Pursuing Godly Living

The message for todays lesson is “Pursuing Godly Living”

Q: When you hear that what thoughts do you have about that?

Are you living to the standard that you are imagining?

Why not and what can you do about it?

That’s what we are going to talk about today.

Gonna be in 1 Peter, before we turn there just some context.

Context: The previous letter, 1 Peter, was about those who persevere in the faith while suffering persecution should have a continued hope

The 2nd letter from peter was to encourage believers to live righteously by the power that has been given by God, we ought to be transformed by the truth of the gospel.

We ought to live lives pleasing to God

1. God’s people pursue godly living through what Jesus has done

2 Peter 1:1–2 ESV

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Your Bible may say Simon mine says Simeon, which is the Hebrew spelling of Simon.

Why is that important?

Look at the next sentence.

“To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours”

Who does salvation come from? God yes, but what people does it come from?

Jesus tells the woman at the well

John 4:22 (ESV)

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

So salvation comes from the Jews, because they are the chosen people.

Peter is classifying himself as a Jew to show that the promise the was made to the Jews is now available to everyone.

They were the chosen people from a line of physical descendants, now God will have a spiritually chosen people.

Q: What do you think about Peter saying that the faith that we have is equal to his and Paul's and all the others?

Peter walked on the water with Jesus, he stepped out in faith, Paul wrote a large portion of the New Testament and dedicated his entire life to God.

Do you feel like you have the same faith as they?

Especially when it comes to Godly living?

To be clear Peter is not saying that we have the same level of faith that we will all walk on water.

It is the saving faith that we all have which means there are no 2nd citizens in heaven.

Should we not strive to have that kind of faith, I believe it is a good thing.

Next Passage

2 Peter 1:3–4 ESV

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Q: What does this passage mean?

He is saying in verse 3, God gave us all thing relating to living a holy life and ability to be godly.

God has an expectation from us whom he has given something to. He wants want expects us to be close to him

All this he did that through the promise of a Savoir who will redeem us

through that salvation we can better imitate God.

In short when God calls you to do something, he will give you the tools and experience you need to succeed in what you will do.

God people often feel like they arent equipped but thats not true, the Jews were called to go into battle against larger enemies and they won when they obeyed

Moses was asked to stand up against the most powerful nation and the most powerful man in that nation at that time. The only catch is that you have to use what He has given you,

Q: What is it that God has granted us?

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

A new heart, new desires.

So God has given us the ability to live a Godly life.

Q: If we have the ability to live this way then why do so few people actually do it? Even in the church?

We will talk about that

2. God’s people pursue Godly living with effort

2 Peter 1:5–7 ESV

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

Q: What can be understood here?

It starts off with “For this very reason”

Meaning because of everything I just said before, because God have granted you the power, because Jesus died so you can be free, because you now have the Holy Spirit inside of you ever moment of the day...... Make every effort

Do everything you possibly can

Stop at nothing

to supplement these things. What does supplement mean?

To add to

to continue applying on top of

to exercise

What things are they?

It starts with Faith, why because it is the foundation of salvation

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Remember that we are called by God to do this, to walk down this path

Virtue - Moral Excellence

Knowledge - You know, you have studied, you have commited to memory

Self Control - Ability to restrain yourself, to direct yourself and not submit to any desire that you feel

Steadfastness - Perseverance, Patience

Godliness - Holiness

Brotherly Affection - Kindness

Love - Love

What are these starting to sound like?

The fruit of the Spirit!

Jesus did all of these things

Jesus’ Example:

–Jesus intimacy with His Father on account of their shared virtue (John 10:15).

–Jesus exercised unrivaled discernment and knowledge (Luke 9:47).

–Jesus’ self-control was tested in facing Satan’s temptations in the wilderness, yet His restraint remained perfect (Matt. 4:1-11).

–Jesus’ suffering steadfastness to us all as He pushed past the torture, disgrace, and shame of His crucifixion—looking forward to joy (Heb. 12:2).

–Jesus’ good, godly deeds always pointed to His Father (John 14:13).

–Jesus’ affection toward His disciples was evident in His service toward them (Matt. 26:14-39;

Luke 22:24-27; John 13:1-17).

–Jesus’ love was as vivid as the display of innocent blood poured out for His enemies (Rom. 5:8).

Q: Have you ever found it difficult to deal with a particular sin that is nagging in your life?

On a Saturday 2000 some people in the Chicago area showed up to see a movie.

Free drink and a bucket of popcorn

asked to stick around to answer questions.

The people didnt know but they were part of an experiment about unusual eating behaviors.

There was something off about the popcorn, its was stale on purpose.

5 days stale on purpose. it squeaked when you ate it.

someone said the popcorn was like eating styrofoam packing peanuts.

Things you need to know:

some people got a medium size bucket

others got a large bucket

no one needed to share

both buckets were so big that no one was going to be able to finish either one.

the buckets were measured before and after the study.

You know what happened?

People with the large buckets ate 53% more popcorn then people with the medium sized bucket.

Regardless of the type of movie, the city that they tried the experiment on the results were the same, people with the bigger bucket ate more.

We know that no one was eating for pleasure, it was terrible. It didnt even matter if people were hungry or full, the results were the same.

After the movie the researcher told the movie goers the results and people refused to believe it. When they heard it a common response was

Things like that dont trick me.

Im pretty sure that you and I would likely fall for the same thing.

Why do I bring this up?

If people are likely to consume old stale food just because its sitting in front of their face and available even when they dont really want it, how much more likely are we to indulge in a sin that we enjoy, that feels good and that we have an infinite supply of?

When its within arms length, when its really cloes by?

The probability is very high.

When you start hearing, seeing, experiencing, thinking about something that doesnt honor God and your heart consumes it, do you stop and ask

Is this stale?

Is this good for me?

What good is going to come out of this?

Is this God honoring?

These folks were distracted by a movie and not thinking they ate and kept eating something even though it wasn't pleasant.

Q: What are your guys thoughts?

What are your distractions that is keeping you from realizing what is entering and affecting your soul?

This could be very difficult to do when a sin is enjoyable, may feel like its impossible. So what do we do?

You know what its like when you hear an amazing sermon and it touches the depths of your soul and right then and there you commit that you will change that one thing the thing that has plagued you for years.

You go home, you are fired and you start making change and you do ok the first few days, weeks and then things start to wear off and you feel compelled to your old ways.

Why is that? Often our emotional side is fighting out intellectual side. When the thought of pleasing God fades and your emotion takes over then its back to our old ways.

Thats what happened here, but did it have to be that way?

Notice that if people didnt have access to the stale food they would never even have the opportunity to eat it

What Im saying is that you need to change your access to the things that lead you into temptation.

Its because we dont change our environment. We remain in the place where the sin is, in the situation that pulls you into that temptation

to lie

to cheat

to hate

to gossip

to lust

to envy to be prideful

to create idols

What does the Bible say?

1 Timothy 6:11 ESV

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Proverbs 4:14–15 ESV

Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.

Proverbs 18:10 ESV

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

To end

3. God’s people pursue godly living to confirm their calling

2 Peter 1:8–10 ESV

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

That verse speaks for itself.

Develop these characteristics, make it a goal to works on them in your life and it will transform you.

Q: What are your thoughts?