Sermon Tone Analysis

Powerfully Equipped \\ *Passage: 2 Peter 1:3-11*

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*Introduction: * \\ \\

Approach a member of the congregation... \\ \\ - hand him~/her a hammer and ask him or her to build something (Slide2) \\ \\

When they say they cannot, ask why not? \\ \\ answer should be something along the lines of (Slide3) \\ \\ - I don’t have the tools \\ - I don’t have the materials \\ - I don’t know how \\ - I don’t have time \\ \\ The bottom line - we’re not equipped....that is, we don’t have what we need to do it.

That’s often how we feel in life, isn’t it?

Sometimes we’re just not equipped for work, for specific tasks.

And the truth is, we’re not all equipped for just anything, because we’re not all supposed to do just anything & everything \\ \\ For example, when I was in High school, I always wanted to be in the armed forces – the army or the air force.

There were just two problems with that.

Was I equipped to be in the army or the air force?

\\ \\ 1.

I didn’t have perfect eyesight \\ 2. I have a condition called epilepsy

 

These two things stood between me and being in the firing line fortunately, I realized that early on I wasn’t equipped to be in the armed forces, and it’s clear I wasn’t supposed to be, no big deal!

\\ \\ When a builder shows up on the jobsite to build something, or sends someone to build something, do you think they will show up one day and says, let’s build this?

No, he gets all the materials, he gets all the tools, and he gets the people who know what to do with those materials and tools.

\\ \\ He comes fully equipped for the job at hand... \\ \\

Equipping is empowerment....being equipped means you have the power to do something.

We like the sound of something that’s Powerfully Equipped.

(Slide 4) \\ \\ We will read a passage of scripture here in a moment which reveals that idea in a fuller way.

\\ \\ Put more simply, I wouldn’t ask someone to go paint our bedroom upstairs, without proper instruction, without giving them paint and brushes!!! Without empowering and equipping them with what they need, to do what I’ve asked them to do.

\\ \\ When we look at the bible, we see that God asks or commands us to do many things.

God says, "Be holy as I am holy."

Jesus says, "Go and make disciples of all nations."

Jesus tells us to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Bible tells us to rejoice in the Lord always.

It tells us not to conform to this world.

Jesus also tells us to bless those who persecute us.

(slide6) It teaches us to do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than ourselves.

The same passage tells us to look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

With many of these things, we might have the same reaction as in our opening illustration.

\\ \\ \\

I can’t.

\\ I don’t know how.

\\ I don’t have the tools, the equipment, the ability, the time.

\\ \\

That is, I’m not equipped to do those things.

But here’s the thing.. \\ \\ *Point 1: God’s divine power equips us powerfully & fully (2 Peter 1:1-4) *

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*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: *

*2 **Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

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* 3 **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.

4 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.

* \\ \\

He calls us to be godly – living God’s way, and equips us to be godly...

He gives us the tools to be godly... (slide7) \\ \\ Now, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Yes, we still struggle with sin.

We have to learn to use the tools He’s given us to be godly – to live as Christian people.

You could equip me with all the tools and materials I needed to fix my car, and they’d be wasted.

Because I wouldn’t know how to use them well!!! \\ \\ What this verse is saying, I believe, is that not only has he given us the tools, \\ He’s given us the knowledge.

We just have to decide to use the tools, and learn how to use the tools...and yes we can learn.

\\ \\ It would be stupid and a waste of time if He didn’t equip us to learn what we need to learn to be godly, or even to cope with life?

But here, Peter tells us that God has given us everything we need for life; He has given us everything we need for godliness to live life God’s way.

\\ \\ Let’s take a closer look at what this passage tells us about being Powerfully Equipped.

(slide8) \\ \\ First of all, we’re not just talking about any old power, the kind of power that can fail and blackout the local neighbourhood.

Not like my oven where only a few of the elements work, or our dry machine that I inherited from my mum – it’s about 30 odd years old and looks like a dump.

Here we’re talking about divine power.

\\ Of course, divine means it comes from God. It’s not anything we can develop on our own.

It’s not anything we bring to the task naturally.

It does not come from within us.

It comes from God. \\ \\ The truth is, we don’t have the resources, we’re not equipped, in and of ourselves, to cope with life, or to live godly lives.

That’s something we have to recognize when we come to Christ for salvation.

Just as we must say before God at the moment we receive His free gift of salvation through Jesus: \\ \\ "God, I know I’m a sinner, and I cannot live up to your standards, I cannot save myself."

\\ \\ As believers, no matter how long we’ve been followers of Christ, no matter how much we’ve grown in Him, we’re still in the same state: \\ \\ We cannot be godly, we cannot live up to His standards in our own strength.

\\ \\ Jesus said, "apart from me you can do nothing."

The moment we believe we can go it alone, or try that, we’ve failed.

But the good news is that once we’ve recognized that we need Him, we have this divine power source that we can plug into, enabling us to live Godly lives.

\\ \\ In this verse, the word is used to tell us of the free giving of God’s power, with the result being we have everything we need, to live as Christian men and woman.

The verb here “given us” in verse 3 indicates that this divine power does not give life and godliness because somebody deserves it, but because it is available to all Christians...it is a free gift.

(slide9) \\ \\ It’s the same word used in verse 4, where it says that God has given us His great and precious promises.

And again, the implication in the language is clear: These are promises of God, given to believers, initiated by God Himself, and therefore, undeserved promises....but promises nonetheless.

(slide10) \\ \\ Next in this passage, let’s look briefly at the words "life and godliness."

\\ \\ Because of the context, it’s clear the primary meaning of life here refers to our moral or spiritual life.

Of course, I also believe God wouldn’t have us separate life into the sacred and secular, the spiritual and non-spiritual, quite as much as we tend to, which says to me that all aspects of our life can be applied here.

\\ \\ Godliness is an interesting word here.

The Greek word has to do with devotion to God, or piety toward Him.

Let me read an explanation from a Bible Dictionary: \\ \\ When godliness is applied to the Christian life, it denotes a life that is acceptable to Christ, indicating the proper attitude of the believer toward Christ who has saved him.

It is both an attitude and a manner of life.

It is in this manner that 1 Tim.

4:7 says,

 

 

"Train yourself to be godly,: or "discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness."

It does not come automatically, but is something into which we must put effort.

In 1 Tim.

6:11, we are urged to "follow after righteousness, godliness" \\ \\ Peter tells us that God has given us everything we need, everything we need for life and godliness, and we’ve just taken a look at what all this implies.

\\ \\ And the way He’s given us this, the means through which God has equipped us with His Power, is through, because of, produced by, our knowledge of Him.

(Slide11) \\ \\ It’s not just knowledge, not just knowing stuff, its full knowledge....

It’s not knowing everything, but knowing everything we need to know.

And it requires, on our part, participation.

It requires cooperation with the Giver of this gift.

And the result.. (slide12)

*2 Peter 1:8 *

*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.**

* \\ \\

Now, how do we get this all-important knowledge of Him to keep from being ineffective & unproductive?

\\ \\ Peter tells us: (slide13) \\ \\ 1. it’s God’s divine power that does all this.

\\ 2. This power has equipped us for everything we need for life and godliness \\ 3. The conduit, the means, through which we can access this divine power, is our knowledge of Him.

\\ \\

Now, I don’t want to discount the value of experiential knowledge.

Clearly the bible tells us that we can know Him through what we see, (read Romans 1) and seeing is also experiencing.

\\ \\ So I don’t want to imply that this is the be-all and end-all of knowing Him.

I also don’t mean to de-emphasize the importance of communing with God through prayer as a means of knowing Him.

\\ \\ But I think we can agree that the primary means God has given us of knowing Him, is His Word.

(slide14) \\ \\ I think we could even say that our experience of Him with our senses, and in our prayer, is guided by, enhanced by, driven by, the Word of God.

\\ \\ After all, the God’s word instructs us to pray.

God’s word tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God, and we see that with our senses...we experience that in real life, especially when I wake up on a beach and see the sunrise.

(slide15) \\ \\ Now think about what that means here in the context of 2 Peter 1:3.

\\ \\ 1.

His divine power gives us what we need \\ \\ 2. It gives us everything; it fully equips us, with all we need for life, with all we need for godliness.

\\ \\ 3. The primary way we’re equipped....fully-equipped.