in a way that represents Christ in an excellent way.

This involves our decision making, our actions, our thoughts, our everything.

Knowledge – this is the idea of understanding, correct insight, truth properly understood and applied.

This involves diligent study of truth in the Word of God.

Our hearts must be in tune and have a heart relationship with God.

Temperance/Self-Control – this literally means “holding oneself in.”

This is controlling our will and allowing God to control it.

The Holy Spirit is who should be controlling our lives.

This means to have one’s passions under control.

During Peter’s time this term self-control was used of athletes training for competition.

It is controlling the flesh and passions rather than them controlling him.

“Moral excellence, guided by knowledge, disciplines desire and makes it the servant, not the master, of one’s life.

Patience/Perseverance – this is the idea of James when in chapter 1 he talks about enduring trials.

We must have patience and endurance in doing what is right.

We are not to give into temptation or trials and lose self-control.

It is spiritual staying power that will die before it gives in.

Godliness – man’s obligation of reverence toward God.

The Christian is to live reverently, loyally, and obediently before God.

This consists of a walk with God, communion with Him, and child-like trust.

Brotherly Kindness – mutual sacrifice for one another; a fervent and practical caring for one another.

Love – it desires the highest good for others; this is the love God shows toward sinners, toward us.

This is a sacrificial love.

It is important to have these necessary qualities in your life as a Christian.

Having these in your life give evidence to filling your awe capacity with the right material.

Peter goes from explaining our position with God through salvation and the promise of his power to live it out to detailing the character traits that should be manifesting in our lives to stating the truth about our spiritual growth status when these qualities or virtues are or are not progressing in our lives.

This is our main focus this morning.

Our main focus zooms in on 2 Peter 1:8-11.

Our main principle this morning is: Living in awe of Christ’s redemptive work impacts our spiritual usefulness.

Living in awe of Christ’s redemptive work impacts our spiritual usefulness.

I. Remembering Christ’s redemptive work manifests through your constant growth.

Peter in these four verses delivers to us the results of being diligent or not diligent in adding to and nourishing our faith.

He begins with the positive side of the results.

2 Peter 1:8 explains to us that if these qualities are “yours and increasing” then you are neither useless nor unfruitful and are growing in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is our divine nature growing.

The key here is the phrase “be in you and abound.”

It means you have these qualities and are increasing.

These qualities must first exist in your life followed by them growing or abounding in your life.

The phrase is not to be split up.