Diligent Excellence
Notes
Transcript
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Diligent Excellence
Diligent Excellence
Pray
These verses are the opening verses of a second letter penned by the Apostle Peter.
There is an unusual fact about the beginning of this letter in that there is no direct geographical audience addressed. This isn’t like Paul’s letter to corinth or thessolinica…
Peter writes this letter to “those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”
This is an important thought in beginning our discussion, because Peter is not writing this as an evangelic tool, but as an admonition to those of “the same kind” of faith…
Notice the qualification: by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I think if we were careful to begin our thoughts on theology and study with this in mind, we would have much more unity in the body… because we are one body and we all received our faith by the same qualification…
by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ.
This is always the beginning of the discussion. This is the ultimate filter through which all things must travel.
23 But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.
There are some subjects I will not speak much on because the bible doesn’t speak much on them!
I like to speak where the bible speaks and remain silent where the Word stays silent.
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
Seeing that HIS divine power has granted to us EVERYTHING pertainiing ot life and godliness…
Notice the language that he has already framed this with:
V. 1 says we have “received” our faith. And V. 3 says that we have been “granted” everything pertaining to life and godliness…
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
We have to start here, laying the foundation that when we are talking about pursuit and excellence and diligence, I am not asking you to earn your salvation.
You cannot earn your salvation. It is a gift! We simply submit to the drawing of the Holy Spirit and receive the gift of salvation.
And not only does he grant us salvation, but he grants us everything pertaining to life and godliness..
Everything… Everything…
I’ve heard people that are worried that they won’t be able to live as a Christian if they get saved… But that is a limited view of the salvation we are offered.
We aren’t just saved from the pit of hell, we are saved to good works…
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
HIS workmanship… Not our own workmanship… He forms us and molds us. If we try to do it on our own, we modify our behaviors then wonder why we struggle…
We are HIS workmanship. The closer we get to Him the more we reflect his craftsmanship.
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
He called us by HIS OWN glory and excellence… Not by our glory, but HIS glory… Not our excellence, but HIS excellence…
For by these.... What are these? V. 3 by his glory and excellence he has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises…
Do you know His promises are measured by His glory and excellence, not ours?
So that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature…
by his precious and magnificent promises… provided by his glory and excellence… so that we may become partakers of HIS nature…
This is how it plays out… The closer we get to Him… The more we engage with His promises… The more we learn about Him… Through the knowledge of Him who called us.... We take on more and more of His nature…
Reflecting more and more of HIM! Why? Because the ones that are looking at you are looking for HIM!
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
Now, here’s where I wanted to get.
For this very reason also… what reason? Verse 4. having escaped the corruption that is in the world…
For this reason… Because you escaped. Because you’ve become a new creation. Because you’ve been born again… APPLYIING ALL DILIGENCE!
Because you don’t have to earn it… Because it’s been gifted to you… That’s the reason we are motivated to be diligent. He’s granted us an escape from corruption… So we strive in diligence…
13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
He’s still working on me, but this one thing I know… I will press on… Because He has granted me access, I will apply all diligence…
To what?
In your faith, supply moral Excellence!
Excellence is a tricky concept for us… I know in myself it is easy to equate perfectionism with excellence.
They are not the same.
Perfectionism will lead you to burnout and frustration, always trying to achieve a picture in your head that is an impossible caricature of reality.
Excellence is a goal to be strived for. Push toward the mark.
There is no such thing as Christian excellence, just as there is no Christian hamburger; but a Christian will strive for excellence (i.e., integrity) with every task he attempts. It could mean making the very best hamburger you can— with plenty of onion, tomato, and pickle.
—Haddon Robinson
Another word: Intentionality.
We must be intentional about the outcome we want to see.
There are entirely too many Christian stumbling through life with no concept of vision or mission or goals.
We must be intentional to see excellence.
The little things speak to a larger value. We don’t keep the church clean just because it’s sanitary. We clean and care for the building because it was your offerings that pay for the building and we want to be good stewarts of God’s money.
Another thought: Excellence will often require sacrifice…
David offered to buy a field where he was going build an altar for sacrifice and the man offered to gift the field to David, but David said,
24 However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Excellence will cost you something.
Excellence will cost you your comfort zone… Excellence will cost you your convenience… Excellence will cost you the passivity that allows you to be stagnant....
Excellence will require sacrifice!
As we continue to move forward in this momentum that God has stirred amongst us, don’t be surprised if it upsets your comfortabilities…
Don’t be surprised when God asks you to sacrifice your passivity for a more excellent way…
The reward for faithfulness in the parable of the talents was not comfort… It was MORE RESPONSIBILITY…
15 “When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done.
16 “The first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’
17 “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’
18 “The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’
19 “And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’
Excellence leads to greater responsibility…
I could stop there, but I want to point out where Peter says excellence leads:
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
The kind of excellence we are to exude promotes unity and love and builds up the kingdom!
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
IF they are yours AND increasing… Notice there’s a both and statement here… If they are yours AND increasing.. You won’t have one without the other.
IF they are yours and increasing they render you neither useless nor unfruitful…
In other words, if you are diligent in excellence, these qualities will stem from that and these qualities are what fuel your usefulness and your fruitfulness in the kingdom…
1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
