Sermon Tone Analysis

Buy The Field

Last Week, we talked about how “Believers are not supposed to separate themselves from the world, like isolationists.

Nor are we supposed to “judge” and “condemn” sinners… We are supposed to “Grow up” among them… to infuse the world with the light we have been given…”

But…

How do we do that?

That is the question people have wrestled with for generations?

It’s the eternal search… the longing of our hearts… How do we live Holy lives?

How do we live for God?

For His Kingdom?

How do we infuse the world with the light of the gospel?

The truth is… We seem to like to think that there is some sort of “secret sauce” to Christian Life…

Look at “the Rich Young Ruler”…

He came to Jesus and asked:

Mark 10:17 (NIV)

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.

“Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

In other words, “What’s the secret?

What’s the formula?”

It’s almost as though we think there is a special formula… a plan of action… that has been hidden away from us!

Why?

Why do we tend to think that way?

It’s because of our nature…

We are prideful, arrogant, selfish… it is in our nature to hide things from others, especially if they benefit us…

And, if we do it, then surely God does too!

Think about fast food… There are few meals more iconic than “two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles , onions, on a sesame seed bun!”

You know the jingle!

It’s the Big Mac!

What made it special?

The Secret Sauce!

McDonald’s “Special Sauce” was a closely guarded secret… kind of like the Colonel’s secret recipe…

We tend to think that Christian Discipleship, Christian service, the Christian walk… is the same way — elusive and mysterious…

Like there’s some secret that only the Pastor and a select group of “super perfect” Christians know…

You know what I’m talking about…

We hear verses like 1 Pet 1:16

And we think “I can’t be Holy!

I know what I’ve done… Who I am! It’s impossible to be perfect!”

Our own doctrine of “Entire Sanctification” makes people feel this way!

We hear these ideas… We read these verses… and we are left feeling hopeless…

On my own, I can never be perfect… I’ve proven that over and over again…

Are you with me???

Let me tell you: “We are NOT on our own!”

God has not forsaken us… Nor has He given us an impossible task!

This idea of perfection prior to acceptance… couldn’t be further from the truth!

God has given us everything we need!

God has given us His Word (hold up Bible)

God has given us every instruction we need to live a life that is CONNECTED to HIM… AND… EMPOWERED by Him!

Look at 2 Peter…

In this letter, Peter is writing to the early church… He is attempting to help them grow in their faith… to become all that God wants them to be.

Look at 2 Peter 1:3-4

Peter tells his readers: “Do not spend your time feeling like you have somehow missed some kind of secret that others have received… Like you’ve been ‘left-out’… Do not be tricked into believing that you are not equipped to live the Godly Life.”

You see… That’s what the enemy wants you to believe! (expound)

We have EVERYTHING we need for life and goodness.

“Life and godliness” refer to “Holiness”…

“His divine power has given us everything needed...”

Everything we need to live a Holy Life comes from God!

Holman puts it like this: “The same one who calls us, that is, who invites us by grace to be a part of his kingdom, also enables us to change or to grow spiritually.”

— Holman

Peter’s point is this: Holiness is purely the result of Faith.

And… You have ALL the ingredients for Faith!

Why is Peter concerned that they understand this?

During the time of Peter’s writing, there was a sect of people called “Gnostics.”

Ever heard of them?

What do you know about them?

Gnostics emphasized a “secret knowledge” of the things of God that superceded orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority…

They believed that unless you had the exclusive knowledge that they had… then you were misinformed!

Sound familiar?

Gnostics are alive and active even today!

They say that …

— Christians have “messed up” the Bible… that it doesn’t hold the “full truth”…

— that there are books missing…

— that the written Word… the Bible as we have it… the 66 books contained within… do not contain all that we need, and are not the inerrant Word of God…

Their teachings are dangerous… They mislead and divide… They take away from the Gospel’s primary point that Christ’s death and resurrection are all that was needed for us to be right with God!

Let me tell you: Nothing else is needed!

This Book contains everything we need!

It tells us all we need to follow God’s plan for us!

My wife and I are two completely different types in the kitchen.

She didn’t learn how to cook as a teenager, so she needs recipes to guide her… to give her the exact ingredients… and she follows them very closely…

Because of that, when she goes to the pantry and the ingredients aren’t there… she sees that she cannot make anything.

It’s different for me… When I go to the pantry, and it seems like there is nothing to fix, like there are no ingredients to make anything good… I get a little excited!

I like to dive in… to experiment… to see what I might be able to create out of the nothing that we have… AND… you c an ask my daughter… I’ve made some pretty good meals that way!

In fact, some of the best meals I have ever made have been by using what I had… rather than what I wish I had!

That’s Peter’s Point!

We don’t need a new “special ingredient”… We have all that we need!

The best life we can have with God is found in the things we already have!

Peter tells us… through Faith in Jesus, we have been given ALL of the tools and ingredients we need!

We have ALL we need… to Love God… to serve others… to overcome sin… to grow spiritually… and to live a Faith-filled life!

In other words, We have been given all we need to BE HOLY!!!

Many Christians walk around frustrated… They think that they need more than God’s promises of love and grace…

HEAR ME… You have everything you need!

“His grace is enough!”

The source of strength we need to be Holy has been given to us!

Look at v. 3

Everything we need “for life and godliness” has been given to us by “His own Glory and Goodness.”

That refers to God’s Holy Spirit in us!

That word “advocate” or “counselor” in some translations, is the word “paraclete”.

It means “the one called alongside to help.”

“Paraclete — the one called alongside to help.”

In some places the word was an ancient warrior’s term.

Greek soldiers always went into battle in pairs, so that when the enemy attacked, they could draw together back to back, covering each other’s blind side.

The soldier’s battle partner was called the paraclete, or the helper.