Sermon Tone Analysis

Character: Be a Piece of the Rock

Maxwell, John C.. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of A Leader- Lunch & Learn (Kindle Locations 235-236).

The John Maxwell Company.

Kindle Edition.

2 Peter 1-8

Talent is a gift, but character is a choice.

We create our character every time we make choices—to back out or dig in during a hard situation, to bend the truth or stand beside it, to take the easy route or pay the price.

Character communicates our reliability and trustworthiness to those around us, and it qualifies or disqualifies us to lead.

Everything rises and falls on leadership- John Maxwell

ess and unfruitful in our relationship with Jesus Christ (verse 8) and enables us to live in the present in light of our past conversion and our hope for the future (verse 9).

Doing as Peter instructs can keep us from stumbling and assure us a triumphant entry into the kingdom of our Lord.

Conversely, neglecting Peter’s instruction diminishes our perception and confidence in the salvation God has provided and sets us up for a fall.

Heeding Peter’s words keep us from being useless and unfruitful in our relationship with Jesus Christ (verse 8) and enables us to live in the present in light of our past conversion and our hope for the future (verse 9).

Doing as Peter instructs can keep us from stumbling and assure us a triumphant entry into the kingdom of our Lord.

Conversely, neglecting Peter’s instruction diminishes our perception and confidence in the salvation God has provided and sets us up for a fall.

Maxwell, John C.. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of A Leader- Lunch & Learn (Kindle Locations 237-239).

The John Maxwell Company.

Kindle Edition.

Peter’s own words should convince us to pay careful attention, for the benefits pertain to our past, our present walk, and our future hope.

May we approach our text with a deep sense of its importance and an open and willing heart eager to hear and heed what God’s Spirit has revealed.

(4) Verses 5-7 contain a list of character qualities for which God has made provision and for which every Christian should strive.

This is not a list of imperatives, duties, or activities.

Peter is not writing about “how to,” but about the kind of person the Christian should strive to become.

(5) The character qualities we are to pursue are also the character traits of God.

Peter has written in verse 4 that God has provided for us to become “partakers of the divine nature.”

These character qualities he then lists are the particular character qualities of God which should also be evident in our lives.

(6) Peter gives us a list unlike any other list in the Scriptures.

In , Paul lists the “fruit of the Spirit.”

has yet another list of godly qualities the Christian should pursue.

None of the New Testament lists are exactly alike, which suggests that Peter has given us a selected list and that there are other character qualities to pursue.

It also implies Peter’s list was compiled for a particular reason.

I believe this list of qualities was chosen because of the false teachers who will seek to distort the truth of the Scriptures and seek to seduce men to follow them.

If the character qualities of verses 5-7 are also the attributes of God, they are in dramatic contrast to the character of the false teachers and their followers.

(7) A purposeful order and relationship is evident in this list of character qualities.

This list of character qualities is not presented in a way that suggests a random order.

Each quality builds upon the qualities before it.

The sequence of qualities begins with faith and ends with love.

These qualities are similar to the ingredients in a cake recipe where all ingredients are needed, but they should be added in the proper order.

Characteristics of a Growing Christian

(1) Faith.

The first characteristic of the growing Christian has a uniqueness to it—the Christian is not instructed to supply faith.

Faith is a given, something upon which the Christian builds.

According to Peter, faith is given, for the readers of this epistle are those who “have received a faith of the same kind as ours” (verse 1).

Faith is something we have received, not something we are to supply—because faith is a gift from God (see ; ; ).

Faith begins as saving faith and then becomes the faith without which it is impossible to please God (); whatever does not originate through faith is sin ().

Our faith is based upon the revealed word of God (; see , ).

Our faith is tested, proven, and strengthened by the trials and adversity God allows to come into our life ().

Faith is not only the basis for belief but also the basis for our behavior (see ).

Our Lord Himself is the object and the source of our faith; Christ is also the model for our faith.

It is easier to think of the Lord Jesus as the object of faith than to think of Him exercising faith.

But His faith was exercised when He submitted to the will of the Father by taking on human flesh and suffering and dying at the hands of sinful men:

23 And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously (, emphasis mine).

If you have not come to a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot possibly pursue the course Peter prescribes in our text.

To enter into that “faith,” which is of the same kind as the apostles (verse 1a), you must know God through Jesus Christ and find the righteousness you desperately lack in none other than Jesus Christ (verse 1b).

Knowing Him brings grace and peace (verse 2).

Only by His power are we granted everything necessary for life and godliness (verse 3).

The basis of our salvation is the work of Christ, and the basis for our future hope is the promises of God.

All we need to know about these is recorded in God’s Word (verse 4a).

Trusting in God’s provisions, as revealed in God’s Word, makes us partakers of the divine nature and delivers us from the corruption of fleshly lusts (verse 4b).

Taking on the divine nature does not happen quickly; it happens by the process of sanctification (verses 5-11).

While this sanctification is individual, it also takes place through the body of Christ, the church ().

The process of sanctification is completed not in this life, but when we are with Him in glory (; ; ; ).

(2) Moral Excellence.

Of all the virtues listed by Peter in our text, this is by far the most difficult virtue to grasp.

Two problems have troubled me in my study of this quality.

First, the precise meaning of the term rendered “moral excellence” by the New American Standard Bible.

The difficulty in defining the word Peter uses here can be inferred from the various ways it is translated:

“virtue”—KJV, NEB, Berkeley“resolution”—Moffatt“goodness”—Goodspeed, Jerusalem Bible“moral character”—Williams“manliness”—Helen Montgomery—The Centenary Translation“Noble character”—Weymouth“real goodness of life”—Phillips

The second problem is that “moral excellence” precedes “knowledge.”

One would think “knowledge” would be a necessary prerequisite to “moral excellence,” rather than the reverse.

The key to resolving these two problems seems to be found in the usage of this term in the Greek Translation of the Old Testament in the texts below:

“I am the LORD, that is My name;I will not give My glory to another,Nor My praise to graven images” (, emphasis mine).Let them give glory to the LORD,And declare His praise in the coastlands (, emphasis mine).“The

people whom I formed for Myself,Will declare My praise” (, emphasis mine).25

When we compare these Old Testament uses of Peter’s term with all the New Testament occurrences of this same term, the meaning begins to come into focus:

8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things (, emphasis mine).

, emphasis mine).

, emphasis mine).

The King James Version of “virtue” most often refers to a characteristic or quality of God.

In the Isaiah texts, it is that for which God is praised or praiseworthy.

In and 12, it is an expression poetically paralleled with the glory of God.

God’s glory is His virtue, His excellencies, for which He is worthy of praise.

No wonder Paul will instruct the Philippian saints to set their minds on that which is both “excellent” and “worthy of praise” ().

The King James Version of “virtue” most often refers to a characteristic or quality of God.

In the Isaiah texts, it is that for which God is praised or praiseworthy.

In and 12, it is an expression poetically paralleled with the glory of God.

God’s glory is His virtue, His excellencies, for which He is worthy of praise.

No wonder Paul will instruct the Philippian saints to set their minds on that which is both “excellent” and “worthy of praise” ().

If His excellencies are God’s very nature, His glory for which men should praise Him, then our condition as unbelievers is exactly the opposite:

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ().

Man in his sinful state refuses to give glory to God, deifying himself instead:

The excellence or virtue of God is God’s glorious nature, which is our ultimate good we should pursue as the goal of our character to the praise and glory of God.

Doing so produces a mindset receptive to the knowledge of God revealed through the Scriptures.

God revealed His nature, His divine power and glory to sinful men, but they refused to give glory to Him.

Instead of worshipping God their Creator, they worshipped created things.

Instead of believing the truth, they believed a lie.

As a consequence of their sin, God gave them over to a depraved mind so they could no longer grasp the truth.

Apart from divine grace and intervention, sinful men were hopelessly lost.

The good news: God did act.

He sought out sinful men and gave them faith in His Son.

He enabled them to become partakers of His divine nature ().